The Lost Heart {M}{IC}

[MidKnight]

One of the soldiers walked over, slowly breathing after the attack on the creature. He stood there in attention for Lady Alessia. "Seven are dead, and we have twelve wounded." He looked over his shoulder, "We'll use the recall to transport the wounded first ma'am." He returned to his duty to assist the others.

Velayna lowered her head, "More dead." She muttered, but her eyes looked to Alessia, requesting her presence by her side. She walked over and stood by, looking at the dead creature as it laid still. She examined the corpse for a moment and noticed something about the blood, there was black blood spilling out from the ice shards. She did not realized it. She takes a step closer and leans forward. "Black blood?" She muttered softly, "I never seen any of these creature bleed black before." She takes a step back and looked to Alessia, "Do you think it is some kind of sickness?" She asked curiously, her eyes still on the beast. "I doubt this demon was even a demon at all....maybe it was just a normal creature?" She shook her head slowly, her hand still on the hilt of her sword. "But...this creature does oddly look familiar..." She gasp for a second. "Do you think these are the peaceful creatures that live by the rivers?" Her attention turned towards Alessia, wondering what her assessment would be.

[Numbers]

"I do not know nor do I care right now. Ascertaining facts about the beast is a low priority. The wounded and the slain are my top priority." She walked over to her servant and handed her some more of the slips with magical runes on them. "Start placing these on the injured and dead. The sooner we get them take care of the better. If a single one is left behind, I'll take your sword away. I put the spell on it and I can just as easily remove it." Really she was curious about the beast and planned to do an in depth study on it some more. She also wanted to study her servant, who showed at least the basic understanding of both hunting and demon hunting. Demon hunting, it was far from needed now a days. Each kingdom only needed a few demon hunters at any given point and if more were needed, they were borrowed from other lands. Where was this woman from. She narrowed her eyes on her earlier thought about the human kingdom. Maybe she was a demon hunter for the humans who got lost some how.

For now though she focused on the dead demon in front of her. She walked over to and put a hand on it's dead body and began to activate a recall spell. She would have the mages in the house began breaking the demon down and studying it's different parts to ascertain what it really is. As the runes started to fly from her body they came to wrap around the dead demon. They formed complex chains of magic that even she would have a hard time breaking through. A flash of light and the body was gone, recalled to one of the many buried rooms in their land. She would inform the mages which room once all the bodies were taken care of that the mages could start their work. She looked at everyone before heading over to the Sergeant.

"Well, looks like you lived through your first demon encounter. Quite an easy one for your guys first time. At least, easy compared to some of the ones I have slain before. Though I guess it was too much for the previous demon support team. We'll have to make sure your team is up to the task for when the next one appears. I'll have to train you myself and have my servant help you train the rest of the support team in demon hunting support tactics. So what do you say Sergeant? Ready for a promotion and pay raise?"

[MidKnight]

The Sergeant chuckled as she laid on the bed in the medical area with the others. Healers tended to her wounds and covered most of the cuts and scrapes. She even had a sling for her arm which she broke during her roll while her horse was tossed like a rag doll. "No thanks ma'am, I prefer to be hunting down bandits and raiders then Demons I'm afraid." She relaxes on the soft bed, "If anything, I'm sure your father will find a replace team for the Demon experts."

The next morning, the Lord and Alessia were in the mages' tower. The mages worked all night over looking and examining the corpse Alessia had sent. The Lord was using a cane to help him walk, he coughed several times on the way as well. "Alessia, what you and your team discovered was very interesting." The Lord explained, "None of the mages have encountered anything like this before." He stopped for a moment to catch his breath, "They believed the creature had consumed something before turning into whatever it is now, mutilating it's body into something far more terrible then we could ever imagine." He stood up straight and started walking again, "I've read your report about how your servant observed the creature and how to defeat it, I'm amazed how much she knows about demons and learn about their weakness in seconds." He sees the entrance door and stopped, "I am starting to think your servant is not meant to be a servant after all." He groomed his beard smoothly and takes a second to think. "And I don't think she is from the Western Region, she seems to be far more different than that." He looked at his daughter, "Keep an eye on her further, maybe and hopefully soon, she will remember where she came from."

