{Chapter 4}

Sleep was a luxury during eventual days like these. He had many things and thoughts to arrange —from his duties as the crown prince and Tri-Seal Bearer. He studied the papers that piled up, mostly about the New Harvest Festival, or Harvest Festival for short. He sighed and stood up, walking to a mirror.

Twinkles of starlight blurred against the bright lights in the study. Electricity was not the conventional form of energy in Soliere, unlike Lumiere and Warboar. Beads of lights floated, concentrating blue Soul Energy from himself. The energy in the beads mingled with the inherent energy in the air and walls which they occasionally bumped.

Luminur hissed under his breath in front of the cracked mirror, shattered like something had been thrown, his bare torso was reflected. His posture and form were as perfect as a human could be —though he was not bulky, he was lean. Rather, it was his proportions. He was beautiful in every way, his outward appearance holding no match, yet too beautiful to gaze in admiration —like an artificial lily held inside a glass bottle.

Feeling a strange itch around his body, he checked his arms and body, taking in every lesion and stab scarred into it. When it was cold, they would ache; when it was hot, they would itch. Each scar collected to look like a thousand teeth had mauled him with some wounds as wide as belts stretched across his body. His back was unreachable from the mirror, but the closed wounds were deeper and darker around his shoulder blade and along his spine. He lingered too long without covering, and the cold alerted the wounds again. Luminur bit down on his lips till they almost bled; they felt like they had been reopened like the day they had been inflicted.

He traced his gloved hand along the lines for a moment before sighing. He didn't undress to gaze at the wounds, but to look for an itch around them. After thorough care, he walked away and grabbed a loose shirt on a couch from where he passed and was wearing it just as soon.

He sat down on a chair and pushed himself to pull out paperwork from the stacks on his study desk.

A soft herbal whiff of tea serenaded with the image of Luminur writing and looking at a paper work on fund approvals, his sandalwood eyes as clear as glass, and the mole at bottom of his mouth twitching with his mouth. Each lash on his eyes could captivate a person —but those were all due to the effect of the Tri-Seal, as beautiful as he may be. 

He put down the pen and breathed in. From the corner of his gaze the mCrystal pulsed; he pursed his lips and took it into his gloved hands, which always seemed to be covered, and concentrated a douse of energy into the surface of the crystal until it glowed a lovely shade of blue, like a summer sky. Brought close to his lips, they barely touched. 

He spoke under his breath, "Emperor Ji Yang-Guang, few words have been exchanged since Chrifél 2, and I have become a bit impatient. The New Harvest Festival is close, yet all that was given was…nothing." He drummed his fingers on the table, eyes narrowing sharply. "If there is nothing that can be done, then forget our deal." The message was sent with the lifting of his finger.

A minute passed, and the crystal glowed. Luminur swiftly grabbed it. He tapped the surface, reading the words —but they made a scowl form on his lips. Vigilance and prudence of the future was the only response he supposedly noticed; the other things were the same excuses, such as the difficulties in finding a way to reach the Seer's Library. He swallowed and responded, "The Tri-Seal is not a free commodity that you can take to your liking —keep the end of your deal."

But just then, a message from Ji Yang-Guang arrived: "I cannot call you impatient, even as you rage behind the mCrystal. Unfortunately, nothing faster can be achieved: The Seer's Library is too difficult to find, when it is currently not existing in Ridonia —although you don't have to believe me."

Luminur made an ugly scowl, pressing the mCrystal for two seconds longer, and as swiftly as it pulsed, a voice was heard: "Crown Prince Luminur, your courage to talk to this great emperor behind the backs of Foxfire Alliance is remarkable. Unfortunately, it is not very pleasing."

"I do not enjoy showcasing my voice either, Emperor Ji Yang-Guang. But this back and forth of messages is doing little." Luminur stood up and clicked his fingers, and with it, a violent zap of blue Soul Energy crackled through the room, caused by the precise excess output. "If I do not have the Seer's Library—"

"Yes, of course, you would not give the Tri-Seal. But, Crown Prince Luminur—" Ji Yang-Guang shifted around, reclining on his back with his arms "—what do you want so much that you would sacrifice one of the Ten Treasures of Ridonia? And it is the Tri-Seal from Bane Aredese."

Luminur's lips twitched, his trained expression suddenly souring like a gloomy cloud, and he responded, "Emperor of Zhongguog is busy with many things —hearing my personal details is troublesome."

"Does it have to do with…the death of your mother, your fiancé? Perhaps—"

"That is none of your concern."

Ji Yang-Guang laughed for a second. "So be it. Now then, this great emperor must go. Rest well, Crown Prince Luminur. If you can." The exchange dropped and the crystal dulled from the glow.

Luminur leaned his back on the support of the chair, extending his neck out with a sigh and stretched muscles. As quickly as he did, he reached his hands out to the ceiling to grasp for the beads of Soul Energy in the room, like a cotton ball. Eyes were lost in the dancing lights around him, but more to the face that he remembered the lost hand that he longed to hold —not to fade away from time.

The sudden thought made him grimace and hold the arms of the chair till his hand rattled, and they didn't stop to the sound of his rough exhale and piercing headache. He felt the stings of darkness enveloping him again, the cold air on open wounds, and the hands that had found their way to him.

"No…" He trembled. Grasped the shirt over his chest. A knot grew in his stomach like a snake.. He felt the dripping of his own blood again, the screams and laughs. Heavy gasps broke out. He looked down to his body, patting each part of his torso carefully, looking to his gloved hand, and to the clothes on his body. 

