The Omega Fire (Book Three of the Omega Game Series)

Chapter 3

Nira

City of Leukos

(Aros twelve years old- Nira twelve years old)

    Where the hell was he? And how, exactly, have I ended tracking Aros down? It was unbecoming for a princess like me to search for a boy through the palace like a servant running an errand. I was not a servant! And must definitely, I preferred spending my time enjoying myself and not searching for Aros.     Aros and my preferences couldn’t even be associated together in my thoughts. Alas, there I was. Tracking that stupid boy down.

    “A princess has duties, Valnira Silvain,'' said mother to me this morning, “if people give you gifts for your birthday you ought to thank them personally. Especially when said gifts were handmade like Aros’s gift.”

    As a princess I received thousands of gifts every single one of my birthdays. My mother even had a system to catalogue them in piles. The Close Family pile. The Dark Rider’s pile. The Diplomat’s pile. Through the years I’ve learned through a differential process to know and wait for specific gifts from specific people. Katala always gifted me nice golden jewelry since she knew I was absurdly vain and loved gold. My father had a penchant for gifting me purebred horses and Aunt Silvana in conjunction with Aunt Leukos always sent me rich dresses made of imported silk from the Island of Laikos. 

    And Aros...I pursed my lips and shook my head at the memory of his infuriating face. Of course Aros sent me handmade gifts. The best gifts were always his gifts and I hated him for making me wait in anticipation every year for whatever he would send me. Year after year I would wake up on my birthday and run to the messenger tower to demand my gift. Aros would send them from far away places, recondit islands or mountains in the middle of nowhere. He never forgot and he never disappointed.

    This year wasn’t different.

    The day had started like any other day. I had run in one of my darkest moods and cursed at the closed doors of the messenger tower in the Naccara palace. A servant had been woken up in the wee hours of the morning to go and open the messenger tower, another servant had been fetched, to brew me hot tea while I waited for the messengers of the tower to sort out their packages and missives until they finally found what I’ve been waiting for. Aros’s gift. My gift.

    I waited until I reached my private chambers to open up the long leather tube where the messenger transported heavy missives. The metallic clunk of an object moving inside the receptacle made me frown. What in the skies had he given me this time? Intrigued, I sat on my bed and flipped the tube.  Over the silk blankets of my bed fell a small pendant engraved in gold. I took the pendant between my hands and studied the beautiful scarlet stone. I’d never seen the likes of that gem before. It was scarlet in color but had rings of orange that resembled the tone of my hair. And the bail was precious, made of the finest gold and shaped as an oval. 

    “Oh, Mongrel,” I shook my head while I inspected every single aspect of the fine pendant. It was hands-down the most precious gift I’d ever received. And I knew Aros had made it for me. The fact he had found a stone of the same color of my hair was...shocking. I’ve never seen a stone like that. Where did he find it? How was it called?

     I’d found a long golden chain that resembled the same gold of the pendant and tied it to my neck. I hadn’t taken it off since then. And my mother, being the eagle-eyed creature that she was, realized I was quite taken with Aros’s gift. She had asked me to go and thank him personally for it. Personally. Excuse me while I rolled my eyes but Aros hadn’t exactly given me his gift personally. So why should I thank him? Life simply wasn’t fair.

    We were visiting the Dark Desert only for a couple of days and it was just a strange coincidence that Baltus and the princes were also in residence. Hence the reason why I was currently hunting the prince down and already hating every single second of it. I wanted to be with Katala, visiting the street markets and exploring the south gates where that horrible statue of the woman with snakes for hair was. Katala had shared all sorts of stories about that woman that was now a statue. She said the woman’s name had been Sabin and that Uncle Wolf had cursed her to live like a statue for the rest of her existence.

    I still had no idea how Uncle Wolf could have turned a woman into a statue but in my eyes that made him insanely awesome. I was quite excited about checking this statue with my cousin and seeing if it was as scary as Katala made it sound. If only I could find Aros already. Cursing I turned to the left wing of the palace and stopped in my tracks when I heard a group of male voices talking ahead. I followed the voices thinking that I might take my chances and check if those Alphas would lead me to Aros.

    And how did I know they were Alphas? Well, they stunk like Alphas. Meaning they smelt like wood and musk, and anger all mixed together. Only members born in a dynamic could scent other dynamics. I could tell they were Alphas from miles away. Usually I tended to avoid big multitudes of Alphas since I wasn’t exactly fond of their high levels of aggression. But today I needed to find the worst Alpha of them all and thank him...personally for his gift. So I followed this particular Alpha group to the pit, that horrid place where Alphas liked to spend all their free time in. I simply couldn’t see the appeal in it.

