Chapter Text
Veda fell on her back on the very firm earth with a cry. She could taste some of her own auburn hair in her mouth from her ponytail. Damn it! She was so close! She knew it too! Before she could get back up, a sword could be felt at her neck. She froze, not wanting to get hurt by the blade to her throat. Immediately after she gave up, the sword was pulled away and a hand was offered instead. Veda slowly looked up to her mentor, Andriu.
Andriu agreed to become Veda's personal mentor a few weeks ago after a lot of asking coming from her. It was clear he was a no bullsh*t type of mentor. Truly clear. But Veda was determined to have him mentor her for a reason. There was an almost one hundred percent guarantee that if you finish his training, you are completely set to become The Royal Guard. Veda couldn't pass this up no matter how much she wanted to. The hard part was just finishing the brutal training. Few people could pass that until Andriu himself believed they were ready. It's been clear Andriu has been doing training with people for a while now. He doesn’t look too old either. Veda would guess in his late thirties or early forties.
Her dream first started at seven years old. Veda was always at some kind of disadvantage ever since she wanted to become a knight. The main one was that she was a woman. People barely whispered this as well, some being bold enough to outright admit her dream will never come true. And that’s just how it was. She denounced that. She always would. Even if it weren’t her dream, out of sheer spite she would prove them all wrong! Mark her words!
...She just had to get through training first.
"Come on. Get back up. From the top again." He said briskly while exaggerating his hand in front of her to insist her to grab it, leaving little room for argument. Veda groaned both internally and probably externally.
"Mr. Andriu, we've been at this for hours. Can't I rest a little?" Her body was starting to ache as she grabbed his hand and pulled herself up and off the floor. It wouldn't be too surprising if she still felt it tomorrow, and maybe the day after that.
"Bandits won't wait while you rest."
"But I-"
"Assassins would take the time you're resting as the perfect opportunity to strike."
Veda sighed as she closed her mouth and accepted her ungraceful loss in this pitiful
argument. Veda had enough sense to know that even if she didn't like what Andriu had said, it would still be true as the water being blue. The people she was training to fight against wouldn't be as kind as Andriu. Her gaze was settled to the floor dejectedly, she still could feel her mentor studying her before caving and sighing
"Alright kid, you earned it. It has been about two hours now-" In a blink of eye she was gone. Andriu could only watch as she raced anywhere away from him. He couldn't take it to heart and chuckled as Veda sped away.
In all truth, Veda didn't run away completely because of Andriu's training, she could say that was forty percent of the reason, the other sixty, it was because she wanted to talk to someone today. The Princess.
She finally stopped at the doors of the castle. Way too scared to go in all the way, so just peeking would do. She didn’t care too much if she looked like an idiot to people on the outside. If the Princess were out there nearby, maybe Veda could flag her down?
She had a wobbly grin just thinking about her.
Ever since they first spoken a few months ago, She’s the reason why Veda wants to be a royal guard so bad now. If she got the position, they would be able to talk all the time! No more awkward nods and waves! They would actually have a conversation! No more-
“What are you doing, Red?”
Veda could feel herself in the air as came to the ground for the second time in five minutes. She would never admit the embarrassingly loud yelp that escaped her mouth. Laughter was heard in a familiar annoying high pitch tone. Veda knew exactly who scared the life just now. Immediately, all the excitement she was feeling less than thirty seconds ago disappeared in an instant.
“Ha! You’ve should have seen how far you launched up, Red! It's only me!”
She didn’t hold back a groan this time and looked at the guy in front of her, holding his stomach as more laughter left his mouth. Veda couldn’t be the only one who thinks he's absolutely insufferable
Lucian was the Princess’s jester. That’s exactly the reason why Veda hadn’t killed him yet. Lucian probably knows that too. Although he never made Veda laugh.
“Seriously Lucian?” Veda rolled her brown eyes as she dusted herself off from the dirt that was on the cement floor. If there was any sign that Lucian genuinely felt bad, Veda definitely couldn’t find it in his face. He brushed his blonde hair from his face as he looked back at her.
“Sorry, Sorry, but you can’t tell me that wasn’t funny-”
“Lucian, enough. We have places to be. Stop wasting your time with...that” A voice interrupted him as they both turn to the side see Lucian’s twin, Alchemi adjusting the collar to his shirt that didn’t need adjusting. Gods, Veda could feel a headache forming strong. He was also unbearable too. Just not in Lucian’s way. He had a massive superiority complex ever since he found out he was a magic user at the age of thirteen.
