United: The Dragon Empress

I sat there looking out the window as the drops of water streamed down the glass from the morning shower that passed by. My mind raced with many things weighing on it. The past few days I had seemed to be rather focused on events long since gone. I was only a child then, just turned twelve, when my life took a turn down a path I am unsure I understand. I cannot say if it was for the better or if it were for the worse. To this day I still cannot make sense of any of it and part of me has stopped trying to...the other half is constantly searching for answers. Why did I fail the entrance exams the day before? My family is infamous for being powerful, so my magical aptitude should have been outstanding. I could perform all the fourth level spells from my mother's old spell book before I turned seven. There was no question or doubt about which school I would attend as every member of my family graduated with honors and were scouted days before their ending ceremonies from the school. Henworth Academy, the school not of my choice,  was known for producing top level wizards and witches for thousands of years. Even if a good portion of those who graduated turned evil, the academy's reputation grew with each year that passed.    Why did I take that short cut the day after the exams. I don't ever remember using the path before, but I felt drawn to it. Something kept telling me to keep walking until I found it, what I didn't even know I was searching for. There was a brief second I thought to ignore the voice and go back to the main road, but it only lasted a second. Now that I had time to think back on it, maybe I should have listened to that second of doubt. I turned my head and faced towards the only friend I had since that day. It had been years since we first met. Who exactly was he I had no idea, but he was the only person who came to see me and the only person I had left that I could trust, for the most part. A man as tall as the young saplings outside my window he sat there strumming through pages of a book, under his lamp, in the chair he claimed as his own so many years ago. He was kind, gentle, and at times a bit harsh. Soft sliver hair draped his shoulders and back in waves. His eyes a clear light blue, they sometimes reminded me of marbles or precious gems. His skins was a bit pale and there were times I thought it held a shimmer or glow, but I always convinced myself it could have been a bit of make-up. Although, he didn't seem like the type who wear any, but how else could I explain away such beautiful skin. The aura of an elder brother shrouded him and maybe that was the reason why I felt at ease around him. Although, there were times when I felt he was a bit cold and distant on purpose with me. As if he too held secrets he did not wish to share just yet. I still recall the night we met. It was dark and the clouds had just let out a down pour of rain that soaked me before I had even made it to thickest part of the forest. Tired from running and hiding I thought the forest would be the safest place for me. Twelve years old and told I would be killed due to a trinket I found on my way home. Or maybe it would be much better to say the trinket found me? I had no idea why me having it was cause for death, but my village panicked as they hold their superstitions and prophets close. It was silly of me to think I would have been safe once I ran into the forest, but there was a reason why no one ever dared to enter unless they formed parties or joined guilds. Upon entering I encountered a pack of carnivorous birds, I found out much later they were called craves. Small, blind, black in color, and almost featherless creatures with the most horrible sounding chirp I have ever heard a bird sing. They hunt in swarms and despite their blindness were viscous with their attacks. My magic held them off at first, but as I grew tired from fighting I realized I would die and fell to the ground. Covered in mud I just sat there as they regrouped and charged at me, ready t except my fate. That's when a flash of light and a heavy gust of wind surrounded the area. The birds were split in two as wet leaves blew about and struck them one by one. Their dying shrikes still ring in my ears on stormy nights. At first I thought it was the people of my village come to apologize and take me home, but then I saw him standing not far away from me. He didn't say anything, just stared at me. His eyes held an ominous chill to them and I found myself frozen and ready to cry. I don't remember much after that as I blanked out and woke up in a bed that was big enough for five people. Had I not been born with some status to my name the sight of the room and decor of the house would have made me dizzy with excitement. After spending so much time together we became accustomed to our new way of life. As if the bond between us were that of a family and not two strangers who just happened upon each other one rainy night. Yet, I understood very well that we barely really knew each other as much as we thought we did. Neither of us knew the other's background; neither of us tried to pry into it either. It was as if we both just wished to start over. We cared enough to help each other forget what haunted us in our dreams. Years have gone by each minute dragging on longer than the next. Time would go by effortlessly as I looked out the dulled window glass. Moss slowly over taking it with each passing day. I blindly sat there for years some days I   never slept. A childish hope dwelled inside if me searching for family, friend, or foe to come for me. Only no one ever came to the old mansion hidden with the forest, except for him. That day I'd had about enough of being locked away in the abandoned mansion I grew to call home. I was neither a prisoner or a guest in the mansion. More of a presence that he just happened