The Chosen

 “…again!” I rose to my feet, dusted myself off and looked at my assailants. I was a Princess that was about to be crowned Queen but I could not trust my own people let alone the ones I was about to lead. My first order of business as Queen would have to be to clean up house. Right now though I have to focus because lately it seemed my concentration was slipping. I looked up and ten arrows were headed my way. I knew I could easily stop them mid-air but that wasn’t what this training was about. It was about my hand to hand combat. So I slid my katana out of its sheath and sliced all of them in one swift curved motion and put the katana back in its sheath in the same breath. I straightened up, separated my feet, and dug my right foot in the ground to brace myself for a follow up attack. I had taught them well, they were fast, relentless, vicious and merciless. It made me proud. These were my warriors, the ones who would lay down their lives for me. The few I could actually trust. Now, to focus on the task at hand. I closed my eyes, sturdied my breathing and listened to the wind. I sidestepped left to dodge a kick that was coming from the back but I didn’t counter attack. I did a single back flip to dodge a dagger and an arrow.  I caught another kick coming from my left and threw my assailant like a rag doll. When I straightened up again I realised they were changing strategies. They no longer attacked in teams of three now they were all attacking at once and I was boxed in. I closed my eyes again, I listened - the wind will always talk to me. Weight shift, a kick to the right side of my head, a slight twist of my body with my head leaning back averted that.  A gust of wind in my chin and throat area, this means an uppercut, connect hands to head, cross elbow to the middle and keep it tight. Now it is my turn to attack, I jumped on my assailants thighs; I grabbed the back of his head and brought his face to my knee. As he was coming down I did a dive tuck and roll and I swept the legs of the other two assailants. As I was about to render them unconscious with the sheath of my katana which was strapped to my back I caught sight of an arrow coming directly at me. I caught it before it could hit me and noticed that it had a message on it. I rolled my eyes at it realising exactly who it was that sent me the message. “You are such a drama queen, you know that right?” I yelled into the thick forest that surrounded our training ground. “This is the 21st century, you could’ve just texted me or better yet called me…” at this point everyone knew that training was over and they started to scatter heading back home. I opened the little note that was attached to the arrow and it read: “If you don’t get back here in the next ten minutes I will drink them dry.” At the end of the message there was a drawing of a sticking out tongue emoji. “Real mature...” I muttered under my breath. I closed my eyes once more and took a deep breath. It was time to wear my naïve innocent girl mask.  I had learnt at a very young age that if I wanted to make it to my awakening I had to pretend to be oblivious to the people around me, my surroundings and the happenings all around me. But I knew deep down that I could see and boy could I ever. I thought about the ultimate goal as I walked back to my prison. I was getting stronger I could feel it; I could break a bone with one fist and one grip without even trying.  I could levitate myself as well as other people and other objects. I could read minds without anyone ever realising I was even in their minds. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. I could do so much more which was why I needed to condition my body to be able to handle all my other more draining abilities. And I had to do everything hush hush. That is why we were using the old training grounds on an island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. The locals don’t bother us and we don’t bother them.  We spirit in and out of the palace using spirit doors. There were such doors everywhere in the human world but only casters knew about them. Certain casters had an affinity to spiriting. It was a complex type of ability that allowed the caster to create portals and portal keys. If you had a key to where you wanted to go you simply mumbled the words and voilà, instant travel. “tutum loco, tutum domus…” (safe ground, safe home) I sighed as I stepped through the door and found myself in my bedroom with my personal guard sprawled on my bed limbs everywhere as if she owned the place. The girl was simply irritating and completely loved. “Rain, you just couldn’t hold off until I finished my training?” I asked in the most annoyed voice I could come up with as I plopped down on the chair that is in front of my bed. “No…” was her simple blasé answer. I rolled my eyes at her for there was simply no other comeback. I looked at her as she sat up crossing her legs and touching her knees as if she was up to something. Come to think of it I knew that look she was giving me. Granted she was wearing all black with weapons strapped on her thighs her waist, her right arm and her back. The only parts of her body that were left visible were her eyes hair