Mnemosyne

Uber long post. I am sorry for your eyes.

Sun, 13 Nov 2005 06:52:20 GMT

Chapter Five: Ciyarin and Maia

A baby girl, left on the doorstep of the finest college a Shadow Nymph could be sent to. On her, a message, “Train her well. She is your destiny.”

The maids found her and screamed for the Masters. When one finally came down the stairs he blinked at the bundle.

“A child?” he asked, reading the message that was pinned to her, “Our destiny?”

“What do we do, sir?” the maid asked.

“Look after her. When she’s older, see if she has talent, if she doesn’t then al least we gain a new maid.” With that the Master walked away, leaving the maid confused.

Ciyarin opened her eyes and yawned, “Yet another boring day to match every other.” She sighed and ran her hands through her chin length black hair, untying the 2 tiny white braids that fell down to her chest.

“You shouldn’t look at life that way, Rin.”

Ciyarin turned to look at her ‘sister’, Maia. Maia was her maid, but Ciyarin saw the quiet girl more as a family member than a servant.

Ciyarin had been locked away since she was 10 years old. There was something about her that the Masters didn’t like, her ability to control all of the elements to the highest level, so they locked her away, apparently for ‘her own safety’.

Maia was the only constant in her life. The strawberry blonde girl had been there ever since she was locked away, even though Maia had only been around 7 at the time. The two girls had always gotten on, even though Maia was paid to look after her and Ciyarin was a Shadow, most likely top-ranked Shadow but nobody ever tested her abilities.

Ciyarin wasn’t allowed out of the tower, Maia was but Ciyarin was locked in there unless there was a festival she needed to attend because of her abilities.

“Rin?” Maia asked, snapping Ciyarin out of her thoughts, “You’re still half asleep.”

Ciyarin shook her head, “Meh.” She murmured, “Should go back to sleep.”

“Get up, Rin. Or I kick you.” Ciyarin blinked at Maia, who was smiling innocently, “And don’t think I wont.”

“Oh, believe me. I know you would.” Ciyarin yawned again, “This sucks. Why the hell am I up so early?”

“It’s noon, Ciyarin.” She smiled, “As in lunchtime. That’s not early by anyone’s standards.”

Ciyarin mumbled and sat up, “Am I needed today?” she tried to keep the hope out of her voice but failed.

Maia shook her head, “Nothing for months. You know that.” She frowned as Ciyarin collapsed back into bed.

When Maia walked over, Ciyarin raised a hand and placed a wall of ice around her bed, completely incasing her. Maia sighed, she’d yell at her sister later, it wasn’t right for her to be so damn immature, even if she was locked away from everyone else in the world, alone.

When Ciyarin finally woke up again hours later, one of the Masters was attempting to get through her ice wall with a sledgehammer.

“It’s not going to work.” She smirked, “The wall only goes away when I tell it to.” Ciyarin didn’t even know who this particular Master was. She didn’t know any of their names, or any of the students who roamed free below her tower, she hated them all. “What do you want?” she asked.

“You’re requested downstairs, they want to test your abilities.” He replied.

She smirked, “Then why couldn’t you get Maia to wake me up instead of hacking at my wall?” she asked, her voice coated with a fake sweetness that seemingly frightened the master.

“I asked him to try and get you up.” Maia sighed, “Don’t argue, Rin.”

Ciyarin sighed and dropped the ice wall then walked towards Maia, “What did he say to you?” she whispered, locking them in a sound barrier.

“I wish you wouldn’t do that.” Maia said, standing up, “They wish to test you, Rin. Maybe they’re considering letting you out.”

Ciyarin shook her head, “Most likely not. They’ll never let me out of here, no matter how strong I am or will become.”

Maia sighed, “Drop the sound barrier, Rin. Go with the man, get tested. Do as your told.”

Ciyarin saluted Maia and then bowed sarcastically, “Yes Mam! Your Highness, Maia.”

“Shut up, Ciyarin.” Maia ordered.

Ciyarin rolled her eyes and dropped the sound barrier, wondering why she listened to Maia. The Master took her arm and led her from the room.

Hours later, she was carried back into her room unconscious and left for Maia to deal with. Ciyarin woke up delusional and with a fever. After a day or so of Ciyarin babbling in her sleep she woke up and stared at Maia.

“What the hell?” she blinked.

“You’ve been sick for 2 days.” Maia explained, “Don’t try to eat, you’ll only throw up.” Maia sat beside her on the bed, “Feeling better?”

“I can’t even remember the last 2 days, Maia. I remember going to sleep with an ice wall around me.” Ciyarin replied, “What happened?”

“The Masters tested you. You don’t remember what happened?” Maia asked, confused.

“If I remembered then I wouldn’t be saying that I didn’t, would I?” Ciyarin snapped.

Maia rolled her eyes, “You don’t remember the tests?” when Ciyarin glared she tried something else, “Did you dream while you slept?”

“Nope. Complete nothingness. Last thing I remember is putting up an ice wall then waking up here feeling like shit.” Ciyarin replied.

Maia nodded, “You’ll be okay in a day or so.”

Ciyarin smiled weakly, “Thanks, Maia. You always take such good care of me.” With that she closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.

“It’s what I’m paid to do.” Maia replied, “But it’s also ‘cause you’re the only family I have and I need you.”

Maia left Ciyarin alone, she needed to be out of the tower. She hated the fact that her sister got confined like that just because she was more powerful than anybody else was. It wasn’t fair; Ciyarin had never asked for power it was a gift. If she had of had parents who paid for her to be sent there then it would have been a different matter all together.

Instead, Ciyarin was locked away, most likely until the Masters deemed her worthy. They didn’t even know her.

“Excuse me?” Maia turned around to find a woman with long blonde hair behind her; she was smiling, “Are you Maia?”

Maia nodded, “Yes. I am.” She had no clue where this was leading.

“You and Ciyarin need to leave. Soon.” The woman said, smiling still, “Or otherwise things wont go according to plan.”

Maia blinked, “What do you mean?” she asked.

The woman’s smile faltered, obviously she wasn’t expecting questions, “If you don’t leave now then Ciyarin will die.”

Maia blinked, “How do you know this.”

The woman looked at the sky and muttered, “Adi, your Nymphs confuse me so much.” With that she looked at Maia again, “Just leave.”

“Why should we?” Maia asked, confused.

“Because your sister will die and that stuffs the entire thing up. I have worked for… Argh!” she clicked her tongue in irritation, “Go listen.” She raised her hand and pointed to where there was a group of Masters talking quietly.

“That’s not allowed.” Maia replied, eyes wide.

The girl stamped her foot in irritation, “Do it. Listen to their plot and get your sister out of here. I’d advise running quickly.”

Maia turned to look at the group of Masters, “But Ciyarin is sick.” She said, but when she turned around nobody was there. She shook her head and walked over to the Masters, sitting on a bench close to them, only just near enough to here what they were saying.

“-Too strong.” One whispered.

“Must be eliminated.” Another replied, “No control.”

The third nodded, “Should have killed her years ago.”

Maia blinked, were they talking about Ciyarin?

“Shhh.” One of them whispered, “That’s her ‘sister’.” He sneered the last word as if it was an insult. That was when Maia knew that the girl had been right; they did want to kill Ciyarin. Maia waited for the Masters to walk past her before getting up and running back to the tower.

“Ciyarin!” she yelled, running to her sisters’ bed and waking her up, “The Masters want to kill you.”

Ciyarin sat up, “What?” she asked.

“They are deeming you too strong or something. Out of control. I heard them. A girl told me first and then told me to listen.” Maia was talking quickly, gesturing wildly with her hands.

“Get me a bag.” Ciyarin ordered, getting out of the bed and getting changed and pulling a warm black cloak around her, pulling the hood over head, hoping it partially covered her face. Maia handed her a bag and Ciyarin forced as much as she could into it.

“Get changed, Maia. Wear something of mine. You can’t wear a dress where we are going.” Ciyarin said, “Quickly, Maia.”

“Where are we going?” Maia asked, pulling out some of Ciyarin’s slightly smaller clothing and pulling it on.

“Somewhere where we are protected.” Ciyarin replied, “Come on.” She grabbed Maia’s hand and pulled her out of the tower room and ran down the stairs.

“Stop!” Maia called, “The boundary.” She said, pointing at the door, which had always blocked Ciyarin from leaving.

Ciyarin smiled and raised a hand, summoning a pure elemental, a creature completely made up of the element she summoned. The small creature looked at her, tilting its head, awaiting orders. She pointed at the door and the creature flew at it. The door shimmered and Ciyarin smiled, calling it back to her and patting its head.

“Thank you, little one.” She smiled. The elemental chirped and disappeared again.

All of this confused Maia, Ciyarin had never called an actual elemental into being before, and if she could do that then why hadn’t she broken whatever kept her inside.

“Come on, Maia.” She yelled, running out of the door.

But it was too late, the Masters must have assumed that Maia had overheard and had advanced their plans. In front of the tower was a group of the Masters. Ciyarin stepped out of the tower and smiled at them.

“Good afternoon.” She smiled.

They simply glared at her, one however asked, “How did you break the door?”

Ciyarin smiled, “I suppose you shall never know.” She raised her hand and blocked the Masters with a wind barrier and then began to run, pulling Maia behind her.

They ran, the Masters eventually broke free of the wind barrier and followed. All of them were on foot, but Ciyarin knew where she was going.

“How do you know where to go? You’ve never been outside?” Maia yelled.

“I’m not sure.” Ciyarin called back, “It’s like I’m moving without actually wanting to. Just hold on.” They ran, with the Masters behind them shooting blasts of raw element at them and Ciyarin, not even pausing, throwing them back over her shoulder.

“They’re gaining on us!” Maia yelled, looking back.

“Don’t look back!” Ciyarin yelled, “Just keep running!”

Maia did as she was told, but she was scared, they were going to catch them and then both of them would be killed.

“Okay, Maia. Think to yourself. I want entry.” Ciyarin said.

“What?” Maia asked, “What are you on about?”

“We are about to hit the wall. You need to know the wall is there to pass. Know the wall is there, Maia.” Ciyarin told her.

Maia blinked, “Okay. The Wall is there.”

“Good.” Ciyarin said, suddenly they hit something, but kept running, it was like running through mud but they kept moving. Ciyarin pulled on Maia’s arm, as if telling her to keep running.

Maia closed her eyes and kept running. She was so confused but she couldn’t stop. Eventually the strange sensation stopped and light was around them again.

“Thank, Aditya.” Ciyarin muttered, “It worked.”

Chapter Six: Nikko (Dominick)

Blood. The smell was everywhere. His eyes were closed, and somehow he felt as though he’d rather keep it that way, eyes closed forever. So he wouldn’t have to ever have to see what he had done. What had he done? He couldn’t remember, all he knew was he had been talking, and now there he was, standing in a seemingly empty room, in silence, the smell of blood surrounding him.

He kept his eyes shut and backed against a wall and slid down it until he was resting on the floor. With that, he fell asleep.

“Dominick!”

Nikko opened his eyes and stared Raini in the eyes. He looked around, why was she on the other side of bars? Why was he in a cold dark cell? Hadn’t he been in his own house? He stood up and looked at her.

“What happened?” he asked.

Raini blinked at him and then looked down at her boots, as if the laces were more interesting, “Why don’t you tell me what happened, Nikko.”

Nikko blinked at stared at her. Her long black hair looked as if it hadn’t been washed in days, her clothes were ruffled and her pants were folded in an odd way. Her knee high boots were untied, as if she had only just pulled them back on. She was wearing a jacket, which defiantly wasn’t hers because it looked to hang off her lanky frame. Her huge black wings were wrapped around her.

“Nikko, what happened?” she asked again.

Nikko blinked, “I don’t know.” With that he sunk back down to the floor and put his head into his hands, crying softly, “I don’t know, Rai.”

Raini stared at her best friend. He looked so broken. His black hair was matted with blood that caused it to stick together. Eyeliner was smudged and his pale skin looked even whiter than it used to. The one thing that broke her when she saw him was that his wings had already been shredded. The once beautiful black wings that seemed to shine with an inner fire now hung in strips, the frame was still there but the actual wing was torn in several places. That rendered him powerless and weak. He looked up at her finally with empty brown eyes.

“What did I do, Rai?” he asked.

Her heart broke, she wasn’t allowed to tell him what he had done, and he had to work it out himself. Raini still didn’t believe that he had done it, if scientists couldn’t come up with a way to kill a Fae then how could he? But when she had gone into that room and saw the amount of blood everywhere. How could that much blood come from one person?

She heard him whimper and looked up, he was staring at his blood-covered hands, “I killed someone. Didn’t I?”

Raini nodded, he’d gotten it right. He whimpered again when his hands went to his wings.

“Oh Chiela.” He mumbled, “What did I do?”

Raini turned around; it was about time to tell the council that he had woken up.

Nikko heard footsteps and looked up to see 5 council members standing outside of his cell.

“So you’ve awakened.” One of them said, a girl with short brown hair and blue eyes.

He just looked up at them, wanting Raini to come back in; he looked at the door and waited. After 5 minutes of her not coming in he looked back towards the council, waiting for them to say something.

He stared at the council that consisted of 3 well-dressed men and 2 girls who were dressed in the ‘normal’ clothing of the Faes.

The second girl was short and had dark red hair; it was almost brown and was tied actually quite elegantly unlike how most of the Fae girls had it. She smiled at him softly.
“Do you remember what happened?” she asked, her voice was soft and friendly, Nikko felt like she could talk to him.

Nikko shook his head, “I killed someone, but I don’t know who… or why. All I can remember is blood.”

The dark haired girl sighed, “I thought it would be like that. I knew we shouldn’t have shredded his wings until after we’d gotten out of him how he did it.”

“We shouldn’t have shredded his wings at all.” The redhead sighed, “It was heartless.”

“It was necessary.” One of the men said, they were all having a conversation, acting as if Nikko wasn’t there, “If his wings weren’t shredded he could have attacked us.”

The redhead sighed, “I don’t think he meant to attack in the first place. Can we come up with a solution to this here instead of dragging this through the council?”

Everyone stared at her, even Nikko, she smiled.

“It would be better for everyone if we all didn’t have to come down into this hellhole everyday to interrogate our prisoner.” She twisted a strand of her hair around her fingers and stared at it as if it was strange to her. She smiled again and looked at Nikko, almost apologetically.

“I say we banish him.” She said, “To the outer lands. He can wander about for the rest of eternity.”

Again, everyone stared at her as if she was crazy, her smile only got wider.

“We can’t ascend him, there is no way to know how he killed so we can’t kill him. We can’t keep him in this cell forever; it’s not a fitting punishment. The only suitable thing I can think of is banishment.” She seemed to be used to the stares that everyone gave her after she had finished her small speech, “Everyone for banishment?” she asked, smiling sweetly.

The rest of the council grudgingly agreed with her, and then left her alone with him.

“That was the shortest council proceedings I have ever seen in my life.” Nikko mumbled, “I don’t even have a clue what I did. Who did I kill?”

“You’ll work it out, Dominick. It will make you stronger, and it doesn’t actually matter who you killed-” she smiled.

“It doesn’t matter who I killed?” he yelled, standing up and walking to the front of the cell, “I killed someone. Somehow, I actually killed somebody. How does that not actually matter?”

Her smile didn’t falter, “It will come to you, I promise. Now, I should send Raini in, she’ll want to say goodbye.”

Nikko growled and walked into the back of the cell, he heard her footsteps as she walked towards the door.

“Nikko?” Raini’s voice said, “What did they decide?”

“Banishment.” He replied, not turning to face her. She didn’t want her to see him now, struggling to keep anger inside him. He didn’t want her to see a murderer when she looked at him.

Raini didn’t say anything.

“So. See ya.” He mumbled, sitting down, facing the wall.

“Bye, Nikko.” She whispered, and walked away, trying not to cry.

He was shipped off to some remote place the next day, he was given some drug that made him sleep just so he wouldn’t know the way to return back to the cities.

There, he was unceremoniously dumped and left to come to consciousness by himself.
When he did he looked around at the hinterlands of the Fae world, “Great.” He mumbled, “Just great.”

After a week of wandering about aimlessly (I’m feeling very uncreative at 12pm) he hit what seemed to be a wall that wasn’t really there.

He poked it twice before realizing what it was. When he poked it again, his hand slid right through. Blinking he pulled his hand away and shrugged, he had nothing to lose so he walked through, into what he hoped was death.

END BOOK ONE:

AN: Finally. Book One is over. Tomorrow, onto Book Two: Meetings (Or The Land of the Gods). I’ll elaborate on Nikko and the Nymphs chapters when I’m done. I just reallllly wanted to move on and it’s really late and I am really tired.
It’s bedtime now and this is actually counting towards my word count… oh well. I’ll just add an extra 1000 words to the 50000. That’ll even it out.

Book Two: Meetings in the Land of the Gods.

Chapter One: Dane’s Arrival.

Dane walked back inside the palace, he was here now and there was nothing he could do. It looked like a nice place, it would drive you insane after a while because he was the only person there and all, but hey, it was more colorful than where the Ascended’s lived. It also proved a point to him. They weren’t the only races… well, that’s the point he wanted to prove but there was nobody else there, so maybe there weren’t other races.
He cut that thought before it confused him more than he was already confused.

“I wonder if this place has anything to drink?” he asked himself as he opened a random door in the palace. The first door opened into a huge library, he walked in and looked up. The ceiling was impossibly high and the shelves stretched that far. He blinked, “Not a kitchen.” He said to himself walking out and facing another room, “I wonder what’s behind door number two?” he asked, pushing on the door.

It swung open, revealing a small, living room type area with a huge fireplace on one wall.
“Still no kitchen.” He noticed a door on the other side of the room and walked over to it, opening the door he cheered. There was food, in an actual kitchen.

(AN: I think you should know that the Elves and Faes are the most advanced races, they have most of the technology we have today, electric lights, plumbing, fridges. No computers or TVs though, however the Faes do have a way to play music. </random>)

He ran over to the fridge and opened it, “Food!” he cheered, pulling out an apple, biting into it, looking into the fridge again he sighed, “No alcohol, Bugger and Disaster. Oh well, food!” he cheered again.