upon and is neither waiting for me to leave or begging for me to stay. He made that very clear to me the night he brought me here, but I was not allowed to go outside. It wasn't safe in the woods for pretty young ladies, especially me. What he meant by that I am not sure. I only stayed because I felt something when we met that night, not just fear but something mysterious called out to me when we locked eyes. I cannot really explain what I felt when we first met as it mixed itself with fear and regret, but I do know it was not love nor was it lust. Maybe it was just pure curiosity, I am uncertain. I just knew that when I saw him he held a white glow to him that can't be explained away. That and I had another way of telling something is up with him. Yet the fact that he cared enough to keep me safe was apparent, even if he words said otherwise his actions would always betray him. He had come that morning, earlier than usual, to read to me like he always did. His voice filled the room like sirens calling to their male targets. I thought nothing of it at first and listened quietly letting the story play out in my mind's eye, but that day the walls began to close in on me. I could feel myself losing my breath with each second I sat there and I needed to escape even just for a brief moment. No one was looking for me they more than likely figured I had been eaten by some wild creature, so there was no need for me to hide anymore. Even my family had forgotten me...I do understand why though. They'd no choice in the matter, but still I didn't ask for any of it to happen. At least they could have pretended to care, even just a little. So why was my life the way it was now? Because of some stupid amulet... “I have done nothing wrong and yet I am treated like a criminal. I didn't ask for this...I only wanted to study magic like everyone else.” I said. I sat forward a bit before I stood up from my seat and walked over to the table he set up with tea, fruit, and bite sized cakes. Maybe this was why he always came to me-to make sure I ate. Reading the last word from the sentence he had started his eyes peered at me from over the book. His stare gave me a sign of how my interruption had annoyed him. He seemed to enjoy the stories he read to me more than I did. His eye softened as they met with mine and he let out a sigh. “No one asks for destiny, child. You must understand that the events that take place, both past and present, have been written in the stars before you were born.” He replied. I picked up a berry and placed it in my mouth. It was rare to get a response out of him. He mostly read to me, then we'd eat, and he'd leave right before it was time for me to go to sleep. Grabbing a few more berries I glanced at him. It was plausible that I could perhaps convince him to let me walk around the grounds. With him as my guide it would have been fine. “Why do you always read to me? Aren't there any other activities we could do beside stay in this dark and depressing room? We could go for a walk? I hear that your growing a new rose bush in the garden. Maybe you could show it to me?” “I read to you so it can help free your mind from unessential thoughts and no we cannot go out for a walk. Besides that bush is not due to bloom any flowers yet.” I did not wish to give up, my stubbornness wouldn't allow me to. If I weren't a prisoner or guest it shouldn't have mattered if I stepped one foot out the door, or that gate, or even into the forest, but I respected him and if not for the fact that I would have died all those years ago his approval would have not mattered. “Oh come on, why not?” “I have bad knees..” “You do not have bad knees.” “I'm no spring chicken either, child.” Rolling my eyes I threw up my hands and shook my head as I looked up towards the ceiling. It was not yet the day for an adventure. Surely he couldn't keep me trapped forever in the flashy cage to left me. One day I would venture back out into world and feel the soil beneath my feet. I stood at the beautiful decorated table and stared at the food neatly displayed on it. “Forget it...” “It's forgotten." A small fire in the fireplace warming the room was the only light he had besides the lamp that sat next to him. Due to the vines and moss on the windows only portions big enough for me to peek out of allowed the brightness from outside in. How anyone could manage to read in such light was beyond my comprehension,  but he managed and I once again found myself drowning in his tale of power struggle, betrayal, and romance.  “Eurus, may I ask you a question?” I said and walked over towards him then sat at his feet. “What is on your mind now, child?” he said and placed his book on his lap holding his forefinger in between the page he left off. “All these years since we've met I have noticed a few things that have gotten me quite curious.” “Really now and just what might these curiosities be?” I looked down at my hands for a moment. It was a lot to get him to open up to me even just a little. The list of curiosities that I made over the years grew longer with each day and while I didn't wish to dig up personal secrets I did wish to know even a little more than my own theories when it came to him.   “Well, I have noticed that you sometimes speak as if you are much older than I am, but you can't be any older than maybe six years my senior. I've also noticed that over these fourteen years your appearance stays the same, except for maybe your hair gets longer, no other changes. There is also the fact that you never stay in the mansion with me, you only visit, and I can't forget to mention that you say you are not a sorcerer yet you can control the weather, while it is mostly lighting and wind you seem to be a master at...” He chuckled a bit and I saw a brown mass reach under my chin then lift my face up towards his. With the spine of his book, his finger never moving from the page he left off on, he had me meet his gaze. His eyes glistened over an ice cold grey color, unlike any I had ever seen. His lips curled up on one side of his mouth as he stared me straight in the eye. A chill swept through me for the second time since I met him. “You are a perceptive one, aren't you. Have your eyes been watching me this entire time?” His voice was low as if he meant for his words to be secret. “No, I have just noticed things. It was one of my many talents back at my village. Many said it would help me become a greater witch than my mother...oh and there is this...my amulet," I take out a thin piece of rope that was hanging around my neck and in hidden in my blouse, "When you are near it glows white. It is actually quite mesmerizing when I look at it. I almost become lost in a trance. It's as if it wishes to tell me something.” Moving his book away from my face he looked down at the dull light shining from the small red crystal. He sat back in his chair and eyed my neck. “Has it done this many times before?” “Yes. When I first found it, it was glowing a crimson red, I can't figure out why, but it hasn't glowed red since. Now it just glows white, a beautiful dull white that lets me know that you are near," I smiled at him and reached for his hand, "It may sound a bit weird, but it warms me when I see it light up white. While I haven't yet heard what it wishes to tell me I do know that it is not dangerous. It has only made me a bit curious.”  He pulled away from me and sighed deeply. His eyes back to the clear sky blue that I had studied for so long. A hand at the side of his face held his head up and he seemed lost in thought for a moment. “So child, what are you trying to asking me.” Looking at his other hand I noticed that he gripped the book he was reading to me tightly. He was nervous about my questions and my observations, but my curiosity out weighted my the small tinge of fear that grew up inside me. Even if he decided to never come back I had to push as far as I could. Fourteen years is a long time to stay in the dark and not bother to question anything. While I didn't wish to know all his secrets just yet I thought it was only fair for him share something as I had already shared one of mine. I hadn't ever shown the amulet to anyone else after the night I was chanced out of my village. If they were willing to kill a child for merely holding it what would someone else do if they knew that I was almost able to get it to respond. “Eurus, what are you really? So far I have known this amulet to glow only when you come near,” I looked down at the glowing stone around my neck then back at him, “You refuse to let me go outside for anything. Yet you tell me that I am not your prisoner, nor a guest who must remain hidden. What exactly are you trying to keep me from? Or are you keeping something from me?” “I am Eurus, child. I am nothing special just a myself.”He looked at me, got up out his chair, then walked over to the bookcase and placed his book back on the shelf, “If you wish to leave these walls you may do so at any time. The only one keeping you here is yourself.” I rolled my eyes and got up off the floor then made my way back toward the window. Staring out into the trees I grabbed hold of my amulet. “You are not being honest with me, Eurus. If you do not trust me with your secret then say so and do not insult my intelligence. I know you are more than what your appearance is. I have yet to figure out what that something more is, but I will not force you give me answers you do not find pleasant." I looked back at him and smile, "Just know that I have stayed this long because I see you as an elder brother. Though I don't know your whole story nor do you know mine, I still feel safe with you." A deep sigh escaped him and he made hus way over to me. We stared at each other for a while then he cleared his throat as he leaned up against the window sill. His eyes looked down at his feet and I looked away and focused on an old cobweb in the corner of the window. The silence that filled the room held awkwardness that made my cheek flush red. “Trust is not a problem, child. It is more a matter of time and place. You will be informed of this matter soon enough. I do not plan on keep you in the dark forever. That would be unfair.” He placed a hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him to be greeted by a brotherly smile. “As for being outside, while I discourage you from doing so, how about we compromise by having our lunch outside in the garden today.” I felt a small warmth at the sound of his words. While he was a mystery to me I knew without a doubt that he meant me no harm. At times it felt like he even regarded me as kin. While my presence to him seemed to be a bother at times I could also see that deep down his harsh words and rough acting were only to keep a small distance between us so that I may not find out too much before I was supposed to. “Very well, that sounds splendid. I will not ask about your origins or lineage again. My apologies if I was being rude or too forward.” He chuckled softly and extended his arm to me. “No need to apologize, child, your curiosity is rather charming. Now come let us go see what is for lunch. The maids I brought should have finished preparing by now.” I smiled and took his arm. As we walked passed a wall that held a mirror I happened to look into it and saw that it reminded me of my elder brother and me back before I was exiled. Before I lost the life I knew and had to build a new one my brother and I were extremely close. I always wondered how they would explain my disappearance to my elder brother. He was away on a mission at the time. Maybe he still hadn't returned and I could meet with him first before he too was forced to turn on me and crush what little hope I had left of being with my family ever again.