Fate's Hand

Chapter 13

2011-11-25T05:33:00.000-08:00

“Who… are you? Why… Why can’t I remember you?”

She did not know how, but she was able to see the small, gentle smile sent her way from the figure before her, shrouded in darkness as she was

“It does not matter,” came the answer, and much to the teen’s ire, a finger came up to now-smirking lips in a shushing manner. “You will remember me in due time. For now, I believe there are people you need to return to.”

“Huh…? What, no, wait!”

~*~

Rityu sighed, scratching his head. He’d just came out of a meeting with Cain Kileros and his followers and… the spy hid a shudder. Not for the first time, he thanked whatever higher power up there that it was him who was doing the spying and not Phiol – his elder brother might’ve just cracked under Kileros’ aura of menace.

He ducked his head as several of who he knew to be directly under the evil lord’s command – to him, a mocking sign of humility. They paid him no mind as they walked by, but their conversation got Rityu’s attention.

“…Lord Cain said that the Thyride girl would not be a problem. Hah!” one scoffed. “She took out the majority of our forces with that spell of hers.” A swell of pride for the youngest Thyride and his brother grew within him at that, knowing how much time his younger brother had spent with her to make her – in crude terms – grow a backbone.

“We cannot afford to send more there, either,” another commented with a sigh, a feathered fan covering half her features. “There are far more important lands we have our sights on, after all.”

The biggest man among them chuckled – a dry and unnerving sound that forced Rityu to drop his previous train of thought. “I’ve sent them a message,” he told his companions, his grin nearly as demented as their leader’s own. “Since they are smart enough to underestimate our lord’s main piece, they should battle her and that Aitelorn brat the lord has his sights on to death.”

There was laughter and chuckled all around, all with the same dry and unnerving quality but one. “Fitting,” the formerly silent man said, his voice that tad bit muffled by a half-face mask. “That is,” he continued with a grin on his face, “if they could even do that; incompetent as they are.”

By that point, even Rityu’s sharp ears could not catch onto what they were saying anymore, but he had heard enough to draw his own conclusions. Battle… to the death? he thought, feeling his heartbeat increase in panic and fear for the two youngest in his family’s household. No. That cannot happen. They still have a whole life ahead of them!

Steeling himself for the potential explosion from Kileros’ twin brother, Rityu made haste towards the teleportation point Kileros had been oh-so kind to provide him with – to avoid suspision, he had told him with a smirk that sent chills down his spine.

~*~

“What?!”

Rityu hid a wince. As per his expectations, the good twin had a fit when he heard the news he brought. Doing his best to hide his own worry, he flipped his ponytail off his shoulder and regarded the silver-haired leader before him calmly – a far cry from his earlier panic.

“We need to inform the people in I’yn about this,” he said, a mask of calmness already settled onto his features. “Send word with a messenger bird or something. I wouldn’t know. I’m not the leader here; you are.”

Lord Abel closed his eyes and took a deep breath… then another. “You’re right,” he answered, his demeanour much calmer. “I’ll go there myself.”

The middle son of the Aitelorns raised an eyebrow. “And how are you going to get there, exactly?” he asked. “Pardon me, but you aren’t exactly a speed-type…”

The older man had to grin. “My brother is capable of setting up teleportation points,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “I, on the other hand, can teleport.”

Teleportation points were easy to set up, Rityu knew. He had set a few up before… though it was mostly for the training the spartan Aitelorn patriarch led. Teleporting, on the other hand, required a huge degree of magical control that most people generally did not have – he had only known of his own mother and Seloria (even though the elder Thyride did not use as much magic as his mother) who could teleport anywhere they wanted, and even get others to teleport with them.

“Are you serious?” he asked, unable to keep the curiosity out of his voice. Lord Abel grinned, gave him an almost cheeky two-fingered salute, and vanished.

“…” Rityu stared at the area the elder man was for a moment before he groaned and brought a hand up to meet his forehead, producing a loud smacking sound. “Yea, rub that fact in, why don’tcha?” he groused, having told the man that he was trying – and failing – to be able to teleport on his own.

Despite that, he was not able to keep the desperate hope out of his heart. Please, he thought, his features turning grim – an unnatural look on his normally smirky face. Don’t let anything happen to them.

Chapter 12 [unedited]

2011-08-07T06:03:00.000-07:00

*Note: This chapter has yet to be beta'd/proof-read. This is due to the fact my usual beta-reader is having some personal problems to deal with, and I don't want to pressure her. I'll remove this little note when it is beta'd.

~*~

Stein frowned as he fiddled with his swords on his belt, somehow not finding their weight to be as comforting as he remembered. They were already in position for a counter-attack, but as the sun continued to rise without any sign of the enemy on their side… No. Focus, Aitelorn. She’ll be fine, he told himself. They had all heard the alarm go off earlier that morning, and a runner informed them the group at the Jajya wall was under attack.

Stein’s first instinct then was to get to Kairi, but the commander of his group stopped him with a stern look. “Let her grow,” he’d told him, and while Stein was hot-headed… he understood. Granted, they did not know Kairi the way he does, but if he kept on coddling the younger teen; kept on protecting her... she would not be able to get over her irrational fear – and that fear is deadly in times like these.

So instead of rushing to where she was, Stein had taken deep breaths, saluted the commander, and returned to his position – in the opposite direction of the Jajya wall.

Remember our spars, woman. You can choose who to hurt and who to protect, he thought, as if hoping his unspoken words would reach Kairi’s ears.

~*~

Dodge. Parry. Counter. Attack. Slash. Roll. Flip. Evade. Stab. Leg sweep. Kick. Duck.

“Archers, fire your arrows!”

Ah, that’s a signal. Roll to the back. Do not let the enemy pass. Wind-elemental spells would blow the arrows off-course, but other elements work. Flare, Ice Wolves, Lightning Bolt – that guy’s too close; cut him down – Quake, the arrows are slowing down; Tornado.

“All right there, Thyride?” someone called, and Kairi barely acknowledged that with a nod. Noticing the signal to resume attacking, the cocoa-haired teen darted forward again, orange eyes dull from exhaustion. They had been at it since three in the morning; the fact that she was still going at it speaks volumes about the determination she has... and perhaps stubbornness.

They had a rotation pattern going on – every time someone switches in to rest, someone else comes out and joins the fray. Kairi had only gone in for a quick heal before she ran right back out. The healers had tried to stop her, but her eyes flashed a dangerous shade of red, shocking them enough that she was able to shake them off.

“I can’t… stop now…” she told herself between pants, sweat forcing her clothing to stick to her skin uncomfortably. Sure, she surprised herself by managing without a partner by her side to watch her back so far, but she was starting to feel the strain. She knew it; heck, everyone around her knew it, but she just would not stop.

Kairi felt childish doing it, but she justified her stubbornness with ‘it’s not their motherland that the enemies are coming from’. The teen stopped short when a chuckle resounded in her head.

Damn straight it’s not their motherland, Kairi, a voice said. Said teen chanced a look around as she evaded several swords, certain that the voice was in her head but not daring to believe it. Oh come on, little one. I’ve been with you since you were… well. You know.

“…what…?” the now-confused teen muttered softly, her movements slowing to a halt. The voice sighed, sounding a little amused.

Right. You probably don’t remember much. It’s okay, though. Here, let me--

And Kairi’s world turned black.

~*~

“What the…” someone muttered in shock. The commander did not blame him – he was just as shocked. He was ready to order someone to get Kairi back into camp when he noticed the teen slowing down, but just as suddenly as she stopped… she moved again.

In fact, she moved faster than she used to. Her spells were more powerful; her strikes more accurate and less hesitant. Kairi… did not seem like Kairi anymore, at that point of time.

“Has she been holding back?” an archer wondered, watching as the cocoa-haired teen zipped through enemy ranks, pausing only to help those who were struggling on their side. Even then, she did not really stop that long – just enough to make sure they were fine before she moved on.

The commander continued watching Kairi’s movements without comment. Kairi had, after a while of charging headfirst into enemy lines, started to pull back – and the power of her magical aura at that point was unmistakeable. He mentally ran through all the powerful spells he knew – even though he could not use magic to save his life – and his eyes widened.

“A Gravity-oriented spell…” he muttered, surprise evident on his features. “Issue the signal to fall back! Thyride has a powerful spell in the making!” he ordered, and the runner scrambled to convey his words.

The originally grim-faced commander felt a smirk break out across his face. Echoing Kairi’s statement from the day previous, he muttered: “They’ll never know what hit ‘em.”

~*~

“Well now,” she muttered to herself with a wry grin, flexing her fingers, “we’ll see how this spell works, shall we?”

She heard the commander give out the order for everyone else to fall back a while ago, and while the enemy forces were confused, they were still attacking. She sensed no magic from the commander, but for him to be able to pin-point the basic nature of the spell she was about to use…

She chuckled. “The commander’s quite knowledgeable about spells. I’m impressed,” she said airily, as if she was not in the midst of battle. Timing was crucial for the spell she was about to use, and the fact that she needed to cast it twice… well…

“Ah, here they come,” she said with another chuckle, her eyes taking on an interesting red hue. The ground beneath her started to shake, forcing the soldiers before her to falter when they lost their balance, but they continued advancing on her.

“Kairi!” someone yelled from the other side of Jajya’s wall, “what’re you doing?! Run!”

“No need for that,” she whispered, chuckling as her eyes continued to take on a darker hue of red. “Not when the spell’s already in place.”

An abrupt silence washed over the battlefield – even from those behind the wall. “W-what is this pressure?!” someone yelled, though who it was could not be identified. Friend or foe, both sides were feeling it effects, though the men before her were feeling it more; they were falling to the ground like dominoes.

She felt herself stumble slightly, but quickly casting the same spell on herself rectified that little problem. “Dark Gravity,” she announced with a predatory grin. “Most people don’t know this one spell, being too used to casting Gravity.” She chuckled. “This spell can only be countered by the same spell, and after that it’s a battle of magical prowess. “ Another giggle. “And it’s doubtful any of you lot know this spell. Almost no one knows of it… ah, of course, except for your leader. Cain Kileros. Too bad for you that he’s not here, now is he?”

“Y-you…”

She giggled in a tone that made one think she was in an ice-cream shop instead of being in the middle of a battlefield. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I’m sure you all have families. But so do we. It’s do or die for both sides in situations like these.” Her daggers disappeared from view, and ‘Kairi’ raised a hand, the beginnings of fire on her fingertips.

She regarded the men before her with calm, almost pitiful eyes. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. “I’ll make it end fast.”

A flick of her wrist, and the flames grew. Another flick, and the fireball flew downwards, crashing into the ground before her. The flames caught onto several soldiers and from there, continued to grow and grow and it seemed as though a sea of red had appeared out of nowhere. Screams of horror and pain from the soldiers died as quickly as it began.

“…rest in peace,” she whispered a little brokenly as the flames began to recede. “…it’s better this way, for you to die in what you believe in than be broken by that man…”

She took several steps backwards as she released her spells, stumbling again. “Haha…” she laughed a little breathlessly, “so she still cannot stand the force of this spell.” She sighed. “It’s okay though… there’s still time for her to learn.”

“Kairi!” someone yelled, and she heard footsteps running in her direction. She smiled.

“You have wonderful comrades by your side, Kairi,” she whispered, “don’t let go of them.” She heard gasps and hastening footsteps when she felt herself fall.

Of course… Kairi’s fatigued. For me to use that spell so carelessly…

“K-Kairi!” Someone caught her. “You stupid, stupid woman!” Wait, from what she knew, Stein was not posted here! “What did you think you were doing? Mother’s going to be so mad…”

Instead of responding, she chuckled lightly and allowed Kairi’s body to get some much-needed rest.

After all, she mused with another chuckle, it’s not me they’re talking to.

Chapter 11

2011-06-11T06:51:00.000-07:00

It was hard, Kairi decided, to be so close to her country yet be unable to go see it. Yes, she heard of its destruction-slash-death and she was on a mission, but it didn’t make it any easier for her to kill the need to set her eyes on what used to be the place she called home.

Stein had – probably rightly – decided that he’d represent the both of them in the currently-ongoing meeting with the other leaders who would lead platoons in the upcoming battles. She did not know how Stein was planning to handle the meeting, but she was going to put her faith in him. He’d told her he would try to get her posted at the Jajya wall so she could deal with the enemies that came that way (‘personally’ was left unsaid between the two).

Karyme offered to give her a quick tour of the estate, and Kairi accepted it. As already implied, the tour was quick, with Karyme pointing her towards rooms she would need to use in the duration of her stay there, and a cursory mention of the other rooms available in the estate. After that, she showed the younger girl the gardens.

“This is also the place I practice whatever spells I have in my arsenal,” Karyme knew she was blatantly lying, but she felt justified doing it. Kairi was restless ever since Stein entered the meeting, and from what little she knew of the cocoa-haired teen… “Go ahead and practice some spells. I’ll watch.”

Surprised, Kairi turned to the blond. “Seriously?” she asked, her tone one of disbelief. Karyme elegantly quirked a brow – Kairi did not want to know how such an action could be done elegantly – and the younger conceded. There were several spells from the book she read that she was itching to try out, with most of them being in elements she never used before.

Karyme stared at the younger female for a while before she decided she did not like that smile on Kairi’s face. It was creepy. The “oh you don’t know what you just asked for” sort of creepy. The Doyle heiress resolved to have Aydan’s spells on hand… just in case.

Twenty minutes and fourteen heat shields later, Karyme resolved to never be near the younger Thyride whenever she was trying out new spells. The almost-insane giggling every time Kairi managed to get a spell right – and when she did not get it right, for that matter, was quite disturbing. It was as though the younger female had never had so much fun before in her entire life – which led Karyme to question what kind of childhood Kairi had lived through.

Oblivious to the thoughts running rampant through Karyme’s mind, Kairi continued her attempts at perfecting the Lightning-element spell she was learning. It was a hard one – then again, Lightning was a difficult element to learn, much less master. She had her right hand in front of her chest with her left gripping her right wrist. The spell she was aiming for required her to mold the element into a ball, and releasing it would cause damage equal to ten explosion spells… or so it said, theoretically.

“Oy, Kairi!” Stein’s voice cut through her concentration just as she nearly managed to finish compressing the tennis ball-sized lightning. Yelping, the ball dispersed and she was thrown backwards, stumbling a little to get her footing back – Karyme’s heat shield kept her firmly in place. Kairi flailed her hand – for such a small thing, that spell packed a lot of punch.

“What is it?” she asked as Karyme dropped her shield and came up to check on her hand – the elder winced slightly at the mild burn marks on Kairi’s visible. Stein came up to them, took a look at Kairi’s hand himself and smacked her upside the head.

“Let’s get your hand looked at first, then I’ll let you know.”

~*~

After Kairi’s hand was bandaged with a stern warning from one of the doctors to not attempt Lightning-based spells without a Lightning-user nearby, Karyme surprised herself by still hanging around with the Duo. They found themselves back in the garden, settling themselves comfortably under a tree.

“It will be dark soon,” Karyme commented, and Stein glanced at the sky, as if surprised the day was ending so soon.

“What was it you wanted to tell me?” Kairi asked, prodding Stein’s arm to get his attention back on the matter. Stein shook his head, as if to rid his mind of intruding thoughts and grinned at the younger teen.

“Guess where I got you posted,” he announced a little smugly. Kairi blinked at him slowly for a moment before her eyes widened.

“No way. You got me the Jajya wall? Seriously?” Stein’s response was to continue smirking his ‘hah told you I could’ smirk and the youngest among them did something Karyme thought Kairi would never do. She squealed and proceeded to hug the life out of Stein, who flailed his arms in a desperate ‘get this mad woman off me’ moment.

Five minutes later (in which Karyme took two minutes to snap out of her surprise, two to laugh at Stein’s predicament, and the final one minute to pry Kairi off him), Stein broke the other news he had. “We aren’t sent to the same area, though.”

Kairi froze then. “What?” she asked, all joy gone. The younger’s reaction was confusing for the Doyle heiress, but Karyme watched silently as Stein poked her right in the middle of her forehead, a gentle smile on his features.

“Hey, relax. I’m close enough that I could provide back-up when your side needs it,” he told the suddenly-glum female. “Remember what I told you whenever we spar? You can choose who to hurt and who to protect.”

Then, Stein did something that made Karyme laugh inwardly. Completely breaking the almost-touching mood he set with his own words, he started shaking the cocoa-haired teen, with each shake emphasizing his sentence: “You. Can. Choose. Who. To. Hurt. You. Stupid. Woman.”

“I think she gets your point,” Karyme chided gently, her tone one of extreme amusement. Stein blinked at her, as if to say ‘fine, steal my fun away’, but gave Kairi one last forceful shake before he huffed and crossed his arms. Kairi blinked the dizziness away from her eyes, shaking her head in an attempt to right her world.

