Parallel Moons: The Beginning (Chapter 1/?)
Title: Parallel Moons
Description: War has started between two rivalled sisters. One is the sign of hope amongst the people of Meridian, meanwhile the other is a feared legend amongst adult and child. Follow Elyon and Corin as they start an adventure against each other as they discover secrets about each other, and which one is truly the hero.
Chapter: 1/?
Rating: It's mostly T, unless I beat my habit of cringing when I write smut.
Word Count: 4,224
Note: I finally finished Chapter 1! (Well 2 and 3 as well, it took quite a few months!) I'm starting at The BRIT School in September, so I might not have as much time to write and upload. I seem to be writing as if loads of people are reading this :P
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Meridian. A utopia of land blessed by the gods and deities. Five kingdoms rule this sacred world; Kingdom of Arerio Plains, Nesusia Empire, Niflheim, Grand Eden and Sanctuary.
Each kingdom was blessed by a spirit, except for the plains.
Nesusia is ruled by Edna, a disgraced seeress who has defied death and because of this has taken the duty of the Sacrifice. Niflheim is ruled by the Order, a government and royal family who took control after their protector Ragnarok was turned to stone in war. Grand Eden is the capital, the most populated city, home to future god-child seeress and saviour, Elyon. Marconia favours equality and is the most religious kingdom, their saviour being a young and wise priestess, Stella.
The story of this is not about any kingdoms at war or the end of the world, but it about knows about the world you live in, and the ones you care about.
Even if they are your fated enemy.
Meridian 700BR
War seemed to whisper its way through the ruins of a once lively colony. The silently harsh wind only blew north and never stopped, the chatter of old brinks crumbling and falling from the pressure. It was dark, but there was no moonlight to guide even a night owl.
They walked hand in hand as one as they approached the tall, grand structure that awaited them. As they trekked through the debris and ash of a grand utopian city, one of them stopped briefly and looked towards the sky.
“Time seems worthless now; the clouds cover the sky of sadness. We all shared that sky, but now it belongs to nature again.”
The other person, a man, looked towards his fellow companion, a woman, and smiled knowingly.
“Come on, they are waiting for us.”
The man and woman one again joined hands and continued walking towards their destination. As they continued past the houses, the woman spotted a cracked antique mirror. She looked into it sadly, but also touched the helmet that covered her face. She removed it slowly, and her curled golden locks of hair fell down to her shoulders. The man looked at her in adoration and walked nearer to her. “Liana, we must go. We haven’t got long until-“
Liana walked up to him and gently kissed him. “King. We’re here, there’s no hurry. Just calm down and look at me.”, King looked down to Liana with worry clearly written on his face. He grabbed Liana’s arm and started to run towards the tower.
As they entered, the base, the walls were plain stone with floating lanterns; the only way up the tower was via a strange mechanical lift.
Reaching the top, they finally saw what they had come here for.
Liana put her helmet back on while King summoned his longsword, Stathis. He took up a defensive stance in front of Liana while keeping alert of his surroundings. Liana summoned her lance, Despina, and stood beside King. They both looked around the chamber where they were, at the very top of this tower. Liana walked to the balcony and looked over where they had spent months travelling, over mountains, volcanoes and vast seas. King walked over to the throne that was in front of them, a simple royal throne but with no owner.
He approached the throne when suddenly a figure materialised behind Liana, she turned around but before she could react she was thrown over the balcony. King rushed past the figure that now was hooded and was also jumping over. As Liana was falling she used her spear to drag a long line down the tower and pulled it out, with a trail of sparks. What happened next was a huge flash of lightning from the end of her spear hitting the figure, then King used his longsword to swing at the figure but he blocked. Liana threw her spear into a crevasse down the side of the tower, landed on a rock then jumped back towards it and spun around it before pulling it out and launching herself upwards. She stabbed the figure in mid-air and free ran up the wall enough to pull her up. King had jumped from rock to falling rock back up towards the top of the tower as well.
As they re-joined again on safe ground they turned towards the throne, which was now glowing with a radiance of light blue shadow. They both knew it was time to finish their duty. One by one they summoned their hearts; glowing in their hands they placed them on the throne. As the hearts began to shimmer and fade away, so did Liana and King, away with the shadows that they recognised, and welcomed them like an old friend.
Asuse 19AR
Young seeress, take pride in what we have given you. Sing the holy song of our legacy, and live so that you are divine. That throne called for you, so save your tears for that someday, we might meet again.
These words had kept Elyon up all night. Not only all night, but for all 19 years of her life.
She woke from her half sleep and decided to walk around to clear her thoughts. Opening the grand doors, Elyon couldn’t help but notice how different the corridors looked in the middle of the night. She could feel a presence, but no spirit has ever haunted her home.
To call it a home would be wrong; it’s really an estate, courtyard, private garden and palace all in one. The living heirs of royal family of Grand Eden are given it, but it’s only her there. Everyone else is just staff.
She knows exactly who to talk to about this, so she walks down the marble floor in a hurried pace until she reaches the Maid Quarters. Knocking the door quietly with a somewhat practised rhythm, a maid with magenta bobbed hair pokes her head out of the door.
“Ellie? What is it as this hour?”
Elyon looked at her knowingly.