    The doors closed behind the group of Alphas and looking over my shoulder one last time I followed them inside the pit. Once inside I knew I was stepping into a different world of trouble. The place had been built to house Alphas and their inestable moods. Needless to say the pit was a huge arena with multiple floors. I had entered from the second floor of the left wing of the palace. Which meant that I was currently on the second floor, by the end of the wide terrace where Alphas were standing looking at the circular arena on the ground floor. All Alphas were dressed in shendyts, white kilts they wrapped around their waists and covered them all the way to their knees. It was the most scandalous garment I’ve ever seen and I loved the Dark Desert for never letting them go out of fashion.

     “Excuse me, I’m passing through...excuse me…” I forced my way around the gigantic Alphas and everyone only looked puzzled by my presence. The big Alphas looked down at me while I walked all the way to the front of the terrace. I imagined not many Omegas visited this place and I couldn’t blame them. The place smelt as if all the violence and aggression of this world were throwing a feast. I hated the place and loved it at the same time. And I blamed those shendyts for my contradictory feelings.

    I crossed my arms while I looked down at the circular arena. Two gigantic Alphas were dueling down there. I couldn’t tell which one was winning or losing. All I knew was that I couldn’t look away. What a display of muscular perfection! And those backs! They were all tensed in powerful control and dominance. It was with morbid curiosity that I turned to the closer Alpha and pointed down at the arena.

    “Do you guys bet on these fights?” I asked the Alpha, who only arched his eyebrows in surprise at my question. It wasn’t a hard question to answer. I’ve been betting on some fights and competitions since I could remember. It was the Dark Rider’s nature to do so and I’ve learned quite young that I loved the thrill of winning a bet.

    “No, we surely don’t,” said the Alpha, looking affronted and making me frown.

    “Such a pity,” I sighed. I looked back down at the exact moment when one of the Alphas that were fighting pushed his weight back. He growled, throwing his enemy over his head in a way that made the other Alpha fly over the arena and crash ratherly hard against the multitude on the first terrace.

    I laughed at that and the Alphas surrounding me just stared at me as if I was mad in the head. Maybe I was, but come on! This was fun. The most fun I had in months. I crossed my arms again and smiled when another Alpha walked inside the ring of sand where the duels went down. And after a heartbeat I saw Aros walk into the ring, following the older Alpha. My smile just died on my face. What in the world was he doing there? He was just a kid! Nervously I studied the larger, older and visibly more experienced Alpha that he would be fighting and I swallowed nervously.

    Aros was tall and strong for his age but he was still in training. It took years for a Maccana soldier to finish his military training. He wasn’t ready to do this! Oh Gods, I still needed to thank him for his gift. If he died I would never have the opportunity to thank him. I cursed under my breath and started making my way down. All the Alphas around me grunted and cursed at me while I cursed back, forcing my way until I reached the first floor and bewildered saw that the duel had started. Aros was returning punch by punch every attack from the older Alpha. He seemed...controlled. Almost measured, as if he was the one holding back. 

    A strange feeling akin to pride burned in my stomach making me halt. My eyes followed Aros’s profile when he growled and with an animalistic grunt rammed against his sparring companion. Both Alphas locked their arms while they tried to push the other one out of the ring. It was then when I saw Noctis and Kun, watching the duel closely by the first steps of the arena. I marched to them and pushed them to the sides, moving one step closer to the fighting ring so I could see Aros better. 

    “Nira?” called me in surprise Noctis and at the mention of my name Aros’s entire body seemed to harden and tense. His neck strained when he looked back and sought me out in the crowd. His blue eyes seemed to darken when he found me, watching his fight only a couple of steps away from him. Aros cursed under his breath and started shaking his head to the sides.

    “Noctis, get her out of here!” he growled, visibly mad at me. Veins in his neck started pulsing, his blue eyes turned alive and sparkling blue flames zeroed on me.

    “I’m not going anywhere!” I alerted everyone and Aros cursed through clenched teeth, returning his attention to his fight. Noctis and Kun surrounded me, acting like buffers between me and the crowd, which was completely unnecessary. Plus, the crowd wasn’t paying me any attention. They were all focused on Aros and the fact that a twelve year old boy was pushing his enemy’s weight easily across the ring. 