The moment her vision was not swimming anymore, the youngest of the three began chasing her partner around town in a game of tag of epic proportions – Karyme swore she saw the Duo pass her at least five times in the span of three minutes. She stood there, trying hard to hide her amusement at their childish antics before she called for a halt to their impromptu game fifteen minutes later.

“Time for food, then rest,” she told them, laughing at their playful teasing of each other. They really are relaxed, Karyme thought to herself as she played sarcastic peacemaker to their cheerful banter. It’s as though they aren’t at odds with the upcoming battle at all!

A little more silent observation, though, told Karyme that it was all an act. Kairi, if possible, was even more restless than usual, hiding it behind smiles –her eyes were what gave her away. Stein was worried all right – his agitated fiddling of his swords’ straps said it all, but he focused his worry on making his partner more confident in her abilities. Her family’s bodyguards and the additional soldiers sent by Lord Aitelorn, as if noticing and realizing the Duo’s banter to be a way for them to deal with the stress and nerves of an upcoming battle, made no comment.

Dinner was a peaceful affair, but Karyme was pretty sure none would sleep soundly that night. She did not realize when she nodded off, but when she had awoken early the next day, neither Kairi nor Stein were within the walls of her home anymore.

~*~

The first thing Kairi did when she got to the Jajya wall, much to the surprise of the other commander and soldiers with her, was scale it. It was her motherland beyond these walls – she could not help herself. She remembered traditional buildings intermingled with more modern designs; greenery that was cared for by the elderly; the feel of “home” no matter which part of the area you were in…

“…I should’ve known better,” Kairi muttered to herself, taking in the unsightly rubble that was once the place she called her country. “It was a false hope.” And it was. Everyone told her that – even Seloria. But she still clung onto the prospect that something would have been saved.

It was a subdued teenager that returned to the area they dubbed camp. Kairi deflected all questions by running around to help get things organized, and politely steering the concern away from her when asked. She kept it up for quite a while before running away with the commander and other squad leaders for a strategy meeting.

They were barely three minutes into the meeting before a runner came up to them, out of breath and holding onto one of the chairs they did not occupy for support. “The enemy has been spotted!” Kairi’s eyes widened and the older individuals in the room with her began muttering amongst themselves.

Rather surprisingly, Kairi regarded the runner first; her bright eyes a hue darker than usual. “Are they attacking?” she asked, voice oddly calm. The runner shook his head, already catching his breath.

“No, but-“

“Perfect,” Kairi cut him off, already thinking of their next move. “Knowing Cain, we’re outnumbered, correct?” she asked, lacing her fingers together as she propped her elbows on the table. The runner nodded, and her grin was absolutely feral. “You guys start thinking,” she declared, standing up and turning towards the exit of the huge tent they were in.

“What are you doing?” one of the squad leaders asked in mild annoyance, but he was mostly concerned. Kairi was the same age as his oldest daughter, for goodness sakes!

“Simple,” she said, smirking. “I’m going to tear through their numbers. Makes things a lot easier for when we have a set plan to take them down.”

Kairi chuckled darkly, and her departing words caused chills to run down the others’ spines. Being so used to Kairi’s happy-go-lucky attitude, the promise of pain and death in her tone shocked them. “They will never know what hit ‘em.”

~*~

Kairi got herself slightly beyond the Jajya wall. She shed a few tears when the full weight of her once-home destruction hit her, but kept going. Much of the landscape remained the same as the once-bustling country she remembered, much to her surprise, but she still mapped its current state of destruction into her mind as she walked, ducking into nooks and crannies when she sensed people walking around her.

She moved in that manner for a while, making sure her footsteps were quiet and constantly hiding behind walls or ducking into a hidden corner whenever she heard noises or sensed human presence – more than a few times she barely escaped having to engage in combat. Finding the area that was once her home, the cocoa-haired teen ignored the pang of sadness that rose within her, choosing to focus on the task at hand.

She ran up a hill that, in her memories, was behind her home and skidded in an abrupt halt when she spotted tents. So they’re here, she thought, a wry smile on her features. How ironic, Cain. How ridiculously ironic.

“Mystics,” Kairi called in barely above a whisper, smiling when she felt the familiar weight of her daggers fall into her hands. In slow, careful moments, she stood, mentally running through what she remembered of Jajya’s land – the hill was quite prone to landslides, and the only reason why her family’s home once stood where it did was due to the spells that were previously up to stop the soil from hitting the residences.

“This definitely works to my advantage,” she muttered, a slow smirk forming on her features. Kairi started chanting a spell under her breath, but cut herself short and ducked behind some rubble when she heard footsteps and voices.

“Man, this sucks,” a male voice – possibly around 20, grumbled. “Why can’t we attack immediately? I came for the action, not to scout around like idiots.”

“Fool,” an older-sounding male voice retorted. “Scouting is as important as fighting.”

While the voices bickered, Kairi did a discreet scan. Besides the obvious two, there were three others. Perfect, she thought, before tuning back into the little debate they had going on about scouting and fighting.

“-what would happen if you don’t scout and you run into kinks in our plans, huh?”

Kairi emerged from her hiding place then, snickering in an almost insane manner. “Something like this,” she answered in an oddly gleeful tone, daggers spinning frightfully fast. Two of the people she sensed earlier panicked slightly, but followed the lead of the oldest looking one in pulling their swords out. Another two stepped forward, looking as though they itched for a fight.

The oldest one appeared to recognize her somewhat – though from where Kairi did not know. “No, fools, fall back!” he ordered, but the two engaged her in combat, charging with far-too-eager battle cries. Her eyes flashed an odd hue of red, and no one saw how she felled the two rash fellows. All they knew was that she used her daggers, for she took a quick moment to flick the blood of its blades.

“So… who’s next?” she asked with a benign smile, as if she did not just kill two men in an action far too fast for their eyes to follow. “Don’t worry though,” she added as she advanced on them, and the oldest of the remaining three moved to guard his two still-alive charges, even with knowing it’d be futile.

Her eye colour changed from orange to red, and her smile was not assuring at all. “None from your end will escape alive.”

~*~

It was in the late evening that Kairi returned to camp, and with her being almost completely covered in blood, it served for them to panic – especially since Stein mentioned that she was not completely confident in her skills.

“What, no, I’m not injured,” Kairi told them in bewilderment when someone sent a healing spell her way, her bright orange eyes blinking in confusion. “The blood isn’t mine.”

They were a little slow on the uptake, Kairi noticed, watching in something akin to bemusement as they slowly turned and gaped at her. “What?” came the chorus of confused-slash-concerned shouts, and Kairi rolled her eyes.

“The blood isn’t mine,” she repeated slowly, peeling off a torn sleeve that stuck to her skin from the blood. “Be prepared to fight tomorrow, though. I’m sure they won’t continue to keep quiet after tonight.” She made a little disgusted face at the torn fabric. “I’m going to change. Be back later.”

She left them at that point to disappear into a tent she claimed as hers the day before whilst the rest of them murmured and whispered amongst themselves, confused by her flippant attitude. It was less than a minute later that an odd-sounding explosion occurred, and Kairi flew out of her tent with a zipped-up jacket hiding her half-nakedness, scaling the Jajya wall once again. She swept a glance over the horizon and giggled.

“That spell really works well,” she commented, jumping off the wall and hop-skipping back to her tent, humming. Just as her being disappeared into the tent, a runner came up to the other leaders, panting.

“That… that explosion,” the runner said, attempting to catch his breath and report at the same time, “caused a landslide in Jajya. I... I don’t know what caused it, but…” the runner took a breath, “it happened in the area where most of Icolo’s tents were set up. We… we stand a decent chance at winning this battle now!”

As one, everyone but the runner turned to the tent Kairi disappeared into. “What else is she capable of?” came a hushed whisper, but no one had an answer to that.

Early the next morning, a runner sounded the alarm – the same one that indicated enemy forces were attacking. All that were fighting found themselves awake and prepared within seconds, and with Kairi at the very front of the lines, they charged out to meet them.

The war had officially begun.

Chapter 10

2011-04-07T05:59:00.000-07:00

Their run to Hundaf was really… boring… if Kairi had to pick a word for it. None of the bandits Karyme warned them of appeared, and they had basically zoomed through the route they chose to use – quite literally, with Stein freezing the ground to slide along as Kairi’s Wind-enforced jumps brought her further down the path. Hundaf itself was rather plain, being a small, little town meant for ships to dock, unload passengers or items, and move on. Besides a random inn, some shops and a relatively small housing area, the place was absolutely…

“Boring,” Stein completed her train of thought, his mismatched eyes looking about the area with silent regard. He stretched slightly, trying to relax his muscles. “We made good time reaching here; we expected to reach at five, but we got here at,” he checked the nearby clock for the time, “four thirty in the afternoon. The next ship leaves in another 15 minutes.” He nodded rather self-assuredly. “Yup, we made good time.”

Kairi sniggered at him. “Yes, yes,” she said, rolling her eyes as they walked towards the ticketing counter. There was a pause in conversation between them as they bought their tickets, rushed into the ship, and grabbed refreshments. When they found a seat with a table and set their drinks and food down, their discussion began.

“Okay, if I remember correctly,” Stein began, pulling a map (courtesy of Abel) out of his bag, “we’re expected to look out for weak areas, places that can be converted for healing purposes, and places that might be targeted for surprise attacks, yeah?”

Kairi nodded, taking a bite out of the apple she chose to buy. “We should split up when we get there. Covers more ground that way,” she said, grabbing her own map (again, courtesy of Abel) out of her bag. “I’yn is not all that huge to begin with. We could split up, cover some ground, take a break, and later switch to make sure we got all the same spots.”

Stein blinked at her for a second. She blinked back. “What?” she asked, taking another bite out of her apple. “You know…” he began, and Kairi gestured for him to continue. “For someone who spent most of her life kidnapped, you have a really good brain.”

The younger stared at him for a while in bewilderment. “I can’t seem to decide if that was a compliment or an insult,” she deadpanned, taking another bite out of her apple. She ignored Stein’s chuckle as she took another look at the map. “I’ll take north and west I’yn. We’ll trade maps when we switch so we know which spots we got. Savvy?”

Stein snickered again for reasons Kairi did not bother finding out, but uttered his agreement.

~*~

“I’m bored!” Kairi whined for the umpteenth time in…wait, only five minutes? Stein suppressed a sigh and faced the younger. They’d just finished their checking of weak points about three hours ago, and the Doyles’ were not due to arrive for another two hours. He definitely was not warned about how easily bored the younger girl could be (‘Curse you, Seloria!’ he yelled mentally).

(Miles away, Seloria sneezed in the midst of calculating the money needed to restore Destila to its former glory.)

Wordlessly, he grabbed the younger girl by the head (yes, head – he was that annoyed… and that much taller) and steered her into a nearby bookstore. “Book. Pick,” he said simply, and picked out a thick volume of… something. He really did not care at this point. Kairi’s mouth formed an “o” of understanding, and took her time scanning the shelves of books – she came out with a tome of spells… which was pretty darn thick, too (they paid for them, obviously).

Stein gave her a questioning look, and Kairi shrugged. “Never hurts to review what I know and learn what I don’t,” she said by way of answer. Stein shrugged in response to that, and proceeded to drag the younger (by the head again) over to a nearby café.

There, they sat for the better part of an hour – Stein immersing himself in an odd fictional story about a boy who was thrown into an Abyss of sorts and returned only to find ten years has passed, and Kairi mumbling to herself about spell theories – one in particular caught his attention; something about “Ice Wolves”? He’ll have to snag the book off the younger later…

“Say Kairi,” the purple-haired teen spoke after a moment. The other “hmm?” in question, eyes not leaving the page she appeared to be fixated on – it’s probably a really interesting spell, judging by the way she’s so keen on it.

“Are you okay?”

Apparently, his question was not something the cocoa-haired teen expected. She looked up from her book, eyes wide. “What?” she finally forced out after another moment of staring, blinking rapidly.

He sighed, marking his page and closing his book, setting it on the table. “Are you okay?” he asked again. When the younger Thyride showed no sign of comprehending his question, he elaborated.

“You… have something on your mind. I know that much, but I can’t tell if it’s because of the mission or if it was something else.” He leaned forward, rested his elbows on the table, and folded his fingers together in front of his face. “Don’t look so shocked, Kairi – I could read you like an open book seventy percent of times. So, really… are you okay?”

Kairi stared at him a little longer before she, too, marked her page and closed her book. “The border wall… the one that separates I’yn from Jajya… it scares me.” She shuddered. “There were too many weak points the enemy could exploit, and there mere thought of enemies attacking from my homeland…”

Ah, Stein thought, so that’s what it was.

Be as it may, though, he had no words of comfort for the other. Stein reached over; ruffled the younger’s hair, gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile…

…and then the Doyle’s arrived.

~*~

Watching with a bemused smile as Kairi jumped around her in a moment of… she-didn’t-know-what-induced-hyperness, Karyme attempted to try and not follow the younger female’s bouncing with her eyes… and failed. Rather spectacularly at that. The girl just bounces so much like a ball!

“Was your trip back here pleasant?” Kairi asked as they made their way towards the Doyle’s abode. Stein was with her parents, discussing something-or-other as they walked, and the orange-eyed teen probably found it fit to leave her partner alone for the time being. The Doyle heiress actually paused for a moment to think over Kairi’s question.

“Honestly,” she finally said, “if it wasn’t for the looming threat of an attack, the trip back home would be far more pleasant.”

She didn’t understand it, but Kairi’s smile turned a little sad and her eyes travelled in Jajya’s direction a little. “I see,” she said by way of answering and muttered something under her breath. Karyme was sure the younger did not intend to be overheard, but with her senses as enhanced as they are with Aydan’s help…

What does she mean by ‘unlike us’? She wondered, but continued the track to her home in silence.

Chapter 9

2010-11-22T19:11:00.000-08:00

Whilst Kairi stood dead centre in the training room and had her eyes closed in concentration, Stein, who was leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest, had taken to muttering under his breath about how dead he would be once his mother found Kairi out of bed; and how Seloria was going to skin him alive – or something along those lines, Karyme was not too sure. Her gaze remain fixated on the youngest, and Aydan hummed thoughtfully at the back of her mind.

‘Do you think she’ll be able to do it?’ she asked her Swordian mentally after a moment of watching Kairi in silence. Aydan hummed again.

If her weapons are what I think they are, she will. The Swordian’s response made Karyme blink in surprise. Did he know something she did not? Before she could question Aydan further, a quick flare of magic and a muffled curse from Kairi had her snapping her head in the cocoa-haired teen’s direction. When had she look away? Karyme could not remember. Beside her, Stein raised an eyebrow at said teen, who giggled a bit sheepishly.

“Mystics are… rather childish,” Kairi began by way of explanation – which was not much of one. She huffed a little and settled herself on the ground, sitting cross-legged. “This will take a while.”

From the corner of her eyes, Karyme noted that Stein regarded the now-appearing-to-be-meditating teen silently for a few minutes before rolling his eyes and sighing. “Time to face the music,” he said, pushing off the wall and sauntering towards the door. The minor task accomplished resulted in the older duo exchanging glances, then laughing sheepishly in unison before Stein bolted in a mad dash around the training room with Seloria hot on his heels. Karyme retreated to a dark corner with her claymore summoned, brandishing it defensively as Yula stared her down the way a disappointed mother would.

The blonde noticed Kairi – who was supposedly meditating – crack an eye open, the girl trying her best not to laugh at Stein before resuming her meditation. Karyme mentally shrugged; she figured that if she was in Kairi’s place, she would find it amusing as well.

~*~

Rityu crossed his arms, pondering over the titbit of information he had gained from Lord Vermios as he marched towards the training room to get some practice done. Like his father, he knew of the ritual each and every Thyride had been forced to endure at some point of their lives, and Kairi’s reappearing seals did not strike him as particularly comforting.

In fact, from what the man told him, the seals were flaring brightly and almost angrily. “Almost as if trying to warn us,” Lord Vermios had said, before Rityu went on confirming the information he had sent, then walking off in search of his father. The Aitelorn middle-child scratched his head as he raked his brain for something that he may have missed.

He stopped short, however, upon noticing the door to the training room he had planned on utilizing was left open. Peering inside, Rityu was greeted with possibly the oddest scene ever to have now graced his clan’s household.

Seloria, one person he had thought would be able to remain calm and composed in a lot of situations, was chasing his younger brother around the room with her scythe swinging wildly. Stein in a very un-Stein-like manner, was running away and shouting constant apologies, though for what he did not know. Yula was lecturing the Doyle heiress over something-or-other, and Karyme herself was hiding behind her massive weapon. Kairi – silly, ridiculous Kairi, who gave her the idea of leaving the infirmary? – was in the middle of the room, seemingly meditating and not-really oblivious to the happenings about.

“…what’s going on?” he finally decided to ask after five full minutes of staring. Stein explained the situation to him – all the while running around the room and only talking when he passed him, making one very otherwise-short explanation a lengthy one. Karyme shot him a pleading look – one he never thought would appear on the Doyle heiress’ face. Rityu stared for another minute – Karyme looked about ready to cry, oddly enough – and sighed, walking in and poking his mother’s shoulder.