“Ah, I get it.”, the maid grabs something from the room and then shuts the door behind her, and they both walk down the corridor in a mutual silence.
“So how long has this been happening in the last week?”
“About 6 hours. I recorded everything I remembered, and when I read it in the morning it seems so familiar, but I can’t tell why I can remember these dreams.”
They reached a terrace with a simple wooden table and 2 chairs, yet they both knew now wasn’t the time to sit and chat.
“I can feel it, ya’ know. A storm. Like something calling out to me. I feel like I haven’t got long left.”
“Ellie, what is it?”, the maid grabbed her shoulder from behind and spun her round, “Please, I want to help, but keeping secrets isn’t going to help anyone, is it?”
Elyon sighed moved into the maid’s shoulder. “Robyn, I’m so sorry. I don’t want things to get complicated.” She moves away and turns back towards the balcony, looking at the view of Grand Pulse and the starry skies that cover it, Robyn follows.
“Remember that day when I said that we would live together in a farm in the Plains, and shelter all of those animals?” Robyn asked, Elyon smiled at the memory, she could always remember this story.
“And I would join the Academy in the top class, and you ran away from here? I could image us doing that.” Elyon interrupted with a loud laugh at the idea. “I’m serious!” Robyn continued, “Just imagine! Running through the front gates, out of the city and starting afresh with our whole lives ahead of us. Or get a boat, and set sail into a whole new world, there’s plenty to do.” Elyon simply smiled at Robyn’s fond suggestions. It was things like this that bought Elyon back to reality. They were best friends, and their relationship could never be broken, despite one of them nearly dying, spending two years apart in different kingdoms, and even saving your friend in the first place.
It was a few years ago when Elyon and Robyn met for the first time, not in the most convenient of circumstances. Robyn was a poor traveller dealing in the black markets of Nesusia until she was imprisoned by corrupt officials because a whistle-blower reported that she had supernatural abilities. Elyon was visiting the State on royal business when she saw her frail self being beaten by guards. She intervened and technically bought Robyn as a slave, but when they travelled back to Grand Eden she felt that this was a miracle, so devoted her life to serving under the seeress.
Robyn, like Elyon can materialize a weapon from thin air. It’s an ability she has from when she was caught in a nuclear explosion near the black market. It’s a bright pink and blue bow sword capable of firing arrows and deathly sword blows, which proves useful in battle. Unfortunately, because of her low status in society she must keep her ability secret. Larus, the armoury chief would try and teach Robyn how to use the bow sword, to no avail. Instead Robyn suggested that she duels with Elyon because they both know how to fight with power infused in their weapons.
Robyn turned to leave the terrace when she found that the door was locked shut. Suddenly from down the corridor they heard a loud horrified scream followed by a large crash of glass. The girls both climbed the sides of the doors and into a little roof window. There were now sounds of the intruder alarm ringing and guards hurrying to the location of the scream. Robyn and Elyon entered the corridor behind the guards by using a door behind a bookshelf, but what they saw was a sight that would never let you sleep properly again.
One of the maids, Robyn’s apprentice was found in the foetal position on the ground, blood pooling around her. She was shivering and the colour had drained out of her face, around her were the shards of glass and a broken fishbowl on the podium which she must have been pushed into. “Are you okay?”, the guards shouted to confirm she was actually alive. The girl then turned her neck upwards until she saw Elyon stood there in panic.
“You. She’s after you.”
Robyn quickly intervened; this must not have shocked her as much. “What are you talking about? How dare you blame your attack on her majesty!” Elyon held her shoulder, an indication to stop and to calm down. She walked forward slowly and cautiously kneeled down to the girl; “Who did this to you?”
“I can’t speak her name….She said you knew….She said-“, the girl suddenly went lifeless.
“She said I knew? Robyn, you don’t think-“, Robyn had pulled Elyon back forcefully against her chest, “No, don’t believe a word of it. She’s not here I promise-“ But it was too late. Elyon was already struggling for breath, shaking with fear and sobbing with tears. She dropped to Robyn’s knees and muttered something inaudible.
It took up to midday the following day for Elyon to finally recover from her panic attack. She woke in her room with her pyjamas on; and Robyn over the quilt sleeping on the other side of the bed.
What happened last night? I can only remember a scream and then Robyn holding me close.
She rose slowly and crept out of the room before anyone noticed a thing that Robyn should be doing after staying up talking and watching TV. Through an empty side corridor she walked towards the main entrance of the estate, the grand auburn doors cast with solid gold decor that separated the royal from the average. Outside, her first instinct was to visit the outside training arena, there were new Crusaders joining.
The breeze was crisp, just like the end of summer. It whistled calmly as Elyon strode towards the training ring. She walked past the battalion horses having a rest but approached the one at the far left of the stable. She patted the horses head so softly it barely felt like she was at all. After spending a few moments taking in the serene quiet, she carried on down some steps to the ring.
There were three men and a woman. The tallest man was Caleb, in his dark brown oversized jacket, his hair flipped upwards to the side and his trusty scimitar poised for defence. The man Caleb was defending against was one Elyon didn’t know, along with the third man. They both had trainee uniforms on; the second man had pointy black hair and fists as his weapon, although he didn’t appear to look strong, however his flurry of kicks against the sword was unremarkable. The last man was shorter and blonde, he wasn’t taking part in the training but was sat between the fences surrounding the ring holding an SMG.
