Attara: Like I said, I'm updating again!
Aria: Not now!
Attara: You don't want to get married?
Aria: Be quiet!
Attara: Haha! Well, last time we left off where Aria dueled some weird boy in a mask…but the guards interrupted them before they could finish.
Days after my interrupted duel, a messenger informed my mother of grief-inflicting information. At first, she would avoid my questions, but the day before the wedding, my mother finally cracked.
"Aria, your father has been…uh…murdered." She said bitterly.
"What?! How is that possible?"
"A man had slipped past the royal guards in an attempt to kill the pharaoh, but your father had gotten in his way…which was in vain since the barbarian continued with the slaughter that killed the pharaoh."
I remained unemotional while my mother burst into tears. I watched her pitifully, but my heart had grown cold over these years. No, it wasn't because my father had banned Hiko from the village…it was something else. I had never been able to mourn for the dead. They always had an afterlife anyway. But I comfortingly hugged my mother as she sobbed into my shoulder…
"Hurry up, Aria! The wedding starts in three hours!" her mom called.
"I don't want to marry him!" I answered rebelliously.
"Nonsense! You have no choice. You can't cancel on the day you are supposed to be wed. If you don't marry your suitor, I shall disown you!"
"Either way, you won't have me as a burden!"
"Be quiet, Anat!"
"I hate you!"
"…You don't mean that…"
"Yes I do!"
Oops, bad choice of words. Guilt flooded my soul. My mother had lamented over the death of my father, the king…her husband. I was all she had left and my foolish mouth had reminded her of her loneliness. Now is the time to shut up. I told myself then. The maids paid no attention to the argument while they applied make-up onto my face. I glanced at the mirror, seeing no one familiar. I was led out of the house to my future husband's abode. I wasn't exactly "excited" for this event. Who would? Oh well, I had no control over this now. Then, I started to think how he would look like, if he was rich or not. He was most likely a very wealthy person if my parents had it arranged so early. After several minutes, I realized that we were nearing the pharaoh's temple. I started to daydream. I would have a very comfortable life if I was the queen of Egypt. But that would be too good to be true. Beads of sweat ran down my face. Today was hotter than usual, but I still had to wear this heat-trapping mask throughout the village. But I could tell that the sweat was more from anxiousness than heat. Finally, we reached the pharaoh's temple. I was suspecting that he was the groom, which was foreshadowed by the gossiping peasants surrounding the temple. I reluctantly entered. I deliberately walked as slow as I could, even with the fussing of my maids and nurse. I saw at the front there was a contract held by the priest concerning the dowry and conditions. I still couldn't see him. So many stupid people were in the way. But at the altar, he was there. When the ceremony ended, I gave a sigh of relief as they were ushered back to the gardens of the temple where the entrance was heavily guarded. There I could ask for his name, ironically.
"So…what's your name?" I asked.
"My name is Yami." answered the boy.
"Well, my name is Anat, but my friends call me Aria."
"You duel well, Aria."
"So you are the masked boy? Well, you're a very difficult opponent."
Did I ever tell you that my favorite flower was the rose? Well, we happened to run into a rosebush along the way. I stopped down to touch the bud. But I couldn't keep silent for long.
"What rank do you have here?" I asked after several moments.
"I am…the new pharaoh." Yami answered sadly.
"I am honored, your majesty."
Soon, the sun was setting and the king led me back to the temple. Dinner was placed in front of us (on a table), so we sat down to replenish our energy. I observed that the servants were posted at the doorway, ready to serve when called. I silently took bites out of the food, until I had the sudden urge to run away…far, far away from here to the place I had called home just that morning.
Evidently, I acted on that impulse, because I felt my legs carrying me out of the temple and through the desert. They had minds of their own, since they were leading me toward the direction of Daro. Short visions flashed before my eyes. Visions of the past that reminded me of the days where my mother had scolded me so often about wearing my mask to keep out the sand. And even more painful illusions where I found my father working on the royal papers. Sadly, those days were over now. Something struck me down to the earth with lightning speed. I groaned in pain as I realized that my leg had a large gash. I coughed as the sand I sputtered out of my mouth. The pain was unbearable…even more than the pain that I had experienced in the Shadow Realm, which was a lot. For several hours, I just laid there, with nothing to do except for moaning in pain…that is until a group of royal guards had to ruin my "fun" by bringing me back to the castle even quicker than I had run away. Life was definitely not going the way I had planned it.
Attara: That was an interesting chapter.
Aria: I feel the pain!
Attara: Shut up!
Aria: No, you!
Attara: No, you!
Aria: smack
Attara: What did you just do?!
Aria: I don't know…
Attara: I wish I killed you…
Aria: Well you didn't, and you lost your chance…hahahahaha!
Attara: …okay…
Aria: Anyway, don't forget to review! Because I realized that if you got down to here, you probably already read the chapter, so there's no point in saying "read and review" since you already read it.
Attara: sarcastically Oh, please enlighten me with your intellectuality!
