“No.” I smile. “Not right now.” I glanced up and watch as a shadow flutters through the rays of sunlight making physique a black shadow. It leaps high into the air—its cloak fans behind it and I saw prominently the large broadsword. “I’ve got him, Dante!” I call and watch as Dante falls towards us and within one move he sever the head of the ogre. I survey the head bounce along the ground before rolling to face me—his eyes were frozen in shock.
I watch as Dante easily lands on the ground. He wanders over to me. “What are you doing down there?” he teases.
“Must you be a pain?” I irately demand. “Help me up. It hurts!” He pulls me into a sitting position and I felt like my back was on fire. I could tell by the corner of my eye, he’s critically eyeing my back and remains silent. “What was it?” I asked. He didn’t said anything other than:
“We need to get you to a medic and fast.”
I had almost forgotten, “What about Varden?” I asked.
“What about him?”
“He’s lying on the ground over there.” I nod my head in the general direction I had ran beforehand. Dante doesn’t said anything instead he pulls me into his arms and cradles me towards Varden while I direct us. It isn’t too long before we stumble upon him still unconscious.
“I didn’t believe my eyes.” Dante declares.
“Yeah, neither do I.” I retort as he sets me gently on the ground, “What are you—?”
“I need to saw if he’s the real deal or not.”
“And how are you going to do that?” I asked as I watch him kneel beside him. He checks his pulse and places his hand in front of his nose.
“Simple. The Fanaldi crest.” he declares and I watch as his hand turns over Varden’s wrist and beneath it was a tattoo mark in blue of a shield with two swords. “That’s him.” I couldn’t help but gasp in shock. It isn’t too long before we return to Central Citadel to find that Varden was being hospitalised in one of the guest rooms. The empress was quick to remind us of who he is—she doesn’t want the media to catch wind of this, especially if it risks Varden’s identity being high jacked. I was later patched up. My bruised and beaten muscles are healing and the pain was disappearing. I was amazed by the advancements in medicine they had on this planet.
* * *
Chapter 5: Chapter 4
* * *
4. Bound
Outside of Varden’s room, I notice Dante approach, from the corner of my eye. “It’s going to be hard.” he informs.
“What is?” I asked even though I had a strong feeling I know what he meant.
“You, getting back into everything.” he states. With a bob of my head, I know it’s going to be hard but I couldn’t just give up because of that—otherwise what type of person am I? But I also know without a doubt that I was not the type of person to give up so easily, even if it’s difficult.
“There you are.” A woman’s voice angelically sounds. I glanced down the hall and spy a woman in full three-layer body armour strutting towards us with her head held high, a fierce frown moulds her attractive features as she approaches, bit by bit, I began to recognise her. She was the woman from the throne room that same woman who stopped Varden and his inappropriate behaviour. I view her, as she stops not too far from us. She nods at Dante and turns back to face me.
“And you are?” I evenly asked, with a risen brow.
“I’m Zeanna. The daughter of the house of Ezra.” she proclaims and I regard the woman closely. She sawms like an honest woman but I know looks could be deceiving so like my obsession with fear I know I’d be on my toes with her and everyone else.
“Relax. She means no harm.” Dante insists on butting in.
“Aren’t you that woman from the throne room?” I asked.
“Yes I am.” Zeanna announced.
“When we were there did you know or notice that Varden was not the real Varden?” I asked, wondered ing how they could not notice that Varden wasn’t Varden.
Zeanna falls quiet for a moment potentially contemplating how to carefully string her words together, “I did but I wasn’t sure at the same time.”
“How?” I asked.
“He would do and said things that were not normal things for him to said then he’d said other things that were exactly what he would said. He would act accordingly but he would also act differently at times. I thought he was just preparing for the festival.” Zeanna glanceds over at Dante and his eyes rest on me.
“Do you remember what I told you about the festival?” he askeds.
“Yeah I remember. It explains why he’s here doesn’t it?” I inquire.
“Yeah and the other royals.”
“How come I haven’t sawn them?” I asked.
Dante glanceds over at Zeanna and saids, “There in a different part of the palace. A more secure part. Varden was supposed to be there too but because the empress was a little more familiar with him than the others, she allowed Varden to stay in the main palace.”
“When does the festival start?”
“In three weeks.” Zeanna declares.
“And that would give you time to meet with all the royals?” I asked, aware I knew where this conversation was heading. We had to ensure Varden was the only who was the only one to had been high jacked.
“Yes. But given that Varden was impersonated I fear the others might be as well. So we’ll had to scould the rest of them.” Dante saids as he glanceds down at his armoured forearm. He presses something and I notice a blue holographic screen appears above his forearm. He continues to play around with it and I turn my attention to Zeanna. Her lips, I notice, are purged into a thin line mimicking the concern lines baskeding her forehead. I glare at Dante once more.
“You couldn’t scould them like some object.” I growl.
“My lady. Dante means well.” Zeanna defends.
I sigh and said, “I know.”
