Chapter 48: Soaring Sun
“Long live the Pharoah!”
No more than three hours after Damien had awoken, Shining Twilight had finally arrived in Soaring Sun, only to be with the loud cheers and cries of a festival. Men and women danced through the street adorned in colorful ribbons. Some even used wattiez to add to their performances.
From lighting the ribbons on fire, to changing their shapes to mimic animals. Children, with painted faces, watched eagerly as the dancers put on their show. Although what these dancers were doing was captivating, what caught the attention of the three non-Shining Twilight members was the huge trunk in the center square that was missing the rest of the tree.
“It’s really gone…” Amelia said to Krista. “Krista… The Grand Tree.”
Krista couldn’t really believe it, even as she looked at it. The great and powerful Grand Tree Eclain was actually torn down. Such a feat was impossible, yet here, it had already been done.
Dante moved close to those two, “It’s quite the sight, isn’t it? Something once so great just… gone. We have our reasons, and all will be shown tonight. Welcome to Soaring Sun! Welcome to our base! Welcome to Shining Twilight!”
Shortly, the group arrived at Cold Castle, the home of Soaring Sun’s ruling family for more than 800 years. Unlike the pristine Knightley Castle, this one was showing signs of wear and damage, presumably from a recent battle. It was also adorned in bright white colors as opposed to the Knightley’s red.
Inside many of the servants were running about attending to the many high profile guest that littered the area. Some of them were recognizable as they included the several Chiefs of the villages Shining Twilight had visited including Melody’s parents. Even Emmy was here.
“Crap, we missed the beginning of Viola’s coronation, she’s going to kill me!” shouted Dante with fear in his eyes.
“Probably, but I’ll make sure your funeral is gorgeous.” remarked Cleo.
“Can always count on you to have my back Cleo,” Dante sighed, “Everyone go ahead and quickly attend to your business. Emphasis on quickly! Shix, Phive, go ahead and show Krista and Amelia to their quarters. Animus, Jikan, go ahead and do the same for Damien… make sure to keep, keeping a close eye on him.”
Dante had caught Damien eyeing the room, whether that was because he was looking for potential escape routes or marks, Damien would never tell, “You know, I spent many nights dreaming about what I’d do when I found the home of Shining Twilight. Burn it, blow it up, tear it apart piece by piece, charging a herd of rhinos through it. Now that I’m here, I realize that the rhino idea wouldn’t work, and I’ll have to stick to one of the more reasonable plans.”
“Make sure to clear the place of all flammable objects when you’re done with him,” remarked Dante.
“Dante, you finally found the time to show up,” said a female voice barely masking its anger.
A short woman with light brown skin, pricings in her nose, lips, and brow, wearing a long white dress and a crown approached Dante from behind, followed by two small guards.
Without missing a beat, Dante kneeled in front of her and spoke out, “Your Higness, it pleases me to see that you’re doing well.”
She responded to this by grabbing Dante by the arm and giving him a huge hug, “You big idiot, if you’re gonna be late, you’ve got to warn me.”
“Yeah, sorry about that, Viola” said Dante as he hugged her back.
After a somewhat obnoxiously long hug time Cleo finally spoke out, “Your Highness Blaze, Dante and you have some important business to attend to now… sep-ar-ate-ly. If you don’t mind releasing him, then we can reconvene shortly.”
The others could feel a chill run down their spines, but Viola didn’t let go, “You and Raven were in charge of logistics, and you all were still late. You at least owe me this much.”
Viola’s guards looked shocked that she would say that, and Krista swore she saw one of the emeralds in Cleo’s bracelet crack.
Luckily Dante intervened, “Pharoah Blaze, you should continue to greet you guest, not doing so when they came all the way to your coronation could be seen as rude. We’ll talk more later, sometime after the meeting. Since it starts in only an hour, my compatriots and I would like some time to freshen up.”
Viola let go of Dante in a huff, “Fine, we’ll pick this back up in a couple of hours. Be sure to be presentable by then.”
“Amelia, do you think Damien hates me?” Krista asked Amelia as they took a bath together.
A large bathroom with enough space to easily accommodate 10 people. One even larger than any of the bathrooms at the Knightley Castle. The two decided to go in together to finally have some alone time, so they could finally have a personal chat with one another.
“No, he’s just confused, and you also did kind of just drop the fact you switched sides on him out of nowhere,” responded Amelia.
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“Uh! You’re right!”
Krista grabbed a nearby bucket of hot water and doused herself with it. Earlier, a couple of maids who offered to wash their bodies, told them that they had these things called showers that sprayed water on you from above, but Amelia and Krista preferred to bathe in bath and buckets, something they were much more used too.
