Toward the Veil (Zeal)

With the rattling and shaking of the horse-drawn carriage on the uneven surface, Zeal had commanded that the century move closer to the weakening veil.

Amelia had been awake for some time, her hands wrapped with cloth bandages. The burns undoubtedly caused her great discomfort. Still, she had a smile on her face when she looked at Zeal. The medicine Zeal had given her to alleviate some of her pain seemed to be working.

Annabelle had not woken up since she passed out the day before from what Zeal could only presume was a sensory overload caused by the Zero sense state she was in.

He raised his hand toward Amelia, who sat next to him in the carriage, to remove some leftover debris from her medium brown hair.

Zeal felt slightly uncomfortable as Amelia's body language seemed to say, "I knew you would save her."

"How can anyone be so naïve," he thought. He remembered her doodles in the sand and her general disposition toward him.

"Does she trust me that much? Or is she so afraid to die that she puts on a façade?"

Looking at Annabelle, who lay stretched on the opposite seat of the carriage, he realised that it was no façade. The truth was as simple as she was to read; she ran to him at that moment, genuinely believing that he would save her mother.

"So, she is just naïve then," Zeal thought as he finished removing all the debris in her hair.

The sound of Annabelle waking up was followed by whimpering as she slowly ran her hand down her leg—

"Amelia!"

The carriage began to shake because Annabelle startled the horses.

She is safe. You should be more concerned about yourself, the large oak—

"Amelia, come here! get away from him!"

Annabelle's eyes were filled with tears, and her pupils were fully dilated. She flailed her frail body around frantically, trying to reach Amelia.

As Amelia reacted to her words and the fact that she woke up naturally trying to go to her, Zeal had placed the back of his hand in front of her to stop her from doing so.

You should really stop moving around so much the large oak broke some of the bones in your legs –

"Shut up, let Amelia go!" Annabelle fell off the carriage seat.

He moved his hand toward Amelia's neck, holding her small face with two fingers. Though Amelia did not budge or change her general disposition aside from the concern in her eyes for her mother.

Zeal continued to say. I would appreciate it if you stopped screaming. You are scaring the child - He looked into Annabelle's eyes - Have I made myself clear?

Her frantic screams turned into a focused cry of pain as she looked at her legs wrapped in bandages with fresh blood seeping through.

Zeal picked her up, placing her back onto the carriage seat. She bit her lip in a clear attempt to cope with the pain.

"It seems the adrenaline has run its course; she must have calmed, even if only a little," he thought.

We have some medicine for managing the pain if you would like some.

Annabelle nodded as she switched between looking at her broken legs and Amelia's hands wrapped in bandages.

Zeal took out a mist teal potion from the breast pocket of his white coat that Amelia held tightly over her thighs.

After giving her the potion, he explained that it would take some time before the pain subsided. He told her the theory he had about what she must have felt during that moment before she passed out.

He pulled out his luxurious white porcelain box with the black and gold twin phoenixes beautifully stained on it from under his seat, placing it on his thighs.

I, however, have one question…

How did you know about this weapon box? You seemed to somehow bring it closer to me back at the village.

Annabelle, seemingly still in pain, said that she had seen it at the tent, and it seemed out of place as it was the only thing of any value. However, she stated that she did not deliberately bring the box to him.

She said it felt more like she was speaking directly to him, and he reached for what he held most dear to him.

"If what she describes is accurate, then her power is slightly different from mother's description," Zeal thought, placing his hand over his mouth. "Of course, I had considered that mother may have left out many of the details. After all, I was only ten years old when she was--"

Zeal further thought that if her power was somehow more than simply being able to reach anywhere but had some spatial component to it, allowing her to drag an object or people towards it, a power like that would surely be more fitting of one who was heralded as the second walking natural disaster.

"That would explain where Tilly, who was an Ananke by blood but a child of Nyx, came from," he thought as a piece to a puzzle that had remained unsolved in his mind came to light as he thought about the children he grew up with at the private orphanage his mother ran in secret.

Those children who eventually become his Centurions, his most trusted soldiers, and now Captains who each lead a division of his legion.

Even though they were not all of Nyx's blood, they all believed in his mother's dream and were the closest thing he had left to family. Their desire to fight for the people of Nyx was as strong as his own. He had vowed to protect them as if they were Nyx themselves.

"So, what I felt was the villager's fear," Annabelle asked?

Perhaps, I only know what my mother described. I do not possess that power, but I will need you to learn how to use it. You may be of some use to me yet.

Zeal watched Annabelle glance at Amelia as her head nodded in agreeance.

"She seems to catch on quickly, but the smell of burnt cloth from their clothes is quite bothersome." he thought.

Stop the carriage at the lake ahead! Zeal commanded.

"Where are we going," Annabelle asked?

There is something I would like to see for myself.

He told her that he had a small medical team with him, so they would be stopping at the lake so they could redress her wounds and wash their clothes before they set off again.

All you need to do is focus on healing. Your daughter will not be harmed. The potion I gave you should slowly help with the recovery process; unfortunately, these lands have not had access to Tethyian nomads for centuries. But that potion is based on their power. Admittedly, it is much less effective, but the healing process is still accelerated nonetheless.

The carriage slowly came to a stop to the galloping sounds of the horse's changing rhythm.

"We have arrived, commander!" said the carriage driver.

Zeal opened the door for Amelia and carried Annabelle outside the mid-afternoon skies with a light haze covering the area blowing a mist over the lake from the light winds.

The sound of critters, animals and monsters alike came in from the large trees around them; his men, as rowdy as usual, took the opportunity to hunt for food.

The medical team came and carried Annabelle toward a site they had set up. Amelia walked toward the area wearing Zeal's white coat, oversized for her small frame, the back dragging on the floor.

My coat… - His hand reaching toward it – as he sighed.

Zeal left the carriage doors open to air out the burnt smell. He sat outside the carriage and thought about where Bellemy might be.

While it was common for him to act without orders typically, the intention was clear, but this time, Zeal could not think of anything, in particular, that would warrant his attention. It couldn't be the weakening veil. Zeal was studying the maps for that very purpose.

Zeal sighed.

I should really put him on a tighter leash… who am I kidding? This is Bell we are talking about. He would probably chew through it before I was done putting it on.

There was no one he trusted more than Bellemy, even among all his Centurions. He was the first child in the orphanage his mother opened and would regularly spend more time at their home rather than the orphanage itself. As the orphanage got more and more children, Bellemy, wise beyond his years, decided to help and ensure everyone felt at home and took care of most of the tasks along with the children. Zeal's mother called him his cute little helper.

Every child at the orphanage was a product of the war between Nyx and Caelum. Zeal never fully understood why his mother started the Orphanage in the first place. His father never seemed to support her when it came to that one thing. Zeal could still, if only vaguely, remember their fights on this topic—

Amelia ran toward him practically naked under Zeal's oversized white coat to give him some fruits the soldiers gave her from their quest to find food.

"This child will surely be the death of me," Zeal thought as he noticed that his coat had blue finger smudges all over it from the berries she ate.

She put some berries on his lap and walked back toward her mother.

Amelia's behaviour continued to confuse and intrigue him; how could a little girl be so…

-he did not have the words to describe it – "But no matter,'' he thought.

At least her wounds seemed to be healing. The medical team had now wrapped the cloth bandages around each finger.

-Zeal looked down to see what kind of berries she gave him-

These goruberries still have dirt on them, he murmured to himself.