Keira watched in amusement as Ella finished another bowl of Ice-Cream. The other girls were all sleeping, and so she had stayed up to keep her company.
“It is as if you had never before eaten anything in your life.” She commented with a light laugh.
“It’s true,” Ella nodded. “Aaleen lived for thousands of years, and without a body, she could not consume these things. Now, I do feel like I could eat forever. And everything tastes so delicious! Thank you!”
“You’re welcome!” She placed her elbows on the table and supported her head on her hands.
There was a strange aura around Ella now. Unlike the Azeros, her Aura was in the form of a vermillion flame, leaving specks of lights around her. And what Keira found strange was that she could smell a scent from her Aura. It was pleasant.
“Do you know how to fight?” She curiously asked.
“Mhm…” Ella nodded in reply. “My mother left me her memories. Even if I have never fought before, I do know how everything works.”
Her words were not so assuring, but Keira nodded with a smile.
“Why are you so confident that you can protect us all?”
Ella looked her right in the eyes and smiled brightly.
“It is because the creatures that are coming out are only babies. They can not completely utilize the essence of Annihilation, and that makes them a lot easier to deal with.” She replied. “But since the count-down has only started, and the average strength in this world is too weak, these creatures are very troublesome for everyone here. They are already facing troubles when the creatures have not arrived in herds. You can imagine what would happen if they did.”
“You seem familiar with them.” Keira frowned.
“Of course!” Ella giggled. “My mother was the Envoy of Annihilation. She commanded over the armies of Annihilation Beasts.”
“Envoy of Annihilation?”
“Mhm…” Ella lightly smiled. “We should not think about those things for now. We are still too weak to worry about all that.”
“So they are things to be worried about…” Keira flashed a bright smile.
“In a way, yes.” She nodded.
Keira did not ask any more questions regarding that matter. She sank back in her seat and folded her arms on her chest.
Time passed in silence. Ella prepared another bowl of Ice-Cream to eat, and happily started on it. The happiness that reflected in her expressions brightened everything around them.
“Can you teach me your language?” She suddenly asked.
“The language of Djinns?” Ella surprisedly looked at her. And then she shook her head. “Your spiritual strength is not enough to learn it completely. Languages of Amazeros are priceless treasures. And you would rarely find people who would be proficient in several languages.”
“Isn’t it just a language?” Keira frowned.
Ella gently smiled at her.
“No.” She shook her head. “These languages are more than just languages. They were not created over time. They were bestowed upon the races at the time of their birth.”
“So the very first Djinn was born with the language?”
“Yes,” She answered. “I can help you learn some basic words, but I can’t help you understand the meaning behind them. You are a Zeros, but you still do not know the complete language of Azeros. You should first learn it.”
“How can I learn it when there is not enough material available?” Keira depressedly lowered her head.
“The language of Azeros is the easiest of all.” She informed her. “And it is not just necessary for Azeros to learn it, but to other races as well. It is the General Language of nearly all the Worlds.”
“You know it?”
Keira failed to contain her excitement and asked.
“I do.” Ella nodded. “I will teach you little by little. But it would take a lot of time to learn all of it.” She reminded her.
“It’s okay!”
“If you want to learn all of it, you need to be, at least, in the Assimilation Realm. And you need high mental strength.”
All her confidence waned at those words.
“Is there no other way?” She hopefully asked.
“There are other ways, but not in this world. And all those ways are ridiculously expensive.”
Ella turned silent after saying that, and there was a deep frown on her face.
Keira had a thought flash in her mind, and she looked at Ella and their eyes met. They had the same question on their mind.
“How does he know the language of Djinns?” Keira whispered. “Or are those just the basics?”
Ella remained silent at her words, and the next moment, a piece of paper appeared in her hand.
She opened it and concentrated on every word that was written on it.
“These are not basics… He can speak the language, understand it, and even write it.”
“How?” Keira confusedly asked.
There was no doubt in her mind that Ella was telling the truth. The language of Djinns was indeed one of the toughest. And Ella was more confused than her at the realization.