It continued that way for a week, when one day he walked into the library to find an adorable little girl sitting on one of the tables, swinging her legs back and forth. She had white blonde hair that fell in ringlets down her back, and blue eyes that Dane swore were brighter than the sky outside. She smiled sweetly at him and Dane was instantly reminded of something, but he pushed it away. There was an actual person there, a person. Unless of course he was hallucinating then that was bad, very bad.

“Hello?” he asked, walking towards her.

“Hi!” she replied, kicking his leg when he got close, “And before you ask, that was to prove that you’re not delusional.”

It was strange to hear a word like ‘delusional’ coming out of the mouth of a child who looked barely 5 years old, “How do you know?” he asked.

She smiled again, “You’re not delusional, Dane.”

“How do you know my name?” he asked, taking a step backwards.

“I just do.” She replied, “I’m Lily and I’ve been here forever.”

“Where have you been for the past week?” he asked, “I haven’t seen you around.”

“If I don’t want to be seen then I’m not.” She answered, “But you’re correct, I wasn’t here. I was away for a few days.”

“Doing what?” Dane asked, hoping he could get some answers out of the little girl.

“Never you mind.” She replied, “You’ll find out soon, when the others get here.”
“Others?” Dane asked, blinking.

She nodded, “Others.”

“Who are the others?” Dane asked.

She smiled, “I think you’ve realized that I’m not going to tell you so it’s probably best that you don’t ask because, I’m not going to reply.”

Dane sighed, “Who are you?”

“Who are you?” she giggled.

“Dane, what are you?”

She smiled, “I think the more accurate question is ‘What are you?’”

Dane blinked in confusion, “What am I?” he asked, mainly asking why he should ask such a strange question, he knew what he was… didn’t he?

However, This was a question that she chose to answer, “You’re a drifter.” She replied, swinging her legs.

Dane blinked, “A what?”

“A drifter.” She said, giggling as if he was an idiot.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Someone who doesn’t have a race or a home.” She answered.

“Why am I one of them?” he asked.

“You no longer fit into any race. The moment your elders sent you back you were sent here, so you’re not a Fae and you’re not an Ascended. You have no race so you are a drifter. Drifting between the races, trying to find a home.” She answered, her face oddly serious for a moment.

Dane’s eyes widened and he swore quietly, that couldn’t be a good thing. He stared at her, and sighed.

She giggled and jumped off the table, landing on her feet. She held her hand out for him to take, “Come on.” She smiled.

“Where are we going?” he asked, taking her small hand in his own.

“Outside, the sun is shining.” With that she skipped away, Dane following behind her.

It continued like this for a week, Dane asking questions and Lily ignoring them but it was good to actually have company, no matter how much she got on his nerves some days.

“I like your wings.” She said softly. They were sitting in the library and she was sitting on the table behind him, braiding his hair, something he didn’t really mind. Her small hands ran over the feathers in his wings, sending shivers down his spine.

“I preferred my old ones.” He mumbled.

“I think these ones suit you.” She replied.

“They give me the look of a fallen angel.” Dane muttered.

“You are a fallen angel, Dane.” Lily replied, going back to playing with his hair.
Dane considered her words; he was a fallen angel, technically. He’d left ‘heaven’ but hadn’t gone back to his people, he was trapped somewhere between.

“Lily.” He said, turning his head to face her, she made an irritated noise and let go of his hair.

“Yes, Dane?”

“Is there any way for me to find a ‘home’?” he asked, “I don’t want to wander forever.”

“This is your home, Dane. For now.”

“For now?” Dane asked.

“Do you really think I’m going to answer you, Dane?” she asked, clicking her tongue.

Dane shook his head, smiling, “Lily.” He said again.

“If this is another question that I cannot answer I might have to hurt you.” She said, the words sounding strange coming from the small girl.

Dane laughed, “I wanted to know if you wanted anything to eat, I’m hungry.”

Lily shook her head, “I don’t eat.” She replied, “So the answer is no.”

“You don’t eat?” Dane asked, blinking, “How the hell can you not eat?”

She smiled, “Do you really think I’ll tell you now, Dane?” she asked. Dane was starting to get sick of her refusing to answer his questions.

“You’re driving me mad, Lil.” He muttered, shaking his head and trying not to swear. He suspected that she wasn’t really a child but he still didn’t want to be responsible for teaching her words that she didn’t know.

“I’ll tell you the answers when the rest of the Chosen get here. I promise.” She smiled, “Now, go eat. I’ll come watch.”

Dane shook his head and stood up, holding his arms out for her to climb into. He liked carrying her around, sometimes she would complain that he babied her but he knew that she didn’t really mind.

Lily wrapped her arms around his neck, smiling she kissed his cheek.

Dane smiled, as annoying as she was sometimes she was equally as lovable. He couldn’t help feeling like a big brother to her, he’d never really had a family, and now he didn’t even have a race so he clung to her like a security blanket. She was the only living thing around.

“Onwards!” she ordered, giggling childishly.

Dane laughed and walked out of the library, doing what he was told.

Chapter Two: Sage and Draken’s arrival.

Sage and Draken pushed through the barrier, darkness surrounded them and it was like walking through thick mud but Sage and Draken pressed on. Suddenly the darkness cleared, turning into a strange daylight, which was odd considering that it had been nighttime before they had walked through the barrier, and Draken fell over as he took too much of a forced step.

Sage stood over him, smirking, she held out a hand to him and he stood up.

“Where are we?” he asked, blinking at the bright gardens they were standing in. In the distance was a huge castle, bigger than his own in Rothis, most likely bigger than any castle in the world… well, the world he had known before going through the weird barrier thing.

“The Land of the Gods.” Someone yelled, someone that wasn’t Sage.

Both Sage and Draken looked up and saw a tall man with brown hair, green eyes and huge white angel wings. In his arms was a small girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes.

Dane and Lily had seen them come in. Lily clapped and bounced; her attitude had suddenly gotten a lot more cheery. She grabbed his hands and he picked her up, walking towards them slowly.

It was a man; well he looked to be around 18 or 19. He had shaggy silver blond hair that the sun was shining on. The other person, a woman, looked to be older than him but not by much. She had pure silver hair that was streaming freely down her back.

They were both dressed elegantly. The woman in a long blue dress that shimmered when she walked and the man was wearing a blue shirt that buttoned up to the top of his neck, the sleeves were long, they could probably fit a few arms in there. He was wearing black pants that clung to his body. Dane couldn’t help staring at him.

“Stop drooling, Dane.” Lily whispered, smirking which was an odd expression coming from a child.

“I wasn’t drooling!” Dane protested.

She laughed, “Go introduce yourself.”

“Where are we?” The man asked, looking around.

“The Land of the Gods.” Dane yelled, walking towards them, smiling.

The man and the woman stared at him as if they had never seen another person again; Dane blinked and realized that it was probably the wings.

“Who are you?” the man asked, blinking in confusion.

“Dane.” He replied, “And this is Lily.”

A strange expression came over the woman’s face, a sense of familiarity. She looked at Lily then shook her head.

“I’m Sage, and this is Draken.” The woman smiled, holding her hand out to Dane.

Dane shifted Lily into one of his arms and shook her hand then Draken’s, holding Draken’s gaze. The mans eyes were impossibly green, they were huge.

“What is this place?” Sage asked, looking at Dane.

“Don’t ask me.” Dane smiled, “She’s the one who knows everything.”

All eyes were suddenly on Lily, who giggled softly, “Now is not the time for answers.”

Dane sighed, “I’m guessing there are more ‘Chosen’ to come.”

Lily laughed, “Yes.”

“How many?” Dane asked, knowing that he probably wouldn’t get and answer but tried anyway.

Lily giggled, “Not telling.” She replied, and then signaled that she wanted to be put on the ground.

Dane put her down; she walked over to Sage and held out her arms. Sage bent down and picked her up, carrying her with ease, she had obviously held a child before.

“You used to hold me like that, didn’t you?” Draken asked, smiling at Sage.

“Are you his mother?” Dane asked, looking at Sage. She didn’t look that much older than Draken; she couldn’t possibly be his mother.

Sage shook her head, “I raised him. Though, I am old enough to be his mother, even if I don’t look it.”

“Perks of being a Sorceress?” Lily asked.

Sage blinked at her, “You know I’m a Sorceress?” she asked.

Lily nodded, “You’re the Sorceress of Rothis. Draken is the King of Rothis, Happy Birthday by the way.” Everyone stared at her and she giggled.

“King?” Draken asked.

“Your father is dead, is he not?” Lily asked, “That makes you King, even if you are away from your throne.”

“Wow.” Dane blinked, “I don’t think I’ll ask how you know that.”

“I wouldn’t answer anyway.” Lily smiled, “Lets go inside. Dane can show you to your rooms.”

Draken stared at the small girl in Sage’s arms. There was something about her that frightened him, she seemed a lot older than she looked and not the way that Sage was older than she looked. He was reminded of Seres for a moment.

Dane was walking beside him, “Happy Birthday.” He said, snapping Draken from his thoughts.

“Thanks.” Draken mumbled, “It’s been a long day.”

“How old are you?” Dane asked.

“18.” Draken replied, yawning, “What’s the time around here? It was dark 10 minutes ago.”

“It’s almost nightfall.” Dane replied, “The times are different, you have to get used to it.”

“What are you?” Draken asked, resisting the urge to reach out and touch the wings.

“A drifter.” Dane replied, “I was once a Fae, though, then an Ascended. But now I am neither. I have no clue how the system works, ask Lily.”

Draken smiled, and twisted his hands together, anything to not touch the wings. Dane seemed to read his mind however.

“You can touch them if you really want to.” Dane said.

Draken reached out his hands and brushed his fingers over one of the feathers, marveling at the soft texture. Dane shivered and the feathers shifted under Draken’s hand, which was pulled away quickly.

“Sorry.” Draken mumbled.

“Don’t be. It doesn’t hurt.” Dane smiled, “Come on, I’ll show you guys in and you can sleep.”

Dane quickened his pace and led them inside, telling them they could have the grand tour tomorrow. He knew where all the bedrooms were. The entire hallway had doors that led into rooms. Dane gave Draken the one next to him and Sage the one across the hall. Sage put Lily down and both said goodnight, walked into their rooms, shutting the door behind them.

Dane picked Lily up and walked with her into the living room area and sat down in an armchair, Lily in his lap.

“Tell me about them.” Dane smiled.

Lily smiled, “They can tell you in the morning.”

“I don’t think they’ll open up right away. I want to know them.” Dane was pouting.

“You’re just lusting over the King.” The expression of Dane’s face caused her to laugh, “It’s obvious, Danie.”

“You never cease to amaze me, Lil.” Dane smiled, “Never.”

She smiled, “Good, I like being unpredictable. Go sleep, you can wake up nice and early and talk to your new friends. Humans, by the way if you wanted to know. A bit behind you in the way of evolution, still haven’t invented an electric light; I think they prefer to do it by magic.”

“Magic?” Dane asked, “As in the hocus pocus crap from children’s stories?”

Lily nodded, “It’s not hocus pocus there. It’s real. Sage is extremely adept in the secrets, I’m not too sure about the King, he’ll open up to you though.”

“It’s not like I actually want him, Lil, he’s attractive but I’m just lonely.”

“Among other things.” She said, rolling here eyes, “As I said, he’ll open up to you eventually.”

Dane grinned.

“Though maybe not in the way you want him to.” Lily said, clicking her tongue, “Do all you men think the same?” she asked, mainly talking to herself rather than Dane. She sighed and jumped off his lap, “Good night, Dane. Sleep well.” With that she walked away.

Dane walked out of the room and towards his room, he didn’t know where Lily went while he slept, she was around though because she came whenever he called her. Popped up as if she had been there all along, it scared him some days but he was slowly getting used to her peculiarities.

When Dane walked past Draken’s room the door opened, Draken walked straight into him. He’d been staring at the floor and hadn’t seen him walk past.

Draken would have fallen to the floor in surprise if Dane’s arms hadn’t suddenly wrapped around him, keeping him upright.

“You okay?” Dane asked, “Sorry I scared you.”

“It’s okay.” Draken mumbled.

“Did you want something?” Dane asked.

“Yeah, Food.” Draken replied, “I’m more hungry than I am tired.”

Dane looked at Draken, he’d gotten changed into loose pants and a black shirt. His hair was loose around his face, making him seem younger than he was

Draken noticed Dane looking at him and blinked, “What?” he asked.

“Nothing.” Dane replied, “Come on. I’ll show you to the kitchens for a price.”

“A prince?” Draken asked, blinking.

“Yup. I want to get to know you. That’s my price.” Dane grinned.

“Fair enough.” Draken replied, “Will you tell me more about yourself?”

Dane nodded, “Sure.” With that he took hold of Draken’s arm and led him towards the kitchens.

Draken hadn’t understood the kitchens. Dane had laughed when Draken first saw the fridge and spent the next 10 minutes opening and closing it, just to see the light inside.
“Does it stay on when the doors closed?” Draken asked.

Dane shook his head, “Nope.” He opened the door and pressed a button that was under the hinge, the light turned off, “When the door closes it presses this down and it breaks the circuit, turning off the light.”

Draken looked amazed, it was like a child in a candy store. Dane laughed, “What do you want to eat?”

Draken shrugged, “Anything.”

Dane tossed him an apple, “There ya go. I’ll actually cook breakfast in the morning. I have no clue where all this food comes from; I’m too scared to ask Lily.”

Draken nodded, “What did you want to know about me?”

“I just want to know about you.” Dane replied, sitting at the bench, Draken sat opposite him.

“My name is Draken, I’m 18 years old. My mother died giving birth to me, my father hated me so much that he killed himself and blamed his death on me. That was an hour ago. Up until then I actually had a good birthday for the first time in years.” Draken said all this with no emotion showing anywhere on his face.

“That sucks.” Dane replied.

“Tell me about it.” Draken mumbled, staring at the apple in his hands.

“I’m Dane. 21 years old, I’ll stay that old for the rest of my life, which I would like to add is eternity. I died when I was a Fae, they ascended me. I asked for Descension and was sent here. I was here a week before Lily showed up and since then she’s kept me company until you and Sage arrived.” Dane smiled, “Oh, and I think you’re gorgeous.” He blinked; he’d really not meant to say that out loud, “Fuck.” He muttered.

Draken smiled, “Do you?” he asked, amusement in his eyes.

Dane nodded, “Didn’t mean to say that. If you’re wondering, us Fae’s are primarily bisexual. We’re party animals.”

Draken nodded, “Thanks for the apple.” With that he stood and walked from the kitchen, laughing to himself.

Dane whacked his head against the bench, “I’m such an idiot.” He mumbled. With that he got up and went to bed.

Sage woke early and walked into the library, she’d seen the door when Dane led them in. Lily had told her what was behind some of the doors. Sage walked into the library and gasped, it was the biggest room she had ever seen in her life, so many books.

Sitting at one of the tables, flicking through a book, was Lily. She was humming to herself, “Hello, Sage. Did you sleep well?”

Sage blinked, the girl had been facing away from her and it wasn’t as if Sage walked heavily and the soft carpet on the floor of the library would have muffled the footsteps anyway. She walked over towards Lily and sat down opposite her.

“Yes, I slept fine, thank you.” Sage replied, smiling.

“Good.” Lily replied, not looking up from her book, which looked to be full of large words and tiny writing.

“You can actually understand that?” Sage asked.

Lily nodded, “Yes.” She replied, “It’s about the Gods.” She smiled, “It was written by one of those poet people who liked to suck up to the Gods, I’m guessing this one was one of Sorin’s though, he gets the most credit. It’s rather boring actually.” Lily looked up, smiling at Sage.

“There are other gods?” Sage asked.

Lily nodded, “When the races split the Gods picked a race. There are 4 Gods.”

“Does that mean there are 4 races?” Sage asked, she suspected that maybe Lily wouldn’t tell her but she asked anyway.

“8 Actually.” Lily replied, “They get 2 each. Officially.”

“What are the other gods names?” Sage asked, wanting to know more about the other races, she wanted to know about all the things she hadn’t even thought existed until she had seen Dane.

“The Fae’s Goddess is Chiela, the Wind Goddess. There are 2 more, Enki the Earth God and Aditya the Water Goddess.” Lily replied, “And you know Sorin, the Sun God.”

“Which one does that make you?” Sage was taking a wild guess.

“None of them.” Lily replied, “No more questions.” She smiled, “You’ll have your answers soon.” With that, Lily stood up and walked from the room, leaving the book on the table.

Sage picked up the book and flipped through it, but Lily had been right. The book was tedious. Whoever had wrote it was a major suck; she never wanted to see her God explained in so many flouncy words ever again.

Sage sighed, questions flitting through her mind, questions that she wouldn’t get answered for a while.

Sage left the book on the table and went looking for another one. A lot of them she couldn’t pull from the shelf, no matter what spell she tried, obviously Lily’s doing. She was about to give up when a book came free in her hands.

She looked at the cover and read the words imprinted on the cover. It was a book about humans. She sighed and took it to the table, beginning to read it slowly, hoping for a scrap of information.

Dane was preparing breakfast when Draken walked in, Lily on his back.

“I found her in the hall. She demanded to be carried.” Draken explained.

Dane gave Lily a dry look; she just laughed and signaled for Draken to put her down on the bench.

“Good morning, Dane.” Draken smiled, sitting next to where Lily was, “Sleep well?”

“Yeah.” Dane replied, concentrating on his cooking.

Draken turned to Lily and started talking to her.

“How old are you?” he asked.

“You don’t ask girls their age, Drae.” Lily smiled; adapting his pet name even though she’d never heard him be called it again. Her voice was a perfect imitation of Sage’s.

Dane laughed quietly, she’d said the same thing when he’d asked, “It’s a lost cause, Draken.” He said, “She won’t tell you a thing.”

“See.” Lily said, “Danie has it down.”

Draken sighed, “Oh, alright.” He said, “I’ll get it out of you though.”

