Elmira Sielstone: The Empress

Chapter TWO

Redina, Smith and Elmira arrived at the train station at past eight, hoping for any available train to drop them to where they are going.

There were only five trains in the station of Harzenia and each travels to five different places - Crymph on the North, Vainussei in the West, Pyrisium in the South, Tarffeli in the East, and the other one is a special train for Hazzles who were invited to visit the palace with the Royalties' order.

Upon arriving, they were greeted by the staff with cheerfulness and a very friendly environment, however, there aren't any single trains in the station at the moment.

"Stay here. I'll just ask them something." Redina left the two on a platform for the train going to the Palace.

"Excuse me. When's the train, be back?"

"Can I know where exactly you are going, Ma'am?"

"In the Palace." The attendant in the booth had looked at her with questioning looks, but it didn't bother Redina at all.

"We're very sorry Ma'am. But the train going to the Palace had stopped working ever since the Palace Released an Order for not accepting visitors, whoever it is."

Elmira on the other hand has been listening to Redina and the staff's conversation ever since Redina had walked there to ask.

"Watch your words Hazzle. Know how to respect."

Elmira diverted her attention to Smith who has been very silent since Redina left. He's always like that every time they were left alone together, even in Glith.

"You know who I am ever since…" Elmira had started a conversation between them to remove the awkwardness growing between them.

"But you never said anything. You've known me ever since we even moved to Glith."

Elmira, even if she's listening to Redina, has been observing everything ever since they arrived.

"Because I know when to speak and not."

Elmira smiled as she heard Smith answer her.

"I must give this back to it's rightful owner." Smith released the Mirror that he had used from his bag. "I think I have done my role here for this mirror."

Elmira just had a quick glance from the mirror that Smith is giving him, but she did not accept it and shifted her glance back to Redina.

"Keep it. You'll be needing that soon."

Smith just smiled and brought back the thing inside his bag.

Elmira has been observing the Hazzles working in the station. They're all moving normally, cleaning the place, checking every corner of the Station. But there's only one thing that is not normal here, especially in Harzenia.

"You're Qaraths are almost gone." Elmira said in her mind as she's looking for each and every Hazzle that's with them at the moment.

"And you're even trying to get Redina's Qarath." The staff in front of Redina, whom she has been talking to, is trying to get her Qarath, but unfortunately, she can't.

"Not on my watch Hazzle." With Elmira around, she couldn't get what she wanted from Redina.

Redina decided to go back from where she left the two as she couldn't even get any ticket to take them to the Palace.

"I need to say something." She looked towards Smith, giving a sign that they needed to talk alone, as she doesn't want Elmira to hear anything.

They moved away from Elmira and stopped when they knew that she already couldn't hear what they're going to talk about. But Elmira has her own ways to hear them even though she's still reading the staffs' minds.

"The train hasn't been operating for months. How can we go back to the Palace now?"

If only I can tell you earlier Red… But it has been months now since they let visitors enter the Palace. And it means that that train hasn't been used for so long now.

"Have you learned Teleportation yet?"

"Even if I have learned that Red, we still can't get through the barriers of the Palace. It's well protected."

"I forgot, but how can we go there now? Can you perhaps open another portal to-"

"I can't. It takes time to open a portal, and it consumes a lot of energy. I'm still regaining my strength from earlier."

Redina's been so frustrated and couldn't even think properly as she forgot everything that she had asked Smith just to be in the Palace.

"But I know another way."

"What? Don't tell me you're planning to walk for miles just to find another portal. No way. there's no way I will do that. And look, Elmira's tired and so are we. I will never walk that far, Smith."

But instead of listening, Smith looked towards Elmira, which he knows is the best and the fastest way to be in the Palace which Elmira already knew beforehand.

"I've been waiting for you to say that. Come near me… But she needs to sleep."

Smith held Redina's hands and dragged her back to where Elmira is.

"What are you doing? We can't just walk that far, Smith."

"Trust me. We'll be inside the Palace the next time you open your eyes."

They arrived in front of Elmira who had been waiting for them to ask for help.

"Ma Red." Elmira had called her, but as soon as Redina looked directly towards Elmira's eyes, she immediately fell asleep in Smith's hands.

"I know you'll ask me to take us all to the Palace. By the way, I love your common sense for knowing that she must not witness how I'll be taking you there."

