Night fell upon the island. The aquamarine waters became a beautiful, glistening abyss that reflected the celestial clusters above. The moon loomed over the island, turning the golden sands silver.

Emily rested upon the hotel’s rooftop terrace. She leaned against the glass railing staring out towards the sea, breathing in the salty, coastal air. There was still a little time before they left for the opening celebration and Emily had already been stuck in her room for far too long today.

She glanced down at her hands holding onto the railing. Her knuckles were red raw. Some of them would probably bruise. Emily silently scolded herself. She’d succumbed to her rage and frustration and hadn’t protected her hands properly. That would draw even more unwanted eyes at the celebration. She could imagine the gossip now ‘The General Jager’s daughter turns out to be a reckless brawler’ or maybe they’d think she couldn’t form basic protection runes. Irritation began to run rampant inside her as her mind raced with ridiculous scenarios that could be. Her hands shot up the sides of her face deep into her hair.

‘What was happening to her. She should be able to handle this situation. Just like her father and sister’. Her fingers tightly grasped locks of black hair. She instantly let go and gently stroked it back down. Her mother had done her hair earlier, especially for the celebration, and Emily prayed she hadn’t ruined it.

She quickly gave up hopelessly trying to fix her hair and, with a long sigh, left it to the gods.

If she was being honest with herself, attending this celebration was the last thing she wanted to do. It was moments like this when she envied Athra. He done what he wanted when he wanted whereas, she was never left much of a choice. For good and bad reasons.

The celebration was an amazing place to form connections and relations as an aspiring Elysian General but, more annoyingly it was expected of her as the daughter of General Jager. Her hands tightened to fists. She shouldn’t complain her siblings had been made to the exact same and now it was her turn and eventually it would be her younger sister’s.

At least her friends would be there, and she’d gotten a lot closer to the other competitors during training, which, when she considered it, was a little strange as they spent all their time attempting to kill each other. Emily had grown especially fond of Lucina. The girl had that strange Athra charisma that made it hard to not like her, and refreshingly, unlike her elder sibling, acted her age. She possessed a drive to prove herself, stronger than anyone Emily had ever met. During their training no matter how exhausted she was or how many times she was knocked down, Lucina got straight back up. Then when her brother started aiding their training it was like the girl had been sent into overdrive doing everything in her power to impress him, to be acknowledged.

Emily knew how that felt. To desire recognition from the people you admire the most. Falling into the trap of attempting to live up to expectations that never even existed.

Emily chuckled to herself, she hadn’t realised how similar the two of them are. The girl was also quite different from her brother, which was a bonus. Lucina was more like Alex, which was strange as they shared no blood.

Emily had nothing against Lewis, with the exception of their earlier years they got on fine.

Lewis Athra was just … an enigma. Sometimes even terrifying. At times she felt more intimidated by him than even her own father or enemies. It was like he had a split personality. Half the time solitary and stark like he held the fate of the world on his shoulders and the half only ever emerging when he felt safe, and Emily could finally feel like she’s speaking to another young adolescent human. To be fair, recently this last year she felt that whenever she’d seen him he’d seemed a lot more relaxed and friendly.

‘I wonder what he’d think about my family dilemma?’ Emily wondered.

“Look at you all dressed up”, a voice said from behind, “I’m actually surprised”.

Startled Emily spun on her heels. Lewis Athra approached.

‘What’s with that timing’. He casually strode across the hotel roof and relaxed on the railing beside her.

‘How long had he been there? How hadn’t she noticed him there’ she wondered, as she watched him stare out into the sea. When was the last time she’d ever been snuck up on, not even her father could successfully do that now.

Wait? Was she annoyed that she’d been caught off guard. She shook the thoughts away. ‘Stop being childish’.

“What do you mean surprised?” she asked, still slightly startled.

“You look nice” he stated.

“It’s a surprise that I look nice?”. She shot him a glare. “I’ll have you know I’ve been called attractive plenty of times”.

‘Why did I say that?’.

“Your parents don’t count”.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“By people that aren’t family” Emily snapped. “Just the other week I got told-”. She stopped herself. What the hell was she saying. Lewis grinned. ‘Asshole’.

“I don’t doubt that”, he raised his hands, “I meant it as a compliment. Promise”.

“… Then I’ll take it … thank you” Emily responded, still a little confused on how to take it. You could never be sure with Athra. At least he seems to be in a good mood.

Emily glanced down at her appearance. She’d decided to have some fun and get dressed up for celebration, after realising how rarely they get to attend such events. Emily wore a sapphire dress, that stretched down to just above her ankles and nicely outlined her body, along with heeled boots that pushed her past six foot. Her mother and sister had then helped her give herself more extravagant makeup and formal hairstyle. It felt a little weird like wearing someone else’s appearance, but Emily enjoyed it.

She then quickly scanned over Lewis’s appearance.

He wore one of his usual, causal outfits, that included a jacket. Even during the cooler Thalassi nights, it was still hot enough to make you sweat motionless. Even while in her dress, the only reason Emily didn’t feel like she was melting was because of the hotel’s air conditioning, that thankfully even reached all the way up here. Must be nice to be able to easily regulate your own temperature.

