Chapter Two

It's a Pleasure To Meet You

For too long, I have slept, dreaming of the time I would once again lay eyes upon the mortal world...

Nina opened her eyes and shadows poured in. The air around her was thick, and held her slender body up without the use of her wings. She curiously stretched her limbs out into the nothingness.

Keeper of the vessel's soul, heed my call.

A voice resembling lead slabs being dropped onto granite came from the depths of her mind and resonated unnervingly in her skull. She shuddered and felt slightly violated; as if the voice was speaking to her from within her soul, if that was even possible.

“Who's there...?” Her strained voice echoed off of invisible walls.

A dot of light appeared far ahead of her, looking like a tiny star in a vast empty universe, and before she could contemplate it's existence, the spot rushed forward and became a brilliant flash that overtook everything. Completely blinded and feeling gravity slowly start to kick in through the now tangibly thinning atmosphere, the princess fought to spread her wings to no avail; they felt glued to her back. She steered her mind away from the strange voice and braked at her current situation. Why weren't her wings working? Was she suddenly going to plummet to a gruesome, splattering death?

Panic barely had time to manifest, for the bottoms of her feet soon smacked against ground and she found herself fighting for balance on what thankfully felt like a hard, stable surface. She stood slowly on wobbling legs, warmth bathing her skin along with a breeze that carried a strikingly familiar floral scent. The sounds of birds chirping hit her from all sides and she rubbed at her stinging eyes.

“Hello Nina, my dear.”

Her vision adjusted to what she realized was sunlight blaring at her, and slowly rearranged the blurry mass that appeared in front of her into Ethan's tall form, completely covered in his glittering ceremonial armor. Her jaw dropped. “E-Ethan?! What in Elanaar are you doing-,” she glanced quickly around her and concluded with surprise that they were standing outside on her balcony. “--out...here...and wearing that?”

Glinting gauntlets grasped both sides of his helmet and removed it, uncovering a crooked smile that made her heart jump. “You say that, yet you stand before me like so,” he mused, pointing at her. She glanced down and felt her stomach drop when she realized she wasn't dressed at all for the occasion; the thin pieces of fabric that made up her favorite slip were the only coverage she had.

She flung her arms over her lace covered chest and averted her eyes to the ground, face a furnace of embarrassment. “I-I'm sorry,” she stammered nervously, trying to figure out exactly what would possess her to do such a humiliating thing. She was glad it at least reached her knees. “H-how c-completely inappropriate of me...” Her brows furrowed. When did she even agree to see him alone like this again?

She didn't remember, and almost missed his next remark stewing in her own thoughts. “Now, I didn't say I minded, did I?” His voice was velvety smooth, and it threw her off guard.

She watched in a stupor as he set his intricately designed winged helmet on the balcony railing and made his way toward her, still wearing that amused smile. Somewhere in between her gawking and lusting, Nina's mind did a slight rewind. “...Hold on...have you been calling me just 'Nina'?”

He reached her and she yelped in surprise when he scooped her up into his arms effortlessly, the smell of his aftershave clouding her thoughts when he leaned in close. “Nina, I wanted to tell you that I've decided to take you up on your offer.”

“B-But you said yesterday--” She was interrupted by his lips against hers and any further doubt of him melted away, along with whatever remnants of the frightening voice from before that might have been lingering. Vaguely, she felt herself being carried inside and out of the wind as she gave into his gentle caresses, every kiss bringing a torrent of relief over her. He really did love her after all, and he was going risk everything just to be with her. The elation was indescribable; she would never have to set eyes on Prince Vahn again!

Her wings and back sank into something soft and her eyes fluttered open to see Ethan's face against a background of her white lace canopy. He pulled away slowly and flashed a dazzling smile, taking off his gauntlets and dropping them – Nina was shocked to see very carelessly - to the floor, before his fingers flew to unhook the thick dark leather straps that held his massive shoulder armor and breastplate. His heavy ivory cloak slipped out from around his neck and collected by his gauntlets when he removed the armor pieces, revealing a pale, severely toned upper body that the princess couldn't tear her eyes from.

Why wasn't she stopping him? Sure, he was gorgeous, but was she really ready to...

Plate clattered noisily to the floor and he leaned down almost over her, pushing her long bangs back from her face and tracing his fingers over her rosy cheeks. “Nina...,” Him using her name like that brought chills down her spine that weren't necessarily bad, and seemed to push that voice in her head telling her to 'please think about this' farther and farther back. His smile widened when he felt her shudder and he leaned even closer, sending her heart into another frenzy. “You are so beauti--”

Blood speckled across Nina's face and torso as a sword tip suddenly burst through the left side of Ethan's chest and buried itself deep within the mattress inches away her. It twisted sharply, and the hand on her face fell, smacking against her shoulder and dragging its fingers against her arm on the way down. She stared at his eyes rolling back in his head, brain attempting in vain to register exactly what had just happened.

A dirty greave stomped on Ethan's back before it made sense, and her damp eyes darted upward through his rigid wings to see him staring back at her, wild navy hair hanging in scraggly strands over those petrifying eyes. Her mouth opened and closed wordlessly, sounds unable to pass through her now closing throat as tears welled up and blocked her vision. It seemed like hours until she gathered enough courage to blink them away.