"Someone's looking at us intensely." Elmira had noticed someone eyeing them and said it to Smith's mind.

She looked around, seeing every Hazzle in the area, but her gaze landed on the person in the booth whom Redina had talked to.

"And she's trying to get your Qarath now." Smith glances towards the woman on the booth who can't withdraw her gaze towards Elmira.

"Let me just take care of this first. Wait for me here." Elmira freezes the time in Harzenia. Everyone is not moving, except her. She teleported from the platform to the ticket booth, just inches from the Hazzle who has been trying to get their Qaraths.

"You should've just be grateful for what Qaraths you possess, Not stealing others' and being greedy" Elmira Paused. "You even decided to work here, just to get what you wanted, because you knew that you can get what you want here without fearing being caught." Elmira stared at her directly towards her eyes, and erased her memories from the time they had arrived in the station.

"You've been deceiving everyone here working with you. It's time for you to learn your lessons."

Elmira held the Hazzle's right hand and placed her right hand on top of it.

"This is your consequence for your actions." A green light has flashed in between their palms. "Every Time you try to get anyone's Qarath, your Qarath will be distributed to those whom you have stolen from. You won't notice it, until you feel so worn out, worst not even before you die as it can be the cause of your death." Elmira had finished putting a curse on the Hazzle and walked towards where they left the two.

When she got back, she unfreezed the time immediately.

"But, what are you planning to do though?"

Elmira grinned from Smith's question as he didn't have any idea what Elmira had done.

"I already did. Hold her tight." Before they go, Elmira had put a spell in the air to erase everyone's memories of witnessing them vanish into thin air.

She came closer to them and held their arms.

"Are you ready?"

"I am." After hearing Smith's answer, Elmira immediately transported them to the Palace and landed in their room.

Smith couldn't maintain his balance as they landed, as he's also still holding Redina whom has been sleeping on his shoulder. Elmira helped him and put Redina into bed.

After putting Redina on the bed, Elmira walked out from their room and decided to explore the Palace.

"It's been almost 14 years since I left this place." Elmira started from the Royal kitchen and the Grand Dining Hall that can accommodate hundreds of Hazzles in one sitting, then came across the hallway with portraits of all the past Royalties who had served the Palace and Harzenia

"It looks the same as before, way back twenty two years ago… when I came here to visit you, and gave my blessings to have your first born - Alexis."

She stopped in front of the family portrait of the current Rulers of Harzenia, which is the biggest of all. "You look so happy here with your Heir." Beside the portrait of them, there's an old portrait of Redina and Smith, and Elmira smiled as soon as she saw it. "Make sure to get another portrait of these two this month."

Elmira finds her way out of the hallway, and a wide open space has welcomed her. There's no single thing there, except for the red carpet that extends to the grand staircase leading to the first floor. She teleported on top of the staircase and viewed the open space from there, where she can see everything from that perspective.

"And it's still here. My first ever gift to the Royal Family for having the very first Heir of Harzenia." Elmira's been staring at the Chandelier hanging from the ceiling of the third floor. It has been there for the past two thousand years and is still the same as before. She can still see the golds which the chandelier was made off, the gemstones hanging there that give emphasis to the chandelier itself, and the large clear Diamond in the center that holds the light which brightens up the whole open space of the Palace.

The staircase is facing the main door of the Palace and Elmira shifted her gaze from the chandelier to the Grand Entrance of the Palace.

"Alexis." Elmira just stared there for a minute before the door had flung open, and a young man had stepped in the doorway, and ten other Hazzles followed him from behind.

The man had stopped, and so did the people behind him, as soon as she noticed someone on top of the stairway.

They were having an eye to eye battle as no one wanted to withdraw their stares from each other.

Elmira grinned as she surrendered from the staring battle that Alexis had misinterpreted and took it seriously.

"Still the Alexis that I know who doesn't want to be defeated." Elmira shakes her head while grinning widely as she's been reminded of how Alexis couldn't even accept his defeat over an arm wrestling when they were little, specially because a non-Qarath user just defeated him, but he never knew, up to this day, that Elmira had used a little Qarath back then to give him a lesson that he can use for the rest of his life.

"I just hope you learned your lesson from being defeated back then."

After defeating Alexis from the arm wrestling that they had played, Alexis cried in front of her, blaming himself for being defeated by a younger girl who doesn't possess any Qarath and for being weak in front of her. He was just seven, and the only way that he knew to remove his frustrations was to cry.

