Life & Air
The sun was well high in the sky when both Jewels and Raiden left the bedroom clean and refreshed. Roku appears out of thin air and walks two steps behind Jewels.
Sitting down for lunch, instead of sitting across from each other, Raiden sat closely next to Jewels. Their elbows would brush against each other every now and then when they moved their arm.
"Roku," Jewels asked. "Did you get your punishment yet?"
Stepping forward he bends down on one knee and says, "Reporting to Lady Jewels, this servant was punished last night for this servants carelessness and mistake. This servant realizes this servants mistake and will not make another mistake in the future."
"Get up, Roku. In the future, do not kneel in front of me. If you are to be my shadow, my shield and sword, I command you to never kneel again. Your punishment was unjust, I still hold you in high regard. Especially since Senior Disciple Fudo will make my life a living hell should he find out that I bullied you in any way. You were not negligent in your duties. I took advantage of the situation and left, leaving you in trouble. I did not realize at the time how much trouble you would be in if I left on my own."
Standing up and bowing to Jewels, Roku tells her, "This servant is lucky to serve such a magnanimous Lady."
Stepping back to the corner that Roku stood before, Raiden reaches out with his left hand and holds Jewels right hand securely. Jewels looks at Raiden and arches her eyebrow questioning his motive, however he ignored her instead and continued eating.
"So how am I suppose to have Roku help me if he is injured?"
"I will accompany you to swim and find your treasure." Raiden told her.
"But don't you have things to do?"
"Nothing is more important to me right now then to go swimming and hunt for treasures."
"Very well," Jewels agreed. She knew that there was no changing his mind once he decided what he wanted to do.
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At Mirror Lake stood a young lady and five of her attendants. Two maids and three bodyguards. Her delicate features and wafer body stood tall under the shade of an umbrella that her maid held for her.
Amelia Jonas wore a pale pink dress that fluttered when the wind blew. It was as if the wind blew harder, it would carry her along as well. She stood by the lake as she watched a carriage approach them. There was only one man who's carriage that belonged to. And it was Prince Raiden. The all black carriage with six black horses, driven by one is his black clothed bodyguard is synonymous with his black, ruthless soul.
The reason he is known as Demon, is because he was the reason why the 4 kingdom war ended. He was kidnapped by Therland Kingdom 20 years ago. The Therland King thought that if they kidnapped him and held him as ransom, they would have Redbane under their thumb forever. With the Redbane soldiers chasing the Therland soldiers, he somehow escaped during the chase and tried to cross a raging river. Getting swept up in the currents, The Therland soldiers fled back to their territory as Redbane soldiers traveled down the river to see if they could find their young prince.
When they finally found him, he was still alive but barely breathing. When he came to, he found out that him and his soldiers were taken captive by a platoon of Therland soldiers by chance. They held him captive while word was sent out to King Michio. For five days and nights, the Therland General tortured Raiden's soldiers in front of him. Too young to help, all he could do was to plead for mercy and for their life. By the end of the fifth day, two soldiers were already dead, while the other four were barely holding on themselves. When the death of the third soldier happened before him, something in Raiden broke and he lost consciousness. When he woke up again, the whole Therland platoon were dead. They were burnt as if they were struck by lightning. Their bodies were frozen, bent and twisted as their backs were facing him. As if they were running away from him, trying to save their life. Raiden freed his soldiers and fell unconscious again. When he woke up, he was back home and in his room. From that day on, he changed and was thusly given the name Demon.
As the black carriage stopped in front of Amelia, she and her people bowed their head to him as he stepped down. Amelia's eyes narrow as Raiden turns around to help his guest step down. Her smiling face turn sour as she saw the wasteful trash of Madewell step down afterwards.
