Alexei Isaura flung his tunic onto the grass. He shuddered at the chilly winds that made immediate contact with his bare, alabaster chest.
The leaves of the surrounding plants were breathtakingly beautiful; they were a soft mixture of red, orange, yellow, and brown. Some were a combination of two or more. Alexei picked up a heart-shaped leaf, and gently ran his thumb along its edge. Before winter came, Rosy would be free from the Devil’s control. At least, that was Alexei’s goal.
He couldn’t do very much at the moment to achieve that goal. Alexei had resolved to commence a search for Cornelia’s bound spirit. He shot a glance at his tunic, whose sleeves were flying gently in the wind. Alexei’s attire from when he had met Rosy to presently had changed completely. From royal attire, he had fallen to wearing simple tunics and pants.
This change in no way altered his physical build or appearance. Alexei was a man of unbelievably good looks and a lean build. He had inherited his appearance from his charismatic but scheming father, Ciceron Isaura.
Ciceron Isaura was a man from legends. He had stretched out his single life from when Queen Cornelia lived to just three years before Rosy was born. His methods were known solely to himself. He lived for centuries. He continued to affect Tytania’s political and economical affairs throughout the course of his arduously lengthy life.
His character had been that of a fighter. Ciceron Isaura never surrendered or succumbed to any threat or luxury. He was loyal to Tytania, and worked for its prosperity. However, his methods were inhuman, deceiving, and sometimes he resorted to scandals.
Ciceron had had only two wives. His first wife was unable to give birth, and as Ciceron lived on, she aged and passed away normally. Ciceron didn’t remarry until Queen Vesta was crowned, which was exactly five hundred and seventy years after his first wife’s death.
His second wife passed away while giving birth to Ciceron’s only son, Alexei. Ciceron cared for Alexei until he was twelve years old and then finally surrendered for the first time; he gave in to the boredom of living. Alexei was abandoned by his father, but Ciceron had left more than enough money for Alexei’s living and education.
Alexei’s existence was soon forgotten. He passed the Academic Mark, Elemental Mark, and Magicals Mark under a different surname.
Then, Alexei was resolved to seizing the Bahamut for himself after hearing of the quiet plot to re-raise the Devil. He succeeded, and passed an uneventful year at the dragon king’s lair.
When he returned, he learned of Artemis accompanying Euphrosyne Rains. Alexei knew Artemis, and although he had never told her, he had seen her, Allegra, and Demetri during the cheerful moments of their childhood. The first time they had dwelt upon the subject, Alexei had blurted Allegra’s name out unknowingly.
But he had heard of Artemis’s reputation as a merciless killer as well. Alexei initially suspected Artemis to be in collaboration with Demetri, and had tried to eliminate her in order to protect Rosy. However, he was pleasantly surprised to find that Artemis had indeed turned over a new leaf.
Alexei smiled, and quickly donned his tunic. The sun was setting. It was time for him to begin his newest quest.
-
The Exedras Twins, Demetri, Cytheria, and Artemis sat in a circle around the dining table. Demetri had called for a discussion for clarity of their actual plans.
“My Queens,” Demetri commenced, “It’s your call.”
Fortuna took the lead, “Firstly, we’re going up against a supernatural being. He’s the Devil of Tytania, although inferior to our God. We must curb the Devil’s need for ‘entertainment’ as quickly as possible, for as long as possible.”
Beatrice continued, standing up, “But, we cannot directly fight him without having him in front of us. Taking Rosy’s life is a solution, but a very temporary and unreliable one. The Devil would just claim the soul of another young, pure one like her.
“The situation will only deteriorate,” Demetri nodded, “So what are we planning to do? We cannot extract the Devil’s tear from Rosy without harming her fatally, or destroying her soul.”
“Yes, we can,” Beatrice smiled kindly, “We have more than enough ability and people to do it.”
“How do we do it?” Demetri inquired.
“It follows the same process of extraction, by restraining the subject to a wooden board or wall. The incantations follow, which I’m sure you are familiar with, Demetri. As soon as the incantations end, a person with a Lemare can cut Rosy’s chest slightly, and then the speaker of the incantations must close the wound with his hand,” Beatrice explained.
“A Lemare?” Cytheria interrupted, but with good reason.
“A Lemare is a spiritual connection between a beast, a raised or supernatural being, or an ornament imbued with magical power and a normal being,” Fortuna replied, “In our forces, we have Arisa that has a Lemare with Artemis and Demetri, we have Allegra who has a Lemare with her own master, Alexei who has a Lemare with Bahamut, us, the Queens, who also have a Lemare with Bahamut, and finally, Vesta, who has a Lemare with me and Beatrice.”
“Why do you and Vesta have a Lemare?” Cytheria inquired.
“Vesta used the dragon to raise us, thus establishing a connection,” Beatrice replied, and turned quickly to Demetri. “We can remove the tear from Rosy, but we must do it after we gain Cornelia’s power.”
“Why is that?” Demetri was busy in speculation. The Exedras twins did not answer.
“Are we actually going to reunite the tear with Xerxes’s mirror, and release the Devil?” Artemis demanded, “That’s too dangerous!”
“No, that isn’t it,” Demetri’s eyes were wide as he met the Queens’s smiling ones. The Queens were geniuses.
“This is not our idea,” Beatrice laughed, “This is all Vesta’s carefully thought out plan.”
“What’s going on?” Cytheria and Artemis demanded simultaneously.
Demetri explained instead of the Queens, taking a stand, “If we release the Devil by letting the tear and the mirror reunite, we will be placing all of Tytania in danger. But, Vesta has been searching for Cornelia, is it not? Can you think of any reason why Cornelia would be necessary?”
Artemis rolled her eyes, “Stop asking questions.”
Demetri smirked before continuing, “Cornelia’s spirit was bound by the Devil. Thus, there is aLemare between the Devil and Cornelia. And because of this connection, the power of the Lemarecan be used to transport us to the underworld rather than bring the Devil to the surface world.”
Artemis shuddered at the ingenuity of the plan, but found a fault, “Why do we need Cornelia, then? Can we not simply use Rosy? She has a Lemare with the Devil, as well.”
“Yes, but Cornelia is a two-edged blade,” Beatrice interrupted, because Demetri had fallen into speculation on Artemis’s statement. “You all are young, so you probably are unaware of something important that could have put all of our efforts thus now to waste. In fact, we had forgotten this fact also, but since Fortuna has a constant telepathic link with Alexei Isaura, she caught the gist of his recent thoughts.”
“Alexei?” Cytheria jumped at his name.
“The thirst of the Devil can only be curbed by the power of a King.” Fortuna informed, “We are not Kings. Even though the power of four Queens is four times the power of a single King, it isn’t the necessary element to restrain the Devil, even for a moment.”
Artemis comprehended, and communicated her thoughts quickly, “I see. Cornelia has a Lemarewith both the Devil and King Xerxes. If we are in the underworld, the Devil will reclaim his tear. Thus, the curse on Xerxes’s mirror will be weakened. The power of the Lemare between King Xerxes and Queen Cornelia will break the curse, and she can then summon him to the underworld.”
“Then, all the criteria will be met,” Cytheria nodded, “And we can finally put an end to this torture. Tytania will be safe for an eternity, unless someone else chooses to break the seal encasing the Devil.”
“We will hide the seal,” Demetri said, “We will never let something like this happen again.”
A/N: Thank you for reading, all. And the story will arrive at its climax shortly, and soon after, its end. I'm contemplating on a sequel, but the chances are rather slim..
^_^