“Strange…”, Elyon thought, “I haven’t seen a gun like that for years. Crusaders always fought with swords.”
She carried on observing the group for an unseen distance. The girl was at the fence too, but not near the man with the gun. Instead she was standing on the narrow ledge of the fence holding one of the poles for support, cheering on Caleb. “Come on! I’ve seen fairy elves fight better than you! Why don’t you just attack for once?!”
Elyon decided to make her presence known, she stepped out from behind a wall and approached slowly but with hesitance. Caleb saw her coming and then twisted his sword, flipping the man to the ground in the process; he jumped over the fence to see her.
“Your honour.”
“You don’t have to call me that anymore, I thought we agreed?”
“Oh yeah, sorry…Elyon.”
“It’s okay. So what do you have going on here then?”
“New recruits. The one on the ground’s Will , the quiet guy is Joshua and that loudmouth-“, The girl mentioned was already standing behind Caleb, waiting to fight him.”
“…is Bianca. Seems she’s settled in already.”
Bianca stood affirmatively next to Caleb and saluted Elyon. “Good morning ma’am! What Caleb forgot to mention was that I’m a transfer from Nesusia. Former Captain of 2nd Division of Stealth and Assassination.”
Elyon seemed shocked, what was a captain of such a high rank doing here in the Crusader’s training ground? “Former captain?”
“A mission I went on changed me. It was long term, disguising as a rookie gun for hire to assassinate the guy in charge. I killed him but I just enjoyed actually getting my hands a bit dirty; the Empire do everything by the book and stop all the fun from happening, you see.”
At this point Will and a reluctant Joshua joined them. “William Aren, recruit for the Crusaders at your service.”, He gave of a charming vibe, but there was no suspicion. Joshua stepped forward and held out his hand. “Joshua Arbett, recruit.”
“Aww, you’re blushing?”, Bianca said to Joshua, causing him to panic.
“No! No, it’s the sun.”
“Yeah, I love the sun on a cloudy day.” Will said with exaggeration.
Caleb turned around to see Elyon’s face, a look of worry.
“What’s wrong? Sorry about Joshua, he’s shy but cute.” Will then cut in, “You like, like him? Are you two together?” Caleb simply responded by slapping him across the face.
“Don’t worry about me; just make sure you’re trained up.”
“Elyon?” Caleb asked again, “Is this to do with last night?”
Elyon looked up to the sky for hope, just maybe her parents would look down and see the state she had fallen to. They say the gods will smile upon you, however she felt like they were turning away. “Carry on training, I want to watch.”
Bianca, Will and Joshua were already in the ring before she finished her sentence, and it didn’t take long for Will to once again be beaten to the side. Now it was just Bianca and Joshua, he glanced over at Elyon and she met his gaze. He looked back at Bianca and suddenly picked up confidence.
“That’s the Josh we know! Come on shrimp, you don’t want to pussy out like Will do you?” She reached behind her at her waist and took her katana from her sash, it was marked with a golden floral pattern, which seemed to glow for a moment. Joshua also reached behind him and slowly grabbed his two SMG’s, and then pointed them straight in her direction. “Come on Josh; just admit you can’t actually beat me.”
Joshua took an aggressive stance, before suddenly leaping metres into the air. “I’ll show you who the shrimp is!” He yelled from above. Caleb looked like he had never seen this before, but Elyon looked like this was all familiar.
Joshua then turned and started firing a frenzy of targeted rubber bullets. You could say it was raining in the small pit, with thousands of bullets. His ability to jump that far though was extraordinary! He nimbly leaped from each fence post to the next, which Bianca struggled to keep sight of him, and suddenly she raised her katana, mumbled some words and then the pattern glowed as bright as the sun. The sword increased in length, but suddenly four more swords duplicated from the one she was holding.
“You didn’t think us spies only used smoke bombs, did you?”
Suddenly a hurricane of swords swirled around the tiny, fenced arena. Caleb tried to intervene but thought it would be too dangerous. Will was already running away.
“Elyon! Please, stop them! Do something!”
She knew what she had to do. She summoned her staff from mid-air, a long silver staff twirled with glowing wires with two receptors at each end. It had a modern yet angelic design. Elyon raised the staff towards the sky, and suddenly a huge thunderbolt stroke down on the whirlwind of chaos. The two fighters were blown away outside of the fence, but Joshua managed to control himself from crashing, unlike Bianca. Elyon stepped slowly and cautiously towards the fighters, but headed towards Josh first.
She paused for a few moments, giving a small grin. “What kind of man uses rubber bullets?”
He nervously put his hands in his pockets, “Sorry, your honour. I thought this was practice.”
“Please, call me Elyon. You are?”
“Joshua.”
“And do you have a last name?”
“Not that I know of.”
He smiled sadly at her, she could see the suffering inside him. “I’m sorry, I’m the awkward one now.” Elyon started rubbing her wrists, an obvious sign of shyness. “I have to go now. I guess you’re all coming to the celebrations tonight?” She now was addressing all three of them, and had to act professional; Why are you acting so stupid in front of him?