The Lord opened the door and walked inside with Alessia. The mages looked to the entrance and bowed slightly to the Lord and Alessia.

"Glad you could make it sir." The head mage walked over and gives a polite bow. "We are nearly finished with our examination, and so far we discovered something that was inside the creature." He leads the two to where the creature's body had laid, on the floor in the middle of the room. The body was opened and head removed for examination and experiments. "We believe the heart was the start before the body had turned into something different, and also we found this." He pointed a jar and inside the contents was the heart attached with something black, like a stain. "We tried to pry it off, but nothing we have is effective. Plus, one of our own touched it with his own bare hands and became sick immediately." There was concern with his sigh, "We had to quarantine him quickly, and we tried using healing magic, but nothing seem to work on him as well."

The Lord mumbles for a moment, "As long you can keep it contained and secured, his Majesty will be safe." He looked to Alessia, "Have your team be prepared for his arrival and greet him with a warm welcome." He placed his hand on his daughters shoulder, "Also, tell your servant to keep her weapon hidden." He smiled, "It's not every day you see a maid servant carry a weapon, especially in the presence of the Emperor."

[Numbers]

"Don't worry father." She said with a smile. "I have a special enchantment on her weapon. Unless her life is in danger, the sword will not be seen on her. You could call it one of my experiments on improving the military magic of our kingdom. I actually see it as the perfect chance for the majesty to see my new skills." She said with a smile and a small bow. She then looked at the mages doing the research. "With the emperor on his way make sure nothing goes wrong. I want this room and everyone in it under the maximum security procedure. No one else is allowed in or out. Not without clearance from me or my father. Even if the emperor himself is here to see whats going on, without me or my father he is not allowed in. I don't want anything strange happening." She said flashing a smile at her father before walking away. Before she completely left though she turned to her father one more time. "You may think the humans have no connection to her, but you will have to excuse the fact that I disagree. The evidence is only more and more stacked. Even if it's just a coincident, wasn't you who taught me to question everything and suspect anything. After all, there is no such thing as being too prepared." She said before fully leaving this time.

She went back to the medical room to find the sergeant again. "The majesty will be arriving this week. To make sure that you and your men are ready for combat, I am going to give you and the injured some special treatment." Alessia spoke with a sly smile before popping the knuckles on her hand. "You may have turned down the promotion, but until we have a new demon hunting team, your team will be the one to fill the empty void which means I can't have you taking your time to recover. This is going to excruciatingly painful, but tomorrow you and your men will be on your feet again. By the time its time to meet up with the emperor at the border of our lands, you and your men will be in fighting condition. Our best healers will make sure of it. Just don't die from the pain." She said with a sly smile before leaving.

As she left the infirmary she looked at a few servants. "Find me my maid. I am tired and it's time to teach her some of her jobs when we're not fighting demons. Have her come to my chambers, and make sure she brings some bath salts." Alessia needed to relax. More so, she was feeling the burn of magic in her muscles. The fight was too fast for her to really summon additional artifacts to feed her spells so she had to take some bigger risks. Due to all the magic that she had to use from her personal pool, she was feeling the burn of the magic. It was like physically pushing one's self when exercising, except, in this case, it was magic. Same cause and same effect.

For now, though she simply went up to her chambers and looked out the window. The rain was coming down hard, but Alessia could feel the sun shining behind the clouds. The storm would clear later, but she still felt uneasy. Was it the magic burn affecting her mind and muscles? Was it the nervousness of seeing the emperor for the first time in many years? Or was it something that was beyond the horizon? One thing was for sure though... She couldn't wait to relax in her bath.

[MidKnight]

The young maiden arrived to the bath set instructed by the other maids. She had several interesting bath salts for the young Alessia. She picked them for their fragrance and what it can do to the skin, some can make her skin smooth, others can help with her skin feel rather very clean. She walked in the bath area which was only restricted for Alessia, it had most of her belongings which suited her needs.

