Ad Astra - The Alagore War

AA V0 Prolog, Chapter 5

While Assiaya hated the dark and gray colors of the walls in the kitchen, she had always loved the rich colors and culture of the dining room. While maintaining the stone walls of this palace, different designs are built into them to add life. In addition, they were designed with far more artful taste throughout the room. Banners, paintings, crafts, and more were spread across the walls. The tables had fine cloth, some with the symbol of the Verliance, while others had other types of art.

From her time as Kallem's personal slave, she had learned that he enjoyed acquiring different types of culture. Either from other races, the people he conquered, or from his vassals as tribute. She knew when he defeated her former country, the Confederacy of Daru'uie, that he demanded different types of art as part of his tribute, which she had seen many times scattered throughout his many palaces.

Sometimes, Assiaya would stop what she was doing and stare at all the different types of art. Kallem was a practical man - or so many of his underlings said in gossip. Knowing that she knew her master must have chosen these art pieces for a reason, she wondered what he saw. She wondered if her master enjoyed seeing the different parts of the outside world through these images or if they reminded him of something he lost or the places he had conquered.

For her, being stuck within these walls for half of her short life, she rarely got the opportunity to see the outside world. The only rare moment she gained to see the outside world was when her master wanted to bring her along with his duties. While she had developed many opinions on the many pieces of culture that filled this palace, she wondered if this was how the wider world honestly looked, how people acted among each other when free. The wonders of what communities could do living together with their friends, family, and fellow citizens.

Among the dozens of art pieces throughout the palace she had studied over the years, her favorite was a grassy cliff looking over a valley. A man and boy sat on the edge, staring at Tekali and all the beauty she brought to Alagore. While Assiaya was not a boy, she always dreamed that one day she could sit there and see those same sights as in the painting with her family.

"Just have faith. One day, Tekali will bless your determination."

While Assiaya wished for a long day like in the painting, she understood the voice was a fool.

Noticing that her body had finished adjusting to the dining room temperature, Assiaya headed toward the main dining table. Handcrafted from the finest oak of Aldrida, from which people she did not know. At the table were three vampires. A daughter named Ornnallia, a son named Ere-hian, and her master - the family's patriarch, Kallem Verliance.

As Assiaya approached, she was forced to stop as fear-stricken her still. Seeing that the son had come out of his chair because of another outburst toward his father.

"How could you think like that, father," Ere-hian yelled.

"I am not going to draft them when there is no need to," Kallem calmly replied. He then noticed Assiaya and signed her to serve their drinks.

Seeing the opportunity to deliver their orders, she snuck past the son and reached the table. She slowly placed the blood drinks on the dining table as she was worried about spilling them again, starting with the son's berth drink. Without looking toward the son, she could feel the hatred emitting from him, making her quickly walk over to her master and deliver his red Nroon.

"Why not?" Ere-hian said. "They belong to us now. If we call to arms, we could finally bring death to those Noble Elves once and for all and gain respect among the Unity members."

After finishing handing out the drinks, Assiaya stepped back against the wall as she was trained to do and waited to be called upon. Assiaya watched as Kallem ignored his son's questions and lifted his drink, bringing it to his nose. Her master stopped and took a slow and long smell of the aura from the blue addition within the glass.