“I know you have overwhelming speed, but that doesn’t mean you should be satisfied. If you have the energy, you can turn that energy into an ability.”
“Easier said than done.”
“Look at me,” the princess commanded.
Bryson obeyed, giving her a defeated look.
“Emitting your energy into a tangible external element requires a lot of control. You should understand this since you can already emit sparks … pretty feeble ones, but they’re still something.”
Shelly was a good teacher, which was why Bryson continued going straight to the Intel Palace every evening. Debo continued developing his and Lilu’s speed after school, and Bryson would accompany her back to the palace afterward. He was overworking himself and losing any bit of a social life he once had. His bonds with his team were weakening as he neglected his duties as captain. But it was all a reasonable sacrifice if it meant becoming strong enough to rescue Olivia.
Continuing her lecture, Shelly paced across the shadows of the palace’s towers. “You must be able to manipulate your energy. It’s difficult at first, but eventually it becomes instinctive. Each energy has a specific pattern as it runs through your body. They say that Spirit Energy moves in waves. Our energy moves in a jagged path with harsh angles. It’s very dynamic.”
Bryson glanced at his hand as a few sparks discharged from his fingertips.
Shelly shook her head. “You don’t know how to focus on it. Speed and technique are nice, but that focuses on your bodily control—not internal.”
Shelly pressed her finger against his forehead hard enough for him to topple backward a few steps. “Internal control requires your mind,” she said before turning toward the courtyard’s exit. “Think more.”
***
Tashami and Agnos were seated in the grass of Phesaw Park. Agnos was wearing socks with his wooden sandals, as winter wasn’t kind to his skin. They were discussing a common topic between the two of them—the Unbreakable.
“I received another letter,” Tashami said.
“It’s about time,” Agnos said through a mouthful of apple. “What does it say?”
“It’s pretty vague.”
“A vague modifier for the word itself. How ironic.”
Tashami’s nose wrinkled like he smelled something bad. “Sometimes your intelligence makes you petty, you know.”
Agnos ignored the remark. “Could you read it?”
“I’m getting better with your help.”
“Good.” Agnos retrieved his glasses from his pocket. “Let me see it.”
Tashami handed him the parchment, and Agnos scanned through the foreign characters, his glasses instantly translating the text:
Tashami,
A mysterious young man accompanied by an older woman and young girl visited today. Well, everything in this kingdom is mysterious. However, this was different.
Not many foreigners venture into the Cyn Kingdom, but this man and woman chose to—like I did so many years ago. You would think it’d be refreshing to see new faces to sulk in your miseries with, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
They didn’t want to sulk. They had an objective—again, much like a younger me did. And even though their mission was a lot more selfish than mine, they still didn’t allow this kingdom to deplete their drive. I can admire that.
The man was from the Archaic Kingdom and, from what he told me, had been traveling a lot lately. He’s done a lot of bad things—as in murder—but he says it’s for a greater good, which I agree with. Although, we may have thought differently about what that greater good was. Whenever you lay someone to eternal rest, you are doing them a favor. Needless to say, I took a liking to the man … Then I figured out what his goal was.
You see, I don’t want to live, but something is keeping me alive. Nobody really wants to live. Think about it. Life is pain. When you die, you are set free from the stress, heartbreak, and uncertainty that plague your thoughts.
Let those lucky people who are rotting inside the crust enjoy their peace. Do not wake the dead, for they do not want to be awakened.
The now broken Unbreakable
Agnos took off his glasses and returned them to his pocket. “This isn’t vague at all,” he said. He folded the parchment and stuck it in the pocket with his glasses. “I need to borrow this to read it over a few times.”
Staring into the scattered trees in front of him, Agnos now knew, without a doubt, that his suspicions of the identity of the Archaic Museum’s thief were correct. His once pure-hearted childhood friend, who aspired to the ultimate form of good, was now a thief and murderer. And the woman who stole him away was the catalyst of it all. As for the little girl mentioned, Agnos didn’t know who that could be.
But one thing was certain. Agnos had to accept the fact that his friend who had taught him morals, values, and purity no longer followed those teachings himself.
How does someone change that drastically? What did that woman do to him?
***
Dev Prince Storshae stepped off the teleplatform and took a deep breath. “Home, sweet home,” he said to General Ossen with a smile.
To their left, Olivia was shoved from the platform and hit the ground with a thump. She wasn’t tied up, for she was no threat to fight back. With how little they had been feeding her, she was in no condition to even stand.
Storshae stared at the limitless sea of yellow prairie gleaming in the first-day sun. The capital sat well over the horizon, at least a week’s journey away. Mistrustful of outsiders, his ancestors had built their teleplatforms in the hinterland, in this wide-open landscape with nowhere to hide.
The charcoal-haired prince walked toward a building with about twenty soldiers trailing him. There was a sign above the door: telestation. He instructed the men to stand outside as he entered. It was where the escorts and guards slept between their shifts. It also served as a place for travelers to eat and drink.
Storshae stepped back out with a key in hand a few minutes later. He handed it to one of the soldiers. “Use this to unlock the shed.” He then addressed the rest of them. “Prepare the carriage, fetch the horses grazing, and grab some food suitable for two-days’ travel.”
