Axium

CHAPTER 17

 XRenia and Verin appeared on the balcony. She ran into the sitting room. "Dad. Grandfather!" She yelled.

No one answered.

She dashed in to the next room dragging Verin behind her and shouted again.

Still no answer.

She poured her magic into her voice and shouted at the top of her lungs.

The Palace shook and Verin stepped back in shock.

A portal opened up beside her and her mother stepped out.

"Mom! Where's dad and grandfather?"

"Your father is in a meeting and your grandfather is dealing with a personal matter in the dungeon," Her mother answered her eyes full of worry. "What's wrong?"

"Lord Shan and headmaster Alton are about to poison Verin!" She exclaimed in a panic.

Her mother glanced towards Verin and he gave her a shy smile. She furled her eyebrows in confusion. "He looks fine to me dea.."

Verin gasped and clutch at his chest.

XRenia's mother's eyes grew wide and she snapped her fingers sending a bright flash of light through the room. Almost instantly her grandfather and grandmother appeared.

Her grandfather took one look at Verin, reached out his hand and violently yanked it back.

Gashes ripped open in Verin skin and through his clothes causing blood to spray out all over her grandfather's arm.

XRenia screamed in horror.

"Oh, calm down girl. All I did is pull the poison out of him."

"There is more," Her father's voice said from behind her.

"That's not possible."

"He's right dear," her grandmother said.

Her grandfather returned his full attention to Verin. "Ah. I see." He raised both his hands and his nose bridge scrunched as he visibly exerted effort.

After a few seconds of this her father stepped forward. "You can't close it." He reached out his hand and yanked it back just like her grandfather had done.

More gashes appeared on Verin in blood squirted out all over her father's arm. Verin moaned in pain and collapsed to the floor.

"I don't think he'll survive more than a few more of those," her grandmother cautioned.

"It appears they are intent on saturating his system," Her father stated.

"It would seem so," her grandfather grunted. He glanced up from Verin. "Solutions?"

"The chamber." Her grandmother offered.

"That's an extreme risk." Her father countered.

Verin's mind opened up to her and what he was feeling slammed into her. It was as if someone had poured out of control fire into him and it was burning him up from inside. She fell to her knees beside him and grabbed his hand. "Hang in there Verin!"

"It's the only way." Her grandmother insisted.

"It is," Her grandfather agreed raising his hand and once again yanking it back. "But is the boy worth such a risk?"

This time XRenia felt the tiny particles of poison ripped through Verin's blood vessels and skin as they were violently torn from his body and she stifled her own whimper.

Her mother laid her hand on the small of her back comfortingly and she could feel all of their eyes on her Verin. She wanted to scream yes he's worth it but she lost control of her own mouth as hers and Verin's consciousness swirled together.

"She loves him," she heard her mother state confidently.

"Then he's worth it," Her grandmother said.

Her grandfather reached down and scooped Verin up as if he weighed no more than a fly. "The rest of you stay here." He pushed open a rift and walked through it.

*

Somehow XRenia could see through Verin's eyes as he and her grandfather stepped out to an endless black room. Before them was a black door pulsating with blue magic.

"Once I opened this door, no matter what you see hear or smell, do not move or make the slightest of noise. If what's inside wakes up a little poison will be the least of your worries," her grandfather told Verin.

Verin nodded as best he could.

Her grandfather floated Verin in the air and touched his hand to the door. It slid open to reveal a room large enough to fit her whole palace inside however it seem to be just barely big enough to contain the colossal sized glistening blue and gold scaled creature that filled it.

Despite the pain both her and Verin strained to make out what it was through his eyes. It appeared to have a long tubular body and oddly shaped legs, then Verin's eyes found its head and XRenia's heart thumped in her chest.

It was a Dragon!

Her grandfather carrying Verin stepped through the doorway and the door closed.

Instantly XRenia found herself fully back in her own body and Verin's presence was completely gone.

"Verin!" She gasped.

"It's all right." Her mother said as she kneeled down beside her. "Your grandfather has just taken him into a room that no outside magic can penetrate."

Relief washed over her. "So they won't be able to pump more poison into him?"

"No, they won't." Her mother reassured her. "Your grandfather will fix him up and ensure that whoever did this will not be able to do so again."

XRenia let her muscles relax and the tension drain away, then she remembered what she had just seen. "Grandfather has a Dragon!"

Her grandmother smiled at her. "Yes we built the chamber around it in an endeavor to keep it from waking up."

"But I thought you said no one knew what happened to it."

Her grandmother shrugged. "I lied."

*

Half an hour later her grandfather stepped out of a rift carrying Verin. He walked over to the sitting room and laid Verin on a couch.

XRenia rushed to his side and reached out to him. His mind was open to her but all she could feel was shifting shades of black. "Is he all right?!" She asked in alarm.

"Yes he is just in a magic induced sleep," her grandfather answered.

She leaned down and closely examined the sleeping Verin. There were no traces of the poison that almost killed him, the gashes in his skin were healed, and even the rips in his shirt and shorts had been fixed. Relief washed over her, her grandfather had been very thorough and from what she could tell it would be unlikely for Verin to have any ill side effects when he woke. She sat on the edge of the couch beside him and pushed the hair out of his face.

Her mother laid her hand on her shoulder. "Were you able to figure out how the boys attackers achieved such a spell?"

