CH 4: Alva

My hands grip the hilt of my sword tighter, as Johnathan pushes on the spikes pinning Emelia to the wall deeper into her flesh.

Emelia screams, then passes out.

"Damn you, Johnathan! Leave her be!" I shout.

Jonathan laughs.

"I will not because I'm in a position where you can't stop me no one can! I have won this round, Alva." Then his magic glows around his hand.

The magic twists and turns until it takes on a liquid-like form. It mold's itself into a small spike.

"Now watch as I save the world by curing it of its disease." He rears back the spike to kill Emelia

"No!" I scream.

"Golem Strike!"

The magical barrier above me shatters.

The prince stops his attack as the magic that made the barrier tumbles to pieces. A large man drops from above and lands next to Johnathan.

Johnathan is sent flying into the wall away from Emelia. I smile at who now stands before me.

"Father glad you are back," I say as The Lamden Star stands before me.

"Seems like you kids have been having a lot of fun since I've left." He says as his voice rumbles the ground.

He hasn't changed much he is still as tall as he was, with big broad shoulders way too muscular for a normal man. Long brown hair and hazel green eyes, and he seems to have grown a bit of a beard.

"Now tell me what the hell is happening?" He asks, his hands still glowing with magic.

"The Ember's have attacked Master Star," Sakura says.

"Hmm, so they've finally made their move I see." He turns and looks at Emelia.

"Somebody get her down and have Rene start on healing her. I'll finish up our newly risen prince and his squad."

Lamden walks away.

Sakura and Rene rush over to remove Emelia from the wall.

I send the remaining soldiers to try and find the hostages that the Ember's deam to have.

Looking at the hole in the wall where Johnathan flew through. I can't help but be glad that father has arrived.

If Johnathan did not have hostages I could have taken him. Or at least I think I could? His aura is now hundreds of times stronger than before his death ten years ago.

"He somehow has become much stronger than before how?" I say to myself.

Opening my senses I'm struck by a ghastly aura from Johnathan.

Fates I've never felt an aura so full of anger but? Is it even Johnathan's soul in his body anymore?

Now Johnathan has pulled himself out of the hole he was sent through. He smiles at Lamden and laughs hysterically.

"Oh dear, Lamden how are you, my old teacher?" Johnathan says through fits of laughter.

Lamden stops a few steps from Johnathan.

"Prince I would say it's a pleasure to see you somehow but you've seemed to have caused harm to my people," Lamden says his voice low and menacing.

There's a spike in his magic and I can tell his nerves are being grated like a block of cheese.

"I've been resurrected! Given the task to bring about the New World. This world has been tainted by a disease that must be purged before it can be reborn." Johnathan says excitement dripping from his voice.

"Resurrected by whom? All the necromancers died in the civil war none of them escaped. I made sure of it." Lamden says.

Jonathan scoffs distastefully.

"Disgusting to assume one of those barbarians can bring about the Ember's. No, my master brought all of us back to do his bidding!" He shouts gleefully.

Lamden shakes his head. "Since when have you ever listened to the decrees of others, dear prince?" Lamden says.

Again Jonathan laughs. "Master has cleared me of my childish antics and made things clear to me. The clouds have subsided from my mind and the flames of life burn through me!" He says.

"Who is your master?" Lamden flares his aura and the pressure from his magic is as heavy like a blacksmith striking an anvil.

Johnathan is quiet then he speaks. "Phoenix the never-ending God of fire and rebirth."

Lamden's power level rises to immense levels he activates his aura causing the ground to shake and rumble. The earth below begins to rise to Lamden's hand. You can feel and see the air rapidly twisting and turning becoming a violent gale as the magic in the air reacts to Lamden's powerful aura.

What is he doing?

Then the rocks at his hand begin to form into a fist and my eyes grow wide from the realization.

"Father don't! You'll kill everyone in a hundred-mile radius!" I shout over the wind.

