Glaring Eyes of Another Vessel

Syndel rolled over in pain as her insides felt like they were being repeatedly stabbed.

"Fuck!" She said, loudly screaming in pain.

Some maids and guards came in and saw Syndel on the floor whaling hysterically.

"Princess!" Adrenis said as he rushed in.

Syndel reached out to one of the maids crying.

"Oh! It's her time of the month!" A maid said.

They managed to get Syndel up and out of the room, a trail of blood followed her.

The maids ran a bath with several herbs.

One maid took a purple ball and dropped it into the bath. The water began fizzing, then completely stopped. The bath began glowing.

Syndel began stripping as she walked near the bath.

"Wash those immediately!" One of the maids said.

Syndel got into the tub and completely melted.

She let out a relieving sigh.

The enchanted water worked immediately.

"So this is what it feels like... I regret ever thinking small of it." She said to herself.

"Lady Ianbellis, may I wash your back?" One of the maids asked.

"Please."

The maid began washing her back.

Syndel began washing herself after.

"Do you have anything I can use to stop the blood?" She asked.

"Why, yes, we do."

One of the other maids went to fetch these absorbent products.

"It doesn't have a name, but her majesty designed it to work as best as possible. "

It was shaped like a pad from his world.

"Shall we call it a pad?"

"Yes! That name works."

Syndel got out of the bath feeling a little better, but the pain still lingered.

She applied the pad and got dressed.

"Where's Adrenis?" She asked as she walked off from the maids.

"Mam! But the pads!"

"Drop all of them in my room please! Thank you!" Syndel said as she got further away.

"Lady Ianbellis, just the person I was looking for."

"I was looking for you too... Sorry you had to see me like that this morning." She said laughing with a discomforting smile as if she was still in pain.

"Oh no princess, it's very much understandable. Now about the holding cells; shall we?"

"Lead the way."

They got down to the roundabout path to the holding cells and saw the guards' changing shifts.

"So, how many times do the guards switch shifts?" She asked, trying to make small talk.

"There's about 25 hours in our days, so about four." He replied.

"One hour extra huh... Interesting." Syndel thought to herself.

They made it to the holding cells and the guards greeted them...

They proceeded to open the doors, and they walked in.

Syndel walked in and began scanning the cells for a familiar face.

"You had anyone in mind, princess?" Adrenis asked.

"Yes, actually. I'm looking for a tall kind of buff dark-complexioned man with ears like a short elf. He's wearing very strange clothing that doesn't appear in this world. And, he speaks a language you can't understand." She said.

"Oh! That prisoner, he actually was on the way to the King's chambers." One of the guards said.

"What!?" Syndel yelled loudly.

"What's the matter princess?" Adrenis asked.

"Show me where the King's chambers are now! This is bad!" Syndel said running leaving the holding cells.

Adrenis appeared concerned, but not for Syndel.

He ran after her.

Syndel stormed back into the castle, "Where is he!?"

The guards were trying to calm her down then Adrenis came along.

"Right this way my lady." Adrenis said.

Adrenis quickly brought her to the King's chambers.

"You lied about not being able to tell me the king's chambers location. But I'll handle that after the fact." Syndel spoke.

As they stood outside, they heard laughter.

Syndel stormed in as she saw the man chatting with the king casually.

"Oh! Syndel, I really want you to meet them, this is-"

"Kendell. What a pleasant surprise." She said in a language nobody else understood. Everyone looked confuddled.

He turned as she said the name.

"So, you must be Syndel. I've been hearing crazy things about you."

"What language are they speaking?" The king asked.

"I'm afraid I don't know." Adrenis said as he walked over next to the king.

Syndel and Kendell continued to talk in this otherworldly language until the king cleared his throat.

They stopped talking and faced the king.

"Now, what's all this about?" Syndel asked.

"You want to put this outsider in our knight corps? But why!? For all we know, he could be working for one of those Western nations! Besides, his body seems weak. How do we know he's capable of battle?"

"Send your best knight in here and I'll show you not to speak out of turn to me again." Kendell said, with conviction.

"Well, let's see it. Send in your best knight, we don't have all day."

The knights all came into the room and lined up along the wall, then one of them stepped out and walked towards the middle of the room. Kendell looked at the man up and down.

"Get this man a sword." One of the knights handed him a broad bladed sword.

The other knight waited for Kendell.

"Begin whenever you're ready."

Kendell unsheathed the sword and prepared for the knight's assault.

