Re:Creation Book 1: Allegiance

Thirty: Three

Vayl lay in his bed, stuck in a state of restlessness after the tremors had woken him. He had already struggled to get proper rest ever since Prince Lev had arrived with Reif, Khelmer, and Therias, and the small quake was of no help. For weeks, the guilt from what had transpired during the siege of Tamras weighed so heavily on his soul that even when Vayl could sleep, he was tormented by nightmares of the event. Being made to face Prince Lev and his company put an incredible amount of stress on Vayl's mind and body--so much so that simply being near the Myralian band rarely failed to make him nauseous. Throughout their entire stay, Vayl had done his best to avoid them, only interacting during meals and other necessary times. The only drawback had been that Vayl also had not been interacting with Telk as much as he would have liked. Vayl wanted nothing more than to spend time alone with his former flame, but it was starting to seem as though Telk did not harbor the same intentions, instead choosing to cling to Reif and leaving Vayl with one more thing to lament over. 

Surely in the eyes of Vayl's father, however, his and Telk's minimal interactions were ideal. Before Telk had even arrived at the palace, King Ura made Vayl swear to keep away from him without supervision. Even still, Vayl had expected--or rather hoped--that the two of them would manage to find even the smallest moment alone together; Telk had a knack for scraping by undetected, after all. Perhaps Telk no longer harbored any feelings for Vayl at all? If that were the case, did their reunion mean anything to Telk? Or their kiss in the city?

Vayl sighed and rolled onto his back, adjusting slightly to release the hair that caught under his back and tugged at his head. He must have been overthinking things; he and Telk should not risk being seen together. Surely that must have been why Telk was avoiding him.

He raised his right hand out before him, examining the mark imprinted on it; a symbol resembling two upside-down copies of the Common letter "V" adjacently placed. The mark was the sigil of the goddess of fire and sun, Solgeara, and represented her ever-burning flame. The fact that Vayl bore such a brand was a testament to the power he possessed. He now had every drop of power that the goddess herself once held at his disposal. When Vayl had first obtained such power, he thought that he would finally gain his father's approval. But ever since the mark emblazoned itself on his hand, his father's iron grip on him grew tighter, leaving Vayl feeling more powerless than ever.

"Is this truly worth it, Father?" Vayl muttered under his breath.

As Vayl lay there, pondering his power, a familiar tingling sensation blossomed in the pit of his stomach. It was an uncomfortably fuzzy feeling that he had never felt until fully inheriting Solgeara's strength during his battle with Lord Selvris. Ever since, the feeling would return whenever Lysidia was nearby, though more recently, the tingling was also triggered by Reif or Khelmer's presence.

Vayl shifted his focus away from the feeling. The priests were the last people he needed to be thinking about if he hoped to get any sleep, especially Jeyre Selvris.

Nevertheless, the sensation persisted and even grew as the seconds passed. How strange. Vayl sat up in his bed, scanning his room to see if anything inside was triggering the reaction. However, it was movement just outside that caught his attention. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something beyond his bedroom window. Through the darkness, he could not quite make out what it was, but just as he was about to investigate, there came a sharp crack!

"What-"

Vayl barely had time to react before the window shattered--or rather, crumbled. Glass shards rained upon the floor below, though there was no sound to be heard, as they never reached their destination. Instead, each shard stopped shy of the floor, hovering just above the wooden boards below for a few seconds before quietly completing their descent.