"I was. Apparently the previous Tsar was foolish enough to use his DNA to create a continuous dimensional rift. I believe his intent was to create his own private sanctuary that only he and his descendants could access. However his energy and DNA entwined with such a spell enabled someone of great skill to change its purpose."

"I see." Her father said. "Seeking to save his life he lost it."

"I always suspected there was some foul play in his death. The timing was just too convenient," Her mother added.

"I permanently closed the rift and destroyed the connection. No one will ever be able to access the Tsar's personal sanctuary again or utilize his mistake against his descendants."

Her grandmother touched her grandfather's left arm. "Dear I think the reporters have been hanging upside down long enough you should release them."

Her grandfather's muscles tighten and a muscle in his jaw twitched.

"Reporters?" XRenia asked.

Her mother leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Some paparazzi posted pictures of you crying online and your grandfather is teaching them a lesson about privacy."

"Oh." She muttered.

"Fine." Her grandfather said to her grandmother. "Malthus."

Her father nodded and disappeared through a rift.

As he left her grandfather turned to her. "Would you tell me who's responsible for this attack on the boy and how you knew it was going to happen before hand?"

She wanted to blurt out it was headmaster Alton but Neo's warning about his influence stopped her. After a few seconds of thought she decided the best to tell the whole story from the very beginning. So she explained how they met Lord Shan earlier that day.

As she finished talking about how she had rebuffed Lord Shan's proposal her grandfather raised an eyebrow. "This Lord Shan reminds me a great deal of your grandmother."

Her grandmother gave a small laugh. "Indeed. Though my floating base wasn't an entire city."

"It's a pity he did not come directly to me and asked for your hand in marriage."

She stared at her grandfather in disbelief.

"I assume he is the one who attacked the boy?" He asked her.

"Not exactly." She quickly outline how they enlisted Neo's help to endeavor to steal one of his rings.

"Subterfuge?" Her grandmother frowned. "You should've just ripped his head off and taken everything from him."

"Mother!"

Her grandmother shrugged.

Her mother sat down beside her and wrapped her arms around her. "Don't listen to your grandmother. You were right to secretly take it from him instead of murder him in cold blood."

Her father reappeared. "I personally, don't think it was right for you to try to take it from him at all, despite the fact that I know no one else here will agree with me."

"You've always been too soft and relied too much on words my son." Her grandmother said.

"I think that's our responsibility! Yes we have the power to take anything we want but that just means we should endeavor all the more to achieve our goals without utilizing that power."

"Yes and that is why your only daughter, my granddaughter, is being forced into exile on a barren land."

"Enough," her grandfather stated with finality and turned the conversation back to her. "So this Neo character you recruited was able to hack Lord Shan security?"

She nodded and quickly told them how headmaster Alton had shown up and what he had done before they could interrupt her again.

Her grandmother cracked her fingers. "It appears it's time to pay a visit to your old headmaster my dear."

"No, I believe his course of action albeit hasty was correctly calculated."

"What!?" XRenia exploded "He and his cohort killed the previous Tsar along with all of his descendants and now he just tried to kill Verin!"

Her father joined her on the couch and laid his hand on her shoulder. "As much as it pains me to say so headmaster Alton's assassination of the Tsar was a good thing."

"Huh?"

"When King Brokon was young and foolish he accidentally offended the Tsar," Her mother said. "The offense was such that it forced each the seven other nations to join with either Brokon or the Tsar side. King Brokon endeavored to make amends but the Tsar would have none of it. Lines were drawn, army set in array and war was imminent. Then the Tsar suddenly died leaving no heir sending his entire nation into chaos and with that chaos all talk of war vanish."

"oh.. But he still tried to kill Verin."

"Yes he did. However my old headmaster's goal has always been peace. Look at the facts objectively."

XRenia gaped up at him. She couldn't believe her grandfather's words.

"If you are to rule your own kingdom you need to learn to push your emotions aside. Now look at the facts objectively," he scolded her harshly.

She didn't want to. Headmaster Alton had tried to kill Verin and very nearly succeeded, that was all that mattered.

Her grandfather sighed. "You are Casara Reannia Axium of Terra daughter of Malthus and Keira, granddaughter of Mathis and Tara, undeniably the four most powerful people in the world. Your parents kingdom has expanded its borders right up to the edge of the other nations and it has the reputation of being very aggressive. The world is already in a heighten state of tension due to the fact that you are coming-of-age and your magic potential far exceeds even that of your parents and you have constantly showed disregard for national boundaries. Now you suddenly find and bond with the only living relative of the Tsar and rightful ruler over his nation. In turn effectively absorbing the entire northern nation into your parents kingdom. To outside eyes what does your goal appeared to be?"

She shrugged.

Her grandfather glared at her.

"Fine. World domination."

"Which would result in what?"

"World war," She sighed.

"Yes, this is the only conclusion that headmaster Alton can come to."

"But we don't want to rule the world."

"He does not know that."

"He has to! I mean why else would my family banished me to Thaxium?"

"Your exile is not official yet and Thaxium is the perfect location for someone of your caliber to train combat maneuvers with their new bond mate."

"Then why banished me at all!" She shouted throwing up her arms.

"Because sweetie, we have to do everything in our power to avoid war if possible," Her father told her.

"Yeah fine whatever!" She jumped to her feet and waved her hand lifting Verin off the couch. "If you need me I'll be in my palace." She pushed open a rift and sent Verin through it. "And you better tell Alton if he lifts a finger against Verin again I'll rip that raggedy old beard of his right off his face," she spat angrily and walked through the portal.