Azelian finished his food around the same time as his cousin, Nolan, but did not try to speak with him as he sat next to him.
He had thought the man dead until just now, when he had walked in to find him sitting next to the Empress of Aka, being introduced as her Emperor. He had never really missed the man, he could do without him and his infernal younger sister, but to allow a family member to think you dead for four years, while you pranced around as King of the Tree Lords was not something you did regularly.
"Dear," his wife, Selina, said as she finished her glass of Futurain wine. "Dear, does it seem that something is wrong with Lady Asazin? She seems rather pale. I mean, I saw her after her poor boy, Father grant him eternal life, died, and she seemed perfectly fine. She wasn't even in shock. Do you think she might not feel well?" he blinked and looked at Lady Asazin.
It was true, she did seem paler than usual. He had seen her just yesterday, when he had been in the archery yard. She had seemed perfectly fine then, and very happy. He cleared his throat and turned towards his cousin, who jumped at the sudden sound and looked at him.
"Excuse me, but it would seem that your wife is not feeling well." Nolan looked at Asazin and blinked.
He did not like how Nolan looked, all worn out and tired. It seemed that all the old happiness had been drained from him. Prince Toph did not seem to be better, though the thin scar that followed his jawline did not seem to be the cause.
"Excuse me," Nolan said, bowing to Empress Vereninhosi, "I find that my wife does not feel herself and would need to rest. I assure you, she will be her best in time for the coronation." Vereninhosi nodded and stood.
"My guests, it would seem to be time for you to be received at you rooms. We are all in need of rest, and, I fear, that there are some who are not truly well enough to attend my coronation without proper rest." Everyone took it as the dismissal it was and slowly filed out of the room.
Azelian took his son in his arms and carried him to their quarters, he bent slowly over his son and gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead.
I do not wish to miss anything. But it is sad that I must for I will die before your fourteenth birthday. I regret it.
Asazin looked over her shoulder at Nolan, who smiled and walked to her side. She did not like that he raised his hand to stifle a cough or that his eyes were drained of the light that she had once found there. She took his arm, which he had offered when he had arrived at her side. She didn't feel any better, she knew. Worse most likely.
Toph trailed slowly behind them, looking as if he knew the truth to a greatly held secret. Soph, as could be expected, was walking besides him, leaning gently on his shoulder. Thanat and Mag-bell conversed in whispers a few feet behind the twins, Thanat laughed and moved her head closer to her husband's, shaking her head.
Asazin smiled, her children did not enjoy days very often, since their brother was stolen. The child Snow-hare still gave her an odd sense, it was as if she knew him somehow. She shook her head and looked at Nolan, the sense of something off stuck with her for a few seconds before evaporating.
"Asazin." Nolan whispered in her ear. She tilted her head and stared at him. "Do you feel it too?"
"Feel what?" she whispered back.
"The familiarity about Snow-hare." She gasped, which was all the answer he would need.
Something hit her back and she turned to find a small sized rock behind her. A child dressed in black ran and ducked down one of the alleys. She blinked and turned back to Nolan who shrugged and shook his head.
When they reached their rooms in the best inn in the capital she changed into a blue tunic and leggings. Nolan sat near the hearth and drunk some coffee. She sat on the ground in front of him and sighed as he braided her hair. He stopped and the silence grew quite unbearable.
"Asazin. What do you hear?" Nolan asked setting the braid over her shoulder and sat back, and closed his hands on her back, moving her head so that she could hear better.
"I don't hear anything," she replied, closing her eyes. Then she heard it, a scrabbling on the roof. She opened her eyes and jumped to her feet. A thin section of rope hit the ground of her balcony, making a loud thud.
Nolan stood, pushed her behind him, and closed the distance between him and the veiled child sized figure who stood in the open balcony door. A smile flickered under the veil as the man drew a long sword and stabbed Nolan through the stomach. She dropped to her knees, her world coming out from under her. The veiled man grabbed her and dragged her through the travel spell construct he had drawn on the floor of the balcony.
Nolan doubled up in pain, falling on the floor and barely maintaining his consciousness and sanity. He watched in horror as Asazin was dragged through the travel construct, she wasn't even fighting.
His eyes were closing as Toph ran through the door and rolled him over, pressing a bandage on his wound. Soph followed quickly and pushed her brother out of the way, cleaning his wound. Thanat and Mag-bell showed quickly after, Thanat sewing his wound while adding healing magic and Mag-bell bandaging him as he slowly fell into a dark void.
Fire fell around him from his fingers. The worst had happened. A voice behind him made him turn.