Amelia stood there watching the two, she could not interrupt them before Prince Raiden acknowledged her existence. She was not part of royalty or nobility, although she was the daughter of the richest merchant in all 4 Kingdoms, she was still just a commoner. She saw how attentive Raiden was to Jewels as he gave orders to his bodyguards. Studying Jewels she saw that she was wearing a knee length white dress that accentuated her curves. Although it was not form fitting, it was altered to fit her body to perfection. The only jewelry she wore was black diamond stud earrings and a metal bracer on her right arm. She could barely hear their conversation but she knew Jewels was not happy and whispered harshly toward Raiden. Amelia smiled wickedly and couldn't wait for Prince Raiden to put a sword through her body.
"I told you that we should have waited to put this on you until your grandfather had a look at the bracer." Raiden reminded her.
"Yes, however you're the one that put it on me in the first place and now it won't come off!" Jewels sternly whispered to him.
"It was an over sight on my part." He admitted. "At least now no one would be able to steal it from you."
Scoffing at him, she couldn't believe his audacity. "As if I would let anyone steal this away from me, let alone you or Roku would stand for it."
"You have not thanked me for your birthday gift." Raiden told her.
"Who says I won't thank you later?" Jewels teased.
Groaning, Raiden holds her hand tightly.
"You should have thanked me in the carriage."
"What? Why would I do that when it is my intention to watch you anticipate the rest of the day when I will thank you for my birthday gift."
Groaning again, Raiden pouted. "Now who's bullying who?"
"Only I can bully you." Jewels said.
"Yes," Raiden whispered as he stepped closer to her and pushed a wayward strand of hair back behind her ears, "only you."
"Lets go swimming, shall we?" Jewels quickly said as she felt her heart started beating loudly. "Lets go find the Valewort herb."
Nodding once he led her towards the lake's shore, passing the group of flies that bowed down to him, he did not acknowledge their presence and kept walking. When Jewels passed them, that was when one of them caused a commotion.
"What do you have there on your arm!" Amelia shrieked! "Take it off right now!"
Amelia had came to the lake for that very reason. She finally had found the Infinite Galaxy bracer and it was in Jewels arm. She had been searching for it for five years since she heard the story from the fortune teller. Known for it to be a myth, the Infinite Galaxy is said to have infinite power capability. The owner of the bracer will rule the world and will only come off once the owner dies. The last owner was a hermit cultivator that only used the power to save himself. Because of the valuable bracer, there were many assassination attempts and duels that he fought to steal the bracer from him. Every assassin attempt and duel were won by him, killing those who tried. To deter people from trying to steal the bracer from him, he would string their body up around the forest where he lived to warn his challengers to value their lives. Unknown how or when he died, the bracer disappeared without a trace leaving the Infinite Galaxy bracer a legend. The only reason Amelia found clues to Mirror Lake, was five years of first looking back on 500 years of history of any mention of the bracer, then it was years of stealing recorded family history books from nobles. It was five years of her spending her time, energy and money to find any and every kind of information she could find on it. She was obsessed with it, wanting to own it for herself so she could own the world. She was tired of the royals and nobles pretending to accept her into their crowd when really they only tolerate her because of her family's name of being the wealthiest merchant in all 4 Kingdoms. She wanted to own the world so everyone could no longer look down on her as a simple commoner and she would be able to marry any Prince she wanted to. When she thought she finally found a solid clue to where it could be located, instead she found it on the hand of the hateful wasteful trash. She was so mad she was willing to kill her for it.
"Take that bracer off right now!" Amelia shouted! "That bracer belongs to me!"
"Really?" Jewels said as she held her arm up. "Because it has always belonged to me. I never thought the richest, eldest daughter of the Jonas House of Trade and Commerce would be a little lying thief."
"You took that from me!" Amelia defended herself.
"Where's the proof?"
Growling in frustration she said, "Do you even know what that bracer is? You're unworthy to have it! You're just a wasteful trash that nobody wants! You're just a waste of space!"
Raiden stepped forward standing next to Jewels, he was ready to kill the annoying flies in front of him, but was stopped when Jewels held out her arm to stop him.
