Chapter Eight

Ifera was pacing back and forth in her room. Ever since last year, she had been looking into the history of the kingdom. She had looked towards what was going on in the kingdom and was told there was a secret war going on for years between the rebels and the actual kingdom. The rebels wanted to make their own kingdom separate from the star kingdom. She was about to meet with someone about some information about the war.

Since she left the Light kingdom, she had changed her outfit. She felt more aware since Rihella and the others joined her, and she was more aware that it was dangerous and she wouldn’t always have time to protect herself. Many would call it paranoia, but she wouldn’t always have her armour on. Though she did have a dragon scale outfit mixed with a few pieces from her armour set.

All that she was learning, she knew it might not be a bad idea. Her new outfit also would blend into the shadows quite a bit better. It was a midnight blue mixed with black and covered most of her body. The skirt was a similar style to the armour, but the top was quite different. It was a high necked flame style, and there was one sleeve. The other arm had an arm bracer tight against her skin. There were twisting lines of dark blue scales on each side of her arm, and her leg was the same as her armour’s. Her hair was in a high braid, held up by a thin ribbon that had begun to wear out. Part of her hair was too short and framed her face, hiding her left eye partially. The back of her outfit was open, though it was to Ifera’s dislike.

Rihella wouldn’t explain why and only told her that she would need it. “Calm down Ifera. We don’t know what information we will be getting.” Rihella reasoned.

“I can’t calm down Rihella. This is the answer to everything. If I calm down, I am going to lose this opportunity!” Ifera retaliated. She started wringing her hands in an attempt to calm herself down a bit.

Rihella put a hand on her shoulder and said, “ Ifera, this is only going to tell you what happened back then. You don’t have to worry about what might happen. We have your back.”

Ifera let out a sigh. “I guess we should go then.”

A few miles away from Nabarmena, a new town had been built. It was protected by a royal magic guild, and the school and many missions had been set up to protect it.

Ifera sat at a table outside one of the cafe’s, talking to Rihella. A man then walked up to them. He had a large build and a woollen beard. His coat covered the sword than hung at his side, and he had a stern expression. He loomed over the pair, but they continued to ignore him. “It is rude to call someone somewhere and then ignore them you know.” He growled.

“And it is rude to interrupt a conversation,” Ifera noted as she stood up.

“Well,” He began, “You wanted information about the war, I’ll give it to you.”

The war began when the people of the Western star kingdom decided they didn’t want to be ruled by king Ixionas. They banded together to make an army against him, and they slowly but surely began to sway the hearts and minds of others to their side. Soon, they were evenly matched in skill and in numbers, they only thing holding either side back was a rumour. A rumour that a child somewhere in a small town in the East had silver eyes. The king soon found the town with the child inside and learned it was near their esteemed school of Mages and warriors, Nabarmena. Nabarmena tried to convince the town to hand the child over to them for the sake of ‘The greater good’. They refused. They isolated the child and protected them from the outside walls, and even called back some of their warriors from the war to protect them from their own ruler. When they were four years old, they decided they would move to the West once they were older, as they lost all trust in the king. That never happened. Over eleven years ago, all contact from the village was lost, and the bodies of all that lived there were found among the rubble, all except the child. They were gone without a trace, and haven’t been found since.

The three sat in silence for a few seconds after, Ifera thinking bout what had happened that night, and the story. Her suspicions were confirmed. Nimue had burned down her village using the Horcrae and lied to her to get her to fight for them. She fought back the urge to break the table they were sitting at. “Not many people find value in my stories, especially around these parts. They don’t exactly….. Favour the rebels.” The man began.

Ifera stood up and said, “Thank you. This will be quite useful information, story or not.”

She was walking back towards Nabarmena when the man yelled after her, “Choose wisely silver! Don’t fight for the wrong side, not when you are so close.”

When both Rihella and Ifera had made it back to the school, no one was outside except the guards. When they walked to the gate, one of them said, “All of the students were called to the practice arena. Nimue wants to talk to everyone about something that was offered by the kingdom. You might want to hurry though. I believe she will start in a few minutes.” Ifera said thank you and rushed off towards the arena.

She barely made it in time as Nimue began to speak. “Ladies and gentlemen, most of you have been at this school for a while, and know that recently a town has been set up a few miles away recently. The town is under our protection, but the mayor has proposed to us an offer. Soon you will see a board with a list of requests that you may do with different restrictions. In your next class, you will be given a pen that will have your information on it, and it will be what determines if you may do a quest or not. The number of marks on a quest is how many years of experience you must have at a minimum, and it will allow you to take a quest if you match the standard. That is all, but do be careful, especially if it just barely is in your category.”