Lily laughed, “I’m not sure if you would like the answer though, Draken.” That response made Dane turn around, making both of them stare at her.

“Cook, Dane. You’ll burn the food, nobody likes burnt eggs.” She smiled.

Dane sighed and turned back to the omelet he was making, “I give up with you, Lil.”

“About time.” She laughed, “You still love me though.”

Dane turned and kissed her cheek quickly, “Of course I do, Lily.”

“Good. Oh, I hope you make too much.” She smiled, poking Draken, “Can you put me on the floor?”

Draken lifted her down and she skipped off, “Do you know what she meant?” he asked.
Dane shook his head, “Not really, but I think she might mean that more people are going to show up.”

“That’s what I thought.” Draken said.

I rushed through some of this. I just want the others to show up. Did a shotty job of attempting to set Draken and Dane up. Oh well, I’ll fix it after November.

26092 words as of today. Hooray.

Sorry it took so long to get all of this up, I wasn't online yesterday. Didn't write on Thursday (i was too busy) and Friday I wrote when I got offline.

So here, have all i've done from Friday. 2 chapters today! Hooray!

26,092 / 50,000
(52.2%)

Bah!

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 09:46:20 GMT

I haven't wrote today. Went to Krissy's after school then went and brought a shirt, then came home and made a shirt.

I HAVE A SHOEBOX SHIRT! WHOOOOOT!

Anywho. I'll write when my shirt is done and I am offline. Don't expect much, really.

It'll be up tomorrow.

NaNo Update

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:59:37 GMT

Gah! I skipped ahead, writing a basic 'what has to happen' thing for Lyra and Kali's chapter. I got SO tired of writing them. I wanted to write Dane, beacuse he is BY far my favourite character.

GAH! I changed my hotmail password and now they are telling me that it's wrong. Damn bugger.

Anyway, onto the actual chapters.

The Vampire city shone through the darkness, electric lights on full power, lighting every spot in the city. No matter how out of the way it was there was always a light. It was beautiful, more beautiful than any of the other Elven cities.

Kali smiled at the city as she was led through it.

“How come there are no children?” Kali asked, turning to Xavier as they walked.

Xavier smiled, “They grow up on the outside. When they turn 18 they come back.” He explained, “Understand?”

Kali nodded, “Everything’s so different here. So dark yet so…” she trailed off, not able to find a word.

“Alive?” he asked, smiling when she nodded, “We go about daily life as much as anyone else would. Being a Vampires hard to get used to, but once you adjust are then it’s with you for life, you never forget.”

“What’s the king like?” she asked.

“He’s a nice guy. Very helpful.” Xavier said, “He’ll let you work with us.”

“You sure?” Kali asked.

“Positive.”

Like Xavier had said, the King had given her a job with Xavier’s group and given her a glass, ordering her to drink it.

She didn’t even look before drinking. When the liquid hit her tongue she realized it was blood, what it was the blood of she wasn’t sure but she wasn’t quite positive if she wanted to know. She gulped it down quickly, savoring the taste.

She stared at Xavier, who was resting against the doorframe. He smiled just as she was pricked with some needle.

After 5 minutes she was allowed to leave and was handed a cookie. Xavier laughed at that and led her from the palace and into a smaller house nearby.

“This is our home when we’re in the city. Which is once a week, really.” Xavier smiled, “Felling better?” he called out to the girls inside the house.

“Definitely.” Siobahn yelled back, “We heading out again tonight?” she asked, “‘Cause Des and I should probably take Kali out for clothes.”

“You just want to go shopping!” Ambrosia yelled from somewhere in the house.

“And?” Desdemona yelled back from somewhere else, “We got paid! Let us spend our paycheck ‘Sia!”

Ambrosia sighed, “Whatever.” She called back.

Both Siobahn and Desdemona appeared out of nowhere, cheering and grabbed Kali’s hands, “Back later!” they yelled, pulling Kali behind them.

That night they trekked back through the forest, with new clothes for everyone, Kali feeling very much like one of them, no matter how long she had known them for.

(AN: This should have more detail. I really want to finish this chapter tonight. REALLY want to finish it. I want to get to LoTG! ARGH! WHY IS IT SO LONG?)

Elven Forests:

Lyra had been watching out the window of the carriage the entire journey, trying to ignore her thoughts of Kali or why the King wanted her to work with him. Was this just something he did to girls he liked? Insisted on them coming up to the castle to work for him?

She didn’t want to think about anything though, so that’s why she was staring out of the glass window, watching the trees as they glided by.

It wasn’t a log journey. Her home had been just out of the city, and she had been there several times before but never thought that she would live there, especially not living in the palace.

She sighed, she was thinking about the King again.

Eventually the driver leaned into the carriage, “We’re here, Madame.”

(AN: Just like to inform you all I ran out of fanfiction to read here. * cries * I’m flying solo here, unless I reread something.)

She climbed out of the carriage, her bag in hand, and stared up at the palace. The huge palace. The huge palace where she was going to be living for possibly the rest of her life.

She gaped, Nialle was sitting on the steps of the palace, looking more like a commoner than a King, but what shocked her more was that he was waiting for her. He bounced up the moment her foot touched the hard ground beneath her feet. He was smiling as he walked over to her and took her bags from her.

“Good afternoon, Lyra.” He smiled.

“Good afternoon, Your Highness.” She replied.

“Nialle.” He whispered, taking her hand in his own then pressing her palm against his lips, staring at her the whole time he did this.

Lyra snatched her hand back, thinking how Kali would have hit him. With a smile ghosting her face she looked at him, “What am I going to be doing here?” she asked.

Nialle blinked, “Well, I hadn’t actually thought of that.”

“You mean I am here just for you to flirt with?” she asked, after saying it she wondered if she had channeled Kali for a moment and she twisted the chain around her neck around her fingers, slipping the ring onto her finger for a moment.

Nialle laughed, “No. I assumed you’d want to pick your own job.”

“Have you got a library?” she asked, oddly thrilled when he nodded, “Could I work there?”

“Okay.” He nodded, “Now, lets get you set up.”

Nialle threw a party for her 18th, it was a nice gesture she supposed but she didn’t like crowds, and especially the crowd of people who simply thought she was the kings ‘plaything’.

After a month of working she stumbled across a book, this book told of the other races and a war between them that forced them to be separated.

… BLAH. Okay, Short form because I am very sick of Lyra and Kali. VERY SICK OF THEM! I WANT TO MOVE ON! Lyra figures out she and Kali are the ‘Elven’ chosen (with someone named Lily’s help). Then Lyra goes into the Vampire forest, is attacked by Vampires and saved by Xavier and Kali, who take her back to their house where Lyra explains everything. Then Kali and Lyra go to the boundary and through it, into the Land of the Gods.

I solemnly swear I will finish this chapter after November. I am just fucking sick of writing this. I have 4 more characters to introduce. * dies * Then onto the Land of the Chosen which is what I really want to write.

Anywho, onto Dane. Here’s to hoping his chapter is short.

Chapter Four: Dane

The last thing he could remember before his Ascension was not being able to breathe, or open his eyes. He was weak, dying from a disease that should have been curable, a disease that shouldn’t have even affected him.

He could hear the Elders talking, he knew he was dying. Their presence verified that, the Elders never came to people’s houses unless there was a problem.

The last thing he heard was a small voice, “I’m sorry.” And then he was ascended. The thing he hated most was the fact he didn’t even know who was sorry, or why they were sorry. All he knew was that they were.

Dane opened his eyes and looked around his small room. Every day when he woke up he would instantly cringe at the lack of colour in the Ascended’s world. He missed being a Fae, with their excessive colour and gothic style. In the land of the Ascended everything was white. Their wings were white, their clothes were white. Hell, even their food was white.

It was taking ‘lack of colour’ way too far.

Dane stood up and stretched his white angel wings, surprise, surprise white angel wings that were nothing compared to the wings he used to have. Sighing, he looked at himself in the mirror, running a brush through his medium length brown hair, pulling it together at the base of his neck.

After doing this he quickly ran out of things to do and collapsed back onto his bed.

“Dane?”

Dane sat up and looked to his doorway were his 2 friends were standing. Nyx and Aura, brother and sister Fae’s who had asked to be Ascended, something that eluded Dane. Why would anybody want to be forced to live like this?

Nyx’s long silver blond hair was tied behind his neck, leaving his bangs to fall over his face, and down over his neck (they were extremely long, you see). He was leaning against the doorframe, arms folded across his chest, scowling.

Aura was leaning against her brother, twisting a strand of her golden blonde hair around her fingers. She was smiling, “Did you forget? We have class today.”

“Not going.” Dane replied, “Learnt it all anyway. What are they going to do? Try and bore the whole ‘Ascension equals eternal life and happiness’ bullshit into me again? Didn’t work the last 8 times.” He snapped, glaring at them.

Nyx rolled his eyes and stared at the floor, “The Masters going to be annoyed, Dane.”

“And?” Dane asked, standing up, “He should realize that I hate it here. If I hadn’t of died I would still be down in permanent party zone. I should be there.”

Aura and Nyx looked at each other and shrugged, “Alright. Do what you feel is best, Dane.” Aura smiled.

“I always do, Aura.” He replied, watching as the golden haired girl skipped off.

Nyx stared at him, “You sure this whole ‘rebel against the authority’ is the best thing to do?” he asked.

“It’s the best in my mind.” Dane replied.

“What are you aiming for?” Nyx asked, white wings twitching in irritation.

“Desencion.” Dane replied, face serious.

Nyx gaped, “You’re aiming to be sent back. Are you not forgetting that you died, Dane? You would go back to the same state you were before Ascension.”

Dane shrugged, “Anything is better than the hell I currently call life. If the Master wants to know where I am tell him I’m sleeping, that’ll get the council onto me. Then I can argue my fucking case.”

Nyx sighed, “Bye, Dane.” With that he walked away, leaving his friend to mope.

Sure enough, the council had called him before them around lunchtime. He’d been there before, he recognized everybody except for one person.

She had mid-length blonde hair that fell in ringlets. Her eyes were a bright blue and her wings seemed to shine brighter than everyone else’s. Dane took no notice, she was obviously some suck up if she was on the council now, she looked younger than he was and she looked to be ruling over the council meetings for the day.

“Dane?” she asked, looking down at a piece of paper in front of her, smiling softly when he nodded, “I’m assuming you have a reason for being here, apart from being called of course, but a reason for skipping your classes.”

Dane nodded, “I wish to return to the land of the Faes.”

Her eyebrow quirked, “And why is that?”

“Because it’s fucking boring around here.” He snapped, smirking at the gasps from around him, he was trying to get a rise out of the girl in the center. She did nothing but smile gently at him, like she was expecting him to say something like that. She was smiling like she knew him.

“Why?” she asked.

“It’s so plain, so empty.” He replied, staring her in the eye. She nodded.

“You wish to become a Fae again, to give up your Ascended stasis.” He nodded and she continued, “That would most likely render you back to the stage you were before Ascension, a forced one I am guessing. What was that?” she asked.

“I… was dying.” He answered, “Of the curse that originally started the Ascension race. The elders had no idea what to do with me, so, instead of letting me die they sent me here.”

She nodded, “You don’t care if you would die?” she asked.

Dane shook his head, “I wanted to die, and I was in so much pain that I wanted them to let me go. Instead the Elders sent me here, where it’s more mental anguish than anything. I need colour in my life, not the same fucking thing every fucking day.”

She smiled again, “We shall consider your request and get back to you in a day or so.”
Dane bowed to her and walked from the room, smirking to himself. At least he thought that had gone well.

Nyx and Aura were horrified to find out that he had treated a council member that way.
“You swore at her?” Aura asked, eyes wide as they sat in Dane’s room.

Dane nodded, “Yup. She didn’t care.”

“How do you know?” Nyx asked, “If you get rejected then that’s the reason, hear that, Dane?”

Dane grinned, “I think I’m going to be sent back.”

“You’ll die.” Aura whispered, staring at the floor, “And we wont ever see you again.”
Dane wrapped an arm around her, “At least your life will go back to being predictable.” He laughed.

Aura smiled and leant into his chest, “I’ll miss you. We both will, wont we, Nyx?”

Nyx grunted and stared at them both, “You are right though, life will go back to normal.” He said.

Dane laughed, “I just want to be me again. I want colour. I want music that makes no sense!”

(AN: Anyone else care that ‘So long, and thanks for all the fish’ is currently playing on my ‘NaNo’ play list? I think that’s what I mean by ‘Music that makes no sense’ XD)

Aura and Nyx shrugged.

“I didn’t like the Fae life much.” Aura said quietly, “That’s why I chose to Ascend. I wanted peace, the knowledge that comes with it.”

Nyx nodded in agreement, “The Fae life was fun, but I must agree with Aura.”

Dane smiled, “It’s peaceful, but it gets on your nerves after awhile.”

Aura hugged him, “I hope you get sent back. I’ll miss you, but you will have what you want.”

Dane smiled and kissed her cheek, “Thanks, Aura. You too, Nyx. Thanks for always being there for me.”

Nyx slapped his back, “Don’t get mushy on us.”

The council called him back the following day, but it was only the girl who spoke to him. She smiled, “We’ve chosen to send you back.”

Dane cheered, “You mean it?” he asked, “You’re sending me back?”

She nodded, “Yes. I hope you didn’t want anything.” She smiled, raising her hands.

Dane shook his head; he had said ‘Goodbye’ to Aura and Nyx before going into the council chambers, “Nothing left to do here. Send me back, please.”

She laughed quietly, “Goodbye, Dane.” And started to chant silently, “I’m sorry this wont work out the way you want it too.” She whispered.

Dane fell unconscious, but not before thinking ‘She reminds me of something.’

He woke up in a bed, how he got there was beyond him but he sat up, looking around the large room. It had stone floors and stonewalls. The bed was big enough for, at least, 4 people. There was a fire lit on one wall.

Dane stood and walked over to a mirror. He looked into it and blinked. Why the hell did he still have the huge, white-feathered Angel wings? He was still the same person that he had been back in the Ascended world, except… something was missing, something that made him an Ascended.

He blinked and ran from the room. When he finally managed to find a door that led outside, he realized he wasn’t in the Fae world. He had no clue where he was.

He stood in the gardens of some palace. The whole place seemed to be gardens, with a giant palace in the center. Dane looked around the gardens and sighed.

“So that’s what that girl meant by ‘Sorry, this wont work out the way you wanted’.” Dane sighed, collapsing onto the soft grass, hands over his eyes.

“Fuck, what the hell have I got myself into this time?” he asked himself, “Well, at least I’m not dying.”

You all forgive me for skipping, don't you? I'll finish after November. I'm just so sick of writing them. *sighs*

Ciyarin and Maia are next. Then Nikko. Then ONTO BOOK TWO!

HOORAY!

18,673 / 50,000
(37.3%)

Who does everyone like so far, in the way of characters? Oh, and thanks again Boo for the use of EVEN more characters (bringing the grand total up to 6, even though they ARE my characters too, they are your designs).

Wheeeeet whoot!

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 08:56:56 GMT

Chapter Three: Lyra and Kali.

Part One:

Twins were a very uncommon thing in the Elven world. After the curse of the Vampires had reached its full capacity it started channeling into the unborn, most of the children born to Elves were Elven, but twins were different. Anywhere in the Elven/Vampire world twins were the same, no matter who they were born to. One was an Elf, the other was a Vampire. Pure opposites of one another.

In a small Elven village a woman lay, giving birth, she smiled up at her husband then at the midwife, who was gaping at her child.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, breathlessly.

“Twins.” The midwife said, and that was all the explanation the parents needed, one of their children was a vampire.

6 years after the birth.

“Kali! Kali, come out! Pleeeaaaaseee!” Lyra called, wanting her sister to stop hiding, “You know I get scared when you hide from me.”

Kali watched her twin from the shadow. Hiding in dark corners was always her best hiding spot because she blended into them, all she had to do was curl up real tight and push her dark hair in front of her face, making sure her dark clothing covered the rest of her body. She liked playing this game with her sister, because every time Kali had the opportunity to leap out of the shadows and scare her sister but she never did because it would make Lyra cry.

“Here I am, Lyra.” Kali smiled, standing up and walking from the shadows, holding her arms out wide to her twin. Lyra’s face instantly brightened and Kali soon was glomped by her sister, Lyra’s blonde hair tickling her nose.

“Why do you hide from me, Kali?” Lyra asked, looking into her sisters’ eyes.

“I like to be alone sometimes, Lyra.” Kali replied, smiling, “But it’s okay now, I’m finished hiding for today.”

“Good.” Lyra replied.

The two were identical in facial features but complete opposites in everything else. Lyra had pale blonde, almost white, hair that was like an angels. She had the same eyes as her sister but Lyra’s had a certain innocence to them that Kali’s didn’t. Kali’s raven coloured hair was long and untamed, she refused to let her mother brush it, preferring to do it herself when she remembered. Lyra was light and Kali was darkness.

Lyra was the oldest, even if Kali seemed more mature and protective. Lyra hid behind her sister and Kali liked that, she liked thinking she was the protector or the older of the two. However, when Kali was bullied because of the fact she was a Vampire it was always Lyra who would suddenly turn violent and hurt the children or adults who were hurting her sister.

They protected each other, Kali didn’t know what life would be like without her sister and Lyra didn’t want to even consider living if Kali wasn’t there with her.

“Don’t leave me, Kali.” Lyra whispered to her sister.

“I wont.” Kali replied, even though she knew that one day she was going to have to.

12 years later.

(AN: Anyone else getting sick of me changing dates quickly? Oh, this makes them 18, by the way. If anyone wanted to know, I only skip years once more… I think. NO PROMISES!)

Kali was sitting in a tree, looking down at the forest. In a month she would turn 18 and then be sent away to live with the Vampires, where everyone lusted for blood not just one person.

She didn’t want to leave, hell, she hadn’t even told her sister she was leaving. She ran her hands through her now chin length hair, pulling the long fringe over her eyes.
“Kali!”

Kali looked down at her sister, “Yeah, Lyra?”

“Can I come up?” her sister asked.

