Starlight

Chapter 12: The Prince

The stone castle was partially in ruins. Scorched stone marked the outer walls as we picked through a path of discarded and shattered stone. Brilliant green ivy flaked with white snaked up the stone walls. It was eerily quiet, and I wondered where all the people were. Surely, there had to be more people than this...

But who knew how long it had been since they awakened. Years? Months? I sensed it was at least that long. Had they awoken with their memories intact, remembering old friendships or had they stumbled as I did now, meeting what felt like new people that I blindly trusted?

"Where are we going?" I asked finally trying to quiet the questions that sprang through my mind like children on a sugar high.

Ash had grown quiet and brooding, but Seth fell back with me.

"Marack is kind of our leader here," he told me. "Then there are the Princess's two seneshals: Zitania and Katey, but they rarely visit. They have their own territories and chase Mu's Generals."

Ash snorted but said nothing. I wondered what Seth was leaving out.

"Generals?" I felt like a broken record, always asking questions.

Seth nodded but before he could go any further, something red flashed from inside his cloak. He reached in, pulling out a red stone. It flashed steadily until he cupped it, the red glow turning his skin pink. A voice, disembodied, and distant spoke.

"Seth? Ash? You are back. I'm in the kitchens."

I looked around, finding nothing more than the fallen stones around us and the door that we had been approaching. The door that would lead us into the castle. There was no one there. Ash turned back, moving towards Seth and only stopping when Seth moved his hands and both of their faces were shadowed with the glow of the crystal.

"Yo, Marack," Ash greeted the crystal and I stared dumbfounded. "Has Christine found you yet?"

There was a pause as the message was relayed to the voice on the other end of the crystal. "No. Why? Did it go smoothly?"

"Us: 1 - Fire Demon: 0," Seth chirped. "But we found someone!"

A deep chuckle from the crystal. And I found myself surprised.
"That's good! We're growing. Bring them to my quarters so I can meet them."

The crystal's glow faded and Seth quickly pocketed it.

Well, he had seemed friendly enough, nothing like Christine who had been poisonous from the moment she met me.

Ash pulled open the door and I followed him and Seth through a maze of stone hallways. Torches lined the walls with brilliant dancing red flames. There didn't appear to be any sort of electricity or anything modern. But, they had magic and probably didn't need it. I wasn't sure if electricity could even exist here, especially after how my phone had acted.

The walls were anything but smooth, every other stone was set out just slightly, giving the walls a bumpy pattern. Some places were more ruined than others, with black scorch marks that reminded me hauntingly that there had been a great battle here once. And if there had been tapestries on the walls, they had either burned or been taken down and stored.

We wandered in silence, clearly having a goal now, and I looked at the alien walls and wondered if they would ever be familiar. I didn't remember anything and I didn't have any magic, so I supposed there was something else for me to do to help out. I may not be able to fight but surely Marack would have a plan for me. But he hadn't asked if I had powers like Christine, Ash, and presumably Seth had. Well, either way, I'd find a way to help.

I had completely lost track of halls we had gone through or even the steps we had climbed at this point. And as excited as I was to learn more, I felt anxiety strangle me as we suddenly stood outside of another door in the barely furnished castle.

Ash knocked once before I could say anything, and I fought to keep my mouth closed as I wished I could have asked more questions. Hadn't they said this guy was the Princess' fiance? So was he a Prince? How the hell do you even greet a Prince?

A muffled voice said something from within but I could barely hear anything over the ringing in my ears. Ash twisted the copper door knob and pushed the door inward. I must of startled because Seth grabbed my arm as if I was about to bolt and whispered something soothing. I stumbled in, but was grateful that both men stood in front of me.

The room was lightly furnished, small and intimate, with the same torches as the halls dug into the side of the walls with an iron crown fixating them. But these didn't hold the red flame that had sprung from the head of the torches in the hall. Instead, a dull blue softened the room, casting its shadow across a table strewn with journals and books. An empty tankard and plate sat discarded on a nightstand next to a bed who's covers were overturned and spilling to the floor. And in a chair opposite from the bed, sat a young man with touselled hair, a deep senna in color. His boots were propped up on the oak table and his chair tipped precariously backwards. A discarded crystal sat on the table.

I was still behind Ash and Seth, shielded from the man's vision. His chair slammed down, his scuffed brown boots dropping to the stone floor as he stood.

Seth flashed me a grin as the man ran his hands through his hair and began to walk towards us.

"Welcome to Ileria," the man began, clearly to me.

And I froze as I recognized those green eyes. The green eyes that I remembered so vividly from my dreams. And I felt ashamed, because I had been privy to something that had been private. My heart skipped a beat as I tried to open my mouth to speak, but found myself at a loss of words. And as his eyes met mine, the broad smile that had deepened his face fell, and he stumbled.