But my words are lost as his magic keeps rising higher and higher. Then it stops as all the wind and his aura dissipates. At Lamden's hand which is now a giant fist made of pure stone. What sits in the palm of his hand is a small concentration of magic.

Jonathan cackles with laughter. "Whoa did I touch a nerve teacher? That name a bit of a sore subject!"

Father in one fell swoop punches him in the face knocking Johnathan to the ground. Father towers above him hand pointed down at Johnathan.

The magic casts a sickly green color on the prince.

"You'd never do it! If you use that attack you'll not kill only me but half the city will die!" Johnathan says his confidence not wavering even under certain death.

Father speaks. " If you work for Phoenix then I cannot allow you to live. He can't be arisen. I will change this world's fate!"

Lamden raises his giant hand as high as it can go and tries to bring it down on Johnathan. Father's normally calm eyes now burn with magic.

"LAMDEN NO!" My voice cracks. I want to teleport but I'd die in the attack.

Then the sky goes dark, clouds form above me and a huge pillar of light drops from the sky stopping between Lamden and Johnathan.

A woman now stands between the two men. She has her hand on Lamden's golems fist.

She blocked the attack.

She is clad in a tight blue cloak her entire body wrapped in bandages. All you can see of the woman under the bandages are her dark yellow eyes.

"That will be the end of this." The woman in a quick flash stands a few steps away from Lamden, a knocked out Johnathan at her feet.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"Irrelevant. Hear this soldiers of the Cardinal Kingdom it is not your kingdom we quarrel with. Give us Emelia and we shall leave and allow you to join the master in his new world." The woman bends down and flips the massive body of Jonathan over her slender shoulder.

"Never," Lamden says his giants hand now vanished.

"Then you leave us no choice as of this instant The Phoenix Embers declare war upon the world. Pray to your gods for this world will soon be reborn to a new lord." The woman turns to walk away then stops.

She turns her head to the side, one eye looking over her shoulder. "Alva, you wish to escape your horrid fate?" My heart drops.

"How do you know about that? No one should know about that!" The woman cuts my words off. As my anger peaks.

"Kill Emelia she wronged this world. She will bring about something this world has never seen before. An idea so unfathomable that your minds couldn't begin to comprehend. Kill her before that time comes." Then in a beam of light, the woman disappears and the fight is over.

At least four hours pass as clean-up happens in the stadium. Soldiers round up the people who were traumatized by the situation in the stadium. They were given treatment by our Dreamers to help heal their minds so they are not plagued by nightmares. Now I sit outside my father's office wanting to talk with him.

Just go and talk to him Alva sure you have not seen him in approximately three years doesn't mean he's changed. Stop this doubt just go and ask him what he discovered you are not a child any longer you're a soldier of the table of Nine.

Once I convince myself to enter the door a hand goes onto my shoulder. I turn to it and see Sakura standing behind me.

"Lady Alva, glad to see you. Trying to talk to your father?" Her silver eyes are still as intense as the first time we met.

"Sakura hello thank you for your help earlier," I tell her and she nods.

"It is my duty," Sakura says with a slight bow.

Her eyes are as calm as they always are. I can tell she regrets ordering those men to their deaths. Different from the old Sakura. She would have done it willingly.

"Those men's deaths were not your fault Sakura." She looks at me.

"Yes, I know but leading men to their deaths will never be as easy for me as it used to be." She says a slight tremble at her lips. But it quickly disappears.

"So what can I do for you Sakura? You would not hunt me down for no reason?" I ask her and she nods.

"Correct. I have found you to ask what we should do with Emelia?" Her silver eyes gleam.

"Not sure that would be up to The King. When she wakes up from her injuries there will be a council meeting and then he will have a meeting with the Seeker's after." I tell her what the king mentioned to me before I came here.

"Well, these Embers were nothing but a small uprising a year ago. They have now recruited a dead Prince, the King of Giant's, and that user of Light who for sure due to her immense power is their number one. Not to say the Saber siblings." Sakura states.

