Destiny Of Fire

Chapter 3

There were steps of crunching leaves and twigs on the pathway as they made their way to the Whist kingdom. The walk was quiet and awkward with Charl leading the way. Rosea did not have much to take with on the journey. She found some clothes and one pair of shoes that were a little bit charred but wearable. The birds sang softly in the trees and there was a breeze that made the familiar sound of leaves tapping each other. Rosea took a deep breath and just let the rush of calm flow through her body. She could not hear Charl’s footsteps and she looked up to find there was a cliff just a few steps before she fell off. She saw Charl with arms crossed over his chest looking at her with a smirk “watch out you might fall.”

Rosea looked up at him with annoyance “how could I forget… the Whist kingdom does not stay in one place.”

Charl was surprised by her knowledge “not many elementra know about that.”

Rosea for a moment was glad she sat through those mind-numbing geography classes. She focused for a moment and her body became engulfed with soft blue flames. She slowly lifted off the ground. Charl turned around and flew upwards toward the clouds. Rosea followed feeling a bit of eagerness to see how the Whist kingdom looked like as she only had seen the pictures in the Flamma academy textbooks with the almost glass-like buildings with the clouds as the foundation.

As they flew Charl disappeared into the clouds and Rosea squinted to see in what direction he had taken. As she went into the clouds she was astounded to see how a kingdom had its kind of beauty different from the one she had known.

Charl flew up to her with a bit of excitement in his voice “so what do you think?” Rosea admitted, “Your home is beautiful Charl.” He felt the pride spread across his chest as he heard and saw Rosea’s reaction.

“Well, I guess it is time to introduce you to the king” he mentioned as he turned his attention to the palace ahead.

“I thought you were the one dealing with this issue” Rosea feeling a bit confused. He knew he had to explain as this was a difficult situation and their customs were foreign to her.

“You are doing a great service for our kingdom and the king would like to know who would be doing the job and I can’t let a Flamma elementra into the kingdom unknowingly amongst the other Whist elementra.”

Rosea felt reluctant but she had come this far “I will go but you do not leave my side.”

They made their way to the palace. The palace was beautiful with towering glass-like pillars and a staircase. They landed on the balcony in front of two gargantuan doors where two servants stood on either side. The servants hurriedly opened the door as they pushed the door with the power of the wind. Rosea questioned in her mind why the servants reacted the way they did.

As they walked their footsteps echoed in the entrance hall. There was a boom of a voice across the room “welcome home son.”

Rosea turned to the sound and saw a short plump man dressed in the finest white and sky blue clothing with a silver cape following behind him. The platinum crown on his head was a dead giveaway that he was the King which sent Rosea’s stomach-churning as she realized that her traveling companion was a prince.

Charl placed his hand on Rosea’s back and waved his hand towards his father to give some kind of introduction “Ignatious this is my father, King Tumul ruler of the Whist kingdom.”

King Tumul’s face changed from pure joy to contempt seeing Rosea dressed in mud-stained and singed marks on her shawl and pants “is this the help you have searched for?” as his hand gestured towards Rosea, “well may I see your mark?” he cautiously asked as he gently took Rosea’s hand. He had an idea of what elementra she was from her clothing. Rosea could feel the tension in the air as she remembered the destruction Eric had caused giving the Flamma Kingdom an unpleasant reputation. King Tumul lifted her sleeve to reveal her mark, he looked at Charl with anger as he threw Rosea’s wrist down and pointed a pudgy finger to Charl looking up at his son “you brought a Flamma into our Kingdom, have you forgotten the destruction they have caused that we had to clean up and they killed our people!”

Charl stared his father down with his ice-blue eyes that burned with defiance.

“Not all Flamma should be generalized just based on the decision of their leader, based on our current problem she is all the hope that we have as we have tried other elementra warriors and none of them made it alive and we know the rogue is Flamma and she will be able to sense his presence better than we can.”

Rosea looked at the two as a ball being thrown towards each other but instead of a ball, it was with words. King Tumul scanned Rosea up and down and turned to Charl with a face that could turn milk sour.