"You want this bracer? I'll sell it to you." Jewels said.
"How much!" Amelia asked excitedly. "I'll pay whatever you want for it."
"I really don't think you'll be able to afford it." Jewels teased her as she traces the golden thin vine design.
"Father lets me have all the money I want! Whatever price you want, I can surly pay for it." She declared.
"You sure about that?" Jewels said as she slowly palmed her dagger that slid down from her sleeve.
"I'll pay you anything you want for it!"
"Then it's a deal," Jewels said.
Before Amelia could ask her what the price was for the bracer, she found herself holding her throat as a wet liquid ran through her fingers. Holding her hand up, she noticed how red the liquid looked on her hand and fell face down first. Jewels turns her body around by kicking her over and crouches in front of her wiping her dagger on Amelia's clothes.
"Ahhh!" Jewels sighed contently. "I feel great!"
Amelia's eye still held light in them as she gasped for air.
"The last time we met, I promised myself that the next time I see you and you disrespect me in any way, I would have your head. The Goddess blessed me with this fine opportunity to receive this gift on my birthday of all days." Waving the bracer in front of her face she continues, "Too bad you won't be able to enjoy this beautiful bracer. My price, is your life and now that I've taken it, I think I'll be taking this bracer back as well. Seeing that it doesn't want to come off my beautiful arm."
The light from her eyes darkened and Jewels stood up to look around her. Roku and the other bodyguards already killed Amelia's maids and bodyguards. They were so efficient that no one moved or screamed for help.
"Dispose of their bodies well," Raiden ordered as he linked his arm around Jewels waist and led her toward the lake. "Come, let us swim before the sun sets."
Letting Jewels break away from his grasp, she runs towards the lake, carelessly taking off her clothes and throwing them over her shoulders, he soon realized that she was going to take everything off. Before he was able to reprimand her of her indecency, her naked body was already in the lake. He realized that from the moment she threw her clothes at him, he had been standing there staring at her.
"You going to stand there all day and watch me or are you going to come in and join me?" Jewels mocked him. "Didn't you accompany me here so we can swim?"
Smirking Raiden takes off his clothes slowly, piece by piece. Daring Jewels to look away. When the final piece of clothing fell away, he walked forward into the lake holding her heated gaze. When he finally reached her, he felt her arms reach out wrap around his shoulders. She pulled herself closer to him and with his guard down, Jewels pushed him down the lake, dunking his whole head underwater before making her escape.
When he came back up to the surface, he could not see a trace Jewels around him. He projected his energy in a radius and found that Jewels had already swam away from him. As she came up for air to congratulate herself, Raiden drove down and headed her way. When she looked at where she left Raiden, she knew she was in trouble and started swimming as fast as she could. Feeling a hand wrap around her ankle, Raiden dragged her under water and closed in on her, holding her close to him as he swam up to the surface. When they broke the surface, his lips claimed her lips hungrily. One arm wrapped around her waist as the other arm wrapped under her butt. Her hands in his hair, pulling and encouraging his behavior. Raiden moaned and Jewels could feel him getting excited. Wrapping her hand around him, she worked him slow then built him up fast and hard. He grunted with force as his body shivered and came in her hand.
"Had I known how you will thank me when I give you a gift, I would have given you a gift much earlier."
"Who says this is the way I'll thank you every time." Jewels said as she pushed herself away from him. "Besides, you're here to help me find the Valewort herb."
Splashing water at him she turned around a swam away. Laughing, he chased after her and continued his pursuit.
"I hope you know that by taking advantage of me so many times, you are now responsible for my well being!" He declared to Jewels retreating back.
They spent the rest of the afternoon diving and searching the ground floor of the lake. Finding the Valewort herb was tedious however, searching for it with Raiden became a competitive game that drove her to find the herb first. After three hours of no rewards, Raiden became bored and announced to Jewels that he was going back to the shore to rest and order his men to find something for them to eat.
