Lissandra was confused; she was sitting at a dining table with two other people, a man and a woman. Their faces were blurred and unrecognizable; they were talking to her but she could not make out their words; she didn't know why, but they seemed nice. Looking around she was in a living room, there were devices laying around that she did not recognize; on one side of the room there was a thin black box hanging on the wall, across from it was a long soft looking seat with odd looking lamps stationed on each side. The man spoke to her which brought her attention back to the two people, the woman spoke to the man and he in response laughed from the sound of it, she wasn't sure. There was a sudden knock on the door, the man stood up and opened it, a blinding light shone through disrupting her vision.
Eyes slowly opening Lissandra found herself back in her room, it was still dark out, but was at the time she would normally wake up and begin her day. Getting out of bed she felt the cold stone floor against the soles of her feet, she rubbed her eyes before standing up, walking towards the window opening it. She breathed in the fresh morning air and let the wind blow through her silver hair, she smiled down at the view below, stores and houses were lighting up as people were starting to wake up for the new day. From the corner of her eye Lissandra noticed a group of decorated knight's ride through the castle gates; the captain of the royal guard had returned.
Getting dressed Lissandra hurried to her post; as the Princess' retainer it was her responsibility to wake her every morning and ensure that she was properly dressed and prepared for her duties. Making her way down the corridor she greeted all the waking maids and the tired guards who were up all night on watch. As she approached the doors she adjusted her uniform and pushed the doors open; by now the sun was rising with light shining through the curtains. The princess' room was well decorated with many golden trinkets hanging on the walls, a decorated desk on one side of the room with a shelf filled with books situated on the side. Walking towards the curtains she pulled them away letting a ray of sunlight brighten the room.
"It is a new day princess" she said watching the person in bed stir a little, she sighed before walking over to the bed and pulled the covers away, the girl in bed shrunk herself trying to keep herself warm. "Princess you have a big day ahead of you today, you need to get up" eyes pealing open the princess stared up at Lissandra.
"I really don't want to get up" she mumbled. Lissandra shook her head and proceeded to pull her up.
"This is no way for a princess like yourself to act, now go get washed up, I will prepare your clothes for the day" the princess sighed, nodding before walking towards her private baths. Lissandra shook her head while making her way towards the princess' wardrobe. Princess Zara was the youngest daughter of King Lynus ruler of the western country Utral. A very beautiful woman, she was carefree but when needed would take her role as a princess very seriously; it was very odd yet charming for Lissandra, spending her entire life by the princess' side she can observe her different personalities, one moment she can act childish and the next a mature adult. Placing a white dress on the bed Lissandra proceeded to clean up the desk which was littered with documents and more books.
"Lissandra, when is Lucas returning from his expedition?" Zara asked entering her room wrapped in a towel, her hair still dripping wet. Lissandra gave her a disapproving look before pushing the princess back into the bathroom; sitting her down, Lissandra grabbed a second towel and dried Zara's long golden blonde hair.
"Your brother just arrived this morning" she answered; Zara perked up knowing what she was going to be doing after she got dressed. Prince Lucas, the eldest son and royal heir to the throne, he took up the role of captain of the royal guard, and made it his personal group of selected soldiers. He made it his duty to maintain peace and order to the country.
"No, you won't be greeting him, not until you've eaten breakfast" Lissandra replied now brushing Zara's hair. The princess sighed knowing there was no way out of her retainer's demands. When she looked into the mirror she noticed Lissandra's unsettled eyes.
"Did you have the same dream again?" she asked. Lissandra remained silent nodding. "This makes it two consecutive weeks that you've had the same dream, we should go talk to Alzar" shaking her head she made the finishing touches to Zara's hair.
"You know he makes me feel uncomfortable" Alzar, the royal mage and scientist, was quite eccentric for an old man, he had a deep obsession for plants and is constantly searching for new specimens; he was one of the most powerful mages in the kingdom and was well respected by everyone. But that didn't change the fact that his presence always made Lissandra nervous.
"But this could be serious. For all we know your dreams could hold significant meaning" Zara protested.
"I highly doubt there is any meaning behind it. So don't worry about it princess; remember you have more important things to worry about today" Zara stood up pouting.