“Mother, I think she gets it already. Have pity on the guest.”

As he expected, his mother whipped around and stared him down – being on the receiving end of the Healer’s stares one too many times, he’d grown somewhat immune to it – and he raised an eyebrow. “Mother,” he tried again, “they’re teens. Rule-breaking is bound to be one of their priorities. Remember when Phiol and I-“

“Okay, I get your point,” Yula snapped – there was that affectionate undertone in it, so Rityu was not all too worried – and rolled her eyes. She did not look all too convinced at letting them go, however. The middle Aitelorn son shrugged.

“Kairi’s sitting down, so that can be counted as resting, don’t you think?” he ventured. Yula turned to look at Kairi (who appeared to really be meditating now, considering the fact she stopped peeking at the room’s situation) and sighed, nodding before glancing over at her youngest and allowing a small smirk to form on her lips. Karyme decided she’d best hide behind both her claymore and Rityu, for that smirk on Yula’s face was disturbing.

“Ah well… let’s let Stein run for his life even more now, shall we?” The sentence was spoken in such a sweet tone that Rityu nearly missed the sadistic gleam in his mother’s eyes. He slapped a hand to his forehead, groaning.

‘Good luck, little bro,’ he thought, inching himself (and subsequently, Karyme) closer to the corner. ‘I don’t want to be in your shoes right now.’

~*~

It took her a while but once she managed to concentrate, Kairi completely lost track of what was happening in the training room. Mystics were within her psyche, she knew, but they felt… out of reach. It was frustrating.

We’re right here, she heard them call out to her countless times. But whenever she reached out to grasp them, they slipped through her fingers rather tauntingly. It was annoying. Very, very annoying. Kairi swore she had yet to feel such an amount of frustration since she was first given Mystics to wield…

…Wait a minute…

Was that what she was supposed to do? Summon them as if she had never summoned Mystics before? That realization seemed to bring the gap between her and her weapons closer, and inwardly, Kairi smirked.

We’re right here, they called again. Instead of reaching out to grasp them like she did before, the cocoa-haired teen remained as she was. As if surprised, Mystics recoiled before calling for her again, moving towards her at the same time. This time, Kairi reached out – but not as fast as she did the many times before. Slowly, almost hesitatingly, she reached for her weapons and this time, they did not slip from her grasp.

Welcome back, mistress, the voice (or perhaps it should be ‘voices’?) of Mystics greeted her. Welcome back.

In the material world, Kairi smiled. ‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘I’m right here.’

~*~

“I got them!”

‘I have to thank that girl for her awesome sense of timing later,’ Stein thought, flopping onto the ground tiredly as Kairi jumped up from her sitting position. She blinked rather innocently at both her sister and the Aitelorn matriarch, smiling and tilting her head to one side.

Seloria promptly marched up to her sister. “Who gave you the smart idea of running out of the infirmary?” she asked, an eyebrow quirked in a manner Stein thought only mothers could do -- Yula probably gave Seloria lessons.

Kairi’s answer was innocently-phrased: “No one.” Stein did not have to look up to see the innocent smile he knew she had on her face. Before anyone could say anything else, Phiol popped his head into the room.

“Ah, that’s great. You’re both in the same place,” Phiol said, stepping in. He raised an eyebrow at the room’s occupants, but said nothing about them. “Stein, Kairi,” the aforementioned duo either nodded or raised an eyebrow, “Father wants to meet you both in his study.”

Kairi nodded and walked over to him, offering a hand to pull him up – which he accepted quite gratefully. “Oh, and he says he wants you both there in five minutes,” Phiol added, causing Stein to groan and Kairi to pat his arm sympathetically.

“…race you,” the cocoa-haired teen said simply. Darn her, did she not know he was incapable of turning down a challenge?

…Wait, she did know.

Stein growled. “You’re going down,” he said. Kairi grinned.

“We’ll see,” she answered easily. Both took down the hallway at an unknown signal… and knocked Phiol aside as they went. The “sorry” they tossed over their shoulders had Phiol and Rityu laughing, for reasons the remaining females present did not know nor understand.

~*~

“I reached first!”

“No, I did!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

Nerion’s attempt at appearing strict was failing, he knew – his lips were threatening to split into a small, amused smile. Abel was already openly laughing beside him at the duo’s antics. He cleared his throat to get their attention, and the duo turned to him rather sheepishly.

“Now that that’s settled,” Nerion said, his tone amused – was it possible for anyone to be more sheepish than they already were? – as Abel calmed his laughter. “We just got word that I’yn would be targeted next.”

Kairi’s reaction was almost instantaneous. “Isn’t that…?” she questioned, frowning. Nerion nodded, pausing to shift through several folders that littered the table he sat behind. He really did not want to send the two youngest under his command out on what he was sure to be a ruthless, brutal battle, but he did not have a choice. Abel needed Rityu, he was sure, and both Phiol and Seloria needed to stay within Destila for the time being – they could not afford being weak.

“I’m dispatching you both,” he said, tossing two similar folders in the air – he felt a surge of pride when the duo in front of him slipped on their poker faces with surprising ease, snatching the folders from mid-air without any hesitation.

Kairi was definitely a speed-reader, judging from how quickly her eyes darted across the pages. Stein went a little bit slower, taking the time to note details Kairi would have missed at the speed she read. Both glanced up a moment later, exchanging looks before turning their attentions back to the two leaders before them.

“They plan to get to I’yn from Jajya?” Kairi’s tone was rather devoid of emotion. Stein smacked her upside the head and she turned and pouted. Nerion resisted the urge to laugh – trust Stein to get Kairi back to acting normal.

“From the looks of it, yes,” Nerion said instead, leaning back on his chair. “I know this is your first mission, but there is no room for failure. We have talked to Patricius and Beyza; they will be departing for their country within the next 48 hours. You both are to leave within the next 18 hours.”

“Normal travel to I’yn takes a day and a half, with half a day on ship,” Stein muttered, thinking. “Which means Kairi and I have around 5 hours for rest and one hour preparation before heading off. Considering our speed and elemental affiliation, we could reach the docks within 12 hours.”

Abel nodded. “When you reach I’yn, you are expected to explore the area, note down areas that are susceptible to attacks and areas that could be converted for healing purposes. Also, keep an eye out for places that would be targeted for surprise attacks. More people will be deployed at the same time the Doyles’ are ready to leave.”

Stein nodded; Nerion could see the gears turning in his head. Kairi appeared to be that bit uncomfortable with the idea, but she nodded anyway. Rolling his eyes, Stein smacked the younger teen upside the head again. Kairi growled lowly, but turned to Nerion and Abel with a smile which appeared to be far too sweet.

“If there’s nothing else, we’ll take our leave,” she said ever-so sweetly, and Stein had enough common sense to start running. Nerion saw that Kairi allowed Stein that little two to three second head-start – she was just that much faster in comparison – while she bowed her leave before turning and proceeded to chase Stein around the castle.

“Well,” Abel said after a moment, “with those two around, the castle is never boring, huh?”

Nerion rolled his eyes and nodded.

~*~

Seloria was not sure if she was proud of her sister’s calm, if not full, acceptance of her first mission. “I’ll be fine,” she insisted while packing – just two changes of clothes; she needed to travel light. “Don’t worry so much.”

“I’ll be fine when you’re back here,” she told the younger Thyride instead, her fingers fiddling with the already-worn string of her eye patch. Kairi finished packing, shoving her sling bag to a corner on her bed before jumping off it and landing neatly on Seloria’s.

“You worry too much,” the younger teased with a grin. “And stop fiddling with the string, you’ll snap it. It’s brittle enough as it is.”

Kairi was right, Seloria realized. She had traded her more fancy-looking eye patches for a standard medical eye patch when helping out with the repair works. She sighed and sat on the bed, and Kairi, as if understanding the elder’s hesitance, scooted closer to her, resting her head on the other’s shoulder.

“I’m your sister; it’s in the job description to worry,” Seloria answered, and Kairi grinned.

“What’s in the job description for being Phiol’s personal helper, then?”

“Oh, the usual – whack him on the head if he starts to slack off, make sure he remembers to eat… things like that.”

“Ah, so you’re like his mum,” the cocoa-haired teen affirmed in mock-wise tone. Seloria stared at her blankly for a moment before the sisters exploded into giggles.

~*~

Karyme found the Duo (as she had gotten to calling Kairi and Stein in her head – the capital included) in possibly the earliest hour she had ever woken up (really, who in their right mind would be awake at five in the morning?). Said Duo were performing some stretches, chatting about which route would allow them to reach their destination fastest. Neither of the Duo’s siblings were there, nor were the Aitelorn patriarch and matriarch, but Karyme guessed the siblings were forced to sleep, and Yula was the one forcing the siblings to sleep in the first place. As for the Aitelorn patriarch, Karyme spotted Nerion in what-looked-like a study room, probably going through the mission parameters again before he met up with the Duo.

“I say we take the south route,” Stein was saying when she walked up to them. Was it just her, or were the bodyguards that came with her parents all staring at the Duo rather sceptically?

“Wouldn’t cutting through the west route be faster? We’re on a rather tight time limit.” Kairi asked, still stretching as she waved at her. Karyme idly waved back as she came to a stop beside them.

“Nah, the west route’s too crowded,” Stein replied, nodding his head in greeting. “It’s a common trade route now, so our best bet would be to stick to the south route, or cut between the east and north routes. Cutting between routes might cost us some time, though, considering the fact that the north route is another common trade route.”

Kairi hummed in thought. “What about cutting between the south and east routes? Oh, oh wait. The area around the east route is developing, isn’t it?”

“You got it,” Stein confirmed, before turning his attention to Karyme, who was feeling rather bemused. “Are you planning to join us in our half-day dash to the docks?” he asked rather cheekily, and Kairi rolled her eyes.

“No,” Karyme answered, “but I’d like to point out that there are bandits wandering the south route right now. We had a rather short run-in with them on our way here.”

“Ah,” Kairi said, “in which they got served.” Stein’s sudden coughing fit sounded suspiciously like laughter, but Karyme did not call him on it, feeling rather amused by the…‘eloquent’… manner the younger female put it.

Feeling rather cheeky herself, she gave them a mock-bow (Kairi began giggling, and Stein did not bother hiding his amusement). “Why yes. By yours truly,” she said. “I’ll be doing the same thing every time I travel, so be sure to not miss it.”

“Karyme – is it all right if I called you that?” At her nod, Kairi continued. “You’re too awesome for the trade business. Please don’t go into that line of work.”

Catching on to the cocoa-haired teen’s line of thought, Karyme gave a little melodramatic sigh. “Alas,” she moaned, still rather melodramatic, “I’m an only child. If my parents would grace me with a younger sibling, however…” Stein was rolling on the ground with laughter by then.

“I see being up at five in the morning has made you rather amusing, young Karyme,” Nerion’s voice snapped Stein out of his laughing fit, both him and Kairi straightening. Karyme turned and grinned at the Aitelorn patriarch.

“I’ve been told I’m hopeless without a cup of coffee in the morning,” she supplied the not-so helpful information in a very helpful tone. Kairi sniggered. Nerion allowed a small smile.

“I’m sure of it,” he told her, refocusing his attention to his son and charge soon after. “Are you two ready?”

Both of them slid their poker faces on at the tone used. Stein nodded, and Kairi uttered an affirmative. “I trust all required information has been memorized?” Another affirmative. “You both know your objectives. Mistakes on your first mission are fine, but do not do anything that would cost someone their life. Secure I’yn. Failure to do so is not an option.”

The Duo snapped some kind of salutation then; right hand fisted above where their hearts would be, heads bowed slightly. “Affirmative, sir.”

Nerion nodded. “Well then. Be off, and may the Lords be with you.” The Duo replied in kind (“And may you and yours be blessed.”) before turning around. Behind her, Karyme could tell several of her bodyguards were going to spring into action.

So she turned around. “And what do you lot think you’re doing?” she asked, her tone and expression betraying nothing of her thoughts. The Duo turned to look at her at the tone she used, confused.

“My apologies, Miss Doyle,” one spoke, “but we do not believe that two children will be of much help for our country. We would leave with them.”

Before the Doyle heiress could say anything, Stein scoffed, and Kairi tried her best to not laugh in her family’s bodyguards’ faces. “Follow us? Seriously?” he said, his tone one of disbelief. “If speed is not what you’re trained in, don’t bother. You won’t be able to keep up.”

“If we could reach port town Fiontar – it’s more than 500 kilometres away, for your information – in an hour, what makes you think you could keep up with us?” Kairi added, an eyebrow raised. “And you do realize you’re talking to the person who kept Cain at bay when he put his Draining Barrier up, right?”

Karyme turned to Nerion, who appeared to be amused. “Fiontar in an hour? Seriously?” she asked, bemused. Nerion shrugged. “It was actually 54 minutes 19 seconds for Kairi, and 55 minutes, 54 seconds for Stein. Kairi’s bound to be faster since she’s on a full speed-increase training scheme. And as for helping… they are more than capable. I’ve trained them personally on war tactics.”

“So,” Stein turned back to the bodyguards, who shifted rather uncomfortably at those bits of information, “still coming with us?”

Kairi had rolled her eyes and turned to Stein, poking him on the shoulder to get his attention. “Race you,” she said with a grin, a competitive glint in her eyes.

Stein grinned, his eyes echoing her competitiveness. “Oh you are so going down,” he drawled, and the youngest Thyride raised an eyebrow. “We’ll see about that,” she said simply, popping her neck.

Nerion sighed. “On my count,” he said, and the Duo slung their sling bags across their shoulders. “Begin.”

Karyme did not bother hiding her amazement. All she did was blink and they were already jumping over the castle’s walls – and the walls were at least 500 metres away from where they had been standing. “Wow,” she whispered, then turned to the shell-shocked bodyguards.

“Still plan on following them?” she asked before sauntering back into the castle. Bed was calling out to her for another two hours or so of sleep.

Chapter 8

2010-09-01T06:37:00.000-07:00

Rityu stood in silence as he watched Seloria teleport back to the Aitelorn castle with Kairi in her arms, his hands in tight fists. Had his message to Lord Vermios arrived too late? He had sent the fastest carrier bird to inform the lord too…

As if sensing his internal plight, the aforementioned lord walked up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You did what you could,” the green-eyed man said in barely above a whisper, giving his shoulder a soft squeeze before he let go and walked alongside his father, discussing matters in hushed tones. Rityu shook his head. ‘If this was the best I could do,’ he thought to himself, gritting his teeth, ‘it’s just not good enough.’

“Rityu?” Stein’s voice shook him out of his thoughts. His younger brother looked concerned – and more than a little confused. “Are you okay?” Rityu held his brother’s gaze for a moment before he reached out and ruffled the younger’s hair, who protested with a frown. He flashed a half-grin and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Don’t worry about it,” Rityu uttered as they began their trek home. “It’s no big deal.”

~*~

Seloria found herself in the infirmary feeling a little disoriented, realizing why a moment later. Karyme had clung on to the teleportation spell she had used, and she had little to no practice with teleporting three people at once. The younger female gave her an apologetic smile, her face pale, and Seloria decided there was no point telling off the younger girl – it seemed quite obvious to her that Karyme needed rest, and lots of it.

She guessed Yula was alerted to their presence from her spell as the Healer rushed to their side, commanding her to place Kairi on a bed while she directed Karyme onto one beside Kairi’s.

“The Lord and Lady Doyle offered to give me some assistance,” Yula told her after the Aitelorn matriarch gave Karyme a strength-replenishing potion and making sure the girl downed its contents. Seloria moved out of the way as Yula worked, not missing the frown that crossed the Healer’s lips when she noticed the marks on Kairi’s neck. Seloria herself winced at the angry red marks; if the Doyle heiress had not distracted Cain when she had…Kairi would not even be breathing at this moment.

“…I don’t even want to know,” Yula muttered, shaking her head and casting a diagnostic spell. The results proved to be satisfactory, Seloria thought, for the Healer’s lips twitched into a small, relieved smile. “Other than some bruising and exhaustion, she’s perfectly fine,” she informed Seloria, who let out a sigh of relief herself.

“I’ll go and assist the Lord and Lady Doyle with calming the people down, then,” the scythe-wielder said, dismissing herself from the Aitelorn matriarch’s presence – who barely realized it, being so focused on healing the bruise on Kairi’s neck – and turned to the slowly-calming crowd of townsfolk with a hopefully tranquil disposition… just as Stein walked past her and through the infirmary doors.

~*~

Lord Vermios’ interaction with Rityu was odd, thought Stein, but he had other pressing matters on his mind at the moment… one being to check-up on Kairi’s wellbeing. That, he realized belatedly with a start, was entirely the reason why he barged into the infirmary (that had only two occupants on the beds), muscles tense. Karyme glanced over at him from her sitting position on a bed, her expression gave little to deduce but hinted an emotion torn between either amusement or bemusement, while his mother rolled her eyes at him.