Kali looked at he sister. Lyra’s long blonde hair was braided into two plaits down each side of her head, the other strange thing was that she was wearing a long skirt; “In a dress?” she called down, blinking at her sister.

Slowly Lyra gathered the skirt and pulled on it, showing that she was wearing pants underneath. Smiling she made her way to the tree and climbed up with ease, “I have climbed trees in skirts before, Kali.” Lyra smirked.

“Yes, but Mother wasn’t too happy last time when it got caught on a branch and nearly sent you flying.” Kali replied, laughing when Lyra poked her tongue out, “Brat.”

“Good one, Kali. Lets just remember something here.” Lyra paused and pretended to think, “Hmm, who’s the older one?” she asked, staring at Kali innocently.

“Good question.” Kali replied, smirking, “And if you bring that up once more I shall push you out of this tree.” She was joking through, she couldn’t actually hurt her sister, and it would be more like hurting herself.

The two were still mirror images save for the hair colour and the fact that Kali was much paler than Lyra, one of the Vampire genes finally kicking in. They even dressed alike, just in opposite colours. Except today, because for some reason Lyra was wearing a skirt even though she hated them.

“What’s with the skirt?” Kali asked, tugging at the material.

“Mother wants me to impress someone.” Lyra sighed, “I think she wants to get me a job.” Lyra stared at the ground, “But I really just think she’s trying to send me away quickly so I have my mind on something that isn’t you leaving.”

“I didn’t even think you knew.” Kali sighed, wrapping an arm around her sister.

“I heard you and Father talking last week.” Lyra said, leaning into Kali’s arms, “Do you have to go?”

“Yes.” Kali replied, “The other option is death, because I will need blood and I’ll kill the closest thing with it. I don’t want to accidentally kill somebody I love, like you.”

Lyra sighed, “You wouldn’t kill me.”

“How do you know, Lyra?” Kali asked, “I wont be myself anymore. I’ll be a vampire, with an unquenchable thirst for the blood of a living creature.” After saying that the two of them stared at the ground in an uneasy silence.

“How come Vampires don’t attack each other?” Lyra asked, breaking the silence.

“We’re not cannibals, Lyra.” Kali sighed, “And the fact that we are sort of dead, would make our blood taste bad.”

“You’re not dead though.” Lyra asked, “How do you ‘die?’” Lyra and Kali had never really discussed much about how Kali was a Vampire.

“I don’t know. I’ll write to you and tell you what dying is like.” Kali sighed.

“Does that mean you’re leaving before our birthday?” Lyra asked.

“I have to.” Kali replied, “I have to be with my people.” Kali let go of her sister and started to slowly climb down the tree.

“What about me?” Lyra asked, her words barely reaching her sister, “Don’t I mean anything to you?”

“You mean the world to me, Lyra. That is why I am leaving.” Kali replied, finishing the climb.

“You said you would never leave.” Lyra said, not knowing whether Kali heard her words or not because she wasn’t replied. Lyra sighed and watched the trees, trying to stop herself from crying.

Kali walked away from her sister, “You know I couldn’t promise you that, Lyra.” She whispered to the wind as she made her way back to their house.

Kali sat in their bedroom, staring out of the huge windows that overlooked the forest. It was a good view but nowhere near as good a view as the one from her tree, or the roof. From that height you could see where the Elven Forests turned into the perpetual darkness of the Vampire Forests, the one place she had never wanted to go, the one place she had to go.

Her parents had told her that she was to leave the day before her birthday. That way she would defiantly be in the Vampire forests by her birthday. She’d also been told that she was to forget her sister, not write to her because Lyra would go after her eventually.
They were twins. They couldn’t be separated. Kali didn’t want to leave. She sighed and stared at the forest.

Meanwhile, Lyra was being paraded around by her mother. After talking with Kali she had walked back to their house and her mother had told her to get dressed up. So Lyra had unwillingly pulled on a dress and had been dragged out of the house.

Now she was standing in the corner of some important persons busy house, wishing that Kali was there to make fun of the people flitting around about her.

“You look terribly bored.”

Lyra looked up into a pair of light green eyes. Then she saw the rest of him, he was tall. Very tall. He was smirking at her as he leant against the wall. He was dressed in very long, high collared black robes, as well as black gloves.

“Guh.” Was all that Lyra managed to say, he smiled and she noticed how attractive he was, “Erm…” He had long light brown hair, which was tied together at the nape of his neck, held together by a strip of cloth that wrapped around his hair tightly, until it reached around his mid back where the cloth stopped and his hair continued, he also had a long fringe that fell over his bright green eyes. His eyes were a shade of green that Lyra couldn’t explain, but they were full of the same energy her sister seemed to possess. A certain kind of ‘spunk’ that she would never have.

“Do you speak?” he asked, smiling, running one of his gloved hands through her hair.
“Yes.” She whispered, staring at her feet. He must think she was a fool. She had no clue what had come over her, usually she was eloquent… well, at least more eloquent that she was being at the moment.

“What’s your name?” he asked, standing up straight. Lyra blinked. She barely reached his shoulder in height.

“What’s yours?” she asked in reply, calling upon some of her sisters’ sarcastic energy to get her through this conversation.

“Nialle.” He replied, smirking when her eyes widened.

It was then that Lyra realized she was talking to one of the Elven Kings. She went to say something or bow but he stopped her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t bow, don’t use formalities, talk to me as if I was a normal person.” He whispered into her ear.

Lyra stared at him. He was a king! She couldn’t talk to him as if he was a normal person, why was she even talking to her? She was a commoner, her mother had just brought her here to try and get her a job, most likely in a library somewhere.

“What’s your name.” He asked, his deep voice sending shivers down her spine. He was too close. She took a step backwards and looked into his eyes, trying to muster up some of Kali’s courage, what would Kali do if she were here right now? Most likely slap him, but you couldn’t slap a king. Or she’d be flirting outrageously. Lyra didn’t like either option.

“Lyra.” She replied, staring at her feet again. Jumping when she felt fingers on her cheek, tilting her head up to look him in the eye.

“Hmm.” He replied, staring at her.

“Hmm?” Lyra asked, “May I ask what you’re doing?” she took another step backwards and was saved by her mother.

“Come on, Lyra. We should get going.” Her mother didn’t even look at the king before hurrying off.

“I’ll see you again?” he asked, hand still on her cheek. He smiled at her as she nodded.
“If you wish, your…” he shot her a look, “Nialle.” She corrected. He let go of her face and smiled again.

“I hope I see you again.” He whispered as she hurried off after her mother.

“Kali!” Lyra cried, running into the bedroom they shared. She looked around and found her sister curled up in bed. Lyra kicked off her shoes and climbed in beside her sister, who didn’t wake up but made a noise of irritation and tried to push her out.

Lyra laughed and flicked Kali on the forehead, finally waking her sister up, “Good thing that woke you, Kali. Next thing I would have done was put my feet on your back.”
“Seriously, Lyra. If you did that I’d kill you.” Kali mumbled, still half asleep.

Lyra smiled, “I met a king.” She whispered.

“Which one?” Kali asked, not sounding very impressed.

“Nialle.” Lyra replied, smiling when her sister raised one of her eyebrows.

“Good on you, Lyra. Now, go to sleep. It’s late.” Kali yawned.

“I’m sorry for earlier.” Lyra whispered, climbing out of Kali’s bed to get changed into her pajamas.

“I know. I’m sorry too.” Kali mumbled, smirking when Lyra finished changing and climbed back into bed with her, “Now, go to sleep. We can talk in the morning.”

The next week was all routine for the two. They went about daily life, refusing to talk about Kali’s upcoming departure, even though they knew it was inevitable (had to use this word) and couldn’t be put off in any way.

The week before their birthday, Lyra received a letter.

“Who’s it from?” Kali asked, trying to read over her sisters’ shoulder. Lyra pushed her away and went back to reading silently.

“The King, Nialle.” She whispered, “He wants me to go work in the palace. He wants me to leave tomorrow; he’s sending somebody to get me, Kali. He’s apparently ‘Not taking no for an answer’.” Lyra looked at her sister, eyes suddenly full of tears.

Kali held her arms out and closed them around her sister the second Lyra threw herself into them. Kali wanted to sooth her sister, but it looked like she would need soothing too.
The two clutched each other, crying, knowing this was most likely the last time they would ever see one another.

When their tears had stopped, Lyra had gone inside to begin packing and Kali had climbed to the top of her tree to stare out over the forests, tears still sliding down her face.

They didn’t say goodbye to one another, no words could make the parting easy. Kali wasn’t even there when Lyra left. She must have sneaked in during the night though because when Lyra had awoke she had found a chain in her hands and Kali’s ring. The ring that her sister never took off. It was much too big for Lyra’s slender hands so that was obviously what the chain was for.

Lyra has smiled when she clasped the ends of the chain together around her neck. The ring sitting between her collarbones. She smiled at herself in the mirror then left something of her own on Kali’s pillow. A thick silver bracelet, nothing really fancy but Lyra hated to not wear it. Their mother had given it to her when she was younger, Kali had always loved it.

Leaving the bracelet she was giving to Kali, she quickly pulled on the charm bracelet that Kali had been adding bits and pieces onto for her since they were children. Looking at herself in the mirror she pressed a kiss onto Kali’s pillow and picked up her bag, walking out of her bedroom for the last time.

When Kali finally saw the carriage vanish from sight, she climbed down the tree and went back to their home.

She smiled when she saw the bracelet on her pillow. She pulled it over her hand and brushed away the tears that were trying to escape her eyes. She then sat down on her bed.
“You have to leave the day before your birthday.”

Kali looked up to see her mother standing in the doorway, Kali glared, “You just want to be free of us, don’t you?”

“Yes.” Her mother whispered.

“Did you ever love us?” Kali asked.

Her mother nodded, “I love you both. I just need to set you both free.”

“Freedom seems like it has a high price these days, mother.” Kali whispered, looking away, “I lose everything to become free.”

“If that’s the way you see it, Kali, then that’s the way it is.” When Kali looked up her mother was gone.

Part Two:

Because this chapter is very long I’m sorting it into parts. Damn long chapters of doom.

Vampire Forest:

Kali stumbled through the unfamiliar forest, tripping over gnarled tree roots that stuck out of the ground. Was it always this dark here? How on earth did anyone find his or her way around? She felt like she was walking around in circles. She had only been in the Vampire forests a few hours, but it felt like days to her. Days full of a never-ending darkness. Unending night.

“Blood.” She heard someone hiss from behind her, it was answered by a call of the same word. Soon enough she heard several things around her, whispering ‘Blood’.

Vampires. True Vampires. Kali saw several pairs of shining eyes, suddenly illuminating the darkness. She wasn’t a Vampire yet; she still had clean blood, live blood. They wanted to kill her.

The eyes surrounded her and she screamed, suddenly scared for her life. She ran as fast as she could, knowing her efforts were futile but she had to run, she couldn’t die at the hands of her own people.

Running was futile. They could smell her, the blood flowing through her veins. She tripped over a root that stuck out of the ground. “Shit.” She whispered, clutching her ankle and crying out in pain. She tried to stand up but was pushed down.

“Shhh.” A female voice whispered, “Let Xavier do his thing.”

It was then Kali saw the sword. It reflected light from somewhere. She could only see the sword, swinging through the darkness. Slowly, the glowing eyes of the Vampires vanished and somebody was standing over her.

“Good afternoon.” Kali assumed this was Xavier, but she had no idea about the woman holding her down, “Now, what are you doing in the Vampire forest, youngling?” he asked, sitting beside her. The female’s arms vanished from around her.

“I… was sent here.” She replied, trying to find his face to look at, failing she settled at looking at the huge sword that was lying on the ground beside him.

“I am aware of that, youngling. When is your birthday?” he asked.

“Tomorrow.” Kali replied.

“Good.” The female, who was now talking again in a soft, friendly voice, “We don’t have to hide you long.”

“Hide me?” Kali asked.

“From the rest of us.” Xavier answered.

“You’re Vampires too?” Kali asked, wondering why they weren’t attacking her.

“Yes.” The female said, “Though, we wont hurt you like they well. Now, what is your name?”

“Kali.” She replied.

“I’m Ambrosia. Xavier and the rest of our friends wont harm you in any way. Promise.” Kali was helped up by Ambrosia, “We’ll take you to our home, hide you until tomorrow. Then we can take you into the city during out next run.”

“Why wont you attack me?” Kali asked, blinking as Xavier suddenly stood up, bringing his sword with him.

“Because we work for the King.” He replied, “He gives us something that keeps us normal even if we don’t have blood ofte, we still need it but only once a week or two. When reminds me, ‘Sia. The rest of us will need some soon.” He said to the other Vampire.

“What do you do out here?” Kali asked.

“We stay out here and guide the younglings into the city, protecting them from the rabids out here.” Xavier answered.

“Meaning the people who attacked me?” Kali asked.

“Yeah. We also keep them out of Elven regions. Bloody animals would kill their own mother for a drop of untainted blood that’s not an animal.” Xavier muttered, “Come on, ‘Sia. Let’s take her home.”

Their home was a well-lit stone house, protected by a large fence, completely sealed off from the outside forest.

Kali’s mind had been trying to put a picture of Ambrosia and Xavier into her head while they had been walking back, one on either side of her. Whatever image her mind had given her it wasn’t what they actually looked like.

Xavier was tall and had shoulder length black hair that fell over one side of his face, completely covering his left eye. He had orangey brown coloured eyes. Kali had thought that she was pale, but Xavier’s skin was so pale it could almost be classified as white. He was gorgeous. Every time he smiled he revealed the two long fangs that slid to rest on top of his lower lip. His hands were long and slightly feminine. His long sword was tied to his back and Kali wondered how he could walk, it was so long that it almost reached the ground. He was wearing tight fitting black pants with random belts tied around his legs and waist and a long black jacket with the letters ‘JVC’ in red letters on the collar.

Ambrosia was just shorter than Xavier was. She had huge blue eyes and had only a little more colour in her skin than Xavier did. She had very long dark blonde hair that reached her mid back. It was untied and flowed freely when she walked. She was wearing a long blue-black dress that was floor length; it tied up at the front with some kind of bodice that looked slightly painful to wear. Around her neck was a small blue pendant, a stone of some kind that glittered in the man-made light of their home. She was pretty and looked extremely kind.

Kali was led into their home where Xavier kicked off his heavy boots and Ambrosia sat down and began to untie her own shoes, which to Kali, seemed to be mainly ribbon that snaked up to her knee. Kali kicked off her own Elven made shoes and stood, waiting for Xavier or Ambrosia to tell her what to do.

“‘Han, Des, we’re home.” Xavier called, yelling mainly into the upper section of the house.

The first person that appeared was just as tall as Xavier was and she was dressed similar. She had a shirt that looked like it was just one long strip of material, wrapped around her upper torso and arms. It stopped around her navel, showing a lot of skin before her pants began. Her pants were long, it was as if the girl was mainly all leg, they were black and had 5 belts hanging loosely from around her thin waist, one that then proceeded to wrap around her thigh several times. 4 of the belts were thin but the 5th, which just wrapped around her hips rather than hang loose, was thick and was buckled together with a huge star belt. In her arms was a jacket very similar to Xavier’s but it seemed to be much longer.

She had long white blond hair flared out at the ends and a thick fringe that fell over most of her face. A black ribbon was tied around it, as if she was attempting to keep it in place. She had dark brown eyes. She smirked at Kali and Xavier, showing off her fangs while doing so.

“Find a newbie, Xay-vee?” she asked, smirking.

“Obviously, Siobahn.” Xavier replied, “And don’t call me Xay-vee. Where’s Des?”

“Sleeping.” Siobahn replied, “She wasn’t feeling well. I think we should send her on the next trip to the city. She probably needs a fix.”

“We all need blood, Siobahn.” Ambrosia answered, “We’ll have to leave tomorrow, Kali’s going to need it or she’ll die.”

“Oooh. You’re 18 tomorrow, right?” Siobahn asked, her brown eyes full of curiosity.

“Yes.” Kali whispered, then jumped when she felt a hand on her cheek. She looked up into Siobahn’s eyes.

“Cheer up, youngling.” The Vampire whispered, “Being a Vampire isn’t really that bad. Let me guess, you’re a twinling. And you miss your sister.”

Kali gasped and took a step backwards, into Xavier’s arms.

“‘Han, stop playing. Go wake Des up. Kali’s ankle’s injured.” Xavier ordered. Siobahn sighed and turned around, walking upstairs. Kali had forgotten that she’d tripped. Being in the presence of Ambrosia and Xavier had practically removed all sense of injury from her mind, but now that she thought about it, her ankle really hurt.

“Ignore her.” Ambrosia’s words instantly soothed Kali’s mind, “She’s antsy. We’ve been awaiting your arrival. Whoever wrote that you would be coming forgot to add a date. We’ve been here 2 weeks.”

“I’m sorry.” Kali whispered.

Xavier’s hands caressed her cheek, “Fear not, youngling. We’ll be in the city tomorrow.” Kali found herself staring into his mesmerizing orange eyes. He smiled at her then took a step backwards.

“I’m going to go sleep, ‘Sia.” Xavier smiled, his teeth glistening in the light, “Wake me when we’re leaving. Make Siobhan sleep too. I’d also suggest locking Kali in your room with you. You’re the only one unlikely to attack her during the night, and we don’t want that, do we little youngling?”

Kali managed to shake her head then looked at Ambrosia as Xavier walked away, shutting a door behind him, “How come you’re the only one not likely to attack me?” she asked.

“I only just got back here. I went to the city a few days ago for supplies. The king fixed my needs while I was there.” She replied, “I wont need it for another week or 2. The others are due for blood tomorrow.”

“I am so confused.” Kali whispered.

“You’ll get used to it.” Ambrosia smiled as the 4th Vampire slowly walked down the stairs. Another girl. She looked half asleep and leant against the railings as she walked downstairs. She had caramel brown hair that was currently sticking up at odd angles, her fringe covering part of her eyes. She had eyes that could only be classed as pink. Bright pink at that. She was wearing a pair of shorts and a long sleeved shirt. Obviously what she slept in. Under the shorts were a pair of thigh high black and white striped socks, or perhaps they were stockings, Kali didn’t know. She was, by far, the shortest out of all four of them.

