Chapter 6
As soon as he left the room, King Augutus the First kneeled over in the hallway and started coughing up blood.
His royal bodyguard, a tall man with graying blonde hair with light purple eyes dressed in the standard white and gold uniform of the royal guards, came rushing forward.
"My king!! Your sickness!!! It's getting worse everyday!! You pushed yourself too far today!! You need a healer-"
"NO!!....ack…ack, cough, cough….damn it, you're right but my boy needs the healers more than I do. I'll be fine after a good night's sleep. Anthony, that girl…she had his eyes and his power…. Could she somehow be related to my older brother?..."
He then broke out into a coughing fit that left him wheezing and gasping for breath. Anthony whipped out a handkerchief and held it to the mouth of his master as he coughed up blood. The white handkerchief was soon dyed red.
Anthony smiled sadly as his lord and king was talking about his late older brother: Crown Prince Cullen. The two princes were very close, being born to the queen and being full-blooded brothers and not half-brothers. They were very close and the two brothers actually had genuine and real brotherly love between the two of them. Sadly, Prince Cullen died suddenly when he was 30 years old from what was believed to be a heart attack. But it was suspected to be poison given the unstable and intense political turmoil going on at that time. Prince Agustus succeeded his older brother at the tender age of just 21 years old after he fought and killed off all his other half-siblings and contenders for the throne. But Prince Cullen never married nor did he take in any concubines or mistresses of his own. So why was it that that girl had the same exact green eyes as he did and had his power?
Abilities and powers were inherited from parent to child. A son might inherit his father's fire abilities. A daughter might inherit her mother's water ability. A daughter might inherit her father's ability and a son his mother's. Sometimes, though very rare and uncommon, both parents' abilities might mix together and their child might have a combination of both abilities or they might have a power that's completely different from that of both parents. Sometimes, people might have two or three abilities but people with multiple abilities were even rarer.
To see that girl with his brother's power….it couldn't be…a blood test had to be done in order to confirm his suspicions about that girl's true parentage.
"I want to go visit my boy first before I retire for the night, Anthony. Oh, promise me one thing."
"What is it, my lord?"
"Find a good swordmaster for that girl. She has high potential to become a swordmaster herself. Trust my judgment, afterall, that's how you were able to become a swordmaster in the first place."
"I will, my lord."
The two walked down the hall and left.
…..
"Hello, my lady. Shall I help you get ready for bed? A bath perhaps?"
The red maid was collecting the half-eaten food but Arya waved her off, telling her that she'll eat the food later and good food shouldn't be wasted. She backed off and stood by at the ready in case Arya needed something.
Arya sighed as she flopped onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling.
"Don't call me "my lady". Just Arya will be fine for now. What's your name by the way?"
"It's Myna, my lady.". Arya rolled her eyes. She was getting uncomfortable with this whole "my lady" thing. She was fine if she was just addressed casually by that maid.
"Myna, relax, I won't hurt you or anything. I just feel lonely and scared.I don't know why the king spared my life or what is even going on right now. I don't know why I have this power either but it's mine and I can use it.". She reached out a hand and clenched and unclenched it as she spoke.
Myna bit her lip as she thought about the display of power she witnessed from Arya. How she had effortlessly manipulated and moved the tray once she let go of it. The tray floated in the air and then floated towards the girl. She had used her powers to place the tray in front of her and she made it look effortless.
Myna had seen a lot of things working as a royal maid ever since she started working for the royal palace 10 years ago. She saw fireballs and flames being created and manipulated by their users. She saw gusts of wind being produced that ripped trees out of the ground and sent chills down her spine. She saw people being able to run at inhuman speeds, little more than a flick of a movement in her eyes, and lift boulders as tall as a man and weighed thousands of tons like they were feather pillows.
It wasn't as if the green-eyed girl was weak. She was overflowing with power but had little control over it; If she hadn't been so weakened from going berserk with her power being boosted to levels beyond what her current body could handle, the power of hers would be out of control right now. Without meaning to, she could accidentally kill her with her strength and power, yanking her off her feet and choking the life out of her in minutes.
Arya sighed and sat up in bed. She wasn't scared that the king would have her killed; If the king wanted her dead, like he said himself, he would-and could-have had her killed already.
Arya saw that Myna was staring at the food.
Arya was hit with a sudden realization.
"Are you hungry? Do they not feed you well enough? You can eat the food or at least what's left of it…sorry-"
"No, no. I'm not hungry. They feed us well at the royal palace."
"That's good to know, Myna!!"
Arya put the tray of food back onto the bedside drawer and felt exhaustion and sleepiness wash over her.
"..Fuck this…I'm absolutely pooped. I'm going to get some sleep. Myna, You can go now…and thanks for your company. Good night, Myna."
Arya was fast asleep now. Her eyes closed and she was sprawled on the bed.
Myna quickly left and turned off the lights in her room before she left.
Myna walked down the hallway with a hint of confusion on her face.
Who is she?
Was she really a commoner with no power of her own?
Who was she really?