“She’s fine,” Yula told him before he could ask, “Her injuries were easy to heal. Kairi’s merely exhausted right now, and I’m not expecting her to wake up anytime soon today.”

Stein nodded, the tension melting out of his muscles as his shoulders relaxed. He turned to the Doyle heiress then, a bit of an apologetic smile on his face for his blatant ignoring her. “How are you, Miss Doyle?”

She waved off his unspoken apology, smiling rather politely instead. “As I’ve informed your mother earlier, I merely need to catch my breath. The potion she offered, however, was much appreciated.” She paused then, as if pondering something. “I’d prefer you call me Karyme.”

Stein blinked at that then grinned a little. “Only if you’d call me Stein,” he responded a little cheekily, pulling a chair towards himself and plopping down onto it. Karyme laughed a little, a hand reaching up to daintily cover her mouth as she did so. “As you wish,” she answered, and his grin grew.

Yula rolled her eyes at him again, and he snapped a mock-salute. “Stein, I trust you to keep an eye on Kairi,” she told him – that suited him just fine, truth be told, though that fact confused him to no end. “I will be heading over to where your father is.”

With that, Yula headed out of the infirmary, its doors shutting behind her with a soft click. With that, Stein and Karyme sat there in some sort of companionable silence, both deep in thought. That silence was broken, though, when Kairi began to stir. The duo shared a glance – Yula said Kairi was not expected to wake so soon – and the youngest amongst the three woke with a start, sitting upright on the bed with orange eyes wide open yet unseeing.

‘Uh-oh,’ Stein decided, recognizing that look – that look was frequent on Kairi’s face in the first three weeks she was rescued. These ‘attacks’ (as Seloria called them) came at random; some psychological thing that he never bothered to figure out the name to, only knowing it was linked to whatever happened to her in the years she spent kidnapped.

Among all of them, his mother and Seloria were the ones who could best calm the younger down, though Phiol did a pretty good job at it himself (he was not surprised at this fact, however – his eldest brother was the one him and Rityu had often turned to when they had nightmares and were younger). He barely gave Karyme any such inkling as he stood from his chair and sat on Kairi’s bed, his hands gently settling on her trembling ones.

“Kairi. It’s me, Stein. You’re all right. We got you.”

~*~

Karyme was not particularly certain of what happened, but that blank yet scared and haunted look in Kairi’s eyes was a little… upsetting. It did not really fit the mental image she had of the younger girl – one of an always-smiling, always-upbeat teenager who wouldn’t stay down, despite the fact she only knew the younger girl for less than a day.

Goes to show that not everything can be categorized, Karyme, a deep voice chided her at the back of her head, light humour in its tone – there was that unmistakable hint of curiosity about Kairi in that voice, though. The strawberry-blonde resisted the urge to roll her eyes at that, instead shifting on the bed so her legs could dangle off the side.

Stein was still quietly calling Kairi’s name, his tone awkwardly gentle; as if he’d never done something like this before. Kairi remained unresponsive, though her shaking had lessened down a notch – a good thing, Karyme decided, considering the amount of relief running through Stein’s expression.

Encouraged by the improvement, Stein continued whatever it was he had been whispering to the younger; daring to shift closer and bring the younger female into a hug (his position would hurt his back, however). As minutes passed, the blank look in the youngest Thyride’s eyes faded a tad bit, replaced by the usual light of life that shone – albeit dimly right now – in those orange orbs. Kairi blinked once, then twice as Stein pulled away – his hands never left hers, Karyme noted.

“Kairi?” he ventured softly. The cocoa-haired teen looked around the room slowly, as if not remembering where she was. Her eyes landed on Karyme, staring at her almost inquisitively -- Karyme herself meeting the younger’s still-blank gaze with a somewhat still one of her own -- before her eyes moved on, taking in the room before stopping on Stein.

With a sigh, Kairi fell forwards, her head landing softly on Stein’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, “I thought this was done and over with by now. It’s just… been so long since I last had one.” Stein sighed as well, his hand reaching up to pat the back of Kairi’s head.

“It’s not your fault. Don’t worry about it,” he assured. Karyme slid off the bed then, her soft footsteps surprisingly loud in the quiet infirmary. Kairi, head still on Stein’s shoulder, turned to look at her, bangs falling in a rather haphazard fashion over her eyes as the older female stood beside the bed. Cordially, Karyme reached out and placed a hand over Kairi’s, procuring a lithe smile at the cocoa-haired teen in a reassuring manner.

“I know not much of what happened in your past,” she offered sensibly, “but whatever it was, was not your fault.” The Doyle heiress decided that whatever she said was what Kairi needed to hear, for orange eyes widened a little before that blank look in them faded away completely. A small smile graced the younger’s features then.

“Thank you.”

~*~

Nerion sighed, feeling the beginnings of a headache. Phiol was back in town with several of the town’s builders, assessing the damage done and the cost of restoring the town to its former glory. Rityu and Seloria were nearby, but found themselves in the almost constant company of some distressed town folk. Even his guests, Patricius and Beyza Doyle, found themselves helping out in the after-effects of the attack, with their only daughter stuck somewhere in its midst when the attack began.

‘I’m getting too old for this,’ he decided as Lord Vermios – or rather, just Abel to him and Yula – walked up to him, his green eyes troubled. “Lord Aitelorn-“

“Just Nerion, Abel,” he interjected. He allowed himself an amused smile when the younger male stopped in mid-sentence, jaw hanging. Nerion raised an eyebrow. “What? I, for one, have had enough of the formalities between us when you are Yula’s half-brother.”

Abel let out a quiet chuckle after a moment’s silence. “I suppose so,” he said lightly. “Right now, however, something rather… confusing… came to my attention earlier while I was working on breaking the Draining Barrier. It’s that girl,” he said, pausing a while to recall a name that Nerion already knew, “Kairi Thyride.”

Nerion nodded. “First,” he said, “how do you know Kairi’s name? Cain certainly did not tell you her name during the skirmish earlier.”

The younger male scratched the side of his cheek. “Well… I have my sources,” he answered vaguely, though the fact that Abel’s eyes flickered over to Rityu for a split second did not escape Nerion’s notice. So his middle son was involved. Nerion made a mental note to keep an eye on Rityu as he nodded for Abel to continue with his concerns.

“When I was getting about to breaking the Draining Barrier,” Abel said, his voice low, “I noticed in a quick lapse of attention that the younger Thyride had seals drawn on her right arm, and she didn’t seem to realize they were there. I’ve heard of the Thyrides needing rituals to control the demonic qualities present in their blood, but I have not heard of any one Thyride – up until their unfortunate massacre – to have the seals originally drawn on their dominant arm still showing up.”

Nerion’s eyes narrowed – this bit of information was new. Having sparred against the cocoa-haired teen alongside his youngest son, he was sure he would’ve noticed if anything out of the ordinary showed up on either one of them. The fact that he didn’t, alongside that Kairi herself didn’t notice anything odd was that bit worrying.

“Perhaps,” Nerion muttered after a moment’s thought, “it would be best for us to consult the archives. If we fail to find any information on this,” his silver eyes flickered over to Seloria for a brief moment, “Seloria might be able to help.”

Abel nodded, trusting the elder’s judgement on this matter. “There is another thing that worries me,” he confessed. “My source tells me that Cain has plans to attack another country some time within the three weeks.”

That was not at all comforting. “If we gather our people and send them there within a week, we would have a good chance of making sure that country still stands,” Nerion responded. “Which country is it?”

“Neutral country I’yn.”

Nerion resisted the urge to massage his temples. I’yn was at least two weeks away. If they didn’t deploy troops within a few days, they wouldn’t make it to I’yn on time. Yula, who had overheard what Abel said, had turned to him with wide eyes.

‘I’m really getting too old for this.’

~*~

Karyme’s easy acceptance of her attack without knowing the story behind it was confusing, Kairi thought as she ignored the older duo’s (Stein and Karyme herself) calls for her to return to the infirmary. Instead, she had jumped out of bed within minutes of recovering from said attack and ran out the door, prompting them to chase after her.

‘I need to get stronger,’ she thought, her hands tightening into fists. ‘I will not allow myself to be a burden in this war.’ Kairi pushed the doors to the training room she and Stein normally used open, marching up to the centre of the room without bothering to close the door.

Stein ran up to her and grabbed her arm, turning her around to face him. “Kairi, you need to rest,” he snapped. “You can train after resting.”

“I need to get stronger,” she reiterated her earlier thought, orange eyes narrowed slightly. “I have to. With how I am right now, I can’t be sent out to missions without making anyone worry if the mission will succeed! I cannot allow myself to be a burden to my mission partner – to you. I…” Kairi trailed off, feeling the drive that powered her sudden rant die out as she hung her head, refusing to meet their eyes, “I… can’t.”

She didn’t have to look up to see the look Stein and Karyme exchanged. She heard Karyme’s soft footsteps again and the door closing, and then she heard Stein sigh. “Okay,” he said simply, letting go of her arm. “Well first you have to get your weapons back. Think you could summon them?”

Well that was certainly not the reaction she expected. Kairi looked up only to see Stein looking at her inquiringly, arms crossed, while Karyme… Karyme had closed the door and was walking in their direction.

“Well… it’s been a long time since I did,” Kairi concurred after a moment. “I’m not sure if Mystics would answer my call.” Stein hummed in thought, and Karyme looked thoughtful.

“I don’t know if your Mystics are the same as Aydan,” Karyme started, holding a hand out and having her claymore appear in a rush of flames before she grasped its hilt, “but Aydan normally answers my calls, no matter the time period of summoning him in between.” She paused for a moment, pondering as she de-summoned her weapon. “It takes a while to summon him after a particularly long time, though.”

“So you mean to say,” Stein said, his tone questioning, “that the longer the time period between summoning your weapon, the longer it takes to actually summon it and vice versa.”

Karyme nodded. “Precisely,” she agreed, before both turned to look at Kairi, who had taken a few steps back. She smiled at them.

“Only one way to find out, don’t you think?”

Chapter 7

2010-07-31T01:13:00.000-07:00

Kairi weaved her way through the panicking crowd with little trouble, calm eyes taking in everything yet nothing. She did have to divert through several longer routes to avoid the stampede of rushing people, however, and that had caused the slight delay to reach her destination.

The brunette was mentally cursing that fact when her ears picked up on someone’s not-so distant pleas to let them go. She dashed through the alley she was in to get to the once-not clearing, cussing audibly when she saw a lady and child who were cowering from their attacker – a man she and her sister remembered with little fondness. The silver haired, yellow-eyed man looked no different from the one in Kairi’s memories – complete with the same sadistic smile on his face. “Cain,” Kairi hissed with more than just venom in her voice when said person made to strike the defenceless duo with the sword he held.

Remembering the replacement spell Yula taught her just days ago, Kairi hurriedly casted it and allowed her position to switch with that of the vulnerable duo, her Wind-elemental shield raised immediately and deflecting the strike from Cain’s sword. “Run, quickly!” Kairi called to the woman and her child, eyes still focused on the man before her.

“Ah, Kairi Thyride,” the man before her spoke as he angled his sword away from Kairi’s shield, listening to the quickly receding footsteps of his almost victims. “Imagine my surprise when I went looking for you two months ago only to find the people I ordered to contain you dead.” His tone was one of mock-disappointment.

“I’m not sorry at all,” Kairi spat, orange eyes narrowed. Briefly, she wondered if her weapons would answer her summoning – it had been a while since she’d called upon them, and all the times she spent training with Stein they had utilized mere wooden weapons. But Kairi found she had no time to consider summoning them to her aid as Cain did not take her response favourably, launching a vicious spell in her direction.

Kairi flipped away from the incoming fireballs, frowning when she found she could not move beyond the clearing they were in. ‘When did he have time to cast a barrier?’ she wondered, rolling away from a sudden ice spike.

“Reinforcements better come soon,” she muttered under her breath, dodge-rolling under a swing from Cain’s sword and lashing out with a kick.

~*~

Karyme found the weapons shop with ridiculous ease, dashing inside and immediately bumping into the very person she was looking for. Said person blinked at her, confused by the seemingly unnerved expression on her face though his hands remained securely fastened around the package he had picked up for his father. The…quake…the blonde deduced, had not reached this part of the city after all. “Is something the matter, Miss Doyle?” Stein asked. Noticing Kairi’s poncho in her grasp, his eyes narrowed slightly. “Where’s Kairi?”

The older recited to Stein word-for-word of what Kairi informed her earlier. She watched as Stein’s eyes widened for a split second before narrowing once more. He nodded and gestured for her to follow him. As the pair arrived briskly back at the Aitelorn castle, Karyme observed that majority of the town folk, if not all, had already gathered within the sanctuary of a castle.

She continued to wordlessly follow the youngest Aitelorn, watching attentively as Stein marched into the meeting room without any hesitation whatsoever. A hasty but somewhat necessary action, the blonde figured, recollecting beforehand-mentioned instructions that the meeting’s progression was not to be interupted. It seemed the room’s occupants were yet informed of the ill happenings outside either.

“Cain is here,” Stein announced bluntly, steeling a new tenseness within the space’s atmosphere.

~*~

Stein was not all that surprised to see the occupants of the meeting room stand in shock – Cain’s influence and the horrors he brought were beyond infamous, after all. “Are you absolutely sure, Stein?” Seloria asked, her sole eye slightly narrowed. There was a certain edge in the older female’s voice that Stein did not like – it was one of barely concealed rage.

“More than half of the towns folk can testify to that,” Karyme answered instead from behind him, and Stein nodded to her in thanks as he dropped the package he was holding onto the table. Rather hastily, he worked himself away from his parents and brothers’ grasp, silently cursing himself for not being prepared with his weapons – he now had to dash to his room to grab hold of his swords.

“Stein!” Rityu called as he once again evaded their grasps and dashed out of the meeting room hurriedly. He turned ever so slowly, expression one of pure annoyance as he regarded adults who had to ask too many questions when someone was waiting for back up.

“I,” he said slowly, as if talking to children who did not understand why they could not have ice-cream before dinner, “am going to my room to grab my weapons. After that, I’m going to run back out with them. Kairi is currently facing Cain alone, and she specifically told Karyme that she needed back up so I am going to go back. Her. Up.”

Feeling much better now that he had managed to shock them into silence (Karyme was looking at him rather amused, though), Stein made a mad dash to his room. Rather frantically, he strapped his swords to his belt and quickly ran out – Seloria had recovered from her shock fast enough to join him at the door, and he welcomed her help. He saw how Cain had practically single-handedly killed the Thyride family that day via Kairi’s memory, after all. If he was that strong then, how was Kairi going to be able to handle him on her own now, when she was just starting to build her strength back up?

‘You troublesome woman, you had better still be standing when we get there,’ he thought to himself with a growl, unconsciously moving faster in the direction Karyme had told him earlier.

~*~

Green eyes regarded the two within the barrier with a sigh. He had rushed to Destila from Lyma when his informant told him he was going to attack, but it would seem he was still a little late. Glancing almost sadly at the barrier that was set up by him... he sighed; he should really be getting about to breaking it. A Draining Barrier had only ill effects to those not its caster. He shook his head, semi-long silver locks flowing with the movement. He stepped forward and slowly raised his hand to touch the barrier.

Upon contact, the barrier’s own coat of magic lashed out at him with the force of a raging ocean, but he did not care. At least, if his unwavering gaze was any indication, nor did he move from his position. His normally calm expression morphed into a frown – he had the barrier up for quite a while; the girl lasting as long as she had thus far with a Draining Barrier continuing to weaken her was impressive. Perhaps it had something to do with those flickering seals on her right arm… but she did not appear to notice them.

The silver haired man shook his head, refocusing his attention to the barrier before him. The girl was not likely to last much longer.

~*~

Kairi barely rolled away from yet another Ice-based spell that was sent her way. Sweat encased her very being and forced the relatively form-fitting top she wore to cling to her like second skin. She staggered to her feet, one hand quickly pushing her bangs away from her eyes.

‘Something about this barrier’s not right,’ she thought to herself with a quiet growl, breathing heavily. ‘Even during my spars against Master Aitelorn I don’t usually feel half as tired as I do now.’

Before her, Cain smirked. “I see you realized this barrier is no ordinary barrier,” he drawled rather cockily. Kairi’s eyes narrowed at him, suddenly realizing what the barrier was. Yula had taught her about certain barriers types and their effects.

“This barrier… a Draining Barrier,” she growled lowly, pretending not to notice that her legs had started shaking in an effort to keep herself upright. She was definitely a goner if help did not arrive soon. Black was starting to creep into her vision, and Kairi had fallen onto one knee when her legs decided to give out on her.

“Why yes,” Cain responded. “Most people barely manage standing the moment I pull this barrier up, but you…” his yellow eyes regarded her with concealed interest, “you were capable of moving and attacking me for more than twenty minutes.”

The youngest Thyride considered flashing the man before her a rude hand sign at that, but decided against it – no use wasting her remaining energy on something so pointless. Her vision swimming, she did not realize when Cain stood before her and could not react at all when his hand closed around her neck, choking her and lifting her from the ground.

