Princess Of Aito

Back to Ruins

Sebastian got out to help me down the stairs of the carriage, followed by Mary-Anne, and Michael. I looked around, feeling a bit of a chill in the air, the sky gloomy and dark as if a storm would come. Sebastian observed the same. "It appears as though it might rain, miss Aria. What would you like to do?" I continued to look around. "I suppose we should find the place we are staying tonight and go from there." The butler nodded. "Yes, my lady."

The carriage once more lurched on, the dreary day making for ominous outcomes, and a woman was spotted on the side of the road with a baby carriage. "Stop here," I said. "Excuse me," I said to the woman, who seemed quite out of it, and muttering something I couldn't quite hear. "Are you alright, madame?"

"The pure are priveledged, the unclean are punished....the pure are righteous and the filth is purged!" she said with eyes wide and face paled. It appeared as if she hadn't slept in weeks. Sebastian looked in the baby carriage and saw not a baby, but rather just a pillow with baby clothes on it. "Continue on," he said, and the carriage continued to move.

My thoughts were of that woman and her words as she seemed to disappear in a mist. "Do not trouble yourself over it, miss Aria, sometimes people lose their minds when superstition is prominent." I looked in question. "I think she called me.... Unclean and filth....." Mary-Anne smiled, patting her shoulder, "don't worry, my lady, you aren't rubbish at all! We think you're wonderful we do!" I considered her words and nodded. "You wouldn't lie to your master...so it must be true." Sebastian nodded and looked ahead.

"My lady, we are approaching the inn." I looked ahead and then back at him. "I recognize this place..." I replied, and indeed it was the place I had been only years before. "What.... What happened to this town?"

"A monarch stepped in and introduced laws that required them to have his religion. I'm not quite sure what religion that is exactly, but I believe that may have been his mantra. An odd one, I must say," Sebastian droned, and returned my gaze. "You have nothing to fear, miss Aria, we are simply meeting with one of his most trusted men and advisors."

"Oh, is that all?" I asked sharply. He seemed unharmed by that. "You act as though this is someplace you've been before, my lady." My eyes must have shown it. "Because I have.... And it was nothing like this. This town is ruins now."