The barbarian smirked and flicked his tongue over his lips before grasping the hilt of his sword with both hands and ripping it violently out of Ethan. Feathers scattered in the air and more blood splattered the bed and floor as Nina watched, frozen in fear, him kick her guardian's lifeless body to the ground without a shred of remorse. With one wet swoosh, he swung his sword and decorated her room with yet another splash of crimson and then brought his attention back to her. She chanced a look at his still dirty blade, mind riddled with visions of him stabbing it into her wherever he could find flesh. He answered by sheathing it so fast, she gasped loudly.

And then he was directly in front of her face; she wasn't quite clear on how he got there. She struggled desperately to move away from him, thinking she must have angered him by making noise, but her limbs felt tremendously heavy, like they were suddenly made of lead. Her terror-stricken eyes swiveled to Ethan's mangled corpse, sprawled unnaturally across the marble within a growing pool of sickening red, and then back to the intruder when he grasped her hair tight with a dirty, bandaged hand and made her do so. Her chest heaved with the beginnings of hyperventilation as the metallic, salty scent of blood...Ethan's blood, threatened to consume her.

“Greetings, little royal blooded Wyndian,” The navy haired demon rasped in perfect ancient Wyndian, inhumanely long canines peeking out from underneath his top lip as he spoke. “It's a pleasure to meet you.” He yanked her head back and used those same canines to tear out her throat.

“Nina! Nina, wake up!”

Sleep's grip angrily loosened, and Nina was torn from it by a vigorous shaking of the shoulders from Chasta. “Nina, whatever it is...it's just a dream! Please, stop screaming!”

There was a high pitched wail pushing the princess' eardrums to the limit, and it took her a moment to realize it was coming from her. Like a mental rubber band, Nina's mind snapped back to the present and she sat up rigid in her bed, clamping her mouth tight. She grabbed at her throat and fixed her harrowed eyes on the wall across the room, cold sweat drenching her entire body.

Good. She still had it.

Beside her on the bed, Chasta sighed loudly and fell back onto the comforter. “Dear Goddess Nina, you scared the hell out of me!” she moaned dramatically, rolling over and rubbing her face back and forth on a pillow. “And here I was, thinking I could get some sleep before the sun came up...”

Nina ignored her and tried to piece the events of last night and her dream together unsuccessfully in her muddled mind, staring at the small blotches of light being projected onto the wall from the now rising sun and trying to will her heart from bursting out of her chest.

One thing she did know for sure was that everything in that dream had felt immensely, scarily, real.

Ethan's touch, his smell, his...blood...

The top of her head throbbed like someone really had yanked at her hair. What the hell did that mean?

Chasta cast a weary, eyeliner smudged, eye up at her. “Nina...are you alright? You're shaking like a leaf.” The princess was now rubbing her head gently with trembling hands, praying silently that the soreness was her mind playing a joke on her and was completely deaf to her friend. “Nina,” Chasta said and was again ignored. “Nina!” She finally flinched when Chasta barked her name and gave a blank stare in response. “Geez, that must have been some dream,” the handmaiden murmured, bringing her hand up to her mouth to cover a vicious yawn. “Between worrying about you and that damn earthquake, I didn't get a wink of sleep all night!” She poked at the skin underneath her eyes and groaned. “I probably have absolutely hideous bags now...”

“E-earthquake?” Nina's voice found her and was extremely hoarse. She cleared her throat loudly.

“Yeah, it shook the whooole castle!” Chasta sat up and spread her arms out for emphasis. “But, strangely, it didn't damage any other place except that weird room you fell in. Ethan took some guys down there to clean up the koi pond, because it had fallen completely in - and to check out what that room was all about - but all they found was an old throne with an ancient as dirt broken statue of the War Goddess on the floor under a bunch of busted benches and torn up vines,” she said in one excited breath. Tiredness never played a part in Chasta conveying information.

The fog of grogginess lifted from Nina's mind in an instant, and the memories started to fit together like pieces of a mental puzzle. The room, the writing, the statue and...him.

She kicked off her covers and jumped out of bed. “We need to find Ethan, now!” she cried, scrambling to get her feet into some thin pink slippers that were underneath the bed.

“What? Ethan...? Why Ethan?” Chasta inquired, raising her eyebrows and watching the princess hop back and forth on one foot while jamming a slipper on the other and cursing under her breath.

There was no way an “earthquake” destroyed that room, Nina thought, running around searching for her robe. It had to have been him. Somehow, she had woken something up that probably wasn't meant to be awake, and he was not too happy about her doing so...for whatever reason. She found the robe wedged in the corner of a chair by her bed and shook it out before jamming her arms into the sleeves.

“Nina, tell me what the hell you're going on about! You're running around like a madwoman!"

Nina tugged at the terry cloth fabric until her wings popped through the holes in the back. “After you left to go find help, I went exploring in that room,” she said, running to her dresser and taking out a hair band from a drawer full of accessories. “There was all kinds of ancient writing on the floor, talking about something being held there. It was so strange...it was all in old Wyndian...”

She saw Chasta's reflection stand and cross it's arms in the mirror. “Nina, what're you-?”

“I followed the writing to...something resembling a human guy strapped to that Goddess statue.” Nina pulled her hair into a messy ponytail at the top of her head, trying to ignore Chasta's incredulous stare. “I woke him up, and he's pretty livid about it, I think. He attacked me the second he opened his eyes...”

“What are you babbling about, Nina? You saw some guy strapped to the statue down there and then he attacked you?! Ethan said that place hadn't been touched in probably six hundred or so years! Gods, I didn't think you hit your head that hard.”