Caleb was the first to answer, after kicking the fence posts back into place. “Sure, we’ll be there. Will, you get those cuts looked at. Bianca, wear something…appealing.” He slyly winked at her; she simply pulled a disgusted face. He resumed, “And Josh, get a nice suit. Seems you might be out to impress.”
Josh’s face turned red and he went to pick up his equipment, “Stop it! Why do you have to do this?” He stormed off nervously towards the barracks.
Bianca and Will gave Caleb an unimpressed look and went after Josh shortly after. The silence lasted peacefully for a few seconds, then left. “So that’s him.” Elyon pointed out, “That explains the acrobatic frenzy then.”
“Please Elyon, he’s young. I gave him a chance to start his life over.”
Elyon paused, still looking in the direction where they left, even though no one was around.
“Make sure he’s in a suit tonight.”
Caleb looked disgruntled at the ground, but still saluted as Elyon returned to the estate. He picked up his equipment, flung the drawstring bags over his shoulder and set off towards to barracks. When he got there, he saw Bianca hanging upside down, trying some now exercise technique, Will was watching the portable television and Josh was sitting cross-legged in his top bunk, quietly reading an old, leather coated book. Bianca stopped her work out to climb up the bunk beds to sit next to Josh. She picked up one of his pillows, to his disapproval, and rested her head on it.
“You can’t stay mad forever, you know.”
Ben annoyingly shut his book and threw it to the side. He looked over at Will to see if he noticed, but he was engrossed in the airship race championships.
Ben turned to face Bianca, with a face full of depression, melancholy and plain sadness.
“It’s been two months since I joined. I still don’t fit in.”
“Well that can’t be the only problem, you look like a puppy that just had its toy taken away.”
Joshua paused, gripping the wooden bar attached to the side of the bunk with nervousness. “I need to tell Her Majesty what happened. What’s happening.”
“What happened last night had nothing to do with you. Corin thinks she can keep coming back here at night to get Elyon, but as her guards…”, she pointed between the four of them, and “…we have a duty to protect her. Starting next week, we all become best of the best.”
Joshua wasn’t one for admiration and caring, but someone made him hug Bianca tightly. He returned the favour, whispering support to him.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I want to know if the Lindblum is actually winning the races this year; I’ve hate the snobby crew from Oceania. “, Bianca jumped from the third bunk to the floor, and landed without even breaking a bone. Joshua picked up his book and carried on silently reading, “Guardians and Gods: The Tale of Two”. He thought about what might happen tonight. This celebration was welcoming the Priestess Cernei from Niflheim. She was in fact a god, but spoke the same language as humans and even looked like one, but slightly taller and wielding the power to bring any city, like Eden, crumbling to the ground in a matter of seconds. The thought of that was scary but exciting.
To think that the priestess Elyon, at the tender age of sixteen, has to greet this goddess, throw her a lavish party and meet her expectations. This was a yearly occasion, although the reasons why this all happens remains a secret. Joshua decided to get some sleep before the preparations. He was trying to dream but her face kept appearing. The greyish hair, the bright, blue eyes, her rosy face….
Why can’t I stop thinking about her? He thought. It seemed like he remembered her from somewhere; but with her face always on every type of media these days, it was hard not to forget a face like that.
An hour or so later, the four of the guards were dressed up and headed to the Grand Hall, ready for an evening that would be unforgettable. They queued outside for a while and were then let in through the huge, oak doors. The hall was lit with hundreds on tiny chandeliers floating in mid-air, the walls were decorated in royal banners from all over Meridian, but in the middle on the hall was one of the most important parts. Elyon.
She was with another girl, and the way they held hands and whispered to each other showed that they were the unbreakable best friends. This girl had pink, bobbed hair but her attire wasn’t as fancy as everyone else’s.
“That’s Robyn; the slave that Elyon rescued years ago. They’re best friends, and quite adorable actually. I still wish I kept in touch with the team in Nesusia.” A female voice spoke in his ear. Josh turned around to see Bianca idly admiring the two girls giggling. She wore a glitzy, black cocktail dress that seemed to do well for all of her assets. Bianca felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around grimly to see Caleb looking down at her with amazement.
“Wow, you really did a good-“He was cut off from Bianca slapping him in the face. Unfortunately, this caught the attention of Elyon and Robyn who were coming over to welcome their guests. Robyn was clinging to Elyon’s arm while looking around, and Elyon rested her head on Robyn’s.
“You two are literally the cutest. It’s almost like you two are going out!” Bianca screamed excitingly, no one could understand her affection for the two, but Bianca didn’t mind screaming and her idols telling them that she loved them.
“Thank you I guess? I’m really nervous about tonight. Do you think this is ok?” She held out her light blue dress and fiddled with the seams nervously.
Joshua suddenly cut in, “It’s fine, don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll do great tonight.”
Biana, Will and Caleb all turned towards him in shock, but Elyon seemed to think this compliment was going to make her evening much, much better. “Thanks, Joshua. I hope you get awarded tomorrow.” She started blushing slightly, so she turned to Robyn who led them away. Caleb and Will were bent over from laughing so much, while Bianca embarrassingly retreated to the bar.
Elyon looked over her shoulder to see Joshua, and when their eyes met she simply smiled and mouthed “Thank you.”