As she runs down the list.

Sakura continues to speak. "I believe we should kill Emelia now to avoid a senseless war," Sakura says nonchalantly.

My blood begins to boil slightly. " You suggest we just kill Emelia? Clearly, she has no insight into who they are? She's not dangerous."

But a part of me knows something is wrong with that girl. Her aura sometimes shows signs of ghastly power. Even more than Jonathan's newfound power.

Sakura keeps my gaze. "I am the head of the security division for the entire Kingdom of Cardinal. If anything threatens my home I will crush it human or not." Then she walks away.

She might regret sending those men to die but if Sakura thought someone's death was worth it for the kingdom she'd kill them in a heartbeat.

Well, she hasn't lost her razor edge. She may be a bit softer. But she will never lose that killer instinct that's just who Sakura is.

Taking a deep breath I turn back to the door and enter my father's office.

He sits at his desk doing some paperwork. Father looks up at me and smiles.

"Alva hello glad you stopped by," Father says.

I nod. "Father, hello," I say.

Looking around at his office, and it's still the same. A small bookshelf of documents and books behind him. His large wooden desk stained a darker shade. Papers all over his desk some stacked but mostly messy.

"How was your trip?" His smile fades.

His green eyes go still.

I still feel like a child still under those eyes.

"Straight to it then. Well, I thought I had a breakthrough that I tried to follow up on last year. But it turned out to be another dead end." Father says sullenly.

"Then you found nothing?" I ask already knowing the answer.

He nods. "Yes, that does not mean there isn't a way." He says.

His eyes are still full of determination even after searching for so many years.

"You should give up father, my Fate has been set in stone. You know your search... it...is futile." I flinch as he pushes back his chair. As he stands up he then slams his hands on his desk.

"HOW CAN YOU ASK ME THAT!" Father shouts as the walls rumble shaking the castle walls.

He takes in a deep breath and sits down again.

"Fate can always be changed, Alva. I will spend my entire life finding a way to change the future. You're still very young you do not deserve such a burden on your shoulders." He says with a hitch caught in his throat.

Father, I'm sorry.

He wipes at the single tear fallen down his cheek.

"Father, you have spent twenty-years searching. I'm twenty-eight now I've come to terms with my Fate. You've been looking for a way to change my future since you found me that day." I say.

He shakes his head. "I'm your father if I have to tear the world apart to make sure you can live your entire life I will." He says his eyes full of the same rebellious look he has always had my entire life.

He absolutely could rip the world in two if he wanted that's just who father is.

He waves a hand in the air. "Enough about this tell me how is your sister doing?"

Again I'm sorry about all this father I truly am.

"Rene is fine. She's busy with the hospital and keeping all doctors in line around the kingdom." I say.

Father nods." Good, hopefully, she's lost that mean streak of hers."

I chuckle."She still teases everyone. I doubt she will ever change that." I feel a smile pull at my lip.

"Sweet mother she's twenty-one now I'd hope she would stop the teasing." We both laugh.

"Has she had any breakdowns recently?" Father asks as our laughter ceases.

I shake my head." No, she has been fine, no breakdowns for a year or so now.

"Good, I'll go visit her later when I'm done with my reports." He says scribbling something down on a piece of paper.

"That would be a fine idea. After the twenty-four-hour procedure, she just pulled to save Emelia she might want the company." He nods and I sigh.

"I need to go father, it's about time to get ready for the debriefing soon." He nods. I turn away.

"Very well, I have one as well. Hmm, I shall go to it after I visit your sister." With a bow, I leave the room behind.

The door closes behind me and I let out an exasperated sigh.

"Oh, father, when will you realize saving me from my Fate is impossible. Fate is the future and when it's been decided there is no changing it."

A deep breath in helps me let go of the emotions clawing their dirty hands into my mind. With a second deep breath, I lock them away again.

"You of all people should understand that."

One final deep breath sigh and I head off to do my reports before the meeting.