and fingers. Her eyes were a striking stormy grey and her hair platinum blonde where as her skin was as pale as a sheet. She looked absolutely enchanting even if you could not see all of her. But make no mistake, this girl – my Rain- was as vicious as a bandicoot. She was as dangerous as hammering dynamite but most important she was as honest as the day is long. “Would this be a bad time to mention that you have a date with pretty boy…” she drawled out in a bored tone while waving me off. “…in an hour.” She finished with an evil glint in her eyes. “Rain Kendall Storm what did you do?” I thundered completely outraged. Honestly speaking this girl will be the death of me. All I asked was for her to distract my great aunt while I train. And what does this crazy mischievous girl do? She arranges a date for me and with him of all people. I know why she did this, she is playing match maker again. But I cannot get close to Prince Soren, it is too dangerous. I know he is my mate, I have known for a very long while. I have done my best to remain impassible when I am around him even though all I want is to shout out from every single roof top in the world that he is mine and I am his. All I want is to open my heart and tell him, no-show him that I love him with as much ferocity as he loves me. But I cannot endanger him in such a manner. I cannot be that selfish with him.  If I allow it to be known how much I actually care about him and how much he means to me then he will be killed. And I will not allow anything to happen to him; I would rather wage war with the jaws of death before allowing danger to touch his shadow let alone his person. And this silly girl that got me into this situation wasn’t even bothering to answer me she just shrugged her shoulders as if what she had done was no big deal. “You are miserable and I can’t stomach it.” Was her sober response to my hanging outraged question. Once more I rolled my eyes and released a breath I didn’t realise I was holding. There was really no escaping my predicament. And I had to shower and get dressed for my ‘date’. Oh joy! I stood up from where I was sitting. I looked at my king sized bed that was on a platform that had two steps and was shaped by four jade pillars that were turquoise and white. I sighed at the majestically decorated space that had intricate golden designs both on the steps of the platform, the pillars and the ceiling hovering over my bed. How I wished I were those beautifully crafted shapes. The designer clearly had a vision and executed it, no deception or complications. And the designs themselves truly knew their purpose and executed such purpose flawlessly. They did not have to hide their intentions or tussle with one another for attention. On the contrary, they knew they were of decorative purpose and that is wha t they did. A simple concept that was completely enviable. As I walked away heading to the door that led me to my bathroom I lamented over the fact that I would be within breathing and touching distance from my Soren and yet I would not be able to breathe much less touch him. I opened a door that was inside my room still and walked into my bathroom. I pondered for a minute or two if I should take a bath or a shower. I was in the middle of weighing the pros and cons of my options when I felt a presence behind me, pulling me out of my thoughts-pointless as they were. I didn’t bother to look back. I knew who it was but like an obstinate child I refused to acknowledge her. I knew what she wanted. Even though I refused to see things from her perspective I knew deep in my soul I somewhat agreed with her. Although I dare not admit it to her; her head was big enough already without me inflating it further. “I know that I cornered you into the date. But I am not sorry if you must know. Because I am sure that I did the right thing. I have seen you. I have seen him. Both of you walk around like someone ripped your hearts out and stomped on them. You smile but it’s fake and pretentious. You’re awake but not really alive, not living only merely existing. I am tired of tolerating the dead look in your eyes every waking moment. I am tired of sensing your sorrow even in your sleep. You can fault me for that all you want, it will not make me any less right nor will it incite any kind of remorse.” After her speech she breezed by me like a glider soaring through the wind and plopped herself up on the sink. She steadied herself with the palms of her hands flush against the counter while her left leg draped over her right leg. I knew she was right and I inwardly cursed myself for being so pathetically transparent but I refused to outrightly admit to my weaknesses and her accurate observations. So I did what any proud teenage royal would do-I stripped myself of all articles of clothing and got in the shower without giving it a second thought. Hey I’m not perfect but denial is my constant companion. And I am not one for modesty, not in-front of her at least. As I was showering I felt my knees buckle down and suddenly my body became too heavy. I reached out to the shower door, barely managing to slide it open I tumbled out of the shower like a barelling down a mountain. "aaahhh...!" I