Description: War has started between two rivalled sisters. One is the sign of hope amongst the people of Meridian, meanwhile the other is a feared legend amongst adult and child. Follow Elyon and Corin as they start an adventure against each other as they discover secrets about each other, and which one is truly the hero.
Chapter: 1/?
Rating: It's mostly T, unless I beat my habit of cringing when I write smut.
Word Count: 4,224
Note: I finally finished Chapter 1! (Well 2 and 3 as well, it took quite a few months!) I'm starting at The BRIT School in September, so I might not have as much time to write and upload. I seem to be writing as if loads of people are reading this :P
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Meridian. A utopia of land blessed by the gods and deities. Five kingdoms rule this sacred world; Kingdom of Arerio Plains, Nesusia Empire, Niflheim, Grand Eden and Sanctuary.
Each kingdom was blessed by a spirit, except for the plains.
Nesusia is ruled by Edna, a disgraced seeress who has defied death and because of this has taken the duty of the Sacrifice. Niflheim is ruled by the Order, a government and royal family who took control after their protector Ragnarok was turned to stone in war. Grand Eden is the capital, the most populated city, home to future god-child seeress and saviour, Elyon. Marconia favours equality and is the most religious kingdom, their saviour being a young and wise priestess, Stella.
The story of this is not about any kingdoms at war or the end of the world, but it about knows about the world you live in, and the ones you care about.
Even if they are your fated enemy.
Meridian 700BR
War seemed to whisper its way through the ruins of a once lively colony. The silently harsh wind only blew north and never stopped, the chatter of old brinks crumbling and falling from the pressure. It was dark, but there was no moonlight to guide even a night owl.
They walked hand in hand as one as they approached the tall, grand structure that awaited them. As they trekked through the debris and ash of a grand utopian city, one of them stopped briefly and looked towards the sky.
“Time seems worthless now; the clouds cover the sky of sadness. We all shared that sky, but now it belongs to nature again.”
The other person, a man, looked towards his fellow companion, a woman, and smiled knowingly.
“Come on, they are waiting for us.”
The man and woman one again joined hands and continued walking towards their destination. As they continued past the houses, the woman spotted a cracked antique mirror. She looked into it sadly, but also touched the helmet that covered her face. She removed it slowly, and her curled golden locks of hair fell down to her shoulders. The man looked at her in adoration and walked nearer to her. “Liana, we must go. We haven’t got long until-“
Liana walked up to him and gently kissed him. “King. We’re here, there’s no hurry. Just calm down and look at me.”, King looked down to Liana with worry clearly written on his face. He grabbed Liana’s arm and started to run towards the tower.
As they entered, the base, the walls were plain stone with floating lanterns; the only way up the tower was via a strange mechanical lift.
Reaching the top, they finally saw what they had come here for.
Liana put her helmet back on while King summoned his longsword, Stathis. He took up a defensive stance in front of Liana while keeping alert of his surroundings. Liana summoned her lance, Despina, and stood beside King. They both looked around the chamber where they were, at the very top of this tower. Liana walked to the balcony and looked over where they had spent months travelling, over mountains, volcanoes and vast seas. King walked over to the throne that was in front of them, a simple royal throne but with no owner.
He approached the throne when suddenly a figure materialised behind Liana, she turned around but before she could react she was thrown over the balcony. King rushed past the figure that now was hooded and was also jumping over. As Liana was falling she used her spear to drag a long line down the tower and pulled it out, with a trail of sparks. What happened next was a huge flash of lightning from the end of her spear hitting the figure, then King used his longsword to swing at the figure but he blocked. Liana threw her spear into a crevasse down the side of the tower, landed on a rock then jumped back towards it and spun around it before pulling it out and launching herself upwards. She stabbed the figure in mid-air and free ran up the wall enough to pull her up. King had jumped from rock to falling rock back up towards the top of the tower as well.
As they re-joined again on safe ground they turned towards the throne, which was now glowing with a radiance of light blue shadow. They both knew it was time to finish their duty. One by one they summoned their hearts; glowing in their hands they placed them on the throne. As the hearts began to shimmer and fade away, so did Liana and King, away with the shadows that they recognised, and welcomed them like an old friend.
Asuse 19AR
Young seeress, take pride in what we have given you. Sing the holy song of our legacy, and live so that you are divine. That throne called for you, so save your tears for that someday, we might meet again.
These words had kept Elyon up all night. Not only all night, but for all 19 years of her life.
She woke from her half sleep and decided to walk around to clear her thoughts. Opening the grand doors, Elyon couldn’t help but notice how different the corridors looked in the middle of the night. She could feel a presence, but no spirit has ever haunted her home.
To call it a home would be wrong; it’s really an estate, courtyard, private garden and palace all in one. The living heirs of royal family of Grand Eden are given it, but it’s only her there. Everyone else is just staff.
She knows exactly who to talk to about this, so she walks down the marble floor in a hurried pace until she reaches the Maid Quarters. Knocking the door quietly with a somewhat practised rhythm, a maid with magenta bobbed hair pokes her head out of the door.
“Ellie? What is it as this hour?”
Elyon looked at her knowingly.