"Everyone will do anything to win, others may deceive you and cheat in front of you without you knowing. Others may just be pretending to be weak and couldn't fight… But out of all the reasons, You must learn to study your opponent first, and then decide when to surrender and not. Either way, you'll win. Maybe Not from the battle, but from hurting the ego of your opponent. That's what frustrates them the most. But still, practice… know how to control both your Qarath and emotions, it will help you a lot in the future." Although a year younger, Elmira had comforted him with her words, but she just didn't know if Alexis had understood her as he was just a little boy, compared to her, who had been living for so long, but in a new body.

"Who invited you here?" Elmira tried very hard not to laugh at the question Alexis had thrown. It’s as if Alexis was just joking around.

“What’s funny? The Prince is asking you, and you should take that seriously.” A man behind him spoke, which made Elmira laugh out loud. She had been containing her laughter ever since she had a staring battle with Alexis.

All the Hazzles downstairs were just watching her, giving her the time to laugh for herself until she stopped. And her expression suddenly shifted quickly from a crazy lady who had laughed for unclear reasons to that lady with so much authority standing in front and above them all.

“Why do I need invitations if I can just come here whenever I want? Tell me Hazzle. Don’t you know me?” Elmira’s directly looking towards Alexis’ eyes, reading his mind effortlessly.

Elmira grinned as he saw confusion written all over his face.

“Right. You don’t know. But do you perhaps know why am I here? Your parents invited me over, but I don’t seem to know their whereabouts.” Elmira’s enjoying teasing Alexis over and over. She misses this a lot. She always teased him when they were little, and she enjoyed it every single time, as Alexis was just a short-tempered hot-headed kid back then, and seems to be that he didn’t change at all.

“We’re not accepting visitors. Get her out.” He commanded his people behind him, and started to walk upstairs, as he’s people did the same to get her out of the Palace.

“By the way.” Elmira speaks when Alexis is halfway up the staircase. “Have you heard about the Hazzle who had just escaped from the Academy?” Alexis stopped, and his people also did.

Elmira took the chance to speak again as Alexis is still lost for words.

“Let me guess. You didn’t have the chance to catch the person that’s why you’re back here in the Palace. Am I right?” Alexis gritted his teeth as he’s listening to Elmira, everything she says are exactly the same as what had happened to him the past hour.

“And your ego got hurt for not being able to bring back the Hazzle inside…” Elmira had stopped as Alexis quickly pulled out a dagger, ran towards Elmira and pointed it towards her throat leaving a distance of half an inch. “The Academy.” Elmira continued and grinned.

“What’s stopping you from killing me? If you want to kill, just do it. Do not hesitate. Because you’re giving your opponent the chance that they were waiting for all this time.” Elmira didn’t do anything and remained calm while staring directly into his eyes.

“Your eyes.” Alexis suddenly spoke, which made Elmira withdraw her grin.

“I’m reminded of someone with that pair of eyes, who died a long time ago.” Elmira can see how Alexis suddenly changed his emotion into anger and grief.

“Did you kill that someone?” His hands tremble and blood rushes through his face as he builds up the courage of not killing the person in front of him whom he was reminded of his little sister who died years back, in his memories at least.

“That one above us knows how much I tried to save her. But I failed to do so.” Elmira reads his mind as he’s not answering her.

It was past midnight and everyone’s sound asleep in their own rooms. A nine-year-old Alexis who couldn’t sleep, finds his way out of his room and strolled around the Palace to make himself busy and moving to get tired as it will make him sleep.

He reached the back garden of the castle, walking alone silently, but a sudden conversation from not far from him made him hide from the bushes where there’s a little light coming through from the two moons of Harzenia. He was very nervous but He made sure that he couldn't be seen from where he was.

He listened to the voices, they were like arguing with something. As his young mind was being curious, he moved a little closer to where they were. They were only just two people talking just two rows of bushes away from him, and both were men in their late twenties.

“I told you not to kill the child.”

“That’s out of my control. I was left with no choice. I heard footsteps outside her room, and that’s the first thing that came through my mind.”

Alexis didn’t even know who they were talking about but kept on listening. He has this feeling that he knows who they were talking about, but couldn’t just process it in his nine year old mind that fast.

“We need to get out of here before they even know that their only daughter is dead. Come on.”