Despite her body’s severe fatigue, Kairi refused to give in, struggling desperately against the vice grip on her neck – however futile her efforts were. Black was starting to consume her vision when the barrier broke (sounding very much like glass breaking slowly) and she was tossed aside like a rag doll – the blade that whizzed where Cain earlier stood to choke her following soon after.

“Kairi!” Eyes squeezed shut while coughing and gasping for air, she felt someone lift her into… his? her?... arms. She cracked one eye slightly open, body heaving with the need for precious air.

“La…late…” she whispered before allowing herself to obey her body’s demand for rest, falling limp in the person’s arms

~*~

Karyme had surprised him, Stein conceded. Despite appearing quite sickly, the slightly older female was fast – as proven when she had ran up beside him out of practically nowhere, and was ridiculously strong too. She threw her weapon, a freaking claymore, in Cain’s direction in a bid to save Kairi. Seloria had immediately gone to her sister’s side with Karyme in tow while he had positioned himself before the two females.

Stein was ready to draw his swords, but Cain’s narrowed eyes in a direction other from his and the girls’ made him glance over. His different coloured eyes widened just the slightest bit at the sight of the man who openly opposed Cain – there was no mistaking the man’s twin, after all.

“Lord Vermios,” he uttered, dumbfounded as his family came up behind him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Rityu nod to the aforementioned lord slightly – an action that confused him, though he paid it little heed.

Said lord smiled, though there was no perceivable emotion behind it. “Hello, brother. Here to destroy lives again, are we?” he asked almost casually, as if talking about the weather. Cain narrowed his eyes at him.

“Hello, Abel,” he hissed, spitting the name out as if it were poison. “How nice of you to break my barrier," Cain said rather sarcastically before continuing. “If I did not need you alive, I would kill you right now. You,” he paused, his yellow eyes snaking towards Kairi again (Stein and Karyme fell into defensive positions immediately, while Seloria tightened her grip on her sister), “and that girl.”

Stein watched as a tense moment passed before Cain started chuckling. “No matter,” he said, stance relaxed. “I have other, more important plans right now.” The man barked out a laugh before he disappeared, presumably via teleportation.

The remaining silver-haired man swept his glance over the area before settling on Kairi’s still form. “Let’s get her to your infirmary and let her heal, Lord Aitelorn.” His green eyes – very much alike his mother’s, Stein realized with a start – gazed over at his father, who nodded curtly.

“Of course, Lord Vermios. We have matters to discuss.”

Chapter 6

2010-07-05T03:16:00.000-07:00

The room both sisters shared was immensely large: two queen-sized beds positioned on opposing ends of the vast space, each having its own polished, wooden bedside table propped beside it with an ivory water jug and a glass for drinking, whenever the need arose.

In addition, each sister was in possession of an individual closet, Seloria’s stuffed to bursting point with work clothes and several casual wears. Kairi noted, having preened through the lot of hardly-fashionable garbs, that her older sister did in fact have a pair of formal dresses, stashed in the very back of the hefty wardrobe cupboard. ‘For business-related…stuff,’ the younger reckoned, flopping leisurely onto her bed followed by a tired sigh. Her own closet, the 15-year-old knew, was slowly filling up with casual clothes. Having just got out of the most spacious of bathrooms (with a huge bathtub and shower), she cast her gaze about the rest of her shared domicile as her mind took in the past month and two weeks.

Stein had constantly drilled into her during their spars of how she could control herself and her actions in battle, that she could choose for her self to not hurt those she did not want hurt, and to hurt those she actually wanted hurt. Odd stuff really – but true. Yula would then train her in magic and help to expend her magical reserves near immediately after while her sister found time in her ever-busy schedule to tutor the younger Kairi regarding world-matters and current issues. Basically, things someone of the time just needed to be up to speed on with Rityu and Phiol occasionally popping in for the assist.

The former often disappeared during the day, something Kairi wondered about but thought nothing more of at great length. When he was around though, Rityu would spend that time with her and Stein in the training compound…training. Other times, even the all-important Lord Nerion would come around and provoke the younger duo into a match against him. Such happenings usually concluded with both teens on the cold hard flooring, breathless and dripping with sweat. Obviously Stein’s persistent declarations of “We’ll get you yet, father!” had yet to see fruition, not once.

“Kairi,” Seloria called from the room’s entrance, stirring her younger sister from her recollections. Kairi tilted her head to look at the other, fatigue refusing to permit her the bother of sitting up. “Your clothes for tomorrow are ready.” Seloria masked an amused smirk as the tired girl shot up stiffly from bed, rushing up to her after a very slight pausal-blink. She watched as Kairi narrowly avoided running into the table on her side of the huge room, noticing some of the top few strips of paper of the large piles on it flutter minutely at the younger’s speedy run-pass.

The teen stood before her sister full of childlike glee, fatigue presumably forgotten. She had been informed of tomorrow’s stressingly-important business conducts that were to be had with the Doyles; of which she was to have no part in. It would have been a long journey for these ‘guests’ apparently and as her parents were to be involved in the meeting for a lengthy duration, Karyme, the Doyles’ lone daughter was to be her (Kairi) and Stein’s responsibility for the day – they were tasked with taking her out into town, hence the new attire. On a side note, Kairi had overheard some of the maids’ gossip about Yula having supposedly forced Stein into getting a similar outfit as hers. Curiosity had sparked her to question the older teen about the matter just the other day. Stein, of course, simply rolled his eyes and refused to say anything.

“Where is it? Where is it?” she asked the older excitedly, bouncing repeatedly on the balls of her feet. Seloria sniggered, finally giving in when Kairi pouted and handed the younger the uniform look-alike attire she had choicely hid behind her slender frame. To her amused delight, Seloria watched as her sister performed a little happy dance before actually looking at the set of clothing. Said clothing was really a semi-formal assemble of a collared, three-quarter sleeved top and a simple pleated skirt in shades of calming blue and white. A pair of black ankle-high boots that were to go with this outfit had been passed to the younger of the two earlier by a maid.

Kairi stared at it for a moment before the corners of her lips lifted up, a pure, happy smile lighting her face. “This is great!” she exclaimed, turning to face her sister. Seloria laughed and walked up to the younger Thyride, gently picking the clothing out of the girl’s hands.

“You need rest,” the older affirmed her response to Kairi’s whine. “Unless you have no intention of waking up on time to join us in greeting our guests.” Kairi pouted at her sister yet again before grudgingly returning to her bed and lying down. Just before she pulled on the covers, she sat up again as if some urgent detail had jolted in her mind. The young brunette looked at Seloria who was sitting at her study, leafing through several folders. Seloria caught her gaze and smiled.

“I have some last minute adjustments to do for tomorrow. Go ahead and sleep first, Kai.” Kairi frowned a little at the nickname. It was Phiol who had first gotten to calling her that, and soon enough everyone else caught on too, even (rather surprisingly) Nerion, who used the nickname to taunt her into fighting all those spar matches against him in the first place. Seloria laughed at her expression, and Kairi huffed and laid down, pulling the covers up and over her head before muttering a quiet ‘g’night’.

As soon as Kairi’s breathing evened out, Seloria set down the file and sighed. Stealing one last thoughtful glance at her younger sister, she moved towards the door, flicking the light switch off as she passed it and stepped out, making sure the wood shut silently behind.

Stein met up with her in the hallway, he had been waiting. The purple-haired teen procured a curt nod of acknowledgement before then leading the way to Phiol’s personal office on the same floor. Seloria had the keys. Once the duo had settled themselves in the relatively still-messy office, Seloria turned to her companion.

“So what did you want to know about Kairi?”

Seloria watched languidly as Stein leaned back in his seat, as if thinking on how to word his question. She found the frown on his features to be somewhat unsettling. “That scar on your neck,” he began at last.

“Was it Kairi’s doing?” The duo locked eyes (or ‘eye’ in Seloria’s case). Stein’s gaze questioning, Seloria’s taken aback.

Absent-mindedly, she reached up to rub said scar. She had gotten it right after that one failed ritual Kairi had undergone, the brunette remembered. “Yes…yes it was,” she answered uncertainly, wondering where this conversation was headed. “It was a few weeks before the massacre,” she chanced.

Again, Stein frowned – Seloria was being evasive. He would not obtain the answers he sought from her this way. The teen exhaled. ‘Time to tell her what I know,’ he decided. “Kairi showed it to me,” he stated, his mismatched eyes coolly looking into Seloria’s sole blue one that widened in heightened surprise. “So… what was that ritual thing all about?”

Seloria closed her eye, a hand pinching the bridge of her nose, the other on her hip while muttering something about how she ‘shouldn’t have taught Kairi that spell when she was young’.

“It’s…to tame the demonic qualities in our Thyride blood that causes us to go berserk unexpectedly. Most of us – me included – needed three or four sealing rituals to get it under control, but Kairi needed more than that. She was…a special case.” Seloria paused. “The demonic quality in Kairi’s blood is far more potent than normal, which means she is more susceptible to turning berserk when fighting,” she trailed off at that, sighing again. “Look Stein, to fully understand any of this, you need to know something about the Thyride ancestors. No, don’t interrupt!”

After making sure the younger teen understood her warning was serious, Seloria began. “I don’t remember the exact date, but it was several hundred years ago. The world was at war, and the situation then was far graver than it is now. A demon by the name of Lucifer was let loose then, and while he had an entire army of soldiers at his disposal to do his bidding, he purposely took control of a human’s mind. He…used this individual to bring terror into civilians’ hearts ala clichéd ‘take over the world’ plan. What made this fear worse, however, was this person was strong for her age, immensely so, and she appeared to have no emotions to speak of whatsoever while committing whatever acts she was forced to do. This person was the Thyride’s ancestor, Janice – an interesting fact: Kairi is said to look exactly like her, even in terms of fighting style.”

She moved on before Stein could comment on that. “Within a month, nearly the entire world was under Lucifer’s control, and that control was enforced by the controlled-Janice. At the time, most did not dare to stand up against the demon, and those who did lacked manpower and met their doom. Then came a man who is shown in the Aitelorn history archives to look…exactly like you, Stein; your ancestor, Livore Aitelorn.

“According to the stories, he was as brash as you were,” Seloria jibbed with a laugh, making the younger teen scowl at her. “But… he was brave enough to stand and face both Lucifer and Janice, and managed to bring Janice out of the control Lucifer placed on her – exactly how he managed that feat we do not know. Subsequently, he completely turned the tide in the war, and with Janice, they sealed Lucifer away in a location unknown.”

“Uh-huh…The Demonic War was written in history books,” Stein deadpanned. Seloria gazed at him evenly for a moment.

“There are things history books don’t write down, Stein,” she said solemnly, and Stein immediately turned serious in return. “What people did not know was Janice was slowly dying due to a spell Lucifer placed on her, and had to get into a pact with a neutral demon who hated Lucifer with a passion to keep herself alive until the war was over. The price was simple: the Thyride blood was to have its demonic qualities in it from then on, and should whoever of her descendents look and act like her will the demon state its next price. We don’t know the demon’s actual name, but Janice recorded the name down as ‘Roan’.”

“There is something I don’t understand,” Stein muttered after a moment’s silence. “Why did Janice not tell Livore about the spell on her? Did she not trust him?”

Seloria kept silent for a moment, apparently thinking. “From what I remember,” she started, “It was not an issue of trust. Her personality, once out of Lucifer’s control, was one that worries about others more than herself. Her journal recorded that she did not realize the effects of the spell until near the end of the war, and after the sealing of Lucifer, she made sure Livore could not find her. All for the simple reason ‘I don’t want anyone to worry’.”

“It’s almost as crazy as how Livore ignored all the people who wanted the Aitelorns to have ‘hero statuses’ of sorts,” Stein commented with a wry smirk. “Of course, according to his journals and much to his displeasure, they treated him and his family like royalty for a while. They still do right now, but it’s extremely mellowed down.” Seloria noted he had to gall to smirk cockily at that – he and his brothers were the ones who made sure the royal treatment was not-so royal anymore in the first place.

~*~

Everyone in the Aitelorn household was up pretty early the next day. Maids and butlers scuttled about to make sure all was orderly for the Doyles’ arrival. The guest rooms were cleaned and tidied, the meeting room was propped with necessities and cleared of the constant clutter Phiol always caused, and refreshments and meals were prepared. Seloria was amongst the maids and butlers, putting together the preparations, then overseeing all files and documents required for the eventual meeting for a hopeful-merge. Nerion and Rityu were barking commands about, occasionally assisting a butler or two in positioning some of the heavier miscellaneous items. Yula on the other hand, busied herself in the kitchens with the chefs.

Missing from the bustling scene were the two youngest of both families, hiding out in one of the training fascilities. They figured the hectic situation was as good an opportunity as any to squeeze in some last minute training – they had a mission, or so Nerion told them, after their soon-to-arrive company left. Stein grinned at the other after a particularly fulfilling session in which Kairi had actually dared attack him more times than he could bother to keep track of during a spar. “Better,” he told the cocoa-haired female, who had immediately dropped to the floor. If her expression was anything to go by, Stein reckoned the girl was dumbfounded that she had gone on the offensive as much as she did.

He walked over to her, pulling Kairi back on her feet. “Now, we have to freshen up before the others come at us,” Stein said, a little apprehensive. Kairi regained herself and let out an amused laugh.

“I brought my change of clothes with me,” she proudly declared, then paused for a bit to study her companion’s features. “You…didn’t bring yours, huh? You’re so screwed,” she deadpanned, then guffawing away as Stein’s expression grew graver.

With that, the slacker-duo rushed their preparation, Kairi laughing in extreme amusement the moment she spotted Stein in his new attire as they met up in the corridor. She noted that besides the fact that he was in slacks and short sleeves while she a skirt and three-quarter sleeves, the maids had been right in their gossiping. It was they whom had fetched the clothing for him too. The latter scowled profusely in response. He felt certain Kairi’s older sister had something to do with these matching uniforms.

Their dash to the Central from their meeting point took a ridiculous fifteen minutes. They skidded to a halt just before the Central, ducking their heads sheepishly when Seloria and Yula levelled them a look. Nerion shook his head, displeased and Phiol sighed exasperatedly. Rityu, on the other hand, had laughed and clapped them both on the shoulder with a “that was awesome, do it again next time”. Kairi believed Rityu’s rather odd and sometimes twisted sense of humour was at work here for him to think barely making it on time was awesome.

“Announcing the Doyles’ arrival,” a butler called from the main doors as two others pushed the sizely hard-metal barrier open. Quickly taking their positions beside their respective sibling (siblings in Stein’s case), Kairi observed, smiling serenely as Phiol took charged and began introducing everyone to the Doyles’.

The family heads not particularly catching her attention, Kairi listened long enough to know how to address them before riding them off as the stereotypical sort of businessman and his loyal wife. Of course, Seloria and the others had told her a bare minimal about these distinguished guests to begin with besides the fact that they were here to do trade, so it was not as if she had many other conclusions to come to. Judging by their clothes though, odds were they were pretty well off. Several more adults accompanied the Doyles’ and Kairi’s eyes danced across their faces one after another, noting how a number of them were armed with rather intriguingly-designed blades. ‘Assistants and bodyguards maybe?’

“Kairi?” Yula’s voice snapped her out of her pondering thoughts. Distracted, the teen cast a questioning look at the matriarch who in turn jerked her head in a different direction. Kairi traced Yula’s gaze, orange eyes soon meeting that of translucent aquamarines. “I’m Karyme,” the owner offered, exchanging pleasantries. It was then when Kairi realized that this was the Doyle’s daughter that she and Stein were to accompany for the day.

Both females shook hands before Karyme moved on to greet Stein in a similar manner, allowing Kairi time to study her. A strawberry-blonde with long wavy hair and alabastor skin, not forgetting those pale aquamarine eyes. She was frightfully slim too, practically skinny and frail in appearance. As such, Kairi found herself wondering if maybe Karyme was ill…or something. Nonetheless, her clothes seemed as posh as that of her parents’, a short, collared shirtdress with elegant long sleeves, black leggings underneath and a pair of leather thigh-high boots.

“Kairi, would you mind running ahead and telling the maids we’re coming up to the meeting room soon?” asked Yula, completely oblivious as to what was going through the girl’s mind.

The brunette pushed her thoughts away for the time being, smiled in response then nodded. “Right away, Mistress Aitelorn,” she answered smoothly – Seloria shot her a discreet smile; the older Thyride had previously drilled her on such formalities within the safe confines of their room, after all. She took a few steps back and bowed with a soft “by your leave” before turning on her heels and taking off down the corridor.

Kairi made it to the meeting room in record time, watching as the maids were still in the midst of clearing away what was left of Phiol’s mess. One of them turned to her inquiringly, and her message brought them into a rather panicked hurried frenzy. Kairi too decidedly pitched in the clearing and everyone eventually calmed after a few (quite amusing) minutes to set light refreshments on the table. Soon enough, the small group of maids stood by the door, immediately bowing and excusing themselves when the Aitelorns plus one and their guests came into view. Kairi herself bowed slightly as they entered, Rityu whispering a soft “good job so far” as he passed.