General Ossen stood still next to the motionless Olivia as the men scurried away. Meow Meow’s eyes were almost as unreadable as hers. Beyond the point of exhaustion, he had given up on being angry. And he wasn’t stupid. If he said anything that hinted at sarcasm, Olivia would receive the punishment.
“Two days, sir?” Ossen asked when Storshae returned to the teleplatform.
“We’re going to stop at Cosmos, then Shreel, then Rence. It has been too long since I’ve visited the lesser cities of my kingdom … If you can even call Cosmos a ‘lesser city’.”
Ossen looked at him uneasily. “You sure are taking your sweet time, Prince.”
“First of all, they’re probably just arriving in the Archaic Kingdom through the teleplatforms with smaller units. Then good luck to them in trying to find Itta in that desert. And who’s to say that they’ll attack us? That could spark a world war. They would risk that just to save one girl?
Ossen said nothing.
“They’re likely sending ships into the Archaic Kingdom, but that will take months of travel. Yes, they might try infiltrating our kingdom, but that will take an insurmountable amount of time of planning. They can’t just throw soldiers through the teleplatforms when it comes to crossing realms. We’d cut them down in an instant. And they can’t use ships because the Dark Realm can’t be reached through the Light Realm’s river system.”
“The whirlpools, sir,” Ossen pointed out.
“Those haven’t been used in centuries.” Storshae grinned wide. “We have plenty of time.”
The conversation was interrupted as they were approached by a man with sleek, jet black hair and long, burgundy robes.
“Ah, Tristen,” Storshae said.
A pair of black boots appeared in front of
Olivia. She gazed up in search of the man’s face and instantly recognized him, but not as “Tristen”. She was sure it was Vistas—the man she met in the hospital the day after the restaurant collapse. But Vistas was supposed to be a servant of King Vitio.
Tristen looked down at the violet-haired girl. “So this was your objective.”
“Sorry we had to keep it a secret from you. Only Fonos, Ossen, and I could know.”
Tristen looked away from Olivia without showing any signs of knowing her. She would have expected to see some sort of break in his expression—if even for a split-second.
After finally departing and riding for nearly an hour, the sky grew dark as first-night approached. Storshae peeled back a curtain, examining the sky. “I must get used to the day-night cycle again. After months of being in the Light Realm, I’ve grown fond of their cycle.”
“Ah, yes. I remember it from my days of captivity,” Tristen said. “A day would only consist of one long period of light followed by one long period of darkness.” He thought about it for a second before continuing: “I suppose I did prefer it to our four periods.”
“But the Light Realm doesn’t get to see Earth,” Ossen said.
Looking toward the blue sphere covered in swirling clouds, Storshae agreed with a smile.
Tristen studied the girl crumpled on the floor and the strange kitten hat resting on her head. She continued to stare at him with a blank expression, and he wondered why she was so interested in him.
They traveled a few leagues further before General Ossen complained of an upset stomach. As the carriage came to a halt, Ossen jumped out with his arm wrapped around himself.
Prince Storshae laughed. “I guess I should use this time to empty the bladder.”
“What about her?” Tristen asked as he nodded in Olivia’s direction.
“Let her piss herself. She’s used to it by now anyways.”
Storshae left the carriage, and as friendly banter could be heard outside, Olivia mustered up the effort to talk. “Vistas.”
His brow furrowed in disbelief. “Who are you?”
“So you’re not Vistas,” she said. “You would recognize me if you were.”
“Vistas is my brother,” he whispered, sitting up intently. “So you know King Vitio?”
“I have not met him personally, but I do know Vistas. He is a nice man.”
Tristen smiled. “That he is. We both are.”
“My name is Olivia Lavender. I am a member of the Jestivan and served as an honorary guard during the Generals’ Battle that Intel King Vitio hosted,” she explained in her familiar monotone voice.
“I am a spy for King Vitio,” he said as he stared at her beaten and bruised face. “Do not worry.”
23
An Unsanctioned Mission
King Vitio sat in the Intel Palace’s council room with a group of elderly advisers. Vitio, who was seated at the head of the table, fired off questions one after the other. “How far are our ships from the coast?”
“A few weeks away, sir,” a wiry haired man responded.
“Any of the other kingdoms’ ships arrive yet?”
“Not yet.”
“What about the special forces we sent through the portals? How are they?”
“Intel, Passion, Adren, and Spirit soldiers have been scanning the Archaic Desert since they arrived. They found him early this morning.”
“And the whereabouts of that Jestivan girl?”
“He is too weak to answer anything. He was on the very cusp of death when he was found. Major Lars is leading our soldiers into the city, Rim, at the foot of the Archaic Mountains. Adren soldiers are headed to the capital. The other kingdoms are headed to different major cities. We are preparing for complete occupation of their land.”
“And what about the Archaic Prince?” Vitio asked.
A balding man offered his reassurance. “He has agreed to cooperate. He understands that there is no use resisting.”
The door burst open and a beautiful girl with flowing green hair stormed in.
“Lilu,” the king stammered. “You should be in school.”