“Time to go yet, ‘Sia?” she asked, sounding mostly asleep, “I’m hungry.”

“I know, dearest.” Ambrosia smiled, opening her arms to the smaller Vampire who curled up in them, “You can’t eat the youngling, okay.”

“Youngling?” she blinked, suddenly awake, “The girl arrived, did she?”

“Yes, she did. Desdemona, meet Kali.” Ambrosia smiled.

Desdemona looked Kali up and down with those startling pink eyes. She nodded in agreement, “Where’s she injured?” she asked.

“My ankle.” Kali said, holding out her foot, “It’s not too bad, it should heal by itself.”

“Silly, youngling.” Desdemona practically hissed, “You are injured. Injuries must be healed.”

“You’re not to eat her, Des.” Ambrosia ordered, “We’re going back to the city tomorrow, she’s one of us at the stroke of midnight.”

Desdemona sighed and knelt down onto the floor, taking Kali’s injured foot in her hands. For a second, Kali felt an immense feeling of power run through her veins before it dulled. When it finally vanished Desdemona let go of her foot and Kali waved it around, it was completely healed.

“Thank you.” Kali whispered.

“Welcome.” Desdemona replied, “Night all. Wake me when she’s a Vampire.” With that the pink-eyed Vampire walked back upstairs shutting the stairwell door behind her.

“Come on, youngling.” Ambrosia smiled, “I’ll lock you in my room. You can sleep.” Ambrosia led her into the back of the lower floor; “Xavier and I have rooms down here. Des and ‘Han sleep upstairs. There are more rooms upstairs but they only lock from the outside. Mine locks from the inside.”

“How come Siobahn has white blonde hair? Xavier’s the only one with black hair.” Kali was confused. All of the Vampires were supposed to be dark haired, it was what the Elves had always told her, and she had never seen a dark haired elf so she had always assumed the statement was right.

“Elves tell you we’re all evil creatures who have hair like the night?” Ambrosia asked, smiling.

Kali nodded, suddenly feeling embarrassed and unlearned.

Ambrosia laughed quietly, “We’re not all like that. Some of us are twisted by evil. But most people inside the cities are actually nice people. In regards to hair colour, I look like my mother. She was an elf who fell in love with one of the Kings guards. Someone like us. Dad’s dead but Mum is still living happily with my younger sister in the Elven forests, I look like her and my sister looks like Dad.”

Kali blinked, “Huh?”

“Some of us are also just born this way. You’re a twin. The Elven twins start as one person then split. One side gets the darkness, the other gets the light. Understand?” Ambrosia asked, “Out of us, only Xavier and Siobahn are full Vampires. Desdemona is a foundling, nobody knows who her parents are, and I’m technically only half Vampire. But I have the gene so it makes me full Vampire. Give it a few years and all this will make sense”

Kali nodded slowly, none of what Ambrosia had said had made any sense to her.
Ambrosia led her into a small room with 2 beds, one large and the other small, a temporary bed.

“We’ll go to the city tomorrow morning.” Ambrosia explained, “And ignore the perpetual darkness. You get used to it after a while, the cities are fully lit.” she smiled, “Much like this house.”

Kali nodded and sat down on the temporary bed.

“Well, night.” Ambrosia smiled and locked the door, switching off the light.

“Night.” Kali replied.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YOUNGLING!”

Kali screamed and rolled off the bed, taking the blankets with her, “Ah, shit.” She groaned, clutching her arm.

“Ooops.” Someone laughed and pulled the blankets from off her head, “Sorry ‘bout that.”

It was Desdemona, seemingly much more awake than she had been the day before. She was wearing a tattered short skirt and a shirt that was also extremely tattered; Kali assumed the clothes were torn like that on purpose. She was still wearing the black and white striped socks. She had long black gloves on that ran up most of her arms. Around her neck was what looked like a belt, with it buckled and some of it left hanging, it was kind of like a collar, the kind you would put on an animal or something.

Her hair was brushed but it still stuck out at odd angles over her face. She was smiling as she helped Kali up.

“Happy Birthday.” Desdemona said again, throwing her arms around Kali, “Welcome to the world of the Vampires. Feel any different?”

Kali shook her head, “Not really.” She said. It was then that she ran her tongue over her teeth and felt the sharp fangs as they pressed onto her tongue. She ran to the mirror and opened her mouth, staring at them.

“You get used to them.” Siobahn said from the doorway, “I remember it taking me forever. I kept biting myself.”

“I remember that.” Xavier called from somewhere else in the house, “Like it was yesterday.”

“Very funny, Xavier.” Siobahn yelled back.

Kali looked at herself in the mirror, running her fingers through her short black hair. She looked so different. Eventually she closed her eyes and thought of her sister, wondering what she was doing right now, wondering if she was having a good birthday? She assumed it hadn’t started the same way.

“We’re leaving!” Ambrosia yelled from the entrance hall.

Siobahn and Desdemona cheered and ran from the room, Kali following slowly.
“Leave the mess.” Ambrosia ordered, “We can clean up when we get back. Onwards to the city.” She smiled at Kali, “We can outfit you when we get there.”

“Outfit me?” Kali asked, blinking in confusion.

“You seemingly didn’t bring anything except the clothes you’re wearing and the bangle on your arm.

Kali’s hand instantly went to Lyra’s bracelet.

“You’re going to need clothes, youngling.” Xavier smiled. He was sitting on the floor, lacing up his boots.

Desdemona was buckling her shoes and Siobahn was leaning against the doorframe, smiling as she inspected her fingernails.

“Does everyone dress like you?” Kali asked.

“Nope.” Desdemona grinned, “We’re the Kings Agents. We dress the way we want to dress. Most of the others dress like elves, in darker colours.”

“We make our own clothes.” Ambrosia explained.

“More like buy clothes and alter them.” Xavier laughed, “Do you prefer our clothes over your own?” he asked.

Kali nodded and smiled, “Absolutely.”

Ambrosia and Xavier looked at one another and smiled. Siobahn and Desdemona shared a similar expression.

“What?” Kali asked.

“Wanna join us?” Xavier asked, “I mean, we’ll have to ask the king but he’ll say yes, inject you with the magic drug and give you a license.”

“Work with you?” Kali blinked.

Ambrosia nodded, “If you want to.”

“I’d love to.” Kali smiled, “Thank you, so much.”

“Don’t thank us.” Ambrosia smiled, “Now. Onto the city, younglings.”

Desdemona and Siobahn made an irritated noise and Xavier glared at her but Kali just grinned. Maybe her people weren’t as bad as they had been made out to be.

16010 words. Hoorah! Oh, This chapter is NOWHERE near finished. Gotta make the Vampires go into the city and then back out into the forest. Then have to do Lyra’s half. Then there’s a part 3. Then the chapter is over. This will be the longest chapter by far.

Damn.

*laughs*

16,010 / 50,000
(32.0%)

YAY! 11640 Words. And, here, Draken's chapter. FINALLY DONE! LIBERATION IS SWEEEEET!

Sun, 06 Nov 2005 08:23:35 GMT

Chapter Two: Draken

Eyes flew open; he sat up quickly and shuddered, wiping sweat from his brow. Another dream, more vivid. This dream was of a war, a war between thousands of people, most of them dying horribly, screaming for help from their gods.

Draken sat up and tried to push the images from his mind, why was he having these dreams again? Hadn’t Sage told him that they would go away after a while? Well, they had gone away, but now they were back, and more vivid than ever.

“Good Morning, Draken.” Ah, speak of the devil and she comes. Sage had walked in, carrying breakfast.

“Food, Sage?” he asked, she usually made him get his own breakfast, even though they had servants. He had argued that one-day, he couldn’t sit down for a week and he’d been 9 at the time.

“It’s your birthday, Drae.” She reminded, “Or have you forgotten again?” she placed the tray on his desk and sat on his bed beside him.

“Yeah.” He replied, “I barely know what week it is.” Draken replied as he pushed his silver hair out of his eyes. He hated his hair, made him look too much like his father. No matter how much Sage protested that he looked more like his Grandfather, he wouldn’t listen. He looked like his father, with his mothers eyes and that was the reason his father hated him.

Sage raised a hand to his forehead, “Did you have another dream?” she asked.

Draken nodded, “War again.” He smiled. His dreams fit into 2 categories; Dreams of a War and Dreams of Strange People. Of course, he occasionally had normal dreams but they were nothing for Sage to be concerned about.

“They’ll pass.” She smiled, “Eat. For once, your father hasn’t demanded an audience with you.” she smiled, Aeron always called Draken into his quarters on his birthday. Every time, Draken left the room thinking he was worthless after his fathers’ speech on how he had killed his own mother and didn’t deserve to live. Aeron had been locked in his room since Draken’s 3rd birthday when he had tried to kill himself, another one of Draken’s ‘mistakes’.

Aeron hated his son, even though Sage tried to deny it saying that the man was just ‘broken’. Aeron couldn’t be fixed, no matter what anyone did. Draken smiled weakly at his surrogate mother.

“I might go down into the city, see if I can find someone to play with.” Draken smiled as he pulled himself out of bed, “That’s if you don’t want me to go do something else.” He grinned slyly at her.

Sage rolled her eyes and stood up, “You’re an idiot, Drake. Go seduce away. Just eat and shower first.” She kissed his forehead softly, “Be careful, Drake. Be back by tonight, I have a present for you.”

“Can’t I have it now?” he asked, already knowing her answer but asking anyway. She laughed quietly and smacked him upside the head, a reaction he was long used to.

“No.” she grinned, “Eat, Shower, get dressed and go out. Have fun.” She shook her head and walked to his door, looking behind her for a second she grinned, “Behave, Draken.”
“Oh, I will.” Draken replied and watched her leave.

And that’s how he came to be in an alley, pressing a much younger boy against a wall, kissing him harshly, the boys’ friends watching. He didn’t usually go for boys, but this one was different. He had looked like a girl from behind, long legs that mesmerized him, shaggy black hair. He wasn’t tall, but he wasn’t short either. Then when he had turned around and Draken had seen the boys beautiful face and bright blue eyes, he’d decided that the boy would be his plaything for the day.

Him and his friends seemed like nice people and had greeted Draken when he had approached them. They weren’t street kids, or nobles. They were the people that Draken wanted to be, normal people who weren’t handed everything they wanted. Sage had tried to raise him as a normal child, away from the politics of the castle but he was still tied to it anyway.

Draken pulled away, relishing in the noise the boy made as Draken sucked on his pulse point gently. Draken stepped back and looked into the boys’ lust filled blue eyes and smiled, “I don’t even know your name.”

“I don’t know yours.” The boy smiled, as Draken twisted the black hair around his fingers.

“Mine doesn’t matter.” Draken said quietly, he hated people knowing who he really was, hated the bowing and the ‘Your Highness’ formality.

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.” The boy smiled, before he got Draken to agree to anything he smiled, “It’s Ayden, and I’m guessing this is a ‘no-strings’ thing.”

Draken nodded, “It’s my birthday.” He replied, without telling Ayden his name, usually he didn’t do this to other guys, but Ayden was unlike he had ever seen before. He’d seen some of his friends about town when he’d been walking around with one of the rich girls he enjoyed to seduce, they seemed like genuinely nice people, unlike the rich girls.

“Happy Birthday …” Ayden trailed off, waiting for Draken to say his name.

“Drake.” He replied, it was a safer name than Draken. He could thank Sage for not letting him into the public eye, that way the only people who knew he was the prince were the ones who recognized the unique name of his, and that was the reason he had chose to shorten it to ‘Drake’ when he was in the city. He knew other Drake’s, but no Draken’s.

Ayden smiled, “Nice to meet you, Drake.” He grinned, “Wanna meet the others?” before Draken could answer he was dragged over to the boys friends.

Sitting in the alley were 2 girls and 3 guys, they had been watching Draken and Ayden but they were also playing a game of cards to pass the time.

One of the girls was short and she had a very childish face, she was talking and obviously cheating in the card game they were playing. She had short black hair that fell over her face and dark blue eyes. The other girl was taller and had dirty blonde hair; she was the obvious older one, looking like the oldest person in the group. She had green eyes and was dressed a lot more appropriate then the younger girl. She wasn’t playing, just watching, trying to stop the other girl from cheating so much.

The three guys were all different too. There was one who had long, chocolate brown hair and blue eyes, a scar over one eye, he was quiet, ignoring the small girls chattering. Another had spikey blonde hair; he was leaning against the quiet boy’s arms, trying to see his cards unsuccessfully.

The third boy had short black hair and was scowling at the girls, trying to stop the small one from cheating off him, he seemed like an easily angry person. Draken could have sworn that he had red eyes… looking again; Draken saw that they actually were red and blinked.

“Drake, meet my friends.” Ayden grinned, all of the people looked up at him.

Draken grinned at them, “Hey.” Slowly they began to introduce themselves.

“I’m Leo.” The quiet one said, his face void of emotion.

“Ignore the Ice Princess.” The blond grinned, “He’s broody. I’m Kai.”

“I’m Reilly!” The short one said, pronouncing her name as Reelee rather than Rilley, bouncing up and throwing her arms around Draken, knocking him backwards. All of a sudden the scary looking one picked her up.

The blonde girl helped him up, “I’m Seres, and that’s Dee.” She said, pointing at the scary one, “Well, that’s what he says his name is, I don’t believe him personally.” She laughed, “So, you’re hanging around with us today?” she asked.

Draken nodded, “I suppose so.”

“Score!” Reilly yelled and bounced about.

“Ignore her.” Ayden smiled, “You get used to it after a while. She’s insane and has an attention span of a gnat.”

Sure enough, within moments something else had caught her attention and she had bounced off, Dee following behind her, obviously trying to keep her out of mischief.
Draken blinked at her for a while; eventually she was dragged back by Dee. Kai and Leo were talking quietly and Draken realized that they were together.

“Let’s go outside.” Seres smiled at them all, “Go sit on out lookout, show Drake here the sights outside the walls.” She pulled Leo and Kai up from where they were sitting, “This alley is boring me anyway.”

Leo nodded, “Whatever.” He said quietly and walked from the alley, Kai hanging off his arm. Ayden followed them, as did Dee and Reilly. Seres and Draken were left behind.

“Happy Birthday, your highness.” She whispered, before running after the others, leaving Draken gaping. He caught up with her and grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop.

“How do you know?” he asked, nobody knew who he was, they couldn’t.

“My mother works in the palace. I live there too. You probably don’t see much of me though, the city was always my playground.” Seres smiled, “Don’t worry. I’m the only one who knows and I sure as hell wont tell the others. Promise.”

“I just hate being known as the Prince.” He sighed, “Everyday I wish…” he trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence.

“That you could be free?” she asked, twisting her fingers in her long blonde hair, “That’s a hard thing to achieve, Drake. Nobody is ever really free.” With that she called out for the others to stop and pulled Draken with her, “Come on, birthday boy. Have some fun today.” She grinned.

Draken was led outside the castle walls through a maze of alleys and then finally through an unused house with a hole in the wall. Reilly had wanted to blindfold him so that he didn’t know their secret way out of the city but Seres and Ayden had smacked her upside the head and told her she wasn’t to blindfold their friends. Finally outside he was pulled into the forest.

“Uh. Guys?” He yelled, he’d fallen behind, “I’ve never been in the forest before.” Reilly turned to him and grabbed his wrist, “Then stay with us and don’t get lost.”

“How could you not have been in the forest before?” Kai asked, “It’s like, right outside the castle gates. That’s abnormal.”

“You’re abnormal.” Leo said quietly.

“Yeah, but you still love me.” Kai grinned; “Don’t ya, Princess?” with that Leo stuck out his foot and tripped Kai up. Kai caught himself in the nick of time and glared at Leo, poking out his tongue playfully.

“You’re an idiot, Kai.” Dee said, shaking his head, it was the first thing he had heard Dee say since meeting him.

“Almost there, Drake.” Ayden called from where him and Seres were leading the group, “Not that you know where we’re going, but oh well. You shall soon see.”

Reilly was practically bouncing with happiness, Draken could not understand how anyone could be so happy all of the time. It didn’t make sense to him. She dragged him along behind her and all Draken could do was watch the trees stream past him, until the trees stopped and Reilly almost dragged him into a lake.

“Oops. Sorry there.” Reilly laugh, he was standing with one foot over the lake, about to fall in. She had saved him from falling in. She smiled apologetically and then pulled him backwards.

“This,” Ayden began, “This is our secret place.”

Draken looked around, the dense canopy of the trees had stopped and the sun was shining down onto the glade. Flowers had grown wild along the bank of the small lake. It was a truly beautiful place, unlike the manmade parks inside the walls of Rothis.

“It’s beautiful.” Draken managed to say, looking around, “I’ve never been out of the city before.” It was the truth. Sage had always tried to keep him close, incase something ever happened. Nobody knew who he was but there was always that off chance that someone would know his true identity and try and kill him. He was the heir to the throne and all and it certainly looked like his father wasn’t up to remarrying and having more children.
“You’ve never left the city walls before?” Kai asked, an amused expression on his face as he collapsed down into the soft grass, pulling Leo down with him.

Draken shook his head, “My mother is protective.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, Sage was practically his mother, but he didn’t miss Seres’s stare when he said that, “It has to do with the fact that my father is a fucking nut job.”

“What’s his problem?” Ayden asked, sitting down on the soft grass, beckoning Draken over to him. Draken pried Reilly’s fingers from around his waist and walked over to sit beside Ayden and Seres.

“He hates me. My real mother died giving birth to me.” Draken answered, “He’s always told me that it’s my fault she died.”

“Didn’t you say your mum was protective?” Reilly asked, blinking at him as she sat down in the grass, making Dee the only one still standing.

“Mum’s not my real mother. She treats me like a son though, looks after me, and keeps me out of trouble. All the things parents are supposed to do.” Draken smiled and Seres shook her head, a movement that only Draken saw.