All the students began to file out, but Ifera began to push her way to the front towards Nimue. She was speaking with one of the instructors along with the mayor of the nearby town. Nimue noticed her and beckoned her towards her. “This is my daughter Ifera. I believe she will take an interest in these requests.”

She said questioning.

“I believe I will. It will be good practice to see other things. I haven’t gotten much chance to see other places other than Tarrin in the light kingdom.” She said.

The mayor let out a chuckle. “That is quite good! I wished to give you a request from the king himself in fact!” He exclaimed. “He wishes for you to help some scientists explore the Praetorian tree. They want to see if they can find out more about it since it is so out of place.”

A few seconds passed as Ifera mulled it over. “I would be quite willing to go with the scientists.” She said nodding.

In the back, hella smiled. It would give them an excuse to get closer to the tree. They had to do their own experiments, and hopefully, they would be successful.

They were on one of the airships, and getting to the Praetorian tree fast. Many of the scientists that had come along were pointing at her, whispering. She believed they wondered why a grey-eyed girl had been chosen for the expedition. Soon she felt the air around her thicken, and she felt people brushing against her arms. She heard their pleading whispers to save them, and the treacherous ones telling her to join them in death. It was like a symphony she was forced to drone out of her head. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding when she succeeded.

She then felt the large ship land, and the wood plank fell. She was pushed forward to leave the ship first, and when her feet hit the ground, she saw something she didn’t see before. She saw a castle, and a kingdom surrounding it. There were all sorts of magical creatures that flew around. Some of them were the creatures of the Forbidden Kingdom. Small dragons, Phoenixes, and even Griffons. She saw the beautiful multi-coloured lights of the faeries and magic flying through the air from the goblins. Everything looked like they were at home. It felt like home.

The image flashed itself before her eyes only for a second, but it was burned into her mind afterwards. I couldn’t forget that beautiful image that I saw. The beautiful possibility in that world.

“I am guessing you saw it too?” Ifera asked herself. “Yes. I forgot about what this place looked like back then. It was… Beautiful.”

Rihella pushed the thought into her mind. Ifera let out a sigh. “I’ll go ‘help’ these guys. You should go to the crystal.” She soon felt the absence of Rihella in her mind.

“We are thinking of starting at the crystal inside the tree unless you believe we should begin somewhere else.” One of the scientists told her.

“ Start at the ruins around this place. There might be a clue somewhere there, and it is much less dangerous.” She instructed. “I will look around the crystal.”

She disappeared in the blink of an eye and reappeared right by the base of the tree, hanging onto a root. She flung herself up to the crystal and looked closer into it. Her hand reached out to touch the crystal and she saw a new vision. The kingdom that was here was in flames. She heard the cries of children of all species, and the roars of the dragons. She saw the phoenixes trying to keep the flames at bay, but they were one by one shot down by…. She saw them. They had the emblem of the Star kingdom on them. They were trying to kill everyone in the kingdom.

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Then she saw it. There was a huge dragon, the size of the kingdom itself. It towered over everyone, and everything that laid eyes on it seemed to tremble. The dragons flew back toward the large dragon, and many of the magical creatures followed close behind.

“How Dare you attack this kingdom!” The dragon roared. “You are a disgrace, and do not deserve to be known as part of the mother’s creation!.” Everyone down below seemed to be terrified of this mighty being.“We try and establish an alliance with you humans but no! You do not accept us because all you see in your eyes is competition and war! But no longer. Heed this warning humans! If you come into our territory again, we will not hesitate to strike you down.”

The dragon flew to the North, and the kingdom was left in ruins. The only thing left was a small tree, with orange leaves and silver bark. When a soldier was sent to investigate, a near-invisible wave spread out, and as soon as it touched them, they were sent moaning in pain. Soon, all of them were dead, and the tree began to grow. It twisted and opened, and the crystal appeared in the centre.

She could see the silhouettes of people moaning inside. Their spirits in agony swirled around inside, but she heard of shattering glass and saw the crystal had broken. While this had happened, the sky had changed hundreds, maybe thousands of times from day to night. It was like a time-lapse, and it was clearly showing what had happened to this place. The spirits weren’t supposed to be released, but they did. It was supposed to be a cage… She forced her mind out of the vision and jumped down the tree, praying that she would make it in time.

