The next morning, Miss Joy and a horde of other people stormed into the room. The medical impera looked at the princess’ arms, and applied some kind of gel, while Lia was whisked off into another room.
It felt as if they did everything with her, or rather to her: Bathing, fitting for new clothes, a new hairdo, make-up, exercises in walking with a straight back. Then they rehearsed what she had to do during the ceremony, how to curtsy, how to kneel on one knee and how to recite her pledge of loyalty.
When they sat down for lunch – which was brought to Orphelia’s home – she was told how to dine, that she could only take small bites of food, and that she had to make sure that she was always spotless. The worst of it was, that after the lunch, she was still hungry. So it was with a growling stomach that they moved to the starcedral and rehearsed the ceremony together, with the principal acting as the stand-in king, and even though there was a donar behind Mister Rose all the time, Lia was sure that he wasn’t touching the principal at all.
Lia’s head spun when she could finally sit down opposite of her friend. With her hair still tied into a bun at the back of her head, she had problems to relax.
“I wonder if living like a royal is always this … stressful,” Orphelia remarked. She had her hands folded in her lap and stared down in front of her.
“I for one just wanted to be a mage. Just a mage. Not a royal.” Lia stared up at the ceiling, and sighed. She hadn’t had any time to think about who ‘he’ was. She also had no idea why ‘he’ wanted her. Sure, she had a lot of mana, but that was it. There were others with a lot of mana as well.
Just as she lowered her gaze, Orphelia stood. “I think I’ll retire early today. I still have to recover, and I need to be at my best during the ceremony.”
Lia stood as well. “Do you want to sleep next to me again?”
Orphelia shook her head. “No.” That stung. “And forget everything I told you, yesterday.” Her friend immediately turned and walked up the stairs.
“You can’t just expect me to forget that,” Lia protested, but didn’t move. “Who is ‘he’?”
“Please, Lia. Just forget. It’s … for the best. Trust me.” Orphelia ran up the stairs and a moment later she heard a door slam.
That just didn’t make any sense. Her friend didn’t make any sense. Frustrated, she ruffled her own hair and ruined her hairdo, then she sunk back on the sofa, feeling exhausted.
She looked at the door, wondering, whether Ludwig had found out anything new. She had to gather all her strength just to stand, but from there her feet found their way automatically. Past the bodyguards and the central well, to the door in a building that led to the corridors behind the illusion. Then she knocked at the fourth door without even having to count.
Ludwig looked terrible when he opened the door. They stared at each other for a moment, then both blurted at the same time: “Do you have something new?” Then they sighed.
“Come on in,” he offered after a moment. “Let’s exchange what we do have.”
They sat at the same table and on the same chairs, but this time he poured her a cup of tea.
“Okay, here is what I do have,” Ludwig said as he sat down opposite her with his own cup. “I got ahold of the ‘vaccine’. It was cleverly made, a strand of MRNA, modified so that you’d get the usual symptoms of vaccination. Then I had Ms. Joy take a blood sample of Mr. Leda. We couldn’t find anything amiss, but we also didn’t find any new antibodies. So I requested a database sample of his biometric data. Miss Joy protested highly, but complied after being confronted with the evidence.”
The technical terms made her head spin, but she nodded anyways.
“His DNA was modified slightly, incorporating a few thousand new base-pairs. But I have no idea what their purpose is, nor can it easily be reversed.” He held the cup with both hands and sighed.
“The former queen apparently told Orphelia that she’ll have a choice to make. She didn’t tell me why, only that she didn’t want ‘him’ to win, to … get me.” She felt her cheeks heat up.
“Him?” Ludwig tapped against his forehead. “Then Amir might really be the problem. But the only ones that could take him out of the picture are the pirates …”
“So we can only hope on them doing anything?”
“As far as we know …” Ludwig took a sip of the tea. “I don’t like depending on others like this.”
“Do you think the former queen will act?” Lia drank from her cup as well. The tea was hot and had a slight sweet taste.
“Only if it helps further her own goals, which we don’t know.” He stared at his cup of tea for a moment. “Keep an eye on Orphelia. Maybe you can get her to tell you more about the queen’s plans, and about that choice she has to make.”
