Breathing in the air of her home city, Treia sighed contentedly. It’d been nearly a year since she’d been here from the capital, where her aunt and uncle lived.
Walking the path to her father’s estate, she scowled at the thought of her aunt and uncle. The capital itself was nice, to say the least, but her father’s brother and his wife…
“Your Majesty! You shouldn’t be walking!”
Treia wiped her face of all emotion as she turned to the coachman who waved to her.
“I shouldn’t?” she asked innocently, putting on a confused expression.
“Of course not!” he exclaimed, surprised that she’d even consider walking when there were many fine coaches that-
Forcing back a frown, she kept a slightly amused smile on her face as he gave reasons why she shouldn’t be walking while internally cursing her life. Ever since the actual heir to the throne of Haven Kingdom, ahem, left (or, as her aunt and uncle refuse to verbally say but the entire public knows, left with some unknown man on the battlefield. The search for where exactly she is was still ongoing), Treia, the youngest daughter of Duke Kia, had become the next-in-line for the throne, to her horror.
Naturally, she’d complained. A lot.
“Thank you, but I’m almost home, so-”
“Please, I shall bring you the rest of the way,” the coachman said over her, clearly not noticing she’d spoken.
Just because I’m young doesn’t mean you should ignore me, old man! Treia hissed in her mind as she said aloud, “But of course, why should I decline your very nice offer. Off we go to Mayflower!”
As she took her seat next to him, she muttered under her breath, “Why is my life like this?”
~~~
The city of Mayflower, her home, was probably one of the best places in the entire Kingdom to grow up. It had the “most prodigious academy in the whole wide Kingdom!” (as her eight year old brother would say, with his both horrendous and astonishing vocabulary. No wonder he was so happy that she’d chosen to go there instead of the one at the capital), was home to some of the best and most well-off traders, and, of course, her home.
The Academy, which she’d been admitted to a year ago, was probably the best place she could learn, seeing as it was a place for nobles, like she used to be, royalty, most who came from other Kingdoms and could be very, uh, snarky, and the peasants who somehow got a scholarship. It had the best teachers, including her parents, the highest output of classes like Paladins, Dark Knights, and, very rarely, Void Mages and Dragon Riders.
Scowling, she thought of the Void Mages she’d met before. They were all the same; stuck up, thinking they were on top of the world.
Well, they are, but that’s not the point, she thought, annoyed at herself. I’m still only Level 1! Just because my aunt says, “A good Queen can’t outlevel her King! Who would hold the power then?”
However, both her uncle and father petitioned that she should be allowed to Level once she became 16. Her aunt (Who, against her own words, outleveled her husband) didn’t like this. However, after a bit more pestering, she finally agreed to let her.
Did she mention that her aunt and uncle were the Queen and King? Hm.
Well, none of that mattered now. She was going home to Level a bit, assuming that none of the Valkyries were currently here. And if they were, Treia would have to suck it up and go to the Academy’s dungeon and Level with a group, which would be preferable since, “Princess, you take the kill!” “Your Majesty, you kill the boss; you deserve the Levels,” and all that crap that she immensely disliked.
Shaking her head, she bid the coachman goodbye and hopped off the carriage, looking to the walls that surrounded her home. Taking the longer way around, she snuck through the side to be greeted by the face of her older sister giving her a disappointed look.
“Really, Treia?” Xaila said blankly. “Sneaking in through the side again?”
Xaila, being Treia’s sister, looked nearly identical to Treia (Or was Treia identical to Xaila?) with the same abnormal height and pale skin they got from their Elven heritage. They both had blond hair though Treia preferred hers shorter while Xaila liked hers much longer, to her knees (Treia thought that part was definitely because she wanted Alex to brush her hair out longer, which Treia had walked in to once. However, Alex did not share that sentiment whatsoever and complained that Xaila had far too much hair).
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They also shared the same shade of green eyes, ones that currently stared into Treia’s, giving her a sense of unease.
“Uh… I’m just-”
Xaila’s gaze bore deeper into hers, and Treia sputtered into silence.
~~~
Treia was bored. Not because there were Valkyries, though that was always a case of annoyance for nearly every person on their star system and the surrounding ones, most likely, but because her father wasn’t letting her go to Level.
