The disheveled symphony of clashing metals filled the air, as the new recruits were left to spar under the watchful eye of a couple of knights. A week in the barracks seemed to have instilled a sense of discipline into them, seeing that only a select few were still horsing around, jokingly stabbing or tripping each other. Their superiors let those few isolated incidents slide, in part due to finding them hilarious, but mostly because they understood that comic relief was needed in these trying times.
Certain castes seemed to have formed, primarily centred around a goal each of the soldiers had. Those who wished to show off opposed those who wanted to get better by all means, whilst the ones who wished to simply pass by unnoticed and learn at their own pace were left at a turning point in-between the two. Regardless, one thing was clear, none of these young men were the same as one week before.
Both Lux and Xaya contributed in great amount with the training, with the minstrel being tasked with teaching them everything about Aesther, whilst the latter was responsible for general combat training. Granted, with both of them being highly knowledgeable individuals, their tasks often mingled together, leading to Xaya’s volcanic nature being put in a harsh contrast to Lux’s unshakeable calm. Suffice to say that not many preferred her over him.
However, regardless of their opinions on the teachers and their practises, the soldiers diligently progressed. The one thing they had in common was an unbridled patriotism, evident by the very fact that they answered the call to arms. It was their burning resolve that turned them from maniacs flailing their swords like tree branches in a storm to warriors who could, at the very least, swing their blades properly.
“These recruits are quite something else,” Xaya remarked admiringly, as she watched them from her office.
“They sure are,” Lux replied with a smile, as he scribbled something on a piece of paper. With a couple finishing dots and signatures, he stopped, put his plume to the side and slid his report on top of a neatly stacked pile.
“How people have changed,” the general continued wistfully. “When I first enrolled I was surrounded by lazy, easy going monkeys who wouldn’t hold a weapon if it meant moving an inch. It’s quite refreshing to see such a determined youth.”
“Saying it like that makes you sound much older than you are,” Lux chimed in jokingly, prompting Xaya to shoot him a mean, yet playful eye. “But I do admit they’ve made an unbelievable amount of progress. They’re all so driven and resolved, it’s hard to imagine why,” he added quizzically. Xaya’s eyes slid towards him, her face still turned towards her recruits. Lux was still smiling adoringly, as his gaze scouted the training ground in search for entertainment.
“You have yet to inform me of anything you’re planning to do moving forward,” the general said with an air of suspicion surrounding her. However, her inquiry wasn’t one thrown with disdain, quite the contrary; it sounded more like the way a friend would ask about a pleasant surprise.
“I guess I haven’t. By now they seem to have gotten used to channeling Aesther. Now we just have to appraise them and train them accordingly.”
“Appraise you say…” Xaya smiled, pleased. “Care to detail?” she continued, not bothering to hide her growing interest. Although, her tone was odd. Even though she was genuinely curious, it felt like she wasn’t as much in the dark as she wanted to appear.
“Sure. Most people have one specific way through which Aesther flows through them. We just call them natures, since they closely resemble things we can see all around us.” Lux stopped, but Xaya was far from satisfied. Noticing the silence, he shook his head and continued.
“That guy over there, for example, has a fire nature, as evidenced by the way his blade seems to be burning as Aesther flows through it. He slices with so much ease through the battle dummy, but his friend over there seems to be having a hard time parrying, even though he’s just deflecting regular strikes. Good for offence, bad for defence.”
“Seems like everything has its peaks and valleys, doesn’t it?”
“Precisely. Water’s at the other end of the spectrum,” Lux continued, pointing at a man whose crimson blade looked as if rivulets of blood were flowing on it. Even though he was clearly a lightweight, he didn’t even flinch as he parried his much sturdier opponent’s attacks.
“The last of the more common ones is wind. It’s quite versatile, but needs more training than the rest.” Lux motioned towards a soldier that was rushing at a dummy. He managed to strike, yet his swing dragged his entire body along, sending him spinning to the ground.
“And the rest?” Xaya asked, her eyes scanning the field in search for something that she didn’t seem to find.
“Earth and Lightning. Not easy to find, but not impossible either. Oh, look, we have two already!” he exclaimed, showing her two recruits, whose fight seemed to garner a lot of attention from their peers.