“Ah, I get it.”, the maid grabs something from the room and then shuts the door behind her, and they both walk down the corridor in a mutual silence.
“So how long has this been happening in the last week?”
“About 6 hours. I recorded everything I remembered, and when I read it in the morning it seems so familiar, but I can’t tell why I can remember these dreams.”
They reached a terrace with a simple wooden table and 2 chairs, yet they both knew now wasn’t the time to sit and chat.
“I can feel it, ya’ know. A storm. Like something calling out to me. I feel like I haven’t got long left.”
“Ellie, what is it?”, the maid grabbed her shoulder from behind and spun her round, “Please, I want to help, but keeping secrets isn’t going to help anyone, is it?”
Elyon sighed moved into the maid’s shoulder. “Robyn, I’m so sorry. I don’t want things to get complicated.” She moves away and turns back towards the balcony, looking at the view of Grand Pulse and the starry skies that cover it, Robyn follows.
“Remember that day when I said that we would live together in a farm in the Plains, and shelter all of those animals?” Robyn asked, Elyon smiled at the memory, she could always remember this story.
“And I would join the Academy in the top class, and you ran away from here? I could image us doing that.” Elyon interrupted with a loud laugh at the idea. “I’m serious!” Robyn continued, “Just imagine! Running through the front gates, out of the city and starting afresh with our whole lives ahead of us. Or get a boat, and set sail into a whole new world, there’s plenty to do.” Elyon simply smiled at Robyn’s fond suggestions. It was things like this that bought Elyon back to reality. They were best friends, and their relationship could never be broken, despite one of them nearly dying, spending two years apart in different kingdoms, and even saving your friend in the first place.
It was a few years ago when Elyon and Robyn met for the first time, not in the most convenient of circumstances. Robyn was a poor traveller dealing in the black markets of Nesusia until she was imprisoned by corrupt officials because a whistle-blower reported that she had supernatural abilities. Elyon was visiting the State on royal business when she saw her frail self being beaten by guards. She intervened and technically bought Robyn as a slave, but when they travelled back to Grand Eden she felt that this was a miracle, so devoted her life to serving under the seeress.
Robyn, like Elyon can materialize a weapon from thin air. It’s an ability she has from when she was caught in a nuclear explosion near the black market. It’s a bright pink and blue bow sword capable of firing arrows and deathly sword blows, which proves useful in battle. Unfortunately, because of her low status in society she must keep her ability secret. Larus, the armoury chief would try and teach Robyn how to use the bow sword, to no avail. Instead Robyn suggested that she duels with Elyon because they both know how to fight with power infused in their weapons.
Robyn turned to leave the terrace when she found that the door was locked shut. Suddenly from down the corridor they heard a loud horrified scream followed by a large crash of glass. The girls both climbed the sides of the doors and into a little roof window. There were now sounds of the intruder alarm ringing and guards hurrying to the location of the scream. Robyn and Elyon entered the corridor behind the guards by using a door behind a bookshelf, but what they saw was a sight that would never let you sleep properly again.
One of the maids, Robyn’s apprentice was found in the foetal position on the ground, blood pooling around her. She was shivering and the colour had drained out of her face, around her were the shards of glass and a broken fishbowl on the podium which she must have been pushed into. “Are you okay?”, the guards shouted to confirm she was actually alive. The girl then turned her neck upwards until she saw Elyon stood there in panic.
“You. She’s after you.”
Robyn quickly intervened; this must not have shocked her as much. “What are you talking about? How dare you blame your attack on her majesty!” Elyon held her shoulder, an indication to stop and to calm down. She walked forward slowly and cautiously kneeled down to the girl; “Who did this to you?”
“I can’t speak her name….She said you knew….She said-“, the girl suddenly went lifeless.
“She said I knew? Robyn, you don’t think-“, Robyn had pulled Elyon back forcefully against her chest, “No, don’t believe a word of it. She’s not here I promise-“ But it was too late. Elyon was already struggling for breath, shaking with fear and sobbing with tears. She dropped to Robyn’s knees and muttered something inaudible.
It took up to midday the following day for Elyon to finally recover from her panic attack. She woke in her room with her pyjamas on; and Robyn over the quilt sleeping on the other side of the bed.
What happened last night? I can only remember a scream and then Robyn holding me close.
She rose slowly and crept out of the room before anyone noticed a thing that Robyn should be doing after staying up talking and watching TV. Through an empty side corridor she walked towards the main entrance of the estate, the grand auburn doors cast with solid gold decor that separated the royal from the average. Outside, her first instinct was to visit the outside training arena, there were new Crusaders joining.
The breeze was crisp, just like the end of summer. It whistled calmly as Elyon strode towards the training ring. She walked past the battalion horses having a rest but approached the one at the far left of the stable. She patted the horses head so softly it barely felt like she was at all. After spending a few moments taking in the serene quiet, she carried on down some steps to the ring.
There were three men and a woman. The tallest man was Caleb, in his dark brown oversized jacket, his hair flipped upwards to the side and his trusty scimitar poised for defence. The man Caleb was defending against was one Elyon didn’t know, along with the third man. They both had trainee uniforms on; the second man had pointy black hair and fists as his weapon, although he didn’t appear to look strong, however his flurry of kicks against the sword was unremarkable. The last man was shorter and blonde, he wasn’t taking part in the training but was sat between the fences surrounding the ring holding an SMG.
