“Have you been wearing perfume?”

“No.”

“Then what is this potent smell? Smells like… flowers?” He lifted his nose and sniffed. “It’s... very familiar.”

Both looked at each other again. She said, "What is it?"

Ignia turned and began rummaging every corner of the room, and her eyes followed his every action. Suddenly, he stopped and stood straight as if enlightened.

Ignia marched towards the windows and opened them to let the light in. He peeped out the window and then inspected the garden. Nothing in his immediate surroundings seemed suspicious. He pivoted towards the then sunlit room and his eyes fell on the fireplace. There wasn't a need for the fire in the presence of the light. So, he snapped his fingers and extinguished the fire, leaving an aftertaste of burning charcoal. He closed his eyes and let his senses sharpen. After a few deep breaths, he could smell the charcoal along with the flowery scent.

Ah, how alluring!

A few moments later he opened his eyes and trudged towards a rather desolate wall. He slammed his foot against the wall, and swung his head to his side, staring.“I wonder how a mouse trespassed into my home without my knowledge?”

“Ignia, who is there? Why...”

“Shut up! I know my business. You mind your own!" He flicked his glowering eyes at his mother. When he thought it was enough for a warning, he turned to the wall again. “Don’t you dare test my patience! Come out by yourself or you will face consequences.”

Silence greeted him.

“That’s it!” He let his fingers run over the smooth wall of the room as if caressing it. Somewhere in the middle, he curled his fingers and yanked his fist back to himself.

“Ow!” They heard a soft gasp.

A slender, porcelain white arm came out of the wall, tangled with Ignia's fingers. She stumbled against her own feet and met the ground.

“I see. I killed two birds with a stone.” Ignia stared down at the young woman and couldn’t hold back his anger seethed words. “I found the scent and the flower.”

The woman on her knees flinched at his words but dared to meet his angry golden irises with her obsidian ones.

“It wasn’t a little mouse, rather a dragon in my home.” He held her by her arm, forcing her up as his span clenched hard against her biceps. “What do you want to say about it? Iian, daughter of the Great Aide, what are you doing here?”

“Iian, I am just Iian. No need to mention my father with my name!” She raised her tone in the end, irritated by Ignia’s choice for the introduction.

“That wasn’t an answer. What are you doing here?” The young man bared his canines at her, his anger and disappointment profound on his face.

Iian glared back. She would not bow down to his demands.

The mother glanced at the two friends arguing, her eyebrows in knots with worry. She tried opening her mouth time and again, except she didn't find an occasion to butt in. Who knew when Ignia would blow up again? When that thought crossed her mind, she remembered her own terms with her son.

She sighed. "Well, Iian is still better off than me, despite eavesdropping on us. Who knows what Ignia has in store for her?"

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On the other hand, Iian and Ignia stared at each other, trying to pin down the opposite. Iian rescued her captured arm as she pushed her fingers between Ignia's and pried him away from her skin. She patted the dust off her white sundress, detailed with black flowers, and her silver hair slipped past her shoulders. After all of that, her eyes found her friend, filled with curiosity, bright but wary.

Ignia sized up Iian’s willowy but strong physique with his much bigger body. Iian stepped back and gathered her palm into a fist. "Take another step and this will connect with your face."

Huffing, the tanned man took a stride back, giving her the much needed space.

Golden glared at the pitch-black ones with sheer ferocity, and Iian returned the same. Calm or short-tempered, both shared the same spirit. Not one of them was ready to back down without a fight.

They differed just like the two faces of the same coin, yet belonged to the same metal.

“Mrs. Moon, your son has lost his wits.” Iian turned towards Mrs. Moon and then at Ignia. “Looks like he can’t distinguish right from wrong.”

Ignia sneered at her. “Shouldn’t that be true for you, Iian? Or you never thought your dad was a perpetrator in this ordeal?”

Iian closed her eyes in fury, trying her best to control herself. “My father is a committed man. He’s the Great Aide. Do you even know what it means?” Pain trickled down her eyes. She turned away from him with even greater disgust. “It’s destiny for a person to become a Great Aide because they are the chosen ones by birth. Throughout their lives, they swear their allegiance to Dragonix; not to the Emperor, realm, King or person. In the Emperor's presence, they guide him and in his absence, the Great Aide protects Dragonix. How dare you accuse my father!”

“So, what do I do?” Ignia screamed at her. “I want closure! What happened to my dad, and why did he meet such an end? I want the criminal to be hanged!”

“Why now?” Iian caught him by his shoulders. Her fingers brushed along his bones. “Why, after a millennium? Were you sorting your plans and now decided it's time to strike? Did you befriend me to get back on my father?”

“No, no, no!” Ignia gently cupped her face opposite to his tone and choice of words. “Our friendship was never a mistake. I realised I wasn’t told anything because I was young. I waited…patiently, I really did. But…You know, your father and I mutually hate each other. I’m a brat in his eyes who has been haggling around for answers. Be it an enemy or a friend.”

Mrs. Moon’s eyes widened. For her, Iian brought something out of Ignia she had been searching for.

“What is that? What did they tell you? And what do you believe?” Mrs. Moon stepped between them and looked at Ignia with desperation.

The lounge went silent. Only Ignia’s long breaths relieved the trio’s tension. Mrs. Moon studied the sunlight reflecting from the glass panes and then at Ignia’s amber eyes.

“King Rael Ozmer of the Nyctoph Realm told it to me.”

Mrs. Moon’s shoulders dropped with realisation. Her legs went numb. She grabbed, shaking ever so slightly, grabbed a chair and sat down. “He told you.” She glanced at him. “The truth?” But her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “And what is it?”

“He said that a millennium ago, he received a letter from the Emperor stating that Throne was planning to kill him. He needed immediate help. Nyctoph and two other realms approached the palace at daybreak to protect the Emperor. But, by the time they reached, my dad, Emperor Igneous, was dead on the throne with a sword in heart. Henceforth, they rebelled against Throne for wrongfully killing the Emperor.”

“And you believe that?”

Ignia defended back. “How believable is it to hear that the Emperor died to save Dragonix from the Rebels? Where were the Rebels? Who are the Rebels? There was no existence of the Rebels before the Emperor died! Since the Great Aide is Throne’s favourite, Throne, being the Supreme Paramount, did away with the Emperor and handed Dragonix to the Great Aide.”

Iian drew the next conclusion. “The Trailblazer ministers also believed it because at the end of the day, the Emperor was originally from Trailblazer. Though after becoming the Emperor, he had no special obligations towards Trailblazer." She sighed. "Blood speaks, unfortunately.”

“Now you are seeking revenge by siding with the Rebels?” Mrs. Moon’s eyes watered. “Even after marrying Igneous into Trailblazer, after I spent my entire life in Trailblazer, I never became one of you, didn't I. You never considered I was a Trailblazer, and that’s why you all unanimously decided it for yourselves.”

And as tears trickled down her eyes, she studied Ignia's face. How he resembled Igneous in his earlier years, yet shared none of his spirit. Was this the child she fought for? She didn’t know anymore.

She whispered, “Just leave me alone.”

Ignia was the first to storm out of the lounge, followed by Iian, who wished goodwill to Mrs. Moon. And Mrs. Moon sank into the chair chanting her oath she took for the greater good.

"Where are you, Unrecorded? A millennium has come to completion."