"We've arrived, my lord."
"I'm not a lord." Jared corrected, though the wealth of the carriage he arrived in highly contrasted that. "Just in service to a very demanding one." Jared brushed back his hair that wasn't in any need of fixing as he apprehensively stepped out into the bright afternoon sun.
The coachman had taken him to the ruling house of the country of Salaris. The nation was a flat land of only sand and sun, and though it was relatively small, one would never be able to tell by the grand castle. Fluted pillars, stationed every couple feet, held the slanted flat roof of the entrance and were hollowed out to have bonsai or fountains that were filled with water by the natural geysers underneath. And underneath the stone roof, were long wide stairs with dark orange moss encroaching from the outside in but kept tamed in the middle through the steps of people climbing up and down. Jared took a deep breath as he crossed them. From his research, he knew the main square building extended back countless miles with relatively low hanging ceilings for a castle to mimic the flat landscaping of the country. He saw no one on his way up until a pair of servants bowed their heads in a greeting. Bright red slave stones glistened below their collarbone where they had been implanted and Jared felt a pang of sympathy for them. Most nations had outlawed the barbaric use of slave stones, but some had it as embedded into their culture as deep as the stones were embedded into the poor soul's skin.
They opened the huge square door of the entrance where Jared saw all the riches of lavish wealth hidden behind their bland white walls. It was tall enough for terraces to line the sides with gardeners scaling the walls in constant maintenance of the lush mixture of floral. More than a few dozen well-maintained fruit trees flourished to the top of a flat glass roof and a carved river cut through the white stone floors in the shape of the four-pointed star of the gods.
Jared stepped carefully over it taking in the oasis of the land.
"Is there something I can do for you?" A man spiritlessly asked, coming from one of the side entrances.
Jared gazed over him. He didn't look as confrontational as his gruff voice sounded, with disheveled brown hair falling down his back and a plan outfit nothing like the gauze garbs the servants wore. If anything his puffy shirt and tight-laced pants looked like something a seaman would wear, and he did have the familiar dark tan of the Eastern merchant traders of the coast as well as their unmistakable translucent eyes that looked lizard-like with bright yellow veins webbing out into dark yellow iris.
"I'm here to meet with the council of Salaris," Jared said.
"Emorian," The man accused, slinking closer with a particular smoothness in his steps. A belt around his small waist sheathed a thin sword, and Jared eyed it cautiously. "What could an Emorain be doing all the way on this side of the world?"
Jared was shocked for the man to see through him with just a few words. He had reduced his accent over the years so that it was almost undetectable and the man picking up on it was extremely unsettling. Jared paused to gather a reply that still kept alive Devane's wishes that it not be known he was on reconnaissance for Etilia.
"I've just come to speak," Jared answered, giving away as little as possible.
The man's eyes dragged across Jared's body. "I highly doubt that." He replied, crossing the distance towards Jared so fast his feet didn't even look like they touched the ground as he rammed a sword towards Jared's chest.
Jared's reaction was quick enough to disintegrate half of the blade with destruction magic that would have impaled his heart otherwise.
"And you're a graduate of Attwood." The man gleaned from Jared's expertly trained use of magic. He carelessly threw the destroyed weapon to the side. "Which means you're definitely not just here to speak." The man shot forth light magic with speed unmatched by anyone Jared had ever face.
Jared figured he must have died as he clenched his eyes to only see black, because there was no way he could have formed anything near enough as powerful to block such an attack, but a voice broke forward that sounded as the only thing more powerful than the attack it preceded.
"He is here for me!" A woman announced in a long flowing silk gown of the bright orange colors of the desert lands. She had gotten between the men in a blink of an eye as all servants instantly bowed their heads to her. The necklace and many other pieces of jewelry she wore housed large crystals of all different colors but unmistakable shined to reveal they were all magic enhancing stones. She wore more than he had ever seen one person carry at a time, and by her prompt demonstration and the confidence in her stance, he was sure she knew how to use them to a wide and lethal accuracy.
Jared gaped at the woman but not for her absolute beauty but because he was finally able to recognize those fine features. "Yosephine?" Jared gasped, finding it almost incomprehensible for it to be so.
Yosephine smiled at Jared with dazing brown eyes that matched her silky hair. "It's been quite a while."
Jared's assailant looked between the two with a raised brow. "You two know each other?"
Yosephine glared at him, her eyes changing into a dangerous brown-yellow as only the people of her country could. "Even if we did not, it is not your place as a guest yourself to attack anyone in our kingdom, Bacchess." She threatened her womanly voice holding an undeniable amount of authority, "No matter how strong our ties with Estera are, it doesn't excuse your behavior."
"You may regret that." He muttered, sizing Jared up.
"I would never regret protecting a friend," Yosephine said, placing a hand across Jared's chest. "Especially one so dear and old."
Jared could only bring himself to stare back at her, still shocked silent by disbelief.
"Friends." Bacchess scuffed, while stalking off. "Let's see how long that'll last."
"Let's get you set up in one of the guest chambers," Yospheine said, ushering to the slaves to get his belongings. They jumped to obey with just one wave of her hand in their direction. "One far away from Bacchess."
"Thank you," Jared said, getting led deeper into the building. Anyone they passed on their way, slave or other, immediately froze upon seeing Yosephine and bowed their heads. She didn't acknowledge any of them as she walked with the dignity and respect of a queen. Jared kept stealing glances of his old friend trying to connect any similarities from the past to the woman he saw now. Physically she still had the same shape to her face, the same features, but it all sat differently as if everything about her had come into perfection. He wondered if it was that sharp beauty that made everyone they passed stare at her in awe, but more than amazement what he read in their faces was fear. Jared swallowed wondering if he should feel the same way too.