1 Broken beginnings

The palace grounds were still. Death whispered in the wind. A cold wind that took the will of life from the guards. Hiding the soft footsteps, dulling the light. A wind so chilling that the metal blade moving in their throats gave them comfort rather than fear.

Sai moved effortlessly, with precision. His body became the wind, as the wind brought death so did he. None would know he had come, nor would any survive the night. Man, woman and child alike, the families living here reeked of evil. Corruption, poison, he could smell the hate from them long before he saw them.

He approached the heart of his mission, his actual target. The power rippled through the air, had the Emperor not fallen he could have been a formidable enemy. However, that was not, and would never be a reality.

From the shadows he located his final target, the man was half dressed and leaning over something.

Sai let out a breath of ice, the only thing that may have indicated his presence. With it he moved, his sword found its target, and as if a curse was lifted, a pulse was released from where his sword had met the Emperor's heart.

Swiftly he pulled his blade out. The lifeless body fell and Sai, to his surprise, found himself gazing into the wide yellow eyes of a child. He had not felt her presence, he could feel from her no evil. Her pale skin revealed the sheltered life she must have lived, never exposed to the sun. Her hair which should be naturally brown, glowed red with the magic. It resonated from her entire being with such a force he was ashamed that he had not noticed her before. So powerful it took him a moment to realise that the only thing she seemed to be wearing, was the spilled blood of the late Emperor.

Sword sheathed; he wrapped his own robe around her. His task had been to leave no survivors, but then he had also told been to purge the evil from a palace of demons. This child was anything but a demon. She said nothing as he carefully lifted her into her arms. Considering what he had seen and what she had just witnessed, she must have been unresponsive from shock. Holding her tightly, they vanished with the wind, as subtly as he had come.

Audria woke to the faint smell of peaches. The unfamiliar room came into focus, she was in a bed. At least she thought she was in bed, it was much harder than any she had been in before, and she was covered by a light cloth, rather than the usual plush covers she was accustomed to.

The room was illuminated by a surreal, but dim, blue light that seemed to hover over the floor. As though it was a glowing mist, defying the darkness of the night.

she climbed out of the bed, she was dressed in a white gown, heavier than the silks she usually wore. The wooden floor groaned as she took a step, causing her heart to stop for a moment. Alarmed she took another look around, outside her immediate vicinity.

the room itself was not very big, besides the bed, there was no other furniture. The room opened to a wooden patio, beyond it a seemingly endless garden. Sitting in the doorway, was a man, she could not tell if he was young or old. His hair long and white, hung down his back and draped over his arms like a veil. His eyes both cruel and kind, glowing with the same surreal blue that illuminated her surroundings. He wore his robe open, and under only his trousers, both as white as his hair. In fact, save for three scarlet markings under his right eye, he wore no colour she could see.

Images of the previous night filled Audria's mind. The Emperor, her father, he was usually the only one who showed her kindness. The other called her the cursed child, for the late empress had passed away during her birth. However, that night had been different. He had succumbed to madness, to unspeakable lust. And before her the man who slaughtered him, possibly the rest of them as well. Yet he saved her a fate worse than death. Overcome with nausea and fear, her knees buckled, and she fell. The man moved so fast she had no time to register what had happened. But he caught her before she had a chance to hit the ground.

"Can you stand?" he asked, his voice deep and unexpectedly gentle.

But she could not bring her to answer. His scent both familiar and foreign made her blood run cold. He carried her back to the bed and lay her down, crouching in the floor to be at eye level with her.

After carefully watching her and making sure she was fine he softly murmured some strange words under his breath and ran his palm across her forehead and through her hair. She succumbed to darkness and fell into a dreamless sleep.

The following morning Audria woke up to find the mysterious room, was more of servants' cottage. The man from the night before was gone, in his place a young man of around 17 summers was training in the yard in front of the porch. His hair was dark, almost black until the sun caught it revealing its dark chocolate colouring. He was tall, dressed in the same white rough clothes as she. The sight made her aware how much too big they were on her, the "gown" appeared to be a shirt on him.

On realising this she died of shame inside, her outside appearance betraying none of it. Showing shame had been forbidden growing up, she was used to hiding it. Assessing the situation, she didn't seem to be locked in. however she also didn't know where she way or what her situation in the present matters really were. The most likely answer was that she was a hostage. Unless of course she had dreamt the whole thing, was at relatives, and had been saved. The later was unlikely, despite how they thought of her, because of her father, no one would dare house her in such a dirty run-down place.

So, she quietly sat and watched him do his morning routine.

After some time. the young man came over. His kind expression betrayed by a flinch of irritation when he first noticed her.

"Ah! So, the princess has graced us with her presence." he sarcastically stated, while walking past her into the cottage.

Now flustered by his rudeness she turned to argue in her defence, only to have a bowl of what seemed to be rice porridge held out to her. The sweet smell reminding her of her hunger and position.