Nina whirled around. “Chasta, I'm not lying! The bastard held me up by the throat with only one hand and tried to crush it with his fingers! There must be marks from it!” she cried, pointing furiously at her neck where she thought they would be and wondering slightly why she couldn't feel them.

Chasta shook her head and sighed. “There's no marks, Nina,” she said rolling her eyes and giving a wary stare afterward. “I called Lisele up here to heal you the moment Ethan got you out. You should have no injuries at all...apart from the mental ones you seem to have recently acquired,” she muttered the last part.

Nina caught it and shot her a glare. She then curiously stomped the ground with the foot that had lost a fight with the side of the koi pond last night and stretched out her wings. “Hmm, my foot does feel better...and my wing isn't sore.”

Chasta walked to her and tried to take off the robe she had just put on. “Come on, let's stop this nonsense. You have to get ready for lessons-”

“Lessons?” Nina almost shrieked, jumping away from her friend. “I just told you I was attacked by a monster and you're telling me to get ready for a damn class?!”

“Nina, you just had a bad dream! That's all!” Chasta reached for her again and was evaded. She blew air at her bangs in frustration. “Please, I'll tell the others to draw you a bath... It'll give you some time to relax!” As if on cue, a handmaiden with long, blue ribboned silver braids cracked open the door and before she could ask if they needed anything, Chasta told her to start one.

“There's no time for a bath, or lessons, or anything of that sort!” Nina protested when the door closed. “That - I don't even know what he is - is on the loose, and I have to tell Ethan!” She stepped out of Chasta's range again and raised her voice. “Now if you'll excuse me.”

The handmaiden stopped Nina short with her hand, staring through the furious look she received with genuine worry. “Listen, Nina, I know yesterday was really stressful for you, but you don't need to be making things up just so it will divert everyone's attention from the engagement, because I don't think it's going to work...”

Nina set her jaw. “I am not making things up, Chasta,” she said slowly. “I couldn't have thought up something so horrifying.” A sudden flashback of the monster ripping his sword from Ethan threatened to differ with her remark. She shook her head as if that would cast it away.

“Lisele was really worried about you,” Chasta said in a gentler voice, walking up and placing her hands on Nina's shoulders and squeezing gently. “She asked me to stay with you all night - I mean I would have stayed with you even if she hadn't - but she wouldn't tell me why she was so concerned. Maybe you really did hit your head hard. Do you think...maybe...you just dreamed it all?

Nina started to retort, but the realness she felt during what she knew was definitely the dream, was too hard to ignore. Could she possibly have thought up her meeting with that creature last night as well?

“I'll kill you for what you have done to me...”

His intense pale eyes were still etched crystal clear in her mind; so vivid, she didn't think she would ever forget them. Was she really capable of creating that...thing? If so, what kind of sick person was she to think of Ethan being massacred by it like that? She pulled at her bangs gently and winced at the pain that shot over her crown. The phrase “I am not insane” repeated over and over in her mind until the words began running together and forming gibberish.

Steam hit her cheeks and she realized, in a slight daze, that she was already being lead through her pink and white tiled bathroom by Chasta, towards her large, oval shaped, jacuzzi bathtub at the far end that was already filled to the brim with bubbles. Five handmaids surrounding it all bowed in unison, chiming, “Good morning, Your Majesty!”

Chasta took off Nina's robe – this time with permission - and handed it to a small, round faced red headed girl who bowed low and scurried away with it. “Just relax, Nina...I promise I won't make fun,” she said, but Nina was hardly convinced. A tall, skinny girl with cropped bronze hair lifted Nina's nightgown over her head and scooped up her underwear when she stepped out of them and into the sudsy water. Nina waded slowly through a mist of flying bubbles to the other side of the tub and submerged her body, in the amazingly soft feeling water, up to her collarbone. She arched her back and dunked her head once before laying it comfortably against a light pink inflatable bath pillow that was set out for her. Chasta moved behind the princess and gathered up her mess of honey hair. Nina closed her eyes and heard the pop of a bottle opening before a sweet scent of strawberries filled her nostrils, mixing pleasantly with the light floral aroma the bubbles were giving off. Cool gel hit her crown and Chasta's fingers began expertly kneading the substance into her scalp.

Nina sighed and tuned out her tender head. Maybe her friend was right and she just needed to relax. The warm water did feel good. Chasta's head massage was a welcome distraction as well; it was calming her mind more than she thought it would. She vaguely felt someone pluck her right hand from the water and start to gently buff her nails.

It had to all have been a dream, she decided. The engagement to Prince Vahn must have hit her a lot harder than she initially thought. Was she really so desperate not to go to Ludia, that her mind would deceive her in such a way?

“So...,” Chasta drew out the word conversationally, “What was that dream about, anyways?”

Nina turned her head slowly, and narrowed her eyes at her friend. “Who said I wanted to be reminded of it?” she asked icily, but as always, her tone did nothing to faze Chasta's prying nature.

The handmaiden shrugged and dumped a bucket of water over Nina's mane. “I just want to know what scared you so bad.” she said and Nina sighed, knowing she was defeated even before she started. “Come on, come on! Tell me! The more you talk about it, the more ridiculous it'll seem and, eventually you won't be scared anymore.”

“Alright, alright!” Nina rolled her eyes, knowing it wasn't going to stop until she relented. “Well...there was Ethan and...” She stopped and stared at the mounds of crackling bubbles surrounding her, pondering whether she should talk about the things that happened between her and her guardian.

