Eleora slipped out of shock, losing the grip her feet had on the wall. Dangling in the air, she held on to the thin fabric for dear life. If she was to make that jump, now would be the perfect time. Just before she could make a decision, her body started levitating. She was floating in the air, her hands still clenching the hand-made rope as if she would fall any second now.
"Let go," The voice said gently, she turned to meet the gaze of the familiar green eyes of Lord Nikolai. But what made her dumbstruck, was the fact that he too was floating right next to her. His legs were crossed and his eyes glowed bright as he watched her with curiosity. They were swallowed by the pitch darkness of the night, and the light breeze of the wind spun around them.
Eleora let go instinctively, almost as if his eyes enchanted her and this magic surrounding them. She floated in the same spot, slowly turning around to face him. Eleora looked awkward as she swung her arms around like a chick getting ready for its first flight lesson. Lord Nikolai suppressed a peal of laughter when her attempt started to look like a fish out of water. He extended his hand to her, watching carefully if she would reject it again.
Eleora reluctantly grabbed a hold of it, but not because she wanted to. Her grip was tight as if she was afraid that by letting go, she would perish down into the darkness beneath them.
"Why do you run, child? Anyone would find themselves to be lucky in this situation," He asked as they floated even higher. Eleora kept her focus on the Lord, she was never a fan of heights.
"How so?" She answered shakingly as if the sound of her voice would break the enchantment surrounding them.
"To be fed and taken in by a noble, especially someone as established as I am. Many would even sell their right hand to be able to speak to me, and yet you seem unfazed."
"I-I...I don't want to marry you!" She said aloud. Her feet touched the flat surface of the roof. The breeze up there was colder that even the heavy weight of her thick hair couldn't shield her from it.
"Marry? Why would I marry a peony kid like you?" He said, letting out another one of his infamous loud laughs. This man laughed a lot as if he had no worry in the world.
"W-Well- why else would you kidnap a kid!" She defended her statement, her cheeks turning pink.
"Listen here, kid. You have something very interesting in your left eye. A magic circle, a circle that someone as talented as me had never seen before. It's so complex and seems way beyond the capabilities of this kingdom, or perhaps even this era. It almost seems ancient. Knowledge that was lost centuries ago. I want to study it and decipher it, less than a handful of mages would even notice something so faint. It must be there for a reason. So why don't you tell me more about it?"
"A magic circle? In my eye?" Eleora repeated, trying to understand the meaning behind his words. What is a magic circle? And why is it in her eye? Could it be that it was something that brought her to this world?
"You seem to not know of the existence of magic circles, perhaps even magic itself." Nikolai grew suspicious of the child before him and despite the darkness, Eleora could see it.
"T-They did not teach us of no such thing, it was my first time experiencing magic firsthand. I had heard rumors that talented mages such as yourself did exist within the kingdom, however, you are the first that I met," She rambled, trying to create some half-assed story based on the countless lies she had already fed him.
"I see, well allow me the honors of explaining it."
"Okay," Eleora nodded eagerly, wanting to learn more about this fascinating world. There was no such thing as magic on Earth, but here...it was different.
"You may let my hand go. You will not fall as long as I am with you," Eleora immediately let go, forgetting that she still had a tight grip on his hand. Lord Nikolai wore white gloves that blended in with the pale color of his skin. He took one off and then proceeded to take off the other before rolling up his sleeves.
On each hand and arm, as far as the eye could see, were full of magic circles. Each looked completely different from the previous, but they all had the same concept. A circle on the outside, and unique, designated designs that matched a specific purpose. Eleora glanced at his hands blankly, she was not able to see magic circles, just as Nikolai had suspected.
Those who are born with a lack of mana, a natural magic source within their body, or born with no mana at all, could not see magic circles created by other mages.
"Magic circles help mages such as myself to accumulate specific spells, and help regulate the proper flow and use of mana in order to create complex spells in the most efficient way possible. You cannot see them because of your lack of mana, however, I can make them visible for you to see." And with that, the magic circles on Nikolai's body began to glow a soft shade of green. The color green was a reflection of not only his eye color but also the color of his aura and mana.
