Trial One~Time
Sin skillfully weaved through the crowds as he made his way down the street with Nikiro close behind. He briefly stopped at a fruit stand and picked up two apple. He tossed the vendor two copper lunair before sinking his teeth into one.
"So tell me about your boyfriend. What's he like?"
Nikiro thought for a moment before answering. "He's...energetic to say the least. He likes to run his mouth, but I find it adorable! Kashino, ah erm...my boyfriend. He has a bit closed off but I think I've been able to get him to open up more! What about you? Do you have uh...a partner?"
Sin chuckled and turned to Nikiro, tossing him an apple. "I mean I've dated around but nothing really serious. I find it more fun to keep things casual. Can't get hurt if you don't get attached y'know."
Nikiro didn't say anything, he simply gave him a nod and took a bite of the apple. They continued along the illuminated path when a loud voice echoed from a few feet behind them.
"There you are!"
Sin froze, glancing over his shoulder to meet the angry gaze of his brother.
"Uh oh...busted." He mumbled.
Nikiro shot Sin a confused glance as the man swiftly marched up to them and grabbed Sin. The man had an aura of smooth moonlight, in deep contrast to Sin's fiery attitude.
"Mother has been looking everywhere for you!"
Nikiro raised an eyebrow at his words. "Mother?"
Ea let go of Sin momentarily and turned to face Nikiro. "Oh! Apologies for not introducing myself sooner. My name is Ea. I'm the second Prince of Solaria. Your parents are currently with my mother. I apologise for the trouble my brother here has caused."
Nikiro's eyes drifted to Sin who was whistling a tune whilst swaying in a guilty manner. "Brother? I thought you said you were just a soldier."
"That's what you told him? You're an heir to the throne and you're goofing around!" Ea scolded.
Sin kissed his teeth and sighed. "I just wanted to get to know him without having to put on airs. I didn't want a snob living with us. Besides, if told him who I was I'd have to act all proper and shit."
"...when has that ever stopped you from being...well...you?"
Sin huffed, sticking his tongue out at Ea. "You wouldn't understand, you're always perfect, " he mumbled. "Let's just get going before mom gets angrier." He grabbed Nikiro's hand and grinned. "Come on! This way!"
•~•~•~•~•~•
By the time they arrived at the palace, everyone had already eaten breakfast and were now enjoying some free time in the drawing room. Illya had business to attend to so she was down in the throne room. Sin Thought this meant he was off the hook for now but much to his dismay, he was summoned. As they neared the throne room, they noticed that Ri-is and Hayate were already there. Hayate escorted Nikiro to his parents and Sin reluctantly stepped into the throne room with his brothers to face his mother.
"You're late." She stated firmly.
"I was just showing Nikiro around!"
Illya sighed. "There will be plenty of time for that later. There's something I have to discuss with you three."
They could tell she was in Queen mode so they were careful not to push any buttons.
"As you may know, certain areas in the land to the East and South East have been the topic of discussion for a while now. It seems their recent surge in popularity has caused quite the uproar among our enemies. I have received word from the capital that one if not all of these places may be the location of the lost priestesses. I want the three of you to go to these places and search for any signs of them."361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡReX3mktO0z
"When you took Solaria, you killed one of the priestesses, right? The traitorous Fire Priestess Illumine, the one who assisted the demon general in ruling Solaria. The only other priestesses in the capital are Water Priestess Frieden, the Wind Priestess Nasim, and the Earth Priestess Brìgh. The other three have been lost since the wars prior to and during the demon general's rule. How do we know who we're looking for if they've been missing for so long," questioned Ea.
Illya shifted in her throne. "The sun and moon priestesses have been the most difficult to find. No one has seen or heard even the slightest of rumours about them for about thirty five years now. That leaves the Fire Priestess. When Illumine died a new Fire Priestess should have been named, but no one with the flame's blessing was known at the time. I have received information of a Pheonix kingdom somewhere to the East. It's not necessarily hidden but it's quite hard to reach. This leads me to believe that it is located near the rifts caused by the Arunian ruins, where the magic energy radiating from it makes the surrounding area dangerous. There are three areas of interest, the continents of Hia Miu, Antalya, and Artignia."
Sebeil stepped forward and presented them with maps while Illya spoke.
"Ea will be heading to Artignia, Zur-Sin to Antalya and Ri-is to Hia Miu. We have to find them before Sindaria's Alliance does. If an incident like what happened all those years ago were to happen again, we'd be in deep trouble."
After briefly looking over their maps, the triplets bowed and went to their respective divisions to prepare for their journey. The very same evening, they all departed.
•~•~•~•~•~•
By the next morning, Ri-is was the first to reach his destination. As these places were close to the rifts the conditions in their assigned countries were extreme and varied greatly. While certain areas were warm, Hia Miu was particularly glacial and snowy.
Ri-is went around gathering intel on the possible location of the priestess. Most of it proved to be unfruitful. That is until he and his soldiers sought warmth in a local tavern and stumbled upon a promising rumour. He heard a group of young men, around his age, gossiping about a mysterious woman who was spotted in the mountains up North. Despite his general unease when it came to social interactions, he brought himself to casually slip next to them at their table.
"It's for mom. She's counting on me! I have to do a good job here!" He thought nervously. "You guys...are talking about that girl in the mountains? Have you seen her?"
One of the men put down his drink and leaned in to whisper. "You know about her too? You don't look like you're from here though."