“Ooo Ethan, huh?” The tone in her friend's voice made Nina quickly decide to spare herself anymore humiliation, along with the fact that there were handmaidens all around her, craning their necks at the mention of his name. Of course he would be a hot topic amongst the help; they remembered him just as well as she did.

“Yes, and we were in my room...talking.” She hesitated on “talking” and Chasta annoyingly caught it.

“Just talking?” she mused.

“Yes,” Nina almost snapped, splashing water on her face with her free hand, hoping Chasta would associate any flush she might have with the temperature of the bath.

“...And...?”

Nina shuddered with the memory of Ethan being skewered. “And then the...monster...the same guy that I, well I guess the guy I thought-” She sighed, still not clear that she had the psychotic mind-set to dream up these incidents. “-attacked me, came out of nowhere and...” she swallowed. “...killed Ethan right in front of me.”

“Wow! How?!”

“A sword driven through his body back to front, through the heart.”

“Brutal...” Chasta breathed.

“Tell me about it,” Nina murmured, thinking again of the demon's frightening eyes. “The worst part was that I was completely convinced that it was real. I even thought I could feel his blood splattering on me when it happened...” she trailed off and the handmaiden working on the her nails dropped the file she was using. The girl apologized nervously and picked it back up.

“Geez, no wonder you screamed like that,” Chasta said twisting the princess' long tresses until they relinquished the water within them. “What did the monster man look like?”

“Too frightening...” was all Nina replied, further losing interest in reminiscing about him any longer. “So what kind of lessons do I have?” she threw out in almost the same breath, attempting to change the subject. “I'm leaving in a few days. What could those old bats possibly have to teach me before I get shipped off to Ludia?”

Chasta shrugged, thankfully taking the bone. “I'm not sure, probably Ludian history or something. I think they know you don't know anything about any other country than your own.”

“I don't pay attention to things that are boring.”

“You're so spoiled,” Chasta teased, piling Nina's hair onto the top of her head and wrapping a towel around it. “And it's not so boring. I don't know how you would think that, with you being a Wyndian; a royal one at that.”

Another one of the help, this one sporting long curly black hair, picked up Nina's left hand and started working on its nails. “I've only recently decided that they're worth wondering about,” the princess muttered darkly.

“Now that it's all about you, right?”

Hurried footsteps echoed in the large room and Nina looked back to see the same red head that took her robe earlier kneeling down and whispering something into Chasta's ear excitedly. Nina strained to listen, but the girl's voice was too soft to pick anything up.

Suddenly Chasta burst into laughter and the girl jumped back, looking frightened like she might have done something wrong.

“What's so funny?” Nina demanded.

Her friend's laughs finally quelled to giggles. “It's funny to me, but it's not going to be to you,” she said through them, wiping her eyes.

Nina's own narrowed. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“It means, I was right. Benji told everyone about you sitting around in the courtyard with just your panties on-”

“A slip! It was a slip! You saw it!” Nina cried, yanking her hands from the handmaidens and making fists in front of their astonished faces.

“Yeah, yeah I know what it was...but apparently it's gotten back to his majesty, and now you have to go talk with him as soon as you get dressed.”

The handmaidens reached for her hands again but she swatted them away angrily. “What? What the hell am I supposed to say to him?! I can't tell him about Ethan!” She glanced quickly around at the rest of the servants who had paused doing whatever they were doing and were now staring at her.

Chasta laughed again and Nina's eyes shot daggers at her. “Stop laughing! This is all your fault!” she cried standing up. “You!” She pointed to one of the girls that worked on her nails who stiffened in attention. “Fetch me a towel. And you,” She jabbed a finger at the other one. “A dress...or something...just get me some clothes!”

“Nina, it's not my fault and you know it,” Chasta said, shaking her head and rinsing bubbles off of the bath pillow.

The princess shook water and bubbles from her wings and body the best she could and walked out of the bathtub to the nail girl that held a puffy white towel. “You're the one that brought Benji out there,” she muttered acidly, snatching it out of the girl's waiting hand and wrapping it tight around her own body.

Chasta tossed the pillow away and got up to follow the stalking princess out of the bathroom. “Nina, stop it...I'm sorry Benji can't keep his mouth shut, alright? A-and I'm sorry I laughed! I didn't think it was going to be such a big deal!”

The curly black haired handmaiden met them at the door of the princess' bedroom, a light blue sundress and matching underwear set, in hand. Nina took it without giving thanks, and loosened the towel around her so it slid to the floor. She replaced it quickly with the dress, and fumbled around with the undergarments while Chasta frowned at her. “You know, the courtyard is for everyone and not just you,” she huffed, placing her hands on her hips.

Nina ignored her and pulled the towel from her head before thrusting her feet into the same gold shoes from the night before and clomping out of her room.

The princess stormed down the castle's main hallway with Chasta still yapping at her heels. “Nina, come on, don't blame me for this! You probably won't even get into that much trouble since you're leaving soon...!”

Nina stayed silent during her rampage. She had no idea what she was going to say to her father. No matter how angry she was at Ethan for not wanting to run away with her, she couldn't fathom doing anything that might cause him to lose his head. She rounded a corner hard, mildly tuning out Chasta's cries. (“Sooner or later you're going to have to talk to me!”)

The king knew that she already wasn't happy about the engagement, so maybe she could use that as an excuse...after all, it was at least part of the reason she went for that night flight.

