Royal Palace
The Royal Palace increased in size as the plane got closer towards the airfield, and Draco marveled at the majesty of it all.
The palace itself seemed to be designed in a large circle, and as the plane kept flying, Draco estimated that it was bigger than any building he had ever seen.
This was no exaggeration, for if one were to measure the palace, it would amount to around one million square feet of space.
To visualize that, it would be the equivalent of 15 football fields stacked next to each other!
Draco couldn't tell how tall the palace was, but he could see that the plane was now almost level with the top of the palace.
Considering that they still must have been many hundreds of meters in the air, Draco realized that meant that the palace was as tall as some skyscrapers.
Surrounding the circular palace were four massive, ornate towers. In the middle of the palace was also a tower, but this one was much wider than the others.
Atop each tower were massive golden domes, all reflecting the light of the sun in a way that could potentially blind any onlookers.
The rest of the palace seemed to be built out of the same white, jade-like material that Draco was now noticing was a trademark of the Khalid Dynasty.
Around the central palace building, Draco saw that there were a number of smaller courtyards.
Remarkably, each of these courtyards could have been considered mansions in their own right.
Everywhere Draco looked he saw stunning white and gold, and he was left speechless as the plane continued to descend.
'How can any one family accumulate so much wealth?' Draco thought to himself after he saw a massive golden statue in one of the courtyards.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Draco heard Amira's soft voice next to him.
"You really live here?" Draco asked her.
Amira nodded her head, "Here, among other places."
Draco said nothing else, and only continued to watch the scenery as the plane touched down onto what was presumably the royal family's personal airport.
Draco was only saying this because he noticed a number of other similarly colored white and gold aircraft across the landing strip.
Some of these aircraft were simply astronomical in size.
Draco saw what he thought was a Boeing aircraft, but it was easily twice the size of a normal commercial plane.
'This much wealth… and I'm sure this is just scratching the surface.' Draco thought to himself in awe.
Their plane eventually came to a stop at the end of the runway, and was promptly rolled into a nearby private hangar.
Draco saw Muhammed and Zahra walk out of one of the rooms, and he noticed that they looked quite sweaty, likely due to their 'work out', he thought with a smirk.
As Muhammed got out of the plane, he was followed closely by his retinue of Ḥāmin.
Following him out of the plane, Draco saw yet another shocking display of power.
Lined in two rows, and standing in horizontal lines, were twenty white robed Ḥāmin. When Muhammed had emerged from the plane, all twenty figures immediately knelt to the ground with an audible thud.
Seeing this, Muhammed nodded in satisfaction and turned to Amira, who was at Draco's side.
"Sister, take ten Ḥāmin and return back to your courtyard in the palace, or do whatever you like, it concerns me not."
He began to walk down the stairs as he said, "Father has summoned me to the central palace, so I can't stay to chit-chat."
Soon, Muhammed and his retinue of guards had gotten into white SUVs and left the airfield, heading towards the grand palace in the distance.
Draco and Amira headed towards the several remaining SUVs with the Ḥāmin following closely behind them.
After getting into one of the SUVs, Draco asked Amira, "Where are we going?"
As the SUVs began driving off, she replied, "To visit one of my siblings."
Amira didn't elaborate further, but said, "When we get there, if anyone asks, you are my new servant that I picked up in the States."
Draco nodded his head and didn't say anything, after all, this was what he had agreed to when he decided to follow Amira here.
***
After only a few minutes, the cars slowed to a stop outside of a large courtyard.
The courtyard itself consisted of a large mansion that seemed to be sticking out of the side of the towering palace. In front of the mansion was a wide, paved area that looked like it could easily fit two more mansions.
While Draco was wondering what you could possibly need so much space for, the car doors opened.
Welcoming them was a man dressed in the same attire as Muhammed. He had on flowing, white robes, and was wearing a red and white checkered cloth over his head.
Behind the man was what was presumably his personal retinue of guards, and Draco counted five Ḥāmin standing at attention behind him.
"Sister! I heard you were coming so I came out to greet you." the man said with a glowing smile as he walked towards her.
"Word around the palace is that you had quite the interesting journey." he continued as he stood in front of Amira.
A smile reached Amira's own lips, and she replied, "I did indeed, don't worry sixth brother, I will tell you all about it soon."
Hearing this, the man looked peeved, "Sixth brother? Don't treat me like our elder brothers, Amira."
An apologetic look flashed past Amira's eyes, "I apologize, brother, it's just a habit."
When Draco heard 'sixth brother', a strange look appeared on his face. 'Sixth brother? Just how many people are in this damn family?' he thought to himself.
The man nodded his head, satisfied. He then pointed towards a group of white robed Ḥāmin. "You four Ḥāmin, escort the princess to the residence. The rest of you can wait outside in the meanwhile."
He turned to look at Draco with undisguised curiosity. After all, Draco stood out in his black and white track suit against the pure white of Amira's retinue of guards.
"Who is this one?" The man asked Amira, who only casually shook her head.
"He's no one, I just liked his face and decided to pick him up as a servant."
The man looked at Amira strangely for a moment, but said nothing as he turned to head towards his residence.
As Draco watched them walk off, he was unable to hear the rest of their conversation.
Realizing that he had to wait out here in the courtyard, Draco settled down next to the cars and the rest of the Ḥāmin.
"So, long day, huh?" Draco asked one of the Ḥāmin next to him, but the man just stared at Draco, his face devoid of any emotion.
'Strange lot, these Ḥāmin. I wonder what's going on in their head.' Draco thought as he shook his head, giving up on the idea of trying to talk to the Ḥāmin.
Like this he continued to wait for Amira.
***
Not more than half an hour later, Amira emerged from the residence, followed by a few Ḥāmin.
Draco noticed that Amira was carrying some sort of metal box, and when she arrived at the white SUVs she handed the box to one of the Ḥāmin.
Draco looked at the box curiously for a few seconds, trying to figure out what it was, but he couldn't come up with anything.
Amira then got into one of the cars, and looked towards Draco expectantly.
Realizing she wanted him to get into the car with her, Draco quickly climbed into the car and sat next to her.
After a Ḥāmin had closed the door, he turned to look at Amira, "So, I'm guessing that was one of your brothers." he said matter-of-factly.
Amira nodded her head, he couldn't see what she was thinking beneath her robes, but she said, "I'm sure you heard, but that was indeed my sixth brother."
Draco looked at her curiously, "How many siblings do you have exactly?"
Amira sighed, then said, "Too many. I have two sisters, and nine brothers." she shook her head, "And that's not even considering our extended family."
Draco was once again shocked, 'Her father must get up to a lot if he has so many children.'
Looking towards the palace, he wondered how powerful each of Amira's siblings was.
After all, they each shared the same bloodline, this meant that they must have all been born powered!
Thinking this, Draco turned to ask Amira, "I've been meaning to ask, but what kind of man is your father?"
What Draco really wanted to know was who the Progenitor of this powerful Dynasty was.