Velayna walked over to a level and pulled it down slowly. A sound of water whooshing from the wall poured like a river, filling the large tub with hot water. Velayna walked over to the tub and examined the bath salts, she poured the one with an interesting fragrance, another with minerals that could help her feel relax and finally, the last set that could help Alessia wih her magic. Velayna looked around and sees none of Alessia's favorite towels were hanging. She takes in a deep breath and exhales slowly. "What kind of housekeeping doesn't know when to leave the young lady's towels in her own bathroom?" She muttered to herself as she walked to Alessia's room.

Knocking on the door three times, she waited until she was allowed. Once she heard a faint voice, she entered and closed the door behind her. "Lady Alessia, you bath is set and ready." She walked over to the linen closest and finds her personal towels inside. She grabbed a few clean ones and waited by the door. "So the Emperor will be arriving today?" She asked curiously of course, and followed the young daughter to the bathing area. "I am sure the Captain of the Guard will keep the perimeter in check, no doubt his experience is quite fascinating." She smiled slightly before tugging the hilt of her sword hanging out. "Just wished I was allowed to wear something more...comfortable." She released a sigh once more. "Well, we better make sure your appearance will be an appealing." She joked of course about how she heard of Alessia's bachelors had tried to ask for her hand.

Hours passed, the rain stopped and soon an army arrived to the region. Marching in a unison and gallantly. The General himself lead the forces of mixed species from other regions. Their armor resembled one another, thought the ranking officers would wear a cape around their armor. Blue for Sergeants, Red for the Lieutenants, and Black for the Captains, but for the Commanders wore white around theirs. They were behind the General, following him on their horses which were armored from head to toe. Once they had entered the Lord's home, the forces stopped and started surrounding the area. Ultimately, formed a line on the side of the road for his Majesty grand entrance.

Another force arrived, but this time. It was the Emperor's royal guards approached head first. The Royal Guard's armor was different, and mostly all women. Their armor was more flexible and were able to use their magic to defend the Emperor from both melee and magic abilities. Between them, in the middle row, was the Emperor. An Elven Emperor. He had a smile on his face once he entered the Lord's home. He looked around and continued to smile, he even kept it on as he sees his old friend. "Artonis Zurbank...my old friend."

The Lord bows in a graceful manner in front of the Emperor, and the others had done the same as well. "It is good to see you as well, old friend." Then the two chuckled. "Welcome to my home, come we have grand feast ready for your arrival."

The Emperor gets off of his mount slowly. Walking to the Lord with posture, "Sounds good." He walked up to the Lord and embraced him a hug. "It is good to see you again." The Lord returned the embrace and smiled, "The feeling is mutual." Once the two had finished with their reunion, the Lord introduced his family and Alessia as last. The Emperor chuckled, "Didn't you break the General's son arm before?" He asked curiously, looking back at the Wolven General, whom growled lowly. "He healed." He said roughly.

Spoiler: The Royal Guards 

Spoiler: The Emperor 

[Numbers]

Alessia moved into the hot water of the bath and relaxed into it. As she laid in the bath of hot water she closed her eyes and allowed her mind to wander, only slightly aware of her surroundings. If someone wanted to attack her, her most vulnerable state was when she was relaxing in hot water like this. After she was done with her bath she made sure to get dressed again in clothes that would suit her for the arrival of the emperor.

When the time finally came and she met the emperor with her family she did a normal sort of courtesy to him before staring at the general amusement. "Well, you know what they say about dogs, my emperor. Never invite a dog who lies with fleas to enter ones home. For once you do, you'll find that you have an infestation. So when he tried to enter my house without my permission... Well... Let's just say he's lucky only his arm was broken. I was aiming for the neck." She said with an amused sly smile, still watching the general before turning around to lead the emperor and the general farther into the house with her father.

"Come let's not let such lowly discussions about how weak a certain soldier was, distract us from the upcoming dinner. I think you'll find the wine for tonight very much to your liking. After all, I had to specially procure it from some friends just for tonight." She said with a sly tone of her voice that matched the way she almost walked. She made sure to walk with the hint of power that hid inside of her body, while also keeping the almost seductive feeling that came from her as the next in line.

[MidKnight]

The Emperor and the General followed the house members inside to the main diner hall. But what caught the Emperor's attention was the young human maid who followed Alessia like a pet. He hummed about the scenery for a second before the group entered the home and to the main diner hall. The house servants had to refurnish almost everything inside, making it look proper and unique in it's own way. They managed to do this while everyone was asleep, they of course were tired.

