Ascendants: Tides of the Morn

Chapter 5

(The picture of Leonide Zahara. Enjoy!)

All three of us sat in the automobile. This time we hadn't acquired a driver as Carlo had refused to relinquish the driver position to a human. Alessandro sat beside him and bickered on which road to take while I sat in the backseat feeling nostalgic as this moment reminded me of my family. I was a bit unsettling though as we had a similar moment right before we had died. I still remember the searing pain from the flames. It made me feel ill. I forced myself to reminisce about what Alessandro and Carlo had just told me. A frown spread across my face as I realize something.

"Signor Borgia. Pardon, Alessandro."

I changed to his name as I saw Alessandro's frown. He didn't want me to call him by a formal name.

"Earlier when you mention the Anarchists, you also mentioned that I needed to beware of the Magistrates. How are these two connected?"

"Remember when I told you that when Magistrates lost their purpose they started to call themselves Renegades in spite?"

"Yes."

"The Renegades was rather rabid a while and became aimless rebels. Until they along with other outcasts among the Ascendants created the Anarchy. Most Renegades are members of the Anarchy with only a few exceptions like here in our city." Alessandro explain. I was just about to ask why that was but he answered the incoming question before I had a chance to ask it.

"Umberto, kin of the current Sovereign, saw the rising danger of the Anarchy and to prevent that it could gain a foothold here he offered the city's renegade a purpose. To become the Sovereigns personal enforces. The herald of the Renegades, Luca Da Nord, accepted and they started to call themselves the Magistrates again. There are still some renegades who refused to join the Magistrates and continued to support the Anarchy."

I reacted as I heard the name and Alessandro chuckled. "Yes, I guess even a mortal would have heard of Luca Da Nord. He is the leader of the mafia in Torino after all."

I shivered at the thought of the mafioso being inhuman but decided to abandon the subjects as I saw the festival in a distant. It was filled with colors, music, and entertainment. I held back a childish squeal as it wouldn't have been proper for a lady of my status but at least I secretly did so in my mind.

We parked the automobile and Carlo helped me out onto the street which was filled with colorful people. We walked around and watched the artists, and musicians show their craft before going over to the stands. At first, I was overjoyed by all the different foods, some of them exotic to display the city's connection to other countries. Unfortunately, I then recalled my reaction to food last time I tried it and my mood becomes far less hospitable.

Carlo gave me a sympathetic gaze as he told me that he had the same problems but he also taught me to relish the smells instead. We even tried to distinguish the different ingredients in different foods. I could still enjoy drinks though and Carlo bought me all lot of them, much to Alessandro's amusement. I soon realized that Carlo found quite the gratification in pampering me. He bought everything I desired while Alessandro reprimanded him for it.

The scene brought a smile to my face as we moved on to dancing. Alessandro was fast to invite me to dance and he was good at it. He told me that in his human days, he had dance quite a lot with beautiful ladies which made Carlo raise an eyebrow at him. Allesandro shrugged and gave him an innocent look. Apparently, he had spent most of his life in Rome which was quite the lively city for a young man back in the day.

I then pulled the reluctant Carlo to dance with me under Alessandro amused smiles as Carlo was far from an adequate dancer. I tried to teach him the rhythm of jazz but he seemed to have two left feet as he stumbled on himself. He apparently finally had enough and grabbed onto my waist and lifted me up. I hollered and laughed as he spun me around.