“Now that I remember it, he was talking to me in my Language that day!” Ella shot up on her feet with her eyes wide open. “He also told me that he already knew what was in the diary…”
“Is it possible for some people to learn it?”
“No!” Ella readily shook her head. “Basics are one thing, but not this!” She then tilted her head in confusion and whispered. “Is he a Djinn?” She asked herself and then shook her head in answer. “Then again, even a Djinn would have to be extremely strong to know the essence of the language.”
Keira had no clue what Ella was talking about. But one thing was certain, and that was that Shazan had done something seemingly impossible.
“You didn’t realize it when he was speaking the language?”
Ella embarrassedly lowered her head.
“It was the first time someone had talked to me in thousands of years. I was a little too excited to pay attention to that…”
Keira couldn’t help her laugh at her words.
“Silly girl…”
Ella pouted at her comment.
“Master is keeping lots of secrets from us!” Ella folded her arms on her chest. “I will make him tell me how he learned my language.” She nodded to herself.
“I am quite certain that he would not tell you.” Keira shrugged and told her.
“Why?”
“He has his secrets, and if it isn’t the right time, he would never reveal them.” She smiled. “That’s how they are.”
“They?”
“Shazan, Arianna, and Renesme. They are so much like each other.”
Ella sank back on her seat and glanced at the clock. There were still a couple of hours left in the dawn. And she grudgingly put her attention back on the ice-cream that had started to melt.
When the dawn finally arrived, Keira changed into her battle-suit. It was only a full-body black outfit that was flexible and had a light armor covering the vitals. She tied her hair in a black ribbon, and then she put on her black cloak that had the emblem of the Silverstein Empire on it.
“That sword is useless…”
She was about to pick up her Katana when Ella said her words.
“It would break in one strike. Those creatures have a hard metallic body.”
Keira left the sword where it was and turned to look at Ella.
“You are going in this dress?” She confusedly asked.
“Mhm..” Ella swirled around, holding her dress. “This isn’t a normal dress. It was specifically designed for a Fire Djinn, and so it is the best battle-suit for me.”
Her mind flashed back to the dress Renesme had gifted her. To this day she had not understood how that dress was even tougher than her armors. But for some reason, she didn’t want to wear dresses into the battle. And so she had only worn that dress on special occasions.
“Let’s go.” Keira smiled and left the room with Ella.
At the entrance of the Palace, Ezio stood silently with his eyes closed. He was all set and wore the same cloak as Keira.
Seeing Ezio not carrying any weapon, she understood that he was aware that their weapons were useless.
“Lady Keira, Lady Ella…” He opened his eyes and bowed to them just as they arrived closer to him.
“Come on, Uncle!” Ella pouted. “Stop calling me a lady. I would prefer it if you called me by my name.”
Her words made Ezio smile, and he shook his head. It was not the first time Ella had asked him that, but how could he call his Master’s lovers by their names?
Keira sighed and shook her head. She remembered that she had never heard Ezio call Karen by her name since she married Shazan. Just like the others, he addressed her as ‘lady’ as well. And Karen was his daughter.
“Good Morning!”
Isha cheerfully greeted them as soon as she arrived.
“Morning!” Keira and Ella greeted her.
“Good Morning, Miss Isha.”
They all smiled at the excitement she had in her eyes.
Isha wore a white battle dress. It was the dress the Aryan females wore into the battles. As simple as it was, there was a light chain-mail on the upper body and a long skirt that flowed down from the waist. The arms were fully covered, and there were guards on the elbows and wrists. The skirt hid the guards on her knees, and her shins were guarded as well. And finally, there were her ankle-high boots.
“You look pretty!” Keira commented as she played with Isha’s braid.
“Thank you!”
It was not long before they saw Maira arrive, and her outfit was similar to that of Isha. The difference was that her battle-dress was golden, and the guards that she wore were silver, unlike Isha’s grey ones.
“Good Morning, Lady Maira.” Ezio was the first to greet her.
“Morning, Uncle.” She replied with a smile. “Good Morning.” Then she greeted everyone.
But before they could reply to her, Ilsa arrived as well.