The Lord offered his own seat for the Emperor, the head seat of the table. The Emperor accepted it happily and sits down slowly. The Lord took the seat next to him and watched the others as they took theirs. Velayna stood by Alessia as she took hers next to her father. The Head Chief walked in and cleared his throat and announced today's meal. The waiters walked out with large dishes and plates with food. Placing the treys gently on the table, the Emperor inhales deeply and could smell the delicious scent of the food placed before him. The waiters uncovered the meals and allowed the servants to place the food on plates for their guests. Then the waiters poured the wine saved by Alessia and her team. Smiling in delight, the Emperor takes the first bite and drink, with a sigh that sounded of amusement, he looked to Alessia's father. "Well done my friend." He smiled, "It seemed you have reached beyond my expectations."

"You will have to thank my daughter, Alessia for the wine." His eyes looked to his daughter. "She recovered it from her..."friends" after a certain mission."

The Emperor continued to smile and lifted the cup towards Alessia and gives a slight bow, "Then thank you Lady Alessia for this fine...wine." Then chuckled softly. "But I am more interested in something else now." His eyes turned to Velayna, "You...what is your name?" He asked softly.

The young human servant kept her eyes to the ground, not even looking to the Emperor as he spoke to her. "V...Velayna, your majesty."

"Velayna?....quite an intriguing name." The Emperor said her name a few more times before looking to the Lord, then gazed at Velayna. "And you devoted your life to serve Artonis's daughter?" He asked with a curious expression and then turned to the Lord. "Where did you find her?"

"We actually found her, your majesty." The Lord explained about where and how they came across young Velayna near the Elven regions. "Ever since, her memories still have not come back."

The Emperor looked to the General, but the General looked confused about Velayna. "She does not resemble the smell from the Human regions. I would have known." The General looked at Velayna and sniffed several more times. "Still, you are a wonder...and yet cannot recall where you are from?" His voice was rough, and deep. His teeth filled with meat from his meal. Velayna shakes her head, then the General slammed his fist on the table. "I asked you a question!" He growled loudly. But the Emperor raised his hand.

"Easy General, she is only young and nervous." He smiled at Velayna, "Do not worry Velayna." He spoke in a gentle tone. "Your memories will come back some day."

[Numbers]

Alessia was quick to speak after the emperor spoke. "You will watch your tongue general. She is my servant after all and I treat all of my servants with the highest care." The look Alessia was giving the general now was a dangerous one. One that said test me and you will regret it. "After all general, please do not forget that you are not only in the house that will belong to me but the lands that are not your own. After all, your lands are quite a long ways away aren't they? It would be a shame if some of the beasts in the woods returned you back in more than one piece." As Alessia continued to speak, her eyes stared into his. The color of her eyes had changed though to a bright red and runes had found themselves on the sides of her face, showing that she had spells at the ready to cast. "Now I suggest you heed the emperor's advice and calm down." She then turned her head to Velayna and beckoned for her ear for a moment. When Velayna lowered her head she whispered into her servant's ear.

"Do not worry about that mutt, if he becomes too much I'll just break his arm like I did his flea-ridden son. If only I could publicly do it in a city like I did to his son. Anyways, do make sure to be respectful to the emperor. If you stay good and well behaved while our guests are here, I will reward you in some way." She said with a smile still watching the general. She knew the hearing of the general was much stronger than most and that he no doubt heard everything she had said to her servant.

She then motioned for her servant to return to her normal standing position and to wait for further orders. With that she finally let her eyes change back to her normal color and the runes on the side of her face disappeared back into the color of her skin, in order to hide again. She then looked to the emperor to speak next.

"I am curious my liege... What brings you all the way out here? I can understand the general coming all this way. Probably wants to apologize for his son even thinking about proposing to someone of my status. However, what about you? I can't imagine you came all this way just to talk and have dinner." Then she made a slight innocent gasp and put her hand over her mouth. "Don't tell me you're trying to get away from the missus." She said in a slight teasing and playful tone.

