Ember Elliot Elysian

I'd always wanted to know what made the emperess of Eirlys Empire to give their imperial princess to a kingdom as insignificant as ours but never thought I'd know the truth from the Princess herself.

I sat on the carved chair, contemplating my decision on having a talk about the treaty with her. This wasn't what I had come for—I had to negotiate with her, persuade her so she works with us and we didn't have to go against her because just like her, I didn't want this amalgamation as well.

I sighed as I crossed my legs, sunk my elbow on the armpad and rested my chin on my palm while looking at Vivianne with raised eyebrows. "Speak," I said.

She also took a sit, crossed her legs elegantly, rested her clasped hands in her lap as she faced me, a sly smile on her face. "A confidential contract was made between His Majesty and my mother a few weeks ago, but thanks to my renei possession, I possessed mother's memories and--"

I cut her off instantly. "I thought you were a Mind Manipulator?"

She stared at me, dumbfounded. "We're getting amalgamated in a few days and you don't even know how many renei possessions I possess?" she scoffed. "I'm a possessor of three renei possession! I'm a Mind Possessor, a Memory Possessor and a Dream Possessor!" she raised her voice.

"And your kind is?" I asked, nervously. "At least I know you're a Mind Manipulator!" I defended myself before she could nag again.

"I'm telling you this again: I'm a Mind Manipulator of Mind Possessor, Memory Writer of Memory Possessor and a Dream Creator of Dream Possessor."

"I'll keep that in mind," I lied as I'd forgotten immediately.

"That's what you said before,"

"Can we go back to our conversation?" I smiled, pursing my lips. "You said you possessed the Empress' memories--wait, isn't that forbidden? To see someone's memories without their consent?"

"Are you talking about rules and regulations? You who infiltrates palaces, knock imperial guards and soldiers and gets away with it—"

I raised my hands as a gesture of surrender. "Alright, you win." I sighed "Please continue. You said you saw the empress' memories. What did you see?"

She was quiet for a while, her chin jutted out. After a few seconds, she finally spoke and I was glad I was seated as what she said next was the last thing I expected from my father.

"You father—His Majesty—he's selling his people, the Ezèrian."

Everything around me turned silent as I heard those words from her and countless questions began forming in my head.

Father was going to sell his own people? For me? He was selling them just to break my curse? He's selling his subjects and in return he was getting Vivianne, who could  break my curse? He wasn't even sure if she could break my Protection spell!

Or maybe he is confident about breaking the curse this time. Maybe he's figured it all out.

I ran a hand through my hair again and again while gripping the ends tightly. I took a deep breath and exhaled. I'd to think more about it. But first, I'd to know more about the contract.

"The Ezèrian that he's selling—are they normal or Gifted Ezèrian?" I finally spoke.

"Gifted— they're all Gifted Ezèrian. As you know, our nation barely has any normal Ezèrian, let alone gifted ones. They're scarce. Most of them are just Naughts and renèi Possessors. My mother has acknowledged the power of Ezèrian and she's planning to use their powers to develop the territories," she explained as I bobbed my head.

If it wasn't for the current situation, I'd have been happy that finally, someone has acknowledged the power of an Ezèrian and didn't think they were toys to play with and toss out once they've lost their shine.

"Do they think the Ezèrian are some sort of products that can be exported to one country to another?" I muttered, clenching my fist, shaking my legs in agitation.

Gifted Ezèrian meant my father could sell Keith and Ilayna, for they both were Elementalists and were a holder of another unique power— Healing. I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't just let him use the Ezèrian as some kind of goods.

"Vivianne," I stared at her, determined. "This is injustice. We can stop this. We can. . . we can stop the amalgamation. Who knows what the empress will do to them? She might just execute them after they're done being used by her,"

She scoffed. "Injustice? The world has been cruel and injustice for as long as I can remember."

"Vivianne," I sighed. "Think about it, our lives will be ruined the moment we amalgamate and the lives of other Gifted Ezèrian are at stake too,"

"I'm ready to ruin my life if that's what it will take my father to be cured."

I frowned, finally realisation hitting me. "The empress is using Gifted Ezèrian to cure the emperor?"

She hardly nodded . "The current Ezèrian that we're using isn't experienced with her healing powers. Henceforth, we're going to purchase different types of Gifted Ezèrian and test their healing powers on the emperor," she explained as I put my fist on my lips, still digesting the disgusting truth.

"This couldn't get more worse," I mumbled as she continued.

"This is why the amalgamation must take place. Without it, His Majesty won't give up on the Ezèrian and we won't get Healers and my father will remain bedridden," she said, her voice on edge and for the first time, I noticed an unfamiliar emotion on her face: fear; fear of losing a loved one.