“If she fails I will rid our Kingdom of that peasant Marya that you do intend to marry.” He turned on his heel and stormed off up the stairs to his chambers.

Charl let out a deep sigh and held the bridge of his nose as he tried to calm down.

“Sorry you had to endure that, our kingdom went through a difficult time after King Eric’s attack, because we could not hand you over as the obvious reason was we did not have you but Eric did not believe it and carried on with the accusations, eventually leading my father to end the alliance and that’s when King Eric ripped through our Kingdom with an army of Ignatious and Ashtos flying on steel airships powered by their fire.”

Rosea could feel the tension building in her neck and shoulders as she could imagine Eric’s pure rage that he was so well known for and she endured personally.

Charl waved his hand to one of the servants standing nearby.

“Ignatious this is Dennis, he will lead you to your chambers.”

Dennis jogged over and bowed to Rosea.

“Welcome ma’am, please follow me.” He turned and walked up the glass steps. Rosea followed with her bag on her shoulder filled with all that she had. This will be the first time in a long time she has had been served.

They arrived at the door to her chamber and as Dennis opened the door it revealed a beautiful glass room filled with white and glass furniture. She was more than relieved to have found the over-sized bed that could hold a family of four and looked as soft as clouds. She placed her bag next to the glass table standing against the wall with an ivory white mirror propped above it. Her eyes could not tear away from the view of different hues of orange and yellow with the clouds stretching as far to the horizon.

“Is everything to your liking ma’am?” Dennis anxiously awaited for her response as he was waiting to be scolded if everything was not perfect.

Rosea gave a grateful smile.

“Its perfect thank you so much.”

Dennis’s shoulders relaxed from her reply.

“You are most welcome ma’am may I have one of the servants fix you a bath before dinner with the prince and king?”

Rosea’s smile disappeared with a quirked eyebrow not expecting to attend.

“Has someone requested for me to attend?”

Dennis’s anxiety rose as he thought the arrangements were already discussed with her.

“King Tumul has asked ma’am.”

With a silent sigh, Rosea nodded.

“I understand thank you.” Concern began to fill her as she knew her outfit was not the most acceptable attire for the occasion.

Dennis could sense her conundrum as he saw her inspecting her outfit.

“I will have the servants bring you some clothing for tonight.”

Rosea sighed in relief.

“Thank you, Dennis.”

He bowed before her exited the room to organize her evening. Rosea turned to the view as it slowly darkened. She squinted as she saw the tips of tree-like branches moving in the clouds. She shook her head to try to convince herself it must be her exhaustion taking over. She looked at the bed with relief.

“Just a few minutes” she thought to herself as she closed her eyes on the soft pillow.

A gentle nudge woke Rosea up from her deep slumber as she saw a young woman with pale ivory skin and sapphire blue eyes bending down towards her.

“Ma’am I am sorry to wake you but your bath is ready and your clothing has arrived,” came the soft voice.

Rosea shifted her back to the headrest and rubbed her face to try and wake up.

“Thank you and can I ask what is your name?”

“My name is Nera ma’am” she replied while looking down trying not to look at Rosea in the eye as it was seen as disrespectful.

Rosea looked across the bed to see a beautiful long dress of hues of sky blue and lavender with white flowing lace sleeves and a small pair of flat white shoes embedded with diamond-like studs creating a swirl like a pattern.

“Thank you Nera I shouldn’t take long” Rosea smiled gently knowing Nera has had to deal with some elitists who made her feel she was beneath them.

Nera bowed before she left the room leaving Rosea to look through the window as night had fallen revealing the lights of the Kingdom shining with different colors of amber and white. She walked over to the window and opened to get a better view. She saw in the distance two giant red eyes staring into hers beneath the clouds with the tree branches juts sticking out above the clouds. This time she did not look away to try and convince herself she is not mad. She felt the intensity of electricity surge through her body as wanting to go to it. Her body slowly became engulfed with blue like flames without her knowing. She bent over the edge as she felt the eyes pull her closer.

There was a knock on her chamber door snapping her out of her trance. Rosea looked to the door and back to where she saw those eyes but they disappeared. She felt a bit bewildered but knew she had to get her wits about her.