[MidKnight]

"You are quite right about the missus." The Emperor then chuckled softly. "Actually, that is not it I'm afraid." He takes another drink from his wine and sighs softly. "Sadly, it is a more of a routine check up or I should say...searching for Champions from every region within the Empire. I was informed our annual anniversary of our marriage is coming soon and as usual." He leans back in his chair while still holding the drink in his hand. "We set up a tournament for the Champions and take on difficult tasks, horse racing, duels and of course, my favorite." He leans up close to the table. "Archery." Then leans back in the chair. "I was asked by the missus to examine each region to select for the tourney location and by the looks of it...Artonis, your land has not been selected for quite some time." He hummed for a moment. "It is because I had thought it was due to your farmers lands or the wild animals roaming around." He looked to the General whom glared at the young Alessia. "Fortunately, I persuaded the General here to provide such military use to remove the wild creatures and use them in the tourney for the Champions...and also provide labor work to set up the grounds." He chuckled once more.

The Lord smiles and relaxes in his chair, "Well, if your majesty has decided to select our lands for the tourney, then is it possible to provide my own Champion as well?" His eyes glued on the Emperor, "And if the Champion has won, what would be the grand prize be?" He asked curiously.

The Emperor looked at his glass for a moment before placing it down. He leans forward, both elbows on the table and his chin relaxed on his fingers as they interlocked. "The prize is to be my prodigy."

Velayna looked up to the Emperor as he said 'Prodigy.' Suddenly she felt a ping in her head. Another memory has flashed in her head.

"Move your feet!...There, like that!...Strike!...Evade!" A man shouted at a young girl holding a stick in her hand, only it was shaped like a sword, a wooden sword. It was curved, thin, much like her own. The young girl was in a duel again'st a boy, who was exhausted, covered in blood and bruises. But the girl was bloodied and bruised like him. She was breathing heavily. "Now, finish it!" The man shouted.

The young girl shouted and took a step forward, but this time, she rolled forward as the wooden sword came striking at her, she dodged the blow and rolled behind the boy, sitting on her knee, twirling the wooden sword backwards and struck the boy in the back. The man walked over after the boy fell, his hand rested on the girl's head. "Good, maybe you are the prodigy I am looking for."

Velayn held her head tight and flinches in pain as she sees more memories of a young girl fighting more boys. Defending herself from rush attacks and countered attacked. She takes a step back, "Please excuse me for just a moment." She rushed to the kitchen in a fast pace.

The Lord watched as Velayna took her leave, then switched his gaze to Alessia. "See if she is alright." He spoke softly before turning his attention to the Emperor, who watched what just happened. "Is...everything alright?" He asked.

"It is fine, your majesty. I am sure she is just having a small headache, she haven't had much rest I assumed?" Then looked to Alessia.

[Numbers]

Alessia shook her head in response. "She was recently just the lowest class of servant in our house. Before her job was just whatever the other slaves told her, which was mainly doing laundry. Now she serves me and caters to my every whim." Alessia put one hand to her face in a playful manner. She then scooted her chair back lightly as to not make noise before standing up. She did a slight curtsey to the emperor before pushing her chair back in and leaving the dining room with her hands behind her back and her tail lightly moving from side to side as she walked. Before fully leaving the room she turned back around.

"As my father said though, we will gladly host the event as long as I get to play the champion of our realm. Of course, if you need to give others the advantage of giving them more numbers against just me or something, I understand." She then looked at her father. "I have a special idea for this event, I will discuss it with the emperor tonight at some point to see his thoughts on it." She then did a curtsey to the room again before leaving to follow her servant.

As she moved through the kitchen, eventually finding her servant, she came up behind her and let her hand smack the backside of Velayna's head. "Follow." Was all she said next as she started to walk out of the kitchen with the eventual destination being her room. While they were walking, she continued to talk. "I seem to remember saying to be on your best behavior did I not? I don't care if you feel like you are about to die, you do not abruptly leave me, your master, side. Though I guess I haven't had the time to properly train you so I can expect you to know the proper behavior and what is considered embarrassing to your master." She shook her head side to side as she talked, looking down at the ground with closed eyes as she walked. She knew this house better than the back of her hand. The awareness of her surroundings was just as good. Even with her eyes closed, she knew where every person and object was.