    My eyes followed him in enraptured attention while Aros growled and showing a ferocious display of anger knocked the other Alpha’s head with his forehead. The older Alpha winced and in that moment Aros acted, reaching back and punching the face of the other Alpha. Once, twice, thrice until the older Alpha stepped on the red circle that marked the limits of the ring renouncing his victory and conceding it to Aros. I started clapping in excitement but my enthusiasm was short-lived. 

    Aros turned to me and started walking my way. His scent hit me fast and hard. He was smelling like tons of aggression and anger. Wait a moment, he hadn’t smelt like that before! Was he really that angry at me? And what have I done this time? He didn’t pause to say a word. With a growl he took me by my waist and threw me over his shoulder, marching fast out of the pit while I screamed for help.

    “Be quiet!” he barked at me and I hissed, trying to get free but it was impossible. His arms were like iron bands holding me hard against him. I couldn’t escape and what was even worse was that he felt hot under my touch and I liked that. I shouldn’ like that. But I did.

    “You ugly bastard! Free me at once!”

    “No.”

    “No?”

    “What? Does a little, spoiled princess like you don't know the meaning of that word?” he asked me and I groaned, hitting his back with my closed fist. I had the terrible suspicion that he couldn’t even feel my own weight over his shoulder which made my counterattack horribly meaningless.

    “I demand that you put me down!”

    “Oh, is that right?” he stopped and seemed to look around the hall where we were standing. I probably looked ridiculous with my long hair floating all over the floor, “You and how many others?”

    “Aros, I’m going to kill you for this!”

    “Good luck trying Nira.”

    “I hate you!” I screamed at him.

    “Fine!”

    “Fine!” I fought back.

    He put me down after that and with a curse I fixed my wild hair back with a trembling hand. My hands never trembled. Never. But one look of Aros’s angry face and I was trembling and mad and feeling about a thousand different sensations that I couldn’t name. He growled at me angrily and then turned around and walked away...only to stop and return to me, a vein pulsing angrily in his neck.

    “What were you thinking?”

    “When?” I asked him, fixing my green stola so it didn’t look as if I had just been manhandled. I hated to look manhandled. Especially when Aros was the one doing the manhandling.

    “Going to the pit! An Omega should never go to the pit!” I raised my eyebrows at that. 

    “And what do you know about Omegas and what we should do?”

    “Answer me Valnira!” he roared, now looking all red and angry. I swallowed. Aros had to be mad to call me by my given name. I started playing with one of my red curls, suddenly feeling quite stupid since I remebered why I had gone to the pit in the first place.

    “I was looking for you,” I whispered, hoping that he wouldn’t hear me. But since he was an Alpha with a superv hearing he tensed, clearly hearing me even if I tried my very best to not be heard. I sighed and looked him in the eyes, ignoring that monstrous, strange sensation of standing on legs that weren’t my own. I cleared my throat and looked away from him, “ I wanted to thank you, for my birthday gift.”

    Silence.

    I cleared my throat again, “ I liked it very much, thank you.”

    Silence.

    “Well, aren’t you going to say something?” I asked him, turning around to face him. Aros was staring at me with an enigmatic look in his blue eyes. It felt as if he were analyzing me, trying to make some sense of what I was saying.  I sighed, “You are supposed to say something.”

    “What do you want me to say? It was a gift. It was meant to be liked,” he said with a shrug and I started getting mad all over again. Couldn’t he understand how hard it was for me to do this? To seek him out and tell him how much I’ve liked what he had done for me?

    “It’s my decision to like it or not!” I screamed at him, feeling like an imbecile that couldn’t control herself when standing around Aros.

    “But I knew you were going to like it,” he said slowly, almost as if he was trying to hold on to his non-existent patience.

    “You couldn’t possibly know that for sure!”

    “I did,” he growled, growing mad with every passing moment.

    “So you think you know me that well? Well enough to not need my thanks because you just knew I was going to like your gift?” I asked him and this time Aros cracked his neck, growing tense in the shoulders.

    “I didn’t say that Nira.”

    “You might have as well! You know what? Don’t give me any more gifts! Not ever! I don’t need this! I don’t want to thank you! From now on just forget I have birthdays and don’t send me a thing!” I stumped away before he could say anything more. 

    We didn’t cross paths again that summer. The next year when I ran to the messenger tower in the morning of my birthday and woke everyone to search for my birthday present from Aros there was nothing to be found. Aros never again gave me a birthday present and I hated him even more for that. In the end I never took his pendant off and I hated myself even more for that.