Amelia watched as Krista paced throughout the bath, “You have more to say, don’t y-”
“But don’t you think he’s in the wrong too?! I mean, come on! That idiot was just asking for them to figure us out. Actually, I bet he wanted them to figure it out to start a confrontation earlier!”
“That’s not what you’re actually upset about, though?”
Krista pouted and sat next to Amelia in the bath, “Aren’t you also against Dante’s plan just like Damien. Though for a different reason.”
“Vehemently! I think what he’s doing is wrong. I believe that he is misunderstanding wattiez and placing the blame in the wrong place rather than finding a real solution based on what you’ve told me, or rather the solution he did find is completely insane. In fact, I plan on making my case at their meeting tonight. I would have thrown a fit earlier, but I didn’t want them to keep me from the meeting and leave me a prisoner like Damien.”
This is a lot of forward thinking on Amelia’s part. Krista was so proud of her friend who had grown so much in front of her very eyes, “So, are you mad at me for thinking Dante may have a point?”
Krista thought it was strange, Damien hated Dante and Amelia passionately disagreed with him, yet she could not fully understand why. Maybe it’s because Dante never really had the chance to open up to them the same way he opened up to her.
“I could never be mad at you for long Krista. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”
Amelia put a hand to Krista’s shoulder, and she held onto it, “I hope I know what I’m doing too.”
In Krista and Amelia’s room, far bigger and more extravagant than Damien’s, was left a standard red gown, something you’d see from your average New Dawn woman attending something formal. Beside that was an exorbitant red gown not unlike the one worn by Viola, laced with very expensive materials, full of frills, and had a pattern of the Knightley family crest on the back. It was easy to guess which was meant for who.
“Amelia, you’re into this type of clothing, right?” Krista slowly said. “Why don’t I take the one without all the-”
As Krista reached out to grab the simple red dress, Amelia slapped her hand, “You shouldn’t be so inconsiderate. Just try it on. Come on, I think you’ll look absolutely wonderful in it!”
“Of course, you would think that ,” Krista thought. “I haven’t worn anything like this for over two years! For good reason too. I mean how did they even finish this. They only took our sizes like an hour ago!”
Krista would have rather gone to the meeting in her travel clothes if she was being perfectly honest. A glance at Amelia’s face suggested that she would be doing no such thing though, “You will wear this dress young lady, or I will have no choice but to put it on you myself.”
Krista thought there were a few things wrong with that statement, “First of all, I’m two years older than you. Second of all, I’d love to see you try and make me wear that dress.” Amelia raised her hands and started wriggling her fingers. “No… you wouldn’t.”
She slowly inched forward, “You’ve forced my hands, Krista. I haven’t had to use this strength since we were children. I sealed off this power because it could cause too much harm. Her eyes turned to a green color.
“This… this isn’t fair! Please stop, I’ll do what you say!”
That didn’t stop Amelia, she just kept coming closer, “You already know that once I start, I cannot stop. You might as well pray to Vitnova for salvation!” Amelia’s eyes were wild, she was serious.
“Have mercy!” Krista yelled, but Amelia got right to it, the tickling. “No! No! Too much!”
Amelia had been able to do this ever since they were young. A basic ability of Life wattiez was checking the health of people. This included seeing certain nerves, the ticklish ones. This way Amelia was most efficiently tickle her in the most gruesome way possible. Because Krista was always the stronger and older of the two, Amelia commonly used this ability to get what she wanted from her. Over time, Amelia let this power go to her head , and one day she went too far. Sealing this power away for good, until now.
“Ha ha! What now Krista!”
“Auntie Heart! Auntie Heart!”
Back in the day, Amelia would keep going until Krista had Madam Heart break us apart. It was the only time Krista would call her Auntie rather than Madam. Unfortunately, Madam Heart wasn’t here to stop Amelia, so she gave up. Doomed to stay here until Amelia’s madness ceased.
Only Amelia stopped soon after, “Wha-Why?” asked Krista.
Usually, these sessions could last minutes and though they always felt like hours, “I’m older now, I’ve learned restraint. Speaking of which, today is November 11 th , is it not?” She put Krista in a big bear hug. “Happy Birthday Krista!”
Nearly a full year. A year since meeting Damien again, going on a journey with him and Amelia, and ending up here, “Yeah, happy birthday to me.”
After the hug, Amelia begins to twirl her fingers again, “I also believe that this will be sufficient to persuade you.” Krista immediately nodded her head. “Good, now sit down and let me fix your hair.”