Archive of Our Own

I waited as Ash booked a room for us at the inn. I couldn’t wait to sleep after the longtime of traveling we had done. We had finally made it to the town and we were so excited to begin our apprenticeship. Ash came out and I followed him to the stables. We put our horses in and left to our room. I opened the door and ran over to a bed.

“They said we’d have to be sharing with another group,” Ash said joining me at the bed.

“That’s fine,” I replied as I let my hair fall down. “We at least have a bed and shelter. We have to be grateful for that.”

“Right,” Ash said as the door opened. Some people walked in, and they looked at us.

“I’m guessing you’re the ones we are to share with?” One asked.

“Uh, yes!” I said jumping up.

“Ian,” Ash said pulling me back down. “I apologize for her; she doesn’t do well with people. But yes, we are. We have been traveling for a long time and we came here for our apprenticeship.”

“I’m Miki and this is Luke,” one said as he set his stuff down at the foot of the other bed.

“Ash and Ian,” Ash replied with a smile. “We’re brother and sister, in case you were wondering.” I leaned back on the bed, stretching. Luke set his stuff down and followed Miki’s lead, climbing into bed. Ash laid down and I crawled up next. I took a while to fall asleep as I listened to their breaths going in and out. I wormed my way out of the covers and walked to the window. I opened it, letting the night air in. I lifted my legs over the window ledge and sat on the windowsill. I looked up at the twinkling stars and glowing moon. I closed my eyes and hummed a song that had been with me for all that I knew. I opened my eyes and looked back into the room before making the decision to climb to the roof. I reached up and grabbed the ledge and pulled myself up. I laid down on the roof and closed my eyes.

I felt heat beating down on me and I heard someone calling my name. I opened my eyes and immediately regretted it. Closing them as I sat up, I rubbed them and opened them again. I heard my name again and I glanced around. I realized I was on the roof, and I slid down to the ledge and looked down. I came face to face with Ash, scaring him.

“Ah!” Ash yelled. “Why are you outside?” Ash moved to the side and I swung inside.

“I couldn’t sleep in here,” I said. Ash shook his head at me in disbelief.

“You’re the one who said we should by thankful for the bed and shelter. What if it had rained?”

“I looked outside beforehand,” I said. “Plus, the air was nice.” I looked at Ash kindly, hoping he would give. Ash sighed, muttering words that sounded like he gave up. I turned my gaze to Miki and Luke who were looking at us. I gave a smile before I gathered my things as Ash did the same.

“Well, we’ll be going then,” Ash said as we put our cloaks on. I tied my hair up with a ribbon wrapped around it, holding it in place. I then pulled the hood over my hair and followed Ash out. I went to the stable and retrieved our horses as Ash went to return the key to our room. I waited at the gate for Ash. I watched Ash walk down the path to me. I held out the reigns of his horse to him while I held my own. He took them and we started down the road to the town. It wasn’t long until we made it into town. Ash told me to get on the horse, which I protested. He proceeded to pick me up and set me on the horse, despite me telling him that it would be much better if he did it.

“You wouldn’t do well at making your way through the crowds, Ian,” Ash said as he grabbed the reigns of my horse as well. He then proceeded to walk and take us through the crowds. They appeared to part the way as Ash moved through. I saw the building we were looking for and I pointed Ash to it. He listened and got us to it quickly.

“That,” I said once we were clear of people. “just proved your point, how infuriating.” Ash laughed and I glared. I slipped off the horse and landed on my feet, my ankle failing slightly. I was holding to the horse, which kept me up.

“And I see that my guess that you weren’t in the best health was correct,” Ash said as he came over and gave me a hand. I sighed and took it, propping myself up against him. We moved to the door and Ash knocked, me regaining my footing to stand. Someone came to the door, opening it cautiously.

“Who is there?” They asked. I could tell they may or may not had been expecting someone.

“We are the Rosemeadow siblings, here for our apprenticeship,” Ash said. I watched as the door opened fully, and another man came into view behind the one that opened the door.

“Which of you is which?” The man asked.

“Ian,” I said.

“Ash,” Ash said. The man stepped out and put a hand on my shoulder.

“So you are the one that killed the duke with that killer snipe shot with a bow and arrow?” He asked, his eyes seeming to glisten. Ash looked piqued that someone who hadn’t even introduced themselves is asking me things. Ash cleared his throat, and the man stepped back.

“Ahem, excuse me. I am Sir Kai, pleased to meet you,” Kai said. I smiled.

“Pleased to meet you,” I reply, calmly not wanting Ash to pull me to the side. I felt something sniffing at my ankle and I looked down, seeing a dog sniffing. He looked at Kai and yipped, surprising me. I took a step back, looking between the dog and Kai. I gave a soft laugh and glanced at Ash who looked shocked.

“Are you injured?” Kai asked. Ash was giving me a look like he was contemplating if we should tell Kai. When it seemed, Ash had made a decision, he stepped forward and started to speak. The dog had different plans and jumped into my arms, causing me to fall back on the ground. It started to lick my face and I gently lifted it off.

“Thank you for doing that, Juniper,” I said as I sat up.

“You know the name of him?” Kai asked.

“Well, yeah. He was saying it in his breath,” I said. Kai looked past me and almost looked shocked. Ash had the same look. I turned around with Juniper in my arms. I flinched as I saw Miki and Luke there.

“Well, I never would’ve thought that you guys would be the apprentices,” Luke said. Miki walked over and helped me up, my ankle being mean and not working properly. Juniper could tell and almost yipped, but I looked him in his eyes, willing him to not tell them. Ash noticed and I also gave him a look. I stood, hiding the pain from my ankle. I let go of Miki’s hand and smiled, thanking him. I could tell Ash was going to say something to me later and I glanced around. Juniper seemed to look at me, as if he saw inside. Luke and Miki went in the building followed by Kai and Ash and I. Kai immediately led me and Ash to a room, saying we could stay there. He, Miki, Luke, and Juniper went into another room. Ash shut the door as I fell onto a bed.

“Your injury is giving you more and more trouble these days,” Ash said turning to me. I was flexing my ankle, trying to loosen it. “You’re causing me more and more worry, Ian!”

“I know that you’re worried but I will be fine. I just can’t put too much strain on it,” I replied, silently wincing at the pain. Ash sigh and sat down next to me and put a hand on my head.

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I looked at Juniper as he finished transforming. Juniper sat on the bed in his human form. Luke and Miki looked at me to ask the question that was burning in all of us. With a sigh, I started, “Juniper, what were you going to tell me when Ian looked at you?”

“Ah, her ankle is weak, she puts too much strain on it doing normal activities. But even better, when she looked at me, her eyes went yellow as the message was sent,” Juniper said with a smile.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“It means she’s an animal spirit, like me,” Juniper says looking at me. “But a normal’s eyes don’t turn colors. Only royalty have it, and it’s to show dominance. Ah, and yellow is a show of the top, to think she is someone of such high standing.”

“What about Ash then?” Luke asked.

