Welcome to the Prologue. You all will now be introduced to the Spriggans. Just letting you know, one of the Spriggans is not a canon character. I thought up the character thinking it was a girl when in reality it was a boy (Bradman/Bloodman). The Spriggan 12 need another girl so I just added her in instead. Later on, if we actually do get another girl, I might get rid of her and replace her with the canon character, if I don't feel too bad. For now, enjoy!
He woke to find half of his face covered in sticky wetness. Lifting his head, he realized that the stickiness was in fact a blend of ink and drool. What happened exactly? Zeref rubbed his eyes, trying to get them to focus. Reopening his eyes he found a dark oak desk covered with papers, ink pens, and ink holders. One of the small black containers that held the black ink was tipped over. He must have knocked it over in his sleep. Surprisingly, it wasn't dry yet. That meant that the ink on his left cheek must be still wet, he could easily wash it off. The Black Wizard pushed himself away from his desk and trudged to the bathroom. Sleeping on a desk is never a wise idea; unless on wanted to wake up with a stiff neck. Zeref arched his head side to side as he turned on the silver faucet. The clean cool water hit his hand with such ferocity he had to twist the knob a bit to calm it. He glanced at his reflection in the mirror. The morning light came flooding though the large bathroom window hitting his face, illuminating his pale complexion. Zeref frowned at the other half of his face; it was covered in black, slightly flaky dried up ink. So his calculations were incorrect. Doesn't matter, he'd have to clean it off anyway and make sure to not leave a single spec or Invel might start freaking out thinking he caught the plague.
He remembered the last time how he somehow got hot candle wax down his shirt, leaving small marks on his skin which looked suspiciously like chicken pox. As he was trying to clean the wax off, Invel burst into the room and nearly had a heart attack upon seeing that there was a few specks of pinkish red irritated skin on his neck. He spent an hour trying to calm the white haired Spriggan down. It didn't help that Wahl and Ajeel were constantly spouting out random symptoms of medieval diseases scaring Invel out of his wits. Zeref never really could grasp why Invel cared so much, or reacted such a way. He tried asking Dimaria and Brandish but the former laughed at him and walked away while the latter mumbled about him being such a painfully unobservant idiot. He was about to give her a lecture on manners (No one should call their Emperor an idiot, especially in front of them) but Invel materialized out of nowhere and gave her the biggest lecture in all human kind.
Zeref opened the mirror revealing a hidden cupboard. Grabbing a napkin, he dunked it into the water and scrubbed his cheek, trying to remove the stubborn stain off. The blackness initially refused to wash off but upon more desperate and rougher scrubbing, the ink lightened. Finally, the stain was throughly cleaned off leaving behind red skin. He must have scrubbed too hard. He could already hear Invel's declaration on getting a doctor. If only he had some white powder to hide the mark before it went away… Bloodman! She would have skin powder that she might be willing to share (unlike Brandish or Dimaria). Stealthily, Zeref peaked into the hallway, the white designed quartz floors worked well at detecting any incomers. No shadows…or any sound at all. Everyone was probably eating breakfast. Good.
Cautiously, he lined himself against the white washed walls and slowly made his way towards the staircase that was supposed to be on his right. Bloodman's room was located two floors down, through the right wing hallway around a corner. Zeref looked over the grand marble stairway, other then a couple of servants, no one was walking about. Wait a sec…why was the palace so empty? At this time of day, he should have come across at least a few dozen servants! Something was going on. Zeref frowned and quickly descended down the stairs. Suddenly, he spotted through the large painted window the cooks dressed in their usual white outfits in the courtyard smoking and hanging out.
His eyes narrowed, they shouldn't be out here…unless. Zeref twisted on his heels and took off down the last several flights towards the kitchen. If the cooks were outside then…
He burst through the kitchen doors to find his suspicions to be proven correct.
A crimson haired women by the name of Bloodman was standing by the stove cooking, a middle eastern looking man named Ajeel was sitting by the kitchen table impatiently waiting and Dimaria, a young blonde haired and brown eyed women was sulking on the kitchen counter.
"What happened?" Zeref asked, already scanning the room for anything out of the ordinary. To his surprise, he found nothing at all out of place…except for a dark figure sitting in a secluded corner, armor glinting off the bits of light. How did Neinhart manage to make all the light around him to just disappear…
"Neinhart hasn't had his coffee yet Bipolar Mortulo" A deep feminine voice said.