“Strange…”, Elyon thought, “I haven’t seen a gun like that for years. Crusaders always fought with swords.”
She carried on observing the group for an unseen distance. The girl was at the fence too, but not near the man with the gun. Instead she was standing on the narrow ledge of the fence holding one of the poles for support, cheering on Caleb. “Come on! I’ve seen fairy elves fight better than you! Why don’t you just attack for once?!”
Elyon decided to make her presence known, she stepped out from behind a wall and approached slowly but with hesitance. Caleb saw her coming and then twisted his sword, flipping the man to the ground in the process; he jumped over the fence to see her.
“Your honour.”
“You don’t have to call me that anymore, I thought we agreed?”
“Oh yeah, sorry…Elyon.”
“It’s okay. So what do you have going on here then?”
“New recruits. The one on the ground’s Will , the quiet guy is Joshua and that loudmouth-“, The girl mentioned was already standing behind Caleb, waiting to fight him.”
“…is Bianca. Seems she’s settled in already.”
Bianca stood affirmatively next to Caleb and saluted Elyon. “Good morning ma’am! What Caleb forgot to mention was that I’m a transfer from Nesusia. Former Captain of 2nd Division of Stealth and Assassination.”
Elyon seemed shocked, what was a captain of such a high rank doing here in the Crusader’s training ground? “Former captain?”
“A mission I went on changed me. It was long term, disguising as a rookie gun for hire to assassinate the guy in charge. I killed him but I just enjoyed actually getting my hands a bit dirty; the Empire do everything by the book and stop all the fun from happening, you see.”
At this point Will and a reluctant Joshua joined them. “William Aren, recruit for the Crusaders at your service.”, He gave of a charming vibe, but there was no suspicion. Joshua stepped forward and held out his hand. “Joshua Arbett, recruit.”
“Aww, you’re blushing?”, Bianca said to Joshua, causing him to panic.
“No! No, it’s the sun.”
“Yeah, I love the sun on a cloudy day.” Will said with exaggeration.
Caleb turned around to see Elyon’s face, a look of worry.
“What’s wrong? Sorry about Joshua, he’s shy but cute.” Will then cut in, “You like, like him? Are you two together?” Caleb simply responded by slapping him across the face.
“Don’t worry about me; just make sure you’re trained up.”
“Elyon?” Caleb asked again, “Is this to do with last night?”
Elyon looked up to the sky for hope, just maybe her parents would look down and see the state she had fallen to. They say the gods will smile upon you, however she felt like they were turning away. “Carry on training, I want to watch.”
Bianca, Will and Joshua were already in the ring before she finished her sentence, and it didn’t take long for Will to once again be beaten to the side. Now it was just Bianca and Joshua, he glanced over at Elyon and she met his gaze. He looked back at Bianca and suddenly picked up confidence.
“That’s the Josh we know! Come on shrimp, you don’t want to pussy out like Will do you?” She reached behind her at her waist and took her katana from her sash, it was marked with a golden floral pattern, which seemed to glow for a moment. Joshua also reached behind him and slowly grabbed his two SMG’s, and then pointed them straight in her direction. “Come on Josh; just admit you can’t actually beat me.”
Joshua took an aggressive stance, before suddenly leaping metres into the air. “I’ll show you who the shrimp is!” He yelled from above. Caleb looked like he had never seen this before, but Elyon looked like this was all familiar.
Joshua then turned and started firing a frenzy of targeted rubber bullets. You could say it was raining in the small pit, with thousands of bullets. His ability to jump that far though was extraordinary! He nimbly leaped from each fence post to the next, which Bianca struggled to keep sight of him, and suddenly she raised her katana, mumbled some words and then the pattern glowed as bright as the sun. The sword increased in length, but suddenly four more swords duplicated from the one she was holding.
“You didn’t think us spies only used smoke bombs, did you?”
Suddenly a hurricane of swords swirled around the tiny, fenced arena. Caleb tried to intervene but thought it would be too dangerous. Will was already running away.
“Elyon! Please, stop them! Do something!”
She knew what she had to do. She summoned her staff from mid-air, a long silver staff twirled with glowing wires with two receptors at each end. It had a modern yet angelic design. Elyon raised the staff towards the sky, and suddenly a huge thunderbolt stroke down on the whirlwind of chaos. The two fighters were blown away outside of the fence, but Joshua managed to control himself from crashing, unlike Bianca. Elyon stepped slowly and cautiously towards the fighters, but headed towards Josh first.
She paused for a few moments, giving a small grin. “What kind of man uses rubber bullets?”
He nervously put his hands in his pockets, “Sorry, your honour. I thought this was practice.”
“Please, call me Elyon. You are?”
“Joshua.”
“And do you have a last name?”
“Not that I know of.”
He smiled sadly at her, she could see the suffering inside him. “I’m sorry, I’m the awkward one now.” Elyon started rubbing her wrists, an obvious sign of shyness. “I have to go now. I guess you’re all coming to the celebrations tonight?” She now was addressing all three of them, and had to act professional; Why are you acting so stupid in front of him?