"Don't change the subject; you are my retainer, so of course I will worry" Lissandra sighed with a smile.
"I know you worry" spinning Zara around she pushed her pack into her room. "But at this point I want to try and figure this out myself" Zara sighed while putting on the dress.
"Very well, however I'm only giving you a week; if there has been no change I want you to go see Alzar" Lissandra chuckled while she started patting down the dress and fixing the frills.
"As you wish, but don't expect me to like it" she replied with a grin; Zara giggled.
"As long as you get better I don't mind getting hated" Lissandra laughed.
"You know I could never hate you" Zara smiled nodding.
"I know" they could hear the maids moving around outside the room. "Speaking of which, can you tell me what is on today's agenda?" Lissandra stepped back and straightened herself out.
"The King will be assigning you your first assignment as a royal princess. You will meet with his majesty this afternoon; before that however you are expected at the Royal Gallery, they want your opinion on some of the art pieces they received recently" she stepped towards the door and opened it with Zara walking through. Closing the door Lissandra escorted the princess to the dining hall.
"First things first, breakfast" Zara sighed following her retainer obediently. Zara greeted many of the frantically moving maids, all of them trying to complete their morning duties as soon as possible.
"Princess Zara!" a man's voice called. The duo turned to a tall man dressed in the kingdom's traditional grey silver knights armor.
"Sir Varus" Zara greeted. Varus was Prince Lucas' retainer, a very skilled swordsman only second to Lucas; he was highly respected even among the nobles and his name was feared by the enemies of their kingdom; not to mention he was also Lissandra's sword mentor.
"Good morning" he greeted. "May I borrow your retainer from you princess?" Zara was a little surprised by the request but nodded.
"Of course" she answered. "But may I ask what for?"
"I'm afraid I am not allowed to say, Prince Lucas has given me strict orders to keep my lips sealed, however I'm sure Lissandra can brief you on the situation once she has returned to you" Zara looked worried but accepted his answer.
"Will you be alright milady?" Lissandra asked. Zara laughed waving her off.
"I'm only going to get breakfast, you go on ahead, I will wait for your return" nodding her head, Lissandra bowed to her princess before following Varus.
As Princess Zara's retainer it was also Lissandra's responsibility to ensure her safety, and to do that she must understand the threats that would pose to her highness, she would always be asked to attend meetings with the war council to ensure that she was up to date with current events. Lissandra looked to Varus.
"What happened on your expedition?" she asked
"Prince Lucas will give you the details" he answered, Lissandra raised a brow, by the tone of his voice it sounded grim; she could only imagine what had actually gotten her mentor so concerned. Opening a set of doors into a relatively crowded room; all the major military personals were present, they sat in chairs around a long table with the Prince standing at the end. Both Lissandra and Varus moved to Lucas' side and stood in silence.
"Good" Lucas started getting everyone to go silent and focus all their attention to him. "I have called this emergency meeting to report on a grave situation" he looked to Varus who nodded stepping forward and rolled out a map, there were multiple red circles on it. "These marks are locations that the Void Walkers have attacked in the last month" he announced; this caused uproar.
"This is impossible!" one general called out. "There is no way the Void Walkers could have broken through our borders without any of us knowing. Surely this is a mistake." Lucas shook his head.
"I'm afraid not, I was there personally inspecting the damages, my group even got into a skirmish during one of the attacks" Lissandra was surprised; she looked to Varus who had his full attention on the generals.
"What were the casualties?" asked another.
"The six villages were attacked, everything destroyed; houses, crops and major establishments. All gone" Lucas answered. "Luckily a low death count, only three dead from the attacks; however this does bring up an important question. What exactly is their intention?"
"Obviously they are trying to topple our country" another responded.
"On the surface yes, that is what it looks like; each of the village attacks were key locations to our nation, with this we start to lose our harvest and key resources to rebuild. However..."
"Prince Lucas, are you implying that there is more to these attacks?"
