Two earth blessed guards walked in front of Aardriyah, as she was being escorted against her will down one of the winding corridors of the servant's quarters. A bright and ever-growing fury grew in her, as she kept begging for an explanation, for an indication as to where she was headed. But as loudly as she yelled and as fiercely as she begged, the guards remained utterly silent as the questions fell upon deaf ears.
When the end of the corridor was reached, the two large earth blessed guards stood in front of what appeared to be a doorway. The two sides of the doorway slid open in time with the movement of their hands. Moving forward, they escorted Aardriyah into a large rectangular cell. With the same hand movement as before, the earth blessed shut the door, before focussing their attention on the ground beneath their feet. The white marble cell came to life, roaring upwards at a great speed. Aardriyah screamed, completely unaware as to what was taking shape around her. She wanted to collapse on the floor of the cell, hug it for dear life and beg for the unsettling sensation of soaring upwards to end. Only moments after the movement began, it came to a halt and the earth blessed guards once again slid open a new, much nicer carved set of doors opening into a light-filled room.
Aardriyah recognised it immediately, recognised the large portraits hung from the walls in silver and blue intricate frames. Before she had a chance to ask any further questions, she heard a child's voice to the right of her and turned quickly to embrace the white-haired child running at a fast pace towards her. The youngster crashed into her big sister, embracing her tightly while Aardriyah placed a fierce kiss on both of her cheeks and forehead.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, confused by her sudden appearance.
"Saying goodbye to Chasty of course silly!" Sonas responded in a completely oblivious tone. Aardriyah still aware of the guard's presence around her, rose slightly glaring at them, while taking Sonas' hand in her own. None of the guards spoke or indicated any sign of needing to hold either of them back.
"This way!" Sonas cheerfully told Aardriyah while pulling her down the hallway filled with large royal portraits.
Behind her she heard one guard mutter to another,
"Maybe a bit of music would make the elevation cell a little more pleasant?"
To which the two earth blessed guards agreed in hush tones.
Sonas had pulled Aardriyah into a sitting room overseeing the entire bay of the island nations. White marble adorned every surface as the sound of water trickling down the walls into small canals on the perimeter of the room, echoed within. In the middle of the room a large square recess had been carved out making a three-tiered sitting area, while an ice sculpture in the shape of the United Water Kingdom's sigil stood proudly in the centre. Upon several sets of large blue floor cushions were the Royal Family, sharing a glass of bubbly gold liquid as they laughed and joked with Pateras, Old Man Teme and Stella.
"Aardriyah, so glad you are here." Chastion rose from his place and strode towards his sister, arms open wide for an embrace.
"What is this? What is going on?" She asked hastily.
Chastion frowned at Aardriyah and lowered his arms in defeat.
"We thought you'd like a chance to say goodbye to Sonas and Pateras before we depart." He said as if it were entirely obvious and not in any way reminiscent of the kidnapping she had endured the night before.
"But the guards, they said -"
"What they had to, to avoid arising suspicion." Chastion looked down at Sonas who was eagerly trying to decipher the words spoken between her older siblings.
YOU ARE READING
The Unblessed Child
FantasiaThere are two types of people in The New Realm: those who are blessed by the gods of the four elements and those who aren't even worthy of their family name. They are unwanted, unloved and are simply known as The Unblessed. Eighteen year old Aardriy...