A half hour later saw Kairi, Stein and Karyme at the front entrance with Kairi checking and making sure the older duo (Karyme being Stein’s age) had their cloaks on – the weather was slowly getting chilly. While Karyme appeared quizical at Kairi’s scrutiny and Stein rolled his eyes, the cocoa-haired teen just smiled serenely and pulled her poncho on – she liked the “stupid piece of sewn cloth”, as Rityu coined it.

~*~

Karyme knew not what to make of the younger Thyride. Sure, Kairi seemed…pleasant to be around, but at the same time, her senses were alerting her to something…darker…about the young brunette; something sinister. Listening somewhat half-heartedly to the playful banter between Kairi and the only male in their three-man party, Stein, the blonde had to wonder just how much of Kairi was, well…’real’, and then how much was not. The Doyle heiress instinctively decided then that it might serve her better to be wary around the girl.

As they walked on along the many pathways, Karyme remained quite content with being a listener rather than actually partaking in the duo’s conversations. Of course, providing them with this insight saw no end to their occasional attempts to drag her right into it with questions and such, to which she replied modestly. Soon with more careful observation, several questions too arose within her regarding the young brunette. Karyme found it somewhat odd of how the other town folk would keep this certain measure of distance from the girl as they went about their daily activities, something Kairi always seemed grateful for. She appeared fine around Stein though.

‘Something’s…off’, thought the blonde curiously as she continued to tail after the duo. Then as if the sudden thought struck him, Stein let out a string of colorful words, much to Kairi’s amusement and her shock, and turned to them, a sheepish, apologetic smile on his face.

“I just remembered; father wants me to retrieve something from the weapon’s shop.” Kairi let out an overly-exaggerated huff, Karyme noted with mild amusement. “Go on, the brunette told the male, making shooing motions with one of her hands. “We’ll wander around for a bit.”

Not wasting any time, Stein excused himself from the girls then, making his way over to one of the shops the trio had passed earlier on. With that, Karyme found herself obligated to engage the younger in small talk, responding in kind regarding the trivial things Kairi brought up – the weather topic came up rather frequently.

Just as Kairi pointed out the fifth residential district to her, the ground shook just slightly and Kairi looked around, alarmed. It was enough reason for Karyme to adopt some level of circumspection inwardly – Destila was certainly not an area prone to earthquakes. Minor deduction led the blonde to believe that the quakes were stronger towards the Eatern portion of the city, sumrmising from the mass amounts of townspeople running their way from the specific direction. ‘The heart of Destila?’ She pondered.

Quickly, Kairi’s hand shot out and grabbed the arm of a running passerby with a loud “excuse me, sorry”. “What’s going on?” she asked, her confusion clearly etched on her features.

The passerby took a few deep breaths then spoke, stammered more like. “A guy… silver hair… yellow eyes… attacking…” It was slight, Karyme conceded, but Kairi’s (very odd) orange eyes had widened just a tad bit then narrowed, her calm smile masking the… fury?… in her orange orbs.

“I see. Thank you. Get to the Aitelorn castle as quickly as you can, and bring the townspeople with you,” she told the individual, who nodded briskly and dashed off again as Kairi pulled off her poncho, folding it as neatly as she could while standing before turning to her (Karyme), a small smile of cold calm on her features. The blonde could tell; there was something drastically different about her demeanor now.

“Forgive me for my rudeness right now,” Kairi said, bowing slightly. “Karyme, take this,” she passed her folded poncho to her, “find Stein in that weapons’ shop and go back to the castle,” she said firmly.

“Tell Stein, Seloria… whoever, that I have gone on ahead to face this guy, and I will definitely need reinforcements. The most I can do is delay Cain from attacking the other districts.” Although not at all in agreement with Kairi’s insane choice to send her back to the estate while she alone faced this strange enemy without any immediate assistance, the blonde heiress nodded faintly, promting the younger female to recite hasty directions to the specific weapons’ shop. And then she was off, skillfully evading the panicking townspeople.

Karyme watched, apprehensive. Whatever was going on, the young brunette had made it painfully clear that she needed reinforcements and fast. With that in mind, Karyme herself dashed off in search of Stein…

She had a bad feeling about this.

Chapter 5

2010-06-14T06:22:00.001-07:00

Kairi and Stein stood that way for (what seemed like) a long time, with Kairi fidgeting uneasily and Stein staring at the younger, his gaze stern. Stein could sense Kairi’s trying to argue back, but she was stopping herself from doing so at the same time – he scowled at that. He wanted answers, and he wanted them now.

Just as he was about to snap at the cocoa-haired teen, Stein rather curiously noted that Kairi’s eyes told him she lost whatever little control she had over something for she growled like a cornered animal, her grip on the wooden daggers tightening to the point her knuckles turned white. He felt his frustration ebb out, concern quickly taking its place as he moved towards the door to hopefully find someone he could send for Seloria.

“Stop.”

Stein paused in his steps and turned slowly. The other’s voice, while somewhat strong for her almost-command, was just that little bit shaky and almost dead. Feeling the gathering of magic by the younger, he stood there fronting calm as Kairi walked up to him, chanting something under her breath. He concentrated slightly, feeling the magic (an inborn trait within the Aitelorn clan) and came to the conclusion that it was a spell to show another one’s selected memories, just as Kairi stood before him.

“I can’t explain it, so… I’ll show you,” she told him with a half-smile, tapping his forehead with a finger. He remembered her gentle embrace that caught him when he fell following the effects of the spell, and the words that made him dread what he was about to find out.

“You won’t enjoy what you see.”

~*~

Stein blinked – a useless attempt to better absorb his new surroundings. Knowing that it was all but a memory was not making it any easier. Just then, Seloria stood before him, but it was not the Seloria he knew. This Seloria adorned not the eye-patch that usually masked her left eye from view. This Seloria…was just a memory.

If present time-Seloria was good-looking despite the eye patch, memory-Seloria, while four years younger than the one he knew, was beautiful. ‘But deadly,’ Stein’s mind added as an afterthought, recalling the times Seloria had reacted violently to protect either his brothers or himself when they were not alert. Briefly, while fighting away his own blush, Stein wondered if Phiol would flip out upon seeing memory-Seloria – he knew his oldest brother felt something for the icy secretary-figure.

He looked around as memory-Seloria did not move. She just stood there, leaning against a wall. The Thyride compound, while not as huge as the Aitelorn’s from what Stein could see, was pretty large. His gaze grew sad as he noted groups of people passing by the female leaning against the wall. Slightly behind them was the younger version of the person who was showing him this memory in the first place. Seloria pushed off the wall and walked through Stein, causing him to shudder at the odd sensation – it felt like walking through a spider’s web – and stopped in front of memory-Kairi, who looked up at her sister with innocent red eyes.

Stein rubbed his own. ‘I thought her eyes were orange…’ he frowned. He moved closer to the sisters, feeling a tinge of bewilderment as to why the younger was pouting at the older, and why Seloria’s smile seemed somewhat glum. It was then he noticed bandages that covered the younger Thyride’s entire right arm, which left much to wonder about. Kairi did not appear to show any discomfort when moving the arm around and there was no sign of injury. He stared at the bandaged limb for a moment longer until he heard Kairi speak.

“Are you sure this is the last ritual, Sel?” the young voice was quivering – as if she was trying to sound strong when she was scared. Seloria let out a sigh, one of a person with much to grieve upon. Stein watched as she knelt down to Kairi’s eye level and reached out a hand to pat the younger’s cheek, that sad smile on her lips still plainly visible.

“It should be,” Seloria answered. “You know the reason for the ritual yourself, Kairi. To control what’s in our Thyride blood that’s more potent in yours.”

Kairi let out a ridiculously un-child-like and definitely not ladylike snort. “Yea, fat load of help that did during the last ritual. I went out of control and k-“

“Kairi,” Seloria said sharply. “We all know it was not your fault. Stop blaming yourself.”

“Uh-huh, right. Tell me that the next time I hurt you without realizing it in our spars. You know I refuse to spar because of it,” the younger muttered darkly, scowling at her sister. Seloria absent-mindedly touched her neck at that, rolling her eyes – Stein always wondered where that particular scar on the elder’s neck came from… was Kairi the cause?

Kairi somewhat-marched past her sister. And this being the girl’s memory, left Stein with no choice but to follow after her. The cocoa-haired girl went down several walkways and down a few stairs, coming to a stop in front of a set of huge doors. She stared at it for a moment, looking as though she was having an internal debate of whether she should proceed or not before producing a sigh. Taking a huge breath, Kairi pushed the doors open, left hand reaching up to undo the bandages almost automatically as she stepped into the room.

Stein gaped. Incarnate seals of all sorts were drawn onto the limb in blood – Stein suspected it was the younger’s own. Kairi herself grimaced at the limb, muttering a curse under her breath as several priest-like people ushered her to the centre of what-looked-like a magic circle. “Stupid ancestor pact,” she spat softly, even as she tugged off the rest of the bandages. Once again, she breathed hard, red eyes sliding close as she nodded rather jerkily.

The light that flared up from the circle was so bright that Stein instinctively shielded his eyes with a hand, one eye closed as the other strained to watch. Very much unlike the magic circles he’d seen his mother activate which flared up a gentle, white light, this circle’s light was a distinguishing blood red. When his eyes finally adjusted to the light, he saw Kairi had her eyes squeezed painfully shut. The girl was on her knees, left arm clutching her right as sweat trickled down her cheeks.

Abruptly, the girl’s eyes opened, and Stein watched in rather horrified fascination as the light died down and yellow pupils seemingly stared at him before it flashed red and back again, soon settling on orange.

“Kairi?” someone ventured slowly, hesitantly, as the young girl looked around, then at her arm and let out a cry of surprise.

“No more seals? I’m impressed!” she exclaimed as the others around hear breathed sighs of relief, several even going up to the younger and hugging her, telling her how happy they are she did not have to go through the pain anymore. The girl let out another cry of surprise when one told her that her eyes were now orange.

Kairi grinned up at them with genuine happiness. It was then it struck Stein that Kairi’s smiles at present were not genuine. He continued to observe as the youngling then excused herself to see her sister and parents. They let her go, all smiles…

…and not a minute after Kairi ran up the stairs, a strange quake shook through the compound, causing the room to collapse. Kairi had turned on the stairs at the sound, shock clearly written on her features. She let out a frantic cry of “uncle”, almost rushing down the steps towards the rubble. Stein was willing to bet all the priests were her uncles, and that the room had collapsed thanks to whatever was happening above them.

“Run Kairi! Run!” Came a choked cry from rubble. “It’s dangerous! Go!”

Kairi gritted her teeth, the look reminding Stein of herself in the present. She bowed towards the rubble, calling out “I love all of you” as she ran up the flights of stairs, stopping herself to avoid an arrow.

She looked up, eyes narrowed. Several men stood before her, all of them smirking rather lecherously that made Stein feel a little protective of the young girl, even if he could not do anything. “So that’s our target?” one said. “This’ll be easy.”

With the intention to do the exact opposite, Kairi smiled and ducked under their arms, her small, lithe figure giving her the leeway she needed to run. Hearing them yell after her, she ducked into a tight corridor, using it as a shortcut to reach the exact walkway she left Seloria at. There, Stein was shocked to note, was blood and bodies everywhere. “Seloria!” Kairi had yelled immediately, summoning a pair of daggers into her hands. Several unknown individuals turned to her, moving to attack the young female.

It was quick and sudden – even Stein, who was the fastest amongst his brothers, could barely see it. Kairi had struck out and, in a swift movement, slid her daggers across her attackers’ throats, her eyes showing little but bored disinterest. As soon as she turned away from the slowly-dying attackers, her personality completely changed, calling out for her sister and parents yet again.

‘Is this why she refuses to spar?’ Stein wondered as he followed Kairi’s dash down the walkway. ‘For she is afraid she would kill someone by accident?’ Briefly he scoffed. ‘As if that’s possible with me.’

“Kairi!” Seloria yelled, slicing her way through an onslaught of assailants towards her sister. “Have you seen mother or father?” she asked the moment the two managed to reach each other. As if by instinct, the duo took their stances, standing back to back to face all those who would do them harm.

“I was about to ask you that!” Kairi said. “Oh, by the way, my eyes are orange now. No more seals.” The sentence was spoken casually while she stabbed her dagger into an attacker, her other blocking an attack aimed for Seloria’s back.

“Orange? That’s interesting,” Seloria responded rather casually, harshly shoving the tip end of her scythe into an attacker’s body. The duo of sisters continued their combined assault, quickly making their way towards the centre of the clearing they were nearby. As they took care of the attackers around them, they managed to find themselves time to take a breather.

“Oh? I see my hired help has yet to finish you two,” a completely new voice cut into the scene. The sisters whipped their heads in the direction of said voice. The person before them had short silver hair and rather evil-looking yellow eyes. His smirk seemed sadistic, and it did not sit well with the sisters, or Stein. It took him a while to place it, but Stein realized then and there with a start that the person who wiped out Jajya was the very same person who commanded the Thyride massacre.

“Who are you?” Seloria questioned, instinctively placing herself in front of Kairi. The silver-haired man chuckled, but it was not a comforting sound. Rather, it brought chills down Stein’s spine, and Kairi had whimpered behind her sister. Seloria, putting on a tough front for her sister’s sake, was trying to steady herself, though her eyes betrayed her.

“I am known as Cain,” the man said, his lips curling up into a smirk, “and like these two, you will meet your doom.” He flicked his hand and, rather unceremoniously, dropped two severed heads onto the ground near where the sisters stood. Stein’s eyes widened as Seloria dropped to her knees with an anguished “no”, and Kairi yelled the two words Stein hoped she would not.

“Father! Mother!”

Stein glared up at Cain heatedly. Knowing it was a memory did not help the anger and hatred he felt towards the man who had taken to smirking smugly at the sisters. Kairi broke out of her shock before Seloria, facing her parents’ killer with narrowed eyes. She stood a little shakily, then, in an action that spoke volumes about her speed, vanished from view. Stein, who had looked away from Cain momentarily, blinked, surprised, and snapped his head back in Cain’s direction. He did little to hide his shock in finding Kairi directly behind Cain, daggers raised.

Kairi’s movements were swift, Stein could tell, and had deadly precision. Briefly, he managed to catch the look in her eyes, and it showed the same bored disinterest the younger had when she slid her dagger across those men’s throats earlier. Briefly, Stein shuddered at the thought of fighting a berserk-Kairi. That is one spar that will not go well.

Seloria seemed to have snapped out of her shock at that point, for she too jumped up and joined Kairi in her assault. Much like the first time he saw it, Stein had stopped to marvel at the in-tandem attacks the two engaged in – Stein believed that the sisters were the most compatible with each other’s fighting styles, his proof being the fluidity of their movements.

As an outsider watching in, it was obvious to Stein that despite the sisters’ fighting style compatibility, their inexperience in combat was the main reason for their loss that day. Cain had somehow found an opening in their little-room-for-counters attack and grabbed Kairi by her head, tossing her aside as if she was nothing more than paper. Seloria, distracted by the need to help her sister, did not realize the spell Cain was directing towards her until it was a little too late. The older Thyride hissed in pain, stumbling slightly as she slapped her hand over her left eye to stop the blood flow.

“Sel!” Kairi cried out, pulling herself up from the Kairi-imprint on the wall. She gasped a little in pain, a hand going to her side as she stumbled back and leaned on the wall. Her breath came out in short pants as she moved towards her sister before her way was blocked by the very same men she evaded earlier.

“Oh, so you guys were around?” Cain asked, the sneer evident in his tone. He waved a hand semi-dismissively, saying, “Take her away. I’ll come for her when I need her.”

As the men closed in on the cocoa-haired girl, Seloria (who winced her left eye closed) growled and swung her scythe at them – which would have saved Kairi had Cain not interfered. “As for you,” he said snidely, “I have no use for you.” He set the entire compound on fire with a flick of a wrist as Seloria fought Cain desperately in hopes of saving her sister.

And yet, in the midst of such despair, Stein felt the tugging of magic that brought him out of the memory.

~*~

Stein’s eyes opened to stare up at Kairi, who had his head on her lap. The orange-eyed girl smiled down at him a little dully, and backed away slightly as Stein pushed himself up into a sitting position, a hand massaging his temples. “So,” he started, “the reason why you’re afraid to fight back is because you’re worried you’ll hurt or kill me by accident.”

He did not need to look at Kairi to see the question in her eyes. He spoke the sentence ever-so casually after all. “What makes you think you’ll be able to kill me?” he told her in a bit of a smug manner, turning to face the younger’s shocked look with a wry smirk. “We’re using wooden stuff right now, for goodness sake. If it’ll make you feel better and more secure about sparring, we’ll cast protective charms over each other before we begin so we don’t have to worry about injuries that are not self-inflicted.”