“Her eyes didn’t turn when she looked at him, it’s likely he isn’t one,” Juniper looks at me. “You better train her well so I can see more of her.” I give a laugh and nod. We can’t hear them in their room, but I have a feeling they might be talking about her ankle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I open the door with my bow slung over my shoulder and a quiver of arrows. I checked to make sure no one was outside as I moved to the front door. Opening it, I feel the breeze come in and I exit, swiftly moving to my horse. I undid the reigns and hopped on. I prodded the horse to the forest, not entirely sure of where I’m at. I found a clearing and tied the horse to a tree. I grabbed my bow and locked an arrow in, I aimed at a trunk of a tree. Once I was locked on, I turned my bow horizontally, a strange way but best for me, and let the arrow go. It nailed the trunk dead center, like every other arrow I let fly. I heard rustling of leaves above me and I looked up, moving out of the way as a dagger fell. It grazed my arm down to my hand, leaving a trail of blood. My attacker jumped down in front of me, and looked me in my eyes. My hand moved to my left eye as a sting of pain came from it. The attacker took the advantage and moved towards me. He was stopped by a person I didn’t recognize until they looked at me.

“Juniper!” I say, my hand straying to my belt where a dagger of my own was held.

“Good to see you too, Ian. Don’t grab your weapon,” he said as he shoved the attacker away. The attacker fled, Juniper giving a look that said he meant business. My hand moved away from my dagger, and I moved the hand away from my eye. Juniper came to me and looked at me, he gasped.

“Your left eye is blue while the right is yellow! You’re the crown princess!” Juniper said.

“So you figured it out?” I asked. “That I’m an animal spirit and the last remaining member of the royal family of the Ruined Kingdom?”

“Yeah,” Juniper said. He looked at my arm and saw the cut. “You’re just a problem, aren’t you?” I moved to get up, and Juniper moved back. I got up and grabbed my arrows from the trunk, using my bad arm, sending fire up my arm. I stored them in the quiver and grabbed my bow, slipping it over my shoulder. Juniper moved over to me, and set a hand on my head. I could tell what he was thinking.

“I’m not transforming,” I said.

“It’ll be easier to carry you, and it will alleviate the pain. Plus, you won’t scare the others quite as much,” Juniper said. I sighed and set my quiver and bow down. I transformed into my spirit form, a cat. Juniper picked up my bow and quiver, then scooped me into his arms. My eyes were the color that they glowed when I looked at other animal spirits. We walked out of the forest, the horse trailing behind us. We came to the building and Ash looked at me in Juniper’s arms.

“Ian!” Ash said. I gave a smile, and Ash moved over to me. He moved to pick me up, but Juniper stopped him. He motioned to the bow, quiver, and horse. Ash understood, and took the horse, along with the bow and quiver. Juniper brought me into the main room, and told me to transform back. I did as he said, and my blood ran down my hand. Ash walked in and looked at me, seeing the blood. He gave a gasp.

“I’m fine, I just got cut,” I said, trying to reassure him.

“It’s more than a simple cut, it got far, we have to wrap it all,” Juniper said. I looked at Juniper willing him to keep quiet. Ash came over to me and put a hand on my head. I flinched, recognizing that he was telling me that he had words to tell me when I was done there. He went to the bedroom we were sharing and Juniper got some bandages.

“What is Ash?” Juniper asked as he started to clean the cut.

“He’s my father’s friends’ son. They had decided way back when that he would be my protector. He’s an engineered human, stronger than a normal one and will be around for a long time, like us,” I replied. Juniper nodded as he started wrapping my arm.

“Your spirit form is cute, why don’t you be in it more often?”

“Ahahahah… There’s a whole story to it. My form, a cat, is based off my hierarchy level. I’m the crown princess, their form is always some kind of cat. I’m more unique though, I control my form so I can change what form I take. I can use it to my advantage.”

“That sounds useful, I wish I could control mine. I’d like to be something other than a dog,” Juniper gave a laugh.

“It’s not really all that good too,” I trail off thinking of past occasions. Juniper looks at me with concern in his green eyes. I continue with a breath, “I have trouble making connections with others because I’m so unique. The others all talk about their experiences and I could never really share. It also ties into the fact I was kept from public eye because I couldn’t control it for the longest time. I gained the title of crown princess and gained my power but, I soon found I could transform into other spirits.”

“They kept you hidden because of it?”

“Yes, and I didn’t gain much help at controlling it either. They tried their best, but no one wanted to teach me how, partially because I was impatient and grew mad when I didn’t get it. I had to teach myself, and I did that by going out by myself and transforming. It was actually on one of the excursions that I injured my ankle,” Juniper tied the bandage off.

“May I look at your ankle?”

“Fine,” I sighed. Taking my boot off, he inspected the ankle.

“It’s been shattered slightly, not much but it’s there. How long have you had it?”

“Today will have been the 7^th year if I’m correct.”

“Seven years? And you haven’t tried to heal it?”

“It did what it does now for the first two years. It only recently started doing it again,” I said as I watched Juniper. He wrapped his hands around my ankle and whispered words, glowing orbs forming around us. When they disappeared, Juniper released his hands and looked at me.

“Care to try it now?” He asked and I stood. I jumped a couple times and ran in some circles.

“It doesn’t do it,” I gasped. “What did you do?”

“Healing magic, my specialty,” Juniper smiled. I looked at him. I glanced at the door Ash was behind.

“He’d be happy to know but, I know I’ll get an earful when I go,” I mumbled, mostly for myself.

“Just go, I’ll back you up if needs be. I can also chill in the room,” Juniper said. I nodded, both thanking him and agreeing. We moved to the door, Juniper transforming.

“Oh!” I said and looked at Juniper. “I forgot to mention I can share my power with other animal spirits.” I offered out my hand and Juniper put his paw on. I closed my eyes and felt the magic flow through my veins, connecting me to Juniper. I opened my eyes and watched as he formed into a mouse.

“A mouse? Really?” Juniper looked at me.

“It’s better than a dog,” I replied with a smile. Juniper nodded, and I opened the door, Juniper entering before I did.

“Ash,” I said closing the door. He looked at me and smiled. I moved over to my bed and sat. Ash got up and sat behind me. He took my hair down, and out of the bun it was spiraled in. He started brushing through it.

“You shouldn’t have gone out by yourself,” he said.

“I know but, I couldn’t let you keep with me,” I replied. I looked at my hand that was wrapped. “I didn’t even know somebody was there. I’m okay though.”

“You are too much of a problem.”

“Juniper isn’t as bad as you think, he even healed my ankle.”

“He what?”

“Healed my ankle,” I noticed Ash stopped brushing my hair.

“Ian, I promised to help you. You can’t just go to people you don’t even know,” Ash said. “I was tasked to be your protector.”

“He knows my true position. The attacker activated my eyes, Juniper saw my blue one. He know’s I’m the crown princess.” I turned to see Ash looking at me like I was mad. Ash put his head in his hands.

“You have to be more careful, Ian,” Ash replied. I took my hair and tied it back into a bun.

“I can handle myself,” I stood up and moved to the window. “I know places you can’t get to, Ash. I’m not afraid to reach heights that are risky.” I turned around and looked at Ash.

“You’re not thinking about going back to the kingdom!” Ash stood. I noticed Juniper move in front of me. He transformed, standing in a protective form.

“Juniper!” I said, surprised. Ash looked at Juniper and glared. I make my way between them.

