Chapter 6

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

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

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.”