Dragonfire II: The Twilight Invasion

Chapter 3: Weight of The Past

It was early in the morning at the Dragon Keep - Celestia's beloved and famous castle - when Albedo was walking down a well-decorated hallway. The Dragon Keep was somewhat notorious for its decor. It was finely crafted, masterfully so even. Only it was the same everywhere. It was often confusing to outsiders and was well known for getting people lost in its near-identical hallways. The hallways, like nearly all Celestial buildings, were entirely white on all sides. There were some wooden tables and such here and there, with paintings strung above and red cloth throughout the halls and rooms. Most rooms, as well as all hallways, had red rugs on the floor. The rugs had the beast head of House Aria imprinted in gold on them. It was a Celestial tradition to change the Dragon Keep's cloth decor to reflect the Acting Grandmaster. Seeing as Albedo was the Grandmaster, it only made sense for the cloth to feature the beast head. The rest of the decor, be it furnishings, paintings, or even pottery, all somehow featured dragons in their designs. Celestia, after all, was the closest Kingdom to the Celestial Dragon. Laufi...their divine entity. Their absolute God. Yet...Albedo had doubts. After all, two years prior she had heard a rather different spin on the origins of Celestia. A spin that depicted Laufi as a greedy monster, so absorbed in becoming a God that she would have done anything for it. A creature that, in the end, never truly was what the tales suggested. Regardless, there was no proof the tale was true. Only the Blacksmith who told it seemed rather accurate on other matters.

One such matter was why Albedo was walking down this particular hall. She sought Asami, her twin sister. Unfortunately, she found herself being stopped by Redderik halfway down the hall. He looked her in the eyes, an annoyed look in his own. "Ah, our esteemed Grandmaster." He said. Despite the sentence being generally positive, he somehow managed to make it sound like an insult. "That's me..." Albedo responded, "For some reason; yes. Yes, it is." Redderik said, "Is there a reason you stopped me, or did you just want to mock me?" Albedo asked, "Well, I was on my way to do some real work, and...I couldn't help but notice you're wearing..." Redderik stopped himself, looking her up and down. She was wearing a black shirt, with a design on the front. It was designed to look like a panda. Beneath the design, the word "panda" was written in an odd font. She was wearing jean-style short-shorts, with black sandals on. A casual attire, to be certain. Redderik looked her in the eye, finishing his earlier remark. "...Casual clothes." He definitely wanted to say something worse, though he held his tongue. Albedo was almost impressed. Typically he would insult her. "I knew you were lazy, but this is an entirely new low for you." There it was...the insult. He always had an insult. Albedo looked down at herself, then back up at him. "I'm sorry? I'm not allowed to dress how I want?" She asked, "It is merely an observation. And through my observation, I suppose you aren't planning on doing any work today?" Redderik inquisitively asked.

"Can you like...leave me alone? I'm just trying to see my sister. Besides...I don't have any work to do today. I did it all last night if you'll recall. You know...when you barged into my office at three in the morning and I was just finishing up." Albedo answered, "You 'don't have any work today?' Need I remind you that the Arvanians could be arriving at any moment? Do I have to remind you that foreign invaders could attack us at any second? You have preparations to make, and I expect them to be done." Redderik said, "It's barely six in the morning..." Albedo mumbled, "And the maids are already hard at work. Soon enough everyone else will be, too. Dress yourself properly and get to work." Redderik responded. With that, he started to walk past her. Only he stopped, looking her up and down. "Nice shirt." He said, before walking off. Albedo didn't bother to look at him. "Thanks..." She mumbled. Once he was out of hearing range, she finished. "...Asshole." She continued on her way, dejected by his words. A few minutes later, she found Asami dusting a table in a nearby hallway. Though the other maids attended to most of the hallways, Asami herself always attended that one in particular. It was right outside her chambers, so she always felt lazy if she didn't clean it herself. As always, she wore her maid attire. A reddish-black dress, with pointed shoulders and a long skirt. She had matching boots, with a white apron. Her hair was on the longer side, as she had grown it out. However, she still kept some of it in two buns diagonally positioned on either side of her head.