The heavens weep of the destruction that was brought upon the city of Melgrace that day, as the red prince reduced it to ashes. Angry black clouds overshadow the city as it blankets it in pitch black. Ruins of the buildings, houses, towers, and the guard headquarters, to only name a few of those that were destroyed. Xerxecian soldiers still roam the city streets, looting and scavenging for any valuables that are still in the wreckages that they can use and things that they can salvage, while the other soldiers roam the city looking and scouting for possible survivors of the siege. A few people were found alive and were brought and gathered to the center of the city where Prince Tamiron settles. He is inside the governor’s palace, in the main office. Looking at some papers that were left forgotten due to the sudden evacuation of the city. As he reads and analyzes the papers, a xerxecian soldier enters the room and caught his attention.

“General, we have rounded up the remaining survivors outside the palace,” the soldier told the prince in a husky voice. The prince throws the papers in the air and walk towards the window looking outside, only to see the ruins of the destroyed city. He looks and observes silently when the soldier again spoke, “What does the general wish to do with the spoils?” he again asked eagerly. The prince closes his eyes and slowly opens it once more. The red glow only intensified and was replaced by a brigh, blood colored eyes as he stared fierce in the city outside. He takes a deep breath and then goes out of the room and the soldier quickly follows.

They walk through the corridor of the palace. The walls were destroyed, some paintings are on the floor, some are tilted and some were untouched. His face depicts a heartless and soulless person. They continued walking and the exit was now in sight. He walked outside and approaches the frightened prisoners as they were surrounded by blood thirsty soldiers. They were all crying, begging for their lives, for the lives of the children that were left behind. The prince only gazed at them, looking at their faces that shows mixed fear and anger. The prince tries to memorize and remember the faces in front of him, but his face too, shows of uncertainty. He doesn’t have a clue on what to do with them. Then a young teenage girl, whose hands were tied up her back, her dress tattered and smeared with dirt, her hair all messed up, and her face full of filth. She was sobbing but, not screaming or anything, not begging for her life to be precise. This certainly caught the prince’s attention so he approached her slowly and squats in front of her to get a better view.

He looked at her with fascination, while the girl avoids looking directly. He holds her hair, feeling it. He lets go of her hair then holds her jaw and turned her head towards him. He checks her thoroughly then stands up. He looks behind the girl and saw her tied up wrist.

“Give me a knife.” he asked one of his soldiers as he held up his left hand. A soldier hands him a knife and squats once more. He turned the girl around and grabs her arm, he pulled it a little to see the rope and then the prince cuts it. He hands the knife back to one of the soldiers as he keeps looking at the girl. She holds her right wrist as it shows the rope mark. She catches a glimpse of the prince’s face before looking back down. She starts to breathe fast and out of nowhere she slaps the prince as the sky blows in thunder. She was still breathing heavily as everyone saw what happened and they were shocked for what the girl did. The soldiers look at each other and everyone was silent. The prince turned his head towards the girl. Anger was built up on her face alone, the hate she has for him as her tears ran down her filthy face. He looks up, up in the angry clouds and stares at it blankly. A raindrop fell down the prince’s forehead and so, the sky began to shed its tears, and rain fell down from the heavens above. The prince closes his eyes for a moment and stands up. He approach one Xerxecian soldier and he puts his hand on its right shoulder.

“You know what to do.” he whispered, and leaves, heading inside the palace. The soldier smiles sadistically and looks at the others. The others quickly got the idea and all of them silently growls. One shouts whose saliva was pouring out of his mouth.

“Finish them!” they all jump on the prisoners as they began their awful feast and the prisoners scream out of fear and agony. As all of it echoes throughout the entire city as the soldiers continued on what is considered for them as a celebration feast.

