Second Loss in the 75th year of the New Order

“Rise,” a stout, authoritative voice ordered from the side and Aurora li Arakiel rose from her kneeling position with ease in order to face her Master and Champion Arakiel il Kalanaar, Traveler and penultimate heir to the House of Alexandrite.

He wore a ceremonial garb befitting the occasion, a white vest underneath a black, buttoned tailcoat that emphasized his broad shoulders and lean physique while the black belt with a golden girdle and the silver sword spoke of his status as an accomplished swordsman. The duo-colored cloak that had been fastened with a bejeweled brooch marked him a direct descendant of the Lady and Lord-Consort Alexandrite and the small, crimson pillow made from the finest silken fabric in his hand relayed his intention: on it, a slim golden collar lay, its front holding an embedded faceted alexandrite that shone in a soft red light.

The sight warmed her heart, for she had personally wished for the gem’s heptagonal cut and with the help of Lady Chryse, Arakiel and Aurora had located a thrice-sparked jeweler that had truly outdone himself – and all of that without his House catching wind of it. It was considered impotent and defamatory for a member of the main line to involve the House in one’s personal semi-legal property’s business.

It had probably cost Arakiel a small fortune, but he had promised her to make today a truly special occasion, and so far, he had delivered on that promise.

They had gathered here in the Alexandrite Keep’s personal chapel of the Transcended which oozed awe and luxury with its impossibly decorated vaults, its lifelike statue of the Transcended and the two dozen paintings that portrayed the Houses’s most important members alongside their first consorts.

Every single item in this little chapel was enchanted to always appear in a pristine and impeccable state, from the marbled floors over the twisted, highly flourished columns to the paneled walls, never minding the wondrously colored rose windows that broke the sun’s light in such a way that the chapel was divided into several differently colored areas.

And the most impressive thing about all of this was that only very few select people would ever behold this staggering work of art – and Aurora had not only been allowed in, she had even been chosen to have her own personal ceremony in here, the ceremony that had now tied her legally to Arakiel.

“You may now adorn your new aurea, Lord Arakiel. May she serve to further your fame and may her children one day increase the glory of our venerable House!” Lord Priest Asios proclaimed solemnly, his words echoing off of the chapel’s walls several times. The venerable man was the personal priest of the Lady Alexandrite and Aurora had no idea how Arakiel had managed to have him perform the ceremony. It was whispered that the tall, ageless man visited the Transcended himself on a yearly basis – and that he might be one of the most powerful beings in Kalanaar, a so-called Limbuswalker.

Arakiel picked up the thin golden piece of jewelry with both hands and lifted it off of the pillow which remained floating mid-air. He then made three steps towards her, one for every promise that a Kalanite made to an aurea or aureus.

“I promise to protect you.”

“I promise to cherish you.”

“I promise to honor you, now and forevermore.”

Arakiel spoke each pledge with audible, palpable conviction and with every sentence, Aurora felt herself fall for him just a little more, if that was even possible at this point. The point of her being smitten with him had long since given way to love, it was the only way she could explain her feelings towards him.

He arrived in front of her, his green eyes meeting hers only for a moment. She looked down and began to grip the edges of her skirt real hard in order to overplay her nervousness.

Despite that, the words came across her lips with surprising ease – for they were heartfelt.

“I vow to serve you – and only you – for now and forever more.”

She beamed a shy smile at him, still not managing to meet his gaze. Then, she closed her eyes and lightly lifted her head so that he had free and unrestricted access to her neck.

Meanwhile, she held her breath while her fingers were maltreating the fabric of her white silken dress to the point where she feared that her nails might pierce her skin through the fabric. The blood would be visible on the white, which would be disastrous to say the least.

This caused her mind to once again go down a spiral of increasingly unlikely scenarios that would see her embarrassed but then thankfully, she felt the cold metal touch and then surround her neck, allowing her to focus on it instead.

The thin ring of gold slid around her perfectly and when it was in place, Lord Priest Asios spoke the ceremony’s closing words. “The vow has been offered, the promises made. I hereby grant you permission before the eyes of the Transcended to claim Aurora li Arakiel in whatever fashion you desire, Lord Arakiel. From now on, you are responsible for any legal matters regarding her, but any children born of the union are exempt. Further, only the death of one of the involved parties will render the agreement null and void.”

Aurora felt a part of the metal around her neck briefly grow hot, only to become pleasantly cool once again and as she took her first breath, she realized that the gold widened and tightening faintly alongside her neck. From now on, every breath would remind her of her vow, but she really didn’t need that, for she had lived it every waking hour of the past year.

She opened her eyes and saw him having taken another step towards her and the thrill of anticipation briefly took hold of her. After all, it was finally time to do it again, but properly this time.