Just like Lucian, Alchemi is connected to the princess too. He acts as her royal advisor.
They had similar facial features and face shape. The substantial physical difference between them is that while Alchemi’s hair is fully blonde, with Lucian, at the ends of his hair, is makeshift red dye, probably from berries he found somewhere. Lucian was scarily good at finding things.
Mentally however, it was clear that Alchemi was much more mature. Veda guessed it was because of the responsibility of becoming a magic user. It wasn’t exactly common.
“Fine! Fine! Lead the way, Al!” Lucian pointed both of his hands towards the door and stepped out of the way, implying Alchemi should go in first with a smile on his face. Alchemi barley even looked at Veda as he did what was asked and walked in the castle with Lucian whistling while following behind him seconds after.
Without no hesitation, she followed them both. In secret of course! She was sure she was very sneaky. She didn’t really know why she did it either. Maybe she wanted to chew them both out for their honestly, terrible attitudes that they should work on? Maybe she really wanted to see the Princess today? She moves towards the latter of her thoughts as she takes a second to let her eyes explore this place.
Technically she's not allowed to be in here, but what's the absolute worst that could happen?
Getting executed on the spot
She pushes that thought away as fast as it came
Working back up the courage, with a huff, she explored to her heart’s content.
She traced her short and dull nails across the walls while her head was looking in every other direction, wanting to take everything in while she still could.
She didn’t think she had been exploring for too long, there weren’t any windows to check if the sun had gone down either. Her curiosity was satisfied, time to leave. That was the plan until she saw something glowing. She did a double take. No, the glowing was still there. It was on a random wall in the hallway she was walking in. Her curiosity wasn't settled now.
Veda swore she heard voices the closer she got it. It was all mumbled, she couldn’t make up what any of them were saying. As she put her hand forward, just to touch the glowing piece of the wall, it broke. Inside of the wall, Veda could see something solid hidden by the two pieces of cement between them. It's like Veda was mesmerized. She probably looked like it. One thing was certain though;
It was f*cking bright
Veda had to squint and wait for her eyes to adjust to the stinging in her eyes to go away before she looked at it again.
She could feel a hand on her shoulder before she could do anything else. For the second time today. Unlike the screaming the first time, Veda quickly put the remaining debris of the wall back inside, so it wasn't completely visible, pulled out her sword out of her sheath and spun around the person in question.
It was the Princess.
She
Pulled
A
Sword
On
The
f*cking
Princess
Veda’s brain stopped working. Gods, if she wasn’t going to get beheaded before, it's definitely happening now. Veda literally saw her life flash before her eyes. She-
“...Veda? Do you mind putting that sword down?” The Princess nervously chuckled. She looked around, probably trying to find anything that could get her out of the situation now.
Before Veda had to chance to apologize and beg for her forgiveness The sword got knocked out her hand with a strong gust of magic she presumed after the tingly feeling it left on her hands.
“Princess Amelia! Are you alright!?” Alchemi cried out as his hands were still in the position where he shot a blast of magic towards the sword. at once, he rushed to her and pulled Amelia away from Veda.
“Of course, I’m fine! I promise it!” Amelia tried to reassure Alchemi with her hands out. He didn’t look like he believed her. After it looked like triple checking to see if Amelia was truly alright. Veda would wonder later if Alchemi cared to see if Amelia was hurt because his position as royal adviser might take a plunge, or if he genuinely cared about her general well-being.
Veda would assume the first one.
He turned to Veda. If he was looking down at her at the doors to the castle, it wasn’t anything like this now. Alchemi looked at her like Veda dirt under his shoe.
Okay, Veda could hardly blame him right now. This does look astonishingly bad for her.
“What, exactly are you doing?” Alchemi glared at her while standing in front of the sword that was now on the ground, and Ameila.
“Amelia- I mean- Princess Amelia, I am so sorry! It was an accident! Truly!” Veda could barely get out the word vomit. She was panicking. Bad. Yeah, sure she pulled a sword on the Princess, that was a very bad offense objectively, but Veda’s priorities were mixed up. She cared more about hurting Amelia's feelings then the fact she threatened a royal.
Before Amelia could continue to reassure both of them that she was okay, suddenly, Veda heard a familiar whistle. Her day can’t get any worse, can it?
She later found that it could.
Lucian walked in whistling with his arms stretched behind his head with someone trailing behind him.
Andriu.
At this point it would be a mercy to execute her. Off with her head. Put her body twelve feet deep.