When Kairi continued to stare at him in muted disbelief, Stein rolled his eyes as he stood, pulling the shocked girl up with him. A quick chant later had both cloaked in the protective charm he casted. “There, you troublesome woman. We both won’t get hurt unless we hurt ourselves on purpose, so grab your darn wooden daggers and attack,” he told her, huffing as he picked up his wooden swords.

He stepped some ways away from the bewildered female and grinned roguishly at her. “I won’t hold back,” Stein warned lightly.

A half hour later, Seloria walked into the training room and found herself standing at the door, shocked to find Kairi actually hitting back.

Chapter 4

2010-06-11T02:39:00.000-07:00

Stein whistled, impressed by Kairi’s catching of Seloria’s scythe. Other than his parents, he had not seen anyone else catch the secretary figure’s vicious scythe tosses…until now, that is. Even Phiol, who worked and sparred alongside Seloria ever since she had been taken into the Aitelorn household, could only so much as evade one of the specific attack – but just barely. He gave the younger a quick pat on the shoulder before ducking to avoid the sharp end of said weapon’s blade as Kairi twirled it about.

As Rityu retrieved his sword from Kairi’s hastily-vacated chair, Stein observed said girl as her older sister half-heartedly picked her scythe away from a pouting Kairi. If he remembered right, his parents told him something about Kairi being his mission partner. Just then, a thought occurred to him. Perhaps he should get to know her and her skills better...

With that notion in mind, Stein turned to his parents.

“Is Kairi still going to be my mission partner?” he asked. Kairi, who was on the receiving end of some sort of lecture from her sister about why she was not to play with the elder’s weapon as such, looked up with a bewildered expression on her features. Her countenance alone screamed “what?” to all present. Rityu had burst out laughing at that. Stein however, did not want to know why his brother had deemed the younger Thyride’s expression to be funny; he personally thought it was rather adorable, though would not admit it to save him life.

Nerion nodded in response, rather pleased that Stein took the initiative to ask about it. “We’ll leave you to it,” he said, catching on to his son’s intentions. The patriarch gestured for the others present to follow him out. “Brief her on the situation while you’re at it.”

Stein mock-saluted his father as he watched the others file out of the room. Seloria hugged her sister briefly before joining Phiol at the door. The oldest Aitelorn son then flashed Kairi a quick thumbs-up before he turned and pulled said door shut.

With this, Stein moved to one of the seats in the room, removing his sword holsters from his belt. “Grab a wooden weapon of your choice,” he told the still-confused female. “I’ll tell you what you need to know while you warm up, and then…then we’ll have a quick spar.”

“I don’t have a partner with me though…” Kairi’s protest was soft, but Stein heard it all the same as she hesitantly glanced over at the nearest shelf, eventually grabbing a pair of wooden daggers.

~*~

The group outside the training room stood together as they walked, quietly discussing the events that had just occurred in the training room. Phiol, good-natured as always, began his complaint on the apparent ‘injustice’ of how he could not catch Seloria’s scythe ever, while Rityu had his share of fun teasing his older sibling. Seloria was talking with Nerion, concerned over the well-being of her sister – Stein was a hot-headed individual after all. Yula half-attempted to soothe the older Thyride’s worry. Nerion appeared to be thinking a bit too hard over something.

After a moment, Seloria ‘eep’-d and turned to Phiol, giving him the evil eye as she grabbed the cuff of his shirt to prevent him from running away. She smiled sweetly at the other three. “Sorry, but I just remembered someone-“ here, she glared at the oldest, who winced his response, “-has yet to finalize upcoming meeting arrangements with the Doyle’s.” She bowed lightly. “Excuse us.”

Without waiting for a dismissal, she turned and proceeded to drag Phiol, who hastily waved ‘bye’ to his parents and brother, to the office. Rityu chuckled to himself (something about how much Phiol was whipped) before he too took his leave to his parents in want of a bath.

Nerion nodded in acknowledgement of this and together with Yula, waved their son off before making towards the South Wing. “She is really something, that Kairi,” voiced Yula, laughing a little. “She caught Seloria’s scythe on instinctive movement.”

Her companion ‘hm’-d in thought. They were silent for a moment before he spoke. “And despite that, you said that she appears to doubts her own abilities,” he said. “Something about this doesn’t seem right.”

Yula could not agree more. “I’m hoping Stein will be able to figure something out,” she said softly as they turned a corner. “They are going to be performing the mission as partners after all. It’s best they understand each other and know the other’s skills.”

“Speaking of which,” Nerion said then, his tone a bit dark, “anything on him?” He nodded stiffly to a passing servant as the duo walked into Nerion’s study, the door closing behind them with a soft ‘click’.

The private study was probably one of the biggest rooms in the mansion. The expensive table near the window was littered with papers and folders alongside some pens and paper with an equally expensive-looking leather chair shelving another half of the table’s load. Bookshelves aligned the walls of the room – one wall being a mild exception, a large map being pinned across it. There was also a small corner in the room that had some light refreshments of coffee, tea and biscuits, and next to those were two comfortable-looking dining chairs and a coffee table.

There was a short moment of silence as Yula quickly flipped though some papers. “According to our sources,” she said, picking a few more pieces up, “none whatsoever since the attack on Seloria and Kairi’s hometown. Jajya has become a ghost country ever since then, really.”

The Aitelorn patriarch frowned, turning to face the map. Moving towards it, he picked up a black pin on the table against it and stuck it onto a semi-huge piece of land denoted as the country ‘Jajya’. Nerion chuckled, somewhat dark. “A huge country gone just like that… it happened a week after the Thyride massacre, didn’t it?”

Yula’s laughter was humourless. “Seloria did not take too well to the knowledge that she and her sister are the only survivors.” She walked over and stuck a yellow pin onto a small country beside Jajya denoted as I’yn. “Neutral I’yn is slowly building up with our help, but Shimaron,” here she placed a red pin onto a country slightly bigger than Jajya that was situated below both Jajya and I’yn, “is in league with him.”

Nerion picked up several white pins, placing those onto several other plots of land. Seeing as Jajya, I’yn and Shimaron took up most of the West, his attention had moved over to the North and East where relatively smaller and less prominent countries resided. “Lyma, the capital city Destila, and Freen in the North are with us, as well as all countries in the east.”

Yula had pinned the entire entity of the south in red. “And all countries in the South have allied themselves with him,” she said. “The remaining countries claim to be neutral.” The woman sighed, leaning against the wall. “To think the leaders for each side are twins with far too contradicting beliefs.”

~*~

Stein had to snap Kairi out of her stupor upon the girl’s realizing that she and her sister were the last ones alive from Jajya. It was heavy news, he knew, but still, Stein did not like the impassive gaze of the younger’s eyes at that information. Kairi told him to continue, somehow not really believing she missed out that much during the years she has spent kidnapped. When he did finish, the younger Thyride had taken to staring at him in pure disbelief, horror even. And that was nearly an hour since now.

At present, they had been sparring for only a little over twenty minutes; the girl having taken a while to actually agree to the idea of sparring. Stein frowned, frustrated – he could count on one hand how many times Kairi had actually muscled up and attacked, and he did not need to lift a finger (or thumb) to count. The teen leapt forward, wooden swords spinning as he attacked with furious rapidity. Stein actually heard Kairi go ‘eep!’ as she back flipped out of harms’ way, bringing her daggers up in defence. Her movements had turned into a pattern: the agile stepping and twisting away from his attacks before she would flip over his head, landing with a soft ‘tap’ on the ground before zero-ing in for an attack, only to pull back abruptly.

If Kairi’s expression was anything to go by, she was feeling just as bewildered as he was as to why she was not attacking when she could have. This was the ninth time already. Having enough of being toyed with, Stein called a halt to the spar then, dropping his blades. The purple-hair ran a hand callously through his wet hair – all the chasing after her he had been made to go along with was absurd. “Why aren’t you attacking?” he asked. “You are a good, far more agile fighter than I am as proven by all the times you made your own openings to attack me, but why didn’t you?”

The younger looked at him with a bit of guilt before casting her gaze downwards, preferring to fiddle around with the wooden daggers in her grasp. Seeing as she was not about to answer him, Stein pursued, closing the distance between them. “You could’ve gotten the upper hand a decent number of times just then. But you didn’t attack. You never truly attacked. Why?” Kairi winced. Stein sounded cross.

Well, he was too frustrated to care anyway. He wanted answers from the girl in front of him, and he wanted them now.

~*~

Rityu poked his head out of the door of the mansion. No one. Good. He stepped out and dashed towards a nearby shop; cursing the fact that he was late – the maids had taken forever to prepare his bath. Darting inside the shop, he smiled charmingly at the waitress who opened the door for him and directed himself to a table in the corner of the small, homey shop.

“Sorry I’m late. I was not about to leave the house smelling like rotten fish, you see,” he informed the person already seated at the table who shook his head in amusement. The green-eyed man before Rityu gestured for him to sit, which he did readily.

“So… what was it you wanted to see me for?” Rityu asked, thanking the waiter who brought him a glass of water and declining the menu. “It must have been important for you to call for me without letting my parents know.”

“We are entering war, Rityu,” his companion phrased. “And I need help.” He ignored Rityu’s soft ‘I figured as much’ as he pulled out a picture. He set it on the table, and Rityu’s eyes widened ever-so-slowly.

“Don’t tell me you…”

“Ah, so you do have a brain,” the other said sarcastically while Rityu inclined his head with a flourish. “I need you for some espionage work for our side to gain the upper hand. I won’t guarantee your safety, and I cannot guarantee you anything, really, but do you accept this job?”

Rityu held the other’s eyes for a moment, his own silver ones gleaming in thought and his features unnaturally hard. Abruptly, he grinned, a slight maniacal gleam in his eyes. “I doubt you asked the wrong person for this job, Lord Vermios,” he said, “though you do realize we both have to act like enemies when we meet from whenever I begin, yes?”

The addressed lord smiled grimly. “I did not wish to put you in such circumstances with your family, but there was no one else whom I can trust in more, not for this. Praise be to you, Rityu, for accepting.”

Rityu left some notes and a tip on the table, standing up. He smiled. “Anything to keep them safe, Lord Vermios. Even if it means playing the bad guy.”

Chapter 3

2010-05-10T07:52:00.001-07:00

Having been introduced to the members of the Aitelorn clan within the week she had awoken, a second had passed since Yula had first told the young cocoa haired teen that she could run around out of the infirmary. That is, provided she stomached all her potions. Kairi swore Yula was discretely replenishing otherwise empty vials during her sleeping hours. She had been so bold as to bluntly bring the notion up in conversation with the healer. Nonetheless, Yula, who was sitting by Kairi’s bedside at present, merely laughed it off, instead going on to describe the clan’s estate; not forgetting the various behavioural conducts the young girl was expected to adhere to whilst under their care.

A castle of magnificent grandeur, the Aitelorn estate was huge enough to house tens of thousands of people at a time behind its massive walls. The castle itself was divided into four separate wings for easier navigation; namely North, South, East and West. Each wing accommodated more than a hundred rooms, each designed for the occupation of pairs, preferably of the same gender (though Yula confessed that more than two could fit comfortably in those rooms – her sons, for example, shared a – ‘huge-ass’ was left unspoken – quarters over in the South Wing). There was also an infirmary, kitchen and formal dining hall in each, though an additional infirmary situated in the West Wing where the training rooms were.

Generally, rooms in the South Wing were occupied year-long; inhabited by the Aitelorns themselves, the estate staff, Seloria, and now Kairi herself. Rooms in the East Wing, Yula explained, were meant for guests. The particular wing was also where most balls and functions were held. In other words, Yula informed Kairi, whose eyes portrayed little other than blank confusion, the East Wing was the ‘entertainment section’ of the estate. To the North was where most, if not all of the meetings regarding the Aitelorn trading business were held. As such, its rooms were reserved for business delegates in league with the Aitelorns and other important figures in that scene. The West Wing, with more than half of its rooms fashioned as training facilities and with its two infirmaries, was also home to a massive library spanning three floors and roughly twenty rooms. “That’s where your sister spends most of her time,” added Yula as an afterthought. Kairi nodded.

Bridging the four wings of the castle in the middle was the Central. There, family portraits with expensive frames were hung along the walls. Another distinguishing feature of the Central was the huge family tree. Unlike the similarly-decorated Wing areas (with certain differences as to their functions), the Central had a glass ceiling and dark marble floors.

Pausing to make certain Kairi finished the remainder of her potions, Yula began voicing the three basic rules on behaviour within the Aitelorns. “One: be yourself.” Well, that’s not hard to do, Kairi mused, tapping a finger to her chin before pausing. Wait that could be hard. I still don’t know what to think of all this. Yula, pretending not to notice the young female’s somewhat-dilemma, continued. “Two: instructions are to be followed.” Simple enough, the girl decided with a shrug. “Three: be civilized and respectful to each other.” Yula grinned as the younger laughed at that – of course she was going to be civilized! As for respect… well… “No guarantees,” Kairi phrased to the Aitelorn matriarch with a cheeky grin. Yula rolled her eyes, ruffling up the girl’s bright-coloured hair in response. “Oy!” went Kairi as she attempted to save her hair.

“Now, Seloria mentioned you were wondering about her calling me ‘Mistress’?” Kairi responded with a frantic nod. Yula held up a hand, the younger looked at her inquisitively. “She addresses Nerion as ‘Master’, and my sons ‘young lords’, although she calls Phiol ‘idiot’ too.” Kairi had to giggle softly at that. “If you haven’t already guessed it, your sister works with us – she is Phiol’s assistant.”

Kairi tilted her head to the side. “Assistant…for what?” the auburn hair fought the urge to pinch Kairi’s cheek upon glimpsing the rather cute expression on the young girl’s face. Instead, she patted her head.

“Phiol manages the family’s trade business,” Yula explained. “Seloria’s job is to manage him - make sure he eats, sleeps, rests, and schedules his meetings, so on so forth.” Kairi nodded slowly to indicate her understanding. “In addition to being a secretary-figure for Phiol, Seloria is also his partner during business meetings or functions. On the not-so happy side of business, she seconds Phiol in battle.”

Kairi frowned a little, forefinger tapping her chin in thought. She was no good with maths and calculations, but she knew that almost ninety percent of her older sister’s time was taken up by work. “If she’s that busy, how is she going to help me? I still can’t fight well enough without aid to save my life.” Before Yula could point out that Kairi was capable of holding her own when they found her, the girl persisted her reasoning. “I acted purely by instinct, and luck was the only thing preventing my getting any serious injuries.”

A silent moment passed between the two before Yula rose and gestured for Kairi to follow her. Together they slipped out from the South Wing infirmary and, as Yula led the way to the West Wing, Kairi allowed her eyes to roam over the various paintings and decorations that were present in the hallways. Several maids and servants bowed in respect to Yula as they passed, to which the matriach smiled back in polite-greeting. Kairi however, finding herself feeling a tad shy, kept her eyes down most of the time but smiled all the same.

The walk from the South to the West Wing took a ridiculous ten minutes. Kairi found herself feeling rather bemused at the lengthy distance, somehow imagining that the Aitelorn patriarch found amusement in making his sons dash from one end to another within a set time limit (truth be told, the young Thyride knew not how right she was in thinking so). Yula led Kairi to one of the many training rooms and, upon pushing the doors open, spotted her two youngest in a two-on-two spar against Phiol and Seloria.

While the participants were too busy to notice their presence, Nerion inclined his head ever so slightly in their direction; an indication he noticed their entrance. He then resumed watching the spar, presumably the acting referee. Yula, after making sure Kairi was settled in a nearby seat as comfortably as she could, walked towards the front to stand beside her husband. She whispered something into his ear and the patriarch, after a moment’s contemplation, nodded his consent. Yula beamed happily at him before she too turned to regard the spar.

Kairi watched with keen interest as her sister made a swift hammering motion with the blunt end of her scythe, aiming for Stein’s unsuspecting head from behind. “Stein!” Rityu had called to his brother in warning. Alas, the damage had been done. “Oy!” The fiery teen yelled, agitation growing. His attacker offered a half-giggle, then backing away from his angered form. Stein charged after her, bellowing a heated war cry.

A scythe-wielder and a sword-wielder as partners, thought Kairi. While a rather unlikely combination, it was proving to be quite a fascinating watch. Kairi was sure Seloria had some of her own instinctive abilities to match styles, or perhaps it was just that the older had worked with Phiol for a long time (of which she had no doubt), for it was a very interesting pattern the duo fell into. Seloria’s scythe kept the sword-wielding duo wary, and Phiol’s precise movements made it difficult for Rityu and Stein to gain a proper advantage.