"Wow, so many?" She gawked in awe as they appeared one by one.
"Yes, most mages tattoo themselves with a lot of magic circles, most for defense or attack magic. It's more sufficient to have a circle available and ready to be channeled, rather than composing it from scratch."
"And I have one in my eye? But why, I don't have magic or anything of that sort." She stated as she watched the magic circles on his hands completely vanish from her view. Nikolai began putting his gloves back on, for a mage of his talent and rank, it's safer for even the less significant circles to stay covered and out of sight.
"That is exactly what we are going to find out. Let's make a deal, you allow me to study you and the magic circle in your eye, and in exchange, I provide you with food, shelter, education, and whatever it is that you want," He said, holding out his hand to bind the contract with magic.
"Study how? Like experiments and stuff?"
"More or less, I want to see what it is for, and if I'll be able to break it." He stated, his hand still lingering in the air. Eleora glanced down, thinking it over. It wasn't a bad deal at all. She'll be taken care of for however long it will take to figure out all this magic circle business, and in exchange, the mage in front of her gets to geek out over some ancient magic. If she is lucky, she could find out more about how she stumbled into this world, and if the magic circle in her eye is the key to going back.
"Deal." She said, shaking his hand. He smiled, but not his regular fake smiles. The real, most sinister smile that caused Eleora to gulp nervously.
"Now, sleep child. It is past your bedtime," He said, waving his hand in front of her eyes. Within seconds, Eleora was fast asleep and floating in the air alongside Nikolai. He glanced out into the distance of this small village. "What an interesting child."
* * *
Eleora woke up to a rattling sound. When she finally opened her eyes, she was met with the ceiling of the familiar carriage made of gold and wood. She immediately sat up, realizing she was lying down and not to mention asleep. A blanket fell off her shoulders as soon as she sat up. Lord Nikolai was sitting across from her, glancing out the window with boredom.
"About time you woke up," The lord muttered, glancing at his watch. "You have slept for eighteen hours child. Have you no shame? I was so bored. "
"I-I..." Eleora couldn't think of what to say as the events from last night flooded her brain. "Y-You put me to sleep! Yes! With your magic! Couldn't you have just woken me up with it too?"
"There is no such magic to wake one from slumber unless they were under a curse. I tried to wake you up, but you sleep like a rock," He stated, his foul attempt at waking her up was pocking her cheeks and pulling her hair. He did not know how to act around children, let alone how to wake them up.
"W-Where are we?" Eleora ignored his statement and asked the most obvious question.
"We are almost there," She made an assumption that he was speaking of the castle. She immediately sat up, sticking her head out the window, wanting to get a glimpse of it. Lord Nikolai thought she was attempting to jump out of the window and he made a move to grab her, he relaxed once he realized he was wrong.
"Woah!" Eleora said out loud, her eyes wide. The capital was different from the villages that she had seen so far, the roads were made of cobblestones, and there were fewer farms and more buildings and stores of all kinds. Clothes, bakeries, swordsmiths, markets, and among them all, the people who stood on the side of the roads, watching the carriage drive through. Eleora made eye contact with a few of them and then hid herself back inside.
"T-That's a lot of people," She said shyly. As they drove for a little longer, she realized that her fantasy of a castle built on top of a mountain, glancing down at its capital was shattered when she realized that it was built in the middle of the capital itself.
"Woah, is that the castle?" She asked, glancing out the window once again. The man laughed at her stupid question.
"No, but that one is." He said looking up. Eleora, full of confusion, followed his gaze and glanced upwards. At first, it looked like a rock made out of crystals just floating in the air as if it belonged there, in no way did it seem out of place. But if one glanced carefully, one could see a white castle with dark blue roofs blending in with the color of the sky. Eleora's mouth hung open in shock, this was far beyond her expectations.
"W-Why is it up there?" She could barely ask the question.
"Well, they nagged me to make the castle safer because the eldest prince is yet to be announced as the next heir. And what better way to prevent assassins than having the castle be completely out of reach," He said, yet again he had that mischievous glint in his eyes as his mouth twitched upwards.
"You did this?"
