I took my monster book out from my bag and placed it on my lap. Sayoko had gone to the riverbank to try and catch us some dinner. We just met, but I could tell he was quite a selfless person. I however needed to be selfish, that was the only way I would get through this game of wars. With his absence, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to start digging in my newly obtained information.
"Here you go." I poked my finger.
Just as I expected the text from earlier replicated onto the continuing pages. I stared at the title and read on through;
The Story of Chaos:
It began with the founding of the Aventine empire, which I had already learned in my history classes with grandmother. Each kingdom was named after its founder, and in their capital stood a large marble statue to honor them. However, the story written here was told differently from what I remembered.
The six founders Kings Chaos, Amare, Ferus, and Queens Serenitatem Divitae, Terra were each gifted by the saintness with their own form of magic for their kingdoms as a means to establish harmony. Amare with the power of love, Ferus with the power of beasts, Serenitatem with the power of serenity, Divitae with the power of intelligence, Terra with the power of nature, and lastly Chaos with the power of destruction. As they accepted the saintess' blessing they also formed a pact under the newly established Temple Castimonia of Purity, who honored the saintess' name. Each of the leaders headed back to their respective nations to present their people with this newly bestowed gift. Before Chaos could go the saintess asked him a question,
"Are you not upset that I have gifted you with a dark magic while everyone else received ones of light?"
Chaos smiled and responded to the saintess,
"It matters not whether it is dark or light, but the intention behind those who wield it. Even a bright light can burn you in the end."
The saintess was pleased with Chaos' response so to make up for the heavy role he was given, she gifted him with one more blessing. The power of protection.
When the other leaders learned of this, they were greatly displeased. They claimed it was unfair as Chaos was now twice as powerful as the rest. Chaos decided that the only way to avoid conflict would be to split his mana in half and transfer it to someone he trusted. That person could only be his dear lover, Izma, even if that meant they could no longer be together. They both agreed that this was for the best of the empire, and with a heavy heart Izma left Chaos, claiming the name witch for herself.
I grazed my hand over the portrait of the mother of my people, the first witch to exist, Izma. She had beautiful olive colored skin with wavy purple hair that once resembled my own.
Who would have thought witches played a major role in the founding of Chaos. It made sense as to why most of the extinct types of magic came from Chaos. They were a threat to the power balance; it was easier to turn a blind eye to inhumanity that way.
After admiring Izma's beauty, I flipped to the next page and continued reading. It listed the generations of royals that came after Chaos, one in particular caught my attention. A woman who resembled a cat with long black hair and vivid yellow eyes.
"Queen Galiena." I read out loud.
The twelfth queen of the Chaos empire marked the reunion of the age-old tale. King Erv made a trip to the established coven of witches. He fell in love with Galiena at first site, and it was then that a new discovery was made. The intimacy the two shared fused their mana together, granting King Erv a tremendous amount of power that was once forgone.
Was that why Chaos and Izma couldn't be together? The love the two shared would cause Chaos to regain control of the mana that originally belonged to him making the reason for splitting in the first place pointless.
For generations after that it was common for witches to be bethroed to the crown princes of the kingdom. There was often civil unrest when either of the party resisted this arrangement. This revelation also caused a new feud as witches were branded by the other kingdoms as evil creatures of darkness that harmed, manipulated, and seduced humans. The temple had denounced the witches, as they were a group that was granted magic not directly bestowed by the saintess, and this just fueled their displeasure more. The retaliation escalated rapidly causing the Kingdom of Chaos to engage in war against the other kingdoms. Due to the equal resistance on both sides, the kingdoms formed a treaty allowing the existence of witches on two conditions, that matrimony between a witch and a royal was forbidden, and that witches were not allowed to leave Chaos under any circumstances, isolating them from the rest of society.
I skipped through a couple more generations of rulers, stopping on the last king mentioned in the book, Ban.
When King Ban fell weak to illness, temporary transfer of authority was given to his son, Trynt. Trynt had originally lost his place as heir due to his many offenses. King Ban deemed him unfit to rule and made Trynt's son, and his grandson, Azrael, the new heir to the throne. Azrael had shown magic capabilities that far passed his predecessors at an early age. He was claimed to become the strongest king since the founder Chaos himself. This enraged Tyrant more, and with the opportunity given to him, he reversed several of the kingdom's treaties to aid in his favor.