Not far from the ruins of Melgrace. In the rain a young boy is walking while the sky’s tears fell down, heading towards the capital. The look on his face is devastating, signs of no hope, grievance and utter loneliness can be seen, it was Matty. Wrapped on the cloth that his mother gave to him, he walked slowly and stares blankly in space as he continued. Vivid images of the buildings burning around him, his mother who protected him for the last time. Vague memories of his mother, surrounded by the soldiers who struck their swords unto his mother’s body. A very haunting image, as they leave her there dying, and saw for the last time, his mother’s last smile at him. The last image of his father who left for his work, then never saw him again that day. That day that will forever be engraved on his mind, his memory, his very soul. That day that destroyed his life, his dreams of a one big happy family, destroyed and ruined. Now alone in the world, and shows him the world he is living in. That day, that destroyed his short lived, childhood.

Not from afar he hears a galloping horse from a distant, right behind him. But still, he ignores it and continued walking. He hears as the horse gallops and the puddles that are splashing on its way. Riding this horse was the scout who was sent by his superior to tell of the news to the capital, with his scout owl flying high above. As he hastens his way, he saw Matty walking on the side of the road only wrapped on a cloth. He was surprised that there was a boy and he passes him. He stops his tracks and approaches the boy.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” he asked the boy. He stared at him blankly with no answer at all. The scout was wondering and asked again.

“Are you from Melgrace, boy? Where are your parents?” he again asked the boy as he looks at him. The boy looks at him again and suddenly cried at him, he hugs the scout and he was surprised of the boy’s action. He hugs him back, trying to comfort and ease the boy’s feelings.

“Don’t worry now. I’m here.” he said to Matty as he attempts to calm him down. He then lifts the boy and puts him in the horse.

He saddles himself up too as the boy holds tight at his back. The scout takes a glimpse of the boy before he continued and gallops his journey back to Tamara.

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Afternoon at the Eldemensters Temple, outside is a forest full of fruits and life. That day Evangeline was outside gathering fruits for them and her new companions to eat. With her is Ravaen, who is hunting for food. While the others, are inside the temple, still puzzled yet astonished by the writings in the temple walls and pillars. Evangeline spots another fruit in a tall tree, she approached the tree and puts the others under it. She backs away a little and takes a deep breath, then jumps softly and she hovers high enough for her to reach the fruit. It was a large sized fruit, color yellow and was shaped in heart-like feature. She grabs and takes it. She smiled as she smell’s and feel’s the fruit. And in that same tree, there are more fruits of those. Her face shows a joy and again hovers towards the others. She takes it and saw more and more until she can’t hold it all for long. She hovers back down and puts it with the rest of the fruits. Suddenly she had an idea and made gestures with her fingers, she clamped both of her hands and retracts and appearing in the middle, a small maroon glowing ball. She moves her hands as if trying to maintain and hold it. She approached the trunk of the tall tree, looks up first then takes a deep breath. Then she forced the glowing ball into the trunk, shaking it drastically and all of a sudden, all the fruits fell down.

“You know, that’s called cheating.” Ravaen said then chuckled a bit. Evangeline was startled and looks at him.

“Do you have any idea on what I can do to you if you startle me again?” she said. She picks up the fruits by hand while Ravaen is looking at her. He got down and helps with the picking.

“Here, let me help you.” he said as he picks up several fruits. Evangeline was just looking and then drops the fruits. Ravaen looking puzzled continued what he was doing and she casts a spell, lifting every fruit on the ground, Ravaen looks around him and then both chuckled.

“No thanks. I can handle this.” she smiles at him. She heads back to the temple with all the fruits lifted by a pinkish blanket following her.

Ravaen silently laughs then hovers up into the sky and continued to hunt for food. As he hovers not too far from the temple he spots a wild boar in a forest opening not too far. He locks in on his target as he flaps his wings harder to gain more speed. He closes in for the kill, he locks in on his prey, he extends both of his arms and retracts his wings a little, boasting his speed more. A few feet away and Ravaen can snatch the boar up when a shadowy figure beat him to it. It snagged the boar so quick, that it was the fastest land dweller that he had ever seen. He looks to his left and tries to catch a glimpse of the unknown figure, but he could only a see a tail, for it ran so fast towards the temple. Relapsing back to normal vision, he realizes that he was too close to the ground and is unable to recover. And there, he crashes into the trees and cutting straight through three to four woods. He was in pain as he can’t stand, a few pile of broken wood was over his stomach.

