Ascension - (Alarian Warriors)

The two men turned to face her mid-sentence. Erosvent’s expression turned to a smile, as he looked to her and the child. The sight so rare, he was glad that the child had taken a liking to the Princess. However, he could tell that Aveyon wasn’t impressed with the tiny drooling elf.

Beside him, an Alarian called Zerophenous immediately dropped to one knee to greet his long-lost Princess. His arm crossed over his heart, as he looked up with pure joy in his eyes.

She felt sick to the stomach. She remembered him, how could she not? A well-respected warrior of her time on Alarious, meeting his gaze was hard.

Everyone had such high expectations of her, but she was utterly powerless. She couldn’t do anything. She had a sudden urge to shout out that she didn’t care what happened to her race. But that would only set her back. She wanted her father dead, she had to keep up appearances at this point, in order to keep moving forward.

She straightened her back, not giving into her innermost desire, not allowing herself to sink within.

“My Lady, it’s a pleasure to see you alive and well. I had feared the worst.” His voice held shame.

She could tell that he had given up on her, like many of the others. Honestly, it didn’t bother her. She had thought, more than once, that by now they all would have forgotten about her completely. Or presumed her dead, lost forever.

“Thank you Zero, it is lovely to see a familiar face after so long.” She lied, she was clearly uncomfortable in the presence of this man, and it showed. She was speaking through grited teeth; how could he not know?

He stood, taking a step closer to her.

Her whole body stiffened as her eyes widened, terror invading her being.

He was a powerful man. His well-built body was evidence of that. His muscles rippled as he went to reach for her.

It was merely a polite gesture, a greeting probably. But it was far too intimidating for her.

Erosvent quickly grabbed his arm and shook his head sharply. Confused the large man backed up a few steps not protesting.

Aveyon couldn’t make herself relax, even with the added distance. Her heart was pounding, and her breathing was heavier than normal. It was like the air had become thick and stuffy, making it hard to breathe.

This was the first time she’d encountered another man, someone she didn’t have a history with, a stranger in her mind. She hadn’t known him as close as Erosvent, so the reaction was far more severe she realized. She hated herself for it. She couldn’t afford to be this weak.

“If I only had my aura, I could be of more use to you.” He commented suddenly. A tinge of sadness could be heard.

Aveyon’s gaze darkened. “I do not wish to force compliance, simply because I am alive and of royal blood.” She exhaled with a long sigh.

She hadn’t meant to snap at him. “Nevertheless, I cannot stop you from aiding in the future, if you so wish, that is after all your choice.”

Zero looked shocked. “I meant no disrespect; we are so few now... I only wish to be of use in these dark times. To work towards a future that we might actually be able to live in, instead of fear.”

Aveyon nodded. “Indeed, we all wish for peace, but sadly I do not have the power to break a god's hold, the curse has taken too many of us. They may very well be fueling the demon army now, we will be fighting against our own... It is not...” She trailed off.

She didn’t want to say it, but the darkness had pretty much won at this point. The century’s long feud to protect the Earth realm was all but over.

What did it matter to her anyway? There’s nothing that she could do to stop any of it. The gods were meant to be helping, and yet they weren’t, they hadn’t been seen for centuries.

It was time for the earth to save itself... or perish.

“Surely having you back gives us an advantage. You can create new auras, save the corrupted even, and... and you can lead us.” He continued to protest.

Aveyon shook her head. “Not without another source of power, Erosvent is the strongest Alarian, purely because he has broken the rules. We have no auras... we have no power.”

Erosvent looked at her shocked, eyes wide with disbelief.

She raised a brow at him. “You can still weld essence like a regular Alarian, one that would have an aura. Do you think I would not notice? Vincent is the only exception, as his body is of a different composition to ours.” She nodded to Zero as she also referred to herself and him. “We are stuck with cursed vessels. If we get too badly hurt and give into our dark desires, we will lose ourselves.”

“Then what do we do?” Zero asked concerned.

“We can do the same as Erosvent, but that is not something that can be tampered with lightly. We can do nothing but wait sadly, the Sanctuary is already doing all it can, perhaps join Vincent’s men and seek training from the elves?” she offered.

Zero nodded. “As you command.”

She let out a heavy sigh, it wasn’t a command but nodded back regardless.

“Erosvent, could you tell me where Elaina is? I need to find Riku’s room.” She asked, wanting nothing more than to be out of this hallway.

The longer she stayed the more lies that would come out of her mouth. Erosvent knew where the child’s room was, which turned out better for her. Getting the directions, she said goodnight and headed up some stairs to put the child to bed.

Zero stared after her. “She doesn’t intend to revive the race...” He stated simply.

“Can you blame her?” Eros replied.