I skipped down to the section "Treaty of Witches".
In collaboration with the temple, Trynt reversed the law giving witches amnesty within the kingdom. Tyrant himself lacked the mana needed to draw out a witch's strength and there were rumors going aorund that King Ban planned to go aganist the orginal treaty a bethroe his grandson to a member of the coven. As result, Trynt wanted to rid of any and all strength his son could access. With free range to act, the temple performed an ethnic cleanse of the witch's coven, several having been brutally burned at the stake. The existence of witches would thereafter be purged and a tale of fated lovers would never be told again.
I shut the book closed and gripped so hard onto it that my body began to shake. My mind went blank trying to make sense of it all. I went through every option in my head and only one thing was clear to me.
"How can this be…"
The reason I was hated was not because I did anything sinister or evil, in fact it had nothing to do with me at all. It always has and always will be a power struggle.
"Don't worry baby, mama will protect you."
I felt a sharp pain in my head.
"Run Selena, leave us and protect Laemise."
Screams. Lights so bright that it hurt. Burnt wood, burnt bodies.
Now witch we will send you back where you belong in the depths of purgatory!"
Cheering. It's getting hotter. I can't breath. It hurts.
"Lady Laemise, what happened? Why are you trembling." Sayoko kneeled in front of me and took my hand into his own.
I couldn't respond right away. I just wanted these memories to go away. I squeezed Sayoko's hand and smiled sadly into the dark shadows of his helmet.
"Sayoko, tell me."
I brought the cold touch of metal close to my face.
Is it so wrong to hope for a future that would be kind?"
~
The night seemed especially dark tonight. Maybe it was due the absence of the moon. I wouldn't have known Sayoko was there if he hadn't been sitting so close by. His armor perfectly blended against the scenery. He held onto my hand, even after the trembling seized. I didn't let go either, especially when he said he would start a fire for us. He didn't question my resistance.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he offered.
I hated myself that even with the kindness he had shown me, I couldn't trust him.
I'm so pathetic.
"I'm sorry." I shook my head.
"You don't need to apologize, whatever it maybe I can see it has made quite a big wound to your heart. It's not easy to share that with just anyone."
"I'm just so lost. I feel like everything I'm doing is meaningless now."
I thought back to the squad from Wargon, my words now making me sound like a hypocrite.
"Could I offer some advice?" Sayoko asked.
I didn't know if he could see it but I gave a slight nod.
"I too sometimes think about whether if anything I'm doing is worth it. I went from caring for people to killing them. I feel the dead presence of their souls everywhere I go. I've been called names like monster, menace, grim reaper, even an angel of death. Of all the different identities there was only one that stuck with me. They called me a dreamer, as to say my ideals were outlandish. But what's so wrong with being a dreamer, doesn't it just mean that I more than anyone else have the will to live beyond a established reality."
Speaks of gold shimmering light illuminated against his dark gradient. It was familiar in sight, but different in feeling. It was like for the first time, I had witnessed a genuine blessing.
"Wh-Who are you?" I asked without thinking.
He released my hand and slowly stood up.
"I could ask you the same."
~
A couple days had passed till a messenger bird arrived with a new mission. I wasn't able to uncover Sayoko's idenity, but we did become close in that time. It was strange, he was the one person I had a hard time not growing attached to. As if the bounds around my heart released every so slightly to his presence.
"Lady Laemise I pra-, I wish you luck in battle." Sayoko nodded his head.
Sayoko also mentioned that it was time for him to move on to his next task, although a messenger bird never came to him.
"Laemise."
He looked at me confused.
"You can just call me Laemise, we are friends now, right?"
"We are friends?"
Ouch, that kind of hurt. I've never had friends before but I thought that this was generally how the flow went.
"W-Well not if you don-"
"No!"
The rise in his voice startled me. He cleared his throat before continuing.
"We are friends." I could hear a hint of happiness in his voice.
"Now say it, Lae-mise."
"L-Laemise." he turned his head away from me, scratching at his helmet.
"Let's meet again Sayoko. Maybe with less armor." I smirked.
We waved goodbye to one another, as we parted ways.
I had a lot to think about on the way to my next destination. I gave yesterday to my emotions, but today will belong to my logic. There were two paths I could I take. One where I would never reach my destination, and the other where it was unknown if it even had a destination.