Reilly smiled at him, as did Ayden. Leo simply nodded then turned back to talking quietly to Kai whose head was resting on Leo’s outstretched leg. Draken smiled at how good the two of them looked. It really looked like they knew one another, judging from the way that Leo was smiling slightly. He’d seen Leo around town, and every time he saw him the brunette was always looking blank and ignoring any comments other people made. Kai had his eyes closed and one of his hands was entwined with one of Leo’s. Draken couldn’t hear their conversation, but it looked as if it was one of those private conversations that couples could have about anything, one of those conversations that Draken longed to have with somebody. He didn’t even care who.

Dee was sitting next to the bank, away from the rest of the group.

“What’s with him?” Draken asked Seres and Ayden, staring at Dee’s back. He heard Ayden laugh and looked up into the boys blue eyes.

“We’re not sure what’s with him yet.” Seres answered, “He seems like a nice guy, but he is different, there’s something about him that none of us can work out. Believe me, Reilly’s tried to get him to open up but failed.”

Ayden grinned, “Most people think that Leo’s the quietest. But no, Dee’s silent most of the time.”

“Stop talking about me.” Dee called over his shoulder at them, “Don’t think I can’t hear you.”

Ayden smiled, “I’m allowed to talk about you, Dee.” He said as Dee turned around to look at him.

Dee blinked at them and then turned back to the lake, “I’m thinking, idiot.” He replied.
Ayden leant closer to Draken, “That’s the longest conversation we’ve had with him all week.”

“Thanks for bringing me here.” Draken smiled.

“Don’t worry about it, birthday boy.” Seres grinned, “How old are you anyway?”

“18.” Draken replied, grinning insanely.

Reilly was suddenly wrapped around his neck, “Oh, you’re 18! That’s old, but fantastic. Does that mean you could buy me alcohol?” she asked, talking at an insanely fast rate.

“If you buy her alcohol, I will skin you alive.” Dee said, turning to face them, “She doesn’t need it and I’d hate to see her drunk if this is what she’s like everyday.”

Ayden and Seres laughed, obviously glad to see a reaction from the dark haired boy.

“How old are all of you?” Draken asked, tilting his head to the side. It was a genuine question to ask, he had no idea how old these people were.

“Leo and Kai and Dee are 19.” Seres answered, “Reilly is 16, Ayden is 17.” She smirked and Draken realized she hadn’t given her age to him.

“You?” Draken asked, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. Her reaction was the same as Sage’s every time Draken asked her age.

“You never ask a lady her age.” Seres smiled, and stood up, brushing imaginary wrinkles out of her long shirt.

Ayden leant over to Draken and whispered, “She’s 18.” For his efforts all he got was Seres’s foot connecting to his back. Letting out a yelp in surprise he jumped up and ran after her. The two of them chased each other around the lake until eventually Seres got bored and pushed Ayden in.

Draken watched in amusement. He’d never actually have friends before; maybe he should spend more time with these people. He knew Sage would welcome any friends he made, she always complained he spent too much time cooped up in the palace anyway. The only thing that Draken didn’t want them to know was who he really was, and you couldn’t really have friends if you lied to them. It was bad enough that Seres knew who he was.

Nothing much happened for the rest of his birthday. He just sat on the grass watching the people he hoped to call friends. When it began to get dark Seres was next to him, whispering, “I’m guessing you need to get home.”

Draken nodded, “Sage is probably ready to have a fit.” He whispered to her. He was helped up by Seres.

“Bye, Guys. I’m going home, Drake volunteered to walk me because he should get home too.” Seres grinned.

Everyone yelled a ‘Bye’ in return and went back to what they had been doing as Seres dragged him along and back into the city.

They walked through the city in silence until they reached the palace gates, “I suppose you’re going to go in through the front?” she asked, smirking, “Your Highness.” She added as a second thought sarcastically, mainly to annoy him.

Draken nodded, “Sage’ll be waiting for me.” He replied, not missing her sarcastic tones but choosing to ignore them.

“Will we see you again?” she asked, “I can tell they like you but they probably wont be too happy if they find out who you are.”

“I wasn’t planning on telling them, yes, I’ll probably see you again. Today was fun.” Drake walked through the gates and turned back to smile at her, “See ya round.” He called then walked calmly inside.

Seres shook her head and walked in through the servants’ entrance.

“Where the hell have you been all day?” Sage yelled when he walked into his bedroom. She was standing in his doorway, hands on hips, her eyes were glaring at him, and “You weren’t in the city, unless you were holed up in some out of the way alley somewhere.”
“Well, I was in an alley but then I left the city and went into the forest.” Draken replied as he collapsed onto his bed.

Sage blinked, trying to come up with a response. She sighed and sat on his bed beside him, “You left the city?” she asked.

“Yeah. I met some people. They took me out.” Draken replied, “Nice people before you ask, and only one of them knows who I really am and I don’t think she could hurt me.” Draken sat up and wrapped an arm around Sage.

“Who knows who you are?” Sage asked, looking into his green eyes, vaguely reminded of Roxana for a moment.

“Seres. I don’t know here last name. She lives here with her mother.” Draken replied.
“I know who she is.” Sage smiled, “So, you met her friends I’m guessing. Who are they?”

“Ayden, Dee, Leo, Kai and Reilly.” Draken smiled, “Really nice people. Dee’s a little confusing but he seems like an okay person.”

Sage blinked and when heard the names of the people he had spent the day with, she had started laughing. After laughing to herself for a minute she sobered up and refused to answer any of Draken’s questions, still giggling when Draken asked a new question.

“Sage. Stop laughing.” Draken sighed, “If your not going to tell me why then just stop. Can I go out with them tomorrow?” he asked.

Sage nodded, “Sure. Just be careful. If you’re outside the city I can’t protect you.”
Draken nodded, “I know, Sagie. Now, weren’t you going to give me my birthday present?”

Sage smiled and reached into the pocket of the large blue robe she wore. She pulled out a book and handed it to him, then reached back into her pocket and pulled out the pendant he had wanted since he was 6 years old. It had been his grandfathers and had been entrusted to Sage when Tiernan had died. The old king had wanted to give it to his grandson.

The pendant was simple. It was a silver crown connected to a metal chain. Draken did it up around his neck and smiled at Sage. “The books a little odd but thanks for the pendant.”

“Just don’t let any of your new friends see it, and I want you to look after the book, its not for you to keep, Draken.” Sage replied as she kissed his cheek, “Oh, your father wants to see you in an hour.”

Draken face fell and he stared at her, “What?” he asked, “No. Please tell me you’re kidding.”

Sage shook her head, “I tried to get him to forget about it, I really did.”

Draken flopped back down onto his pillows, obviously trying to suffocate himself with them, “He’s gonna be so pissed.”

“Why?” Sage asked.

“He probably summoned me hours ago, right?” Draken asked, muffled through the pillows.

“Yes.” Sage replied, “He summoned you around lunchtime.”

Draken groaned again, “He’ll yell at me for not coming when I was called as well as for killing my mother.”

“Just don’t listen to him, Drae. It’s not worth getting all upset about. You didn’t kill your mother and you are allowed to make friends, no matter what he says.” Sage sighed, wishing she could do more for him.

“You’ve never heard what he says to me, Sage.” Draken replied, “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.” He was lying but he was 18 now, he could take on his father… or, at least stand up for himself. Couldn’t he?

Sage smiled weakly, “I’ll see you later, Drae.” With that she walked from the room, leaving Draken to count the seconds until having to meet with his father.

During the hour wait Draken considered throwing himself off his balcony or drowning himself in the sink, possibly even grabbing one of the ‘for show’ swords hanging on his wall and thrust it through his stomach (a messy suicide was always the most dramatic), but he knew he couldn’t do any of that, he had to face his father.

Every year, Aeron’s tormenting got worse, it was mainly harsh words with an occasional slice of physical violence, but it always left Draken shaking for days, his fathers words continuously coming back and replaying in his mind.

Every year he toyed with the idea of killing him, not that he ever could, but he thought about it.

Drake got dressed into ‘acceptable’ clothes rather than the clothes he wore when just walking around the city, trying to be one of them rather than a prince. Last year he’d shown up dressed in his everyday clothes and his father had threatened to treat him as if he was a slave if that’s what he was going to dress like.

Slowly, he walked towards his fathers room, wanting to stall for as much time as humanly possible, he wondered why Sage hadn’t sent guards with him to stop him from running away. He shook his head, glad she hadn’t given him an armed escort and knocked on the door to his fathers room before opening it slowly.

“Your Highness?” he asked, sticking his head into the dark room, which smelt slightly more mustier than it had the year before, Draken wondered briefly whether any windows had been opened during the year, the whole room smelt like mould, how did anyone stand being in that room.

“Draken.” Was called to him. Draken walked into the room and searched through the darkness for his father. After a few seconds of blindness caused by the dark his eyes cleared and he saw his father sitting by a locked window, staring at the nightfall that was slowly caressing the city into complete darkness.

“Hello, Father.” Draken said, his voice barely louder than a whisper but it seemed to echo around the silent room, causing the boy to cringe when it bounced back to him.
His father made no movement to face him, “You left the city today.” He said, talking more to the window than to his son.

Draken’s eyes widened, how could he know that. Sage wouldn’t have told him and nobody could have seen him leave… could have they? “Yes, sir.” Draken replied, “I did.”
“Did you see the forest?”

“Yes, sir.” Draken replied, wondering where his father was going with this and hoping he would hurry up, say what he was going to say and let his son go.

“Good.”

Draken blinked, had Sage given his father some form of sleeping potion or something before he had come in, or was Aeron ACTUALLY being nice to him for once?

It was then Aeron stood up and turned around and Draken noticed the dagger he was holding. He took a step backwards, scared his father was going to lunge for him.

However, Aeron simply laughed, a sound that didn’t do anything to comfort Draken, “Silly child, do you think this knife if meant for you?” he asked, smirking.

Draken didn’t say anything; he was too busy trying to stop himself from turning and running away.

Aeron laughed again, “No, this knife isn’t meant for you. It’s meant for me.” With that Aeron ground the dagger into his own stomach, not even balking at the pain, instead laughing when Draken’s eyes widened.

Draken could do nothing; he didn’t want to do anything. He stood and watched as his fathers’ blood slowly drained from his body. Aeron fell to his knees and looked up at his son.

“Always knew you would kill me, child.” Aeron smirked, still wanting to torture Draken up until the moment he died.

“You killed yourself.” Draken whispered, still frozen to the spot. However, if he could move he probably would have ran to his father and forced the dagger in deeper.

Aeron laughed and stared at Draken with eyes that were slowly paling due to blood lose, “Goodbye, Son.” He whispered.

“Go to hell.” Draken replied, finally he was able to move. He turned away from his father and walked away, leaving him to die alone. As he reached the door he heard a groan, but he didn’t look back. Instead, he turned the handle and walked from the room, shutting the door behind him.

Then he ran, the tears beginning to fall and stain his cheeks.

Sage was sitting at her desk when Seres walked in.

“Good evening, Seres.” Sage smiled, beckoning the girl over to her and pointing at a second chair at her desk.

“Good evening, Mistress.” Seres replied, a sarcastic grin on her face as Sage glared at her.

“Haven’t I told you not to call me Mistress?” Sage asked, “I swear, I have. It’s Sage, if you call me ‘Mistress’ once more I might have to send you back to the academy and make them send me someone else.” Sage was, of course, joking with her apprentice. Seres was purely talented, a rare trait to find, and she wasn’t selfish. She actually cared about helping people.

It had been earlier that year when Sage realized that she was going to have to leave Rothis soon, so she wrote to Briar requesting an apprentice. Briar had sent Seres; due to the fact the girl was originally from Rothis and could be of more use to Sage.

Thankfully, Briar had chosen the right person. Seres was the perfect apprentice for her, not that Sage actually taught her anything and was about to leave her to her own defenses for who knows how long.

“Did Draken suspect anything?” Seres asked, picking up a paperweight from Sage’s desk and used magic to make it twirl through the air, “I think we all acted rather well.”

“You all did perfectly.” Sage replied, “He has no idea.” Sage and Seres smiled at one another then heard the door fly open.

Draken threw himself into Sage’s surprised arms; he buried his face into her neck, speaking at an incredible rate, words that neither Sorceress could interpret. Sage could do nothing but run her hands up and down his back, trying to sooth him.

“Dead.” He managed to choke out after a few minutes, “Dead.”

Seres and Sage looked at one another, startled.

“Who’s dead?” Sage asked, twisting her fingers through his hair, trying to stop his crying fit.

“Father.” Draken said, sobbing into her neck again, “Stabbed himself.”

Seres looked at Sage, “What do we do?” she asked.

Sage pried Draken off her, “Drae, honey. You stay here.” She whispered to him. She led Draken to where Seres was sitting and he clung to her instead, not even realizing who it was, “I’ll be back.” Sage said to her apprentice then walked briskly from the room.

Seres patted his back until he finally calmed down, he looked up at her with red eyes and a tear streaked face and blinked, “Seres?” he asked, confused, “Why are you here?”

Seres laughed quietly, “Never mind, Draken.” She replied.

Drake sat in Sage’s chair and stared ah her, he rubbed his hands over his eyes and then stared at her, “Seres, why are you here.” He asked again, “Don’t lie.”

“I’m Sage’s apprentice.” She replied, “I’ve been here a year.”

“Are you even from Rothis?” he asked, astounded.

“Yes, actually. I was sent to Vendray as a child to become a Sorceress. The headmaster of the training school is Sage’s best friend.” Seres smiled.

“Briar?” Draken asked, “The crazy one?”

Seres laughed, “She is eccentric, yes, but not crazy. Sage wrote to Briar wanting an apprentice. I was sent.”

“How do you know the others?” Draken asked, blinking in confusion.

Seres laughed again, “Leo and Kai are in training for the royal guard. Dee’s actually a lord. Reilly and Ayden are Kai’s friends. So they got dragged into this too. We all know who you really are.”

Draken blinked, “Dee, Leo and Kai I can now understand if they knew who I was, but Reilly and Ayden?”

“You’re identical to your grandfather.” Seres answered, “Even if we didn’t live through his rein, everybody knows what he looks like, so everyone knows who you are.”

Draken’s head sunk down onto Sage’s desk, “Has the world gone insane?” he asked, talking to the desk more than Seres, “For crying out loud, it’s my birthday. I had a good day up until an hour ago. Then my father fucking kills himself and tells me it’s my fucking fault. Then, you tell me you’re actually a sorceress and that everyone has been seeing through my disguise for years.”

Seres blinked and opened her mouth to say something but Sage walked in.

“Draken, go pack some belongings.” She said to him then turned to Seres, “I think it’s time we left. See if my theories are correct.”

Seres nodded, “I’ll take care of things here.” She smiled, “That’s what I was brought here to do, right?”

Sage nodded, “Draken. Up, now.” She ordered, “Seres, take him to his room. Make sure he packs the book I gave him.”

Seres stood and grabbed Draken by his collar, “Come on, Birthday Boy.” She grinned, dragging him from the room before he could protest.

An hour later Seres was leading Draken and Sage through the maze to get out of the city, she was talking to Sage and both of them were pretty much ignoring every question Draken asked them, as if he was a child.

“Oi!” he shouted.

Both Sage and Seres turned to glare at him, “Shut up!” they both hissed, smacking him upside the head.

Draken stared at them both as if they had each grown a second head, how the hell had they done that in perfect unity? Must be one of those Master-Apprentice things.

Seres led them into the unused house and turned to them, “Go do what you have to do. I’ll watch the city.”

“How are you going to deal with Aeron’s body?” Sage asked.

“I have ways.” Seres replied, smiled, “How much of a mess did he make?”

Images of his fathers’ suicide popped into his mind and he shuddered. “A big one.”

Seres smiled, “A messy suicide is always the most dramatic.” She said, voicing Draken’s own through from hours ago, “I’ll clean up.”

Sage smiled, “Thank you. If you talk to Briar, tell her I owe her. Come on, Draken.” With that Sage walked through the hole in the city walls and left Draken alone with Seres.

“Tell the others-” he began.

“Never mind that, Draken. You’ll be back. You’re king now.” Seres smiled, “See you soon.” With that she turned around and walked from the house.

Draken sighed and followed Sage, still wondering what the hell was going on.

Sage led him through a path in the forest and then out into a field, “Here we are.” She smiled, bending down and picking up a rock.

“Where are we?” Draken asked, as Sage handed him the rock.

“Look.” She answered, indicating at nothing but more field.

“What am I supposed to be seeing?” Draken asked, blinking at Sage, “Cause I swear nothing’s there.”

“Throw the damn rock, Draken.” Sage ordered, still pointing at nothing.

Draken threw the rock where she had been pointing. It flew though the air and impacted with something with a deep thud, and fell to the ground.

Draken’s mouth fell open as he walked to where the rock had fell, he touched reached out and found that his hands slid right through, he turned to her, an expression of amazement on his face.

“You know it’s there. You can pass.” Sage explained, walking up to stand beside him.
“What’s through there?” he asked, suddenly wondering whether he should walk through.
“I’m not sure.” She replied, “Would you like to find out?”

Draken nodded, “Yeah. I would.”

With that Sage took Draken’s hand and the two of them walked through the boundary, not knowing what was on the other side.

(AN: I FINALLY FINISHED HIS CHAPTER! HIP HIP FUCKING HOORAY! I actually feel liberated. This chapter was supposed to be 2500 words. Instead it was 5843 words. Anyone else notice the difference? * dead *)

Chapter Three: Lyra and Kali.

Twins were a very uncommon thing in the Elven world. After the curse of the Vampires had reached its full capacity it started channeling into the unborn, most of the children born to Elves were Elven, but twins were different. Anywhere in the Elven/Vampire world twins were the same, no matter who they were born to. One was an Elf, the other was a Vampire. Pure opposites of one another.

In a small Elven village a woman lay, giving birth, she smiled up at her husband then at the midwife, who was gaping at her child.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, breathlessly.

“Twins.” The midwife said, and that was all the explanation the parents needed, one of their children was a vampire.

6 years after the birth.