Ri-is quickly thought up a story to abolish any suspicions."My friend lives further up North. He said he's been seeing some strange things lately. He lives alone and spooks easily so I thought I'd come visit him to ease his nerves. He's the one who told me about the woman, but other than that I haven't been able to get much more out of him. Do you guys know anything about her?"
The men seemed to buy his story. "Well, the inhabitants of the village at the mountain's base noticed that a ghostly figure of a woman would appear around January fifteenth but leave as the sun rose on February first. At least that's how it began. As the years went on people began to worship her as a deity, or servant to the gods that ruled over the mountains. They said she brought blessings and good or bad fortunes for the upcoming year. Soon people began to see her on full moons or very snowy days.
She'd usually disappear during the summer months though. The last time we'd see her for the year would be on the cusp of spring, but the inclement weather caused by the rifts have left the lands to the North in a permanent state of crystalline white and battering winds. It's more so in the mountains. That's where most people see her. The villagers became alarmed when children started to go missing or their husbands started freezing to death when they went about their usual hunts in the mountains. There's a rumour going around that she's the one responsible for it, that she preys on lost travelers or hunters and kidnaps the children for god knows what. The children vary but for adults, she seems to generally target males. It's not certain, but we think there's more of them...more...like her. There have been too many incidents for it to be caused by just one girl."
Ri-is listened intently to their story. "Can you tell me exactly where I can find her?"
"Well, there's no definite place. The general area is where the village territory fades into the hunting grounds and becomes consumed in a never ending shower of whey-white blizzards. Lots of folks have gone out to hunt her down but they've never come back and the rest of us are too afraid to pick up the hunt for them. Be careful if you go looking for her."
Ri-is nodded and thanked the men before hurrying out to inform his soldiers of what he had learned.
•~•~•~•~•~•
When he and his soldiers reached the area the men spoke about, Ri-is decided it was best to leave the soldiers there so that in the event he did run into this mystery girl, she wouldn't get scared and think he had come to hurt her. Before he left he used his magic to create a barrier to at least allow for the soldiers to withstand the cold a little and be protected in case of an attack.
Being a dragon meant that he could withstand the bitter cold ahead. Ri-is trudged along the snowy path. The further he went, the more the downpour of snow clouded his vision. Just as his field of sight turned completely white, he could vaguely make out the slim silhouette of a woman in the distance before his eyes shut and he was beckoned into darkness.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
When he opened his eyes again, he was immediately hit with the aches of his body that was frozen stiff. When he was coherent enough to actually process his discomfort, he was surprised to find himself in a large wooden house. From the slanted roof to the sliding paper doors and the mats covered in straw that were spread over the entire surface beneath him, the house bared a striking resemblance to the Kisha clan's architecture, but not entirely so.
After a few more moments of scanning his surroundings, he noticed that he was lying down. He quickly pushed himself up but soon realized that his sorcerer robes were gone and was replaced by a thin summer cloak, far too thin for the type of weather that raged on outside. He tugged at it just as the sliding doors to the room slid open abruptly.
"Your clothes were soaked by the snow." Spoke a gentle, yet alluring voice.
Ri-is whipped around to be met with bewitching golden eyes.
"Where...where am I?" He stammered out.
"Our home. My daughter, Yukimi found you. She thought you were another villager but that doesn't seem to be the case. Where are you from boy?"
He observed the woman as she sat down across from him. She was tall with bright red lips and long, dark, adumbral hair that offset her ghostly complexion.
"I...am Ri-is...f-from Solaria."
The woman looked taken aback for a moment. "Solaria? What's someone from such a scalding country doing all the way in the frost lands?"
"Mother-ah, the Queen sent me here in search of a priestess."
The woman closed her eyes and nodded. "I see...so you're the Dragon Queen's son...forgive my manners. I am Shimonami. Unfortunately, there is no priestess in these lands. It's just my children and I and the dreary village at the bottom of the mountains."
Ri-is was silent. Memories of the tavern men's story resurfaced in his mind and he couldn't help but tense up. His defensiveness showed on his face and Shimonami let out a laugh that sounded like the distant chime of bells.
"What's the matter, boy. You seem on edge."
"...are you the people who have been kidnapping children and killing off the village's men?" He asked bluntly.
Shimonami's icy gaze darkened and the serene atmosphere of the house became heavy.
"So what if we are?"
Ri-is regained some kind of composure and scrambled to his feet. She followed his lead and stood up as well. Her figure towered over him. Her stare sent a quite literal chill down his spine. He raised his hand to summon flames but before he brought it up, he found himself frozen in place. He couldn't turn around but he could feel another presence behind him. His breaths became short puffs of cold air in front of him as ice began to form at his feet and make it's way up his body.
A less than pleased voice just barely registered behind him."I risked my life to drag you from the snow banks and you repay me by threatening my mother?"
Ri-is couldn't speak and found that he had been drained of energy and was rendered unable to melt the ice. His body felt heavier than ever before as air around him quickly became devoid of oxygen and his breathing became shallow. He was trapped, with no backup and miles from home. Fearing it was the end, he shut his eyes tight as he felt the ice climb his legs.
The pain became unbearable and he felt as though he would pass out again. Just as the thought crossed his mind, he felt himself slipping, further and further until everything was black and he could no longer hear the figures voice or feel the cutting ice on his skin. All he could see, all he could feel, was the tempting call of the nothingness that resided in the darkness.361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1u5CBBo2Dz