hunched over in excruciating pain. My back felt like hot molten lava had been poured all over it and the skin on my back felt as if it was being pried off my flesh with a grappling hook. It was happening again, they were torturing him and there was nothing i could do to help him or stop it. "River!" Rain exclaimed as she flashed to my side to support my hunched over frame. She held on to my arms being careful not to touch my burning back and laid me down gently on the floor on my stomach with the top part of my torso on her lap. “Rain, they’re hurting him again. They are hurting our King.” I whimpered in a childlike whisper. It wasn’t just my body that was in pain, it was my soul too. I felt sorrow and confusion, I felt injustice and anger; and I felt cheated. Before I could even wrap my brain around the pain and the emotions that came with the pain I suddenly felt like my soul was being torn from my body. In an instant I was standing on a paved open space courtyard. When I lifted my head I saw him, my King chained to a pole right in the middle of the stoned courtyard. His bloodied knees on the ground indicating that they were scarping due to the friction between his flesh and the stoned ground he was kneeling on. His hands were above his body, wrists dangling inside the shackles as if they were wearing bangles. His back facing his tormentor and head bowed low as he quietly endured the torture I most definitely knew he did not deserve. I flashed to his side, put my hand under his chin and made him face me. “Shhh…” I cooed gently like a mother would her child or a lover to her beloved. When he looked at me, what I saw nearly broke me. He looked like a lost and shattered child yet he still had a slither of hope shinning in those stormy greys of his. He looked almost as if his salvation had come. And then like a rug being pulled from right under him as another blow landed on his back the hope he had sunk to the depths of the darkness he had been plunged into. His eyes clenched closed so that he could silently endure the ‘punishment’ that his tormentor was handing to him. “I am sorry I can’t take you away from them yet. But I will; I am coming for you. Just hang in there with me for a little longer.  For now I can only take away your pain…” I didn’t even finish what I was saying when my soul was violently pushed back to my body that was laying bleeding all over Rain and the bathroom floor. The wounds that were on his body had appeared on mine and they seemed to be bleeding profusely. Tears escaped my hazel eyes involuntarily and glossed all over my face while soaking Rain’s clothes at the same time mixing together with all the blood I was losing. “I will make it better. I will make it all better. It’s alright now, you're not alone. You're never alone.” Rain cooed at me and said all the words I wanted to say to him before I plunged back into my body. I had guessed that the pain was too great for my body to bear without my soul in it. And at that moment I thanked my lucky stars that I had Rain with me. One thing amongst many about rain that she didn’t use often was her ability to heal. And just like that I felt a warm invisible blanket wrapping itself around me, my wounds started to heal and I could no longer feel his torture but I could sense that it was his heart that had been injured most. I gathered my wits about me and stood up. When I made eye contact with rain she had a knowing look on her face. “I saw…” was all she was willing to say as she busied herself with filling the bathtub with water and bath oils. After helping me into the bath she turned around to leave, but before exiting she looked back at me and said: “They will suffer ten thousand fold for the pain they have inflicted on him. No one will be sparred; there will be no excuses or explanations that will satiate my wrath. I will ravage their lives and burn their homes to the grown. Their streets will overflow with their blood and their tears. They will beg for mercy and pray for death but neither will be granted. I will see to it myself.” The door to the bathroom closed shut and I was left smirking to myself pleased with the vow she had made to me. In all sixteen years of my life not once did Rain make a vow to me and fail to fulfil it. Even when we got separated from him, she vowed that she would find him some way or the other. The end result was that even though physically we didn’t know where he was, we still had a way to communicate with him and take away some of his pain. Granted the bond was one way and whenever he tried to talk back we got pushed out of his mind; it was still something. I was looking forward to this one though, after all even my vengeance has to be satiated. And right now I was thirsty as hell. I closed my eyes and let the hot water soothe my tense muscles; I imagined their screams as music to my ears. I imagined their torment as balm to his wounds and scars. I felt the need to make my own vow to him; we would not fail him. Even he was hungry for justice and his hunger had to be sated. We would ensure it. Almost mechanically with my eyes still closed I picked up the sponge and started scrubbing down my body, removing all remaining remnants of blood and tears.