"Indeed I am, they seem to have the power to freely make attacks without us knowing, so why is it that they have not attacked the capital?" Lucas was obviously concerned, Lissandra took another glance at the map, there didn't seem to be any real pattern to their attacks, so there was no way of telling if the Void Walker's main target was the capital or not, however it did give her a thought.
"I have assigned each of you to an attacked location, I want you and your men to help the villagers rebuild and investigate each site, uncover any clues that can help us figure out what exactly the Void Walkers are after" The generals stood up,
"Understood!" they called in unison. Lucas nodded. Lissandra raised her hand. The crowed looked to her, Lucas nodding in her direction.
"Go ahead Lissandra, what do you have to say about this"
"Is it a good idea to send our forces away from the capital?" she asked. Lucas raised a brow obviously interested in what she had to say.
"I would like to hear your reason Lissandra" she was nervous, all eyes were on her now, swallowing she continued.
"What if the Void Walker's target is indeed the capital and the attacks on the settlements were merely a distraction in an attempt to thin our defensive force here?" Lucas nodded.
"You make a valid point" he turned to the other generals. "What do you all think?" They all sat in silence, deep in thought.
"If she is correct then we should consider reassigning our forces to counter this assault while being able to send help to the fallen villages" one said.
"But if we do that it is possible that they intend for us to separate our forces to make it easier for them to ambush".
"Prince Lucas, you said that your men have encountered the Void Walkers" one asked, Lucas nodded. "Could you tell us a little more about them?" Varus was the one to step forward.
"There was only one attacker" he said.
"One?" they all exclaimed with disbelief. Varus nodded.
"We questioned the villagers and all of them gave us the same description, a man with jet black hair and pale white skin, he was able to make buildings, trees and even animals just disintegrate. And of course Prince Lucas and myself fought against this man" he paused. "He possessed power we've never seen before; everything he touched would be destroyed"
"Destroyed?" they questioned. "Could you elaborate?" Varus shook his head.
"It is difficult to describe with words, I can only say that it was like he could cause things to break down"
"Has Alzar given any insight on this?" Lucas was the one to answer.
"Not yet, as of now, one of my men is reporting to him, hopefully we can get some answers soon" he turned to the map. "As Lissandra says, this may be a trap; however we cannot leave those villagers homeless. So I have decided that I will have to split you into two groups" he addressed the generals. "Andryr, Colinet and Tebal, you and your men will remain here"
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"Yes, your highness" they responded standing up and saluting him.
"Barda, Roean and Eada, you three will do as previously instructed, however I would advise keeping your forces close together, it will extend the mission time, but your safety is top priority"
"Understood" Lucas nodded in acknowledgment.
"Dismissed" the six generals nodded before leaving. With only the three of them in the room, Lucas let out a sigh, he turned to Lissandra.
"Good job speaking up" he praised. Lissandra scratched her head.
"I didn't really do much" Lucas chuckled.
"Well regardless you did good" he started walking out the room, Varus and Lissandra following close behind. "Where is my sister?"
"Princess Zara is in the dining hall" Lissandra replied.
"I see. If you may Lissandra, tell Zara to find me in the courtyard after she is done. I was instructed by the King to brief her on her first assignment" Lissandra paused looking confused.
"Wasn't his majesty supposed to be the one to do this?"
"I'm afraid my father has left for the north to meet with King Tor"
"This is the first I've heard of this, when did this happen?" she asked.
"An hour ago" they stopped at a cross-way, with one path leading to the dining hall.
"I'm sure that Princess Zara will be thrilled to be able to see you so soon, I will escort her to you once she is done with her meal" Lucas smiled.
"Thank you" he said before he and Varus moved in the other direction.
As requested Lissandra had led Zara to the courtyard; Lucas was in the middle of his sword training, practicing his stances and swings; Lissandra could see no flaws in the prince's skill, though compared to him she was just a novice in sword play.
"Brother" Zara greeted. Lucas stopped mid swing, smiling he sheathed his sword handing it to Varus who was observing quietly to the side.
"Sister, it is good to see you" he approached her.
"Lissandra tells me that you ran into some trouble during your expedition" she asked her voice already full of concern.
"Yes, but we have everything under control" Zara raised a brow, not at all convinced.