Neinhart growled, "Horrible coffee."
A cloud of depression settled around Dimaria, "It wasn't that bad…" she mumbled.
"It tasted worse then death." Ajeel stuck his tongue out in disgust, his loud voice echoing off the walls.
Zeref only watched the dark cloud thicken around the short haired Spriggan.
"I think you should be forbidden from entering the kitchen blonde walker." Bloodman lightly teased her.
"Bloodman, try to be a little nicer." Zeref scolded,
She turned around, her amber eyes flashing. "I am nice." She pouted.
Zeref glanced back at Dimaria. "Sure you are."
Bloodman frowned at him. her aquamarine tikka glimmered. Something seemed off about her, different. Zeref cocked an eyebrow,
"You changed your outfit again?"
Bloodman was wearing a long white skirt with the sides cut open revealing her legs. She wore a crop top that had metal chest plate that ended in a sharp point around the direction of her shoulders. Her right chest plate had a sea green Alvarez insignia carved into it and around the silver metal, hot pink engravings outlined the chest plate. The middle of the chest plate had an opening revealing her cleavage and was held together by black string. What was up with women and showing off as much skin as possible.
Suddenly, the door to the kitchen opened,
"We have an emergency. There is rebellion in the South." A man of average height marched into the room. His white hair was tied in a loose ponytail by a gold band, his rectangular glasses glinted from the light coming from one of the grand windows of the kitchen. His irises were red, the only color that contrasted from his monotonic blue, black, and white attire. He wore an ice blue tie, white collared shirt and bicolored trench coat along with a firm expression.
"Emergency?" Zeref looked over his shoulder meeting Invel's eye.
Invel's eyes widened, he dropped the document he was holding.
"Your Majesty?" He asked, his voice taking a hight pitch.
Then it hit Zeref, he forgotten all about the mark on his face he got from this morning…crap.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE! DID YOU FALL, OR CONTRACT HERPES! DIMARIA, CONTACT THE DOCTOR!" Invel cried out in horror.
Zeref opened his mouth to try and calm the Winter General but before he could even say a word, Invel already was trying to apply ice to his left cheek.
"Invel, calm down, it is nothing!" Zeref cried out, "I just tried to remove some ink and my skin turned a little pink!"
"Are we to expect a special announcement soon?" Dimaria sat up having recovered from her depression.
Invel's cheeks reddened, Zeref sent a questioning look to the pants-wearing knight.
"What announcement?"
She opened her mouth to answer but was immediately interrupted by Ajeel.
"How long does it take to make a single cup of coffee!"
Bloodman glared at Ajeel, her amber irises narrowing into slits.
"You make one more comment…and you won't get any coffee!"
Silence so tense that even a meat knife couldn't cut through followed. Bloodman and Ajeel held a scowling contest, neither of them backing down. Dimaria lifted three fingers, she mouthed "Three…two…one…"
"Like hell you won't! You already made it!"
"I won't give it to you then! I will give it to his majesty instead!" she shouted back.
The coffee began to bubble, Neinhart lifted his head, his bright eyes narrowed, a vein threatened to throb. The coffee was ready, why wasn't Bloodman getting it off the stove?
"Yes!"
"NO!"
"YES!"
"NOO!"
A foul burnt smell rouse from the coffee, it filled the entire kitchen in seconds. Neinhart let out a low growl, he slowly got up from his dark corner, an angry aura surrounded him. Zeref, Invel, and Dimaria immediately backed away from Ajeel and Bloodman, silently praying that Neinhart wasn't as mad as he seemed.
"I WON'T GIVE YOU COFFEE!" Shouted Bloodman.
"HELL-"
Suddenly, Neinhart was upon the two bickering Spriggans. With one swift motion, he grabbed the two by their collars, (Bloodman by the back of her chest plate) and swung them through the window. CRASH
Bloodman and Ajeel went flying through the marble wall and disappeared into the outside world.
Zeref, Invel, and Dimaria sweat-dropped;
"Was that really necessary?" Dimaria asked, slightly unsettled.
Neinhart looked towards her, his face clear of all emotion, "My coffee was ruined again."
"What an eventful morning…" Invel mumbled,
"How much will it cost to fix the wall with imported marble?" asked Zeref under his breath.
Invel removed a piece of paper from his coat pocket. "Over 100,000 jewels your majesty."
"Order 1 ton of white marble and quartz." Zeref commanded, "And…add a coffee machine…"