“No, Ash. We are apprentices, they are the teachers. Juniper, stand down,” I said. I grabbed their arms and pulled them to the door. I opened it and pulled them to the room Miki, Luke and Kai were. I knocked, the door being opened right after. I threw them in, and motioned to the others to give me the keys to the room. They got out as I locked the window and moved back to the door.

“You two will stay there until you can get along,” I said, closing the door and locking it. I turned to Kai, Miki and Luke and tossed Luke the keys. “They’re staying there until they can get along, ‘kay?”

“Right,” Luke replied, catching the keys. I turned to Kai and Miki.

“Let’s start our training, yeah?” I went and got my bow and quiver. I came back to see Kai with his.

“We’ll go to our special range, lots of good places there,” Kai moved to the door. I followed with Miki behind me. We walked through the forest on a path I didn’t seem to find earlier. We walked quite a ways before we came to the range. I nodded in approval.

“Oh by the way, my archer name is Raven. I’m amazed you connected me to the duke’s incident so easily. And just from my real name. It doesn’t get out much,” I said as I brought my bow down from my shoulder.

“I have a few sources,” Kai shrugged. I raised an eyebrow. “Anyways, we’re going to do an assessment of your skills, though that may not be necessary.” Kai gave a laugh. Miki sat down close to the path, probably not want to get in the crosshairs of the arrows. Kai pointed to the different trees in a line, all with varying marks from arrows. He shot and arrow into the first, center, a little to the right.

“You’re going to have to be the center to beat me,” I smiled. I locked in an arrow, and aimed dead center. I turned my bow to the side, gaining an intrigued look from Kai. I let the arrow fly, and it struck true, dead center. Kai smiled and moved on to the next trunk. We repeated the process for each one, varying placement and such. The last one was different. Kai ran, shooting as he did and hit dead center. I grinned and started to run, locking my arrow in place, and turned the bow horizontally. I ran, and shot, aimed at the dead center. Movement caught the attention of the corner of my eye and I swiftly locked in another arrow and shot. My second arrow hit an incoming one as my first hit dead center, splitting Kai’s arrow. Miki darted over, looking at the arrow that mine deflected away. The fletching was crimson red and I knew who it was.

“Senri, come on out!” I shouted. It wasn’t long until Senri showed.

“I’m amazed it took you to see the fletching to get that it was me,” Senri grinned.

“What is your purpose? I thought you were keeping an eye on the enemy,” I asked. Senri flinched back some with a look on her face.

“Well, they kinda took the kingdom over more. They figured out that they needed blood from the royal family line to access the vault. You need to get as far away as you can,” Senri said, her face darkening. I looked at her in shock.

“Senri, I can’t leave. The general knowledge is that the royal family is dead,” I replied.

“The vault would’ve opened if they were all dead. They know that at least one is alive.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I gather my arrows, storing them in my quiver.

“Umm… Ian, can you explain to us?” Kai asked. I looked at him, and nodded.

“It’ll be easier to explain with everyone,” I say, slinging my bow over my shoulder. Kai followed my suit and grabbed his arrows. He even grabbed his split one, examining it as we went back to the house. I opened the door and entered, snagging the keys from Luke and unlocked the door where Juniper and Ash were. Juniper looked up and I pointed to the main room. He got up, moving Ash with him. I shed myself of my bow and quiver in my room. I came back to the main room, Senri moving next to me.

“Juniper already knows, but I’m the crown princess of the ruined kingdom. Senri here,” I motion to my right. “Is one of my three maids. I tasked them with watching the kingdom while I was gone. However, she left her post with information.”

“The enemy has taken over the kingdom and then realized that at least one of the royal family remains when the vault wasn’t open. They need royal blood then to open the vault. I implore that Ian leaves but, her stubbornness is denying me,” Senri glared at me. “So instead, I ask that you protect while the other two come here. There are other sentries watching the kingdom in our stead.”

“Well then, you are a very interesting person,” Juniper said, standing. “The crown princess being stubborn? I never would’ve guessed.” I was ticked off by that comment.

“I stick to my choices,” I replied, crossing my arms. Senri gave me a look that said to knock it off. I sighed and looked at Ash.

“Well?” I ask. He was slightly annoyed with me, I could tell. He sighed and waved his hand, signaling that I could do what I wanted. I was very happy at that. I turned to the others, wanting for them to respond. They all looked at each other before turning back to me and Senri.

“You’re one of our apprentices, we’ve got to help you. Besides, the greatest bow and arrow sniper being a princess? Never would’ve expected that,” Kai said.

“I’m going back to the kingdom, if it’s the vault they want, I’ll open the vault,” I say. I turn and go back to my room, shutting the door to get changed. I changed quickly and exited, now in comfortable clothes. Juniper stood and moved up next to me.

“You’re wanting to go to the place they need you to be? What is in the vault that they want so badly anyway?” Juniper asked. I take a breath, looking at Senri. I turn to the door and make my way over, ignoring Juniper. I open the door and go to the horses, finding mine, Apollo, and saddling him up. I hop on and take him out, finding the others coming out.

I smile as Senri and Ash move past me and look at me, as Ash says, “You’re way too crazy for me to keep up, Ian.”

“Don’t you remember what you signed up for? You’re to go with me and keep me safe,” I say. They all hop on a horse, as I move Apollo to the road. “Ki, Aiona. Come down from the roof.”

Two blurs drop to the ground from the roof, standing up slowly.

“Hop on a horse and let us go. Ojinra,” I spur Apollo forward. We ride, the others close behind. We didn’t pack much, I realize, but Senri, Ki, and Aiona  are skilled on many fronts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I close my eyes, trusting Apollo to keep us going. I take a breath in preparing to hum. I start humming a familiar song, it’s ever known tune and lyrics coming into my mind.

“The river of the majestic land, magic pulsing through its waves. Pierce the ground to mend its way, flowing from far to reach this place.” My voice goes, surprising me.

“The magic causes life to grow, giving strength to the weakest of homes. It gives us hope to continue on.” Aiona continues for me. I open my eyes, glancing quickly behind. Aiona was hinting a smile.

“We follow the river, back to our home. We return, in the brightest light.” I sing, Aiona with me as well as Senri joining in.

“Take us to the kingdom, in the majestic land. Find our way to the highest peak, where pow’r surges. Bring us to the better place.” Senri sings.

“The Kingdom of Eon. The kingdom we call home.” We all sing, Ki joining. There was a pause as we went on, not one of the others wanting to say something. It wasn’t until we came to a stop in the dusky dark to set up camp that anyone said anything.

“That song, what is it? You all knew it, even Ash was tapping his thigh to it? I’ve never heard it before,” Juniper said as he hopped down from his horse. I hopped down from Apollo, moving to a tree.

“Eon Ifriti,” I say. “It’s an old song that tells of travelers returning home to the mighty kingdom of Eon. That’s where it’s believed we’re from, where everyone’s from.”

They all looked at me and I sighed. I looked towards Senri and Aiona for help. Senri shrugged as Aiona came over.

“I learned it from my mother, it was a song that was sang often in our spare time, because we had a lot,” Aiona explains. “She said that Ian and I are originally from Eon.”

“Aio!” I say. “We both know that is probably just a lie!”