Nodding, she took another sip of the tea. “I plan to. Though I won’t pressure her. I don’t think that will help …”
“You might have to pressure her.” Ludwig looked her straight in the eyes. “Especially if it involves you. You have a right to know.”
Lia sighed. Ludwig was right – she had a right to know. “I’ll try.”
***
Lia saw Orphelia again, the next day. Her friend had locked the door the night before and Lia hadn’t had another chance to speak with her. At the breakfast table, they looked at each other while they were – again – fussed about by other people. Her friend looked a bit as if her eyes were puffy and reddened. She had to ask her, had to help her somehow …
After breakfast, she was pulled away to put her into the new clothes that had somehow been made over night, and when she returned to the main room, looking prim and proper, the king sat opposite of Orphelia on the couch.
With a strange fluttery feeling, she walked to Orphelia’s armchair and stopped slightly behind, but next to her.
“Please introduce me to your lovely donar,” the king said with a smile. His cold eyes took her in, mustering her from top to bottom.
“This is Lia. Lia Selena Eo, my personal donar,” Orphelia said. She could hear the cold friendliness in the soon-to-be princess’ voice.
“Lovely. Two names of a moon, in a way. May I ask which elements she can supply?”
“You may.” Orphelia turned slightly toward her. “Though I am sure you already know.”
“I only know the official four elements, but I heard rumors.” Amir leaned forward, hiding part of his face behind his folded hands. Lia thought she detected the hint of a smile. “Care to enlighten me, whether they’re true?”
“Let’s just say that I chose her for several reasons.”
“I see.” He leaned back on the couch again. “How’s my sister, Lillian doing, nowadays?”
The sudden topic change caught Lia off-guard. Why would Amir ask them about his sister?
“So you did meet her,” he said, and his gaze wandered to Lia. “It’s impressive how good you can hide your emotions, princess,” he almost spat the title, the way he pronounced it, “but your donar can’t.” Crossing his legs, he smiled. “Things will be interesting, after you’re part of the royal family. I’m sure we’ll have lots of time to talk.”
“We’ll see. After all you’d want your new sister to complete her education, wouldn’t you?”
“I am sure I can arrange for some private tutors. A regal princess shouldn’t need to associate herself with commoners.”
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“But isn’t it important to know the perspectives of your people as well?”
Amir was saved from answering as the principal walked in. He was huffing, even if he stood upright. “King Amir!” he exclaimed. “If I had known you’d come early …”
“Then you would’ve organized some parade, with half the station and all your staff greeting me, I am sure.” He waved him off. “No, I wanted to greet my soon-to-be sister in private.” He looked back from the principal to Orphelia. “And I wanted to participate in the rehearsal. After all, I have an important part to play as well.”
“I, uh, of course, my liege.” While the principal patted his head with a handkerchief, the admiral slinked in behind him.
“I also want to see whether this princess is worthy of the royal family,” Amir said a bit louder than before, almost growling in the admiral’s direction.
“She completed the necessary tests, demonstrating mastery over five elements …”
“Yes, yes. Half the rainbow. I think the people deserve to see the full rainbow, especially without her collapsing like she did after that test.”
“Don’t be unreasonable,” the principal said.
“I’m not unreasonable. She already has a personal donar, after all, so that should be child’s play.”
“I still don’t–” The principal was interrupted as Orphelia raised her hand.
“I think we can grant the king’s request.”
Lia gulped. Had Orphelia recovered enough to be able to do this during the rehearsal and the actual ceremony? She was supposed to have a large mana pool, but her mana seemed to fluctuate rather often – or she practiced with magic more often than Lia knew.
Amir grinned. “You portray a royal very well. I am looking forward to you becoming my sister.” Then he turned back to the principal. “When is the next rehearsal?”
“We’re currently preparing the starcedral. It should be ready shortly.”
“Then let’s go there, observe the rest of the preparations and get this rehearsal over with.” He rose and clearly expected everyone to follow him. Orphelia took a deep breath and rose from her chair. "Oh, and Admiral Horologii? Please leave immediately and find those pesky pirates. Can't have them running around during the ceremony."
