Jiniya sat quietly in front of her mirror, as her maids changed her clothes and brushed her hair. Her face emotionless and empty eyes looking at her figure on the reflective mirror. It's been years ever since Lyon gave her that dead glance.
"Princess, please stand up…" one of the maids asked.
The sound of the explosion brought her back to her usual self. She glanced at the door as the ground was suddenly shooked, not knowing she was undressed she ran towards the door. But was immediately stopped by her maids, she forcefully tried to get their hands off of her.
She was pulled and tossed to her bed, coughing and cowering. Tears running down her eyes, she was in pain. The maids didn't know what to do, they were trained to take care of the Princess both physically and mentally, yet, the only person who could care for her emotionally was her mother, The Queen.
The Queen has not been seen for years, but despite that the presence she emits lingers throughout the palace. At times it could even be felt a mile away from the Queen's chambers. No one knows of her condition, not the princess, not the maids, not even the knights who stood in front of her room.
Not a single soul had stepped inside of that room for the years that had passed. Even with the curiosity filling everyones brains, especially the maids on the Queen's condition, they were all given a specific order by the king.
"Do not enter the Queen's chamber. Anyone caught will be executed on sight, no questions asked. Even the attempt of entering will cause your instantaneous death"
None in the King's lifetime had anyone disobey his orders. Treason was the most terrifying act one could commit in the kingdom, for they are not the only ones to suffer. May it be their child, their grandchildren or their future generations, on mistake could lead to a life of slavery.
The maids within Jiniya's room had slowly dispersed one by one fulfilling their other jobs inside the palace. The last maid left was hesitant on leaving the princess alone, for who knows what she would do.
A voice had suddenly called out to her as the extravagant white door with lavish designs had opened. A woman had entered wearing a noble attire, a dress made out of the finest and most expensive materials. With braided long black hair and a small meticulous fan covering her mouth, she had ordered the maid to leave them alone.
The maid sighed in relief as she bowed her head after turning around. She gladly walked out of the room and silently closed the door. The woman slowly walked towards the bed and carefully sat down beside Jiniya who was cowering on her soft white sheeted bed.
The room was riddled with silence except for the sobbing noise of the princess.
"Is it your mother's voice you wish to hear?" the noble woman said.
"y-yes" she uttered.
The woman sighed and slowly brushed her soft and silky long black hair. As Jiniya had felt the warmth of her palm as it moved to her cheeks she suddenly turned around. And hugged the woman, Jiniya suddenly bursted into tears. The emotions she had kept when she saw Lyon had finally sprung out through her eyes, her loud cry echoed through the halls outside her room. But it was not loud enough to be heard by him.
A few minutes passed before she had finally calmed down. The woman continued to caress the back of her head as Jiniya was still sobbing. Their clothes were drenched of tears as the room had finally grown silent. With red and swelling eyes she raised her head and looked at the woman's eyes, she gave out a soft smile before pressing her face on the woman's chest.
"It's hard…" Jiniya teased.
"Oh really…" the woman replied.
She grabbed Jiniya with both her arms and slowly tightened her embrace to the point where Jiniya was tapping her from the back. As she had released her the princess gasped for air and slowly backed away. She took a pillow and hugged it, she once more gave out a soft smile to the woman as she wiped the tears off her eyes.
"I missed you, Mei"
~~~~~
Back at the throne room where the explosion had supposedly occurred. The man whom had just commited suicide was baffled to see himsilf alive with body parts intact. he swiftly moved his head to look at his surrounding only to find that none of the knight was harm, nor was the red carpet on the flooring burnt.
The King glared at him with disgusted eyes, as he continued to turn his head he saw Lyon who had a mask on his face raising his arm to shoulder height and hands extending towards him. His eyes widened as he was reminded of the design on the mask, his breathing had turned heavy as his body began trembling.
Despite the full-faced mask on Lyon's face the mercenary could feel his presence. He glare gave out at most superiority over the poor mercenary who fell right to where Arthur had wanted him.
"Have you realized what had just occurred?" Arthur spoke with a sadistic smile on his face.
"N-no! No! No! No! This can't be!!" The mercenary screamed in terror.
The Explosion that should've happened was dissolved using Fire Magic. Lyon had used his magic to control the fire, returning it towards the inside of the man.
"Let's not swindle into unnecessary things… was it the King of the Invidian Palace who had sent you?" Arthur asked.
The man did not give a reply, his instinct had told him to run immediately but he could not. His legs were broken from falling from the ceiling, he was scared, chanting the same magic again he tried to kill them once more. But it was futile, the moment he speaks of the magic Lyon is already controlling the fire from being ignited.