Above where the courtyard was located, the king had built a large terrace around the upper part of the castle that was accessible only to the members of the royal family. It boasted an amazing view of the city -as well as one of the soft lantern lit courtyard- and was her father's choice location most mornings to read the city of Wyndia's daily news.

Nina felt her heartbeat quicken when she reached the terrace doors. Through their glass panels, she could see her father sitting alone at a tall white table, staring out into the distance and sipping on what was probably hot tea. The newspaper beside him looked untouched. Beside her, Chasta was silent. She probably didn't want to alert the king of their presence before the princess was ready, to not anger her any more than she already had. Nina was grateful for it. She took a deep breath and rapped gently on the door. A muffled, “Come in,” came through and Nina didn't see him move.

“Good luck,” Chasta whispered, standing back while Nina opened the door. The princess snorted at her and walked in.

The king still did not take his gaze from the sky as she approached with her shoulders down and wings drooped low. “What's this I hear about you running around the castle in your undergarments for all the commoners to see?”

“I wasn't trying to be seen,” Nina muttered, biting her lip. He really wanted to get to the point.

Her father raised his cup to his mouth and took another sip. “Do you realize that you are betrothed to the prince of another country, and any such act could be defined as adulterous?”

“Adulterous?! But I've never-!”

“Enough!” He barked and she flinched.

Another long sip of tea. He continued to refrain from meeting her gaze and she shifted her weight between her feet uneasily. 'Adulterous' was a pretty heavy word for him to use, she thought. Were things that bad?

“You're lucky that it was only a commoner who spotted you; Someone of higher status would be more troublesome to silence.”

Nina's eyes widened. Silence? Would he really? “Father...?” She watched him lift the cup to his mouth and take an agonizingly lengthy sip. Her fingers curled tight at her sides when he spoke again.

“Maybe now you'll think twice about the things you do,” he said simply, and turned his chair completely away from her. Nina stood, staring at the back of it with tears burning the corners of her eyes, until he flicked his hand at her; a signal that she needed to leave immediately.

When she walked out of the room, she didn't dare look Chasta in the eye.

Nina gave Chasta the silent treatment for so long, the handmaiden finally gave up on her and stormed off, muttering something about Benji probably enjoying her company more. The statement was an arrow through Nina's heart, but she didn't protest. Chasta was the eyes and ears of castle Wyndia; she was bound to find out the truth soon enough.

But what was the truth? What were they going to do to that poor boy?

Her father had said “silenced”, so that most likely meant he would be dealt with out of the public eye. Guilt spread through her gut like a disease and clawed at her insides mercilessly when she thought of terrible things like him being knifed in a dark alleyway in the city by another soldier.

A person was going to lose their life because of her carelessness, and she was never going to forgive herself.

“Princess Nina, are you alright?” Nina looked up to see that she had made it to the library without much notice. Strange how her mind was becoming so preoccupied lately, she thought, staring at one of the castle's ancient looking librarians giving her an odd look from the entranceway.

“I-I'm fine!” She chirped, forcing a smile. There was no sense in making things worse by letting everyone know about her problems. “I just...I'm just...” Her stomach growled and she giggled nervously. “...hungry. I didn't have breakfast yet.”

The librarian – a short, plump woman named Elsa with round, rosy cheeks and large, thick rimmed black glasses – nodded and took Nina's arm gently. “Oh, you poor dear...your blood sugar is probably low. I'll get one of the help to grab you something to eat. Just sit down over here.” She lead Nina into castle Wyndia's enormous four story library and sat her down in a large, maroon cushioned, dark wooden chair in the center of the circular bottom floor.

Elsa flicked her hand and four soldiers scurried over carrying a large dark wood table, and set it down in front of the princess. The Benji dread crept up on her again at the sight of soldiers in general and she wrenched her eyes away from them to view the visible top floors of the library, where hundreds of book shelves housing thousands of books, containing almost anything one wanted to know, towered over her.

A large portion of her life had been spent in this vicinity. Hours upon hours of lessons - followed by trips to the top floor whenever free time was a lotted to her - to study the Fae tribe and their language.

The Fae were a tribe of winged human-like creatures that all had large white wings, like Nina and a good portion of the nobles. They were the Wyndians of the past; beautiful, powerful, magical beings that lived in perfect harmony with nature and called upon the spirits of its elements for assistance whenever needed. It was their grace and beauty that inspired Nina to pursue the - documented in many books as grueling – task of communicating with nature, as well as her desire to fight alongside Ethan.

Fortunately, the sprites couldn't get enough of her it seemed. She couldn't remember ever having to wait more than five seconds for a response. This puzzled her, of course, but she figured if she didn't think too hard about it, she wouldn't jinx her luck.

A plate of hot blueberry pancakes, smothered in steaming maple syrup and topped with a small pallet of butter was set in front of her and she felt her mouth begin to water. The food in castle Wyndia was something that was renowned throughout the world. She wondered sadly, while taking a fork dwarfing bite, if Ludia's kitchen would even hold a candle to this.

A different librarian than earlier, this one she remembered was named Millie, stepped in front of her and placed a large leather-back book on the table near her plate with the words Ludia's History and You printed in large gold letters across the cover. “You can follow along with me in the book while you eat, Princess. We're simply going over a few basic things about Ludia,” she said tapping the book. Nina swallowed her monstrous bite and nodded at the thin, wrinkled woman.

