Chapter 3~
Adairian looked at his mother in fury. She had caused his betrothed to faint, talking about how she was a forbidden one and how he had covered her markings. He had no idea what his mother was talking about. He looked down to his princess, and saw white swirling marks appear on her arms. The marks traveled down to her fingertips, and he noticed that they reached for the flower.
The flower is open, and it’s daylight. Adairian was amazed, but turned his head when he noticed the flower wasn’t glowing. The white marks traveled to the pot the plant had been placed in on the plane, and began its trek to the opened petals. The swirls touched the golden petals and the flower began to glow. Lianniea was on the ground, in fetal position. It worried him to think that she might be hurt, and his mother was the cause of it.
“What is this? What is this? What is this?” Adairian found his mother repeating, her hands in her hair and her crown-now-sword in a scabbard. He felt his fury fade at his completely bewildered mother. She probably thought of– it hit him like a truck.
Pixies! But how could Lianniea be a pixie?
“How is this possible!” King Malscon-aye boomed when figuring out the problem, too. “I want an Island official at my feet! Right now!” The King raged. His eyes turning a crystal blue, and white fur sprouting from his body, he had bursted from his skin, literally, and in his place stood a white wolf. The wolf was pacing back and forth, its ears twitching in anger. In a split-second, the room began to shake and the four-inch thick marble floor split open and Lianniea fell to the ground. The flower began to dig its roots into the pack soil. When the princess hit the ground, the soil had gone from packed and unnourished, too soft and broken. Grass and flowers began to sprout from the fresh soil. An earthshake broke the windows, allowing the native animals to crawl in and surround the Princess. She was still smiling, and when a tigra curled around the Princess, Lianniea smiled in her peaceful slumber.
“Your Highness, I apologize for my lateness–” An Island official broke through the throne room’s doors, freezing in fear at the chaos. The Princess he had kept the records to lay in the marble floor, surrounded by plants and animals. Soon, though, the King shifted back clothed, and he was fuming. His hands hadn’t shifted back fully, so he still had claws protruding from his fingers.
“Explain this, Mr. Florence! I will not ask a second time!” Queen Fiaira cried out, her tan skin turning into diamond and her sword in her dainty hands. The Island official, Mr. Florence, was faint. He was paling and choking up as he tried to explain the whole dilemma the Princess had caused. Opening his manila folder, he scanned over the papers held captive, holding his breath and taking gasps of air to stay stable. Now would not be a good time for him to have a panic attack.
“King Malscon-aye, I have read here that her eighteenth birthday is tomorrow, and that she her species is undetermined. The Princess is very smart and learns new things very easily. Her artwork from Tower Twelve is being sold at high prince–” Mr. Florence squealed in terror when a bright light flashed from the sleeping princess. Lianniea was glowing, and the marks on her arms were in elaborate swirls, which seemed to be in an ancient language. Queen Fiaria hissed at the princess, the sword glinting in the radiant light beaming off of Lianniea. King Malscon-aye sat slowly on his throne, watching the craziness with an exasperated face. The electricity shut off, and the King observed Mr. Florence fall and crash to the marble floor, backwards. He looked to his son, and saw that he too passed out, but instead of being dramatic, his son had just crumpled. King Malscon-aye looked to his mate who he had found in the markets one day, acting as a spy, and his face blanched in terror.
She had collapsed, her sword becoming a crown once again. He had been married to Fiaria for a few centuries, and she had never passed out. When she had birthed the youngest children, Adairian’s younger siblings, she had a laughing face at the pain. When Malscon-aye asked her about medication she had laughed and told him only is she was dying. It had been three days– it took three days of contractions and delivery pain to deliver the twins. He had a new pride for his wife that day, but right now he was sweating and shaking in his throne when the light crawled up to him and engulfed him in its darkening brightness.
* * *
Lianniea stood in an abyss of nothing. Her mind crawled, searching for something.
Something. Something. Something.
The world was a blur, the echo falling off of nothing. Her eyes closed, her arms and legs hanging in the air. Her body shook quickly, the coldness of loneliness bothering her for the first time in years. She felt the sound of tinkling, and her body heard the feeling of warmth and company. She smiled when she could smell the softness of the fur that wrapped around her, and when she could touch the scent of sunlight. She opened her eyes slowly to witness what was around her, but her eyes squinted when a blinding light flashed. Soon, she could finally see.
Three bodies were crumpled on the barren, desert-like ground; two seemed feminine, and the other masculine.
She looked to her right side, seeing an animal she had seen in her Dangers of the World textbook. It was a tigra. The tigra was purple, clearly female because of the white stripes, and her black irises and white pupils. It amazed her that a creature could seem so exotic, and still be so close to her. It was almost like with the Flagoncide, she was just less terrified and more mystified.
Something. Something. Something.
Her mind still echoed. Maybe this was the something she was searching for. Her body lay on the ground, the tigra looking intently at her. After a few minutes, the tigra pulled itself up, along with Lianniea. When her feet touched the ground, the dust turned to water, and the crusty and broken ground flourished with life. The colors turned from a rusty ash, to a dark chocolate. When she looked to the bodies, she could see them awakening. The women were frozen in terror, it seemed; the man gazed around in wonder and casualty. She pondered for a moment– did she know these people? If so, how did she know them, and how intimately.
Lianniea took another step towards the people, and the ground came to life. Trees sprouting from the soil, growing at an impossible speed, their roots becoming large and bigger than her own self. She gasped at the power that rushed through her body at the touch of the trees. Her hands reached to her head as it began to swirl, swirl, swirl, and colors fusing together, and objects becoming black. Her mind reeled as she fell away from the support of her tigra friend. When her body touched the ground, she felt a heat rush through her body as the trees embraced her and fueled her pain. She felt like the trees were the cause of the flame lit inside of her chest.
