Yay! A long weekend! That means more writing time for me!! And more chapters to read for you!
Yes, this is another Beginnings chapter, a couple of years have passed since the last one so...yep.
I don't own ToA or ToS.
Alert: Challenge alert! Challenge alert! Go to the bottom for details!! It's for ToS!!! I presume it's mainly for Zelloyd fans...
Read on!!
"Did you hear? It's Princess Suzunna, there's terrible rumors. They say...they say that Princess Suzunna is dead!"
"What?! How?!"
"Nobody knows! They say that she went missing last year."
"Last year...That's the same time that the said she was ill."
"Yeah! But the search parties came back with nothing! They waited until now to announce her death."
"Oh my...Why didn't they send us? What about her sister? The poor thing, she must be horrified."
"They say she hasn't come out of her room in days. She won't even come for dinner."
"Oh no...The poor princess'..."
"Don't worry Flin, everything will be fine."
This was the daily meeting of the High Auldrant Guard. There were only six members, and only one was elven. Cheresa, Flin, Gredgor, Katherine, Malla and Sylvia.
"Have they found the culprit?" Malla asked.
"Cheresa blew her light blond hair out of her face. "No, but..." she shifted uncomfortably.
"They say and elf might have done it." Slyvia finished, glaring at the table.
"What?!" Flin jumped up. "Why would anyone want to do such a thing?! Sylvia! This is one of your own blood their accusing!"
"I know that...Discriminatory bastards..." Sylvia muttered, she crossed her arms and legs and leaned back in her chair.
"I agree, what about your sister, isn't she in the Elven Court? What are they saying?" Gredgor asked.
"Pfft. I haven't spoken to her in a long time. How should I know?"
"Just wonderin'." Gredgor said gruffly.
"...Why is it that there's only one male here?" Flin looked at all the faces around her.
"I don't know. When did Gredgor get here anyway?" Malla asked, jabbing a thumb in Gredgor's direction.
"Transferred remember?" Gredgor grinned. "From the High Aselian Guard to here. I gotta say, it's a nice upgrade." he stroked his small beard.
"'Cause you're surrounded by girls.." Katherine muttered.
"Where did this topic come from?" Cheresa asked. She stared at Flin, who was twirling a lock of orange hair around her finger.
"I dunno." She smiled.
"Ah, Flin's just trying to kick the gloom out the door, aren't ya?" Gredgor laughed and ruffled her hair.
"Hey!!" Flin glared. Gredgor laughed. Flin was small, and he was big, that was all there was to it.
"What about the Planetary Court? What are they doing?" Katherine asked.
"Well, there wasn't any blood anywhere when they first found out she was gone, so..." Cheresa trailed of. "I think they're thinking on...banning mana."
"Huh? Banning mana? How?" Flin tilted her head. "What about the fonons, they can't ban them."
"I don't know." Cheresa shrugged. "But they've got the Elven Court, and their own elven comrades to deal with."
"Half of the Court is elven right?" Gredgor asked.
"Yeah, they decided to keep it even." Cheresa nodded.
Katherine swayed in her seat. Her blue-green hair fell over her shoulders, and covered her face, giving her a dark appearance.
"Kate, what are you doing?" Malla asked.
"Just...thinking." Katherine brushed her hair out of the way. She smiled. "So, what's Treath been up to?"
"I...have no idea. Last I heard he was wondering around Malkuth-Cresent's territory." Malla tilted her head in thought. "I guess without someone to teach, he's gone wondering about."
"Hm..So Emalia won't even come out for sword practice. The poor thing. Someone should be checking up on her." Katherine said. Flin nodded in agreement.
"I'm sure she's fine, but right now, shouldn't we be talking about something else?" Gredgor asked.
"Something waay more serious than this." Flin said with a poker face.
"Yes." Cheresa stood up. She looked at all of the faces. "A princess has been killed, the culprit hasn't been found, the Courts are practically at war, mana is on the verge of being banned and...We may soon be disbanded to..."
Emalia sat on her bed in her pajamas, reading a book. Every once and a while, she looked over the top to her sword, then to the picture of her, and her sword teacher, Treath Aurion. She stared at the fading photo, wondering where in Malkuth'c country he was now. She shook her head and shivered as something cold brushed her elbow.
"No, get down Dirryst." She pushed the white eyed black cat off her bed. He meowed, slinking over to the corner to lay down. "Cat..."
She set the book on her nightstand, staring at her ceiling through the canopy of her four-poster bed. Exactly one year ago was the last time she saw her sister, Suzunna-Victarisa. And as cliched as it was, it was stormy then. She sighed.
"Not supposed to happen...But..."