What was said to be a “few basic things” ended up being a lesson that lasted so long, they served dinner to her at that same table. She guessed with a heavy heart, while picking at a plate of honey ham and roasted vegetables, that the rest of her days in Wyndia were going to be like this: people trying to cram every bit of information they could into her head to make her not look like an idiot to Ludia.

She also found that Chasta was right; Ludia's history was far from boring. In fact, it was chock full of interesting things that made her fight to keep her food in her stomach.

The years of war were peppered with incidents of hate crimes that consisted of humans chopping the wings off of kidnapped Wyndians; Public chopping of wings, while the guards looked away and pretended nothing was happening. There was a picture in the book of a Wyndian with bloody feathered stumps where wings should have been, on his knees within a pool of blood in front of a crowd of laughing, pointing humans. Some were even throwing rocks and rotten vegetables at him. A caption at the bottom of the picture had read “And So an Angel Falls to the Earth”.

She knew about the racism between the humans and her people, but she couldn't believe that it really went to that extent. Why were they teaching her things like this right before she was going to live in that horrible place? Was this some kind of a warning to watch her back?

Dear Goddess, she had pleaded in her mind, staring at the hideously gleeful expressions plastered on the humans' faces, Don't let the Ludians kill me...

After class, Nina wandered aimlessly around the castle, lost again in despair.

Did Chasta know about Benji yet? Had anything even been done?

The handmaiden wasn't there waiting for her after lessons like she usually was. Nina wondered if she had taken the ignoring too far. At least she wouldn't have to deal with Chasta's hatred for too much longer.

Wind ruffled her hair, and she found herself standing in the entrance to the courtyard, where she could see from there, the damage that must have occurred while she was incapacitated.

The koi pond had indeed fallen in, and the hole was so wide now, it was pulling in two of the four inner courtyard trees. Lanterns, still dangling from their branches, swung to the side in the winds, catching and reflecting the now setting sun's red-orange light on the cobblestones and making the walkway shimmer when Nina walked forward.

She came close to the hole's edge and her eyes widened when she peered into it.

There was a deep impact crater on the floor, looking as if a gigantic fist from the heavens had punched deep into the stone. Inside the cracked interior, laid the statue of the War Goddess, smashed – as Chasta had told her that morning – into pieces. Vines were strewn everywhere amongst hunks of wood that she guessed had once been the benches.

What kind of earthquake did damage like that?

“Sissy! Sissy! Chassa, I find Sissy!”

“Isabella! Don't run around like that! There's a huge hole out here and I don't want you to fall in!”

Nina whirled around to see her little sister Isabella bounding towards her, white blonde, curly pigtails bouncing and big brown eyes bright. “Sissy!” she cried, hopping into Nina's arms. The older princess fought for balance with her wings and, thankfully, didn't plummet into the hole a second time.

“Isabella! You can't be running around like that out here, it's dangerous!” Nina scolded, but caved when the little Wyndian giggled infectiously and rubbed the tip of her nose on Nina's.

“I really wanted to see Sissy!” she cried, throwing her arms around Nina's neck.

Chasta skid to a stop in front of them and bent over with her hands on her knees, huffing and puffing. “That dam- I mean darn” (Nina forbade bad language to be used in front of her sister) “ kid...” she wheezed. Nina eyed Chasta warily, wondering if she did that on purpose. “I've been chasing her all around the castle, looking for you!” The handmaiden looked up and to Nina's surprise, smiled at her. Maybe she wasn't so keen on the castle gossip after all.

Nina pulled her face from Isabella's hair and gave an awkward smile in return. “Listen, Chasta, about earlier...”

Chasta waved her hands and didn't let Nina finish. “Don't worry about it, alright? I couldn't find Benji so I took a nap. I got summoned to Isabella's room, and I ran into Kenny from his rank. He said Benji was getting sent home to his folks in north Wyndia tomorrow,” she said straightening out her skirt. “I guess it was a big offense to talk like that about you.”

Nina wondered if Chasta really knew how big of an offense, and if she was lying to spare her feelings. She was too much of a coward to ask.

“He also said the jerk lied and told everyone that I went back to the barracks with him that night after we put you to bed,” Chasta added acidly. “I say good riddance.”

“Good widdance!” Isabella mimicked, giggling and throwing her arms out.

Nina felt the dread rearing it's ugly head at her again and she tried to ignore it by lavishing attention on her little sister. “Silly girl, what's so important that you made Chasta run around like that looking for me?” she asked as cheerfully as she could.

The little girl's wide smile disappeared in an instant. “Father said you're going far away...” she pouted in a tiny voice. “He said you're getting married to Loodia. Why do you want to do dat?”

Nina blinked. “Well...”

Chasta cleared her throat. “His Majesty was explaining to her today about how you wouldn't be accompanying her to lessons next week like you normally do. She was pretty adamant about finding you so see what this 'marriage' business was all about.”

Nina looked back over at Isabella when the little girl tugged on her messily wavy, air dried hair. “Well, marriage is,” she started, carrying her sister away from the gaping hole in the ground and towards a small fountain in safe back corner of the courtyard. “ when two people...er...love each other...” she struggled with the word love. “they get married and live with each other, and not their own family. And sometimes it's really far away.”

Nina sat on the fountain's edge and Isabella snuggled close to her. “You love Loodia?” she asked softly. “What about Isabella?”

Chasta stood against the castle wall and lit a cigarette with her finger.

“Izzie, don't be silly, I'll always love you,” Nina assured gently.