The first thing you’d notice would be the different shapes their blades had. The bulkier one had a sword that was at least twice the length and width of a regular one, swinging it slowly, at the skinnier soldier. However, each one of his attacks carried a force to be reckoned with, as whenever his weapon missed, the rocky ground would gain another heavy score.
On the other hand, his opponent wielded a limber blade, reminiscent of a rapier. Resorting mostly to dodging, the telegraphed attacks aimed at him. However, when it came to striking back, his quick swings always seemed to dig into the broadsword of his partner.
“Those seem like regular, unawakened fire and wind to me,” Xaya exclaimed. Lux squinted for a bit, but then replied matter-of-factly.
“For one, albeit faintly, you can see the tiniest of sparks arcing off when the rapier hits the almost-static layer of Aesther on the broadsword. But, at the same time, the key difference lies in subtlety. Where fire is attack, earth is force; where wind is speed, lightning is piercing.”
“You make them sound as if they’re perfect.”
“They are strong, but not without fault.” Xaya chuckled. She threw a piece of bait and Lux was quick to snatch it. “That guy won’t land a swing anytime soon. As powerful as his attacks are, they’re meaningless if they don’t connect. As for the other one, do you think that he can defend anything with that flimsy sword? One false step and he’ll have to parry and when that happens, you can probably guess what happens.”
As the final explanations were laid out, the two grew silent. Their analytic eyes scoured the battlefield, jumping from skirmish to skirmish, but to Xaya that was nothing but a way to pass the time. The quiet wasn’t a calm one, but rather filled with an odd sense of expectation, expectation that, this time, Lux refused to fulfill. Seeing that he won’t deliver, she decided that she would have to ignite the fire herself.
“You could do with being a little more honest, you know?”
“Pardon?” Lux asked, his eyes going from calm to vicious as he stared at the general. Paired with his nonchalant grin, his allure was nowhere near his usual, affable one.
“I’m not saying you’re lying, don’t get me wrong. Everything you’ve said so far is perfectly true, but...Is it the whole truth?” Xaya asked calmly, still chipper as ever as she looked out the window. Seeing that, Lux turned his attention back to the fighting.
“Isn’t it a little hypocritical of you to ask me this?”
“Being hypocritical doesn’t make my observation incorrect, right? You have this very well-trained habit of being purposefully vague. Most people do have one specific way Aesther flows through them, but not all. Some, granted few, have more than one. Aren’t you and your companion evidence of this, you little hybrids?” she taunted.
“...Well played,” Lux chuckled. “I assume this is one of the moments where you tell me you don’t trust me?”
“Oh, no, no, no! Nothing of the sort! Frankly, I like this kind of person. We need more men like you in wars than we do in politics,” Xaya declared hurriedly. “Besides, if I didn’t trust you, do you think I would’ve let you train all my new soldiers?” she beamed at him.
“I guess not...I guess not. While we’re on the subject of being honest, how about you answer a question of mine.” His tone was incisive, but still friendly. If anything his demand was nothing but payback from earlier.
“Go ahead.”
“Why exactly am I training these people?”
“...Well played,” she sighed, defeated. “You must’ve figured it out by now, though. I assume you’re just looking for confirmation, right?”
“Well, I doubt that the king of a nation would have to be quite desperate to beg a total stranger to train his army, especially with someone as skilled and knowledgeable as you around.”
“But, as skilled as I am, I’ve never wielded a warussian blade,” Xaya replied with a hint of playfulness in her voice.
“And I could, so this only leads to one logical conclusion. You’re going to war.”
“We are going to war.” To that, Lux’s smile fled from his face, as he turned around to face Xaya. Even though she saw his stern expression for the first time since they’ve met, she wasn’t at all surprised. In fact, she seemed to be expecting this.
“I’m not going anywhere.” His tone was categorical, but that didn’t seem to faze the general in the slightest.
“Why? I mean, you don’t have a choice, but I’m still curious.”
“I simply don’t want to kill anyone. Be it through direct or indirect action. I’m training them to use Aesther. What they do with that is on their commander’s hands, not on mine,” Lux simply stated, his voice a monotonous cadence that left no room for any emotion.
“Does this mean that now that you know what the purpose of the training is, you’ll quit?”
“A blacksmith isn’t responsible for the deaths brought upon by his swords.”
A pause ensued. In spite of Lux’s apparent treason she kept beaming at him, as if revelling the helplessness of the minstrel. His eyes frowned, as his previous, cheerful self dissipated into thin air. To break the silence, Xaya asked a final question.
