Staring at the ceiling. Light enters the room from a small square window inside a small cramped room. An armour stand placed in front the bed, a small table to the right just below the window, a small space for movement on the left. And a one way wooden door further to the left end of the room.
Yawning as the bits of sunlight shone open his face climbing from his soft white pillow, Lyon had woken up from his slumber. He sat down and started combing his hair with his hand before drinking a glass of water placed on the table beside him.
He stood up on the small space to the left and stared at the gray wall that was in front of him. He started tilting his head side to side counting to eighteen before shifting to his arms, then legs. It was his morning routine of stretching to start the day, before fixing the white blanket he used. Movement was almost prohibited by the room's design.
As he placed his right hand on the underside of the bed, his buttocks started kissing the wall. Pulling out a handle which was connected to the drawer which contained his clothes. Staring the folded clothes separated from pants to shirts, he immediately pulls out a black trouser, a white long sleeve and a black vest with silver buttons. He grabbed a large towel from the back end of the drawer before getting the black boots placed at the front side of his bed.
Folding everything and placing it above his left arm before walking towards the door with the shoes held by his opposite hand. Opening the door with his left hand and walking outside of the room, he stared at his armor for a few seconds before shaking his head and closing the door. He ventured to the corridor where he passed some maid who still had wet hair, somewhere still covered by their towel that displayed most of their skin. Bowing at one another as they all walked parallel ways.
He stopped in front of a large opening that was covered by a large thick sheet of wool. Using his right hand to swipe the sheet open, he immediately met most of the male staff of the palace. From gardeners to butlers, to even a few knights who stayed at the palace. Various shelves stood in the large room, separated by numerous planks. The shelves were used to place dry clothes the people would wear after taking a bath.
At the very end of the room was another thick sheet. A warm temperature blowing from inside another room. Eyes stared at Lyon as he walked inside the next room where men were bathing. Water continued to flow towards the small holes of the shower, walking by all of the naked men who were bathing Lyon only stopped when he reached a large pool which had hot water.
It was a hot spring, smoke almost hid the waters of the pool, large circular woods that were held together by metal were used as walls. A large plank of thin wood that had leaves at the very top served as their roof. Lyon walked in the heated water with a wet towel placed above his head, sitting in the middle watching people come and go inside the bath. It was a few more minutes when he started feeling drowsy. He immediately stood up and sat on the edge of the pool, his legs still dipped on the heated waters.
A familiar face suddenly entered the bath, walking straight towards the pool with a gentle smile on his face. The man had soft hair that covered his forehead with bangs that were so uneven his eyes were both hidden and shown. The man stopped in front of Lyon before walking to his side and dipping most of his body underwater.
"Good Day, Captain Alistair" Lyon greeted as he lowered his body back to the pool.
"Good Morning to you as well, Lyon" Alistair returned Lyon's greeting with a smile as well.
Lyon Aschere lived a double identity as he grew up, one is the life of being the apprentice of Commander Arthur and being the second in command of all the knights in the kingdom. And the second one is being the Princess's Personal Knight. People had already created rumours that Lyon and The Reaper were the same person for obvious reasons. But then again they could not really say or do anything that would harm his identity.
The two of them went silent, Lyon closing his eyes feeling the weak waves of the water from beneath. Water coming out of the showers was the only sound that could be heard along with a few animal noises from beyond the walls that hid their naked bodies.
"Uhh… how should I put this. If I am to impose, I think that you should treat the princess for your absence last night" Alistair suddenly said.
Lyon opened his eyes and leaned his head at the edge of the pool staring at the empty ceiling made of wood.
"I am thinking of giving her a present… but I have no idea what she would like" Lyon Replied.
"Wouldn't asking her be an option?"
"Then it would no longer be a present wouldn't it?"
"You've got a point…"
Alistair squinted his eyes and rubbed his chin with his right index and thumb. He wandered his eyes around the room looking for something that a girl would probably like. As he looked around he saw a large bottle of shampoo being used by one of the gardeners as he was showering.
"Why not a soap or a shampoo?" he uttered.
Lyon turned his head towards his right and raised one of his brows as he looked at Alistair.
"Why those two?" he asked.
"Well I mean, women like bathing and always being clean don't they? and to please men they want to smell good. So I think those two are good options on something that the women would like, right?" Alistair explained.
Lyon sighed and smiled at him.