He tried again to stand up but it only made it worse. He looks left and right to check his wings.

“I think I broke my wings. Ouch.” he moans, and rests for a little in the pile of broken wood.

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Back at the temple, where Evangeline was about to enter with the fruits she gathered. She was slightly shaken, and a few fruits fell down from her hand. She senses someone, or something is approaching in great speed, hasting towards their location. She prepares herself, she closes her eyes and stands there still, very still, and her mouth appears to be speaking with no sounds. On her left side, a cluster of wind gathers and spins peacefully as the leaves drifts to it. She concentrates unto the wind and finally, she senses that the intruder exited the forest behind her. She opened her eyes as it glows in bright maroon, turned her back fast. She drops the fruits to the floor and drags her arms across, the gust of wind suddenly followed her arms. It catches the fast intruder and quickly slams it to the temple wall. The boar fell into the ground and Evangeline saw it. She was confused because of the dead boar and stared at it. Then she turned her sights to the intruder, it was a she. She was moaning out of pain, and was laying face first. She quickly comes to her aid she turned her face towards her and finds the symbol of the Monarch of the Tigris. She gasps and covers her mouth as she once again realized her own fault.

“Oh my god, are you alright!?” She quickly asked, she checks her body if she’s alright.

“Why did you do that?” Kaira moans as her body is screaming in agony.

Evangeline was panicking and was startled when Sevidon and Glaivel ran outside the temple.

“What happened? We overheard a loud bang and–, oh.” Glaivel paused as he saw Evangeline and another girl lying on the floor. Sevidon was looking at her when Kaira moans again of pain.

“Where does it hurt?” Evangeline quickly asked. But she got no reply from her.

“What’s your name stranger?” Sevidon curiously asked. Kaira looks at Sevidon before answering.

“My name is, P-Princess Kaira Lamenreise of the Middle Kingdom. God it hurts, I think I’m going to faint.” she answered as she whimpers.

“Oh my, don’t faint please!” Evangeline begged, and casts a healing spell on her hands and continuously hover it on her body. But it was too late, she already fainted and now unconscious.

Glaivel approach Evangeline and squats beside her.

“Wait a minute. Did I hear that right? Princess Kaira of the Middle Kingdom?” he confusedly asked Evangeline. She just looked at both of them back and forth before she answered.

“Yes, and I knocked her out just like what I did to you.” Evangeline replied. Glaivel was silenced with that and just whistles out of it. Sevidon sighs and approaches the other side of Kaira.

“Glaivel help me get her inside. Let’s put her in a more comfortable place for her to rest.” he said to Glaivel. He looks at Sevidon and replied.

“Yes, I was about to suggest that.” he grabs her left arm and Sevidon grabs the other. Evangeline backs up a little to give them more room.

They put Kaira’s arms around both of their shoulders and take her inside the temple. Evangeline quickly follows when Sevidon paused and looks at Evangeline.

“We’ll handle this, get the fruits first. Then come inside to speed up her recovery.” he told her. They continued inside.

“Oh, okay.” she quickly followed. She looks around looking for the fruits and then, she waves her right arm and the fruits floated and gathered themselves before resting on her arms. She was about to enter when she turned and looks at the dead boar.

She stared at it and it too, began to float and went inside. She looks at the skies and wondered, “Where’s Ravaen, he’s taking too long.” then enters the temple.

There they lay Kaira on the right side of the temple. Evangeline quickly puts away the fruits and comes to Kaira’s aid. She cast once again the healing spell and repeats the routine once more. Sevidon went back on analyzing the writings on the pillars while Glaivel grabs one apple, and heads back to the girls and sat not too far in front of them. He takes a bite of the apple and chews and chews as he watches Evangeline on what she’s doing.