Lia kept close to her friend, walking even before the principal in line to the starcedral. The actual ceremony was tomorrow. She was running out of time to find solutions, and she couldn’t count on Lillian to intervene – Amir was already here. She pressed her lips together, wondering what to do, while the admiral left to do his duty.
***
The starcedral was ready when they arrived. Benches had been placed to the left and the right of the aisle they were supposed to walk along. Amir stood at the end, looking around like a small child.
Orphelia’s uncle arrived as well and looked as puzzled as they did, when he saw the king. His confusion soon vanished, and he seemed to glare at Amir. Lia blinked as a memory slowly trickled into her mind.
The music started and all three of them walked down the aisle toward Amir. Who had once visited Orphelia’s family. Which was the reason why her friend had wanted to keep her sudden ascension to a princess hidden.
The rows of artful benches passed by, and another starchip fell into place. Amir had started out as just an impero, but had also suddenly ascended to being a prince and then quickly to being the king. Which was before his official announcement.
They were half-way there, and the mana-tax fell into place. What if Amir had found a way to remotely connect to donar? Not just one, but several? What if that had been what the ‘vaccination’ had been for? It would enable him to impose this mana-tax. It wasn’t an afterthought to his apotheosis, it was a requirement!
“A new princess approaches the central point of our empire: the royal family,” Amir intoned, his voice carried well through the hall and echoed back at them. “Here and now she will prove that she belongs among the central stars of our galaxy!”
Only a few steps separated them from the king. An important question surfaced in Lia’s mind. Why would he wait until the ceremony to start something he had already started?
“Lia,” Orphelia interrupted her thoughts with a whisper. “Whatever happens. Don’t touch me!”
“Contrary to what everyone might think, it is the darkness that holds us together. It creates gravity and keeps all the stars in the galaxy in line. A black hole might be terrifying and all-consuming, not even allowing light to escape, but without it, all it’s stars would have drifted apart already.” A dark sphere bloomed above Amir, and Lia felt the pull, how she was drawn upwards and toward it. “Now, come, little star, show your worth!”
A light bloomed above Orphelia, holding its own right above her. “Light is creation, light is what gives all of us life,” she answered, “but every sun has its own gravity!” The light turned dark and into its own sphere of darkness. Lia’s robes were slightly pulled upward.
Amir’s sphere vanished and gravity returned to normal as Orphelia’s sphere vanished as well. Sweat glistened on her forehead. That must have cost her a significant amount of strength.
“I acknowledge the fire of a star within you. But the light of a true star can be separated into all the colors of the rainbow.” Light bloomed behind Amir, coloring the starcedral from red on their left over yellow, green and blue to purple on the right. “Magic has its own colors, but even those can be broken apart.” He materialized a flame, a ball of water, a rock and a swirling ball of air that was only visible because it distorted the light.
“My light,” Orphelia said, and Lia was bathed in colored light as well. It was probably an illusion. “… is not inferior to yours!” The same four spheres of elements appeared before Orphelia. She had never done that and yet the mimicked the king perfectly. Lia stared, knowing that her friend had had to use light and darkness to create matter and then the lower colors to control them. She looked at the princess in admiration, only to notice that she looked extremely pale.
Amir dismissed his spheres and grinned. He was clearly enjoying this.
Lia gulped and reached out to Orphelia, but stopped herself. She would catch her, if she collapsed from this.
“Between the lower colors and the higher elements, life blooms, and innovation is born.” Amir reached into the pockets of his jacket. There were two seeds on his left hand and a ring of metal to his right, with an LED atop it. One seed sprouted, and the LED shown for a while. “Are you capable of leading life and spur innovation?”
The other seed sprouted. The LED shone brighter, and something cold brushed her feet. Lia looked down. There was black mist on the floor. Black mist was falling off of Orphelia.
