Sometimes if a person is lucky, they get the immensely rare privilege to witness what is called the "Golden Hour"
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It is the most beautiful time of day, when the sun is just beginning to rise - though the phenomena also occurs when the sun is just beginning to set - and is beloved by photographers.
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Today, Vega got to see the Golden Hour because Dawn had woken her up at the crack of...dawn. She had protested profusely but ended up walking in the gardens of Château Ego before it was even six o'clock.
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A small, pretty girl was sitting on a masterfully carved wooden bench painted a pleasant cream. She wore a flowing dress of soft pink and orange. Her long hair - which had a strange shimmering quality - was golden blonde and cascaded water-like down her shoulders. Her golden irises were radiant in how bright they were within her small eyes.
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*Hmmm...Rōra the Dawn appears to have been waiting for you. Do not frighten her!* Warned the wings urgently in her mind.
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Vega walked up and took a seat next to her on the cream bench.
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Wing lady! I-I've been waiting for you forever and ever!" She lamented in a high, sweet voice that melted the teenager's heart.
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*Remember, she is still partly corrupted and while not exactly a threat on her own, her sisters could be dangerous to us.*
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"Hello...who are you?"
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"Hey, I'm Rōra! Who are you?" The child asked her innocently.
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*Don't tell her, just touch her with me so that I can absorb her.*
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"Dawn that's not nice." She thought.
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"Good to meet you Rōra, I'm Vega." She told the young girl.
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The wings began to buzz with energy. *My lady that is not how this works, you must do it. Fear not, I mean her no harm.* Darn urged her.
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Vega paused, the memory of Dractse warning her about the wing`s tendency to force their will on their wielder resurfaced.
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*He is right, now do it!*
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"I can't..."
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A sharp, stabbing pain shot up her spine, it hurt so badly that it made her feel light-headed and dizzy. Her entire body felt like it was charged with energy from the wings - which were presently giving off sparks.
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*Do it. We do not have long before Rōra the Dawn will disappear. I also sense that the Adeptus Technospiritual is awake and looking for you.*
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Vega touched the girl gingerly with the wing tip. She began to fade, evidently, the wings were more gentle with her compared to Zenith and Nardir because she cooperated.
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Rōra smiled at Vega, a wonderful sight. "Dawn is..getting wid of the evil thingie inside me. I fweel better alweady!"
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The childish speech pattern made Vega smile back as the girl disappeared.
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The wings must have been appeased, for they finally stopped sparking. Just in time for the Adeptus Technospiritual to arrive.
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"Girl," He called out grumpily, "What are you doing up at THIS time?"
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Vega stared him down with her mismatched eyes, sensing his discomfort at the different colours, for a good minute before turning his question back on him, "What are you doing up at this time, Adeptus?" She asked politely despite her strong dislike of the Techno-Spiritualist scholar. Vega was fond of the previous scholar present, the octogenarian Adeptus Haematological - who had been sent to Narciss to treat the heavy bleeding episodes of the haemophiliac Lord Maximillian II Biggen-Ego AND his son, Lord Orpheus Biggen-Ego. The Adeptus of Haematology (the study of blood) was a humble pacifist who treated everyone as being more important than himself despite being Empyrea`s leading expert on bloodborne diseases before his unfortunate death in 45 EH. He had doted on the younger child of Viscount Maxwell, even going as far as to tell her what his name once was Ensed Somyló van Sanguine
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"You met with that...Dragoon yesterday, is that correct?"
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"Yes, Adeptus, but I do-"
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"Where IS he, Lady Vega?" The detestable man asked coldly.
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"Presumably back in the Dragon's Citadel. It's in the big tower called the Great Spi-"
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"I KNOW WHERE IT IS! What I need to know is what he is doing to you, it could be highly inappropriate!"
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"He taught me about the Cyclites - Rōra, Himaru and Zorya - is there something wrong with educating myself about other cultures? I thought a scholar of the Academies would be more open-minded, apparently, I was wrong."