“But why?” Treia asked again in exasperation.
Her father, who had the same makeup as Triea and her sister but with dirty blond hair instead, sighed. “I told you: apparently, there's an Abyssal on the loose and those god forsaken Valkyries aren’t letting anyone in or out of the city. I’m sorry, but we can’t afford to piss off the Valkyries. Again.”
Treia gave him a horrified look. “They took my god damn food! I couldn’t let that stand!”
“Glutton,” Xaila muttered from across the room.
“I heard that!” Treia snapped.
Her father glared at Treia. “And, to add onto that, you have the shortest fuse that I’ve ever encountered; you just explode at a moment’s notice. Thank the gods you don’t have a Fire affinity.”
Treia scoffed. “Elves don’t have Fire affinities.”
“And are you an Elf?” Xaila snapped.
Huffing, Triea looked away, scowling.
“Anyways, you’re not going anywhere, Treia,” her father said with a tone of finality.
Treia’s scowl deepened. Fine. I’ll just spy on your next meeting then. As if this Abyssal even exists.
“Fine,” Treia hissed, storming off.
~~~
Sneaking around was so much easier in the estate. There were far more ways to distract guards and she could just sneak past others by crawling through their ventilation system, which could get pretty dusty at times, but still was nice to use.
Currently, Treia was in one of these vents, listening in to her father as he met with another noble about the “financial problems” due to the lockdown.
“I still don’t see why this non-existent Abyssal is such a threat; there’s been no sightings unless you count rumors as sightings,” her father said. Treia imagined him frowning and nearly giggled, just stopping it as it went up her throat.
Why is everyone so scared of Abyssals? They can’t be that powerful. But they must be fearless…
* In the Abyss… *
Jason and Leah screamed as they fled from the pack of bears, tripping over one another to escape the thirty Level 45s, the complete opposite of fearless.
* In the Overworlds… *
Why do I feel like I just jinxed something? Treia thought, frowning in the darkness. Meh. Whatever.
Focusing on her father again, her blood ran cold at the next words said.
“Then why are the Harbingers all riled up?” one of the women in the meeting said smugly.
“They brought the Harbingers into this?” her father hissed, obviously glaring at someone.
Treia shook slightly. The Valkyrie Harbingers. They were some of the most powerful people in this system of planets, and there were six of them.
Harmony, the sixth, was, unlike her name, rash and provoked easily. She was all brawn with no reason whatsoever. She’d started and ended multiple wars in her time. Most of them lasted less than a day…
Freidy, the fifth and the oldest, was adept in “producing” information through… inhumane ways. Not that anyone could stop her. They were dead before they could get near her.
Girda, the forth, kept her sister, Harmony, in check, though she was also quite the force to be reckoned with when angry.
Reiden, the third, was considered the brains of the Valkyries and seemed to have layers over layers to any plans she made.
Theresa, the second, was the one with the most firepower, and led most of the major battles the Valkyries fought.
Finally, Yelena, the first and the supreme leader of the Valkyries. Not much was known about her, seeing as she’d never been seen except for one time about a hundred and fifty years ago.
They were all different in various ways, but had one thing in common: They did not like Abyssals (And certainly not Treia, but that’s not the point). The last Abyssal that’d been seen had been publicly murdered without mercy. Anyone who sympathized with Abyssals were also culled. Not that many were found.
In her aunt’s words, “The Valkyries worry me and your uncle and have for many years. They may be good at what they do but they also have a tight hand on many political manners, no matter the situation. And don’t even get me started on Abyssals. If we could get an Abyssal, I’d probably offer them sanctuary, just to spite them. In addition to that, the Abyssals have already done their sentence in the Abyss nearly four times over; it’s been around four thousand years. They were supposed to be allowed safe passage over three thousand years ago. But those god damn-” She’d then gone on a speech about how annoying the Valkyries were for nearly ten minutes.
Treia suppressed a groan. Her head pounded as she remembered nearly every detail, every movement her aunt made back then. Why did she have to take those stupid mind enhancing pills when she was seven? Why did she think it’d be a good idea?
And why did she think that everything would be far more difficult in the near future?