Aiona shrugged, moving to help Ki set up the camp. They shooed away anyone who tried to help them, making it a period of rest for us. It took a moment of Aiona struggling to start the fire that I moved to help her. She tried to get me away but I planted my feet and started to light the fire. It took a couple of tries, but I got it. I handed the rock and arrow tip back as the fire started to eat the sticks. Senri returned with some fish from a nearby river. I set them up to cook over the flames.

“You are too skilled for your own good, Ian. What are we supposed to do?” Senri asks playfully. I smile in response. Juniper comes over, the others following. I focus on cooking the fish.

“We should eat and then rest, it’ll be a long trip of travel tomorrow,” Juniper said. I could agree that there was going to a long day of traveling, but not as long as they’re expecting. I’m not going to correct him though. By my action of not correcting, the others don’t correct him either.

“I second that,” Kai said. I turned the fish to cook their other side. I waited as the others sat down around the fire. The backsides cooked and I removed them from their place by the fire. I handed the fish out to everyone before digging in to my own. The outside was nice and crispy, my absolute favorite. The inside was warm and delectable. I finished mine quickly and moved to a tree, starting to climb. The others were preoccupied and didn’t notice me leave.

I watched them from my perch for a bit before settling down on the branch, comfortable for me. I heard the crackling of the fire and their voices talking. It was peaceful, I quite liked it. I didn’t think as I closed my eyes, drifting into a sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I felt a hand covering my mouth and my eyes shoot open. I’m sitting up, how did someone sit me up without me noticing? I whip my head around trying to break free of the hand.

“Keep quiet you darn monkey!” I recognize the voice. Ash was holding me and I look down to find the camp sight deserted by us, but inhabited by enemy soldiers. They’re searching around and I realize that the others were in trees, Ash came into this one and saw me, moving me from their immediate sight. The soldiers grumbled, not finding what they needed and left after a bit. Once they leave and I’m sure they’re out of earshot, I tear away Ash’s hand covering my mouth.

“You scared the life out of me covering my mouth like that! You know how I react when that happens, what if I hadn’t recognized your voice?” I ask. Ash smiles.

“That’s why I disarmed you weapon points before hand,” Ash said, handing me my various needles, daggers, and other things that I have sharpened into dangerous weapons. I take them, putting them away in their spots. I swing down to the ground, Ash following as the others make their way down.

“What were they? Their faces were shadows, not having any features,” Miki looked at me as Aiona, Ki, and Senri came over to me, taking leaves out of my hair.

“They are the enemy, at least the searching forces of them,” I say. “They’re specifically Humanoid Shadows, but the enemy as a whole are the Dark Ones.”

“You’re telling me, that those are what want you?” Juniper asked.

“Yes,” I reply.

“We should move before they double back around,” Ash says as I take an item out of my bag and set it on the ground. They watch me as I do it, Ash knowing why. I then turn and move, walking away from the camp. I noticed that they sent our horses away, Apollo probably leaving to where I always meet him at the kingdom. Ash follows me, the others coming after a moment.

“They want you, Ian. They’re searching for you,” Ash says as we go.

“I know, and I’m not running away from them any more, although I wasn’t planning on returning this soon,” I say. Ash nods. A wind blows, refreshing and cool. I look forwards, onward to the journey and battle we’ll face.

We had been walking for a while, it was slower without the horses but I sort of enjoyed it. It brought me back to the old days, before this had all happened. I think back on those days, when I could run without care and travel to town to do shopping without anyone knowing my identity. This road we walk is familiar to me, the road we’d take on trips.

“We’re really close,” I say, surprising the others.

“I thought it was a longer trip!” Kai said. I laughed, smiling.

“Maybe back when it had been lively but now it’s dead and doesn’t so long,” I say. We continued on, and as we neared I felt a pain in my eye and I did my best to ignore it. The castle came into view and Aiona came up next to me.

“He’s searching for you, isn’t he?” she asked in a hushed voice. She had noticed the tiniest differences as we neared. I nod. If only he’d be gone, I wouldn’t have to worry about this. I barely noticed extra steps in our group and I blinked, my eyes’ color changing. Steps hurried forward as darkness shifted in, me falling backwards.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I watched as Aiona walked forward towards Ian. She seemed to whisper something to Ian, Ian responding with a nod. We kept going and I was shoved to the side by someone as Ian fell. The person made it in time, catching Ian with Aiona. The castle was in sight. Ash fell to the side of the person.

“Crow!” Senri said. The person, Crow, looked around. Crow lifts Ian into his arms, he moved, probably expecting us to follow. Senri, Aiona, Ki and Ash follow him, Ash motioning for us to follow as well. Juniper goes first, his concern for Ian showing. I follow next, the others coming with.

Crow leads us to a cave, overlooking the castle. It looks like it homed a large creature for a time before becoming a camp for humans or human creatures. There were others inside, they moved out of the way to let Crow set Ian down.

“Illian! Arian!” Aiona smiled.

“Hey Aiona!” Crow said, the voice not being what I expected. Aiona moved to Crow. “What happened to Ian?”

“He was searching for her, trying to use her family’s blood to activate her eyes and pull her out. But because the eyes haven’t been activated in a while, they hurt her.”

I look towards Juniper knowing that he had seen Ian’s eyes before. He appeared to be thinking for a moment before the realization struck him. He stepped forward.

“When Senri seemed to be trying to kill Ian, she had activated Ian’s eyes and I saw her yellow and blue one before. It did seem like the blue one hurt her,” Juniper said.

“Hey! I needed to tell her that I was here but you kept getting in the way! And she didn’t make it any easier either,” Senri muttered. Crow sighed.

“It doesn’t matter, we just have to care for her right now. He’ll probably be at the spot where her eyes activated because it’s close to the castle. He shouldn’t find this place at least, not yet,” Crow said. There was a question burning deep inside that rose to the surface.

“Are you actually a girl?” I asked. Crow looked at me.

“Why do you think that?”

“Your voice sounds feminine.”

“I was once a girl but I despise that. I am Crow, a knight and servant serving the royal family. I’ve never considered myself a girl, only a boy. My parents accepted it and everyone else did too, but Ian accepted it the most. I still remember the day,” Crow said before stopping himself.

“I’ll remember you as a soldier,” I say. Crow nods. I let out a relieved sigh. I hadn’t thought fully, how foolish of me. I made a mental note of Crow, a knight and servant to Ian. Ian, a princess. I couldn’t wrap my mind around it, it seemed strange for that. Juniper looked towards the cave entrance. I moved to him.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Something’s out there, but I don’t know what,” Juniper responds. I look towards the entrance,  the fire flickered behind us, drawing Crow’s attention.

“You darn magic shadow,” Crow said underneath his breath. “Everyone get back here!”

We hurry over to where Crow is with Ian. The fire flickers and almost goes out and a figure shows up at the entrance as the flame recovers.

“Give me the girl,” the figure says in a gravelly voice.

“You’re not having Ian. Even if it’s the end of the world,” Crow said, lifting Ian close. Ian shifted, her eyes opening to first see Crow. She then looked and saw the figure. Fear struck her face for a moment before she erased it. She stood, using Crow as help. “Ian!”

Ian looked at Crow for a second. She smiled as she hugged Crow. She appeared to whisper something to Crow, causing him to freeze. Ian stepped forward, closer to the figure.

