"Hi Sleeping Beauty! You're awake now I see. It's good to see you in one piece! I was worried when I didn't find you the river but when I saw your coachman was no longer in the village, I knew you were safe." He smiled.
Velexa didn't spare him even a glance much less a word, rather, she turned to circle around him. He stood in her path again. She moved to avoid him but he still persisted in blocking her path.
Finally, she was forced to look at him. Her eyes held annoyance.
The boy was star-struck. Mindlessly, he whispered, "You have beautiful eyes."
"Move." Came Velexa's stern voice. Even in her listless state, she was annoyed by the persistent boy obstructing her mission.
"Now, that's no way to thank someone who saved your life." The boy pressed.
If it had been the childish version of Velexa, she would have stopped and thanked him for saving her life. She would have felt mild shyness a boy as handsome as him was standing in her way and proactively talking to her.
But the Velexa before him was anything but childish, being under the influence of the Royal Crest.
"Will you move or should I make you?" Velexa challenged him.
A wide smile spread across the boy's lips. "I'd love to see you try."
Velexa who had run out of her patience lifted her hands and with it, the wind carried the boy. With a flick of her wrist, she slammed him to the side but rather than descend with a thud, he landed lightly on the ground like he was a feather.
The young man sitting under the willow tree who was initially ignoring them, now turned to Velexa with interest and curiosity.
No young child was supposed to possess that amount of magic and something seemed off about her aura, it reeked of royal authority. Not the kind princesses possessed but the kind rulers possessed.
"Whoo! That was the most refreshing lift I've ever had in my life! Do it again!" The boy chanted excitedly and blocked Velexa's path again.
A vein snapped in Velexa's head. This annoying boy was really asking for a beating and she didn't have time to waste on him. She was impatient for reasons unknown to her.
She lifted her hands once more and this time, the wind wasn't simple. It was fast and snapping, like a whip being hit repeatedly on the floor but with a speed that was hard to follow with the eye.
"For the last time, move." Velexa warned. The snapping wind were on the opposite sides of the boy, ready to entrap him any second.
"For the second time, I'd like to see you try." He smirked daringly at Velexa.
Velexa clapped her hands and the snapping wind closed in on the boy. But there was a grey mist in the middle where the boy stood, surrounding him.
Soon, the grey mist spread and completely nullified Velexa's magic!
"You see Fiero-belle, I would step out of your way of I thought you were being reasonable. But you look like a floating, pissed ghost, walking who-knows-where without a single slippers. Not to mention, you had just been the target of an assassination. So pardon me for my rudness but until you get permission to leave the academy, I'm not stepping away."
He pushed all the right buttons because now her anger was very visible on her face.
He was happy with the result of his taunt because with uncontrolled anger comes loss of control, and with loss of control comes sloppy mistakes. Sloppy mistakes like carelessness with her wind control.
Velexa's line-streaked arms and legs shone bright white, her eyes were glowing and her hair was flaying around her.
In her carelessness and anger-driven vengeance, the wind around them was fierce and the trees were flying furiously like it would during a heavy windstorm.
Her area of control was wide and she quickly lost control. A mini-whirlwind consumed Velexa and she was floating in the eye of the storm. She was being lifted higher and higher.
The boy who wanted to use her loss of control as an opening to take her down was soon consumed by the wind and even he was swept away for the wind was too powerful.
Velexa looked like she was about to literally blow from all the power until the young man who was sitting under the willow tree jumped into the eye of the storm and cast a spell on her.
The spell was a a difficult one because it took a while to cast it. As he was casting the spell, the wind was gradually receding. It slowed down enough for them to stand on bare ground. With a final chant, Velexa's Royal Seal was sealed and the white lines on her face, hands and legs disappeared.
Velexa was on the ground, the boy was hanging by a tree branch, and the young man was panting heavily, looking pale and about to collapse.
"Master Arden, are you okay?" The boy asked the young man worried.
"Yes, I'm fine Gemariax. The spell was not a simple one."
'Afterall, it's not everyday you seal a Ruler's Royal Seal.' He muttered to himself.
"What happened here?" Velexa sat up on the ground, holding her head. "The courtyard looks like it survived an earthquake and it feels like I was hit my a loose wild horse."
Their heads snapped towards her direction, ready to launch a counter-attack should she decide to use her wind magic again.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Velexa said in a childish voice. She was back to her child-like innocence.
"Who are you people? Why am I here? Where is Knie? Was I kidnapped? Are you bad guys? Don't think I'm powerless, I know self defense and my kicks pack a mean punch!"
Gemariax, the young boy scoffed in disbelief at what was playing out before him. The serious-looking, matured-sounding, dangerous wind wielding girl he just faced off with in a near-death experience was suddenly sounding like a child? She was suddenly sounding her age?
As he was thinking this, the white lines suddenly appeared on Velexa's face and hands again and she said, "Why am I still here? You!" She pointed at Gemariax, "Why do you insist on standing in my way? It's even more humiliating that I can't seem to get you out of my way!"
Then Velexa switched personalities again to her childish version. The white lines disappeared and she continued, "Who are you and where am I? Knie will beat you up if you're bad guys and hurt me. But if you let me go, I promise I won't let Knie hurt you."
At this point, Gemariax turned to Arden, "Master Arden, what's going on?"
The white lines kept appearing and disappearing on Velexa.
"I believe this is what you call having two personalities in one person, each appearing with different triggers - a split personality. It seems my spell could not completely restrain her."
"What would cause a phenomenon like this Master Arden?"
"That young prince I do not believe I should disclose."
"Princess!!!" Knie ran towards the Velexa upon feeling the erratic wind. He took was a wind weilder but he didn't disclose it to anyone. Only those in the special command of the Wind wielder's army division of Beautamix Kingdom knew about his power.
Upon seeing Velexa's condition and how the lines kept appearing and disappearing on her body, he brought out a beautiful transparent orb necklace and put it on Velexa. Then she quieted down and fell asleep again.
Arden's eyes never left the orb necklace dangling on Velexa's neck.
"What did you do to her?" Knie was angry. His eyes were glowing, just like Velexa's eyes were a few moments ago. There was a shift in the wind, a shift that held a dangerous aura. And unlike that of Velexa that was wide, loose and light, his was precise, controlled and thick.
Very few people evoked fear in Arden. Being an Instructor in Crimxson Academy meant having an excellent level of proficiency in one's skill and Arden was wayy up there in the proficiency ladder. Few could stand toe to toe with him and yet, he felt mild fear while staring at Knie.
"We stopped your beloved princess from exploding. Do you wind weilders only know how to glare with glowing eyes rather than saying thank you? Arden scoffed.
"She was about to explode?" Knies gaze softened and the wind eased, his eyes were no longer glowing. Worry lined his military-defined, handsome features.
"I won't ask the details of whatever happened to her. However, I will put her under direct tutelage and you shall not interfere with whatever training I subject her to. From the looks of it, my spell won't protect her forever. If she doesn't learn to control her powers, she will very well explode."
"Why do you want to personally train her? Aren't the students taught generally?"
"Let's just say she caught this Master's eye."