“How do you feel about war in general?” she said, her innocent tone in complete dissonance with the load of the topic. With a weary sigh, Lux averted his gaze to the window, but not at the courtyard, but rather far in the distance, over the horizon.
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“Endless, futile, senseless. Be it over resources, territory, or want of bloodshed, there is no justification for it. At the end of the day, whatever you’ve coveted is yours to defend in the near future or still out of reach, and that only repeats the cycle of warfare over and over again. So what I think of war, is that it’s one of humanity’s biggest and most idiotic of evils.” Lux’s voice turned from angry, to pathetic, to resigned, as each idea left his mouth. As he finished, Xaya’s smile was no longer a smug and all-knowing grin, but rather an understanding one, as she sidestepped closer to the pained boy. Patting him on the shoulder, she uttered, as if making an intimate request in the middle of the night.
“Then, how about we fight a war to end all wars?”
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No one questioned it when Ari landed in front of the castle’s doors, looking exhausted and severely disturbed. The two guards merely chalked it up as youthful angst, not even bothering to check up on her, as she ran inside, making a beeline to her room. Once there, she holed herself in. Remembering Lux’s words, she turned that weird thing called a key, then tried to kick down the door to no avail. She was safely isolated from the rest of the world.
Still breathing heavily, she slowly let herself slid to the ground, not even bothering about the dust tainting her pure, white dress. Her head grew heavy, heavy from the horrid thought of Lux’s burned throat. She imagined him wheezing on the ground, his body contorted, set ablaze, as he tried senselessly to extinguish himself, but to no avail. Flashes of expressions were playing before her eyes. The disdainful eyes of the soldiers, Xaya’s scornful and contemptuous gaze, the prince’s smug grin, but the one that pained her the most was Lux’s unblemished betrayal, sprayed all over his agonising face.
A warm tear rolled down her cheek, followed by another, and then another, a torrential downpour streaming from her strained eyes. A maid heard her pathetic sobs, but when she knocked, no answer was given. Ari couldn’t hear, see, or feel anything outside the prison she’s set for herself, a self-imposed punishment for what she thought was unspeakable.
The sun’s rays barely shone anymore when her sobs finally died down, without stopping, though. As soon as the fire of emotion died down within her, she was grasped in the cruel clutches of reason. A battalion of questions marched over her mind, each one cutting deeper than the last one. What would be happening now? Will she be exiled? Will he even want to talk to her? Why would he? What if this was the end of her journey? What if after what if, senseless as ever echoed in her head, drowning out every sound.
At long last, her eyes shut closed, too heavy from the burden of her sorrow, as she fell asleep on the cold, hard floor. Her slumber was far from refreshing, as she could only dream about nightmarish figures, their faces nothing but wrath and disappointment, as she could only run, run and flee. When she woke up, she was in a bed she didn’t remember getting into. Next to her, lay a smiling Lux.
She didn’t even wait for him to speak. Her eyes immediately darted to the marks on his neck, red spots with charred edges that seemed to be painful to even look at. The horrible images she was tormented by came back all flooding at once. She could see the burns moving, as if to taunt her and soon the only thing she could feel was her heart being squished, as her body acted off its own accord. She jumped out of the bed, bouncing off the wall to land in the doorway. She could see nothing but a slim, lit path among a sea of dark figures and silhouettes, hearing only a garbled call for her name as she ran.
When she came to her senses again, she was back in the same room as before. She shut the door, but couldn’t find any key to turn, so instead she dashed to the nearby wardrobe. One short, Aesther-infused push later, a barricade was set, one that was soon put to the test, as someone turned the knob and tried to barge in only to find the door unable to budge.
“Ari? Ari! Open the door, please!” Lux’s voice called distressed from outside, but Ari didn’t comply. To her, it wasn’t a worried request, but an exiling demand, an alienating scream that she couldn’t shrug off. Lux began pounding at the door, but his pounding fell on deaf, covered eras, as Ari retreated to a corner of the room, curling up in a ball, with her eyes fearfully glancing at the curving wood of the wardrobe.