Reluctantly she took the spoon and ate the porridge. It was not as sweet as it smelled, the flavour was rather bland, which didn't help her getting it down. On one hand her stomach cried for food, but she didn't have much appetite.

"If you don't eat it now you will regret it later, meals are scarce around here." He returned to his sword but continued to talk as soon as he began his training again. "In all honesty you should not be here, don't worry you are not a hostage. However, I do not recommend that you try to leave if anyone realises who you are you will not survive very long."

"Where is here exactly?" she asked setting aside the bowl, having given up on eating it.

"that" he said throwing a wooden sword at her, "I can't tell you. You can call me Sei, I have 3 days to get acceptable for the temple, during that time its probably best you just follow my routine with me. It's the fastest way to check if he is right about his latest whim.

She had had basic training with the sword, self-defence was something any noble learnt. But nothing could prepare her for the speed at which he came at her. The first hit threw her weapon from her hands, but he did not stop there. The next blow hit her stomach, knocking her to the ground and winding her.

"Again" he ordered. "If you can't keep up you will end up like the rest of the palace"

Shaking she lifted her weapon and went into stance. She managed to dodge the first and block the second attack, but the third came unexpectedly from behind and once again she was on the floor. The images from last night kept flashing in front of her. She couldn't stop now; she couldn't end up like that. With that resolve she stood up again to fight.

The sun was directly over their heads by the time they stopped. Audria was covered is scrapes and bruises, and she was shacking so much she was surprised by her own ability to stand. Considering that she was in fact a princess, she had never been treated very well in the palace. Still, no one had ever lifted a hand to her. No one save the emperor himself. Even then, before that fateful night, she had only ever known him to be kind.

Exhausted she let herself fall and sat on the spot, while Sei disappeared inside. She knew now that she should have eaten the food, she was so hungry she wanted to cry.

It did not take long for Sei to return, he seemed to have an assortment on things. He crouched next to her and handed her a pear.

"Eat this" he said, while he started to apply ointment to her many cuts and scratches. He was very focused, and his face seemed a lot gentler now than it had before.

"You kept up with me a lot longer than I expected, you should be proud of yourself. I know I was rough, but it is necessary. If you will listen, I can explain while I treat your wounds." She nodded in response. He seemed almost like a different person from this morning.

"Last night you were taken back here from the mission, but nobody else knows you are here. In three days, the new disciple trainees will be brought in, I plan to slip you in with them. While I can hide you here indefinitely, it will be no life. I'm sure you are aware of why it is important that no one knows where you are from, given the events from last night. You are too clean to fit in, many trainees are sold, most have had very violent upbringings. Basically, if I take you in fair skinned, not a scratch it will obvious what I have done."

Audria listened intently; it was pretty obvious what was going on. Most of it anyway, however Sei seemed to be implying that he had brought her here. The pale man from the night before still haunted her mind. Confident she was not wrong she asked "what do you mean what you have done? I am sure enough of my own sanity to know that you didn't bring me here."

Some what surprised, he let out a light laugh, "If possible, we need to get some attitude out your vocabulary. Not that that is the biggest of out problems. I'm sorry I am used to people I talk to knowing. I tend to forget that I don't always look like this. The man from last night was technically also me."

She was completely stunned, before her eyes, she saw his hair turn white and grow long. His skin lost all colour and his eyes seemed to glow, his pupils contracting into slits. For the first time in her life, she felt true terror.

She knew of the demonic church. In the past they had ruled the lands along side the emperor, then came war. Now the church was a story told to children to make them behave. She knew stories of their demon priests, who fed themselves to the devils and came back as monsters. She had never believed this to be true. No one did. There were always rumours moving around, but it had been millennia since anyone had seen the church.

Instinctively she tried to run, all she managed was shuffle backwards before he grabbed her wrist.

"Stop! If I were going to do anything to you, I would have done it already. The second you leave this garden they will kill you." He growled, raising his voice, trying to get some sense in her. Surprisingly it worked. Her body relaxed, though the terror stayed in her eyes.

"They can't tell you are here as this house is warded, my magic is too strong and interferes with the others, so I'm kept here most of the time. You yourself have strong magic, the second you leave they will know you are here, they will smell it and come for you."

"w-why did you take me here." She cried unable to stop the tears, "You slaughtered them all, my family, my sisters, why?"

"I Was sent to purge them; I do not expect you to understand or forgive me. You alone had no evil in you, I couldn't bring myself to purge the innocent, regardless of my orders" He wiped the tears from her cheeks, painfully away of how rigid the act made her body go, "I am a selfish man, so let me get my redemption in you, the church might not be the good we like to preach that we are, but we are not all the devils you have been taught about. I am only trying to give you another chance to live, please don't throw it away out of fear."