Several days later, I find myself sparring with Juvias—who’s a well-known warrior. With his long silver hair and piercing blue eyes his pale skin sawms to gleam like marbles under the sun. Left hook, right jab, round house. I block all three, just barely. He’s fast and that’s the problem, when he tries to slow down he was still too quick for me. This was proving to be difficult as he has no choice but to seal away his true strength out of fear of harming me. “You’re letting your guard drop.” he easily proclaims.
“I know.” I said. The palace’s external grounds were detained by a filtering breeze that drifts in from the ocean just over the cliff-side where the palace sat. My muscles burn a comforting burn as we had been training like this for hours. I wouldn’t deny I felt as though I were being driven mad but I press on aware this training will pay off.
“Let’s take a break.” Juvias announced. I nod before taking a seat on the grass beside him. He tosses a bottle towards me and I catch it, curiously regarding it. “What’s the matter, didn’t you know what a bottle is?”
“I know what a bottle is?” I annoyingly reply. Unsealing the lid, I gulp down its contents. It slides along the back of my throat in a cool soothing routine. After a couple of sips, I soon hear the sound of wailing horses in the distance. I glanced over at the sound, to confirm they were headed straight for us. I immediately stand and assess the situation. There were numerous horses, stretching twenty feet across blocking any chance of jumping out of the way. I turn my heel and ran, calling over my shoulder, “Ran Juvias!”
“No need to tell me twice.” he announced and uses his warp majic to escape intimidate danger. Instantly, I felt jealous. He’s able to vanish from the line of danger while I had to manoeuvre around it. I ran through the palace grounds with raging horses at my heels. I pass many people who also avoid the stampede of horses. I push myself harder and stumble upon a stone arching cliff. I leap off and crawl underneath. I could felt the trembling of the ground beneath me and hear the sound of their hooves echoing against the ground. I watch as they leap over me and continue to ran on ahead, further into the distant fo
rest. Once the commotion dies down, I climb out of my hiding spot and regard Juvias who stands on top of the stones that branched over my head for several minutes. “There you are.”
“Juvias?” I asked. He smiles, the two markings on each side of his cheeks sawmed to move as he grinned.
“Yes?” He holds out his hand and helps me out of the pit. I sit down on the grass and gazed at the horses that settled in the distance. They were majestic and beautiful as if they were on earth. A planet that had a habit of destroying its wildlife in more ways than one.
“Where did they come from, the horses I mean?” I asked.
“Most likely the stables. Though how they got out was another story all together.” Zeanna appears before us and I still had yet to understand how and why she was here to begin with. She glanceds over at the horses and smiles, “I saw you were playing chase.”
“I was not playing a game.” I growl and she continues to handle a smile that never sawms to waver. “I was almost killed.”
“Really now? You know, you wouldn’t had died otherwise Juvias would be sorry.” she confidentiality informs and I felt Juvias stiffen before he places his hand behind his head and sheepishly smiles. The smile he draws made me draw a small smile of my own. “The empress would like to saw you.” Zeanna proclaims. This was new to me usually the old lady was too busy to saw me and when she did it was to asked me how my back was going—not that I mind. At least she cared, to some degree.
“About what?” I asked.
“She didn’t tell me. She just wanted me to summon you was all.” She cackles a delicate laugh, “Summon, get it. You know like weapons.” I glare, there must be something seriously wrong with her, I wondered as I regard the armoured woman laugh like a maniac. She sighs, “Phew, man that was a good one.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I grumble. “Where was the empress? was she in the throne room or . . . ?”
Zeanna shakes her head, “No, she’s in the lunar garden.” I figuratively scratch my brain for where I had heard those terms ‘lunar garden’ before and realise it was at the eastern part of the palace. I thank Zeanna and Juvias and head to the lunar garden. Waltzing through the palace always made me felt a little weird but comforted in a way. I was certain if this was true, what the empress told me about her being my grandmother but then again, it isn’t like she’s going to lie or anything.
I stand at a junction, glancing left than right I couldn’t quite figure out which way to go. Something told me to go left but I felt oddly compelled to go right. There was that same power fluttering through the air—it was the power exactly the same to what I felt on earth. It made my skin prickle in fear and rise in gooseflesh. Taking a quick glimpse over my shoulder, fearing someone’s behind me, I spy nothing and no one in sight. Realising I may had been feeling things that weren’t there, I figure to head right and saunter down several more corridors until I come into an open balcony. Out onto the terrace, I saw below, the empress strolling through the garden.
There are times when I feared that this woman would become different. So different, in fact, that she’d change. As I regard her I couldn’t help but smile, she was kin—she was my kin. I move to the stairs and head towards them, aware of the sensation of a different yet dangerous presence in the air.
As I inch closer towards Dante and the empress I carefully regarded them, they were close I could tell and I wondered ed though, how close and how old Dante was. I recalled him telling me when I was in hospital that the empress was well over a few hundred thousand years. Even though she looks like she was in her early thirties, it makes me wondered how long I’d be able to live for. That was if I could transition into my Nefaliem form. I want that form, I want for that to happen but I also wondered if I really was human and if this was all a big misunderstanding.
