Chapter 37

Her screams and cries brought the servants over and the royal doctor was quickly summoned.

Lily was the one who brought back the news, having heard about it on her way back to Arya.

"It's crazy out there. Many people are saying it's either the Crown Prince or Princess Lysandra or Prince Assyrian who tried to kill him. Tensions are high now and the noble factions are fighting among themselves in the name of their chosen prince or princess."

Arya was sitting up in her bed and reading a book when the news that Prince Theon had been found badly injured and bleeding severely by his mother.

Myna had been right about her needing to rest because for some strange reason, Arya felt drained and tired right now. Maybe a near death experience in a bathtub took a toll on her. But Arya couldn't shake off the…experience she had. The vision she saw with the two globlins and the "third part of the plan". Kill off the leaders and variables?

Well, it looks like they might kill off each other first, Arya thought.

Arya nodded and looked out her window down at the fight in the royal gardens where royal guards and students of the Royal Academy alike were split and .

It was an absolute madhouse out there. What started off as a petty name-calling, trash talking fight escalated into a full-blown brawl in which each faction that supported a certain royal was fighting each other.

"BOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!"

"CRASH!!!"

"FIGHT!!!!"

"FOR OUR PRINCE!!"

"FOR OUR PRINCESS!!!"

The sounds of fighting could be heard outside her bedroom window and Arya threw down her book in frustration.

It was like a mini warzone out there, two people fighting each other with weapons, bare fists or abilities.

Balls of fire went flying everywhere, burning up the royal gardens and sending servants scurrying for safety. Jets of water were blasted at people who were sent flying when they got hot by the powerful jets of water. Pillars of rock erupted out of the ground, knocking people off their feet. 

People were engaged in fist fights with each other, it was a full on brawl with people throwing punches at each other, fists hitting faces and blood went flying.

Swords clashed against each other as sword users fought with each other. Knives went flying through the air and people had to dodge them and avoid them. There were also spear vs sword, sword vs sword, knives vs sword, bow and arrow vs fists. Fire vs ice, water vs stone, wind vs super strength.

What the fuck? 

Arya winced all the fighting.

Myna glanced at the window at all the fighting and she looked more annoyed than worried.

"Ah shit, they're back at it again. All this fighting and brawling. Nobles and their power struggles."

Arya turned to look at Myna.

"This happened before?"

Lily nodded as she collected all the already read books from Arya's bedside table and started to put them back on the shelves.

"Yes, my princess, long before you came here, nobles would fight each other and there was a split among the nobles over who to support as each prince or princess-who wanted the throne at least-looked for allies among the nobles and tried to recruit them into their faction. The king hasn't really been around these days and it would be nice to have the king around to stop this sort of bullshit."

Arya tried to not look suspicious as she flashed back to the memory of Ezekiel telling her the truth: that the king never survived the assassination attack at his own birthday ball and that his death had been covered up by Ezekiel and an unknown number of people.

Arya's interest in the book she was reading disappeared as she flashed back to Baron Pax's history lessons.

"You think a succession war might start?"

Myna smiled sadly.

"My princess, the succession war has already started with the news of the king's death being made public now."

Myna held up a newspaper with a bold title in all capitals that read: THE KING IS DEAD!!! INFAMOUS ASSASSINATION AT BIRTHDAY BALL KILLED HIM!!!

….

Lily gasped and was left speechless.

"I only heard rumors but…"

"How long has the news broken out for everyone?"

"Just a few hours ago, my princess. Word travels fast in the capital, my princess, and hot news like this travels faster."

"Myna, I have to see Ezzy. Oh, and I also want to see Theon? That's his name right?"

Arya got dressed quickly, slipping a white and blue dress and a pair of leather boots, not caring that her hair was a mess.

Myna and Lily both looked concerned.

"Your highness, you nearly drowned in your own bathtub today. Maybe you should take it easy."

"Lily, thanks for your concern but I'm feeling fine now. Besides, I can save Theon."

Arya was thinking about her healing abilities-which she hadn't used since she healed Granite.

Myna shook her head.

"How? From what I heard, Prince Theon's injuries were highly critical and it seemed like he was stabbed in a fatal point of his-"

Arya rushed out the doors. Lily ran off after her and Myna followed suit after she cussed out her royal master in her head.

"Just trust me, Myna!! I can save him-I have to if I want to stop it from coming true."

…

A servant directed Arya towards Theon's room where sounds of moaning and pain could be heard. Theon's mother was sitting by her son's side and she gripped his head tightly, smoothing his hair and crying while a doctor in a white robe worked on him. The smell of blood and sweat filled the room. Servants rushed in and out of the room, some carrying bowls of water and towels, others with bandages, some were comforting Theon's mother.