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"Listen here, it is of the highest order of importance that you tell me everything you know about that bloody archm-"
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The wings glowed brightly and the Adeptus Technospiritual went flying across the garden at great speed, landing in a thorny patch of blood-red roses. He got up coughing and spitting furiously before he stormed off in a wrathful rage.
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Vega giggled at the state he was in.
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*Oops~*
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"Don't worry Dawn, he's okay. Thanks!" She said aloud, her head tilted back to face the shiny white and golden wings. They began to spread until they reached their full length, the spectacular light of the early sun catching on the polished metal feathers in an awesome show of lights.
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"I feel tingly and I'm drenched in sweat..." She complained.
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*A cold shower it is, my lady.*
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"Oh no."
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______________________________________
Vega stared the shower head down as menacingly as she could manage without bursting into peals of laughter.
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She breathed in deeply and then remembered the wings. "Hey Dawn, I can't take you off, are ya waterproof?"
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*I am. Turn it on!*
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A quick twist of the dial as far as it could go to the left brought an icy spray of fresh - and freezing - northeastern water. The Narcissians, Glacierites and Estrinites - of the Northeast, North and Northwest respectively - were generally more resistant to the cold than other regional peoples.
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She fully stepped under the stream and turned around. The 7°C water hitting her back triggered the natural cold shock response - to hyperventilate and shiver.
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Her breathing and heart rate calmed as she acclimatised to the cold. For a little bit anyway: because then she noticed the scars.
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Dimly glowing, crack-esque fissures ran all over her body. They gently pulsed. "DAWN?"
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*brrrr...oh you want to know about the glowy scars? They are an indicator of the deepening bond between myself and my bearer. In response to your emotions, they burn brighter with anti-ætherical energies. They are permanent, much like your new copper hair colour.
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"What sort of emotions trigger it?"
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*Joy, anger, sadness, terror and arousal are the main ones Lady Vega.*
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Even though she was shivering in a cold shower, she felt her face warm up as it blushed deeply. "Oh lovely, I'm going to light up like a chandelier every time I get excited?"
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*It's not an intentional effect but it IS absolutely gorgeous on you. You could always tell the boys that you are positively illuminated to see them~*
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The teenager giggled to herself.
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*There is a prophecy...*
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"Oh?"
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*That the younger child of the thirteenth generation of the mainline House of Ego will not just rule the northeast...*
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Vega turned the shower off, trembling from fear and the cold.
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*...But the West, Northwest and North as well.*
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Vega shook her head. "That's impossible!"
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*In normal circumstances? It definitely would be. But the political climate in Empyrea has never been more different than it is now. Do you want me to tell you how this will happen?*
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Vega fell silent, unsure if she did want to know. The wings had an uncanny habit of being right, after all.
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*By the end of this year, everything will have been set for you to be crowned Archcountess-Khatun in the sixtieth year of hope, exactly a decade from now.* Thewings said in her mind in a melodramatic, prophetic voice.
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Vega dried herself off as she tried to process this prediction for the future. By the time she had some nightwear on, she was ready to answer.
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"Dawn...do you have the faintest idea what ONE person ruling the West and North as what I can only presume will be a constitutional monarch and the Northwest and Northeast as an absolute one would mean for Empyrea?"
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*Actually yes, the House of Ego-Estrin-Romanakov would be formed along with the Umbracresti-Estrinite-Glacian-Narcissian Archregion. The other regions will form the Cerulean-Vorantine-Aqulio-Pheasantine Union in response to the UEGNA.
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"That sounds suspiciously like the start of a Second Coalition War. Will there be one?"
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*Not that I know of. Empyrea isn't exactly eager for another one after the beating the last Coalition got from Narciss*
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"I feel woozy but I'll take your word for it."
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*Go sleep, we have a tough fight to win tomorrow.*
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Vega did as she was told, all the while wondering if Dawn`s bold claims about the future would indeed prove prophetic.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