“Ian!” Ash shouted. Ian looked back and smiled. She waved as the rocks rose to form a wall. We all watched in slow motion as Ian walked toward the figure and Crow crumple to the floor. Senri and the others helped Crow up as Ash pounded on the rocks. I watched the scene unfold. All we, Juniper, Miki, Luke, and I, could do was just watch. It was unbelievable.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

I walked towards the figure, a smile seeming to form on his face.

“You made the right choice, Ian,” He said. I look at him.

“I’ll let you get the vault, but that’s it,” I say. I meet him at his side.

“Come along then, princess,” he says, activating my eyes. The blue one hurts and I fall to my knees. “I’ll have to carry you since they seem to hurt you so.”

He picks me up, and he has hands like ours. They weren’t veiled in shadows, none of him was, I realized. I closed my eyes and leaned into the man, I had no choice. He didn’t seem to change as I did, but if he did, I didn’t notice. We exited the cave and he walked over to a black horse and there was another horse there. I recognized the second horse.

“Apollo!” I say. The man makes a small noise but I ignore it. It takes me a moment to then recognize the black horse. “Dusk!”

Dusk lifts her head and neighs in response. I look up at the man then and realization hits me.

“Narsus! Why would you? Huh?” I say. He sets me down on Apollo.

“The vault is what they want! I won’t let you open it for him!” Narsus said. He hopped on Dusk.

“I decided I would open the vault! Don’t fight me on this!” I responded. “They’re going to help anyways!”

“He’ll kill you after you open the vault! And that’s if he allows you to open the vault! He may kill you straight off,” Narsus said. I look at him as he reveals his face. I shake my head, not believing it.

“You tricked me!” I respond. I move to get off Apollo, my eye stopping me.

“You’re not in the best shape,” Narsus remarked.

“Shut up,” I whispered. I think back on the past with him. I don’t want to go back to those days. I close my eyes and shake my head. Those days are over, I try to remind myself. I can’t return to those days, those boring days.

“Ian,” Narsus says softly.

“Shut up! I don’t want to return for the purpose of memories! I’m returning to open the vault and then leave! The kingdom will always be ruined!” I yell. I surprise myself, never thinking I could raise my voice. “I-I’m sorry. I-I should go.” I urge Apollo to leave, he follows through. He’s taking me to the castle, exactly what I want.

I start to cry as I go, Apollo willing to go far for me. He used to be a war horse, able to travel across a battle field. He was retired because he was skittish, but he’s gotten over it. I think back on when I chose him as a child. He was fully grown, if not close, and I was a little kid. He was so large to me but I wanted him anyways. The castle looms over us, growing bigger progressively. I wipe away my tears and put on the princess front. I stop Apollo when we reach the gates.

“Go on boy, get,” I say, releasing him. He runs off, probably going to join the others. I have a feeling Narsus probably freed the others from my magic wall. They’re most likely on their way here. I ignore the thoughts and walk on my own towards the castle. The piercing silence adds an eerie component to be back here. I walk through the destroyed garden.

“I’m here! I’ll open the vault!” I shout, breaking the silence. Right after, however, the silence returns. My eyes change to yellow, the blue creeping on. I’ve started to gain a tolerance to the pain, so it doesn’t bring me to the ground. My eye fully changes, me continuing on. I hear sounds behind me as I come to the door. I ignore it as I open it and come to the main entrance hall. I ignore the millions of memories that return. I walk forward, knowing the way to the vault.

“I’m amazed you made it all the way here, princess. Especially without getting caught by my men,” a voice says behind me. I turn around to see a figure leaning against a pillar. I grin.

“I was starting by trying to get away from you but then I found out that you needed royal blood to open the vault. I came for the purpose of that,” I respond. The figure smiles, and I wait. I turn around. “Are we going, or am I going alone?”

The figure waved it away and started to move so I moved to stay ahead. I go through doors to the throne room. I move to the throne and do my best to push it aside. I get it far enough to enter the passage behind it. The figure follows. I am keen to stay aware of any metal noises from him. I continue through the passage, making my way down. It’s weird going without a torch, but I remember enough of the passage to make my way through. I reach the end and exit into a large room. A goblet is on a table in the middle, a door directly behind.

“Do it quickly,” the figure says. I wave it away, grabbing a shown dagger and bring it to my palm. I slice with a swift motion over the goblet, my blood rising to the surface. It escapes through the cut, falling into the goblet. I watch it fall in, my crimson blood something foreign and mesmerizing. I tear my eyes from the liquid to see the door open. I turned to the figure as they stalked forward.

“Happy now?” I ask. The figure ignores me and enters into the darkness of the vault. I move to the tunnel we entered from and only get a foot in before I’m frozen, unable to move.

“You lied! There was nothing in there!” The figure said. I struggle against this force keeping me still.

“I never said there was nothing in there,” I say. “I simply said that I’d open it. I never talked about any contents in it.”

The force around me constricts more and the figure turns me around. I can’t move at all and the figure moves me to a side of the room. The cold wall is kind of welcoming but I want to leave.

“You will pay the price by spilling all of your blood, the most annoying bloodline,” they say, their back towards me. I watch as a shadowy tendril forms and I know only what it may do. I hear the echo of footsteps in the corridor, drawing the figure’s attention.

“Ian!” A voice says, I look to see who it is. I see Crow there, but he didn’t speak, it was Narsus. I do my best to smile and hide the stained hand. I needed to treat it, else I wanted it to get infected.

“You won’t escape from your fate, Princess. But we can have these friends watch,” The figure snickers.

“Watch out!” I shout, breaking the force enough to move basically. They dodge, not getting caught by the invisible force. I grab a sword from a suit of armor and force my body to morph into one with it. It’s a rapier, the sword I know best. I run my fingers along the blade, whispering as I do. The blade begins to glow, proof that I did it correctly. I close my eyes, forcing the room to go black. I sense out the force I couldn’t see, to be seen. I find the ones near me first, slicing through it with the rapier. I open my eyes, knowing where they are all at in the room. The figure is busy with the others, not worrying about me. I glance around the room, trying to see if there is a bow and arrows somewhere. That would be perfect if I could find one. Nothing of the sort as far as I can see. That is, until I look at the vault door. It’s open and if I remember correctly, there is an older bow in there. I make my way over, stepping lightly, not drawing any of their attention. I make it to the vault, walking inside the darkness. It envelopes around me and I give my eyes a second to adjust. I see nothing like a bow as I scan the room. Something catches my eye as I move past it and I look back at it.

“Yes!” I cheer. I grab it, finding a quiver next to it, full of arrows. I decide to take the arrows from another quiver close by and examine the bow. The string is looser than I expected so I won’t be able to use a bunch of shots. But I won’t need more than five. I walk out of the vault, locking in three arrows. I aim, seeing the invisible tendrils. I fire, each arrow hitting. One shot down, on to the next four. I repeat the process of locking in three arrows twice, left with two shots. All the invisible force is done, the figure’s attention drawn back to me for a bit.

“You’re stronger than I expected, and able to destroy the force I use,” the figure says. I smile.

“You should’ve realized that because I’ve been able to avoid you, Narcta. I’ve avoided you and your men for two years, I’ve learned much,” I say.