“Kali! Kali, come out! Pleeeaaaaseee!” Lyra called, wanting her sister to stop hiding, “You know I get scared when you hide from me.”

Kali watched her twin from the shadow. Hiding in dark corners was always her best hiding spot because she blended into them, all she had to do was curl up real tight and push her dark hair in front of her face, making sure her dark clothing covered the rest of her body. She liked playing this game with her sister, because every time Kali had the opportunity to leap out of the shadows and scare her sister but she never did because it would make Lyra cry.

“Here I am, Lyra.” Kali smiled, standing up and walking from the shadows, holding her arms out wide to her twin. Lyra’s face instantly brightened and Kali soon was glomped by her sister, Lyra’s blonde hair tickling her nose.

“Why do you hide from me, Kali?” Lyra asked, looking into her sisters’ eyes.

“I like to be alone sometimes, Lyra.” Kali replied, smiling, “But it’s okay now, I’m finished hiding for today.”

“Good.” Lyra replied.

The two were identical in facial features but complete opposites in everything else. Lyra had pale blonde, almost white, hair that was like an angels. She had the same eyes as her sister but Lyra’s had a certain innocence to them that Kali’s didn’t. Kali’s raven coloured hair was long and untamed, she refused to let her mother brush it, preferring to do it herself when she remembered. Lyra was light and Kali was darkness.

Lyra was the oldest, even if Kali seemed more mature and protective. Lyra hid behind her sister and Kali liked that, she liked thinking she was the protector or the older of the two. However, when Kali was bullied because of the fact she was a Vampire it was always Lyra who would suddenly turn violent and hurt the children or adults who were hurting her sister.

They protected each other, Kali didn’t know what life would be like without her sister and Lyra didn’t want to even consider living if Kali wasn’t there with her.

“Don’t leave me, Kali.” Lyra whispered to her sister.

“I wont.” Kali replied, even though she knew that one day she was going to have to.

12 years later.

(AN: Anyone else getting sick of me changing dates quickly? Oh, this makes them 18, by the way. If anyone wanted to know, I only skip years once more… I think. NO PROMISES!)

Kali was sitting in a tree, looking down at the forest. In a month she would turn 18 and then be sent away to live with the Vampires, where everyone lusted for blood not just one person.

She didn’t want to leave, hell, she hadn’t even told her sister she was leaving. She ran her hands through her now chin length hair, pulling the long fringe over her eyes.

“Kali!”

Kali looked down at her sister, “Yeah, Lyra?”

“Can I come up?” her sister asked.

Kali looked at he sister. Lyra’s long blonde hair was braided into two plaits down each side of her head, the other strange thing was that she was wearing a long skirt, “In a dress?” she called down, blinking at her sister.

Slowly Lyra gathered the skirt and pulled on it, showing that she was wearing pants underneath. Smiling she made her way to the tree and climbed up with ease, “I have climbed trees in skirts before, Kali.” Lyra smirked.

“Yes, but Mother wasn’t too happy last time when it got caught on a branch and nearly sent you flying.” Kali replied, laughing when Lyra poked her tongue out, “Brat.”

“Good one, Kali. Lets just remember something here.” Lyra paused and pretended to think, “Hmm, who’s the older one?” she asked, staring at Kali innocently.

“Good question.” Kali replied, smirking, “And if you bring that up once more I shall push you out of this tree.” She was joking through, she couldn’t actually hurt her sister, it would be more like hurting herself.

The two were still mirror images save for the hair colour and the fact that Kali was much paler than Lyra, one of the Vampire genes finally kicking in. They even dressed alike, just in opposite colours. Except today, because for some reason Lyra was wearing a skirt even though she hated them.

“What’s with the skirt?” Kali asked, tugging at the material.

“Mother wants me to impress someone.” Lyra sighed, “I think she wants to get me a job.”
Lyra stared at the ground, “But I really just think she’s trying to send me away quickly so I have my mind on something that isn’t you leaving.”

“I didn’t even think you knew.” Kali sighed, wrapping an arm around her sister.

“I heard you and Father talking last week.” Lyra said, leaning into Kali’s arms, “Do you have to go?”

“Yes.” Kali replied, “The other option is death, because I will need blood and I’ll kill the closest thing with it. I don’t want to accidentally kill somebody I love, like you.”

Lyra sighed, “You wouldn’t kill me.”

“How do you know, Lyra?” Kali asked, “I wont be myself anymore. I’ll be a vampire, with an unquenchable thirst for the blood of a living creature.” After saying that the two of them stared at the ground in an uneasy silence.

“How come Vampires don’t attack each other?” Lyra asked, breaking the silence.

“We’re not cannibals, Lyra.” Kali sighed, “And the fact that we are sort of dead, would make our blood taste bad.”

“You’re not dead though.” Lyra asked, “How do you ‘die?’” Lyra and Kali had never really discussed much about how Kali was a Vampire.

“I don’t know. I’ll write to you and tell you what dying is like.” Kali sighed.

“Does that mean you’re leaving before our birthday?” Lyra asked.

“I have to.” Kali replied, “I have to be with my people.” Kali let go of her sister and started to slowly climb down the tree.

“What about me?” Lyra asked, her words barely reaching her sister, “Don’t I mean anything to you?”

“You mean the world to me, Lyra. That is why I am leaving.” Kali replied, finishing the climb.

“You said you would never leave.” Lyra said, not knowing whether Kali heard her words or not because she wasn’t replied. Lyra sighed and watched the trees, trying to stop herself from crying.

Kali walked away from her sister, “You know I couldn’t promise you that, Lyra.” She whispered to the wind as she made her way back to their house.

YAY! I am liberated from writing Draken for a while. Meet the 2 NEWEST characters, Lyra and Kali (AKA, Elf and Vampire). Only 4 more to come after this. Then onto Book 2: The Land of the Gods (which I SHOULD have been at at around 12500 words. My word count tally I made pre-Nano is screwed. Damn Draken's long chapter of doom.

Bo: Damn Draken's long day.

Oh, she says Hi. (Bo: Oh, no I don't you're a liar Kate, I didn't say Hi at all) You just did Bo. :P

Bye all.

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 09:34:06 GMT

Damn. Hot the 8000 mark and still nowhere NEAR finishing Draken's chapter. I think I hit the halfway mark. I'll put it up when it's done. I also made some minor adjustments to the actuall chapter.

So, anywho.

*sighs*

8,176 / 50,000
(16.4%)

Yay. Progress Bar = Love.

Night all.

NaNo

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 10:26:00 GMT

GAH! Here's my NaNo. I had it all perfect and the window refreshed *cries*, So, deal without the editing I did. Bloody LJ.

Prologue:

Mother and Father created the world. Nobody really knows when they did it or what persuaded them to do such a stupid thing, but they did. They should have stopped there and left the world to grow peacefully without anyone else around to stuff it up, but they didn’t. They created the first of their ‘children’.

Lilith was the oldest and her parents regarded her as such. They loved her, but eventually they moved on to other things and began to create people to inhabit the world they had created.

The Fae’s came first. Mother had created them one night while staring at the newly created moon. They were born, bathed in darkness, and were gifted with immortality and the power of flight. As her first race grew up father created his own.

The Elves were the tree people, tall and graceful. All of them were pale and had light coloured hair. The elves were mainly concerned about caring for the wildlife so there was nothing the Gods could really do for them.

Then came the Nymphs, mother wanted magic users, so she created them. The Nymphs had the powers to control the elements. They were the shortest race so far but looked fairly similar to the Elves in appearance, except for the fact they weren’t all fair-haired.

Then came the last and final race, The Humans. Father slaved over them, trying to perfect them. He gave them magic a…

AN: I cannot get the race descriptions perfect. Damnit

After creating the races Mother and Father were too tired to watch their creations. They left Lilith in charge for a short time while they slept. When they woke up they decided to create more children for themselves. Children to watch over the people of the world.

Together they created the Gods. First was Sorin, the Sun God. Followed by Aditya, the silent Moon Goddess. After her was Enki, the God of the Earth and last was Chiela, the Air Goddess. They were instructed to watch the races and love them equally while Mother and Father slept. Lilith was instructed to watch over her siblings, keep them out of mischief.

So the Gods walked among the people and all of them eventually made favourites. Sorin chose the Humans, Aditya chose the Nymphs. Enki, naturally, picked the Elves and Chiela picked the Faes, which were much like her.

By now the races had evolved. The Humans were calling the most powerful magic uses out of them “Sorcerers’ or in the case of a female ‘Sorceress’. It was something that Lilith suspected that Sorin had told them to do.

Sorin was the worst abuse of his powers out of all of the Gods. He’d built a huge castle in the middle of the Human’s district and began to live there, ignoring his true home in the Land of the Gods. The only time Lilith had visited him she had been appalled at the amount of people he had wanting to get into bed with him, and it wasn’t just females.

Chiela had a small home in the Fae District where she lived among her people for sometime of each month. She was the youngest and the most affectionate out of the Gods. Thankfully, she truly adored her people and had actually started to dress in the Gothic clothes of the Fae; she even had the large wings.

Aditya was training the more powerful elementals in the Nymph district, teaching them how to master all of the elements that they were given to possess. Her training was harmless, but in Lilith’s eyes it was splitting the race into 2. There were the ‘Shadows’ the highly skilled and there were the plain Nymphs. The Shadows were in power and lorded over all of the less talented Nymphs, occasionally forcing them into a life of servitude.

Enki lived among the trees. He cared for his people, loved them like his own children. He taught them about the forest and trained them in the language of the natural world. He seemed to be the only one properly caring for his people.

But Lilith did not care for the people of the world and remained in the Land of the Gods, ignoring her parents’ orders to watch her siblings in case of any trouble. She went to sleep, alongside her Mother and Father. Due to this she didn’t see the war coming.

Nobody really knew how the war started; it was either that nobody knew or that nobody was willing to admit to starting it. All up, it was a foolish war.

Somehow the Faes started to die. Chiela was heartbroken and sought a way to protect her race. When she finally found a way to stop them from dying, one third of the race had died from the disease. The method she found was called “Ascension’ which was raising their spirits to another plain of existence. All that were sick were Ascended and the rest lived on as Faes.

It was about then that Lilith woke up, and she was much too late to stop the damage from spreading.

In retaliation the Faes cursed the Elves, for that was who the disease was said to have come from. Half of the Elven population was cursed into becoming Vampires, monsters that live off the blood of living beings. This curse blackened half of the Elven district into an unbreakable darkness, unending light. What the Faes didn’t know is that their curse also cursed the Elves god. Enki was cursed as well, every full moon he turned into a Vampire until the next full moon when he was restored to his Elven persona, the only one of his siblings that knew this was Lilith, and she promised to keep his secret.

By now, everyone was attacking everyone. All four races had built armies and were fighting near the valley that surrounded the land of the Gods.

Lilith watched from the outskirts of the battle, her siblings by her side.

“You do realize that Mother and Father are going to kill you all.” Lilith said, looking at the ashamed looks on her siblings’ faces.

“No, they’re going to kill you.” Sorin snapped, “You were supposed to watch over us. Keep us from doing this.”

“I had suspected that you had more common sense that this, brother.” She replied, sweeping her arm to indicate the battle, “You started this so you fix it.” With that she walked away and left her feuding siblings alone to fix the mess they had caused.

However, the answer Lilith was given was not the answer that Lilith was expecting. The Gods decided to separate the races, placing invisible boundaries between the districts.

“No.” Lilith replied, “You can’t do that. Mother and Father would have a fit.”

“What would we do?” came a soft voice from behind them. Their parents had awakened.

It took an entire day to explain what had happened to Mother and Father. Needless to say, neither were very happy.

“We wish to separate the races. They can’t live together. Too much animosity.” Aditya said, her quiet voice ringing out from the silence.
Chiela nodded, “We’ll still watch them, but not walk among them.”

“It’s better that way.” Enki sighed, staring at the floor.

“And it stops the war.” Sorin added.

“What do you think, Lilith?” Mother asked her, wanting her opinion.

“I don’t care, I feel that the races shouldn’t be separated but I also feel it’s the only way to stop this war.” She was sitting beside Father’s throne, he was pacing between the other children and Mother was sitting in her throne.

“Do what you think is best, children.” Father told them.

The 4 younger Gods nodded and walked from the room, leaving Mother, Father and Lilith alone.

“This is bad.” Lilith sighed, running her fingers through her long blonde hair, “Very bad. The races can’t be separated.”

Mother smiled at her daughter, “That’s why you need to come up with a solution to remedy this in the future.”

“Me?” Lilith asked, looking up finally, “You’re joking. Why me?”

“Well, we did tell you to watch your siblings. Work this out for yourself, Lilith. But you need to fix this, the races can’t be separated forever.” Mother smiled, “You’ll figure out something.”

With that Mother and Father both walked from the room, leaving Lilith to contemplate.

The races were separated and all knowledge of the other races was removed of them. Some traces remained, but only Lilith knew that. She wanted the people to have evidence of other races but not actually know about them. So she bewitched the books and the people who knew and she came up with a plan.

One person from every race. One Human, One Sorcerer. One Shadow, One Nymph. One Ascended, One Fae. One Elf and One Vampire. These 8 people would eventually reform the world. The only problem now was picking the 8 people.

Chapter One: Sage.

“Sage! Sagie Sage. Come on, Sage. Wake up!”

Sage opened her eyes and blinked a few times, why the hell was Briar calling her, and hadn’t she told her friend never to call her ‘Sagie’ if she wanted to live to see another day? She sat up and blinked at Briar.

Sage had pretty much always been with Briar. The first memory she had was when the two of them were children and had just used magic for the first time, rescuing an injured kitten from a pack of nasty boys. The thing Sage couldn’t remember was if Briar’s hair had always been that intense shade of pink. She assumed it had, because in all of her memories Briar’s hair was always pink, but Briar wouldn’t answer whether she was remembering things correctly or not.

Briar was standing at the door of their room. They had shared a room ever since coming to the training academy in Vendray when they were 5 years old, a considerable amount of years earlier.

The pink haired, mulatto skinned girl was jumping about, waving her arms wildly in the air, still chanting ‘Sage, Sagie Sage, Sagie-pants’ and so on.

“What do you want, Briar?” Sage asked, pulling a brush off her bedside table and ran it through her long silver hair, watching Briar jump.

“Master wants you.” Briar grinned, “As soon as you are out of bed and dressed. Oh, and I finished another picture.”

Briar’s magic ran through her art. She channeled it into whatever she drew, some days it predicted the future, or told of the past. Sometimes her art was so enlaced with a spell of protection or harm that it was dangerous. The only bad thing was that Briar did not know what she was drawing when she started out, and even afterwards she couldn’t tell what spell she had cast or if it was just a normal picture, she slipped into a trance that she didn’t come out of until the picture was done. Nobody knew how to train her, as she was the only Sorceress to have ever shown this trait.

“Did he say what he wanted?” Sage asked, wondering why her master had summoned her at this hour of the morning. Usually, he wasn’t even awake now.

Briar was digging through her desk, trying to find the picture she had drawn, “Nope.” She called, and then hummed what she knew as her ‘victory song’, “Found it.” She smiled and handed it to Sage.

Sage blinked at the picture, there was so much detail, so many people. It was a war, but the strange thing was that there were not just humans fighting it. There were people with wings, tall slender people that looked like they were more tree than person, dark haired people with extremely pail skin and another mismatched group that were controlling some form of magic. In the corner of the picture were 5 people, staring at the battle in shock. Sage stared at the picture then looked at Briar, “Can I show this to Master?” she asked.

Briar nodded, “I was going to give it to you.” She smiled, “I expect that he’s going to send you away. But, never fear. I’ll see you again. You can’t hide from me that easily.”

“Thank you, Briar.” Sage smiled, getting out of her bed, “I’ll come say goodbye before he sends me away, ok?” she walked over to her wardrobe and got dressed quickly, smiling at Briar she smoothed the creases out other long blue dress and walked out of her room.

The training school in Vendray was huge. It was one of those places that you could not explore in one day, you probably couldn’t see every room for the first time if you did nothing else but explore for a month. There were secret passages and enchanted rooms, prank spells left by previous generations that nobody had set off yet.

Nobody knew when the school was built but Sage had her theories. She assumed that Sorin, the god of the Humans and the Sorcerers, had built it when he had walked among the people thousands of years ago. It was a legend of course, but Sage had listened to Briar too much and began to believe it.

Briar believed in mythical races; Faeries, Elves, Vampires. The Vampires were Briar’s favourites, she believed they weren’t evil but were simply cursed. Sage didn’t believe in other races, saying that if they existed then people would have seen them by now, that usually sent Briar into a lengthy rant about things that Sage never paid attention to. Thankfully, Briar never noticed that Sage didn’t pay attention.

Sage’s master was a wise Sorcerer by the name of Basil. He had told Sage that she was to be his last Apprentice and because of that she would have to train extra hard, because he wanted her to be the best. He pushed her beyond her limits and for that she was thankful, it made her self-reliant and strong. Briar had been raised pretty much the same, her master had several other apprentices as well. Sakura was one of the masters who was fairly laid back and let her students get away with murder, and because nobody knew how to teach Briar or even how her magic worked, she was left to her own defenses most of the time.

Sage knocked on the heavy carved wooden door of her masters’ study. It was thrown open with a blast of magic, Sage grinned at her masters’ abuse of magic.

“Should you really be mistreating your magic like that, Basil?” she asked, joking as she sat on the chair beside Basil’s large desk that was strewn with papers.

The only response from her master was a small grunt; he was digging through one of the drawers in his second desk, which was also covered in papers. She blinked at him; he was obviously looking for something.

“What are you looking for?” Sage asked, “I could help you find it.”

Basil sat up, finally realizing she was there, “Sage?” He asked, as if wondering why she was sitting in his study, “Oh, yes. I asked Briar to fetch you, didn’t I?”

Sage raised a brow at her master, “She drew another picture.” Sage told him and held up the image of the war up, “Do you know what it’s of?” she asked.

Basil shook his head and then nodded, “Yes, and no.” he replied, “It all has to do with what I’m looking for. But, never mind that now. I actually have a reason why I called you here this morning-”

“Very early.” Sage cut in.

