Beyond the Void

Chapter 8, It's not just a giant flower

All major races in this world use the Alyar calendar, where the year ends with the eighth moon of Barren Fields and begins with the ninth of Gales. As the cycle of life has come to an end, winds of change come to wipe the fields clean of the ashes of what once was. The Day of Slumber lies between those two moons. New beginnings stir beneath the shroud that lets life rest until it is ready to face the world once again.

An excerpt from the diary of Pia...

KELDIN

One ten since the Mark of the Other One blossomed.

The end of an Age - an end to all peaceful days. It was urgent Keldin find his brother, Seldin. Over the past moon, he had had enough of everything. The second heir to the Eternal Throne of the Empire wanted to take it easy, relax, maybe find some fine food and definitely find a few amiable women for the evening.

Instead, he was running around the entirety of Narris' Citadel. Not only the main palace, but all the old mansions, barracks and riverside fortifications. For every palace and fort in use, another had not been touched in centuries.

Where was Seldin? Everything Keldin had had to deal with was too much for him. Starting with the Mark of the Other One, the voidstone, the senators and warlords of the Grand Council, ending with the Alyar envoys, and said envoys murdering a thief in a closed down building in the upper city.

All of this was the responsibility of the first heir, the good brother. And father's favourite son. The thing Keldin hated most was dealing with his father. When did all this start, exactly? How many moons ago had it been when Seldin was told he would marry the second princess of the Pelesian Dominion. How many moons ago was that?

"Your Highness should not make me look for you every time you feel like following one of your whims." One of the royal guard, dressed in red and silver, was hurrying after him.

Keldin could not remember this one's name. Her outfit was clashing with her dark eyes and hair. To Keldin, they were his second most annoying problem. "You need not follow me everywhere. We have been over this."

"I have explicit instructions from the emperor to keep you in my sight." She insisted.

"We are in Narris Citadel, in broad daylight. You know I'm perfectly safe here."

"That is not why I need to keep you in my sight." Keldin knew that answer was coming.

"If you're here, then help me find my damned brother."

"Your Highness is the one who can read presences; I have no such gifts, my Prince."

Keldin sighed and quickened his pace, occasionally stopping to open doors and look at branching corridors. Pieces of Seldin's presence were all over the place, but he could never find the exact location. His brother had found a way to hide himself. The thought of devourers had crossed his mind, but who on earth would own one of those trinkets these days.

At first when his brother had started this little hide-and-seek game, it was easy to find him, if a little time-consuming. Before this, Seldin had left Ironcourt for a whole moon, only returning to the capital after the Mark of the Other One blossomed. It had been a ten since. Now, back in the Capital, his brother had disappeared. Keldin had not seen his brother for days.

Keldin wondered if his thoughts of his brother were too harsh. Arranged marriage! The Emperor had gone too far. What was he thinking, securing political alliances and staging a show of strength in this dreary age, in exchange for his son's well-being? And if the rumours were true, then the second Princess of the Pelesi Dominion was quite the woman.