They all watched as she valiantly marched toward them with a solemn face, wearing the cloak of the Silverstein Empire.
“Ready?”
That was her greeting.
“Yes!” Keira giggled and hugged her. “Good Morning, Princess.” She teasing said.
Ilsa embarrassedly lowered her head, and her expressions softened.
“Good morning!” She apologetically greeted them all.
“Morning!”
After they were done with greetings, Ella asked Isha to take off her gauntlets, and she asked Maira to put away the Sword.
“Lady Ella is right,” Ezio nodded. “The people who are fighting there are all wielding weapons made out of spoils from those creatures. These weapons would be useless.”
The two of them did not ask any questions and nodded.
“I have prepared the horses…”
“We don’t need them.” Ella giggled and flashed a bright smile. “We will fly to the Volcano.”
Before they could even ask anything, they found themselves locked in rings of fire. It was as if a giant picked them up in his hand, and the next moment, they were several hundred feet above in the air, rushing toward their destination.
“Eeeeeee!!!” Isha scaredly cried out, and hurriedly closed her mouth with her hand.
The fire wrapped them like ropes around their waist, but it neither burnt them, not did it hurt them. It was magical. And it made their hearts tremble in awe.
They all looked at Ella in wonder as adrenaline rushed through their veins.
It was the first time they had flown like that, it was marvelous, but sadly, they arrived at their destination in a matter of a couple of minutes.
Ella descended with them a little away from the Volcano, where the eyes of the Guards were not attentive.
They were glad that she did that. It had saved them a lot of unwanted attention.
“That went better than expected.” Ella nodded to herself.
Her attention was soon on the Volcano, and all of them saw her brows furrow.
Keira felt that there was something wrong, and so she concentrated on her sense of hearing.
“Is everything okay?” Maira asked.
“Some people are arguing loudly.”
“It’s more like they are shouting.” Ella disgruntedly said. “And it is directed at Master.”
“Let’s go check it out.”
Ezio led the way, and the girls silently followed them.
What they came to witness was an ugly sight.
Four men in different colored cloaks, with Aryan Empire’s symbol, were threatening the High-Guards with weapons in their hands.
“Move out of the way!” A man with the yellow cloak roared.
The Guards that were blocking the Stairway leading down to the cave kept their heads lowered, and stayed silent. Their bodies were trembling, but everyone on the platform could see that they were not trembling in fear, but in anger.
“You dare defy the Elders of your Empire?!” Another man stepped forward raised his sword.
“We have our orders, respected Elders.” One of the High-Guards on the platform stepped forward and stood by the side of the High-Guards that were guarding the stairway. “We can’t allow you to go back without an order.”
“Step out of the way. This is your last warning!” The Elder in Yellow grimly said.
And what answered him were the other High-Guards on the platform that one by one went forward and formed a Wall, blocking the Elders and the Stairway.
The situation escalated in a matter of seconds. An Elder in grey, who had stayed silent all this time, lunged forward at the Guards with his Sword.
His speed was too fast for the target to even draw his weapon to block, and soon the sword was upon the High-Guard. But just as the sword was about to decapitate him, it stopped.
The High-Guard looked to his left where Ezio stood, holding the Elder’s wrist.
“Lower your weapon, Sir…” Ezio whispered and left the man’s wrist.
The Four Elders glared at him, but none of them said anything for a while. Had it been anyone else, they would have attacked him, but seeing the man wearing the cloak with the Silverstein Emblem on it, they hesitated. And what scared them was the man’s speed. They had not even sensed him approach them.
Ezio paid no attention to them and ran his eyes around the Platform.
The two Blood Knights stationed on this Platform were already standing behind Keira.
“What’s happening here?” Ezio asked one of the Blood Knights.
“Sir Ezio,” The Blood Knight greeted him with a bow. “There was an accident in the cave last night. These Four people went against the arrangement and broke their line of defense, resulting in one of the Elders losing his Life, and three High-Guards as well.” He finished his words by glancing at the four bodies that were wrapped in white cloth and lay at one side of the Platform.
“And why did they break the line?” Keira calmly asked.
The Blood Knight pointed at the four Elders.