He stared in horror at the doppelganger which stood in the light next to a snow mound of silver fire. The man was dressed in black with silver lining. His hair was neatly pinned in a Pony's tail, and hung to his shoulders. His eyes were alive with light that the real Nolan knew had never been there.
"Come, my illy dressed friend, come to me. Take what our power can give you. Rule of the entire world, shadows to follow your whim. Come my friend, join with me and be whole." The shadow Nolan said. Real Nolan stepped back to find a wall of fire behind him, blocking his way.
"Leave me alone, you are nothing but a shadow." He said, his voice a whisper behind the roar of fire and hum of snow.
"I saved young Toph didn't I? How can I be a shadow when you drew on my power?" Shadow Nolan asked, smiling.
"You're wrong. I saved Toph. You are a shadow. That is all." Nolan turned and broke free of the fire.
He was suddenly in a field of grass surrounded by trees. In the middle was a hickory oak. Standing under the hickory oak was Thanat and Mag-bell. They wore simple white robes, and had their hair cut short to their chins.
"Nolan, beware the shadowed man. Go, go back to yourself Nolan, do not come here again." They said in unison, their faces serene.
Nolan opened his eyes to see Toph glaring at him.
"What happened to mother?" the boy demanded.
His voice stuck in his throat as he explained what happened. He stopped when it came to what happened when the man had dragged Asazin away.
"She didn't even fight. She allowed herself to be taken."
They stared at the golden rug beneath their feet. She hadn't fought. More than that, Anderea had been found unconscious in human form, a Aurorain was never found in human form. She hadn't fought.
"If you can not tame her kill her. I can not deal with her now." A hooded figure told the guards outside. The hooded figure walked into her tiny cell and motioned for the door to be close..
"I wish you well only." the hooded figure said, taking off her hood to free the brilliant red curls there. Under those curls were jade eyes, embedded with pupils like obsidian. She held out a hand, and shook her head when Asazin flinched backwards.
"In the lands where I was born, we speak of a tale. That tale is of a legend passed down through generations. The legend was made so for it spoke of future times. It starts slowly at first. If you wish I could tell you of it, it would give you strength."
"I would not wish to listen to this tale. I am held against my will and forced to leave my remaining children behind me." Asazin spat, turning her head so that her hair fell in blue waves over her eyes.
"Then you shall hear of it tomorrow, after you have eaten and have slept. Come I do not wish to force you to the dining halls." A chuckle filled the silence between them.
Asazin rose and walked besides the woman down stone halls. This place she was I was not a simple Capital Building or a homey palace of some peaceful culture, it was a fortress. Here and there along the walls, openings showed children training at swords or singing battle hymns.
"I am Governess of this fortress. My name, which I have not told you yet Blue one, is Ceraline. How do you like this place of stone, where children learn to be killers?"
"Why do you train them so young? I see no child over fifteen."
"See, my king wishes to make war with you Nine Empires for you have allied yourselves with our enemy, Vestan. He has readied for this war or four years, since Vestan first implied that they wished to join in your alliance.
"He thought beforehand that what soldier is better than one who has spent an entire lifespan learning to be one? These children were bred for this.
"Only in the last four years has He increased the amount of working trainees, He has been building this army for thirty years. The trainers here were the first to set foot here, when they themselves were only children. None over the age of fifteen may enter here without first having been here or with the king's permission, which was, in your case granted.
"I know none of the stories of your life, tell me please, as we eat." Ceraline motioned her into the second hand chair at a small table.
Asazin sat and looked around, they were served by two ten year old children. It was impossible to see which gender they were, for they were clothed in gray robes that hid any tell-tale signs. Other than the servers, no other children were in sight.
Seeing her questioning look, Ceraline waved at the children before speaking. "The other children are all to eat after their lessons are finished. Since that won't be until six hours after sun down don't expect to see them."
"Isn't that a bit long to school children?"
"Not if we want them to learn adeptness in all weapons, hand to hand, and be fluent in thirty-five different languages. They must be conditioned also, and long hours with little or no sleep, provided on how well they can keep from getting extra studies and how much schoolwork they are given, will not be allowed to slow them down on the march or in a battle."
"That's harsh, children need to be treated with care, not looked at as armed pawns."
"I know." Ceraline stopped speaking. Asazin finished the plate of cabbage and waited until Ceraline stood to make her way back to her cell.
She changed into the night gown which was sitting on the single chair in the center of the small room and sat on the bed looking around her. The side across from her was wood, interrupted by a steel door.