"I'll dive a couple more times then join you on the shore soon." Jewels told him. If she didn't find it today, she would come back tomorrow to find the herb. Once Raiden reached the shore, he turned around and called Jewels name. She waved her arm to say hi back when the sunlight hit her bracer and the vines lit up. The bracer became hot to her skin. Although it did not burn her, she could tell that it felt hot rather cool to the touch when she first put it on.
Placing her arm under the water, she noticed how the bracer lit up with light. Smiling she dove underwater and kicked her way towards the bottom of the lake. She became excited as the light kept shining. Jewels made her way covering one section of the lake slowly making her way to the other side of the lake when something flashed red in front of her. At first she thought it was a fish, however the closer she swam towards it, she noticed how it never moved away from her like other fishes. It waved around like a plant. When she reached above the plant she made a move the grab it. It instead wrapped itself around her wrist. No matter how hard she pulled at the plant, it would not uproot itself from the ground. The plant wrapped tighter against her right wrist, pulling her down closer to the bottom of the lake. Running out of air, Jewels knew she had to do something quick before she drowned, however since she swam in the lake naked, she did not have her dagger that she used to kill Amelia with. In frustration, she pulled harder and wished that she had some kind of blade to cut the damn plant. The light of her bracer turned from a white yellow to a harsh red. The light seemed to burn the plant and where the light hit the vine, it deteriorated into bits, cutting the top of the vine from the root. Desperately swimming up to the surface, she started seeing dots, but could see the how close she was to it. The shining sun was soon blocked by what seemed like a cloud then the cloud descended down to her location. A body in white clothing splashed down in front of her and reaches out to her to help pull her up to the surface. When she took her first breath of air, her body was crushed in Raiden's embrace. Jewels gasped to take large amounts of air into her lungs and tried to control her breathing.
"No more swimming for you, for awhile." Raiden said as he moved back to look at her to see if she was okay.
Nodding yes, she asked. "Can we go back to shore now, I found the Valewort herb." Bringing her arm up, the Valewort herb still wrapped itself around her wrist.
Instead of swimming back to shore, Raiden flew up from the lake and over to the fire that the bodyguards built. When he landed, Raiden grabbed the blanket warming up by the fire and wrapped it around Jewels.
"No more running around naked outside either." Raiden ordered her. "Especially in front of my men."
Looking around, she did not see any bodyguards standing around. She searched through the forest in front of her however she couldn't feel their energy as well.
"They went hunting." He told her.
"Quickly go change and stay by the fire. By the time you are back, they should be back with some game they killed."
Jewels leaves Raiden behind and gets dressed as quickly as she could. The red Valewort herb still clinging on to her wrist, still alive outside of water where it grows. Instead of studying the herb now, she wraps the herb in white muslin and takes it to her bag that was placed next to her clothes. The bodyguards were back and were already skinning and gutting the animals they were able to kill.
For dinner they all had several roasted rabbit and roasted fish. They stayed there until the sun set well behind the mountain and the moon shone in the the sky. Jewels bracer shown a white light blinding all of them before blanking out black. Knowing that this meant something the bracer wanted to show something to Jewels, she got up and started following where the bracer's light glowed the brightest. If she was going the wrong way, the light would turn off, when she was going the right way, the light would be brighter. Without saying a word, they all followed her and made their way deeper and deeper into the forest. Raiden followed right behind her as Roku followed to the side of her. Everyone kept their eyes towards the dense forest looking for any signs of danger.
They walked for an hour before the light on the bracer became the brightest then blinked dark again over and over again. Jewels knew this was the place it wanted to show them.
"Light up the torches," Raiden said. And quickly the night lit up around them. Seven torches were lit as they moved and looked around their surroundings. While everyone looked around them, Jewels looked to the ground and searched.