It didn’t take Lux long to give up, much to Ari’s relief. She couldn’t face him. She couldn’t stand to imagine the sullen disappointment in his eyes. It was simply too much. Another round of the war inside her head ensued, as she pondered her options. What could she do? With the only liaison she had in the human world severed and with everyone around her probably feeling nothing but hatred and rancor...She had to run. But where to? She had nowhere to go but…
As her thoughts mangled her mind, she failed to notice the day turning to night, as well as the plate of food and the cup of water being slid through the new, silently made cut in the door. Tired, hungry, thirsty and unable to bear the weight of the crippling doubts and fears in her head, she fell asleep again.
Unbeknownst to her, a shadow crept over her as the silhouette of a man appeared in the window right above her. Searching his coat, he pulled out a small vial of dust that he proceeded to sprinkle all over the frame. Then, he touched the window, a torrent of blue rivulets flowing all over the glass, hueing its clear surface with a hint of purple. Satisfied with his work, he stepped back, delivering a solid kick to the window, only to have it stop with a soft thud. Without making a sound, the man disappeared as suddenly as he came, leaving the only way out of the room completely impenetrable.
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Over the next couple of days, Ari received visits from all the people that knew her and that she would listen to. But, to their regret, none could convince her to get out. Lux’s coming was met with a sullen silence, as he tried — with only the slightest hint of pleading in his voice — to get her to listen and understand that everything was far less grave than she made it out to be. However, as before, his words didn’t reach her, as even his mere presence made her mind run rampant with harmful ideas.
Seeing that, the King also paid a visit, but his imposing voice and demeanour only served to amplify the anxiety Ari felt. Dismayed, Xaya was sent as a last resort, hoping that the sugary ways of her speech would bring comfort to the troubled girl, but alas, that was not the case. Hearing the sweet words and tone of the general, she couldn’t help but break down in a fit of confusion, as her wounded mind failed to grasp a concept as simple as an accident.
There were no nuances to her deed, and no circumstances, in her eyes. What she did was unforgivable, and all she wanted to do was sulk and repent, in her own, incomprehensible way. It was a week ago when her self-isolation began. During that time she barely managed to eat the food that the staff was instructed to bring her, and the window has been scratched multiple times in her attempts of breaking out. She would’ve tried the door, if she weren’t certain that, at all times, she could hear people shuffling outside.
Nights became her biggest ally, as that was the only time when she could finally relax, unburdened by the added stress of discomforting visits. Nothing but the soothing sound of regular breathing from the two soldiers posted nearby and the faint rippling of the well from the garden. She was about to fall asleep, curled on the floor for no one knows how many times, when a sudden thudding broke her from her dozing.
She immediately got to her feet, but the second she did so, she heard the sound of wood cracking. Her ears perked up with every blow, a new broken plank falling off with every single strike. The cadence of the attacks only grew in speed as the crumbling door provided less and less resistance, until the point where a final swing finally shattered it. The mysterious attacker took a couple steps back then rushed towards the wardrobe, then kicked its top, causing it to wobble on its tiny feet only to slowly lean forward and finally collapse with a noise loud enough to wake the dead. There, between the remnants of the crumbled door, stood the Prince, a bored, ruthless expression on his face.
Ari’s heart sank as he stepped over the collapsed barricade. She tried to step back as Edward approached her, sword in hand, but she was already stuck to the wall. All she could do was stay there, glued to the floor by her terror, and watch as the disgruntled man walked towards her, looking as if he was ready to strike her were she to move a muscle. However, after entering the room, he planted his sword into the wardrobe, sighing deeply as he took a seat on the creaking wooden surface.
At first, he simply looked at her in silence, the only noise in the room being Ari’s soft whimpers that seemed to only annoy him more, as his gaze turned into a tired squint. Still, his gaze shone with a malicious glint, as if he was angry at her, for reasons she couldn’t even fathom at this moment. She couldn’t bear to look into his eyes, unable to bear the fierce and ferocious aura they were giving off, but the second she fearfully glanced at them, the prince began talking.
“You know, you’ve put everyone through quite a lot of worry.” Edward spoke slowly, punctuating every word, irritated. Ari’s heart was pounding through her chest, her mind racing with endless ways this conversation might end in, all leading to a gruesome fate.
