-6-
It was a calm sunny day at Dragon Valley.
A few years have past and Milla was now seven years old, she wore a solid black leotard and a small green jacket that Norah gifted her about a year ago.
For as long as she can remember the hound have always had her asymmetrically colored anklets and bracelets, as she've gotten older she learned to control her powerful senses and adapted to her surroundings. The hound have also began to exhibit strange abilities.
"Milla!" The hound hears a faint call from a distance, the hound followed the voice to investigate. Milla finds a panda girl looking for her, wearing a violet T-shirt with a jacket of a darker hue, the panda had violate shorts and black shoes.
"Hi Norah." Milla responded as she fell off a tree and landing in front of the panda girl, who gestures with a smile.
"So what you wanna do, my mother is currently on some 'important business' at Shang Mu so I'm free to hang out for a couple of hours." Norah explained.
Milla ponders on what they could play, "Hide and Seek!" the hound cheerfully suggested.
"Alright, but you always win."
Milla made a guilty grin, "I'll seek!" she said ignoring the protesting panda.
Norah began to hide as the hound starts to count to thirty "... three… four… five… " Milla makes a discreet grin on her face as she whiffed Norah's scent.
The panda girl decides to climb a tree and hide inside the canopy of leaves.
"... fifteen… sixteen… seventeen… "
Norah adjusted herself so she could be comfortable.
"... twenty-four… twenty-five… twenty-six"
As Norah was readjusting herself, she noticed smoke manifesting from one of the branches she was holding on to, she immediately removed her hand from said branch.
"... thirty! Ready or not, here I come!" Milla announced, she began to follow the panda girl's scent. The scent led her to a large mangrove tree, the hound began to climb the tree assuming that Norah was at the top.
Norah relaxes on top of the mangrove, "Found you!" the ecstatic hound said poping her head into the canopy of leaves, startling the relaxed panda.
The panda fell off the tree and lands on her bottom, "Ow!" she complained, "How did you find me that fast?! That's faster than usual!"
"Sorry, I'm surprised I found you so easily myself… it's almost as though I can sense you… " Milla said with a serious face.
"M-Milla? You're alright, what do you mean by 'sense'. Hey come on, tell me!" Norah demands
The hound reluctantly raises her hand out and as she did her hand began to make a jade glow, out of curiosity the panda girl attempts to touch her hand. Milla warns Norah not to touch her hand, "No! Don't touch it!"
Norah looked dumbfounded by what she just saw, "How did you do that?!"
"I don't know." Milla responds as the jade glow on her hand began to flicker, implying the hound's inability to maintain the glow, "I just… learned how to."
"It's still kinda awesome. Oh, maybe you're a magician!"
"What's a magician?"
"It's like a person who can perform magic."
"What's magic?"
"It's like… um… it's like this… I don't know."
"Why not?"
For the first time Norah was unable to explain something to the naive hound, she felt just as naive and she disliked it. Unable to answer the curious hound's question she finally responds out of frustration "I just don't! I'll ask my mother!"
"Those you're mommy know what 'magic' is?"
"I don't know, she usually goes to Shang Mu and Shang Tu on official business, which usually involves talking to a bunch of old people. When we are home at Shuigang, she always mentions how she's like some kind of important 'mystical figure'."
"So she's a magician?"
"I'm not sure, maybe I'll ask my mom that too. You could just come with me to Shuigang by sneaking into our air ship, but my mother can not know!"
Milla nods cheerfully in response.
After about two or three hours of playing games and hanging out, Norah begins to head back to the city, "Sorry Milla, I got to go. It's a long walk back to Shang Mu." Norah calls as she departs
"Alright, nice to see you again!" Milla calls back.
"Hello, avalice to Milla?" Norah asks, waving her hands in front of Milla's face as they finally reach the palace entrance.
"She did the same thing with me a few days ago." Kai explains.
Milla snaps out of her thoughts, "huh… oh, sorry… so we're here?"
"Yup, so where are we going in this massive palace?" Norah asks.
Milla and Kai shrug their shoulders in response.
As the palace's entrance door opens, revealing the familiar skarlet hallways with white marble floors, the youths are greeted with three servants.
"Welcome back to the Royal Palace, we've been waiting for you Milla, Kai and Norah." one of the servants explains, "Allow us to take you to the dining hall."
The three servants guides the group through the long hallways to the dining hall. The dining hall was a large room consisting of the same skarlet walls with four pillars of a similar hue decorated in golden swirls and white and black marble floors. The longer sides of the room had three window, several types of plants with fountains acting as aqueducts for the plant life, similar to the throne room. The shorter sides consisted of one red hardwood door, one side for guests to enter through and the side across from the youths for the empress or council members to enter through. At the center of the dining room was a long dining table with a total of 32 chairs including the empress' chair at the end of the table, the table was decorated with an assortment of plates and utensils.
"Welcome!" The empress says with a warm smile.
"Thank you for inviting us your highness." Milla expresses, trying to show respect to the young empress.