Right before she hit the ground, she realised, she can’t fly. She was about to cut through the air with her sword to create a rift when her whole body went sideways, parallel to the ground. She then felt the beating of wings on her back and when she looked back, she found a pair of large dragon wings on her back. They were similar to Nadred’s wings, as they had stars on the underside.

She then dove into a role when she saw a group of scientists. When she stood upright, her wings folded and faded into her back. When she looked towards them from behind a broken, and mossy wall. They were looking at something on the ground, and it seemed it was a crystal flower.

One of the scientists put his hand in his bag, but instead of pulling out a small bag, which is what would be expected, he pulled out a knife. His eyes were completely reversed. The whites were black, the pupil white, and his blue irises turned red. He had an evil smile about him that reminded Ifera of the captain’s smile.

She screamed, “Duck!” As she pulled out her bow and aimed it at the sneering scientist, and shot. The arrow embedded itself in his heart as they heard the scream of something inhuman, though his mouth did not open. When his body hit the ground, it seemed to burn away with it, and Ifera lost touch with his soul, and the one occupying him.

“What was he?” A young scientist asked.

“He was possessed by one of the spirits of this place. You have to be careful about coming in contact with things, and if you hear voices in your mind, tell someone immediately.” She instructed them. They nodded as she went off to find another group.

Luckily by the time she got to the other groups, they were all safe, and they were no longer in danger. “Get back on the ship, and go back to Nabarmena. Tell your chief it was too dangerous and I am going to continue the experiments.” She told them. Some looked ready to argue, but they didn’t say anything. One came and instructed her on the tests she should do, and they left.

"Finally. It was hard to do our tests with them snooping around, though it is unfortunate the one had to die in such a way." Rihella said from next to her.

"It will be quite convenient, but we will have to come up with some random results for the tests. We can't have them finding what actually happened." Ifera reminded Rihella.

“Don’t worry. I prepared some fake ones already. They will have enough to show that you should come back to do some more tests, but not enough to tell them anything.” Rihella reassured her.

“Let’s just get to running these tests. Shall we?”

For the next few hours, they sat near the tree and used magic to draw minerals from the crystal, and tested mixing them with other elements. Most of them only became stronger and larger, though some seemed to stay away from the crystal. Magic such as reaper magic refused to come near the crystal.

“It might be because it is spirit-based. The reaper mana doesn’t like how it can control it and trap it.” Ifera pondered.

“I wouldn’t be surprised. Magic seems to have a mind of its own at times.” Rihella looked around. “It is getting late and we should begin to get back. We wouldn’t want them to worry too much yet. They can’t have suspicions.” Ifera let out a sigh. She knew exactly what Rihella was talking about because they had already begun their plan. They had convinced Lianli and Purua to go speak to the rebels while they dealt with what was happening over by the tree.

Soon, Ifera would confront her mother and… She would lose the family she had left. She pushed the thought out of her mind. Nimue was never her family. At most, she was a mentor. Ifera began to rub her temples.

“Are we sure that there isn’t a better way? This is giving me a headache.” She said.

Rihella sighed, “I wish there was. She is going to be a pain and a half to deal with at this point. She’ll probably talk so much about how you are her daughter and she devoted her time to your care and all that.” Rihella groaned, resting her head in her hand. “I think I am also getting a headache.” The pair laughed. They stood up and Rihella opened a pair of wings from her back. “Think you can fly?” She asked.

“Who do you take me for? I did it once already. Doing it again should be simple.” Ifera assured her. The large wings appeared on her back and unfolded, and a large dragon tail right below it to help her balance. The pair jumped up, using their powerful wings to push them higher. They flew into the clouds, admiring the pastel colours of the setting sky. They flew back towards Nabarmena, and Rihella noticed she was smiling. For the first time in the last year, she was smiling a real smile.

They both dove into the trees, out of sight when they appeared just past the tree lines, with bags on their backs. The scientists were waiting just inside the walls and were delighted to see the two.

“Now I know why you made me keep the opening in the back. You knew it would appear sooner or later.” Ifera whispered to Rihella.

“Well I was more hoping, but I guessed it might be better than having to hope that it didn’t come without warning.” She whispered back.

Ifera let out a small chuckle as they approached the scientists.

“I don’t think I have had the pleasure to meet your new friend.” one of the scientists said cautiously.

