Tessia Eralith POV
It's been a couple of weeks since school has started. After the dance, Arthur and I told our parents about our engagement. To say Mom, Mother, Aya, and Alea squeezed every detail out of me would be an understatement. Everyone was so happy at the news. Mom and Dad sent out messengers informing the Elven nobles of my engagement. According to Grandpa, they weren't surprised to learn it was with Art.
News about my engagement spread around the school like wildfire. The Elven students congratulated me whenever they saw me. I noticed some of the human boys were upset, mostly one in particular.
Recently the mood around Xyrus seemed to have lightened, and people seemed to get along well. Of course, that didn't mean there weren't trouble makers that kept Arthur and the disciplinary committee members busy. Just the other day, Elijah stopped three human nobles from hanging a dwarf in a tree upside down with only his underwear on.
The student council has been as busy well helping Grandma out with all of the administrative aspects. Just the other day we were talking with Grandma, and decided to have a different lance come to the academy once a week. The lance would give a class at the tri-hall and talk about their culture. This way, people of different races could see how the others lived, and what they believed in. Of course this was met with some controversy, as people still didn't think elves and dwarves needed to be at this school. Arthur recommended having extra security during this time, which Grandma agreed with.
You would think that after the dance and my literal engagement with Art, that Clive would leave us alone. But no, he obviously is so arrogant and dense that a day doesn't go by that I don't hear him talking down about Art. Art told me to just ignore it, which is easier said than done. Clive has been trying to stay by my side almost all the time, saying the vice president and president should be seen together. I just kept sneaking away from him and finding my way to Art, who was always happy to have me around.
Other than Clive, the only other person that has been a thorn in my side has been Caera. I honestly don't know what her problem is. The other day I was hanging with Art, and she approached us telling Art they had paperwork to do. We were all about to head to the disciplinary committee room together, when she said I wasn't needed there since it was a disciplinary committee matter. I didn't need to say anything since Art told her that I was more than welcome. And, that he was more than happy to have his fiancé with him. She immediately apologized to me saying she was out of line, but I could tell she was upset about it.
It was currently the night before the start of our weekend, Art, Lilia, and I were going to head to the Helstea estate for the weekend. I told Clive he would be in charge, of course he protested saying I should stay at the academy, and I had no business being with Art and his family. I had to remind him I had every right to be there, since he was my fiancé, which seemed to upset him. I told him his responsibilities and what needed to be done while I was gone, and not to screw it up.
"But president, I st-."
"I asked, if you understand, or do I need to draw you a picture?" I asked with irritation.
Clive just furrowed his brows a little, "I understand, President." Clive said with an attitude.
"Good, then I will leave the rest to you. Just for the weekend though, and try to not screw everything up. Should anything happen, get with Vice Captain Caera, she with be in charge of the disciplinary committee." I said.
"Very well, if something important shall arise, I will contact y-." Clive began before I cut him off.
"No Clive, you will handle it yourself. I don't want to be bothered this weekend. Should the need arise, the director herself will contact either Captain Leywin, or myself. No one else is permitted to contact us. Understood?" I said with a stern voice and a sharp look.
"Pres-."
"Understood?" I asked again with irritation.
Clive just huffed as he reluctantly nodded, "Understood president." Clive said. I just nodded and walked to the door to leave the room.
"President please, you really shouldn't g-."
I didn't let Clive finish as I walked out of the student council room and slammed the door behind me. I took a deep breath as I made my way to the training room. I walked in and smiled as I saw two familiar figures inside. Grandma was standing to the side of the training arena, as Ellie was standing inside the training area with a basic brown wooden bow. Ellie was making arrows made of pure mana, and shooting them at targets.
I watched with a smug smile as Ellie conjured a mana arrow while it was knocked against her bow string. She shot the arrow forward at five targets. Mid flight, the arrow separated making five arrows in total that hit all five targets simultaneously.
"Very good Ellie dear!" Grandma said with a warm smile as she clapped her hands. I started clapping as well, getting the attention of Grandma and Ellie.
"Tess!!" Ellie said as she ran up to me, and gave me a hug, which I returned with a smile.
"Good job Ellie, that was really impressive!" I said with a smile.
"Thanks Tess! Grandma has been helping me a lot!" Ellie said enthusiastically. I laughed a little at Ellie calling her Grandma too.
I looked up and saw Grandma walk up to us with a warm smile as we broke the hug. "Hello dear, where is Arthur?" Grandma asked, looking around.
"He is finishing up some last minute disciplinary committee stuff, and briefing Caera on her responsibilities this weekend." I said with a shrug.
"Very good, I have a carriage waiting for you to depart." Grandma said as she nodded
I nodded, "Thanks Grandma, are you all ready to go Ellie?" I asked her with a smile. Ellie nodded, smiling back at me. I looked up to Grandma, "I'll see you when I get back Grandma." I said as we gave each other a hug.
"Have fun this weekend dear." Grandma said as we broke the hug.
We all left the training room, and Grandma left to go to her office. Ellie and I walked down the hallway past the student council room.
"So is this where you and Arthur both work?" Ellie asked in awe as we stood in the hallway outside the disciplinary committee room.