“But you're going away...,” Isabella sniffed. “I don't want you to go away!”

Fat tears began to roll down her cheeks and Nina carefully wiped them away. “Please don't cry, Izzie, you'll make Sissy cry...”

“Don't go!” she started to sob. “Everyone is mean to me when you or Chassa are not around!”

Nina stared at the now hiccuping little girl and felt an all too familiar anxiousness flood in and drown out the dread in an instant.

Anything possessing ears, knew of the curse of the Endless Night.

The second leader of Wyndia, Queen Nyna Valerie Wynlan – the first recorded farseer in Wyndian history – had a vision of a terrible evil walking the earth in the form of a royal blooded Wyndian with onyx wings. It was said that he/she – along with a monster guarding them that was as black as night – would suck all the light from the world and throw everyone on it into a nightmare of eternal darkness and despair. Past visions of incoming natural disasters throughout the world had proven Nyna's abilities, so at once, a law was made stating that if any one of Wyndian royal blood was to ever be found with black wings; they would be publicly executed, so that the threat was known to be gone.

Isabella's feathers on her wings were as white as Nina's until the bottom, where they faded into a rich black, looking not unlike someone had carefully dipped them into ink. Every week at her lessons, Lisele would check Isabella's wings with meticulous precision, all while Nina stood by holding the tiny princess' always trembling hand.

Even at five years old, Isabella was all too aware of the consequences of that ink spreading.

Nina wrapped her arms around the girl. She had been so caught up in herself, that she hadn't given a thought to how this would affect the youngest Wynlan. “Isabella, I'm so sorry...,” she whispered. The beautiful burden on the young girl's back was hidden by special pink 'wing-mittens' she was ordered to wear whenever she stepped out of her bedroom. Nina hated them.

“Don't cry like that, Izzie. I'll watch after you and make sure no one is mean to you.” Chasta's voice floated over and both Nina and Isabella looked up. “And I'll be the one to take you to your classes every week, alright?”

“Really?” Isabella asked, mouth breaking into a wide grin.

“Yeah, and don't worry, Sissy will visit as often as she can, right Sissy?”

Nina swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded slowly, knowing Chasta meant it to be both an encouragement to her sister and an apology to her. “Yes, of course I'll come visit all the time,” she said and Isabella hugged her tight again.

“Okay! You promised!”

Chasta walked up and doused her cigarette in the fountain before tucking it into her pocket to throw away later. “Alright, Izzie, come on, it's getting dark. We'll see Nina tomorrow after she gets back from Ludia.”

Nina reluctantly let Isabella go and watched her take Chasta's hand. “Bye Sissy!” she cried waving with the other hand. “I love you! See you tomorrow!”

Chasta nodded at Nina. “Good luck, tomorrow. I'll talk to you when you return,” she said, and Nina was left alone staring at the fountain with burning eyes, knowing fully well that once she was married, she would probably never be allowed to step foot into Wyndia again.

The night was chillier than usual, but Nina stood out on her balcony anyway, not wanting to miss a night looking at the moonlight shining off of the sea of flowers below.

She leaned on the balcony's edge and laid her head on her arms, in no hurry to go to sleep. Sleep would make her visit with the prince come that much sooner. She groaned into her arms loudly when she thought about him. Tomorrow was going to be hell. She was going to have to sign that paper, and there was no way around it; the prince would make sure of that.

Whatever happened to the magic of being asked for your hand in marriage? she thought angrily, pushing away from the balcony with an exasperated sigh and stomping back into her room. She had imagined it so many times, each with Ethan against a different backdrop, getting down on one knee and sliding a glittering ring onto her finger.

And every time, she imagined it to be the happiest moment of her life.

She plopped down at her vanity dresser in a huff, pulling her hair up and twisting it into a knot behind her head, not bothering to use a band. She pushed stray strands roughly away from her face, staring at her reflection in the flickering light of a candle beside her grimly. Soon she would be walking down the aisle with a man she barely knew, and pledge her utmost loyalty to him and only him. What would become of her life once that was done? She kicked off her shoes and fought back tears, knowing that once they broke free, it would be impossible to stop them.

What did she do to the Goddess to deserve any of this?

Something glinted in the corner of her mirror from the candlelight and her ears pricked at a rustling sound that came from behind. She flinched and then sighed loudly. “Cha~sta...!” she moaned, snatching up the candle from her dresser top by its holder and standing. “How many times have I told you to knock before you enter my-” She stopped suddenly, and the hand holding the candle began to shake so hard, wax spilled over the edge and splattered onto the floor.

A whimper was the only thing her shaking lips could muster at the sight of him sitting hunched over at the foot of her bed.

She stared at his now dull chain mail covered torso, housed in that dirty, shredded, crimson cloak, teetering between feelings of relief (with him sitting in front of her like this, she was that much more aware of her sanity) and fear for her life. Was he here to finish her off?

The back of her mind screamed for her to call Ethan, but she knew it was a pointless endeavor; her actions from the night before had driven him from crossing her path the entire day.

The man's head was down, thick locks that were – Nina noticed – slightly tamer than before, hiding his expression in their shadow. She waited anxiously for him to speak, eyes frantically searching for any sort of weapon on his person. None were visible, but it did little to stifle her terror. She knew first hand, he didn't need one to pose a threat.

He slowly sat up straight and her heart slammed against her chest. “I hope you don't mind, but I let myself in.”