“I called in my friend to help me finish as many tests as I could in such a limited time.” She said, being careful not to disclose Rihella’s name. They handed the scientists one of the bags.

“We would like our last two bags if you will.” he sneered.

“These are our own. The other bags are still inside that bag. Unless you want me to report you for theft.” Rihella retorted. The two moved past them towards Ifera’s room. When they turn the corner, Rihella fades away, taking the bag she was holding. Then Ifera broke into a sprint towards her room, jumping past other students in her way. She ran into her room and opened a rift as she ran, tossing her bag onto her bed as she passed through.

She could feel her body warping slightly as she passed through a whole other world, and reappeared back in her own, in a small room, full of different minerals, and full of so much mana, you could almost feel it on your skin. She felt like she could breathe again. She began to work, and within a few hours, she had compressed mana into a small piece of metal and put it in her pocket. She let out a sigh.

“Ready to tell her?” Rihella said from behind her.

“Yes. I don’t think I can keep this in much longer.” She said, closing her eyes. When she opened them again, they glowed with an abnormal light.

“Hey Ifera, there is a formal party happening, and you have to attend. It is tonight, and it is to welcome the newest family member to the royal family. It is supposed to be this huge deal apparently.” The message came from a small orb on the table next to her.

“Try doing it before you talk to Nimue, because we might be able to learn something, and we don’t want to ruin the baby’s special day would we?”

Ifera let out a sigh. “I’ll do it, but you guys continue trying to find something.” She said, tapping buttons on the orb as she said it.

“Have fun! It is still a party after all.”

The parties location was quite beautiful. Even Ifera had to admit it. It was a beautiful mansion with delicate fairy-like creatures flitting around. Ifera walked inside, and quickly disappeared into the crowd, as for a rare instance, she fit in among those around her.

She was wearing a short black dress, and in the back came a long ball gown like-skirt that was white. The dress had long, lace sleeves, that resembled twisting dragons. Her long hair was twisted, and small gemstones laid among it like water droplets. On her hands were delicate, white lace gloves that held a similar pattern to the sleeves.

She moved towards where the small newborn was lying. People were fawning over the beautiful girl that lay in the soft blankets. Her parents were standing over her, protecting her from any harm that may befall her. It made Ifera smile, knowing that some people cared about a young child’s safety. The new parents noticed her looking their way, and beckoned her towards them.

“You must be Ifera.” The man said.

“I am. You must be Fornes and Meregan.” Ifera responded. She looked towards their daughter. “What will her name be?” She asked.

“We don’t know yet. We are thinking about Rose.” He beamed. He seemed to be lost in an old memory.

“That is quite a beautiful name. It will be quite fitting. Princess Rose Thorn.” Ifera Extolled.

Meregan brought her daughter into her arms. Rose began to laugh when she began to tickle her. “Well, Nimue has people she wants me to meet, so I should be going. I wish you well, and your daughter a good life.” She bowed slightly and walked away, looking for Nimue.

“There you are! I was getting worried!” Nimue called out to her. As Ifera stood next to her, Nimue wrapped her arm around her shoulders. Ifera tensed slightly, but put on a fake smile so the people in front of her wouldn’t notice. Nimue began to introduce them, and then spoke about how proud she was and her amazing achievements. ‘Rihella, I think you have a while. This is going to be a long night.’ She sent the message to Rihella.

‘I don’t envy you. See you tomorrow then. I’ll continue working on the samples, and hopefully we will get results.’

Ifera stood in her doorway, the walls of her room bare. The once bright and colourful room was now as dull as when Ifera first slept there. She took a deep breath in, and closed the door behind her. She walked to where she knew Nimue’s office sat.

She knocked on the door and heard Nimues voice say, “Come in.” Ifera opened the door. When she saw Nimue, she was angry. She looked happy, knowing she destroyed a little girl's life. She held back from stabbing her in the heart right there. “You were busy this last while. You are my daughter all right.” She said, looking up from her papers. She saw the angry look on her face. “What is wrong Ifera?” She asked, oblivious to the thoughts racing through Ifera’s head.

“What is wrong!? What is wrong is that, You aren’t my mother.” Ifera hissed at Nimue. “My mother died 11 years ago Nimue.” Her head snapped back to Nimue’s face. “She was killed by you. I came to say goodbye, but I don't think it was worth the effort.” She spat. Nimue sat dumbfounded as Ifera walked out of her office. Nimue ran after her, but it was too late. Ifera had opened a rift and was stepping through it. “You made a mistake Nimue.”