"Yep, the room to the far left is the student council room, where I work and am in charge of. This room here is the disciplinary committee room where Art works, and he is in charge of." I said as I pointed to each room. Ellie looked at each room with awe.
"This is so cool!" Ellie said. I smiled looking at how excited she was.
"Come on." I said as I took her into the common meeting room. "This is the common meeting room, it's where the student council and disciplinary committee meet. We usually meet here once a week, sometimes more if we need to." I said as we walked around the room. Ellie looked like a child on a field trip as she looked at everything.
As we looked around I hear the room to the student council room open. I looked to the doorway and saw Lilia peek her head in. When we locked eyes we both smiled.
"Oh! I thought I heard people in here!" Lilia said as she walked in smiling.
"Lilia!" Ellie said as she ran to Lilia and gave her a hug.
"It's good to see you Ellie! How's everything going with the director?" Lilia asked.
"It's going good! Are you ready to go home?" Ellie asked.
"Yep, just had to finish up some last minute stuff." Lilia said as she looked at me. "Where's Art?" Lilia asked.
"He's still in the disciplinary committee room." I said as I pointed to the disciplinary committee room.
"Hmmm, he's not done yet?" Lilia asked.
"I guess not. Let's go an-."
"Who is this?" Clive said cutting me off as he walked into the common meeting room looking at Ellie.
"Hello, I'm Eleanor Leywin, It's nice to meet you." Ellie said with a smile.
I saw anger flash in Clive's eyes, "Leywin? As in."
"Let's go Ellie." I said cutting off Clive. Like hell I was going to let him talk bad about Art in front of Ellie, or worse, talk bad about her. Ellie nodded as she seemed to catch on to my tone and irritated look at Clive.
Clive seemed like he was going to say something but Lilia cut him off. "Didn't you have work to do Clive?"
Clive gave her an irritated look. "Don't forget, I am the vice president. Be careful how you speak to me." Clive said a little irritated.
I saw Ellie raise a brow at this. "A little arrogant isn't he." Ellie said as she gave him a judgemental look.
Clive shot her a sharp look while Lilia and I started laughing. "Yes, he is, get back to work Clive." I said as we walked into the disciplinary committee room through the common meeting room.
I looked over to the head of the table and saw Art was looking over some paperwork as Caera was sitting to his right. She was sitting close to him to where their shoulders were touching, and she was looking at the same paper Art was.
'Why is she sitting so close to him? Can't she get her own paper. Like seriously back away from him.'
"Brother!!" Ellie said getting Art's attention.
Art looked up from the paper, and smiled when he saw all of us. "Hey everyone, is it time to go already?" Art asked happily.
"Ya, you've been keeping us waiting." Ellie said which made me and Lilia laugh.
"Aww, you didn't say your sister was so cute Captain!" Caera said as she smiled at Ellie.
'Why would he? It's not like he discusses his family with you.'
"Oh, um thank you! My name is Eleanor Leywin, or Ellie for short." Ellie said with a smile.
Caera smiled, "I'm Caera Crestless, it's nice to meet you Ellie." Caera said with a smile.
Ellie gave a happy smile as she nodded. "Likewise. Come on brother, let's go!" Ellie said in excitement.
Art nodded and smiled, "Alright, but I have one more thing to go over." Art said with a sigh.
"Don't worry about it Captain, I'll take care of it." Caera said with a smile.
"Are you sure?" Art asked.
Caera just laughed a little as she nodded. "I'm sure Captain. Nothing is more important then family." Caera said.
Art smiled as he nodded. "Thank you Caera." Art said.
"Of course, Captain. Have a good weekend, and I'll see you when you get back. Don't worry, I'll take care of everything." Caera said.
"I know you will Caera. Thanks." Art said as he nodded
'Well, at least she's helping Art.'
We all walked out of the disciplinary committee room, and walked to the carriage and got inside.
"How did training go today Ellie?" Art asked her with a smile.
"It went good! Grandma is teaching me so much!" Ellie said with excitement causing all of us to smile.
We rode the carriage making small talk as we made our way to the Helstea manner. Once we arrived, we made our way inside and were told by the maids that everyone was outside. We walked outside to the back and saw my parents, Grandpa, Art's parents, the Helstea's, with Aya, Alea, Sebastian, and their child in Alea's arms. They were all sitting in a circle out back surrounding a fire pit.
"Hi everyone!" Ellie yelled, getting everyone's attention.
Everyone turned to us and smiled saying hello and welcome. We walked to everyone where we shared hugs and got to meet Sebastian and Alea's daughter, Lauriel, and boy was she cute. She had Alea's hair, and Sebastian's eyes.
Alea and Sebastian just sat next to each other shoulder to shoulder. As I looked at them, I could see how happy they were, as they looked at the bundle of happiness in Alea's arms.
We all sat down in a circle making small talk, talking about how the academy is going. Art and I sat next to each to other, while mom was to my right, and mother was to Art's left.
"So how does it feel being in charge of the disciplinary committee and student council?" Grandpa asked.
"It's good, it's a lot of work. But nothing we can't handle." I said with a shrug.