“Yes, it is early, but you are being sent to Rothis to finish your apprenticeship and begin your new life as a Sorceress.” Basil told her, “But you cannot leave until I have found this bloody book.” With that he stuck his head back into the open drawer and dug through it.
“Rothis?” she asked, “Near the forests?”

“There is only one Rothis, Sage.” Basil replied, his voice muffled.

Sage smiled, she loved the forests, not that she didn’t like the plains of Vendray, she preferred forests, and oceans, where you couldn’t see what was hidden under the surface. The only thing was that Rothis was about a days ride away, and she had to make the journey by herself, without any of her fellow students or teachers beside her to help if she got into danger, only living on what the world offered, however, if someone wanted to help her she was allowed to accept.

“Ahah!” Basil called and sat up, putting a heavy book on top of the chaos of papers on his desk, “Found it, which just proves it.”

“Proves what?” Sage asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Never mind.” Basil replied, “Just take this book, say goodbye to Briar and prepare to leave. You set out at daybreak tomorrow morning.”

Sage blinked, usually all apprentices were given more than one day to prepare themselves, “Are… you sure?” she asked and then blinked again when Basil nodded, “I only get today to prepare?”

“You don’t need much preparation, Sage. You’re going to Rothis, you only need to say farewell to Sage and get your possessions ready.

Besides, Rothis needs you now, their Sorcerer just died and their King has requested a new one. Tiernan’s son will meet you at the city gates.”

Sage blinked and stood up. She bowed to her master, “Farewell, Basil. Stay well.” She picked up the book and Briar’s picture then ran from the room.

“What did he say?” Briar asked when Sage ran back in, “Are you leaving?”

“Yes.” Sage replied, sitting down on her bed, staring at the floor.

“Ooh!” Briar was excited, “Where are you going?” she knew it was unlikely she would leave the school because her talents were rare.

“Rothis.” She replied, “Apparently, I’m leaving at daybreak tomorrow.”

Briar blinked, “Really? Tomorrow?” Sage looked up and saw how sad her friend looked, after a few seconds Briar cheered up again, “Okay. So there’s no time for a party. I’ll help you pack.”

“Thanks.” Sage smiled, and stood up, pulling her friend into a tight embrace.

Briar grinned, “Don’t worry, Sagie. I’ll write to you.”

“I know you will.” Sage replied, “Now, come on. Let’s get me packed.”

Sage set off at daybreak, with Briar watching her leave. Briar was the only one there, the only other person who knew she was leaving was Basil and he had been too busy to see Sage off.

“Bye!” Briar called, bouncing on the spot, waving her arms away. Sage smiled back at her friend and then rode off, with only her horse for company.

It had taken her until lunchtime to get completely lost. She stopped to let her horse rest and sat on a riverbank.

“Excuse me, miss?” a voice came from behind her, she looked up to see a young woman on a horse, “Are you lost?”

Sage nodded, “Yeah.” She replied, “I’m heading to Rothis.”

“You’ve strayed a fair bit then, haven’t you?” the girl laughed, her blonde curls bobbing slightly. She had the most brilliant blue eyes, “Where have you come from?”

“Vendray.” She replied, standing up from the riverbank, “Are you heading that way?”

The girl nodded, “Yes, actually. I live in the forests nearby. You wouldn’t happen to be their new Sorceress, would you?”

Sage nodded, “Sage Almasy.” She smiled, “And you are?”

“You can call me Lily.” Lily smiled, “Come on, I’ll show you how to get there.”

Sage mounted her horse, “How much further?” she asked, “I feel like I’ve been lost all day.”

Lily laughed, “Not much further, really. We have to ride through a forest to get there, I assume you would have gone around?” when Sage nodded she smiled, “I can lead you through the forests. It’s quicker that way.”

“Thank you.” Sage smiled.

“You’re welcome.” Lily smiled, “Now, let’s get you to Rothis.”

Lily led her through the forests and mostly silence. Eventually the trees stopped and they were looking at a giant city. Sage turned to thank Lily but the girl was gone, most likely she had retreated back to the forest she lived in. Shrugging, Sage finished the ride towards Rothis.

Standing at the gate was a tall man, he couldn’t have been any older than 19. He had long silver hair and very cold piercing blue eyes. This must be the man that Basil had told her about, the kings’ son.

“Are you Sage Almasy?” he called to her. Sage nodded and dismounted.

“Yeah, that’s me.” She replied, holding out her hand, which the man blatantly ignored. She grabbed her bag from where it was hanging on the saddle and took the horses reins in her other hand.

“I’m Aeron.” He replied, “My father wants to speak to you and you’re late.” With that he span around and walked into the city and Sage realized that she didn’t like him.

Tiernan was a different matter. He looked very much like his son, but he was older and his eyes were friendly.

“Sage Almasy.” She introduced herself, bowing.

He laughed, “There is no need to bow.” He said, standing up, “I am Tiernan, King of Rothis. But, there is no need for formalities. Tiernan will do.”

“I’m Chantrea.” One of the girls sitting beside the Kings throne spoke to her, “I’m his daughter.”

Sage looked at her and smiled, her hair was less silver than her fathers and brothers hair and her eyes were green, not blue. Sage assumed she must take after her mother as apposed to her father.

“Chantrea, would you mind showing Sage around?” Tiernan asked as he sat down onto his throne, “I have a meeting soon, not one I particularly want to attend but apparently I have to.”

Sage laughed quietly and smiled at him. Chantrea took her arm and pulled her from the room.

“What do I do with my things?” Sage asked, “I left them in the hall.”

“Dad’ll get someone to bring them upstairs for you, come on.” She smiled and pulled Sage along.

The Castle was nowhere near as big as the school in Vendray but it was still fairly large. Everyone seemed to have their own room, including the servants. Children ran around in the gardens, weaving amongst the trees and bushes.

Sage’s own room looked out towards the forest, something she was glad of, and it was around three times bigger than the one she had shared with Briar. It was furnished beautifully.

“I picked the furniture.” Chantrea smiled, “It’s almost the same as my room, I figured that you would probably like it.”

“Thank you.” Sage smiled, as she walked over to a large desk in the corner, “I love it.”

3 years later.

Chantrea had been married off to a prince of another city; she had picked her own husband and had left willingly. She had told Sage she would keep in touch but she hadn’t, not that it upset Sage much. She was much too busy watching Aeron and his new wife anyway.
In all the years she knew Aeron she had only ever seen him smile when Roxana was in the room. She was the world to him. She had huge green eyes and tanned skin. Aeron had fallen in love with her the first time he had set eyes on her in his fathers throne room. When Tiernan had seen the smile on his sons face he had immediately married them.

Sage was the only one who knew she wasn’t fit to be a mother, but she was called in to provide something to ‘assist’ her in creating a child with her husband. Sage tried, but she had no clue what to do, she hadn’t been trained in this kind of magic.

Then Tiernan fell sick and all resources were handed to him, but he couldn’t be saved. Aeron became King and Roxana became Queen. Now they really needed an heir.

Thankfully, one summers eve an old lady wandered into the throne room and gave the Queen some form of potion, ‘Something to help you conceive.” The woman had smiled, bowing to Roxana, who drank the potion immediately.

A month later she was pregnant.

The pregnancy went fine and Aeron treated his wife like she was a china doll, one misstep and she would break into a thousand pieces. Sage stayed by her side always under Aeron’s orders, not that Sage really minded, she loved the Queen and wished to protect her.
“This child is going to kill you, Roxana.” Sage said, as she brushed the Queens hair.

“I know.” Roxana replied, “But as long as my son is born then everything is okay.” The Queen smiled and leant her head on Sage’s shoulder, “I was needed to carry him into this world, that is all.”

“What about Aeron?” Sage asked, “Do you not fear for him?”

“Yes.” Roxana replied, smiling weakly, “But there is nothing I can do about it.”

At 7 months, Roxana went into labor. A midwife was called in from the city, but Sage knew the ending. She stood by Roxana and held her hand as her husband paced outside. Roxana smiled at Sage weakly, “Draken.” Was whispered at her as Roxana’s eyes slid shut.
The midwife held the baby up to Sage, as if she knew that the Queen was dead. The baby boy was cleaned, wrapped in blankets and handed to Sage, the midwife was gone as quickly as she came. Sage looked down at the baby boy and smiled, he was small but beautiful. The one thing Sage noticed was the feeling of magic, left on his skin. Something she shrugged off, blaming it on the fact that all humans have some magic talent, and walked out to show Aeron his son.

“What of my wife?” Aeron asked, standing up as Sage walked out of the room, the baby boy in her arms.

“She’s dead, sir.” Sage answered, not knowing how to talk to him. She had never really liked him, she had loved his father, his sister and his wife but she disliked Aeron. He was too cold. Though, she couldn’t have predicted what happened next. He simply turned and walked away, not even looking at his son.

“Your son lives though.” She yelled after him, holding out the bundle of blankets where the baby was watching her silently.

Aeron stopped and turned to face her, “I don’t care. My wife is dead.” He replied, “You raise my son, I don’t want him.” With that he turned and continued walking down the hallway.

Sage stared after him in disbelief, she couldn’t believe him, how could she raise a child? How could he abandon his own son?

She remembered Roxana’s last words, “Draken.” She said out loud, “It’s what your mother wanted to call you, so that’s your name.”

She held onto the baby, rocking it softly as she walked away, beginning to make preparations for Roxana’s funeral.

Chapter Two: Draken

Eyes flew open; he sat up quickly and shuddered, wiping sweat from his brow. Another dream, more vivid. This dream was of a war, a war between thousands of people, most of them dying horribly, screaming for help from their gods.

Draken sat up and tried to push the images from his mind, why was he having these dreams again? Hadn’t Sage told him that they would go away after a while? Well, they had gone away, but now they were back, and more vivid than ever.

“Good Morning, Draken.” Ah, speak of the devil and she comes. Sage had walked in, carrying breakfast.

“Food, Sage?” he asked, she usually made him get his own breakfast, even though they had servants. He had argued that one day, he couldn’t sit down for a week and he’d been 9 at the time.

“It’s your birthday, Drake.” She reminded, “Or have you forgotten again?” she placed the tray on his desk and sat on his bed beside him.

“Yeah.” He replied, “I barely know what week it is.” Draken replied as he pushed his silver hair out of his eyes. He hated his hair, made him look too much like his father. No matter how much Sage protested that he looked more like his Grandfather, he wouldn’t listen. He looked like his father, with his mothers eyes and that was the reason his father hated him.

Sage raised a hand to his forehead, “Did you have another dream?” she asked.

Draken nodded, “War again.” He smiled. His dreams fit into 2 categories; Dreams of a War and Dreams of Strange People. Of course, he occasionally had normal dreams but they were nothing for Sage to be concerned about.

“They’ll pass.” She smiled, “Eat. For once, your father hasn’t demanded an audience with you.” she smiled, Aeron always called Draken into his quarters on his birthday. Every time, Draken left the room thinking he was worthless after his fathers speech on how he had killed his own mother and didn’t deserve to live. Aeron had been locked in his room since Draken’s 3rd birthday when he had tried to kill himself, another one of Draken’s ‘mistakes’.

Aeron hated his son, even though Sage tried to deny it saying that the man was just ‘broken’. Aeron couldn’t be fixed, no matter what anyone did. Draken smiled weakly at his surrogate mother.

“I might go down into the city, see if I can find someone to play with.” Draken smiled as he pulled himself out of bed, “That’s if you don’t want me to go do something else.” He grinned slyly at her.

Sage rolled her eyes and stood up, “You’re an idiot, Drake. Go seduce away. Just eat and shower first.” She kissed his forehead softly, “Be careful, Drake. Be back by tonight, I have a present for you.”

“Can’t I have it now?” he asked, already knowing her answer but asking anyway. She laughed quietly and smacked him upside the head, a reaction he was long used to.

“No.” she grinned, “Eat, Shower, get dressed and go out. Have fun.” She shook her head and walked to his door, looking behind her for a second she grinned, “Behave, Draken.”

“Oh, I will.” Draken replied and watched her leave.

And that’s how he came to be in an alley, pressing a much younger boy against a wall, kissing him harshly, the boys friends watching. They weren’t street kids, or nobles. They were the people that Draken wanted to be, normal people who weren’t handed everything they wanted. Sage had tried to raise him as a normal child, away from the politics of the castle but he was still tied to it anyway.
Draken pulled away, relishing in the noise the boy made as Draken sucked on his pulse point gently. Draken stepped back and looked into the boys lust filled brown eyes and smiled, “I don’t even know your name.”

“I don’t know yours.” The boy smiled, as Draken twisted the black hair around his fingers.

“Mine doesn’t matter.” Draken said quietly, he hated people knowing who he really was, hated the bowing and the ‘Your Highness’ formality.

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.” The boy smiled, before he got Draken to agree to anything he smiled, “It’s Ayden, and I’m guessing this is a ‘no-strings’ thing.”

Draken nodded, “It’s my birthday.” He replied, without telling Ayden his name, usually he didn’t do this to other guys, but Ayden was unlike he had ever seen before. He’d seen some of his friends about town when he’d been walking around with one of the rich girls he enjoyed to seduce, they seemed like genuinely nice people, unlike the rich girls.

“Happy Birthday …” Ayden trailed off, waiting for Draken to say his name.

“Drake.” He replied, it was a safer name than Draken. He could thank Sage for not letting him into the public eye, that way the only people who knew he was the prince were the ones who recognized the unique name of his, and that was the reason he had chose to shorten it to ‘Drake’ when he was in the city. He knew other Drake’s, but no Draken’s.

Ayden smiled, “Nice to meet you, Drake.” He grinned, “Wanna meet the others?” before Draken could answer he was dragged over to the boys friends.

Sitting in the alley were 2 girls and 3 guys, they had been watching Draken and Ayden but they were also playing a game of cards to pass the time.

One of the girls was short and she had a very childish face, she was talking and obviously cheating in the card game they were playing. She had short black hair that fell over her face and dark blue eyes. The other girl was taller and had dirty blonde hair; she was the obvious older one, looking like the oldest person in the group. She had green eyes and was dressed a lot more appropriate then the younger girl. She wasn’t playing, just watching, trying to stop the other girl from cheating so much.

The three guys were all different too. There was one who had long, chocolate brown hair and blue eyes, a scar over one eye, he was quiet, ignoring the small girls chattering. Another had spikey blonde hair, he was leaning agains’t the quiet boy’s arms, trying to see his cards unsuccessfully.

The third boy had short black hair and was scowling at the girls, trying to stop the small one from cheating off him, he seemed like an easily angry person. Draken could have sworn that he had red eyes… looking again, Draken saw that they actually were red and blinked.

“Drake, meet my friends.” Ayden grinned, all of the people looked up at him.

Draken grinned at them, “Hey.” Slowly they began to introduce themselves.

“I’m Leo.” The quiet one said, his face void of emotion.

“Ignore the Ice Princess.” The blond grinned, “He’s broody. I’m Kei.”

“I’m Reilly!” The short one said, pronouncing her name as Reelee rather than Rilley, bouncing up and throwing her arms around Draken, knocking him backwards. All of a sudden she was picked up by the scary looking one.

The blonde girl helped him up, “I’m Seres, and that’s Dee.” She said, pointing at the scary one, “Well, that’s what he says his name is, I don’t believe him personally.” She laughed, “So, you’re hanging around with us today?” she asked.

Draken nodded, “I suppose so.”

“Score!” Reilly yelled and bounced about.

“Ignore her.” Ayden smiled, “You get used to it after a while. She’s insane and has an attention span of a gnat.”

Sure enough, within moments something else had caught her attention and she had bounced off, Dee following behind her, obviously trying to keep her out of mischief.

Draken blinked at her for awhile, eventually she was dragged back by Dee. Kei and Leo were talking quietly and Draken realized that they were together.

“Let’s go outside.” Seres smiled at them all, “Go sit on out lookout, show Drake here the sights outside the walls.” She pulled Leo and Kei up from where they were sitting, “This alley is boring me anyway.”

Leo nodded, “Whatever.” He said quietly and walked from the alley, Kei hanging off his arm. Ayden followed them as did Dee and Reilly. Seres and Draken were left behind.

“Happy Birthday, your highness.” She whispered, before running after the others, leaving Draken gaping. He caught up with her and grabber her arm, pulling her to a stop.

“How do you know?” he asked, nobody knew who he was, they couldn’t.

“My mother works in the palace. I live there too. You probably don’t see much of me though, the city was always my playground.”
Seres smiled, “Don’t worry. I’m the only one who knows and I sure as hell wont tell the others. Promise.”

“I just hate being known as the Prince.” He sighed, “Everyday I wish…” he trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence.

“That you could be free?” she asked, twisting her fingers in her long blonde hair, “That’s a hard thing to achieve, Drake. Nobody is ever really free.” With that she called out for the others to stop and pulled Draken with her, “Come on, birthday boy. Have some fun today.” She grinned.

The prologue and Chapter One need working on but I like Draken's chapter. Then again, i'm not caring about the actual workings out of the story yet, as long as I hit the word limit.

I'm at 6087 words. I just got in trouble because I went over my net hour to format this. I like... did nothing but do this for an hour. Bloody LJ.

What do you think of the characters? Meh, I don't care. See ya tomorrow.

GOOD MORNING, NANO!

Wed, 02 Nov 2005 05:40:12 GMT

2,069 / 50,000
(4.1%)

Uh, yeah. I haven't done any work today, 'cause i'm here. Right now i'm listening to Tim Curry's sultry voice.

Okay, off to find fanfiction THEN to get to work. Promise.

There should be a chapter up tomorrow.

FRIENDS ONLY

Sat, 06 Aug 2005 05:41:11 GMT

Sorry, even if you do comment I might not add you. This is my writing journal and I plan to put everything up. Including my NaNo chapter-by-chapter in November. But then again, you may be lucky.

Feel free to comment, leave some infor about yourself and why you want to read my stuff... who knows, I might just add you...

Kate.

Also, the scary thing is, that notebook sorta looks like Mneme, except she's black... and shiny.