Something. Something. Something.
The echo sounded again, and Lianniea managed to piece the colors together. Something was the colors, the trees, and the sunlight. It didn’t matter what it was, as long as it was something, it was connected to her. Her mind opened in awe, wondering if she could connect with the people on the ground– the ones who were in this palace with her.
This was her palace! She was Queen here, and she would rule until the day she–
A sound was heard in the Princess’ mind. Her sense returned to her. The tigra wait patiently, as if knowing the fate the Princess will walk.
Such a fatalist, that cat is.
Sounds of joyous laughter and harmonious singing were heard, and Lianniea finally acknowledged the marks on her arms as they began to move and shift as the sound became louder. Lianniea looked the people in a panic, and began to sprint to them. If those people were the ones singing, it would calm her. But alas, they were not. The people she had marked her friends, even though she had not met them, were even more scared than she was. Even the man had a fear-filled stance. Lianniea was finally close enough to make out small details, like the woman was standing ready fro a fight, and the man was holding the third body on his shoulder, because he had blacked out. Lianniea almost tripped, faltering her movements in shock. The third person had not been a woman, but a man.
“The days the trees return, thy laird,
Shall the joys of thy creatures sing, thy laird,
May the evictions and convictions be raised, thy laird,
For our Queen has returned to us in haste,
May the golden sunshine be warm, thy laird,
For we sing our Majesties’ praise!” The voices were heard closer, and Lianniea screamed in terror when an arrow went flying by her head. As she reached the clearing, and arrow had pierced her shoulder and her blood spilled. Lianniea watched the blood fall, as if slowing down to mock her.
Something. Something. Something.
Lianniea felt a pain in her upper back, and in turn, her muscles tensed. A scream ripped through her as her mind crashed down into the brush, and the colors, objects, sunshine merged together in a hazy field. She felt her hands clench in the feelings rushing through her. Her markings were posed as a viper, ready to strike any living thing that had evil intentions. As Lianniea felt a part of herself rip from her back and fall lifeless under gravity, she felt the wind pick up, feeling her hair whip around her body like a chrysalis. She could feel eyes of everything on her, but paid no mind as a wave of numbness crashed into her being.
Something, darling. You are something, because you are everything. You are the life that breathes through everything.
Lianniea let out a piercing scream as the chrysalis surrounding her tightened to the point it became like a tourniquet. She was terrified, without an idea if she would live or not. She felt her body being pulled back into reality. She was bewildered at the amount of pain she was going through.
Her eyes went wide– she was losing breath. She couldn’t feel her arms, toes, anything.
Stay awake, because if you don’t, you could be lost for eternity.
Lianniea fought againt the black dotting her vision. The chrysalis she was in squeezed once more, breaking almost everything in her body, before shattering and becoming a golden colored dust, which made her body numb. Her body was shaking, her hands moving to cross her chest as she convulsed. On the outside, she could feel she had returned to the throne room. But she could feel the comforting bed of soil, and the tigra keeping her warm on her right. She still had her eyes wide open, and her mouth was foaming as she mumbled words and drooled, not being able to function correctly.
* * *
Adairian looked to his mother in terror. “What’s happening?”
“She’s trying to transition her mind to reality. Her power had no limit in Lyssa-Maniae, the land of insanity and rage. Insanity, that is what leaves no limit or where one is left held back." Fiaria looked to her son and then to the princess on the floor. We sent the pixies there for a reason. She was there ten minutes; imagine what centuries would do. Half of them wouldn’t make it back to Malscon alive. They wouldn’t have any power, either. The barrenness of insanity would be enough to drain them on everything they need to live the voyage back.”
“But Lianniea brought life back there. You saw it–” Adairian was cut off by his mother’s harsh laugh.
“Yes, she did. But she used most of her power, whilst her body was fighting to return back here. She had to bring us back, too. If not, she would be powerless. That's the strange thing about Lyssa-Maniae, if you leave anything there, you return with nothing you posses. Lianniea would be a living ghost if she left us. Her power was too humble to be lost, so it took us back. The trees were like a whipping to those demons, and I think that’s why Lianniea was called upon. Maniae enjoys the insanity that the pixies release, due to the lack of life. Lyssa was probably starved of the frenzy the pixies had long lost to insanity. The lick of unrestrained power was enough to send them all in a rage or frenzy.”
The two stopped talking at the screaming voices of Tatara and Sabanie, two siblings of Adairian and the Twin Terrors.
“Mother, Tatara stole my shoes! Punish her!” Sabanie screamed in frenzy, her hands sparking blue. Her magic was ready to fire. Adairian winced at the sight of his mother’s hard glare. His mother had looked to the children like the two were a wanton outside her and his father’s sleeping quarters.
“Can’t you see your sister-in-law is possibly brain dead at the moment? Why do you think your special, you ungrateful children? I want you to do one thing to make me happy, and I’m given, I’ll break a nail, mother. Or, my boyfriend won’t like me tougher than him, mother. Well, you know what? When you can be grateful for the life I have given you, maybe then I will help! For now, be gone to the first-floor guest rooms, and let me have peace!” His mother was positively heated, he knew he should step away before he receive any pain, but the look on his sisters’ faces broke his heart. But it was too late, Adairian felt the wind rush out of him and the ground come closer when his mother kicked him in his balls. As he watched her walk away, on the floor in terrible pain with tears in his eyes, he saw Mr. Florence wake up from his fear induced black out, and scamper away with a large, wet stain on the back of his pants.
And the picture painted was lovely.