He closed in, whispering. “My little dawn, you’ve never looked more tempting.”

And then, he softly grabbed her temples and pressed his lips onto hers and unlike the last time just over a year ago, he didn’t shy away right afterwards.

No, this time he stayed and began to softly part her lips with his tongue and Aurora lost herself in the moment, feeling thoroughly and utterly captivated by this activity.

He was her savior, her champion, her master and she was his dawn, the light that kept him going as he had nearly fallen to the shadow after Marianka’s sacrifice.

She heard applause from the side and some of the boys even cheered.

Lady Chryse and Lord Lyktos had come to visit alongside two argents, one of which was Sophie – and to make the chapel feel less empty, they had also brought their children along, the oldest of which was Lyktos Junior at the tender age of six.

But right now, that wasn’t so important as she fully cherished and exploited this truly immaculate feeling she felt.

No wonder that Lady Chryse had said the things she did and no wonder that so many novels revolved around this emotion, for it was the best thing she had ever felt, dwarfing anything else by a large and sizable margin.

Love and desire… she couldn’t wait to eventually explore all their facets.

Their kissing intensified twice and each time felt even more vivid, but she also felt as though she kind of lost herself, her mind having gone someplace else entirely and only when Lady Chryse interfered from the side, warning Arakiel to not have Aurora pass out did he pull back, only to immediately give her another, albeit brief kiss.

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His gaze held a new kind of fondness and she lightly, playfully pressed her budding chest against him, letting him know that she was well on her way in the blossoming department.

Then she backed away and held out her hand and although she would’ve liked to blush as well, her face was already well past the point of a mere blush.

He softly grabbed it and they both turned towards the statue of the Transcended, where he performed a bow while she made a curtsy to pay their respects.

Then, he led her down the three marble stairs onto the same elevation as the six wooden benches that acted as the only places to sit down.

“Farewell and may the Transcended ever shine his light on you,” the Lord Priest wished and then most likely blinked away. All high-ranking servants to the Transcended had the means to freely traverse the plane’s fabric, meaning that in theory, they could appear everywhere and anywhere.

Thankfully, they were bound by a strict code of rules in exchange for their ridiculous power.

Aurora let her gaze wander over Arakiel’s elder sister’s inner family. Lyktos, who was a mountain of a man with intricate crimson runes covering his neck, arms and presumably chest and maybe even his legs. The man examined Arakiel with what might be newfound respect. From what she heard Lady Chryse say, Lyktos had always thought Arakiel to be a weak, pathetic wimp and disgrace of his ancestry, but the fact that he had come to attend this admittedly unimportant ceremony showed a certain shift in behavior. Three beautiful women sat around him, two of which wore a silver adornment on their neck not quite unlike the one that Aurora had just been given.

Lastly, there were six children, four boys ranging in the ages of six to three while the two girls were still in their infancy. The two oldest boys that sat next to their father were already taking lessons and both were well on their way to one day grow up to be powerful assets to the House. Both stared at her with wonder in their eyes and when she beamed them a smile, they grinned back and then looked at each other, laughing about something.

These two were with Chryse and the two other, younger boys were with the white-haired argent if their white hair acted as an indicator. If Aurora recalled correctly, the woman had once been a renowned Astral Thaumaturge before Lyktos’ party defeated hers.

The two female babes were in their respective mothers’ arms, namely Chryse and Sophie, both of whom were visibly pregnant again. Lyktos’s involvement in the investigation about the attack on Selenya had seen him stay in Kalanaar for most of the past year, after all.

None of Arakiel’s other siblings had come, even though Lady Chryse claimed to have send some invitations to the siblings that were closest in age with him. None had answered, though. He didn’t seem too upset about it, for Arakiel never really mentioned his family, besides Lady Chryse on occasion.

Lyktos rose and was the first to congratulate Arakiel on a job well done. The two men shook hands which was a first as far as Aurora knew, after which his wife repeated the process but she hugged Arakiel first, and Aurora second.

Then the argents offered polite words of congratulations and lastly, Lady Chryse’s sons proudly proclaimed that they’d surpass Arakiel in time.

When Lady Chryse then informed them that Arakiel had in fact caught his first aurea with eight years, the two were dumbfounded and fell silent at first, only to suddenly regard him with increasing adoration.

It pleased Aurora, witnessing others see Arakiel for the man he was. Strong, reliable, caring, but with a dash of mystery and recklessness. Even now, he neither confirmed nor denied his involvement in the Selenya-Incident even though the Lady Alexandrite’s words had been rather clear.

Once that part of the ceremony had concluded, Arakiel led the way back out of the Alexandrite Keep’s main building, past several quiet aureans who were used as mere domestic servants tasked with housekeeping despite everything here being enchanted to be squeaky-clean on its own.