The Serenader still hung in her room, across from her own, the Beast Killer. The blue-crystal sword looked out of place in her bedroom, but she wasn't going to let the blacksmiths have it back again. She needed it. She stared at the wing shape on the hilt. Way out of place. But still...
"What's done is done, Miss."
Emalia looked over at Dirryst. The cat was staring at her with blank white eyes. "What's taken will eventually have to be given back anyway."
"Oh? And where do you find the right to say this?" Emalia said coolly.
"...I know my words say that I too will eventually die, but who says that that time will come any time soon?" Dirryst replied. "Anyway, we've got bigger things to think about. Like the Queen."
The fourteen year old princess glared at the cat quickly then stood up, and walking into her closet. "Stay, Dirryst." she said as the cat stood to follow.
"Humph..."
Emalia came back out carrying a single black leaf that seemed to be moving. "I'm the person that has allowed you to live for these past years. And I can easily destroy you, do you get what I'm saying?"
"...Yes..." Dirryst stared at the small black leaf with extreme dislike. "I get it, so can you please put that thing somewhere else?"
"Hm...You know, I think I'll just leave it here." Emalia smirked as she set the leaf on the window sill near her bed. Dirryst shivered. Emalia walked back over to her bed an picked up her book.
"Um...So why don't we see what your progress is?" Dirryst asked after a few minutes of silence, trying to find a way to get away from the leaf that seemed to be drawing his power even from across the room. Emalia looked up at him, in the middle of a note.
"We checked yesterday." she said, finishing her note.
"...Well, progress is progress..." Dirryst said nervously.
"Oh get used to it!" Emalia said. "You aren't even fully grown, but that leaf shouldn't be a problem."
Darn it. "Sorry! It's still uncomfortable!"
Emalia sighed and shook her head in annoyance, but she stood up anyway, her back facing the black cat in the corner. A pair of small, dark silvery wings appeared on her back. They were small, barely reaching past her shoulders, but they gave off bright and dark light at the same time as they flapped silently behind her.
"Hm.. well okay. There isn't much of a difference..." Dirryst muttered.
"I told you." Emalia paused before laying down again, then changed her mind. "Fetch me my shoes. I think I'll take a walk...Up to The Skies..." Emalia smiled thinly. Dirryst shivered slightly, and went to find the shoes that she went walking in. Shoes that she rarely wore.
Emalia kept smiling as she changed from her pajamas, and slid the sword into it's sheath on her belt. She put on her shoes, the heels making a soft clicking noise as she walked to the door. "Come on, Dirryst."
"Why?" Dirryst asked. He was just getting comfortable on Emalia's bed.
"Let's go, Dirryst." Emalia said, lowering her voice.
"C-coming." Dirryst jumped of the bed and followed his mistress down the corridor.
"Ugh. Annoying guards..." Emalia muttered as she began climbing the mountain.
"They're only worried for your safety, Miss." Dirryst said, stepping carefully around small rocks a he walked beside her.
"...Hurry up Dirryst. It's windy out, and I want to do something." Emalia ordered instead of responding to Dirryst.
"Right"
Emalia clutched her jacket closer to her shivering slightly as her dress blew around her legs. She stared into the lake for a moment as they reached the top. The colors shimmered brightly, as if they didn't care about what was happening in the worlds around them. She turned and started down the stone steps, down to the shrine of the Auldrant Shine."
Dirryst walked quietly behind her, his hair went up on end as they walked past the gargoyles. They moved, sniffing him and the princess from a close distance, but couldn't find anything wrong. He stared at the Auldrant Shine, with all of its different stones side by side, forming a star. "...Will it respond to anything with me here?"
"Of course it will, if I give the order." Emalia said as if it was obvious.
"Eh, Miss? What are you planning on-oh don't tell me." Dirryst gasped slightly in realization as Emali raised her hand to the stone. A small ball of fonons and mana formed in between her and the stone.
"Let's go, Dirryst." She smiled. Dirryst shivered for what seemed like the millionth time that day. The look he was receiving looked truly evil and malevolent. It scared him, but a servant must follow his master. Especially this one. He hesitated, but followed her through the mix of fonons and mana. Where on Aselia they would end up, he didn't know, but where ever they did, Emalia would still be able to do what she was surely planning.
Alert!!!: Challenge!!! Okay, it was requested by Sora I. Highland that I put this into this chapter, a challenge that she is holding!
I'm not giving you all the details because if I do, that might make you think that this is my challenge. If you want the details, go to Sora I. Highland's profile, scroll down to the challenges section, and it's all there! Good luck to ya! Mwahaha, of course I'm not doing this, I can't write romance worth crap. I'm all humor.
DO THE CHALLENGE!!!!! (As you can tell I'm bored now...)
But on another note, I'm finished this chapter, so it's either the next chapter, or the Arte of Toddlers...Hm...Choices....