"I hate repeating myself. But in the presence of the King I shall ask once more- Did the King of Invidia send you!!" Arthur spoke, his voice getting louder.
"N-no, a group of M-mercenaries not under the control of the King paid me to a-assassinate everyone in the m-meeting" the man uttered.
His whole body had trembled, his face turning pale, he knelt on his knees enduring the pain from his broken legs. Lowering his head, hands extending towards Arthurs golden armoured boots.
"Is that so… Then, your highness, even if it was not under the direct order of the king. Shall we consider it as a declaration of war?" Arthur asked, his face looking at the King's azure eyes.
"Interesting, Cristopher. Send a message to the Invidian Palace, tell them this; Your actions are still tolerable, if another event similar to this or if my people are to be harmed by mercenaries within the next 60 days. Then I King Charles of Avartia II, shall declare war against the Invidian Palace with no further notice" The king had spoken.
The man was silent and no longer had the will to live, but to his surprise Arthur had suddenly walked in front of him.
"You are free to leave the palace, but you may pass only through the gates of this room" Arthur spoke.
The man without hesitation started crawling towards the gates of the throne room with all his might. Tears and sweat dripped from his face, he was free, he had survived, he was overjoyed as he could brag about it once he returned home. Or so he thought. Before he could reach the gates Lyon was already standing there slowly returning his blade from its scabbard.
Confusion filled his face as he stopped crawling. He looked straight towards Lyon's terrifying crimson eyes, the knight with golden armor had raised his hand and gave out a snap.
The man felt an extremely hot sensation run inside his body, he screamed in pain and agony as his body started to burn. In a blink of an eye his body was cut in half from his legs to his head. Blood did not scatter but the smell of burning flesh filled the room, Lyon extended his hand towards the smile and closed his open palm.
The fire had grown larger before suddenly disappearing, ashes and black powder were the only ones left on the red carpet. The man's body was imprinted to the flooring by his own ashes. Lyon on the other hand started walking back to where his comrades were before stopping behind Alistair.
"As you have all seen, the power of fire magic is extremely terrifying. Seeing Lyon who was born here and had grown here under my watch uses such power. Then what more could those in the Superbian Empire could do… That is why there is no space for traitors with the captains. I know very well who you are, I bet that you're trembling inside now. But worry not, your deaths will be very, very painful"
Arthur glanced at Lyon before walking towards the King and stood beside him, he clapped his hands and nodded at Lyon.
The captain's faces had suddenly turned pale, even Alistair who had worked hard to become a Royal Knight who would never be a traitor had his body trembling in fear. They all knew that Lyon was born with fire magic and that he was efficient in using it. But none of them had realized how much terror he could give off even for a child.
Lyon placed both his palms together and gently closed them. He raised his right arm at shoulder height and took in a long deep inhale and exhaled at the same length. Horrified they were as they have the faintest idea on what could possibly happen to them.
"Fire Magic: Internal Blaze"
Two knights jumped out of their formation and started running for their lives, but before they could go any further they started coughing smoke. They scream in pain as their skin ahad began to boil, the armor was slowly being melted from everywhere. It was much more horrifying from how it sounds, the Royal Knights who watched in terror as their so called comrades had burned from the inside asked their help.
They couldn't do anything, their comrades had slowly melted into smelly liquid that combined both the metal of their silver armour and their body. They were no longer distinguishable, it was so gruesome that Alistair had his eyes closed the moment he heard the sound of skin boiling. Lyon snapped his hands once more causing another fire over the liquid, in a few minutes the liquid had already evaporated into thin air. Leaving nothing behind but the lingering scent of burnt flesh.
It was horrendous that even the King had to cover his nose using the back side of his hand. The king raised his other hand and waved it in the air. Few captains stood up and used wind magic to lift the foul scent towards the broken glass on the ceiling. The smell had disappeared in just a few seconds, with most of the captains already on their feet Arthur had ordered the rest to stand as well.
But all of a sudden one of the captains muttered a word that seemed unpleasant to Arthur.
"Inhuman!!"
"hmm..? Will you kindly repeat your words, Captain?" Arthur said with a sarcastic tone.
"I said it was inhuman!" the captain repeated.
"How?"
"How?! Where in the world are you?? doing such things right in front of the king?! ordering someone to show us such disturbing use of power?! what are you trying to point out here- that you're more powerful than us?" the captain spoke with a loud voice.
"Speaking such words… without knowing anything won't amount to anything. Let me tell you the atrocious things the Invidian Palace had done to those who they have captured"
Chapter End.