It was a pure internal show of power, nothing more.

In Kalanaar, those like Aurora were usually put on display alongside their guardians as a means to project power, to instill jealously, awe and reverence. They weren’t meant to perform an aes’s menial task, with aes’ being the lowliest legally-accepted type of servant that still had a sliver of rights. Most slaves, on the other hand, were marked on their flesh, be it with a scar or tattoo and they had no rights whatsoever, neither before the Transcended nor before the Heptarchy.

She found it ironic since she, too, had been in charge of keeping Arakiel’s household running now that Marianka was gone – and she’d continue to do so until he caught himself an aes or argent, who were rarely used for this type of work.

But Aurora didn’t really mind – it gave her something to do when she got bored of reading and no matter what happened, she didn’t want to lie idle for that’d just bring back memories of Marianka. By now, her time at the Maidenhold seemed like another lifetime and it barely affected her anymore… Mari’s death on the other hand, very much so.

Aurora hated it, especially since she knew that Arakiel struggled with it even more even if he tried to keep it hidden, not wanting to cause her distress. Yet the event had struck him at his most vulnerable point and although his growing affection to Aurora helped him, it was still a long way.

She truly hoped that her becoming his official aurea would allow him move on. Marianka would’ve wanted him to… and Aurora selfishly desired him to allow her to fill Mari’s place.

Initially, she had begun to mimic the elf’s antics, her style of dress and the way she smelled – but that had backfired in such a spectacular way that she still occasionally wondered how she could’ve been so incredibly insensitive.

Given the intense kiss that they had just shared, she hoped that such things were now more or less a thing of the past – a past she’d like to get rid of sooner rather than later.

Once they left the keep’s main building, she was once again surprised how few people were actually moving about here even though it was the middle of the day.

There were barely any guards and besides the few occasional servants, not a lot of people were moving about while down in the second to fifth district, life teemed much more vibrantly.

She could only assume that the Lady and Lord-Consort Alexandrite were busy ruling while their three closest heirs were busy competing over the succession.

Back in Arakiel’s house, Lady Chryse’s aes had already finished preparing a feast of sizable proportions, with meat, fruit, cheese and sweets in abundance.

Lyktos had even brought a bottle of Selenyean Nectar, one of the most expensive vintages in existence according to him. It had a thoroughly silver color and smelled divinely. Just the scent and sight of the liquid in Aurora’s goblet made her mouth run full of water and when she took a sip after Arakiel toasted to House Alexandrite and their eternal union, she was convinced that she had just tasted Limbus, the divine realm of the Transcended.

Unable to restrain herself, she gulped down the entire goblet in one go and then the world turned very funny indeed.

She recalled Lady Chryse asking Arakiel something along the lines of Aurora ever having tasted liquor, which her champion denied.

Then, the world began to spin a little and she felt that any and all antics were kind of silly. She also felt so very, very warm all of a sudden. It felt wonderful, divine.

This was truly the greatest drink she had ever had the honor of tasting.

Still, the chair kind of annoyed her and so she just got up and took a seat on Arakiel’s lap instead since it was much comfier and he was closer. He also smelled much better than the chair.

When he asked her whether she was fine, she kissed him in response and then told him that he was being silly, since she had never felt better in her entire life.

Then, feeling as though their kiss had lacked a little something, she had the brilliant idea of feeding him pieces of honeyed tart since those were her favorites – and if it weren’t his favorites, then he’d have to make due.

The next kiss was very sweet and sticky and when she then tried to lick the remnant honey off of his face, he reigned her in a little, stating that she was probably drunk since Selenyean Nectar packed quite the punch.

Aurora recalled something about alcohol and the addled state it was supposed to cause, but she didn’t feel addled in the slightest. She felt great, terrific even.

And she really wanted to kiss Arakiel, so she kissed him again, again and then once more just to be sure.

In the bright orange-golden light of the midday sun, his soft green eyes looked exceedingly mesmerizing and she briefly glared at him in stupor.

He used her lapse to turn the tables and feed her pieces of cheese first and then fruits and finally, more honeyed tart.

It eventually turned into a contest with lots of wonderfully sweet, hearty or savory kisses.

By that time, Aurora had kind of forgotten where she even was – the only thing that mattered was that he was here and that he returned her advances, yet when she tried to slip out of her dress in order to show him just how much she had blossomed, he tricked her into drinking another sip of this supremely silver liquid.

And although she tasted the divine once more, she rapidly found herself babbling absolute nonsense as her mind kind of gave up and when he gently pressed her against him while stroking her hair, she quickly drifted off to sleep, feeling utterly sheltered.

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