Reality. There was always something going on behind the scenes. That was how I felt right now. Cornered and unsure of what I wanted. I knew the empress was welcoming but I also knew that there were times when I feared something dangerous was going to happen and what it was . . . I didn’t know. When I approach, she brightly smiles and holds open her arms before warmly embracing me. “There you are my dear, I was wondered ing when you’d arrive.”
“Sorry, I had to find a way to get here. You know the palace was a bit of a maze.” I reply and she smiles and links arms with me, guiding me inside:
“Well it was a bit big.”
I smile and quirk a brow, “A bit?”
She rolls her eyes and smiles, “Okay, a lot.” We giggle and I glanced over my shoulder to regard Dante sauntering after us, his eyes vigilant for danger as ever. This was something I couldn’t quite understand; there were levels of power within the Emerald Hierarchy. Within each level there are families situated in that level which in turn defines their energetic level and pressure. These levels are situated in a way that forms a pyramid; the common weaker energy levels are at the bottom while further up the pyramid there were stronger energy levels, this also depends on the family and where they sit on the social hierarchy. Every Nefaliem had powers no one didn’t and those who didn’t were rare but those are a select few.
As we wander towards the blue diamond in the middle, I notice there were names engraved on it with dates of when they were born to when they died. All of the names were bordered in red and I became curious as to what was going on when we stopped. The empress’s eyes rest on a small plaque in the middle there were two nestled beside each other and I notice one was a woman and the other was a man. The silence was thick and I wait for the empress to start. “We live in a time where war was imminent. But before that war there was a pre-war if you will, one that continues to sever the boarders between heaven and hell and the galaxies. I for one want to end it before it could start but that was the same reason why we train my dear. To stop the chance of this war from ever occurring.”
I allow the words to sink in before I asked, “So to stop this pre-war from occurring you train everyone you could?”
“Yes.” The empress announced with a sad smile.
“But with every warrior there was a high risk of death. And it with these plaques, you saw, are those that had died an honourable death.” I stare at her wide eyed. There were so many headstones and they were on the palace grounds they stretched over the hills in the distance and faded away into the moutains. “We are Nefaliem, we are warriors and that was our custom that was our nature.” I remain silent, sensing she’s going to continue, “Just like all Nefaliem we will one day perish by the hands of our enemies, everyone you know, everyone closest to you will die. That was the unspoken truth. As that was what had happened to your parents.” I felt my muscles glaze over in shock.
“My . . . parents?” I asked.
“Yes, you may not remember but your parents were Silver Knights. They were strong, powerful and everything we Nefaliem strive to be. But one faithful day your father tried to ensure your safety and hid you away on earth were you grew. Later when the time was right, you learnt of your heritage and later became one of us once again—you travelled from worlds to worlds in search of adventure.”
“Did I find it?” I wondered .
She smiles a small smile, “You did and you enjoyed it. Hopefully, all of this one day will come back.” Bit by bit things were returning like this city—I remember it well. When I sauntered through the city once again, I learnt that later it was my memory guiding me through the city on that day when I stumbled upon Varden. I never realised it until several days later, when I questioned how I found him. It was a scent I was subconsciously following. So I knew I was remembering a few things. I know it’s only a matter of time before all my suppressed memories flutter through.
Once Dante and the empress vanished from the mourning grounds as it was known where the headstones lay. I was left alone with my thoughts. There’s a stinging pain in my chest as I try to remember who it was they were. Surely there were some memories? The closet recollection to a memory I had of my parents, was of two people—two ad
ults dressed in clothes similar to the empress’s. One was male and the other was female. Their faces were blurred and their voices silent even though I knew they were talking to me. I remember, their lips moving, especially the woman’s as she reaches out to me.
I didn’t know how long I stood there for but I knew that there was more to their death than the empress was letting on. I saunter from the diamond-shaped pillar and back track to the palace. Once inside, the empress andDante were discussing me in hushed tones, “We had to tell her.” he saids.
“I know but not right now. Give her time to settle in.” the empress whispers.
“And when will that be . . . no disrespect of course but she needs to know what happened. Her highness was alive when the princess arrived.” Dante announced and I felt my blood ran cold. I remember all those moments when I was in the central citadel. There was one time when an earthquake swam throughout the building. The central citadel I recalled or rather now realised was on ‘shut down’, how that happened made me question: what would had caused that? Then there was Varden and his impostor. There were so many things that I wanted to know and yet there were some things like now . . . I really didn’t want to know.
“I know but let’s get her memories back first. I know she remembers but we had to remind her who she was and where she came from.” the empress announced. She spoke so casually to Dante that it made me forget for a moment that she was the empress—a woman of high class. I realise then it was time for me to reveal myself and so I do. Out of the shadows of the corner I walk and I notice those two turn to face me.
I thought I knew what I wanted but I knew it wasn’t this. As I gaze upon the empress I knew she meant well. I carefully saunter towards. “Hey guys.” I greet and became stunned when they both brightly forced a smile.
“Hey,” the empress cooes, “How are you feeling?” If I didn’t over hear her conversation just now I would had considered her question a little confusing but given the recent information. I figured it wasn’t that difficult to comprehend.
Crimson Blade (Crimson Series Book 1) Page 6