Basic mana augmentation could help your body resist harm due to temperatures, but it was nothing compared to an elemental’s capabilities.

“Are you not coming to the celebration?” Emily asked. Lewis had never been one to care for social etiquette but he even he wouldn’t attend such a prestigious event wearing that.

He shivered. “Gods no” he stated.

“I doubt the Generals and others will be happy with you turning down a personal invite” Emily told him, but he’d already have known that.

“Eh”, he shrugged, “They’re never happy with me”.

“That’s because you are a huge pain in the ass” Emily informed him with a grin of her own.

“I like being a pain in the ass, I’m good at it. Some have called me a natural” he joked. Emily let out a chuckle, which surprised her. “Hey, maybe you’ll meet someone” Lewis said, “Now that you don’t look like you’ll rip out any guy who comes near you throat”.

Her head snapped towards him, eyes wide. “What?!” she said flustered, “Gods no”.

“What?” he said innocently, “Could be a good place, you know a room full of royals, etc”.

“Then why don’t you go” Emily said.

“Doubt my partner would appreciate that. She can be kind of protective” Lewis said casually.

‘Huh’.

“You have a girlfriend?” Emily asked stunned.

“Yes”.

“Really?”.

“Yes”.

“And she’s real?”.

Lewis frowned “Yes”.

“Because if she wasn’t that’s fine. Delusion isn’t uncommon for people in our field of work”.

“Are you speaking from experience?”.

“Shut up” she mumbled. She paused for a moment, “When can I meet her?”.

“At this rate never?” Lewis grumbled.

“Well it is hard to introduce someone who’s imaginary, so I don’t blame you” Emily said smiling, a little proud of herself for her sense of humour.

Lewis continued to grumble, and their conversation died down. They stared out into the glistening abyss that beautifully reflected the star lit sky. As time passed a long silence fell over them.

“Upset?” Lewis abruptly asked

“No. Why?” she questioned. She turned to see him staring at her hands. She quickly hid them.

‘Oh’. She should’ve worn some gloves.

“I just got a little carried away while training earlier. I forgot to properly protect myself” Emily claimed. He gave a blank stare that made no effort to hide his disbelief.

“Has anything happened, that made you get carried away?” he pried, “Apparently you were in there for hours doing wave after wave”.

Emily casually shook her head, not bothering to ask how he knew that, and looked out at the view. She released a small sigh, what was she doing, he’s probably the one person she can speak to. He’d understand, not think less of her and wouldn’t try to use it against her.

“If you don’t want to speak about it, I’ll stop. But your dad is the one who asked me to check on you” Lewis told her.

‘Dad asked him?’.

“Did my father say anything?” Emily asked.

“No” he admitted. Lewis then paused, “So I’m guessing it’s family”.

“Brother” Emily said. Lewis calmly nodded and from his expression she could tell he’d already figured that out.

“He’ll be fine” Lewis stated.

“We don’t know that. Lewis he has vanished. Completely gone without a trace or lead” Emily said, feeling all her emotions grow erratic again.

“Emily”, he frowned, “Aren Jager is one of the most stubborn, toughest and not to mention strongest men I know. He’ll be back” Lewis told her, his expression then lightened. “You should be happy he’d not here. What would he do if he saw you acting like this?” Lewis joked.

A small smile cracked across her face, as memories with her brother flooded her mind. “He’d probably scold me, maybe even kick my ass in a few rounds of sparring” Emily admitted.

“Your brother will be back Em. I’d just focus on making sure he never finds out you were like this” Lewis said grinning. He then left the railing and slowly walked backwards. “I’m going to head back down, are you coming?”.

“No, I’m going to stay up here a little longer, Maxim and Amelie won’t be ready yet.” Emily said.

Lewis nodded and then began walking towards the stairs. “Oh yeah, before I forget”, he spun to face her, “Ask Becka to sort your hands out before you go. You don’t need to give those nobs at the celebration anything to talk about” He stated across the roof.

Emily let out a small laugh. Lewis’s attitude towards arguably some of the most powerful people in the world always amused her. She let out a relaxed sigh. As much as it annoyed her ego to say, Lewis was right. Her brother would be fine, he had to be. She just had wait and compose herself while he returned. And she could start by trying to enjoy tonight with everyone. She laughed again, at how she’d been acting the last couple days, all that stress stopped by a small chat with Lewis Athra. He really is an enigma.

“Lewis!” Emily called out. She caught him just before he started heading down into the hotel. “Thank you”. He smiled at her and raised a hand, before heading down the stairs.

Lewis made his way down to hotel lobby. He was glad Emily was feeling better, despite her annoying denials of his relationship. The situation with her brother was concerning, but Lewis refused to let it eat at him. If something had happened to someone as strong as Aren Jager then -. He subdued his thoughts, worrying about the world’s future would have to wait, his night had already by booked.

He wandered into the hotel’s living room. Children from the orphanage sat on the couches waiting for him along with Kate, Hafbor and Euna.

“Where do you want to go first?” Kate asked.

“Food?”.