Royal guards stood guard both inside and outside the bedroom as if the assassin might try to come back to finish up the job.

Ezekiel was there along with Assyrian and Freya. They stood back, observing and watching. Strangely, Lysandra was nowhere to be seen.

Granite saw Arya first and he bowed to her.

"Hello, your highness."

Arya returned the greetings.

"Hello, Granite, but talk later. I can save him-I think I can."

As if to clarify what she meant, Arya focused on channeling her healing powers and a faint green glow was emitted from her hands.

Granite nodded in understanding. Of course Granite knew about Arya's healing abilities since she had used them on him.

Granite waved Arya over to where Theon was and Arya approached quickly.

Theon's face was twisted and distorted from pain and he whimpered and cried out when the doctor cleaned and disinfected his wound.

The doctor saw Arya coming and he tried to wave her away.

"Your highness, please stand back-"

Arya ignored him and placed her handover Theon's wound.

It looked ugly and terrible with the slash on his stomach a few inches deep and stretched almost all the way across his belly.

Arya was sure that if the slash was any deeper, Theon's guts would have spilled out.

Arya focused and tried to remember what it was like when she healed Granite.

It was more like instinct than any real skill or technique that went into healing.

A warm and gentle feeling bloomed in her chest and it traveled all the way down to her hand.

She pushed out that healing power from inside of her and into Theon.

A bright flash of green light filled the room as Theon's wound started to disappear, the skin and flesh fixing itself.

As it was the case with Granite, the injury disappeared without leaving so much as a scar in its place.

….

Everyone in the room from the doctor to the servants to Ezekiel was left in shock. Only Granite and Assyrian were't in shock as they already knew all along.

Arya felt drained and exhausted, even more than she did when she fixed Granite up.

"I'm done."

Then Arya collapsed onto the ground.

Servants rushed by her side and Myna and Lily both freaked out as this was the second time in a row that Arya fainted today.

…

Arya once again found herself in that same dark and creepy cave, only this time, she found herself looking at a scene of a figure sitting on a throne of some sort, its figure was hidden by the shadows of the cave and a kneeling female figure.

Arya let out a gasp when she saw the woman-could you even call her a woman?-that was kneeling in front of the sitting figure.

She was beautiful. In a nightmarish and beastly sort of way.

The left side of her face was covered with lots of beady red eyes that blinked and glared nastily at her. The right side of her face was still human if you could ignore the fact that her skin was a pitch black color and her red eyes were silted like those of a cat's. Two curved black horns protrude from her forehead and her mouth was full of lots of sharp, pointed teeth. Her entire skin was milky white with patches of black all over her body: her arms, her legs, her chest and her face. Her hands ended in sharp claws that look like they could tear through flesh and bone.

Her red silk and satin dress looked out of place on her, a sharp contrast between her obvious inhumanness and monstrous appearance. Her long black hair reached the ground and gleamed like a waterfall of ink behind her.

"...Yes,I succeeded, my lord master. I spread the word that the human king was dead!! You can now take advantage of the in-fighting. They'll be too busy fighting themselves to fight us or stop us from killing off their workers!!"

"As expected of my favorite servant, you never fail to exceed my expectations, Kakia."

"Your praise and high view of me flatters me, master. I'll try to live up to your expectations!"

"Excellent. I look forward to seeing the results of your handiwork, Kakia. But I have a question for you: Why haven't you succeeded in killing their crown successor yet?"

"Lord Master, That blasted human won't give up and die no matter how many times I kill him!! He's a lot stronger than I thought he was!! The knife was also coated in baskill poison for good measures. I am ashamed to admit that I underestimated the power and mental strength of that human, forgive me, my master.!"

"Kakia, it's not your fault since I too underestimate most of those humans. I noticed some strong ones among their warriors-mainly that green-eyed princess of theirs. She's a warrior,alright. But I think she'll be taken care of along with the others tonight."

Arya would have liked to hear more of their conversation but she felt herself being dragged off and away, her mind slipping off to somewhere else.

….

"..Fuck this…Arya!!! ARYA!!! Doctor, will she be alright?"

The doctor was bust examining Arya who laid on the sofa in Theon's room.

"My prince, she's alright, her breathing and pulse is steady and it seems like she just overused her healing ability."

Ezekiel looked somewhat relieved but his face was still pinched with worry.

Theon was sitting up in his bed and looking down at his belly as if he still couldn't believe that his serve injury was gone.

Freya bit her lip and paced around anxiously.

Arya suddenly bolted upright and looked around frantically.

"We're all gonna die tonight."