“I’m going to get us some wood to cook the boar.” Sevidon suggested. Evangeline looks at him while still attending to Kaira.

“Oh, no need.” she answered as she smiled at Sevidon, “I can start the fire on my own, don’t worry.” she adds as she focuses once more to Kaira.

Sevidon just agreed and grabs himself with one of those fruits and just leans on the wall. They were eating the fruits as they watch her when they heard someone’s coming. Sevidon takes a glimpse at the entrance only to find Ravaen walking inside. He can’t de-summon his wings so it was just hanging there while he holds his left arm. Evangeline and Glaivel saw him and were a little bit stunned on what had happened to him. He continued walking until he throws himself down the side of the pillar and rests. Ravaen notice the puzzled faces of the three.

“Don’t even ask,” he said to them. Glaivel continued on eating the fruit while Evangeline looks at Kaira again. Sevidon walked out of the temple while Ravaen still attends to himself, then he notices the boar, “Where did you get that boar?” he asked while Evangeline looks at him and the boar. Ravaen also caught of the girl lying on the floor, “and who’s she?” he added. Evangeline then continued on attending to Kaira before she answered.

“This is Kaira, and oh, she brought the boar.” she said, “What happened to you? You look messed up.” she inquisitively asked.

“Well, I was about to snag that boar—” he said then tries to stand, “and then she dashed through the forest and beats me to it.” he gave up and rests, he moves his arms in a rotating motion.

“And before I can even said it, I already found myself crashing through the trees.” he frowns. Evangeline then giggles a little, “you think that’s funny?” he said, slightly annoyed.

“No, no. it’s just that—” then she burst out of laughter, annoying and irritating Ravaen more.

“Just do what you’re doing and after that fix my wing.” he successively stood up and gets out of the temple while he slightly drags his right leg.

Glaivel, who was still inside listens to the funny conversation that happened. He finishes up his apple and stands up to grab another fruit and stood beside the girls. He takes a bite as he takes off his cape then puts it on the side.

“Can I ask you a question?” he asked Evangeline as he looks at her.

“Yes, what is it?” she answered while healing Kaira.

“How old are you exactly?” he stares at Evangeline. She arches her eyebrows as she turned her head towards Glaivel.

“Well, ok. But why exactly?” She chuckled. She continued working on with Kaira with a slight smile on her face.

“Well, just curious how young you are,” he softly protests then lays his back to the floor “and besides, I want to know my neighbors a little bit more.” he added while he closed his eyes.

Evangeline shook her head and continued working on Kaira. She was about to reply to his answer. She suddenly heard a growling sound coming from Glaivel. Her eyes widen and slowly looked at him. She saw and heard Glaivel, fall asleep and was snoring. She turned her head back to Kaira and continued healing her body.

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Outside the temple, Sevidon is sitting on top of the roof. The afternoon wind is blowing westward. He can smell that it came from the Trasidar Sea, where the wind and air is fresh. He catches every ounce of air here for it comes close to the freshness of air in his homeland. He looks around his surroundings. He was still unused to the color of the trees, the very features of it, and the mountains he can see and the one right behind the temple. He thinks of his home, which is colored of red and orange. Where it always seems as the season never change, that autumn never left and never fades. The trees, with leaves colored red, the grass that implies orange and the skies always looks like it is dusk, even if the sun is high in the middle sky. He remembers his home that takes him in as one of them. The Crimson’s stronghold and city, the city of Radenheim. Home of the crimsons and home of the crimson king. Where people walk peacefully on the streets, where their children happily play in the parks. Everything was near perfection. He takes another deep breath and saw himself flashing back to reality, he was not home nor near the city. He was in a foreign land. This puts a little smile on his face and was little amused. He continued on gazing and memorizing the land he now knows he will venture in for days to come. As he reminisces of his home, he quickly drifts to his memory of the Trasidar Prince.