Zero shook his head, remembering her reaction to him. “No, no I don’t blame her... but it really does beg the question, what do we do now?”

Eros sighed. “Same as always, the demons are winning, we can use all the hands we can get to fight back in this losing war. Fight to die or fight to survive, it’s all the same to me.”

“What she mentioned about breaking the rules-”

“Don’t.” Erosvent gave him a stern look. “It’s not as simple a thing as you think.”

Reaching the girl's room Aveyon quickly entered, putting the girl to bed. She sat watching her sleep for a few minutes, as she mulled over the conversation.

She sighed again, placing her head in her hands. There was no way they would believe her. She was condemning what was left of her race, to death.

What did they want from her anyway? What good was she? Her fingers lingered over her missing eye, she was far from being a complete person. What was she meant to do? Call to a goddess that hadn’t answered the Alarian’s prayers for hundreds of years?

It was the death of their race, and even if she wanted to stop it, she couldn’t, she didn’t know how. They all wanted her to take her place as Queen and make new auras, but she was never taught how.

Frustrated with the whole situation she laid her head down next to Riku’s and ended up drifting off to sleep beside the child, a strange dream took her home as she wondered why the gods and goddesses had forsaken them.

Aveyon stood outside an ancient palace, her home. However, it was in runes. She looked up at the marbled steps in absolute shock.

A battle had taken place here and by the looks of it, quite a while ago. The pillars had fallen and crumbled, and the steps were now chipped and jagged. The once beautiful doors were thrown away to the side as if they were made of wood not stone. How did this happen?

A hand touched her shoulder startling her. She turned in a panic to find a white floating being behind her. She didn’t feel anything from this presence, no malice, no fear, nothing.

Robes floated around it as though they were alive, she had hair as white as the buildings around them, and her eyes were silver with purple rims, but held no pupils. Staring into those eerie swirling eyes Aveyon thought she knew who she was.

“Lady Vexous?” She asked to be sure.

Figure shook its head no, then smiled sadly down at her.

So, if this isn’t Vexous, then how is it that it appears like the goddess? She wondered. She had seen drawings and statues of the gods before. But this was definitely some sort of being related to the goddess, right? The resemblance was there after all.

“Why come to me now?” she asked. “After all this time?” Her voice was also desperate, pleading.

The figure placed a finger on Aveyon’s temple.

Aveyon realized the figure couldn’t talk. “My mind?” she asked.

The figure nodded, glad that the Princess understood her intention.

“You could only reach me... now?” She questioned. She had been thinking about the goddess as she had drifted off making a connection with this...creature, somehow.

But surely others would have been praying daily to the gods. She thought about that for a minute. “Why not contact someone else?”

The figure shook its head frustrated.

Aveyon frowned, what did that mean? Surely if it was related to the gods then any Alari- Oh!

Her eyes widened. “I am not completely Alarian, you cannot contact them at all can you, only me?”

It nodded, again with the same sad face.

“And, of course, I have been trapped, locked away behind barriers and spells.” She sighed as understanding sank in. “This is the first time you’ve been able to make contact. It just took me a while to actually open my mind up, to even think about the goddess. Who, might I add, has abandoned us?” Aveyon raised her brow at the creature. Watching as it nodded eagerly to her first statement. But soon looked shocked and shook her head at the last.

“Not abandoned? Then, where? Where is she?”

The floating figure tried to say the words but grew frustrated with herself as no sound came out. Clenching her misted hands into fists, an anguished look played across the figure’s face.

“Our connection is not very strong... I cannot communicate with you currently.” Aveyon pondered the reasons. “I am still very weak, maybe in a few days...”

The figure’s eyes darted to the left, looking at nothing, but seeming to plead for help. This made Aveyon believe there were others that she could not see yet. This confirmed it to her, she wasn’t strong enough. Her energy stores and her essence are too weak to be of use to the ghostly figure.

It looked back at Aveyon slightly worried. She made a T shape with her hands as if to say they were out of time, then mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ before pointing to the ruins a few times and then vanishing into thin air.

Aveyon stared at the empty space for a moment, so much more was going on than she had first thought. She sighed and made her way into the rubble of what used to be her home. Maybe some answers lay within. She knew this was a dream, the woman who looked like the goddess was the cause, there had to be a reason.

Making her way to the main meeting room she wasn’t ready for what she saw.

Her mother’s body lay exactly where it had fallen that day.

Her hands flew to her mouth and she collapsed to her knees beside the body, her throat tightening up. Her hands trembled as she reached for the corpse. The blood had long since dried and her body was heavily decayed, her father hadn’t even seen it fit to put her to rest.

Anger and rage filled her as grief overwhelmed her. So easily did the worst emotions catch her, dragging her down, crippling her.