“I shouldn’t have underestimated you,” Narcta says, turning to me. Crow and Narsus take this chance to gather themselves and their weapons. I lock in an arrow and aim, the arrow aimed at Narcta’s throat. I turn the bow to the side and release, the string snapping, adding more power to the arrow and changing it’s course. But, it snapped in an unexpected spot, by the knot. The arrow hits Narcta’s shoulder. I quickly drop to my knees to repair the bow, trying to tie it. I switch between watching Narcta and looking as I tie the string tight. I get enough to allow me to finish off my arrows. I quickly draw the rapier, standing as I sling the bow over my shoulder.

“Did you think about what you plan on doing?” Narcta says as he pulls the arrow out. Crow and Narsus come to stand beside me.

“Where are the others?” I ask, low enough for only them to hear. Narcta bends a shadow to become a sword.

“Some should be coming, but they may be held up at the moment,” Crow responds. I nod, keeping my eyes on Narcta. I debate giving Crow my rapier and letting him hold on to it. I think for a moment and step to the side, away from them. I’m close to the corridor and can back up through it even as Narcta attacks. I back up through it, Narcta following. He moves in a way to go forward, attacking. He moves and attacks, his sword hitting my rapier and I continue backwards. We’re almost back to the throne room, my territory. I keep going backwards, keep drawing Narcta to the open area.

I finally see the door way and I’m happy, now I can fight like I wanted. It’s more open than the room back there, for which I’m grateful for. I hurry back, getting space between me and Narcta. I take a breath, watching Narcta.

“You used your brain and came to an open area, but you haven’t lived here for years. It’s decayed without the care needed, causing it all to be weak, like your fallen kingdom,” he says.

“My kingdom isn’t weak,” I respond. “It’s surviving very well despite the conditions you’ve put it under.”

Narcta laughs and I watch. My senses are on overdrive, picking up everything. I look around, praying that what Crow said was true. Please tell me that they’re on their way. And please tell me that Crow and Narsus don’t come up right now. I step back, carefully sheathing my rapier. I grab my bow and the arrow, locking it and aiming. I pray that it hits it’s mark, ideally hoping it flies how I want. I let it go, watching it fly. Narcta dodges, but that is what I was hoping for.

“You really think you can hit me with that?” Narcta says as the arrow turns around midair behind him. It gains speed and hits his neck. He freezes and I look at him.

“My special ability when it comes to arrows. No one can best me,” I say. Narcta tries to speak but fails as his lifeless body falls to the floor. I leave him there, watching as the pool of blood grows.

“You couldn’t have done that sooner? We could’ve been done with this battle down there,” Crow says. I look at him.

“It takes time, you know that better than anyone. And I can’t always guarantee it works. I only pray for the best,” I say. I bring a hand to my head. “And it always drains me to try to do it.”

Crow walks over, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. He pulls me to him, giving me something steady to hold on to. I accept it but slide us to the ground so I can rest.

“Let me rest for a few and then we’ll get out of here. I don’t want to stay here,” I whisper, closing my eyes. I try to focus on getting my energy flowing all throughout my body, get it so I can last long enough to make it somewhere safe to then crash. Narsus comes over and stands by us.

“You should learn how to control the energy it takes,” he says.

“That requires practice and patience. I don’t have the latter,” I laugh, not moving. Crow starts to comb my hair with his fingers. I open my eyes once I feel that I’ve spread the energy I have. I sit up and stand, Crow following. I move towards the exit of this tainted room. As I go, I hear voices outside, moving closer. I glance back at the corpse as well as Crow and Narsus who are following. They hear the voices too and hurry up next to me. I reach the door and exit, finding the group there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I look at them for a minute and notice their appearance. It’s battle worn, a fact that doesn’t surprise me due to Crow telling me that they may have been held up. I smile, hoping to keep this short so we can continue back on the way home.

“Good to see you all, although you seem more disheveled than us,” I say.

“Those goons were definitely something when they were together in a pack. How did you outrun these guys?” Juniper asked.

“I honestly don’t know,” I say. “We should continue onward, away from this place. There are too many memories this place brings up.’’

“What does that mean?” Kai asks as I start moving away.

“It means exactly what I said. Memories I buried here are not what I want to have in my mind right now.”

“Cryptic as ever,” Ash sighs and follows me. The others come along, following. I think in my mind, how this may all play out. This ruined kingdom, my home. I leave it all behind. The memories that come with this place, when I was alone. I shake my head to rid myself of those memories. I’m not alone anymore. I have friends, mentors, buddies.

“The memories associated with this place aren’t great, but you’ve grown from them,” Senri says as she joins my side.

“I’d rather have been born a normal person, without this fate written out. If we could rewrite fate, I’d gladly take the chance.”

“I think we all would take that chance.” I nod, knowing that everyone probably would. I look forward, on to the road ahead of us.

“Crow,” I say, “Take us to the cave. I’ll crash there for a couple days.”

“Wait a minute!” Ash exclaims. “Don’t tell me you used your magic!”

“I did. And rested for a bit after. Enough to spread the remaining energy out,” I reply. I can already feel his energy wafting from him as he makes his way up next to me. Juniper comes up behind me and picks me up.

“Hey!” I exclaim. “I can walk to the cave!”

“The injured should rely on others,” Ash says. I glare at him and he raises his hands in defense. “You should know by now that I will carry you for miles to keep you safe.”

I sigh, knowing that his statement is true. We continue onward, Crow leading us to the cave. We hike up the path, finding the cave. I sense something deep inside, but don’t mention it. We enter, Juniper sets me down and I thank him. I start moving deeper into the cave, not wanting to be with them.

“Hey! Ian, where are you going?” Ash asks. He moves to get close to me.

“Stop,” I say. “Let me be. I don’t want you to follow me.” Ash stops and I assume he nods. I continue, trying to get deeper before my energy gives. There wasn’t a whole lot left, I don’t think I could’ve made it to the cave. I’ve been out of practice with it. I hear Juniper call my name, followed by Ash saying something to him. I ignore them and forcibly shut down my senses apart from sight and hearing. I walk for a bit before using the wall as a guide deeper. It’s sturdy, something to stand against. I beginning to hear deep breathing and I realize what it is that is in here. I continue forward, sensing malicious intent. I come to see it soon, it’s size smaller than what I expected. It was still big, but smaller than a full grown. It’s green eyes accented the red scales that covered it’s body. The green peered into my gray. I walked towards it.

“It’s okay buddy,” I say, hoping it doesn’t think I’m a threat. I trip, almost fallen but the creature uses it’s tail to catch me. “Thank you.”

The creature chirps in response and brings me in close. It’s body is warm and I notice only two legs. I gasp. I say as look up, “A wyvern.”

My eyes close and I slowly drift to the deep sleep, me curled up next to the wyvern and the wyvern curling around me to protect me. It sensed my injured-ness and want to help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sat with the others, doing my best to keep myself grounded and not go running to find Ian. I trust her, but I’ve known her since she was little. She’s not great at telling exactly what she needs. I sigh as the others look at me.

“You’re just going to let her go down there? Ash, she’s weak and there is absolutely no way she’s going to get better down there by herself,” Juniper states.

“I know,” I reply. “But she denied me too. I’ll go later to check on her and bring a blanket. We’ll be here for at least two days to get her decently well. Probably three days to be perfect.”