There were two tapestries on the side walls. One depicted children training in black leather armor the other showed children farming harvesting and vast majority of other day-to-day chores. Shaking her head, she covered up in the simple brown blanket and fell into a troublesome sleep.
Nowhere she looked was there an open untouched stretch of ground. She stood in a corpse covered battle ground. The fact that no one came to take their fallen to the burial furnaces in the far corners meant that there was no survivors to do so. She could see the armor colors of each of the Nine empires and the green of Vestan. There were more of these corpses than the black leather of the opposing force.
Walking across the field she entered the untouched ground of a meadow. A small child sat beneath a sheltering tree, her arm wounded, blood running down her sides. She looked up, her blond hair tumbling out of the knot on the top of her head to fall into her blood smeared blue eyes. She forced herself up and yanked her sword from the ground. She settled into a defense position and held her ground, her eyes reflecting pain and pleading.
"I am not here to hurt you child." Asazin said, noting the black leather armor on the child. She knew who had commanded this child and her fellow troops now. She raised her hands and stood up straight, standing with her full height of five feet and ten inches.
"You lie like all the others. Expersori No Vital!" the child said as she charged, shifting into the attack position as fluidly as a river ran.
Asazin stepped back and drew her long curved sword, the katakana, all holy people of Aka knew how to wield the holy sword, from the oldest initiates to the youngest novices. She swiftly blocked the child's cross movements and fell over a uprooted stump, looking around her she found that they stood in the corpse field.
"I am Saden, last daughter of Ceraline and King Matthew of Gallan. You of the Nine Kingdoms, shall die by my hand." the child, Saden, said, falling to her knees as she held her sword to Asazin's neck, her legs buckling under her. Tears formed in her eyes as the sword pressed harder against her opponent's neck.
"Then Saden, daughter of Ceraline and King Matthew, I forgive you. A child should not be used as a weapon. The daughter of a king should be raised to be a queen." Asazin said.
She could not believe her ears. The princess of Gallan, a fabled myth land, was in front of her, getting ready to kill her. What else would this dream show?
"You forgive your killer?" Saden looked down with disbelief and then pushed herself up, hardening the grip on the sword. "Can I forgive myself?" she asked as she shoved the sword through Asazin's neck. Asazin managed a nod before slipping into death...Into reality.
Asazin sat with a jolt. The future would end with the end of all the Empires, including their new enemy, Gallan. The tales of Gallan always ended with Gallan being destroyed by its opponents, who were always the side of good, or as the tales said, Light and the Mother and Father.
Somehow she had been moved in the night. She stood out of her bed and washed in the tub which had been placed moments before next to her bed.
After drying she rummaged in the chest in the far corner to find clean brown robes. She changed into the clothes quickly and sat in one of her new room's three chairs, picking up the lap-loom that had stood against the clothes-chest.
Her new furnishings consisted of a large featherbed dressed in brown sheets and pillows and blankets, a gray chair, which she sat in, two reddish chairs and three chests, one in the far corner for clean clothes, one at the end of the bed and one near the door. Those two's purposes she did not know.
Her door was mahogany with inlaid silver which spiraled around the center and caught the light at certain times. The tapestries on either wall were the same as the ones in her old room, except that they were more detailed.
A knock at her door startled her, she stood and walked to the door opening it. Outside stood a blond girl with sable eyes, the girl wore a gray uniform, which hung from her skinny frame like a rag hung from a stick. Around each wrist was a metal band, inscribed with symbols. Asazin looked up at her and smiled weakly.
"Mistress Saden wishes to speak with you on behalf of the Crowned Heir, her eldest brother, Prince Kechera." the girl said, turning and waiting for Asazin to follow. In the language of home Kechera meant Loved by All. Asazin followed the girl to a very empty part of the fortress.
At the end of a corridor was a close door, it was stone and steel. The girl led Asazin through the door into a cozy antechamber with two chairs and a hearth. In the largest chair, which was a black color, a small blond girl in black leathers sat drinking tea. She looked up and gazed at Asazin with the full force of her blue eyes, which was strong for such a young child.
"Miss, I am Saden, fifth heir to the throne, youngest and last daughter of the King Matthew. My brother, the Crowned Prince, could not be here today to welcome you to Gallan. Excuse my rush, but I have a certain meeting to attend to today. "
"It is fine. I am only here because I was brought here." Asazin responded, earning an odd look from the child as she left the room.
I wonder what she is going to do? Asazin thought to herself.
She tried reaching out to Anderea but once again she received no answer. She kept herself from crying as the girl took her back to her room, and laid herself on her bed, to daze into a fitful sleep.