The empress quickly observes her surroundings as Milla, Kai and Norah sit on their respective chairs, "Hey you can just call me Yasmine, I know you're suppose to refer to me as empress but what the servants and/or council members don't know won't hurt them." she whispers.
The group makes a confused looks on their faces, which confuses Yasmine just the same.
"What happen, is there something in my teeth?" Yasmine retorts.
"H-how are you the empress exactly?" Kai asks with a monotonous voice.
"Well, last year my father mysteriously died. As the princess, I inherited the throne and became the empress of the Qin Empire. Why do you ask?"
"You don't exactly strike me as an empress, I mean you seem underqualified."
"... Underqualified?"
"Have you even stepped out of Zhōngyāng before?" Norah asks.
"Not really, honestly I haven't really 'communicated' with the commoners in years. I guess that's what I have Kongzhi for."
"You can't honestly believe everything your advisor say."
"I see no reason not to trust him, he's my advisor after all."
"If it was left up to your advisor, we would've been rotting in prison, or worse."
Milla gives the husky and panda a scalding expression as she interrupts "I'm sorry if my friends are being mean."
"It's fine… I guess they have a point." Yasmine insures.
"So what are your opinions on Shang Mu, Shang Tu, and Shuigang?"
"Um, I don't know. I've always been told that people from the origin kingdoms were corrupt and selfish."
"You believe that?"
"How can I, don't you come from the origin kingdoms?" Yasmine reasons "There's always people like that, it's only natural. If there's more people like you, then I don't see why we can't try to befriend the origin kingdoms, even Shuigang."
"That's good to hear, you know you don't have to listen to that rat all the time!"
"She's right, he maybe an advisor but you are the empress, the leader of an empire." Kai explains.
"You shouldn't be afraid to make your own decisions!" Norah follows.
All Yasmine could do is make a faint smile, "Thank you, so let's eat!" she says as a couple of servants and robots arrives at the dining hall with several trays, consisting of a large assortment of different foods and treats, "I hope you guys enjoy yourselves!"
As the youths eat their dinner, the empress begins to think to herself, I haven't heard someone tell me to be myself, since… since I was a young girl, I wonder what happened to the boy who told me that…
"Um, excuse me Milla." Yasmine addresses.
"Yeah." Milla responds softly after swallowing her food.
"Can I ask you a question, about the origin kingdoms."
"Yeah?" Milla expresses with a small smile.
"Is it true what they said about Shuigang?"
The hound's expression turned serious, "Yeah, but it's complicated."
"Oh, I see. I'm sure there was a good reason why Prince Dail acted the way he did, but I'm… also glad you and your friends stopped him anyways."
"All I can really say, is that he wasn't himself; I do know he lost someone important to him two years ago."
"You mean his father? Yeah, I guess we're not too dissimilar, I just want to know how the other leaders are like… that's all."
"I think you'll like them, Dail of Shuigang is interesting; Magister of Shang Tu is wise; Zao of Shang Mu… is… eh, eccentric?"
"Eccentric?" Yasmine responds in a confused tone.
"Let's leave it at that." Milla explains with a large grin.
Yasmine makes a short giggle, "Alright, I'll take your word for it, oh and can I ask one more question, this one is personal."
The hound remained attentive.
"Have you ever felt like you've let somebody down?"
"Yes… twice actually."
"Thank you, I won't ask what specifically. I'm sure you don't want to talk about it, but what advice would you give me?"
"I don't know really… I guess you should just either try again or get stronger."
"Thank you, sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable."
"It's alright, I'm going to be honest I'm not the wisest or the smartest, but I'm always willing to help a friend." Milla makes a large smile.
Yasmine makes a warm smile in response, Friend?! She sees me as a… friend!
Soon after everyone was finished with their dinner, the empress instructs the youths to get settled in their rooms, "I hope you guys have a great evening, you're free to roam the halls and ask for anything you may need."
The group bows in respect, and starts heading to their rooms. Milla enters her room, which had emerald colored walls with granite floors; like the majority of the rooms in the palace, the bedroom had at least one wall consisting of plant life. The queen sized bed was made with red hardwood and had green covers, there was two night tables flanking the bed with a blue candle for each, two dressers also flanked the television across from the large bed. There was also a bathroom and balcony for her room.
Milla tosses her backpack to the side as she falls down on top of the mattress, she begins to breathe in an attempt to relax herself. The hound ponders to herself as she stares into the ceiling as the orange light of the sunset covers the bedroom, This is usually around the time when Lilac would ask me if things have been pretty crazy around here, I'm sure I would say yes. It been more than crazy, it feels like as though everything it spiralling out of control, I never thought I would team up with a Red Scarf…
… or see Norah or Serpentine again…
Milla hears someone knocking on the door and answers.
The hound opens the door and sees Kai and Norah on the other side, "We need to talk." Norah explains.
"What happened?!" Milla responds.
"I said the same thing… " Kai retorts.
"I know you're suspicious about what's going on around here as much as I am." The panda girl retorts back.
"... And I know that you're not smart enough to notice something as discrete as political corruption by yourself." the husky counters.