"Brother, from what Lissandra told me, a single person was able to fend your entire squad off" Lucas shrugged,
"It wasn't a person, rather a Void Walker" Zara confused by the name could only question what he meant.
"They are a group of cursed individuals with incredible power, most identifiable by their unnatural pale white skin, other than that we don't know much about them" Lucas explained before sighing. "We don't even know what their objective is; there have been constant attacks on various towns and villages; whether it was luck or their intention, but there have been very few lives lost in these attacks"
"How many attacks have there been?" Zara asked. Lucas' eyes looked grim.
"Five in the past month" Zara gasped out, surprised that the attacks were so frequent.
"Well, I'm glad that you dispatched our soldiers to help the people" Zara said, she was genuine with her words, but she could tell Lucas was still worried. "By the way!" she decided to change the subject; the situation at hand was important, but she also knew that Lucas didn't really want to talk about it right now. "I believe father has entrusted you with my first task as the royal princess" Lucas nodded.
"That is right" he held out his hand while Varus stepped forward placing a scroll into his hand. Unrolling it he began to read the contents.
"Princess Zara Nolwin" he announced, Zara quickly stepped back and got onto one knee left hand over her heart and the other hand behind her back bowing to Lucas. "Ten years of studies and training, you are now eligible to perform proper duties for our great nation of Utral. As your first duty of the Royal Princess of Utral you will be traveling to the southern country of Acron to attend Lord Bayron's annual dinner party, you will leave in two days" rolling up the scroll Lucas sighed; Zara looked up.
"Is something wrong brother?" Lucas looked between his sister and Lissandra.
"With everything that is going on right now, I am sort of reluctant to let you leave the castle walls" standing up Zara clasped Lucas' hands together, she smiled.
"You worry too much brother; I will be fine, besides, Lissandra will be by my side" Lucas once again sighed, but this time with acceptance.
"Just make sure to be careful, I plan to assign extra security for your escort" Zara rolled her eyes.
"As you wish brother" she said, "Anyways, I hope you don't plan to spend the entire day training"
"Well, it probably will take up most of my time" Zara shook her head.
"I won't allow it; you just got back from your expedition and need to rest. So you will be spending your afternoon with me" Lucas raised a brow, already knowing what he will be in for. Though knowing that he won't be seeing his sister for a while, he decided to accept Zara's proposal. Lissandra smiled at the scene; she always did enjoy watching the royal siblings interact; there was a certain warmth to it that allowed her to feel relaxed.
The road to Acron was surprisingly smooth, but that only made Lissandra more worried than she should be. She walked alongside the slow moving carriage, there were ten soldiers escorting them, three on each side and two at the back and front; all of them heavily armed. Lissandra herself was well equipped for battle, but for high mobility rather than high defense. At the pace they were moving right now, it would take three days to get to the port and another fourteen days by ship before they arrive; luckily they would arrive just in time for the party. Lissandra was in deep thought about the assignment, she knew the hidden objective of this party; to establish new and maintain old connections with the nobles of Acron. In doing so, they could maintain their valuable trading agreements with them. She sighed; it was going to be a long month, she never was a big fan of these parties, everyone looked fake to her. They moved into the woods, and there was still nothing out of the ordinary. Lissandra glanced at the trees; she could remember the time when she and Zara would play in these woods, it was a much more carefree time. The carriage halted to a stop.
"What's the matter?" Lissandra asked.
"Sorry, but the horses don't seem to want to continue moving" the driver said. Lissandra on guard moved to the front to see what was going on. It was a fox sitting in the middle of the road; which was surprising since foxes were actually pretty rare in these woods. She chuckled moving towards it; the fox's gaze settled onto Lissandra never looking away; when she knelt down the fox moved towards her rubbing against her leg.