“Urgent news, Father,” she announced with a look of purpose. She impatiently stared at the old men around the table while purposely tapping her foot on the ground.
“GET OUT!”
The advisers gathered their paperwork and filed toward the door. Several gave her annoyed glares, which she happily returned in an even more exaggerated fashion.
As the final man closed the door, Lilu wasted no time. “Tristen contacted Vistas.”
“With what news?” Vitio quickly asked. “It has been so long.”
“To connect with him as soon as possible. Apparently we need to see something, and we need to be ready for it at any moment within the next 24 hours. He can’t record until it’s safe, so there’s no telling exactly when that might be.”
Vitio sighed as he rubbed his golden beard. “Get Vistas or Flen then. We need one of them to stay close.”
“Vistas!” she shouted behind her.
A slender man with black hair and hollow cheekbones entered the room. “I’m here, milady.”
King Vitio chuckled to himself. He had three women in his life, and all three were mirror images of each other in varying degrees. He may have been the king, but they almost made him forget that at times.
For the next several hours, Lilu, King Vitio, and Vistas sat in a private chamber, waiting for Tristen to contact them. Finally, Vistas stood.
“He’s ready,” he announced. “We will not be able to communicate with him, for I will not be recording.”
Vistas’s eyes instantly dilated as a holographic display appeared. Lilu closed the curtains and waited for her eyes to adjust to the image’s darkness. The Dark Realm was currently two hours into their second-night.
After a few seconds, she began to make out shapes and colors. They were viewing the inside of a carriage as it rattled along. However, the angle was awkward. Everything was turned on its side and their point of view was lower than normal. Also, the image was blurry.
The king squinted at the display. “I guess this is the best he can do?”
“He’s trying not to get caught,” Lilu said. “He’s lying on his side, probably pretending to rest. The blurry narrow picture means he’s squinting to hide the burgundy color of his eyes. In fact, he’s being stupidly reckless. I thought he’d have something safer in mind.”
They only caught a glimpse of Prince Storshae relaxing on the other side of the carriage before Tristen closed his eyes completely, causing the display to become a wall of black. But they could still hear, which was all that mattered.
“Have you spoken with Toono since our arrival yesterday, Prince?”
“I should speak with him when we arrive in Cosmos. However, I believe he’s still attending to matters in the Cyn Kingdom.”
“He has been there for a while now … like four months.”
There was soft laughter. “Killing a royal isn’t easy. It involves planning and, most importantly, actually executing the plan.”
“He made quick work of the Prim Kingdom’s prince. A simple cut of the throat.”
“Yes, well, he has a connection that made that an easy job … The rest won’t be so easy.”
“Aren’t you afraid he’ll come after you?”
More laughter. “He can’t kill me. Unlike everyone else in Kuki Sphaira, I actually know his plan, so he knows I’m prepared for anything. And you forget that this is a two-way street.”
“I’m aware.”
The voices fell silent, and all they could hear was the carriage bouncing along the ground.
“This is why we can’t kill her. Nobody gets what they want if she is dead. The Dev Kingdom, nor Toono, will come out of this satisfied.”
“If I recall, Toono didn’t want her hurt either.”
“Meh, as long as she’s alive to serve the purpose, who cares?”
Then Tristen opened his eyes a cra
ck, and to Lilu and Vitio’s horror, they saw a battered Olivia curled up on the floor.
“My goodness,” Lilu cried. “That’s Olivia, father. That’s Olivia!”
“Ossen,” said a voice in the hologram, “it seems Tristen’s stay in this world has come to an end. He is recording us.”
Lilu jumped out of her chair. Vitio, although still seated, looked just as horrified.
“Shame, shame,” the voice teased.
By this point, Tristen’s eyes were wide open and he was now upright. Ossen was furious and no longer seated. A plank of wood ripped away from the carriage’s floorboard and hovered in the air. The jagged end pointed directly at Tristen as he, along with Lilu and Vitio, stared his death in the eye.
“Despicable. Helping the Intel family, I imagine. To betray your home kingdom—your home realm—for the kingdom that abducted and enslaved you … where is the logic?”
Prince Storshae flicked his wrist, and the splintered plank of wood hurtled toward Tristen. The hologram instantly disappeared, and Lilu sobbed. Vitio’s face was drained of color. He wanted to do something, but he couldn’t wage a war on a Dark Realm kingdom because of a girl. None of the other royal heads would even entertain such a proposal.
He looked at Vistas—a normally impassive man. But the king could have sworn that he saw a subtle hint of anguish cross his face.
“May I be excused?” Vistas asked a little too quietly. “I must inform Flen.”
“Of course.”
As Vistas exited the room, Lilu exploded. “We need to get Olivia!”
Her father looked down at the floor. “We can’t.”
“Of course we can!” she shouted. “We’re a world power!”
“Your anger is taking control of your intelligent mind, sweetie. You know that’s a simplistic view for a complex reality. The other families wouldn’t back us on this. She’s just one girl.”
“We’ll do it ourselves,” she pleaded.
Vitio embraced his daughter, pressing her head against his brawny chest. “I wish we could.”
The Jestivan (Erafeen, #1) Page 22
