Chapter 2

The Journey to Arilea

The room was silent; there was a loud thud as a woman in a white gown fell to the floor. She had fainted. All eyes were on the throne, where the dead king of Sekina lay on the ground, blood staining his golden garments.

Serenity hands had flown to her mouth in horror. Silent tears ran down her face. As she continued to silently weep she looked at the hooded man (she was sure it was a man considering his voice). She watched in shock as he licked the blade of his knife with a long pink tongue, cleaning the blood off, slowly. She could almost feel his smirk and began to shake violently.

Joey stared at his father on the floor. He noticed that blood was seeping from his body at a fast pace and making it towards him. He kept staring, not knowing what to o. Then, common sense and rage ran through him like when he had put his hand on the stove when he was younger. He pulled out one of his wrist knives and threw the left one at the figure.

The knife sliced through the robe and left a shallow cut on the man's left arm. He noticed the skin was extremely pale, a milky white. The man grabbed his arm and growled in annoyance. That little brat…

He looked up to glare at the blonde but noticed that he was surrounded. Smirking, he said, "Well, Prince Joseph I will be seeing you shortly. Don't fret about that. I can't kill you now, my master's orders but I'll come back," turning to Serenity who stared at him, tears still streaming down her face, he just chuckled darkly then reached in his pocket and pulled out a handful of black powder.

Throwing it on the ground, he yelled at pointed at the powder, "IGNITE!"

There was an explosion and Serenity was thrown back against the wall. Hitting it hard, she slumped to the ground. Joey was thrown into two pages and quickly got up and searched franticly for any sign of the murderer. He was gone.

Joey yelled angrily and threw his right dagger at the ground. The dagger was embedded into the marble to the hilt.

Serenity sat on her bed, brush her auburn locks slowly, her chocolate orbs looked glazed. Her father couldn't be dead. Not again. Serenity's chest hurt. The pain wasn't as near as bad as when her mother died.

When her mother had died, Serenity had felt like her heart might just stop working. Serenity loved her mother. She could still remember what she smelt like: rosemary and mint. Her mother had loved to garden. That's why the courtyard of the palace was so famous. It had an elaborate design with flowers that Serenity couldn't remember. Serenity used to love walking at night with her and chasing the firebugs. She had almost caught one. That was the night before she died.

She had died from a tumor in her brain that had slowly been spreading since she was young. The doctors had said that it was a rare disease only 1 out of every 200 people got it. There was no cure.

After she had died, Serenity had cried for two days in a row, only coming out of her room when she didn't have any tears left. She was deathly pale at the funeral and ran to the gardens before the coffin went into the ground. She was found, muddy and dirty in the rosemary where she was asleep. She had been sick for two days after that. She had worn black for a year after that and didn't leave the castle. That was when she was eleven. After that she was always outside, riding Sierra, gardening and training with the squires.

She wasn't sad now; she had thinking to do.

Joey paced in his room. What did that man mean, about elements? Joey quickly remembered what he had said.

'The six elements will be born into this world and they must take hold of their powers to take on the dark lord of Chaos and hate. Only these six can bring peace back to the world, or the earth and the universe will be eaten alive.'

Elements? The only elements Joey knew about were the six ancient ones that only a chosen few could master. Did he hooded man mean them?

He recited them one by one in his mind. Air. Water. Fire. Earth. Light and Dark. Each of the chosen had one element in them that tied them to Mother Earth. Light and Dark were the first children of the sun and moon. Air and water were under the sun while fire and Earth were with moon. The warriors had challenged the wielder of Chaos and banished him to the underworld where he lay locked in a cage of unbreakable light.

Joey's eyes widened. Had the Chaos lord broken free and found a way to cheat the cage?

Joey thought for a second and wondered, why did he tell Serenity and me? Unless…

Joey ran over to his closet and opened it to reveal and large sword. He took it down and almost dropped it. The hilt and handle were pure gold, with silver accenting. He reached for the black sheath and clipped it to his belt. He put his finger on the top of the sword and growled sucked on his finger. It had started to bleed instantly.

He rushed it his clothes closet and began to rapidly pack. He stopped in mid throw. He charged out of the room.

He had to get Serenity.

Serenity slumped in her saddle. It was around mid-night, two days after her father had died. Serenity was dressed in all black and her horse's hooves were covered in cloth. She patted Sierra sleepily. She was very tired.

They left the castle the night before. She thought about how her brother had charged into her room, breathless. Worried, she ran over and asked what was wrong and he put his hand up, asking her to wait. He explained that it was urgent that they left for the capital of Arilea quickly. He hadn't said anything to her since breakfast, when they ate bread and cheese by the giant oak tree in the middle of the forest.

The oak tree was legend. It was said that no one could hurt each other near this area. The range of protectiveness was 3 miles.

They were almost to the end of the range. Since they hadn't gotten any sleep the night before, they slept during the day and left when Joey could see the stars. Since then, Serenity decided to keep her head down and wait until later for answers. She knew her brother was a little shaken up by their father dying.

Joey knew he had to tell Serenity why they had to go to capital, Evankay. They had to speak with the King. Though, Sekina hadn't contacted Arilea since the death of their queen, Joey knew Gozaburo would help. His father and the king of Arilea were drinking partners.

Joey knew little about Gozaburo. He knew that they had had a son named Noa for a short time before…the accident. Before his mother died, he found out from one of the guards that they had adopted two new sons to be the heirs. Joey was still puzzled by this. He had never met the new princes.

Turning back, he saw Serenity look away and he sighed. Maybe he should tell her. "Serenity," he said.

She looked up and smiled, "Yes, Joey?"

He smiled back and said, "I think I should tell you why were going to talk to the Arilea king," she nodded, waiting for him to continue, "The reason we are going is because…well…do you remember what that man said, the one that killed father? About the prophecy?"

She nodded and her eyes sharpened. She listened harder. "Well, I have a feeling that that legend… has something to do with us."

She stared at him and nodded. She had felt the same way. "Do you think we-?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling we play a part."

"Joey! Look! We've crossed the border!"

He turned to see that she was right. The royal forest had ended and they saw a Fief down the hill. He began riding harder towards it. They needed a rest.