chapter 2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Lilanya~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking up into this man's face I had seen no one so handsome in my life he had the lightest brown eyes I had ever encountered and his hair was so light it almost looked blonde, but he was ripped away from me and I don't know whether to thank Bolfara or to fight him.

Raz was the first one to notice my bracelet was no longer on my wrist.

"Holy shit Lil! Your soulmate bracelet, it's not there anymore!!" This got Bo's attention they both stared at my wrist where my soulmate bracelet should be.

Bo started looking around as if someone was going to just jump out of the bushes near the castle.

"His long gone Bo" I said while rubbing my wrist

"I lost sight of him when you pulled me out of that place,"

Bo looked at me with wide eyes and spoke "Lil I am..." I cut him off

"It's for the best anyway with the battle in a week this," I waved one hand at my arm "is just a distraction." It hurt saying it out load.

"But Lil you met your other half and you will come back from the battle." Raz looked almost angry with me.

They had both found their soul mate long ago while they were still kids and have been together ever since.

"I need to get to bed guys I have a big day planned for tomorrow, lots of training." I smiled half-heartedly as I walked past them into the place and to my room.

After getting ready for bed, I laid there and thought about him as my soulmate. Where has he been all this time? Why could I have found him sooner or not at all?

I tossed and turned all night when I heard the birds chirping I knew it was no use. So, I drew up and made ready for my morning run.

I stopped to watch the sun rise it wasn't as bright as I hear it is over on the other side we have too many clouds, but today it felt like the brightest star I had ever seen. I had another reason to overcome the fight: I wanted to meet my soulmate again, and the only means to do that is to prevail in the competition.

Walking back to my room down the darn empty halls of the place, I notice my door is ajar. Pushing the dark wood open the rest of the way, I see my mother sitting on my bed staring at a picture of the family.

"Good morning Mother" I lean over to kiss her forehead then head to my wardrobe to get ready for a bath.

"Raz told me what happened last night." She wasn't looking at me but at the picture.

I moved back out from my closet with my black robe wrapped around my body.

"Oh?" I knew what she was talking about, but I wasn't ready to talk to her about it just yet.

"Your father arrived home late last night he wants the family to gather for breakfast to celebrate you turning 20." She sighed as she rose and turned to the door looking back at me with sad eyes, she smiled anyway then she was gone from my room.

I stood frozen to the floor. My father is home. Looking around my room as if I could escape only looking at what I see every day. My bed pushed to the corner piled with green and black blankets, books and weapons lying all over the floor. I was not ready to meet him.

I wore a simple black dress to breakfast, seeing as it might as well be matching the mood of meeting my father. Leaving my room, I made my way down the hall to the dining chamber; it was more lively now that my father had returned. Maids we're opening blinds in a faster pass the normal dusting things as they went.

The man I call father is not a pleasant person. He wasn't born to be the emperor the oracles found him at an orphanage when he was a baby; they claimed he would be the future King. The King at the moment had three sons to take over the throne, so few individuals believed what they said, but the emperor at the time allowed the oracles to raise my father as they saw fit.

As years went by and my father grew people forgot the oracles' prophecy, then one day the eldest son perished. They say his heart stopped, and they found no foul play. People mourned the first prince, but promptly put all their hopes in the second prince. Soon after though the second prince died while out on a hunt, the manservant with him during his death revealed it was the biggest black bear he had ever encountered. After this the communities whispered that the prophecy was coming true that the kingdom would have a new line of royal blood. It's reported the third Prince was so terrified for his life that he disappeared one night without a trace no one has seen him since. I think the oracles orchestrated the whole situation to get my father on the throne.

Walking into the dining room, two guards opened the doubles door for me. The first element to greet me was my father's furious eyes so deep brown they looked red, we used to joke that his eyes were red because he is always angry now I think it's true.

Walking to where he sat at the head of the dark wooden table, I bent low to the ground.

"Good morning father it is a honor to have you home." I stay bowed for at least five minutes before he allowed me to take a seat.

"I hear you picked up another class while I was away, Lilanya." He said not taking his eyes from me.

I remained to the left of my father with my mother across from me, Raziel down away but siting next to me his wife Zara siting across from him. Bolfara sat at the other end of the table with his wife Vele to the right of him no one had touched their food yet father hadn't allowed it.

"Yes I choose to learn how to fight with a fan. I feel that learning how to turn an everyday item into a weapon is a good thing to know." I glanced to my father he seemed to think is over.

"I see." Is all he spoke he started eating his meal, a sign that we should do the same. The rest of breakfast went on in silence. I wouldn't say the family feared my father. In fact Bo looked up to my father like he hung the sun it made me sick a little. Raz didn't seem to care much for our father, but he has said nothing to me about it, and dear sweet mother loved him with all her heart.

I I hate my father with a passion I believe I despise him more than our enemies in Hikari. When I was 12 I wasn't doing so well in one of my classes and another girl won a spar against me. When I came home, my father dragged me to the training room and forced me to train until my palms were bleeding. While I was on my hands and knees he took the tip of his sword under my chin cutting into my neck, and drawing blood. He told me that if I continually failed at anything ever again, he would kill my mother, or one of my brothers. He said it would be a surprise for me to find out whom he killed. I've hated the man ever since.