Undead Fate

Chapter Six

THE HIGH PRIESTESS

The young girl sat in front of a huge mirror and watched herself with pity. Her beautiful, green orbs were drowning in unrelenting tears. Three of her chamberlains gently grooming her lustrous long locks of black hair and whispering soothing words to her ears.

But Circe knew better. Despite the sweet words of her maids and her father, she knew she was to be sent to the neighboring kingdom in exchange for more power to her country. Oh, her sorrow. She couldn't endure the torment of leaving her home, her mother, her siblings, her friends, and herself to an unknown land.

In a few hours, she would ride her palanquin to the Athenicus Kingdom to be an apprentice of their Royal High Priestess. A sob escaped her trembling lips and she buried her face in her small, delicate hands.

Circe opened her eyes and was greeted by the soft fabrics of her bed's canopy. She cursed herself, it was that dream again. She wondered why now of all times that memory seized her mind once again, now when that young girl in her dream no way resembled her anymore.

When she first came here in Athenicus, there were no nights where she did not weep herself to sleep and wake from her nightmares. But she had overcome her weakness. Despite being sent to a strange land, she had established a name for herself.

The Royal High Priestess of the Goddess Athena.

Circe did not spite her father. If truth to be told, she was most grateful to the greedy man. Because of him, she learned to fend for herself. And she learned of the pleasure power and control grants her. When she had her first taste—very sweet, sweeter than finest wine—she knew there was nothing else fated for her other than supremacy. Now she craved for it.

And soon she will rule both this kingdom and the one she once called home.

But that was something of the future, no need to be hasty. Today, the High Priestess had a cursed village to purge.

Her maids crowded over her to bathe her and dress her in their efficient way and moments later, she was ready for her journey.

Her trip to Ahn Village was quick. Soon she found herself getting off her resplendent palanquin to be welcomed by filthy bowed heads.

"The Royal Priestess of Athenicus Kingdom." A grandiose voice announced.

Subsequently, the head of the villagers came up to her and stopped in a humble distance and curtsied. Circe noticed the healthy conditions, though perpetually grimy, of the chieftain and her villagers. What surprised her more was when she claimed that they were all cured due to their skilled healer. She ordered her men to investigate only to find out the chieftain's claims to be true.

What blasphemies, she thought incredulously to herself. Even her couldn't heal these cursed village people.

A bright aura from the crowd caught Circe's eyes. It belonged to a girl with peculiar hair and outlandish garments.

"Where are you from?" she asked.

"A-America. I-it's a neighboring kingdom."

She had never heard of such place. She strained her eyes and focused in a manner that was already habitual to her, soon all the objects lit up in different colors. Everything in this world has an aura, her teacher once said, it represents their energy, their soul. One can be brighter than the other.

The girl's was brighter than most.

The priestess eyed her suspiciously. "Why are you here?" she asked absently as she drew her own energy to her hand and placed it atop of the stranger's forehead.