“So we’re going to be here for a while?” Kai asks. I nod. I think about what we’ll need for that time. A source of food, steady water, fire. The basics of survival.

“We’re going to need to get food, water and a fire to start,” Crow says. “It would seem that we’re in the best shape, so me, Illian, Arian and Narsus will get started on that. You all can rest for now.”

I nod in reply. The others all lay down on the cold stone, it feeling nice. I sit as sentry, willing to take a bit of time to watch. Ian is a ways down in the cave so I doubt anyone would go that far if they made it past us. I know I wouldn’t go that far. There’s nothing of interest but I watch dutifully none the less. I watch for a while, even after Crow and Narsus return. They start a fire and get some food cooking. Crow found a wild hog in the nearby forest so we skinned it and are cooking the meat. It’ll take a bit for it to cook, but it will be worth it.

The sunset looks beautiful and the hog was almost done cooking. If we had proper cookware, it would’ve been done sooner. I return to the others, swapping out with Miki. I walk over to the blankets on the side, picking one up.

“I’ll run this down to Ian quickly,” I say. The others acknowledge me and nod, leaving me to continue down to where Ian is. I walk, my footsteps echoing and it seems she went pretty far. As I continue down, it gets dark and I wish I brought a light. How did Ian see through this? I continue on anyways, the darkness seeming to slowly dissipate. I see a glittery red sparkle at first, reaching an opening. It takes my eyes a minute to recognize the creature in front of me.

“A wyvern,” I say. The blanket drops out of my hand, landing softly on the rocky floor. The wyvern tilts it’s head, my eyes seeing Ian curled up next to the wyvern. I pick up the blanket, walking close. The wyvern seemed to be calm, for whatever reason. Ian was sound asleep.

“May I give this to her?” I ask. The wyvern moves and lets me get close and give the blanket to Ian, although I set it up as a pillow. I step back, the wyvern moving back. “You’re helping her recover. Thank you.”

I turn and walk away, returning to the area with the others. I don’t think I should tell the others about the wyvern. They might not believe it’s helping Ian and instead think it’s hurting her. The hog smells really good as it has been cooking. They are eating some of the already cooked hog and I see some more cooking.

“We’ll have to see how long it takes for Ian to recover. I hope it doesn’t take too long,” Crow says. I nod in response. I watch the hog cook, the crackling fire grabbing my interest. Once the current ones are finished, I grab one and start eating. It’s really good but that might also be that I’m hungry. The sentry swaps out, allowing Miki to get some. Juniper looks down into the cave, and I know he’s worried about Ian.

“She’ll be fine. Although it would probably be best if only I go down there,” I say, trying to ease his worry.

“I want to see her though. I can help her, she doesn’t need to separate herself from us like this,” Juniper stands. He starts to take a couple steps but I stop him. I shake my head and pull him back.

“She heals better with as little disturbance as possible, trust me. I’ve known her for as long as I can remember.”

“Okay, I’ll stay here,” Juniper says in defeat. I look at the darkness outside and the dying fire. We’ll have to wait and see how long it takes for Ian but I know that the wyvern will help. I lay down, resting my head on the slightly warm, rock ground. The fire warmed it up slightly, something I enjoy. I close my eyes, hoping to drift to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I waited for everyone else to fall asleep before I moved. The sentry was the only other one up but it’s easier to focus on the outside. I stir the fire, hoping to keep it alive so we don’t get too cold. I walk to the deeper part of the cave. I regret not bringing a torch but it’s not the worst thing in the world.

“How did she see through this?” I whisper to myself. There is no way she could've seen through this darkness, but I decide not to question the details. It could be something with her animal spirit. I continue through the darkness, it slowly becoming lighter. When I realize it’s getting lighter, I hear a large creature’s sounds of sleep. I continue onward, wondering where Ian is when I’ve gone this deep, and what the large creature is. The sound grows louder and I come to a small cavern and I see the large creature. I turn and run back, fear setting in. Is that Ian? I don’t know and I run to Ash. I wake him up, hurriedly.

“What is it?” Ash yawns.

“Ian, dragon, something?” I say.

“Juniper, you went down there!? Ah…” Ash sighs. “Ian is fine, the wyvern is helping her heal. Calm down, it surprised me at first to find it there.”

I look at him. The dying fire crackles with a following pop. He stands and moves to the corridor. He motions me over.

“I’ll show that it’s fine. Come along,” Ash starts moving but stops and turns to grab a stick and catch the tip on fire. He then comes back and continues. I think we’re both glad to have a light. We’re silent as we go down the corridor.

We reach the point where the wyvern and Ian are. Ash gives the torch to me and walks forward. He touches Ian’s forehead, brushing her hair from her face. The wyvern stirs and sees Ash and me, but it closes its eyes and returns to sleep. Ash walks back to me.

“See? It’s fine. But I will tell her that you went against her commands, Juniper.”

“You did it first, technically.”

We start our way back, illuminated by the little light from the torch. It’s silent except for our feet against the stone. When we reach the fire pit again, I see that the others are beginning to wake. The torch is almost dead with the flame so I toss it in the fire. It is beginning to be light out, meaning the night has given it’s time.

We end up doing this for another day before Ian wakes up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I open my eyes, seeing first a blanket on me and then the wyvern’s red scales. I move, the wyvern adjusting to see my face. It nuzzles its snout against my neck and I pet it.

“Thank you. Did they come down here a few times?” I ask, moving the blanket off. I grab it, trying to stand but stumbling, almost falling. The wyvern stabilizes me, like it did before. I laugh lightly.

“Thank you again. Mind helping me more?” The wyvern stands and I see it’s full size. Based on size, it’s not fully grown or it’s just a smaller one. It moves it’s head under my arm, willing to support me. We walk through the cave, me leaning on the wyvern.  As we near the front, we hear voices talking. I pat the wyvern’s nose. We make our way towards the group, Ash turning his attention first. Our eyes connect, I smile. He gets up and comes over, drawing the other’s attention.

“Ian! You silly idiot! Do you realize how worried we were?”

“Yes, yes. I do. I won’t be that reckless again,” I say as I softly add, “for now.”

Ash wraps his arms around me, gently. Crow walks over as Ash moves away from me but stays close. I look at Crow, knowing that he isn’t the happiest necessarily with me.

“I want to apologize for that moment, I knew that you wouldn’t let me go otherwise. But you’re the only one that heard.”

“I forgive you, just don’t do that again. “Protect them for me,” it wasn’t the worst thing you’ve said to me,” Crow smiles. I nod, taking some steps forward, using the wyvern as a crutch still. Crow comes up, grabbing my other hand, leading me over to the fire. The wyvern stays close to me, coming behind me as I sit, Crow chilling next to me.

“You’re really going to be this overprotective?” I say.

“Yes, because you need to be careful. You should try to eat something; you haven’t eaten for a bit.”

Senri hands me a bowl of soup that I’m assuming she made for me especially. I take it, bringing it to my lips, drinking carefully. Ash comes up over on the other side of the wyvern, sitting next to me. Ash runs his hands through my hair, hitting some tangles but I do my best to ignore it. The rest of the group talks while I sit there with the two who are closest to me, listening and watching. It is really quite peaceful and I enjoy this small moment of time.