“Of course I can,” she whispered and her voice turned rough. Then she started laughing madly, which sent shivers down her spine. Gravity around Orphelia lessened and the girl started hovering above them. Lia wanted to reach out, but she heard her friend in her mind shout at her: “Don’t touch me!” The dream with the black snake jumping at her was briefly in her mind and she stumbled back, falling onto her behind.
“What’s happening?” Amir made a few steps back as well, then he caught himself and pointed at Orphelia. “You’re not welcome in the royal family. I’ll … stop … you?”
“What’s it, young Amir? Are you missing your mana?” The way Orphelia cackled, in that raspy deep and high-pitched voice … It made Lia realize that whatever was turning the donar all into zombies was happening now. Not tomorrow at the official ceremony, it was now!
“Now, where is it …?” her friend looked around, right above where she was. “Where is the true source?” Gravity spun around and Orphelia flew down the aisle and to the door.
The door flew open. Ludwig looked perplexed at the girl speeding past him. “By the stars … I’m too late.”
“What is it? What happened?” the principal demanded.
“It’s the triggering event,” Ludwig said and gulped audibly. “I thought it was tomorrow until I suddenly realized that all the benches had always been empty in my vision, and when I heard that Amir arrived today already …” His eyes became wide, then he ran to Lia and grabbed her arm. “We can still stop the worst from happening!”
“What? How, why?” She stumbled as she was pulled up and along. “Can we save her?”
Ludwig didn’t answer as he pulled her out of the starcedral. They passed a donar at the central well. A stream of water shot past them, leaving a mark in the opposite wall. Her fellow student growled. “You won’t stop our master!”
Stunned, she allowed Ludwig to pull her along, down the main path to the test building and the academy gates on the other side. He dodged several more donar, who tried to attack them only to realize that their element wasn’t anywhere close.
One of the elevator tubes had been opened as if it was naturally growing outward. Suddenly, Ludwig stopped and started to carry her. “I need darkness mana, now!” She obeyed without thinking and provided the strand to him. Gravity went haywire around them and Ludwig jumped into the opening.
They fell. Lia screamed, clinging to Ludwig while pushing even more darkness mana into him. She only calmed when they slowed down. The sudden change in Momentum almost made her black out and Ludwig even had to land, his knees bending.
Orphelia hovered over everyone. People ran in all directions. Some donar grabbed other donar and pulled them toward her friend. The black mist touched him. “No, you’re not it, either.” The donar rose and suddenly worked with his captors, trying to get another donar.
“Why are you not here?” Orphelia floated through the floor of the station and toward the teleporter. “I’ll find you …”
“We can’t let her leave the station,” Ludwig whispered, and suddenly, everything inside of Lia dropped into a black hole.
She gulped. “What are you going to do?” Her voice was far higher than it should be.
Ludwig started forward. “Stop her.”
Orphelia reached the teleporter. Crystals around it began to glow, space began to distort.
“How?”
“I’ll need all your darkness mana.” Ludwig sidestepped several donar that turned around and grunted. A few stones flew past her and one even drew blood. He ducked and stopped, his hand raised. The distortion on the teleporter changed, and Orphelia, who had been unaffected before, was pulled into two directions at once.
“You’re killing her!” Lia protested and stopped the flow of mana.
“I have to!” Ludwig growled. “Look at her. That isn’t Orphelia anymore! That’s something else, that’s brainwashing all the donar here! If it gets somewhere, anywhere else, we may lose all donar! Do you really want to put the lives of thousands above one that isn’t even your friend anymore?”
Orphelia turned around inside the teleporter. Her face was pale, her eyes completely black, exuding more black mist. “There you are,” she hissed. It hissed. Suddenly Orphelia had more in common with the black snake in her dreams than with her friend.
She pushed her mana into Ludwig, crying and screaming. She closed her eyes and heard something rip. When she opened her eyes again, there was black mist everywhere. There was only one light left, a bright, warm, pulsing light, shining above the teleporter.
“I’m sorry,” whispered Orphelia’s voice in her ear. “I hope my choice was correct.” The light started to fade. Lia raised her and and tried to reach for her friend. “Let me give you one last gift …”
A shock ran through her, and as she cried toward the stars, she didn’t notice the creaking of a door opening.