Caleb was the first to answer, after kicking the fence posts back into place. “Sure, we’ll be there. Will, you get those cuts looked at. Bianca, wear something…appealing.” He slyly winked at her; she simply pulled a disgusted face. He resumed, “And Josh, get a nice suit. Seems you might be out to impress.”
Josh’s face turned red and he went to pick up his equipment, “Stop it! Why do you have to do this?” He stormed off nervously towards the barracks.
Bianca and Will gave Caleb an unimpressed look and went after Josh shortly after. The silence lasted peacefully for a few seconds, then left. “So that’s him.” Elyon pointed out, “That explains the acrobatic frenzy then.”
“Please Elyon, he’s young. I gave him a chance to start his life over.”
Elyon paused, still looking in the direction where they left, even though no one was around.
“Make sure he’s in a suit tonight.”
Caleb looked disgruntled at the ground, but still saluted as Elyon returned to the estate. He picked up his equipment, flung the drawstring bags over his shoulder and set off towards to barracks. When he got there, he saw Bianca hanging upside down, trying some now exercise technique, Will was watching the portable television and Josh was sitting cross-legged in his top bunk, quietly reading an old, leather coated book. Bianca stopped her work out to climb up the bunk beds to sit next to Josh. She picked up one of his pillows, to his disapproval, and rested her head on it.
“You can’t stay mad forever, you know.”
Ben annoyingly shut his book and threw it to the side. He looked over at Will to see if he noticed, but he was engrossed in the airship race championships.
Ben turned to face Bianca, with a face full of depression, melancholy and plain sadness.
“It’s been two months since I joined. I still don’t fit in.”
“Well that can’t be the only problem, you look like a puppy that just had its toy taken away.”
Joshua paused, gripping the wooden bar attached to the side of the bunk with nervousness. “I need to tell Her Majesty what happened. What’s happening.”
“What happened last night had nothing to do with you. Corin thinks she can keep coming back here at night to get Elyon, but as her guards…”, she pointed between the four of them, and “…we have a duty to protect her. Starting next week, we all become best of the best.”
Joshua wasn’t one for admiration and caring, but someone made him hug Bianca tightly. He returned the favour, whispering support to him.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I want to know if the Lindblum is actually winning the races this year; I’ve hate the snobby crew from Oceania. “, Bianca jumped from the third bunk to the floor, and landed without even breaking a bone. Joshua picked up his book and carried on silently reading, “Guardians and Gods: The Tale of Two”. He thought about what might happen tonight. This celebration was welcoming the Priestess Cernei from Niflheim. She was in fact a god, but spoke the same language as humans and even looked like one, but slightly taller and wielding the power to bring any city, like Eden, crumbling to the ground in a matter of seconds. The thought of that was scary but exciting.
To think that the priestess Elyon, at the tender age of sixteen, has to greet this goddess, throw her a lavish party and meet her expectations. This was a yearly occasion, although the reasons why this all happens remains a secret. Joshua decided to get some sleep before the preparations. He was trying to dream but her face kept appearing. The greyish hair, the bright, blue eyes, her rosy face….
Why can’t I stop thinking about her? He thought. It seemed like he remembered her from somewhere; but with her face always on every type of media these days, it was hard not to forget a face like that.
An hour or so later, the four of the guards were dressed up and headed to the Grand Hall, ready for an evening that would be unforgettable. They queued outside for a while and were then let in through the huge, oak doors. The hall was lit with hundreds on tiny chandeliers floating in mid-air, the walls were decorated in royal banners from all over Meridian, but in the middle on the hall was one of the most important parts. Elyon.
She was with another girl, and the way they held hands and whispered to each other showed that they were the unbreakable best friends. This girl had pink, bobbed hair but her attire wasn’t as fancy as everyone else’s.
“That’s Robyn; the slave that Elyon rescued years ago. They’re best friends, and quite adorable actually. I still wish I kept in touch with the team in Nesusia.” A female voice spoke in his ear. Josh turned around to see Bianca idly admiring the two girls giggling. She wore a glitzy, black cocktail dress that seemed to do well for all of her assets. Bianca felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around grimly to see Caleb looking down at her with amazement.
“Wow, you really did a good-“He was cut off from Bianca slapping him in the face. Unfortunately, this caught the attention of Elyon and Robyn who were coming over to welcome their guests. Robyn was clinging to Elyon’s arm while looking around, and Elyon rested her head on Robyn’s.
“You two are literally the cutest. It’s almost like you two are going out!” Bianca screamed excitingly, no one could understand her affection for the two, but Bianca didn’t mind screaming and her idols telling them that she loved them.
“Thank you I guess? I’m really nervous about tonight. Do you think this is ok?” She held out her light blue dress and fiddled with the seams nervously.
Joshua suddenly cut in, “It’s fine, don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll do great tonight.”
Biana, Will and Caleb all turned towards him in shock, but Elyon seemed to think this compliment was going to make her evening much, much better. “Thanks, Joshua. I hope you get awarded tomorrow.” She started blushing slightly, so she turned to Robyn who led them away. Caleb and Will were bent over from laughing so much, while Bianca embarrassingly retreated to the bar.
Elyon looked over her shoulder to see Joshua, and when their eyes met she simply smiled and mouthed “Thank you.”