- QUARIA, PALACE GARDENS -
Zeuriel strolled through the palace gardens as memories of the event at the throne room flashed within her mind. Troubling times were on their way to Quaria, and she could sense this within her being as she brushed away a wayward strand of hair from her face.
"This gift I was so casually blessed with differs not from the curses the emoirans once laid on mortals."
Zeuriel recalled the vision she had witnessed a few days ago when she saw mortals embraced with wings which was a sign of Moria's protection in their culture.
Unfortunately, something about them had continued to trouble Zeuriel, even after her father, the King, had translated what the dream meant.
"The mortal you saw was your great-granduncle Gherial before he became emperor, back in our homeland. Mortals at the time faced greater calamities than those we encounter today, Gherial was fortunate to have gained Moria's favor at the time." The King explained.
The King's words resounded as the memory faded.
The previous great war was not the biggest calamity that mortals had faced, but there was a far greater one that destroyed their original homeland where all mortals were born.
The King had explained to Zeuriel that, the entire history of mortals, the war between the houses, the ancient darkness, and the primordial light would be revealed to her once she ascended to the throne of Quaria one day.
'That day approaches swiftly, father.'
The Princess' attendants had left her alone so she would spend some time parading the palace gardens.
Here, she would easily focus her power of sight and recollections of hundreds of visions she had witnessed in the past and future, some she had long forgotten about, and others she wished never to recall would pour back into her mind.
'Moria...'
"Why her?" Zeuriel murmured.
Zeuriel seemed stunned at the thought, and in the momentary instance, the sound of large beating wings like a thousand birds taking off in unison resounded in mid-air.
Feathers descended from the sky like leaves in the wind, and Zeuriel froze mid-walking as she felt a familiar presence within the area.
"Your mind is very confused, mortal."
Out of nowhere, Zeuriel heard the same voice she had heard in her chamber weeks ago flow into her mind like a rushing wave.
Zeuriel immediately extinguished every thought in her mind and cleared away her memories of visions as her eyes took on a chromatic blue hue.
"Hahaha! The first sign of trouble, and you are quick to blame it on Moria."
The same voice flooded her mind once more, Zeuriel's expression was that of panic because she had raised her mental barriers to prevent that voice from penetrating her mind.
Mortals in Morland had a natural psychic barrier that prevented external forces from invading their minds. Traits such as mana pool, magic mastery, and race usually dictated how strong or weak a mortal's psyche was.
"Who is there?!" Zeuriel's eyes flashed as she turned around to scour her surroundings. "You can not hide from me!"
Being the first princess born in Morland was no mere title because on the day of her birth, Zeuriel was reported to have been born with one of the most powerful psyches to ever be recorded in Morland, and this immense psychic power manifested in her chromatic blue eyes.
Zueriel's grandfather, King Lemiel even complimented her psychic prowess as being comparable to that of her great-grandfather Lazruriel. She was not just capable of using Psychic powers, but they went further so that she could manipulate reality with her Nous abilities.
'I am the most powerful Nous Mage in Morland, no mortal is capable of bypassing my mental barrier.'
"That arrogance is what holds you back child." The voice continued to casually trespass in Zeuriel's mind and shatter what she understood was reality. "So you carry not only Moria's boon but that of the timeless one too?"
"You... You are no mortal, are you?" Zeuriel's eyes glimmered brighter, and she was now reversing the mind reading on her hidden enemy. "A fallen child of the heavens, bound by the craft of nature and embraced by the deep?"
A sinister aura suddenly filled the garden like the cloak of night, a flock of birds from the gardens immediately fled, and Zeuriel could now feel the presence of the being everywhere.
"Such power, to be strung over a mere mortal..." The voice sounded disgusted as the shadow's aura erupted from the center of its presence.
Zeuriel pinpointed the source of the being, and then she raised her hand toward this presence and concentrated blue energy that formed across her palm, and with a reluctant tone, she began to chant an incantation towards this dark form.
"[Woe to those fated to be gazed upon with the eyes of the timeless, all things must account for what the clock hangs upon their string, and a shadow in the dark is only King in the absence of light]!"
Zeuriel pushed further as the light from her palm appeared in a corn-like shape and slowly began to engulf the shadow. The darkness began to slowly recede as Zeuriel continued to approach with her magic, shadowy arms and fingers waved around in distress as they were routed and gathered in place.
"It will take more than frightfulness to dissuade me, you vile fiend." Zeuriel proclaimed.
"Such a difficult child..." The voice was now clear, Zeuriel could hear it coming from the shadow subdued beneath her glow.
"I saw what you are." Zeuriel began. "Who you truly are?"
The shadow remained silent as it bulged shamelessly within the corn of light containing it in place.
"You came to me once before. What do you want from me?"
A dark tentacle from the shadow seemed to rise before an eyeball snapped open and gazed straight at Zeuriel. This was immediately followed by several other eyes appearing on the mass of the shadow and all staring at the Princess.
"Your eyes..."
"My... eyes?" Zeuriel is suddenly distracted by the shadow's intent and her focus on the containment spell breaks.
The shadow breaks free from Zeuriel's grasp and instantly expands outward as pitch-black tentacles begin to surround Zeuriel. However, Zeuriel creates a psychic barrier around her body that sears away the tentacles before they can get a hold of her.
"Gah!" The shadow screams in pain as its dark tentacles burn away rapidly, but it immediately recovers and creates a dark membrane around itself. "To be forced to use such benign tactics."
One of the tentacles coated with a dark membrane lashes out at Zeuriel and shatters her barrier.
The tentacle wraps itself around her arms and abdomen and then begins to lift her toward the shadow.
Stunned by the sudden ordeal. Zeuriel was not able to respond to the shadow's assault, and then she closed her eyes as she feared the worst.
"Princess, wake up now!"
"Huh..."
Zeuriel finds herself in the Migiter's arms as the shadowy tentacles seem to have vanished, and the palace gardens appear as brightly lit as they had been before the shadow engulfed it with its darkness.
However, the Migiter's gaze was locked in a staredown with empty space, Zeuriel recognizes the aura, and she jumps out of the Migiter's arms.
"Don't worry Princess I will protect you..."
The Migiter raises his arm in front of Zeuriel, but before the Migiter could complete his sentence, the sinister presence vanishes completely.