I barely notice as Illian and Arian come up behind. I notice Crow taking my soup, much to my protest and then I get picked up. I protest the action, complaining.

“Hey! Put me down!” I see who it was. “Illian! Come on!”

“I can’t take some time to enjoy this comfort with my favorite little sister?” Illian smiles.

“Arian, help me!” I reply. Arian laughs.

“Come on dear, set her down,” Arian sighs. I get returned to my seat, Crow giving my soup back. The others look at us as I take another sip of the soup.

“You’re siblings?” Juniper asks, I can hear the shock in his voice and see it in the rest of the crew who didn’t know us.

“Yes indeed. I forfeited my place to the crown so long ago, I wanted to become a guard to give the future of the kingdom a better turn.” Illian says proudly. I glare at him.

“And…”

“Arian.”

“And Arian is your…?”

“Husband.” I take another sip of the soup.  And another.

“Well, since you know that now, how have all of you been? And how long was I out?”

“It was only two days, so we’ll take this time to prepare to return. We’re all doing well, apart from tending to the injuries,” Ash says for them all. I nod.

Conversations return and Arian brings Illian in close and whispers in our ears, “You two are going to have to be very careful. Especially you Ian. Illian relinquished his blood but you haven’t due to you needing to be the one to revive the kingdom. They’re after you mostly.”

“I know, and that’s why we’re returning to the place with Luke, Kai and Miki. We technically have an apprenticeship there,” I reply. Arian nods as he and Illian turn and walk away. I scoot a little closer to Crow, leaning against him. He leans in return against me. I drink a bit of the soup. We watch the fire crackle.

“Thank you for coming to get and save me. You and Narsus both. Although I believe that I could’ve handled it myself well enough, but thanks,” I say softly.

“We just did what we promised to do. In addition to the vows we took,” Crow replies softly. I slowly close my eyes, thinking about everything we’ve gone through to reach this point.

“Ian, no sleeping again this early.” I hear Ash say. I open one eye to glare at him.

“I’m not sleeping, I’m thinking,” I say as I open my eyes. “Everything we’ve been through to reach this point. It won’t leave us, ever. We’ll only grow from the experiences.”

Crow nods in agreement and I finish my soup, setting the bowl to the side. The wyvern looks at me and I stand, walking over to it. I pat it’s head, touching my forehead to its own. It makes a huff and I smile.

“Oh I know, you’ve rested enough. You want to spread your wings and soar, you’ll have time for that. You can go now, spread your wings and leave.”

The wyvern doesn’t budge as I step to the side, allowing it to go free. It makes another huff and I smile. I know that no one else except Illian is going to understand. Crow taps me on the shoulder, I look at him.

“You can’t be thinking what I think you’re thinking.”

“Well what are you thinking I am thinking?”

“Kee-“

“Yes I am. It wants to stay, probably because it’s not going to be hunted quite as much. What shall we name it?”

The wyvern makes a soft growl and I grin, nodding. I turn to it, patting its head saying, “Welcome to the crew Nyx.”

“Nyx?” Ash says. The wyvern turns its head in the direction of him. Ash flinches back.

“It said that that was it’s name. Ain’t that right Nyx?” Nyx nods the best it can. Everyone looks at me. I glance outside.

“We should leave soon if we want to make it before nightfall.”

“Won’t it be night fall before we get back?”

“No, we have a quicker way, just have to get in range.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Juniper asks.

“Nothing to worry about. Oh, hopefully you guys don’t mind all of us staying there,” I smile. I sling the blanket over Nyx’s back, Nyx allowing me to hop on. I help Crow up, knowing that he’d try to come with me this way anyways. Ki doused the fire while Aiona and Senri gathered our things. Everything was packed up swiftly and we left the cave. Nyx spread its wings wide once outside and I marveled at its beauty.

The others started down, hopping on their horses. They were a ways down before Nyx took off. I guided Nyx the best I could, following the others to the best of our ability. We get ahead of them, Nyx’s speed much faster than horse. I glance down below, seeing the others.

“It’s going to be a time for them as they have to go all that way on horseback,” Crow says.

“I know, I’m not sure how much I’d be able to handle horseback right now. It would be a time seeing it,” I smile.

“You would probably ride with one of us others.”

“Apollo would take me and allow either you, Ash, or Aio to join me.”

We continue steadily, the others beginning to catch up a bit more as Nyx slows a little. We travel like this for a while longer. Nyx gets ahead sometimes but slows down when he does. I watch as we make it into the radius I had set, and I move Nyx down to the ground. Those on horseback slow down as they see us come down. With the help of Crow, I get down from Nyx.

Ash hops down and comes over to me and Crow. We walk to the others and I look at them.

“Okay, so we’re going to teleport to the house,” I say. They all look at me like I’m crazy. “Now, I would do it myself but I know that there would be a fair amount of complaints. But, I also set up a helper so we just need to have everyone connected. Simple touch should work.”

Everyone looks at each other before making sure that everyone is connected. Illian and Arian look at each other as they come next to me. I close my eyes and begin to think of the words that are actively present in my mind. As I start to say them, I feel my helper activate, the magic becoming so much easier. Then, the shift and I open my eyes, securing that we arrived. I glanced around quickly, confirming that we had everyone.

“Okay, we’re here,” I smile, Nyx nudging me towards the door. “What is it you big wyvern?”

Everyone laughs and I roll my eyes, stepping towards the home just naturally. Ash followed me, followed by Crow. I could tell that Crow was worried about me as Ash fell back a little to let Crow come closer.

“Your hair turned slightly as the helper activated. Your eye probably did as well,” Crow whispers to me as I open the door. I flinch slightly as I hear it but cover it up.

“Illian probably noticed if you did…” I whisper back as we step in. I immediately move over to my room. Crow follows me and I smile softly.

“I figured you might want some company…” he says as he sits on my bed. I chuckle as I take my hair down and sit adjacent to him, leaning against him.

“Only if you brush my hair like you always did.”

“That’s an easy trade.”

“I know.”

Crow grabbed a brush that was on the side table and started working through my hair. It was soothing because it had been forever since he had last done this.

“I love you,” I say aloud after a fair amount of silence in my room, but it was loud outside.

“Love you too, Ian,” Crow replied almost immediately. I closed my eyes, glad to finally have some quality time. It’s methodical as he brushes my hair, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought. It would have been worse had I moved around a lot during my rest. Footsteps came to the room and I could tell that Crow paused to look at them. They walk away and Crow returns to brushing my hair.

“Crow’s brushing her hair,” we hear Arian say and some of them make comments. I hear Ash respond, addressing some of them.

“You didn’t realize they were a thing?” He says. I open my eyes and shift my position. I give Crow a light kiss on the cheek. We didn’t hide it, we just knew that we had a long way to go.

“Want me to close the door?” Crow asks as he moves to braiding my hair.

“It’s fine. Ash might come, but he’ll be chill. Illian would be the same way,” I smile. We stay that way as Crow works to finish my hair. He taps my shoulder once he’s done and I use the window to try and see my reflection. I smile as I see it, knowing that Crow worked his skills well. I turn back to Crow. “Thanks.”

“Of course,” Crow says as I grab his hand and pull him out to the area where everyone else was. I look at all of them, knowing that this was where my kingdom was. Family truly was the treasure of the kingdom.