“Now, I’m going to be very straight with you. I will talk and you will listen. Heh, as if you could reply to me,” he said condescendingly. “I was talking with the general about you and we made a wager. I said you wouldn’t intervene to save your friend, the minstrel, should I pretend to strike him. I didn’t really intend to hit him, I was going to pull back at the last second, but, to my pleasant surprise you actually stopped me.” Edward untangled his fingers, resting his elbow on the hilt of his sword. His more relaxed pose served to ease Ari’s concerns, but she still took the full damage of his venomous monologue.
“Still, we both saw that you can use your Aesther quite well, better than me anyway. Granted, Madam said you still had a long way to go, but with the proper training you could shine. Anyhow, back on topic, I’m guessing that all this weird, woe is me thing is because you’ve accidentally burned the minstrel,” the prince said dismissively. Ari’s thoughts flew back into her pit of despair, but seeing how her expression changed Edward instantly smacked his boot on the floor.
“Yeah, no more of that. You might not be surprised to find out that he is fine. After all, he’s visited you almost every day, so that’s kind of testament that he’s alive. Then father came around, but you only locked yourself deeper, then madam came and made you cry or something. Then I was berated into coming here,” the prince added expansively, in an almost joking way. Ari cast a confused glance his way.
“I’m just gonna ask a simple question, ‘why?’ Why did you do all this? And obviously, you’ll sit there and sulk or make scared faces and I’ll still be out of an answer!” Edward raised his hands, as if marvelling at his own words, all the while Ari only grew more scared by the second. “I’ll just tell you what I believe, easy as. Might be true, might be false, but I’ll tell you, all right?” he asked, getting a second wind as he saw the girl nod.
“So, I’m guessing that you’re lonely and naive. Don’t really have many friends and such, which is kinda obvious, since you’re new in town. And then you hurt your only close friend or secret crush or lover or whatever and you did what you did best. You got scared and ran and let your stupid anxiety get the best of you. And when you get like that you’re like a whole different person, it’s like your reason just dissipates!” Edward laughed, but not out of amusement, rather at the ridiculous facts he was listing. Ari’s eyes fell to the floor dejected, but with the prince’s lack of patience any emotion she had was as short lived as his temper. Still, she couldn’t help but feel silly. His blunt honesty was rigid and harsh, but at the same time it offered her a new perspective.
“But anyway, what I wanted to actually come in to say is that, well, this whole thing” — he gestured wildly at the room—”this is stupid, so don’t do that again. Okay? It doesn’t help you, obviously, you look malnourished, but, more importantly, it doesn’t help anyone. Madam and the minstrel took precious time off from the training to come talk to you and father got out of bed when he is supposed to be resting. I want you to get it through that little, but probably very simple-working, head of yours that what happened was an accident.” Upon hearing that word, Ari shook her head, making Edward come after her even stronger.
“I mean sure you can believe me or not, but to be fair I’m not here to make you understand. I got tired of the atmosphere around the castle and since it was, technically, my fault I figured it was up to me to talk some sense into you,” the prince mumbled under his breath, as if he didn’t want to seem like he took responsibility. Ari looked at him again, only to see that the fire in his eyes died down, leaving a strange, almost comforting calm in their stead. Seeing the calm on her face, Edward decided it was time to wrap things up. He got up and pulled his sword out, putting it back in the sheath. He stepped over the wardrobe, and walked out, stopping in the doorframe to deliver his conclusion.
“I expect you to come out tomorrow. If you don’t, I’ll come get you,” he said half-threateningly and half-jokingly. “But frankly, this kind of thing, this charade of hiding and holing yourself in, honestly? Not the way to go. Humans talk through their issues, we don’t just run and hide when we’ve hurt someone. That’s what cowards do, and if what I’ve heard is true, you’re not a coward,” he declared, as he turned around to walk away.
Ari was left dumbfounded. After all, the prince was the last person she would expect to come to listen, and if she did, she wouldn’t have thought him possible of delivering such an eye-opening speech. She looked back at what she did, and when Edward’s words rang alongside the memory, she couldn’t help but be embarrassed at the way she acted. Her previous guilt now took the form of frustration, as she became increasingly angry at herself for all the trouble she’s caused to people she truly...cared about. Suddenly, her ears perked up, as she picked up the sound of hurried steps. Edward’s head popped out from the side of the door.
“Oh, I remembered something! I guess I need to give some form of advice for this to be a good consoling, so here goes. Whenever you’ve hurt somebody, it’s no point agonizing over it. It’s just useless. After all, a wound can’t be healed by opening another one.”