Stein’s style with his dual swords, Kairi noted, was quite similar to her own. Still, she dismissed the notion that the youngest Aitelorn was like her when he proved he was more than able to fight solo when the older pair decided to break formation, forcing the younger duo more into defence as they were made to split up and fight one-on-one. The fight was even more one-sided from then on, and Kairi almost failed to get up and flip out of harm’s way on time when Phiol accidentally knocked Rityu’s sword out of his hand a little too hard. Seloria, who only just caught on to the happenings when Stein admitted defeat, turned to Phiol with a glare that could kill.

The oldest sibling gulped audibly. “Sel, d-don’t do anything rash…” he said, backing cautiously away from his assistant with arms raised in surrender. Seloria did not bother giving him a forgiving response and fiercely flung her scythe at him, forcing the two younger Aitelorns to duck for cover and their oldest Aitelorn brother to run for his life. Of course, Yula was having a bit too much fun laughing at her son’s expense, and Nerion, who had expected this to an extent, sighed, shaking his head. Seeing all this, Kairi stood, then hopping lightly off the chair in front of her for leverage and performed a little flip in the air for momentum before catching the scythe’s handle. And all just as Phiol ran past her being.

She twirled it around several times before eventually noting all eyes on her. “What?”

Chapter 2

2010-05-09T02:46:00.001-07:00

A book in her hand, Seloria sat by her sister’s bedside after Phiol had driven her away from work. He knew her concentration had been lacking recently. The Aitelorn estate’s infirmary was huge – an estimation of more than twenty beds lined each side of the area with at least five private rooms in addition. Being amongst the few headquarters on the side of light with dark times lying ahead, such facilities were an essential part of the estate and there were five infirmaries within the grouds, each as big as the very one Seloria and her unconscious sister now resided in.

The female placed her book lithely onto the bed stand. Her mind in its present state, she could not get any further reading done. Rising to a stand and leaning over the bed, Seloria gently brushed several stray strands of Kairi’s long hair from her face. The girl had been in deep sleep for more than a week now. Of course, Yula had believed the rest best for the cocoa-haired teen – though she needed to wake soon so ‘potions could be shoved down her throat’, the healer’s exact words.

From what Seloria had managed to gather after filtering much of Yula’s medical jargon, was that Kairi had fashioned a shield of sorts around her being from the moment she regained consciousness after the initial kidnapping. It appeared that the girl did not let it down until she had been found. That alone should’ve drained her magic reserves dry, and yet, the day they had found her, Kairi was still capable of spell casting. It was to Seloria’s knowledge though of how Kairi had no experience with fighting solo; and yet she had held her own against those thugs until she joined in. The scythe wielder recollected, her younger sister had instinctively matched her battle style – something she had excelled at since she was old enough to learn how to fight…

Seloria frowned. There was something about her younger sister that was different from before and she was not sure if Kairi herself knew what it was. The thought forged a sense of wonder within her but she decided now was hardly the time for an expression of her doubts. Just as she moved to open the windows nearest to Kairi’s bed for some fresh air, the younger began to stir. I should’ve known, Seloria thought in amusement. She had not performed this latest action as nimbly as she had with her earlier placing down the book.

Abandoning the windows, she returned to the girl’s side – who had shot up to a stiff sitting position on the bed as if awoken from a fierce nightmare. “Hey there,” soothed Seloria with a small smile. “How’re you feeling?”

Seloria knew Kairi had woken with a spell on her lips, but decided to restraint any comments about it. The younger girl had a wild, almost frantic look in her orange-coloured eyes, but they vanished the instant her eyes found Seloria. “Kairi?”

“Se…Seloria?” Kairi asked uncertainly, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as her fingers fiddled with the sheets. Apprehensively, she reached out to touch the length of her sister’s hair. The older did not make to stop her. Yula had mentioned this such possible reaction of Kairi’s as a way of confirming the reality of her situation – the sense of touch was a way of convincing herself that she was indeed safe, that Seloria was in fact real and right there before her, that the proceedings of last week were not a mere dream…

Ending a long-pause-of-a moment, Kairi let out a strangled cry and threw herself at her older sister, sobbing silently. Seloria in turn held the younger in a tight but gentle sisterly embrace, whispering words of comfort. Kairi was the type to let all her frustrations, insecurities, anger and whatnots build up to the point where she could contain them no longer and just…burst. She knew Kairi’s limits had been tested by the horrible kidnapping.

And in a world where war was on the brink of erupting, Seloria was not sure if she could deal with losing Kairi a second time.

~*~

Apparently, Yula had not been joking when she said she was going to shove potions down Kairi’s throat. Potions of all sorts littered the tray the Aitelorn matriarch held in her grasp, and more were inbound, held by Stein. Seloria watched with a bemused eye as Kairi, who had long recovered from her breakdown, blanched at the sight of all the potion vials.

“Hello Kairi. I’m Yula, and you are in my abode,” the woman announced in a tone of mock malign, then setting the tray of potions down on a nearby table. “And since you are here, I fully expect you to obey my every order.” Kairi, responding automatically in surprise, nodded cautiously.

“Don’t worry, she does this all the time,” Seloria whispered audibly to her sister, mock-saluting the healer when a glare was directed her way. Stein rolled his eyes in exasperation, wondering why Seloria had to act the way she always did as he placed his own tray of potions down next Yula’s on the table. Nodding briskly to his mother, the male strode out of the room as if about to meet his maker. His composure caused Seloria to raise an eyebrow; she supposed the Master was still punishing his two younger sons.

As the door to the infirmary shut unhurriedly behind the purple haired youth, Kairi eyed the trays. “I don’t have to take all of that, do I?” she asked meekly. Yula’s grin-of-a-reply was nefarious.

“Ah, but you do,” the healer proffered – the sisters suspected she was holding back a cackle. “You, little missy, are undernourished. Not to mention bearing more than a few fractured bones, some dangerously low magic levels, and pure physical exhaustion. If you don’t take all of these potions, dream not of taking a step out of this bed for a month.”

Those words succeeded in making Kairi whine. “No, I don’t wanna stay bed-ridden! I wanna go train!” she wailed, dragging out the ‘no’ and ‘train’. Yula and Seloria exchanged amused looks – that was the exact reaction Seloria had five years ago when Yula told her the same thing.

“If you want to get off that bed and train, listen to Mistress Aitelorn,” Seloria informed, ruffling her sister’s hair. Kairi whined again in response and immediately began pushing the elder’s hand away, though Seloria noted the question visible in Kairi’s eyes. Yula smiled at the affectionate interaction, oddly reminded of that between her sons, Phiol and Stein.

“Alright Kairi, I expect you to drink these potions,” here, Yula placed four different coloured vials in front of her, “at every three hour interval. Finish them all and you’re free to run about out of the infirmary.”

Kairi had the beginnings of a grin tugging at the corners of her semi-cracked lips, that is, before it morphed into a pout when Yula continued. “But, I have to discourage you from heavy training and-or sparring for a week.” At that, the young Thyride groaned, flopping back down on the bed with a soft ‘thud’. Seloria shook her head at the younger, unsure if she was amused or bemused by her behaviour.

Chapter 1

2010-05-08T04:43:00.001-07:00

The slums were a dirty place. That much was obvious to the purple haired teen as he trudged alongside the rest of his family and his first brother’s assistant. Hands pocketed, his green-silver eyes held just the slightest tinge of annoyance. Indeed, Stein Aitelorn, sixteen years in age, was not happy in being dragged away from the comfort of his family mansion’s training room; especially not for walking the slums. Even his most modest of garments stood out within the vicinity. It made him all the more tense at the stares he and his company were receiving. Stein resorted to glaring at anyone who dared meet his eyes, clutching the hilt of his dual-swords (the weapons dangling in their hoists from his belt) to subdue his discomfort somewhat.

Several steps ahead of him were his parents, Nerion and Yula Aitelorn. The Head of the Aitelorn House was a highly no-nonsense type of person. He bore piercing silver eyes and neatly combed reddish-purple hair. The man’s very presence commanded utter attention and respect, and his sword skills were not to be trifled with – simply the sight of him with a blade was proof enough. His life-long companion, Yula, however, was a much gentler figure. Her eyes, lovely shade of green, were graciously expressive and her lengthy auburn hair was almost always left loose. A healer by profession, Yula was not meant for combat and yet her accuracy with her chakrams (which she always summons – she never has the weapon on her being) was not a laughing matter. It was not very well-known, but the Aitelorn matriarch was also quite the sadist…

To Stein’s immediate left was the Aitelorn’s second son, Rityu. Much like their father, Rityu had reddish-purple hair that was nearly as long as their mother’s and silver eyes that seemed to find a sense of amusement in everything. While Stein was younger than Rityu by three years, they were the most identical in looks, eye and hair colour being an exception. They were also remarkably alike in built – both being lean and athletic. Rityu was rather akin to the Aitelorn patriarch in terms of swordsmanship (his sword lay in its sheath on the right side of his belt, the same position the oldest had his), though it was apparent he was less exposed to the art in comparison to his father and oldest sibling.

Said oldest was walking to the right and slightly behind Stein. Phiol Aitelorn took after his mother most amongst his brothers. His auburn hair was cut short and messily styled. And while his eyes were the trademark Aitelorn silver, they were as expressive as Yula’s. Phiol’s slightly heavier body build was similar to his father’s – the only physical trait he’d taken after. While his swordplay style differed from that of Nerion’s, it was a slightly more efficient way of fighting – proven through the times he had been forced into combat against those wanting to take over their family business by force. His second in these duels was, more often than naught, his assistant who was deadly with her scythe.

Standing beside Phiol was the only non-family member and Phiol’s assistant, Seloria Thyride. Rescued by Nerion and Yula at fourteen from a bloody massacre that cost the young female her left eye and the kidnapping of her younger sister, it took Stein and his brothers four years to help her recover. Now 18 (which made her four years younger than Phiol), she assists the elders in the family business, more often than naught hitting the oldest Aitelorn son on the head with the huge file she was prone to carrying during business hours. A simple yet stylish eye patch covered her missing eye, and her remaining good eye, a dark shade of blue that could be mistaken as black, was oftentimes cold. Her light brown hair was never allowed to grow past her shoulders. Much like Yula, Seloria never had her scythe on her being – she summons it to her hand with a mere thought.

Taking another look about the slums, Stein was hard-pressed to hide his discomfort and disgust. The place made the mess of a battlefield seem clean. Puddles of water (some were probably human excretion, Stein thought in disgust while bringing a gloved hand to his nose in an effort to stop the foul smell from reaching his nose – he failed that task splendidly) were aplenty along the paths they walked on, and blood stains, both new and old, decorated the walls, pathways…everything.

“What’re we doing here again?” he muttered, stopping in his tracks for a moment to eye a cut-off limb before side-stepping the stray leg, cursing under his breath. Seloria, who had moved up to match his pace, eyed the younger male with a bit of amusement in her sole eye.

“You should’ve listened to what Master and Mistress Aitelorn said this morning,” she spoke, tone one that screamed disapproval as she shook her head slightly. She also had a habit of pretending to be high and mighty with Stein, which was what she was doing right now. “But since you didn’t, I’ll enlighten you.”

Stein rolled his eyes, too used to her behaviour around him to feel insulted. “Then by all means, please enlighten me,” he said in a deadpan manner. Seloria almost pouted at him for not rising to the bait as per usual, but understood his reaction somewhat. The slums were making her feel uncomfortable too.

“I don’t know how they found out,” she told the younger, “but Master and Mistress Aitelorn managed to retrieve information on where my sister is and their sources point here. They believe they may need our help, hence why we’re all brought with.”

Looking around more closely at Seloria’s words, Stein understood why. While the majority of people in the slums were very much malnourished and did not look as if they could fight, there were people hiding in the shadows with their murderous intent flowing out of them in waves. He let out a small ‘tch’ of annoyance and shoved his hands back into his pockets. Seloria fell back and returned to Phiol’s side, both discussing some matter or other.

The Aitelorns plus one slowed when they heard shouting from a distance. Amongst the cries of “get her” and “she’s getting away” was the familiar (to them) clashing of blade to blade, alongside the occasional female war-cry and shouts of a spell name or other (which was almost always “Fire”). Seloria’s lone eye had widened in recognition of the voice and she immediately broke apart from the group, dashing towards the fight with her scythe in hand. Figuring that it was her younger sister’s voice that spurred Seloria’s actions, the Aitelorns made haste to catch up with her.

Upon nearing, Yula instantly casted a “Shield” spell around Seloria and the younger female she was fighting alongside with. And while Nerion, Phiol and Rityu almost eagerly drew their swords before jumping into the fray, Stein had stopped to pause and marvel at the almost-instantaneously in-tandem dance the two currently-fighting females started. Each twist and slash of scythe and dagger were in direct sync of each other, and every time they turned, it was to strike an opponent or enemy the other never saw.

While he watched, it was also very painfully obvious that the younger female was running on pure adrenaline. She would likely drop in a dead faint soon. Knowing that he and Seloria were capable of fighting in tandem with each other as well, Stein briefly nodded his head towards the girl’s direction, catching his mother’s eye. Yula, understanding his implication, released a nifty replacement spell, switching his position with that of the girl’s. Seloria, who noted Stein’s action, nodded at him gratefully before turning back to the fight.

It took a while, but with the sadistic streak in the brothers that came from Yula, the skirmish did not take as long to end as one would expect when outnumbered ten to one. Seloria’s scythe vanished from her hand as the males flicked their swords (in Stein’s case, both swords) to rid them of the blood that covered their blades. The girl, who Stein was surprised to note, had not yet fallen unconscious. Instead, his mother was supporting her as she had taken to staring at Seloria in shock.

While the girl’s eyes were an odd orange and her hair a touch darker and very much longer than Seloria’s, there was no doubt in any of their minds that she was the very girl that took them four, almost five years to find.

“Kairi,” Seloria said slowly, overwhelmed by the fact that it was her sister standing before her after the adrenaline from the fight wore off. The Aitelorns knew she was – Seloria rarely lost her composure, but she was shaking ever so slightly at this moment. “Kairi…”

The girl stared at Seloria a moment longer and then slowly pushed herself away from Yula. She moved towards the older female slowly – almost as if in a daze. When her knees buckled, her legs too tired to hold her up any longer; Seloria rushed to grab her and held the younger girl in an emotional hug, slowly sinking to their knees onto blood-stained ground.

“Seloria… I’m not dreaming this time, right?” Finally the girl spoke, her voice dry yet thick with emotion. “I won’t wake up in the morning to find out this meeting has been a dream, right?” As she spoke, her hands reached up to return Seloria’s hug. Her hold grew tighter as she spoke.

“No,” the older responded softly, comfortingly. “This is not a dream. I’m here, and I’m not letting you go again. Not anymore.” At Seloria’s words, the Aitelorns glanced, with grim satisfaction, over to the now-dead once-captors that had Kairi in their grasps for far too long.

Kairi leaned away from Seloria for a moment and, with a small, tired smile, closed her eyes and slumped against her older sibling, allowing fatigue to overcome her at last. Stein, who had watched the interaction closely, frowned.

“She still doesn’t believe we’re real,” he pointed out. “She thinks we’re a dream – that this situation was a dream.” At that, Nerion, who had observed the interaction silently, nodded his agreement.

“Well then,” Seloria began to repond, “we’ll just have to show her we’re not.” Carefully shifting the unconscious girl in her arms, she lifted her up off the ground and, nodding as an indication she was leaving ahead of them, vanished from the area. Yula, already in her element, told her boys that she would see them later and followed Seloria’s classy example exit.

“Let’s head home,” Phiol said, slightly miffed that the duo did not perform alongside-teleportation with them, but understanding that Seloria was concerned over Kairi’s well-being, and Yula had gone into full healer-mode...

“There are still stacks of paperwork to be done.”

“And both Rityu and Stein need more training,” Nerion added abruptly, fixing both sons with a stern glare. “You both completely went out of your forms.” Said two ducked their heads, embarrassed to have been caught. “Come.”

With that simple sentence, the remainder of the Aitelorns in the area marched out… and Stein could not help but complain about the blood on his boots.

Author's Note

2010-05-06T23:30:00.000-07:00

Update: May 8th, 2010
First, some disclaimers.

I do not own any concept or idea behind certain skills, spells or summons. The credit for that will fall almost-solely to the creators of the Final Fantasy series. Others will fall to the creators of .Hack, Kingdom Hearts, and possibly Wild Arms.

Also, there will likely be references or concepts tied to Harry Potter, Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, and other anime and books that slip my mind.

The entire Aitelorn clan (Nerion, Yula, Phiol, Rityu and Stein) and certain characters that have yet to appear are characters created by Tsu.

Karyme Doyle, who has yet to make an appearance, is Okie's character.

The plot, Seloria and Kairi Thyride, and certain characters that has yet to appear, however, are solely mine.

Also, the story is being beta'd by Okie. The entire writing process, though, is solely me.

Update: May 6th, 2010
After getting some critique I very much needed from a friend (I agree with her, I'm too much in RP mode), the chapters are now being rewritten. The next chapter will not be up until all four chapters are revamped.

Sorry for that, and please wait for the very much more reader-friendly chapters (in terms of character understanding, for those who don't know them) to come up!