"There are some people who don't appreciate all of the races being together at Xyrus academy, but I can handle them." Art said with a smug smile.
Grandpa just laughed, "Yes, I'm sure you can brat."
"How is everything within the council?" I asked.
"We have been busy. We haven't really had time to do much except handle council related issues." Dad said.
"Has everyone been getting along?" Art asked.
"For the most part. We have had some disagreements, but have been able to work through them." Mom said. Art nodded in response.
"That's good, I'm not sure if you knew, but the children of the other royal families also attend Xyrus academy, and they're on the disciplinary committee with Art." I said.
"Really? That's interesting, we did not know that. We don't really talk about the academy much." Dad said.
After we sat outside for a bit, we went inside and had dinner together. After dinner, we wished my parents, Grandpa, Aya, Sebastian, Alea, and baby Lauriel goodbye as they left. I couldn't help but smile seeing how cute Lauriel was.
We continued making small talk for a bit until it was time to go to sleep. I didn't want to invoke Mother's wrath, so Art and I decided to sleep in our own rooms. I went to my room, got washed up and changed into my nightwear. I laid down in bed and looked to the empty spot of the bed next to me, wishing Art was with me. Although I liked visiting Mother and Father, I hated not being able to sleep next to Art. I closed my eyes pushing down the sense of loneliness as I drifted off to sleep.
---------------------------------------------------
Arthur Leywin POV
Boom!!!
My eyes shot open as buildings burned all around me. I was in the center of some city, with gray boxy-like buildings. People with markings on their bodies ran past me, as others laid dead in the street. I looked at the markings closely, and noticed they were the same markings the man had in my previous dream. I looked around frantically as people stumbled over each other running for their lives.
"Kill them all!!" I heard a voice yell.
I turned towards the voice, and saw a group of five individuals slaughtering the marked people as they ran. However, the thing I noticed the most were their horns.
I took a step forward, when suddenly my surroundings changed, and I was back in the same black octagon room. I watched as the amethyst crystal glowed, and an amethyst person appeared.
"They are close. You must be ready."
"Ready for what!" I yelled.
I sat up in bed breathing heavily in a sweat waking up I looked around as my head felt dizzy.
'What does the dream mean? Who are those people?'
I sat there with these thoughts running through my head when I looked to the foot of the bed and saw Sylvie sound asleep. I laid back down and rolled to my side seeing an empty side of the bed, since Tess wasn't here, I couldn't help but feel lonely. I continued to lay there unable to go back to sleep. I lost track of time until I heard the door to my bedroom open. I looked over and saw mom walk in with a smile.
Her smile faded when her eyes lock onto mine.
"Arthur sweetie, are you ok? I came to check up on you, I didn't think you'd be awake." Mom said as she walked over to me. She sat down on the bed next to me and laid her hand on my forehead. I felt a warm hum as she activated her healing magic. "You feel a little warm." Mom said with some concern.
"I'm ok Mom, just had a bad dream." I said with a fake smile.
"What was the dream about?" Mom asked.
I told her about the dream, about the dead bodies, the horned figure, the black octagon looking room. I told her about my first dream as well, and the similarities. Mom didn't even blink once as she looked at me intently, considering every word I said carefully.
After I told her about the dreams, she just sat there for a minute or two just staring at me. Her facial expression didn't change, not even an eye twitch, like she was stunned.
"Mom?" I said breaking her out of her thoughts.
She gave me a warm smile. "I'm sure it was nothing sweetie. Don't even think about it. Dreams are just dreams. Tell you what, why don't you go and spend the rest of the night with Tess?" Mom said reassuringly.
I gave a surprised look. "Really? But I thought you didn't want us to sleep in the same bed?" I said.
"I can see the dream bothered you a lot. I also know Tess brings you a sense of comfort. So I'm ok with it. But just for tonight." Mom said as she smiled.
I nodded and smiled back, "Thanks mom." I said.
"Of course sweetie." Mom said as she kissed my forehead. I got out of bed and picked up Sylvie as she groaned. I walked to Tess' room with Mom following me.
"Goodnight mom." I said as I gave her a hug. Mom hugged me back and kissed my forehead.
"Goodnight sweetie." Mom said as we broke the hug. I watched as my mom walked away heading back to her room.
I slowly opened the door to Tess's room and made my way inside being careful not to wake her. I saw her laying comfortably in bed and smiled. I laid Sylv down at the foot of the bed who made herself comfortable.
'Are you sure you're ok papa?' Sylv asked.
I looked at her and smiled. 'Ya, I'm ok. Just a little startled is all.' I said mentally as I carefully laid down in bed next to Tess. I rolled over to my side and wrapped my arm around her pulling myself close to her. I felt her shift a little and give off a tired grunt.
"Hmmmmm, Art?" Tess said in a tired, confused voice.
"Shhhh, ya it's me. My mom said I could stay here tonight." I said in a whisper.
I heard Tess give off a happy hum, "Ok, goodnight Art."
I smiled, "Goodnight." I said as I closed my eyes feeling better with Tess next to me in my arms, while I enjoyed the scent of flowers that came from her. However, I just couldn't get those dreams out of my head.
'What could they mean?'