Oh what day that was, the Trasidar Prince, just about to enter his age of manhood. But he knows deep inside, that Tamiron has still a long way to go.

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It was far from mid-day, that time he was teaching the young prince the art of sword fighting. He has such speed, enough to impress Sevidon back then, he had never seen such vigor in training. They were sparring and a good one too. He was able to keep up with his every move, the young prince sometimes get’s through, but Sevidon keeps on hitting him and knocking him down. Out of fun, Sevidon tried to get into Tamiron’s head.

“Such grace from a prince,” he said as he blocked Tamiron’s attack, “maybe I should have trained your sister as well. She might be able to give much stronger blows than you.” he added, with Tamiron almost hitting Sevidon, but he knocks him down. Tamiron was panting as he tries to get up.

“Tell me prince. You have an army. Why train to defend your kingdom when you have it?” he asked, reaching for Tamiron, but he just slaps it off as Tamiron answered.

“There is no honor in staying behind the lines while your people die for your safety,” Sevidon was stunned by this statement, “the people is mine to protect.Sshould I die in front of them, I will die protecting them. So that they know, that the most important person in the kingdom, is willing to die for them.” he said. Sevidon was surprised, he didn’t expect this from such a youngling such as Tamiron.

Because of this, Tamiron was able to land a blow, knocking Sevidon down with the wooden sword of Tamiron pointing directly at him.

As the sun’s rays shine and only the silhouette of the young prince is there for him to see. He knew right then, that this boy is going to make a difference.

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“Hey!” Ravaen shouts. Sevidon heard the call and looks down. There he saw the battered Ravaen who was waving to him. He looks at him for a second before he replied.

“What is it you need of me?” Sevidon asked. Ravaen looks down a little and backs away a little to see him more clearly.

“Can you carry me up there?” he asked. One of Sevidon’s eyebrows rose. Ravaen backs a little more, “well, can you?” he asked again. Sevidon suddenly jumps down landing right in front of Ravaen, he wraps his shoulder around his waist.

“Hey easy! My wing still hurts!” he shouts as Sevidon suddenly jumps several times before landing back up at the roof. They landed and Sevidon sat back and gaze upon the landscape once more. Ravaen was breathing fast then sat back carefully. There he laid his back to gaze upon the skies. He takes a deep breath several times while Sevidon’s eyes turned a little to Ravaen.

“You’re quite strong are you general?” Ravaen suddenly said. Sevidon turned his head towards Ravaen. He looks back to the forest without any answer. Ravaen looks at him then grins. Looks back at the sky and asked once more, “General. I’m curious, how old are you exactly?” Sevidon looks at him again for a couple of seconds before turning his head back to the forest.

“I’m still young.” the general answered. Ravaen’s eyebrows closed together then slowly get up.

“Well how young exactly?” he curiously asked Sevidon. Sevidon grins not too broad and then looks at the curious Ravaen.

“I’m only three-hundred-and-eighty year’s old.” he smiles at Ravaen before turning back to the forest. Ravaen’s mouth opens un-intentionally as he was a little stunned of his age. He was confused a little and began to look at every direction before turning back to Sevidon.

“How about your virscent friend back down?” he asked Sevidon again.

Sevidon answered right away, “He’s also three-hundred-and-eighty years old.” he said. Ravaen was a little amazed on their age and he turned to the forest too. There was little bit of awkward tension between the two for a couple of minutes.

“So you were already here since the last war?” Ravaen asked. Sevidon looked a little downward.

“Yes.” he answered. Feeling satisfied, Ravaen glances to the forest again as he scratches his left arm, “we were here. We were still young when the maroon order are just settling at the shores of the then, emerging Trasidar Kingdom, and when the Crimson Elves is becoming a big enough to be acknowledged.” he added. This caught Ravaen’s attention as he stares at Sevidon.

“Settling? What do you mean settling?” he asked slightly baffled. Sevidon looks at Ravaen only to see a disturbed face. He gave a little giggle as an answer to Ravaen’s question.