 As long as they pay for what they have done. He felt that if he had it, he would no longer feel this empty hole.

Yet it all felt like a distant goal that only escaped further away from his fingertips, even now. Luminur continued to stare at the white and beautiful patterns. He pulled his other hand forward, gloved like the other too.

He tilted his head to the side and gazed out the towering window, to see a murky night and no stars, even though plenty plagued the black plane high above the tangible and lower realm called ground. A tug of panic nudged him, and the longer he stared into that odious abyss, he closed his eyes with his hand over them.

Two clear knocks came from the door. Luminur stood up with a fix of his hair and a subconscious rub on his cheek with the back of his hand, like a stain still lingered.

As he walked forward, he took a deep breath and said with a voice loud enough that it resounded through the room, "Who is it at this hour? You may enter."

The door opened to Orion by the doorway with an awkward countenance, contrast to his upright posture and imposing figure despite still being young. When Luminur peered at the door, he was taken aback, staring dumbfounded at Orion who stared back…like they had not seen each for many years.

Luminur opened and closed his mouth multiple times before he asked, "Orion? What brings you here this late? It is already 11:54 wěn."

Orion tried to smile, but it was crooked like a child who lost all his teeth and tried to hide it by grinning with his teeth covered by his lips. Luminur slightly laughed at it, his troubled heart more at ease. "Are you feeling uneased by the dark? And here I thought that it was I who found the twilight unsettling."

The smile wiped off Orion's face as fast as he had attempted it, a bright shade of red flooding his cheeks like a spat of fire that let out sparks. "Are you really turning twenty? You act like a child—" realizing what he said, he shut his mouth.

He grinned and swooped his hand to grab the full cheek of Orion like a piece of dumpling. "Aww, what a lovely child. Your baby fat is still here." He pinched his finger on the round cheek of Orion, whose face turned a dark scarlet that went down to his neck. 

Luminur shook his hand with an endearing smile.

With a quick swat of his hand, Orion scoffed and walked into the room. He ignored Luminur, throwing himself atop the silken bed that bounced up like a spring, to which he closed his eyes. Luminur closed the door and leaned against it.

Orion took in the scent of freshly changed sheets, and the subtle whiffs of flowers embedded, even if the cloths were washed.

He exhaled. "You still sneak flowers from the garden?" He glanced to the side of the bed where crowns and bouquets of summer flowers were stuffed behind a dresser and scoffed. "His Majesty King Ferdinand would be upset again if he were to see you picking flowers. I believe that you promised your father that you would stop collecting them as long as you burn scented candles."

"Flowers are the fruits of labor of the one who planted them. My mother would be happy, and half those flowers were planted by me," said Luminur as he pushed himself off the door. "Flowers are like people —we will die, and there is nothing wrong with it. I pick them to encase their beauty in the most amicable ways." 

He sat at the edge of the bed, staring at Orion who sat up and rolled his eyes: "You should say that to King Ferdinand."

He pushed himself off the bed, approaching the dresser before bending down to grab one of the crowns. Dahlias and blue hydrangeas folded against each other in a circle, adorned with yellow alstroemeria; Orion brought it over and placed it atop his head. although too small, like flowers that grew under shields of frost.

Luminur smiled with crossed legs and his head rested against his palm. "When did the stoic Captain of the Royal Magic Knights become so playful?"

Orion didn't answer as he laced his finger around the crown and his hair. Luminur stared at the dazed expression of Orion and was curious at the sudden quietness.

He turned his gaze with eyes as resolute as tempered steel. "Do you think that Aestas would want to seek revenge…like this?"

Luminur's smile fell, faltering like a rotten leaf from a thinning branch. For as long as he knew for those three years, that was what Aestas wanted — what his mother desired. A deep-seated, karmic red vengeance, bound to end in spilled blood.

It was clear that he believed this —more than he believed in his own judgments. Luminur responded, "Seek revenge? Both Aestas and my mother were murdered, so why would she not want revenge?"

Orion scowled, furrowing his eyebrows with an ugly look. "It's not that, Luminur. I just…she…" 

"Why are you feeling nervous around me all of a sudden?"

Looking to his hand, Orion whispered, "But elder sister was never like that. She hated revenge, more than anything else."

Luminur lifted his hand from his palm, and stared blankly at Orion who averted his eyes and whose finger twitched. He quickly gathered his wits, but turned his head away.

Orion pressed further. "Did you even love my sister?"

Luminur visibly leaned back, eyeing him from the corner of his eyes. "Your sister and I were betrothed, and we were to wed. Love would not matter any longer."

"Did you?"

"Aestas would say the same thing. Marriage is gain before love, especially for a prince and princess. Although the royalty of Lumiere are not as inclined to politics as Soliere, their presence was not dismissible, nor their value in terms of marriage."

"Did you, or did you not?" Orion whispered.

"Even if I did—" he stopped; his gaze bulleted to Orion who watched with a rueful turn of his lip. "Furthermore, there is no meaning to this conversation. It was a matter between me and your sister."

Orion didn't wait to hear anything else before leaving the room, although he took one glance filled with conflicted emotions. The door shut, squeaking like a mouse, just like a mouse Luminur chased. His goals turned in circles, and he momentarily forgot what Aestas wanted. When he tried, however, his mind would blur.