The knight charged at Kendell in a low striking form, but Kendell saw it from a mile away. He quickly parried to the left and managed to land a blow on the man's back. He fell to the ground immediately as Kendell displayed high intelligence with how he handled it.

Another knight charged at Kendell, and they began swarming him.

"Is it alright if I cause blood to spill?" Kendell asked, parrying and moving through the several attacks.

"Go ahead." The king replied.

Kendell's entire demeanor changed as he grabbed the downed man and threw him at the other knights, this caused them to scramble. He launched at the ones who weren't caught by the other man and slashed one of the men's cross-sections leaving a shallow cut, following with a kick that sent him flying. He grabbed another sword and followed with another attack as he stabbed one of the men in the leg, he fell to the ground as blood splashed and one of the other men slipped on the blood falling onto their own sword.

"So, this is what you're like Syndel. I'm impressed, truly." Syndel thought to herself.

One of the other knights launched at Kendell low again, but he jumped over them grabbing them by the neck and stabbing them in the leg as the last knight looked in fear at Kendell.

"He's something of a monster it seems, Syndel it looks as though you might have a new candidate for marriage." Adrenis spoke brashly.

Kendell put down the swords and turned towards the king, kneeling.

"I think that will be enough..."

"Young Kendell, was it? You fight with a certain grace; it feels so familiar. I'd love for you to join our knight corps."

"Your majesty, would that be smart though? Not to overstep boundaries, but I think we should wait until we know more about him." One of the King's attendants said.

Healers attended to the injured men and escorted them from the king's chambers.

"I suppose you have a valid point... I have one more question for you though. But one more thing... Is this man mognite or kuzy?"

"Neither." Syndel objected.

"Child of the Sun then, maybe?" Adrenis chimed in, looking at Kendell's body.

"Father, please."

"Alright, alright. I've noticed your eyes, I'll let you be."

Syndel quickly grabbed Kendell's hand and led them to her room.

"Adrenis, tell me something. Where did Syndel go yesterday afternoon?"

"To be truthful, I have no idea but something's off. I feel it."

"Keep an eye on that man and look out for Syndel, with the meeting in Matiy coming up; I don't want anything happening to our new guest."

"Will do." Adrenis bowed.

Meanwhile, in Syndel's room. She got him cleaned up and put him in some more clothing.

"Well now that you're cleaned up and changed. I have some questions."

"Okay."

"First, When I first saw you; Why did you run towards me saying" " Get out of there?"

"You were in the spell zone of the spell I was casting. I tried to get you out of the vicinity, but I was too late... With you being inside the spell zone caused this to happen, with you... In my body. Why didn't you move?"

"I had fallen asleep, and I couldn't move. It was as if I fell between realities and slipped from the void of a world I live in and ended up here."

"By way of death, brings the life of another. I suppose this is the Gods choosing us."

"When I first got in your room, I read some things about world powers. I saw Ragnarök highlighted and wanted to ask you about it." She spoke.

"Ragnarök is a choosing of the gods, I suppose it is time for change in the world. This is strange, a world power this early... But it's not rare like most cases. If you were brought here from my magic backfiring by Arcana, then it should be me who inherits Ragnarök." He replied.

"I suppose we'll see in the coming days, but you, what's your story?"

"I wasn't always the heir to the throne. Shortly after I was born, it was discovered that I had Arcana Cortex, so I was treated with the utmost care. I lived in the castle for much of my life, I ran away and became an adventurer on my sixteenth birthday. My former party died inside a dungeon when it collapsed, and I was the last one found alive. I blacked out and somehow came out barely alive after that. Word got back to my father that I was badly injured near death, and he sent his entire fleet along with himself to come get me." As you probably know already, my name is Syndel Ianbellis. I'm twenty-three, a retired adventurer, and the heir to the throne." He said.

"I'm twenty-three!?" She shouted.

"Yes, that's what I said."

"Now that all of that's out of the way... Can I ask a favor of you?" He asked.

"Sure."

"Can you continue being the princess for now? I need to find out how to reverse Arcana, I don't know much about it, and I really do need to know what this is."

"I can do that... But I'll need something from you in return." She retorted.

The two locked eyes for a moment before Adrenis peeked into the room.

"Well, what do we have here?" Adrenis said as he walked into the room.

"Sup Adrenis?"

"Sup? Where do you get off being so informal?"

"Why would I need to be formal? What do you need?"

"Well, it's that your father wants an audience with you.

"Well, I'm going. Are you coming with?" She asked, looking at Kendell.

"Yes."

They both went to the main chamber, Adrenis followed behind them.