“Well? Answer me Sevidon.” he began to be silently frustrated as he asked again. Sevidon shows a little smile and then answered.

“Ask the Order themselves. I’m not at liberty to answer such a sensitive question.” he answered to the badly nosy Ravaen. Then Sevidon stands up and jumps back down.

Ravaen was surprised and yelled at him, “Hey I still can’t go down by my own here!” he was a little frustrated. But still, the idea bombards Ravaen’s mind. It confused him, as he just found out that something is kept hidden. Something is not revealed to them. He felt stupid because of the general’s statement. It continued to echo on his mind. He was now, clueless.

Evangeline, who was done attending to the now resting Kaira, came across Sevidon as he enters the temple. Both looked at each other for a second before she walked out. She looks to her left and to her right and was looking for Ravaen. She looked up and comes to mind that he can’t fly because of his battered wing. “Ravaen!” she calls out. She continued to look around to find him and walked down the grass field in between the forest and the temple.

Ravaen then slowly emerge from the roof and saw Evangeline that was about to enter the forest to look for him. “Up here!” he shouted. Evangeline heard him and ran towards the temple again. Evangeline was a little shock to see him on the roof.

“How did you get up there?” she shouted as she slowed down. Ravaen fixed himself up before he answered, “Sevidon left me here!” he shouted. Evangeline sighed and saw Sevidon who was watching them as he eats a green apple. Evangeline approached Sevidon.

“Why did you do that?” she asked curiously. Sevidon only answered with a quiet giggle as he eats his green apple. Evangeline then softly punched Sevidon at the stomach resulting for him to throw up the food on his mouth. Evangeline backs away a little and pushed her two arms downward, making her float and float towards Ravaen. Sevidon only shakes his head as he was slightly amused of her before he enters the temple again.

She quietly touches the roof and landing in front of Ravaen. She looked at him for a moment and then gets down on Ravaen’s right wing. He was looking at her when Evangeline caught him. He turned away quickly while Evangeline is already preparing to heal his wing. Her left hand glowed pink and she suddenly stretched it across his right wing which the wing followed. Ravaen shouts in agony as it surprised him. He looked at Evangeline who he noticed was a little bit off.

“That hurts you know. A little head’s up would be good.” he told Evangeline. She was quiet and her right hand started to glowed maroon and she started to heal his wing. Both of them was silent all throughout the healing. She paid attention to Ravaen’s right wing while Ravaen looks at the sky. It was starting to become windy as they both sit at the roof of the temple. Ravaen looked at the clouds, and the birds that were flying up high.

“Why do you keep on knocking people out?” he smilingly asked Evangeline. She looked at him un-noticeably as she continued to heal his wing, “you know, that’s a bit annoying.” he added. Evangeline sighed and was done with his right wing. She stands up and gets to the other one.

Ravaen flapped it a little and was pleased to see his right wing is now ok. Evangeline stayed on Ravaen’s left side and she repeats what she did on the other side. This startled Ravaen a little but did not scream. Evangeline looked at little at Ravaen as she begins to heal his left wing. Another awkward moment began to set in as Ravaen looked straight forward while Evangeline attends his other wing. He took in a deep breath several times and this caught Evangeline’s attention. She looked at him several times before she asked.

“Why are you breathing like that?” she asked him then looked at his wings. Ravaen looked at Evangeline before turning back again to the forest.

“Can I ask you something?” He asked Evangeline. She looked at him and was a little curious about it. She turned back his head to the right wing before she answered.

“Sure what is it?” She answered while she continued on healing the wing. Ravaen slowly turned his head towards Evangeline and spits it out.

“Is the Maroon Orderian a native of this continent or an outsider?” He asked her seriously. Shocked and was speechless, she was stunned by the question and she stopped healing his wing. Her eyes were widened and she slowly turned his head to Ravaen only to see a very serious face.

End of chapter IX

Next Chapter: Chapter X: New World