“For those Armours, Queen Keira.” He answered. “They were supposed to stay back in the line of defense around the Charm Witches with the Hugh-guards while the Blood Knights fought against a pair of creatures, but suddenly an Ant appeared, and in their greed, the four of them rushed forward to take it down before the reserved Blood Knights could act. But the situation worsened when another Scorpion appeared, and right after it, a Spider.” He lowered his voice in dread. “The reserved batch of Knights engaged the Scorpion, but the Spider was a big one, and fast. It did not attack the people that were already fighting, instead, it rushed at the backline of Elders. The Elders engaged it in a stubborn battle as they defended the Charm Witches. But sadly, they could not hold on long enough for Lord Shazan and Lord Gerald to take care of the enemy they were facing. These four could have saved the other Elder and those three High-Guards if only two of them had fallen back to help the others, the Ant wasn’t even a big one, but they kept battling it till the end, even after Lord Shazan asked them to fall back.” The Knight lowered his head and did not continue.
“What happened after that?” Keira frowned and asked.
“Lord Shazan was forced to disengage the battle he was fighting with another big Spider, and he arrived to save the Charm Witches, Elders, and the rest of the High-Guards. He was slightly injured in the fray, but thankfully, Lord Gerald and the rest finished the first two creatures in time and helped him finish it.” The Knight lightly smiled. “When these four were confronted later, they refused to answer, but then wrongly blamed Lord Shazan for being biased.”
“Biased?”
“They claimed that only the High-Guards and Elders have suffered the casualties in the war so far, and that is because Lord Shazan mostly saves the Blood Knights when the situation worsens. They went further and said that he keeps pushing the Elders and the High-Guards, using them as cannon fodder.” The Knight lightly laughed. “After that, these Elders proposed that they should be allowed to pick their targets. It was then that they were knocked out by Lord Shazan, and thrown out of the cave by Elder Amraaz. No one had time to argue with them.”
“How long are they to stay here?”
“Indefinitely.” The knight answered. “No one inside the cave wants them back.”
“Why are they alive then?” Ella grinned and asked. A dangerous glint flashed in her eyes.
Before Knight could answer them, a husky voice rang on the platform.
“That is because your Emperor is scared of killing us. He would lose the support of Aryans if he killed their Elders.” The Elder in White proudly said. “We may have made a rash decision, but these things happen in war. And your Emperor knows that he can’t afford to lose the strength of four more Elders.”
Maira deeply frowned at the words of the man.
“You have no shame…” She whispered and did not bother to look at the man again.
Every High-Guard on the platform heard her words and lowered their heads as well. They declared that they would disown these four Elders if they had the power.
“See this?” Ezio lightly smiled. “Your death would have never affected Lord Silverstein, but your life is beneficial to him. You are the living examples that the rest of the forces here would never wish to follow.”
The Elder who was closest to him, stepped forward to express his rage, but Ezio’s hand gripped his neck and lifted him a foot well off the ground.
“Do you wish to lose your left arm or the right one?” Ezio asked with a pale smile.
The rest of the Elders wanted to step forward, but only a glare from Ezio rooted them at their spots.
“You have not answered me yet.” He looked back at the man he was holding by the neck.
Fear flashed in the man’s eyes, and his entire body shivered in it.
“L-left” A stammered reply came. “Aaaaahhhhhh!!!!” Followed by a painful scream.
The body in Yellow cloak fell on the ground with a flailing left arm.
Ezio was a man of his word.
Keira nodded to Ezio and then instructed the Blood Knight standing on her left.
“Inform Lord Silverstein that his Queen, Sir Ezio, Lady Ella, and the rest want permission to enter the cave.”
“Yes!” The Blood Knight bowed to her, and then rushed toward the Stairway.
The High-Guards parted a way for him to pass and then bowed to the girls in a greeting before returning to their original positions.
♛ Author’s Note:
Hey there!
To read ahead, you can join my Patreon. And there is a new story coming out soon that is Patreon only for now. The new Poll for the Story of the Month is up on my Patreon. Let’s see what happens. The result comes out on Sunday.
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