Rising from the Ash

KAIN ii

My date With Cara was exactly how I expected, long endless conversations about her and her visits outside the kingdom. She even showed me a chameleon she bought on her last visit. I watched as she ran her hand constantly on the creature. She even tried feeding it some wine. Can a chameleon drink?

As she chatted nonstop, I began to wonder if I was doing the right thing. It was four days since the incident with the Ztafa and I haven't been able to take my mind off her. It was like I was enchanted. I looked at Cara and smiled at whatever she was talking about. She seemed pretty engrossed. My mind wandered again an this time,it went farther than I expected. I saw a replay how she looked when she fainted, so pure and beautiful. Her eyes held me captive and I just couldn't stop staring. Unknown to me, I'd been staring literally as well.

"My prince, are you alright?"

I heard Cara call to me and that brought me back to reality.

"Yeah, I'm just stressed up."

"I understand. Do you want to go somewhere else?"

Cara asked me. By somewhere else, I knew she meant my bedroom. it's been a few Rocky days and frankly, the idea of Cara comforting me in her own way wasn't bad. what can I say? she was very attractive. But what about the Ztafa? I thought again and suddenly, it felt like I was cheating on a woman I cannot even have. Cara sat there waiting for an answer. Perhaps that one one of the reasons why she came around after all.

"I think I do. Shall we?"

I Said and stood up. She smiled and stood after I did. As she attempted to move, the whole room shook. We exchanged looks and waited for another rumble and it came as a loud explosion from a distance. I was instantly alarmed.

The powerful wave that swept through the room next Took us both off our feet and crashed us on the ground. Cara yelped And I rushed to her side. She had a little cut on her hand and I figured she'd be okay. But she was crying profusely and her chameleon was getting away. She cried for it and I quickly grabbed the creature and placed it on her hand.

"Stay down."

I said to her and dashed out of the room. I got to the walkway and saw smoke rising in the Ztafa side of the Palace. I saw our soldiers rushing towards the side and I dashed after them. I soon caught up with the soldiers and drew my silver sword. What was going on? If I didn't know better, I would say that it was Ztafa magic but it's extinct.

We headed towards the quarters and another wave swept us all off our feet. It wasn't a wind, it was something stronger. I stood up quickly and braced myself as I saw the one who seemely sent the waves. As I attempted to attack, I froze. I couldn't move any part of my body and my sword began twist. I watched in horror as the figure drew closer fearing for my life. Then another wave swept me and the other soldiers away again. That's when I saw who it was. It was her. The Ztafa from grandma's quarters. What the hell was happening? How was she doing this? Her yellow eyes had turned a mixture of several shiny colours and I could see smoke on her body like she'd been on fire. But her head was bald. She couldn't do this if her head was bald. I knew their bald hair didn't stop their magic but it made them weak enough not to use it. Using magic with human strength would kill them If it even worked. Was she trying to die?

As I was still processing this, she burst out in colourful flames and the whole palace shook violently. Some pillars crushed down and a strong telekinetic storm began to blow. I held he cries of some soldiers as they got sent flying by the storm. Then another pillar crumbled and the debris floated towards her like they were feathers. They formed a ring around her and suddenly they shot out towards the rest of the soldiers standing.

She was still on fire and the fire rose so high and bright that we were forced to look away for some seconds.

When it was over, she was gone and the palace gate was destroyed beyond recognition. I wiped my brows as soldiers rushed to the Ztafas who too beheld the event in awe. They were all heavily surrounded and something within me told me the others weren't a threat, at least not yet. I looked around and grandfather was already in the courtyard with my grandma and Olga at his side. I saw Eva and her maidens standing at a corner and Cara stood alone still clinging to her chameleon.

Grandfather looked worried and I walked towards him to pay my respects.

"Any of our men dead?" He asked me.

"I don't think so my lord. There are a few injured. The gate is torn apart. It looks like she escaped."

"She?" Grandma raised a brow.

"It's the Ztafa from your quarters grandma. She did this."

I said.

"I hated her the moment I saw her. I knew she's dangerous. And when you began helping her... "

Grandma quickly stopped herself but she had already gotten grandfather's attention.

"Helping her?" He asked me with a calm angry voice, the same he used for my father when he was still alive.

Olga coughed as he cast a quick glance at me.

"It's nothing you should concern yourself with my lord. We have enough trouble on our hand as it is. We need to make sure the others can't do something like this." I said

"We need to kill them all. It's senseless keeping them alive after all."

Eva spoke unannounced. She pressed herself against grandfather for he spoiled her alot. She could even refuse some of his wishes although she never disobeyed publicly.

"Find this Ztafa and bring me her head. Prepare yourself,Something tells me you might need to stay longer than expected during this mission. Use your foresight as always and make me proud."

Grandfather gave me the order.

I bowed and accepted the mission. Not that I could refuse anyway. And about my foresight? Perhaps it wasn't as potent as I had thought. Besides, Other than grandfather's statement being a direct order from the king, I was the crowned prince and it was required of me to handle emerging issues like this. I guess Eva can take care of the other Ztafas. She wasn't going to make it easy on them and that I was sure of.

I looked at Olga who nodded and headed to get his crew. They were elite soldiers I loved to work with. After about 10 minutes, we were set to Leave. I took a last look at the palace as we rode away. If I encounter this Ztafa again, I wasn't sure I would survive. And for some reasons I can't explain, I couldn't see this attack with my foresight. I usually see things like this. If my foresight was useless against her, that means we were constantly exposed. But I had a duty to perform and fear won't hold me back. The crickets' chirping and howling of wolves, the swaying moon all reminded me that I was perhaps riding to my death.

Death... the word sounded so ominous.