Nina stood with her head slowly inclining, digesting the voice that came from him. It was, to her embarrassment, extremely alluring. The language of the Fae rolled off of his tongue as if he were born to speak it, but it was also laced with thick traces of an accent she couldn't quite put her finger on. The harmony of them together, regardless, astounded her.

He definitely did not sound like this in her dream.

She tried to calm her shaking hand, but the candle continued to cast its light erratically around the room. Who was this man that came back from the dead before her eyes? Why was he speaking a language so easily that faded from existence over three hundred years ago, when he wasn't even of the race that used it?

She swallowed a large lump that was forming in her throat and tried to gather the courage to say these things aloud, but an unsettling smile was crawling across his face. He snickered and she stiffened. “I guess I don't blame you for being so wary of me right now,” continued that strangely poetic voice. “I was a little cranky when I woke up.”

Cranky? Was he kidding?

Nina gathered up the bits of anger that dared to make themselves known within her fear and set her jaw as best she could. “Y-you tried to kill me earlier...,” she said slowly, switching gears to his language and hoping she really was as fluent as she thought. His smile widened and she guessed she was.

“Ah, so you are familiar with my tongue,” he commended, reaching up with a bandage covered hand and pushing his bangs from his face. “That makes things a lot easier.”

He then stood, the joints in his decrepit armored legs groaning and sighing dust. Nina's own body froze in place and her breath quickened. Was he going to attack? If he did attack, what was she going to do?

This was what she got for lying to impress Ethan and telling him that her ice magic – along with the assistance of sprites of the same element – was powerful enough that he should take the time to acknowledge it.

Well, it wasn't truly a lie. While her powers were indeed amplified by the sprites mere presence in this realm, she was completely in the dark on how she should go about any combat situation. The one time she had attempted to practice outside in the courtyard with Chasta, her father had furiously dragged her to her room and screamed at her for over an hour about how she was a princess and must never dirty her hands with such lowly soldier-type actions. What were the guardians for then? Under his watchful eye, she was forced to only daydream of what she could possibly do in a fight.

How she despised her father at this very moment for her inexperience.

“As for attacking you,” The man spoke and it startled her. “I seemed to have mistaken you for someone else. My apologies for that.”

Nina's brow furrowed. Mistook her for someone else? Awe allowed her to speak through apprehension. “H-how could you do that? I'm the-”

“Princess of Wyndia, Nina Valentina Wynlan. Yes, I'm aware of that now.” He took a step forward and she backed noisily into her dresser. The jolting brought more wax to spill on the floor. She steadied herself and threw a glare at the mocking smile still gracing his features.

Who did this guy think he was, marching into her quarters like he owned the place? Candlelight glinted off of his teeth and found herself clutching at her throat. If she wasn't the one that he apparently wanted to kill, then what was he doing here?

He took another step forward and she threw up her other hand. “Take one more step, and I-I'll call my guardian!” she warned, cursing inwardly at her stammering during a threat and hoping to every god in existence that if she screamed loud enough, no matter where he was, Ethan would come.

“Your guardian? Really?” The man laughed, eyes lighting up. “You would really send him to his death just like that? How cruel.”

She didn't know how to take those remarks. Was he honestly as strong as he was boasting, or was he bluffing? Ethan was a former member of the AG; the elite of the elite! She wondered it he was aware of that.

“Ethan's strong,” she said with new found courage, but his smile wasn't fazed.

“I'm strong too,” was his reply.

She narrowed her eyes, but she had to admit, if was in her room and no one was aware of it yet, he wasn't someone to be taken lightly. “How...did you get in here anyways?” she asked slowly, sounding like she was asking herself more than him. “Dozens of soldiers patrol these hallways so...how?”

“I told you,” he mused, and before Nina's bewildered eyes, was completely consumed by the shadows that danced around him. She stood, blinking at empty space until she felt the air shift and an amazing force barrel towards her. She squeezed her eyes closed and felt it halt a hair's breadth from her in a jangle of chain mail. Warm breath coated her ear and the intruder's voice invaded. “...I let myself in.”

Any glimmer of hope that might have resided within her was crushed in seconds. Was there actually something that existed in this world that could move that fast? How could he just vanish into the shadows like that? She wrenched her eyes open and saw that he was so close now, she could count the individual rust crusted rings on his dingy mail.

The same intense aura she felt at their first meeting pulsed and pulled against her again, rolling off of him in seemly tangible waves that crashed down and threatened silently to drown her soul in its dominance. She found it hard to keep her head above its tide.

What was he? What was he doing to her?

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a sudden, maddening urge to grab onto him and press herself against his body so hard, that they became of one flesh.

She had to bite her lip until she drew blood to bring her attention from that demented notion. What the hell was wrong with her?

“You feel it too, don't you?” His voice again flooded her ear canal and she felt her teeth chatter. What did he mean? He couldn't possibly be having the same sick, weird thought; she was too ashamed to dwell on it for even a second more. The man laughed and his breath cascading over her ear caused goosebumps to ripple across her skin. “As if that would solve the problem...”

She was going insane. There was no other explanation for this.

“Problem...?” she heard herself ask softly as if she actually cared about this nonsense.

“You have something of mine,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “And I need it back.”

Him touching her was the last straw.

Against paralyzing madness and terror, Nina snapped, and screamed at the top of her lungs.

“ETHAN!!”

A/N: Don't worry, Nina will not be a damsel in distress. I had a reviewer comment about that in Guardians of Fate. Just remember that in every game, you start out at level 1 =3