"Your idea is not wrong but you see Captain, we're not talking about just a normal person here. were talking about the heir to the throne, the daughter of the most powerful Water Mage that lived in our era. Captain, have you forgotten that we were talking about Princess Jiniya?"
Alistair frowned and crossed his arms agreeing with Lyon before lowering his body deeper that the water raised until below his eyes making water bubbles with his mouth like a child.
"I appreciate the help captain. But then I guess I'll just have to do something about it…"
Lyon stood up, the water was so shallow that it only reached his thighs. He walked up towards the showers standing in front of one of the empty shower heads. He twisted a faucet which sent water raining to his face. After about 20 minutes he had finished his bathing and was dressing up in the first room. Sliding his right leg inside the right side of his black trouser, he wore the right sleeve of his white long-sleeve and placed the left side as well.
While he was tying the lace at the front of his black vest he felt an ominous presence walking towards the bathing room. He bent his body leaning forward to tie his black shoes, when the ominous presence passed beside him. He looked up and saw a guard who was mumbling incomprehensive words, the man was naked as he entered the bathing room. It was very unlikely for a guard to enter the baths or even enter the palace gates without the Commanders orders unless certain occasions arose that they could enter the place without any hassle.
Lyon thought that the guy might have been sent by a captain to take a break as most of the time the guards are always marching around the kingdom preventing scuffles and helping out the citizens. Moreover he would care less if chaos was to occur inside the bathing room since Alistair was still there when he left. He walked around the corridors with his used clothes folded and placed on top of his right arm as he made his way towards his room. Upon reaching his room he didn't bother entering it, he simply opened it a little bit before throwing his clothes in his bed.
He then made his way towards the Princess's room where there were Maids exiting. He bowed at them as they passed by him, returning the bow before walking by him. He knocked three times before pausing for a few seconds, knocking two more times after the pause. It was something that both of them agreed on so that the princess would know if it was Lyon who was waiting outside of the door. Their knock messages differed depending on the day to prevent the ones passing by to memorize the knock.
But then there was silence, the princess did not reply nor did anyone open the door. Lyon had a faint sight of a maid who was still inside, he thought that the maid might open the door for him but no one did. He stood there for a minute waiting for either the princess or the maid to open the door, he squinted his eyes as he pressed his ears against the wooden door. He started to hear a conversation between the Princess and the Maid.
"Shall I open the door?" the maid asked.
"NO!, let him be. This is his punishment for his actions" Jiniya spoke with a furious voice.
"B-but-" the maid was cut from his words.
Lyon could very much visualize the probably enraged face of the princess. He knew his mistake and he knew very well that the princess could feel his presence beyond the room.
"You are not to touch or to open the door without my command! Do you understand me?" Jiniya spoke once more, her voice was much louder than the last.
Lyon cackled as he took a step back. He looked outside the window and watched the maids and gardeners as they wandered around the large portion of grass that stops at the bottom of the wall that protects the palace. Pressing his palm against the crystal like glass pane, he widened his view. Glancing at the tall building outside the palace walls, tiptoeing his feet just to get a much better view. He smiled as he saw houses and buildings that looked like it reached the horizon. When suddenly he felt an extremely painful throb on his left eye, he started to wobble and was about to fall down.
Before he completely fell buttocks first on the cold carpeted flooring of the palace his eyes revealed a vision to him. The sky was at its darkers, the buildings were burning and were crumbling down, people were falling from the sky as massive pillars made of soil and sand raised from the ground reached the sky. As he fell on the ground his vision returned to normal, blinked numerous times and rubbed his eyes furiously.
He was shocked and was pale as he could not comprehend what he had just seen, "DId that happen in the past? Or is it the future?" He thought as his eyes widened. Remembering what he had just envisioned,he saw a figure that was standing in the air. He could feel it, a chilly feeling people would feel when someone is watching them.
"What on earth are you doing?" Jiniya suddenly called him out, breaking him from his terrified trance.
The moment their eyes met Jiniya's irritated face immediately changed, she suddenly kneeled and embraced Lyon extremely tight. Pushing his face on her shoulder, Jiniya started humming the same rhythm her mother would hum to her when she was crying.
"Please leave us…" Jiniya said to her maid.
Confused, the maid just simply nodded. Before leaving the maid bowed her head at the two of them before hastily walking. When the maid was no longer visible from the halls Jiniya released him from her grasp.
"Is it your eye?" She immediately asked.
"We need to go to the Forbidden Library...."
Chapter End.