"Everyone stop moving!" Jewels yelled as she saw why the bracer took them to where they were standing. Everyone froze and watched as Jewels crouched down and started gathering small herbs the height and size of their fingers. From root to tip, Jewels carefully uprooted the plants and placed them on a new white muslin that she placed out for gathering herbs. From one bodyguard to the next, Jewels came close to them than crouched down to dig up the herb. In the end she was able to harvest ten Theraroot herb. It was the last herb that she needed to find for the prescription that Master Doku wrote out for her.
"I guess because its my birthday that I've all of a sudden became very lucky." Jewels said as she wrapped up the the Theraroot herb and placed it in her bag.
"Do you have everything that you need?" Raiden asked.
"Yes, I do!" Jewels said excitedly.
"Then lets go back."
Agreeing with him, instead of walking back, Raiden flew back with Jewels in his arms to the carriage. With the fire out and the camp they made cleaned, Raiden and Jewels made their way back to Brooks Manor.
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When they arrived to Brooks Manor it was deep into the night, however the there were still rooms with light shining through the windows. Worried about why the light was still lit, without waiting for Raiden to get off first, she jumped down the still moving carriage and ran towards the entrance to the left wing. When she opened the door, she was met with two maids she never saw before.
"Lady Jewels welcome home." One of them said as both of them bowed to her. "Your Highness, this servant welcomes you home."
"Why is the light still on? Is there something wrong?" Jewels asked the maid with blonde hair.
"Your family's fine." The brunette maid said. "They are waiting for you in the sitting area."
Walking to the sitting area, she saw Thomas waiting for her outside the door. His face did not show her any emotions so she couldn't tell if something was wrong or not. Opening the door Jewels walks in to a room filled to the brim of flowers in vases with bows tied around them.
"Surprise!" Uncle Jude and Pop pop yelled. "Happy Birthday!"
Zeze stood beside them and held a napkin to her face as if she was drying her eyes. Pleasantly surprised, she ran to them and gave each of them a hug. When she hugged Zeze, she wept louder and clung to her, it had to take Uncle Jude pulling her away for Zeze to let go and dry her tears. Next she walked to Thomas and opened up her arms, Thomas hesitated for a second before stepping into her embrace and hugged her back. It wasn't that Thomas did not want to hug her. The fact has been that although they lived in the same wing together for several years, they weren't close to each other as he was to Jude or Pop pop. And although they were cordial towards each other, the past four months were a little tense with Jewels giving stern and strict orders. His prejudice against her wasteful trash image over rode his common sense that she is a disciple of a herbalist. Even with the evidence of seeing her in her element, he was still skeptical about her skills and abilities. Thomas has seen with his own eyes and hard work, how the exercise routine that she taught them to help Jude walk again was working, however somehow he still held on to some doubt of her. One thing that he would never question from Jewels was her love for her family. She was fiercely loyal and determined to protect them.
After the well wishes and a light snack with everyone, they all turned in for the night. As Jewels made her way to her room, Raiden followed her upstairs and kept following her into her room.
"Where do you think you're going?" She questioned him.
"Didn't we already agree that where ever your bed is, it will be my bed as well?" Raiden said as he started taking off his clothes to get ready for bed.
Grumbling, she takes her night clothes out of the dresser and makes her way to the bathroom. After getting ready for bed in the bathroom, she see him walking in from the hallway back into her room with a towel drying his hair. His night clothes consisted of a black loose pant and a bare chest. Grumbling even more she dried her hair by the window hoping the wind would help dry her hair too. After awhile Jewels notice how quiet the room is and looks to see that Raiden has already laid down on bed and has fallen asleep. Staring at him, she could faintly see scars on his body. They all looked white and old, but thinking back on her old life she knows how much it hurts to get scars and how it reminds the mind about how they got it. Frowning, Jewels approaches the bed and lays down next to him. Facing him, she studies his profile for a long time before her heavy eyelids slowly closed.
Somehow throughout the night, their bodies intertwined, holding each other tightly. One held the other for dear life, while the other held on as if it was air itself.