"Didn't I brag about how powerful I am yet?" He asked sarcastically, Eleora rolled her eyes and glanced back towards the window. It looked majestic, hanging in the sky, casting a shadow over a small portion of the capital.
"Doesn't it make commute difficult?" She asked curiously. Perhaps the horses had wings and could fly!
"A portal is a piece of cake for someone like me. But we are not going through the portal," He said smiling again. Before he could give her any warning, the carriage had floated upwards. Eleora had jerked back to her seat, trying to find a handle or a seatbelt for this unexpected turn of events.
The two horses that were attached to the carriage had continued running, however, they were running in the air instead of the road. The coachman who sat in the front seemed to roll his eyes as if this occurrence wasn't his first time. The other knights and their horses remained on the ground, they rode in a different direction.
Eleora had never been on an airplane, or anywhere higher than the fourth floor of her orphanage and she didn't know how to react when she glanced through the window and noticed her being hundreds of feet up in the air.
"Oh my god, oh my god," She whispered to herself, trying to hold on to the seats with her bare fingertips.
"Scared?"
"As if!" She shouted, trying to regain her composure after noticing the smirk on Lord Nikolai's face.
"Then you wouldn't mind if I open the door, I do quite enjoy the breeze this high up from the ground," He said, reaching for the handle. Eleora leaped out of her seat to stop him.
"Stop it, you crazy bastard!" She yelled out, clearly terrified. It was one thing floating in the air but still seeing the ground, and something entirely different when everything looked smaller than an ant.
"Now then, isn't it about time you learned proper manners?" He mocked her and opened the door before she could snatch his hand off the handle.
"You lanky bastard!" She yelled out in fright.
"That wasn't very nice, if you apologize for hurting my feelings, I will close it," He said but he didn't look hurt at all. In fact, he was smiling and enjoying this little show.
"As if!"
"Hmmm, I do feel like taking a look at the capital," He said to himself and as he did so, the carriage began to tilt to the right. The view changed, the blue skies were replaced by the distant roofs of the capital below them. Eleora kneeled towards the door and let out a scream. She grabbed Nikolai's entire hand and held it for dear life.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She yelled out when her hair was dangling on the side. Soon enough the carriage regained its balance and the door closed magically. Nikolai sat with a smile pestering on his face as Eleora still had her tight grip on his hand. She didn't say a single thing, in fact, she had her tongue in between her teeth in fear she would explode on this man. Maybe he'd have her dangle off the carriage door next, who knows?
Finally, she felt the wheels touch the ground. She let go immediately with a sigh of relief and the carriage came to a stop. Eleora stooped up and ran to the door, throwing it wide open.
"Master! How dare yo-"
"You crazy bastard! I hate you!" She said looking back at smiling Nikolai as she took a step out. The coachman didn't have enough time to get the steps out considering the fact that they had just landed, and Eleora ended up missing a step, forgetting how high the carriage was. Nikolai made a move to grab her but she had already fallen along with someone who was standing right in front of the door.
The boy did not catch the redhead who suddenly jumped out of the carriage, instead the two of them took a tumble to the ground. He blinked, processing what just happened. He couldn't see the girl's face because her long flaming hair. He sat up and groaned, Eleora took no notice of the boy and used him to push herself off the ground. He fell back, losing his balance.
"You bastard, the deal is off! Take me back immediately!" Eleora exploded as Lord Nikolai stepped out from the carriage with a smug look on his face.
"Master!" The boy on the floor said upon seeing Lord Nikolai. He immediately got up, brushing off his clothes to look presentable.
"You can't break a deal that was sealed with magic!"
"What bullshit is this? This is a scam! I've been scammed!"
"Master!" The boy said louder, getting annoyed at being ignored. The two seemed to be in their own little world.
"The contract was sealed when you shook my hand, kid. You are bound to it by magic."
"Y-You dirty rodent! I wasn't aware of this! Break it, right now!"
"Master!" The boy yelled louder, this time grabbing both of their attention and the others surrounding them. "Who is this lady?"
"Ah, greeting Your Highness. Meet your fiance, the young lady Eleora," Nikolai said, bowing to the eldest prince as Eleora's mouth dropped open.