"This is the least I can do for my father, Elliot." She spoke, her voice quiet, fragile.

Just when I was about to speak, she cut me off. "There's something I can't understand, by the way," she raised her eyebrows.

"His Majesty--what kind of profit does he receive from this agreement? My mother gets half of his Ezèrian subject, what does he get? I'm sure he just doesn't want an Imperial princess—there's more to it, isn't it?"

Tsk, she figured it out.

She studied my face for a while and it also didn't take her much time to figure out that I knew it.

"You know it, don't you?" she cocked her head to a side, a sly grin on her face.

"So, you want this amalgamation, is that right?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Precisely. I want this amalgamation more than anyone, for this amalgamation will save my father,"

"You hate the Ezèrian, is that right?" I asked, thinking about if I should really do it.

She answered immediately. "Of course. Ezèrian are the worst Power Holders. They've exploited, tortured, executed, discriminated and killed other Power Holders for decades,"

I bobbed my head as I raised my chin, smiling at her. "What will you do if I tell you I'm an Ezèrian? Will you still amalgamate me?"

"Although there's no way you can be an Ezèrian but I'll still answer you," I sensed menace and danger in her voice as she stood up and took a step towards me, her eyes fixed on me.

When she was a few inches away from me, she gripped the side of the chair, coming to my eyes level and saying, "I'll kill you if you are one." she said sternly while retreating and glaring at me with her blue eyes which were darkening.

I couldn't help but just laugh at the irony. They were so determined to kill the Ezèrian but when it came to use their powers, they were ready to worship them.

"Well," I stood up and took a step back, maintaining distance between us. "Then, I'm excited to see how you're going to kill me." I smiled.

I checked up on Erin to make sure she was in deep slumber while sitting on a chair and faced Vivianne again, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. It was amusing seeing Vivianne so perplexed.

I chuckled before slowly taking off my wig and letting my white hair fall down my shoulders as I ran a hand through them — revealing, that the man in front of Vivianne, had the blood of Ezèrian running through his veins.

Her face was as pale as a sheet as her baby blue eyes were wide opened. She opened her mouth, closed it, still processing everything that just happened.

She came closer to me as she bought her shaky hands in my hair and touched it, her fingers trembling as she took a strand of my hair, feeling the lie, consuming the harsh truth. She let her hands fall back as she stared at me, examining my colour as her ones softened, as if begging me to say this was all a lie.

"Why. . . . Why is your hair so white, just like those monsters?" She stepped back. "But. . . Your eyes—"

"They are under magic spell. But, they can return to their original colour — which is gray — if I just splash some water—"

Her eyes went wide. "Elliot. . . . you are. . . you're an Ezèrian!" the only thing I could sense in her voice was disgust as she scrunched her nose when she said the last word.

"I am," I shrugged. "Now," I began. "Do you still want to amalgamate an Ezèrian?" I smirked as I continued.

"Amalgamating me would mean that you've to share your renèi Possession with me— with an Ezèrian. Our powers are going to unite. We will be one. Do you want that, Vivianne?" I asked, cocking my head to a side, a sly smile on my face.

"This is why you never demonstrated your ability as a renèi Possessor, this is why Prince Ira and His Majesty always looked down upon you, this is why he never talks about you. You all. . . you all have been lying to us. . . ." she kept mumbling to herself while pacing through the room with heavy footsteps.

She wasn't listening to me and I knew my words barely reached her ears— she was still trying her best to digest the fact that the Power Holder that she was going to amalgamate was an Ezèrian and that very fact was enough for me to smirk.

Then, after a few seconds, unexpectedly, she pulled the hem of her dress, taking me off guard as Vivianne was someone who took etiquettes seriously. She took out a long dagger from there and unsheathed it from the scabbard as she pointed it to me with a stern stare, her eyes burning with anger and abhor.

What's with everyone being so determined to kill me? I sighed at my thought as I said,

"You're letting your emotions get a hold of you, Vivianne. Drop the dagger, let's talk, hmm?" I suggested.

"Do not change the subject!" she hissed as she pressed the pointy part of the dagger down my chin. "You're a traitor! You've been lying about your identity your whole life!"

Then, with a dark look and an intimidating voice, she said: "You're dying tonight, Elliot."

I grinned as I felt the dagger digging my chin. I stepped forward, causing the dagger to finally cut deep as blood oozed out from the new cut in my chin. Blood rolled down the shiny blood groove and stopped at the handle as Vivianne stared in surprise.

I looked at her as our eyes suddenly met. With a smirk, I quietly said: "Let's see if this really ends with blood."