Alexis couldn’t even stand up from his own feet. He lost his strength from hearing what they have talked about. It’s as if his other self died. Even in a very young age, he understands more than others, and he’s not stupid to not figure out that they were talking about his sister, and he who had passed by her room.

Alexis gathered all his strength and rushed up to his sister’s room. There was blood all over her and is continuously flowing through her bed, from where she’s been lying lifelessly. He walked slowly towards her bed, trembling in fear.

“Wake up.” He held her shoulders and tried to wake her up, shaking her slowly, and then harder, shouting her name in between his sobs.

“Mira. Come on! Wake up!!” The door of the child's room swung open and a Woman hurriedly entered followed by a man.

“Who the hell are you to read my mind!” Alexis shouted in Elmira’s face, still holding the dagger pointing out to her throat. But Elmira just casually smiled after reading his mind.

“So your sister died because of you.” Elmira’s mimicking him made him out of control.

“Stop! What are you doing? Alexis, put down your dagger.” A woman in her nightgown shouted from the second floor, overlooking them from the staircase.

The two didn’t mind her, as if she didn’t even exist.

“Stop talking like you know the story.” Alexis said in between gritted teeth.

“I know as I have seen and heard everything crystal clear just now.” Elmira casually said without worrying about the overflowing anger of the person who’s holding her life in front of her.

“You-”

“Stop controlling yourself, and just kill me. You’ve been holding yourself up since you got here, right? Go on. You are free to do so.”

But he couldn't. Even though he's been dying to kill her, he can't. He just couldn't see those eyes looking at him while he's trying to kill her.

He withdrew the dagger that he was pointing at her while his hands were still shaking from the urgency to kill.

"Al, what are you doing? You could've killed her for pete's sake. What are you thinking!"

"I feel so belittled by what you have said. But fine. I really don't mind." Elmira said in the Woman's mind.

"Never mind. Just make sure to send this Woman out of the Palace when you're done with your business with her." He walked past Elmira without looking back.

"But so you know, we won't be finished by the next time you'll come here. Don't put your hopes up." Alexis didn't mind what Elmira had said and continued walking along the left hallway to the next staircase leading to the second floor. He just wanted to get away from her and her stares, with those brown and with a shade of emerald eyes.

A man had appeared with the woman on the upper floor. He quickly held the woman's left hand and vanished, appearing behind Elmira.

"You've mastered Teleporting. That's great." Elmira faced them from behind and smiled when she saw them. "You've aged."

"What happened? Why did Alexis want to kill you that much?" The woman asked worriedly.

"I don't know. Maybe I hurt his feelings a lot."

"Why? What did you do?"

"Just read his mind. And saw his sister die." Elmira grinned.

" I just couldn't believe that the cause of my death was being killed by a mere Hazzle without a name, inside my bedroom. How'd you come up with that Idea Ma?"

"I just couldn't think properly because of your departure. And that was the first thing that came through my head. And it worked."

"It is, and is very dramatic. By the way, Is that his bodyguard?" Elmira looked towards the people in the staircase, who were still bowing down their heads in front of their Highnesses - but not for Elmira.

"Yes."

"He can handle himself, so why do he need to be with those Hazzles?"

"For his protection. Harzenia's not safe, and his life is our priority."

"I see. But don't you trust him enough?"

"We do. But it's for his safety."

"For his safety." Elmira grinned and looked back on them, who couldn't leave their gazes to Elmira. "Do you even consider what he would feel before you start putting these people behind him? And, do you even think that these Hazzles wouldn't cause him harm?"

"What do you mean? We inspected them and checked their backgrounds before we put them behind him. And they were the best."

Elmira looked at him with bemusement.

"They're the best. Because three out of these ten people were not Hazzles. And you just let them enter the Palace Premises. Sticking with your son everywhere, and making him in danger every time." Elmira had spoken through their minds, as she doesn't want anyone to hear what she needs to say.

They both couldn't say anything. They were lost for words, they just couldn't digest what Elmira had stated.

"I need to rest. It's all up to you if you'll be removing them from being his bodyguards or not. Make your decisions before it's too late."

Elmira walked past them and faced the hallway where Alexis had gone.

"Keep my ring safe. I'll get that in time."

When she's not in the spot where she can be seen by anyone, she teleports to her room as She's just too tired to walk upstairs up to her room.