"You know, I do have some experience with diplomacy."
"Is that so, you were a rich girl or something?"
"That's none of your business, so back off!"
"Hey, both of you relax!" Milla interrupts, "What do you guys mean by 'political corruption'?"
"If you're wondering what Vix told me back at the arena, he was telling me about his suspicious about the current situation with Qin. I thought about it, and he have a point." Norah reveals.
"You trust him?" Kai asks
"You don't?"
"Let's say I know of people like him."
"Well, I trust him. We've been through a lot together, even though it only have been a few years, that doesn't matter."
"I also had this uneasy feeling, that something wasn't right. The empress seems distraught." Milla includes.
"Either way, it does seem weird." Kai admits, "Isn't it weird how only a year ago the emperor died, without anyone knowing how he died. Also Yasmine is obviously not even experienced enough to rule a city, let alone an entire empire."
"Where are you getting at?" Norah challenges.
"Don't you think it's a bit convenient, who do we know that would benefit from all of this?"
"I guess Kongzhi, but I don't understand why would he be responsible for the emperor's death, doesn't seem like a politically smart move."
"He could've hired someone."
Milla just had a thought, "Wait, I think I remember something about Serpentine."
"What does Serpentine have to do with anything?" Kai asks
"Before he became Brevon's general; I remember overhearing Torque, the alien who helped Lilac and Carol, talking about how Serpentine was a mercenary. You don't think that Kongzhi… "
"That he tried to have us killed?"
"I doubt that, he seemed fairly surprised when Serpentine appeared." Norah adds.
"Maybe he didn't expect Serpentine to physically appear at all, maybe he planned for the machines to take us out."
"So why did Serpentine appear in the first place, he could've stayed hidden." Milla reasons.
"He did have a vendetta against you, Kongzhi likely hired Serpentine because of his experience against you, but probably went rogue because of that very vendetta."
"That's good and all, but even if that rat is responsible for all of this we have no proof." Norah says.
"We should just tell the empress about this!" Milla suggests.
The party ponders on what course of action to take, they agree to discuss this with the empress, however just when the three youths was going to exit the room, they notice the door was locked.
"It won't budge!" Norah complains, "Hey! What's the big deal!" the panda girl yells, repeatedly banging against the door.
"I'm sorry, but we are in direct orders to keep you in this room, until further notice." A man responds behind the door.
"Direct orders, from whom?!" Kai argues.
"Yeah, you can't keep us here!" Milla adds, "The empress said we can roam the halls, you wouldn't disobey your own empress, would you?"
"Of course not, but in this case it's for the greater good." the agent explains.
"I'll show you greater good!" Norah threatens, with her limbs engulfed in fire preparing to knock down the door.
"Norah, stop!" Kai whispers "We'll find another way out, let's think about this. If we attack any of the Qin agents that will only give Kongzhi another reason to imprison us."
Norah submits, and agrees to listen to Kai's plan.
It was now eleven o'clock at night, a few hours have passed.
Kongzhi enters the empress' room, "I'm sorry for the intrusion your highness, but I have a recent development to share with you."
Yasmine exits her bathroom, wearing a kimono. "Alright, what… is… it… ", Yasmine changes her tone as she notices something wrong with her advisor, his expression seemed unstable.
"I'm here to report an assassination attempt."
Yasmine starts to step back as she sees the rodent slowly creeping up to her with something behind his back, "Oh, um… W-Who was the a-assailant… "
"Oh, I'm sure we both know the answer to that."
"Kongzhi, please don't do anything you'll regret. Y-you w-wouldn't… y-you can't! I'll scream!" Yasmine began to panic as though her life was flashing before her eyes, "P-please… Stop! Stay back!"
"No one is here to hear you. To think that I actually have to do this myself; it's such a shame actually, you could've made such a useful puppet; I'll make this quick and painless."
The rodent have gotten as close as a few inches away from the empress, Yasmine makes a frightened expression as she sees the twisted smile of the person she once believed to have been her trusty advisor, "Please, you don't have to do this!" she cries. Yasmine knew exactly what was behind Kongzhi's back, purely out of instinct she grabs something from her night table and attempts to assault the rodent, however he was too fast
Immediately Kongzhi grabs on to Yasmine's arm with his available hand as he reveals the knife in his other hand and puts the blade against her neck, "I've had enough nonsense, to think that the emperor wanted to entrust the empire with an ignorant, spoiled, and foolish girl like you! Once I'm done with this I'll deal with those pestering children."
Tears went down the red panda's eyes as she closes her eyes waiting for the inevitable..
Suddenly the empress hears a series of strange sounds, she slowly opens her eyes and sees Kongzhi in the other side of the room and right in front of her was a black robed figure holding a strange staff, the yellow crystal at the top of the staff made a faint glint.
"W-who are you?" Yasmine asks, as she wipes her tears off.
The person turns his head and reveals a ginger haired, white furred rabbit with heterochromic eyes. The rabbit greets the terrified empress with a calm smile, the person responds "I'm a friend your highness, you can call me Vix Cole."