Andriu looked up from his hourly zoning out to find The Princess, the Royal Adviser, and to top it off, his personal student, looking at him like a fish out of water. They all looked nervous in their own way.
Alchemi was fixing his collar with his right hand for the second time again while Amelia looked anywhere she could while playing with the many rings on her hand. Veda could feel her palms start to sweat; it was weird. It only happened when she was getting nervous
Veda heard an audible heavy sigh come from Andriu as he assessed the situation, his eyes darting from between all of them
“Wow, Veda you’ve been in this place for what, fifteen minutes and already managed to f*ck up this bad?” Lucian tilted his head as he said that, still next to Andriu.
Wait, he knew Veda was here the whole time?
“You knew Veda was here the whole time?” Veda was glad that Alchemi had vocalized her exact question.
“You didn’t? Al, you're a lot less observant than you think you are. You could literally hear the door open again like five seconds after we went in.” Lucian crossed his arms with an amused expression on his face. Was Veda that obvious? She’d need to get Andriu to help her with her stealth skills sometime. Was stealth required to be a knight? She’d also needs to ask Andriu about that.
Maybe she should leave Andriu alone. He’s already what? Probably pushing fifty. Good thing that thought would always be kept inside her head. She doesn't even want to imagine the type of torture training that she would have to put up with if it ever left her mouth.
“Enough. First off, Veda, what the hell are you doing here?” All fleeting thoughts she had immediately went away with one glare from Andriu. She hated making him upset, but it happened sometimes. But this little stunt might just take the cake. Andriu is never going to train her again! Hell, she wouldn’t want to train herself! And now he’s going to scold her? In front of Amelia? In front of the two insufferable twins in the whole f*cking kingdom?
“Someone’s in trouble...” Lucian said in a teasing tone. Veda just barley resisted giving him a middle finger. Maybe later, just not in front of Andriu. She didn’t have to worry about him for too long when one glare from Andriu made Lucian look away and whistle, trying to seem innocent.
“I expect an answer, Veda.”
Okay, Veda, she needs to think of the greatest excuse in the world now-
“I asked for her presence!” Amelia suddenly chirped in, looking panicked. She most likely knew what the consequences for Veda would be if she couldn’t find an excuse
Wait what?
“...Really?” Andriu looked at Amelia, unimpressed, with a raised eyebrow. He probably saw how confused Veda was with her statement. Both Alchemi and Lucian too, although she couldn’t get a glimpse of Lucian’s face, it looked like he was examining something right now.
“I deeply apologize for this misunderstanding! She was just teaching me how to defend myself!” Veda was honestly impressed how quickly she could spout bullsh*t out. Not that she minded. Veda could marry her right now-
What was Lucian doing!?
She quickly turned her slightly panicked gaze back to Lucian as she tuned out the garbled excuses from Amelia that she gave to Andriu for a minute.
The boy was tweaking the walls where Veda previously was, probably trying to figure out what was in there. Although Veda already knew the answer to that. The shining of whatever was inside had gone down a notch, but it was still visible if you were looking at the walls too hard.
Too bad Lucian always had a reputation of being annoyingly nosy.
All Veda could think of right now was that somehow, someway, he would mess up something. That’s how it's always been.
She could not let that happen
Veda speed walked over to Lucian in a flash, she wasn’t even thinking. With a push, Veda easily shoved him out of the way, to grab at the suspicious glowing thing. She couldn't hear Amelia talking anymore, so Veda assumed her and Andriu saw what just happened.
She looked at the item in her hand, some kind of gem? Why would a gem be inside of the walls?
As soon as she even puts a finger on it the gem, the world- was it the world? -f*cking shakes. Veda genuinely couldn’t make this sh*t up. From what she could tell, everyone reacts naturally to this sudden disaster. Amelia quickly stayed close to the ground, Alchemi scrambled his back near the walls for leverage, looking freaked out. Lucian was screaming his lungs out. Andriu was trying to steady himself while trying to get Lucian to calm the f*ck down. Luckily, it stops after about seven seconds, but it felt like minutes longer to all of them.
It was an awkward silence between everyone. We all just stared at each other, trying to find out if any of us had a single clue what had just happened. It was kind of peaceful to Veda, in its own way. Some kind of forced tranquility. Veda slowly looked down at her own hand the gem was in
Cracked.
Veda guesses that wasn’t too surprising. It had to have broken during the earthquake.
Speaking of earthquakes, Veda quickly recognized the sound of booming footsteps making their way towards them, she looked towards the end of the hallway to see the King, looking furious.
“You monsters! What have you all just done!?”