"Hey little guy, do you think you can allow us to pass?" the fox looked up at her tilting its head cutely to the side before running away. There was a loud scream, it was Zara; Lissandra whipped her head around, eyes widened with shock witnessing six knights get impaled by some red substance before exploding into a pool of blood, appearing out of thin air was a man with pale white skin and jet black hair, he stood on top of the carriage; it was the exact description that Prince Lucas gave her, the Void Walker. Drawing her sword Lissandra charged towards the man who simply dropped down and grabbed the driver by the head throwing him at Lissandra who caught him but had to halt in her tracks. During this time, the man grabbed the two spears that were thrust in his direction; mysteriously the poles exploded into shards, the man using what remained of the soldier's weapons, stabbed it through their throats before casually peaking into the carriage but immediately turned around dodging Lissandra's sword swing, he raised his hand towards her before raising a brow; he jumped back creating distance between them. Wasting no time Lissandra continued her assault forcing the man back further.
"Take the Princess to safety!" she screamed at the remaining guards; they grabbed onto the side of the carriage while the driver quickly got back onto the drivers seat and commanded the horses to gallop at their top speed.
"Lissandra!" Zara screamed, sticking her head out the window, her eyes fearful, most likely from witnessing her guard get massacred so easily. Her concern now fully focused on her retainer who was somehow able to keep the attacker busy.
"Don't worry about me! Just keep moving!" Lissandra shouted. She stepped back before thrusting her sword towards the man's chest, she was surprised however when the man caught the tip with two fingers and effortlessly shattered her blade into pieces before kicking her away. Landing on her back she cringed in pain glaring at the man who was standing over her, hands in his pockets and a humored grin plastered across his lips.
"You seem to have immunity against magic" he said. "That is certainly an interesting ability you have". Lissandra did not know what the man was talking about but she spun around sweeping her leg hoping to catch the man off guard and knock him off his feet; but to no avail as he simply hopped away. Standing up Lissandra continued to glare at the man, getting into a fighting stance.
"Hand to hand combat?" he questioned; he took one hand out of his pocket and beckoned her to attack. "Let me see what you are capable of" without hesitation Lissandra moved in, she swung her fists in rapid succession but the man was able to easily avoid them. She pivoted on her foot attempting to strike the man with a kick but he caught it, Lissandra then proceeded to jump up and round house kick the man across the face. Stumbling back the man nursed his jaw grinning.
"Not bad..." but Lissandra was not allowing him to get the chance to even finish; she continued her assault. This time however she decided to get in close, using her elbow to strike the man's stomach before grabbing him by the back of his neck and pulled him down slamming his face into her knee. She then proceeded to grab him by the arm flinging him over her shoulder. The man casually flipped himself in the air and landed back onto his feet, his smile never leaving his face. Lissandra once again moved in but was surprised for the man to suddenly appear close to her face; with incredible speed, the man kneed her in the stomach before using his elbow to strike her back; she slammed down onto the ground gasping. Lissandra slowly looked up at the man circling around.
"You've impressed me, but I'm afraid this is the end for you" he said before kicking her across the jaw knocking her out.
It was different this time, Lissandra found herself in a park. She looked around and was awed by the sight; buildings that touched the sky circled around her. She wanted to explore the place, pressing forward; the park was green, grass everywhere and tall trees sheltering her from the sun. She could hear the sound of people talking but could not see them; in fact she could even feel them moving past her. She continued on the path and found a lake; it was beautiful, the sunlight shining against the surface caused the water to glimmer, it was like staring into a sea of gems. She stepped closer and knelt down carefully touching the surface. But as if some force was pulling her, she was pulled into the water. She was unable to move, the weight of the water was holding her down and slowly dragging her deeper; she struggled, but soon her body became frozen. The light at the surface was getting dimmer and there was nothing but darkness.
Eyes shooting open, Lissandra shot up panting. She looked around and was surprised to find herself in a bedroom. The room was rather plain with only a fancy looking ceiling lamp with some unusual device that was illuminating the room; it was a glass bulb looking object rather than a candle.
"Well you certainly surprised me" a female voice said. Lissandra finally noticing the other presence in the room turned in her direction. It was a woman with pale white skin and silver white hair, a Void Walker. Lissandra jumped out of her bed ready for a fight. The woman merely smiled at her.
"Milady, you should be careful; your wounds have not yet healed" Lissandra raised a brow at the way she addressed her, even as a royal retainer, she was never graced with such titles.
"Milady?" she questioned. The Woman nodded.
"Yes, you are our beloved Master after all".