Chapter 8 Saintess of the Kingdom Zenobia

One year has passed since my last battle with the demon beasts. I am now in the Headquarters of the church where I am doing some works of the priests and priestess. Since I got the title of the Saintess 6 months ago, I have been researching manas, holy power, and demon curses. I also look for the copy of the prophecy. I don't think that the prophecy we know is all of it.

"In this Kingdom, a daughter shall be born,

Blessed and cursed, a Saintess not of royal blood.

Beware, for she may bring victory or doom.

The sky darkened by the eclipse with a shining star on above.

A noble with great wisdom will bring justice or calamity"

The first emperor was given the prophecy by an angel. It was 100 years ago. I have questions regarding this prophecy. Even though I read it, It's incomplete. Is there anyone just like me who was born with such a path? Taking care of a kingdom that is not part of the royal family? If I'm not the first, where are the others? Is it possible to have more than one called for this path to exist at the same time? If yes, where are the others?

The complete prophecy is hard to find but I learned about manas, holy power and demon curse.

When the world began, Gods gave power to his creations. Animals, plants and humans have manas that sustains their souls and body in order for them to live. Humans have the higher capabilities to own mana. Manas that humans have and are able to gain, will be turned to powers according to the state of mind and action of the human. Humans who are doing good deeds were rewarded by God's holy power, some were favored, that's why they gained more than 1 power. Some who took the other course were cursed and were given demonic power/s by that being who betrayed the Gods.

In my case, I am favoured but also cursed. Mixed. A Hybrid. I researched about my family ancestry and no case just like me. Though I am thinking there might be some more about the Quillion family.

"Ryneeee! How are you?" I saw Princess Atasha happily walking towards me. I'm in the Library of the Church, researching.

"Your royal highness. I'm glad to see you. What makes the princess of the nation happy today?" I said while closing the book I was reading.

"I'm happy because I would be able to spend time again with you. My father permitted me to stay for more days. Meaning, our project 38 will commence" she said smiling and doing this swaying her body while she holds her dress, like a shy kid asking her mother some favor.

"That was amazing. First thing we need is a place where we can mark the location. We need something a bit bigger since the markings and spells should be aligned to the other." I said. She listens carefully. We are going to make a teleportation gate. "I think we can have some location here in the chapel. I'll ask the priest and priestess to give us some place. I think the inner corner of the garden is fine." We proceed to the place and start to work.

Working with her is fun and I can see that she is enjoying it. There are times when we have some mistakes and the experiment blows. Our faces were covered by black and dust and our hair was close to being gone. We laughed when that happened.

After 2 weeks working, we are getting close to completing it. We are resting for a bit and having our afternoon tea.

"Hmmm… the scent of the tea is relaxing. Where did they buy this?" Atasha asked.

"It was a gift from Marquis Valerian. That is their first and last tea they will produce. The distribution rights and the ownership was only theirs. So no competition." I said. My brother delivered the tea when he visited me here at the Church.

"Good for them. I'll ask them to send some to my palace." She said and continued her tea.

"Before I forgot your highness. I began inventing something." I shared.

"What is it?" She asked curiously.

"Something that will capture a moment. I thought painting is time consuming and will need the appearance of the subject to be painted for hours so I want something to capture the moment in one swish or click." I explained.

"That is interesting. When will you try it? Tell me more about it." She said. We finished our tea session by talking about the thing I'm inventing.

After that we tried teleporting some things like a leaf first then a hat, chair, table and then an animal. The marked location is the church's garden and my garden. The Princess is in the church garden while I'm here in my garden.

"I'm ready whenever you are ready Atasha." I said. We are now using a magic stone where we can communicate. I can see her in the projected above the magic stone and the same in her part where she can see me also.

"Alright. The monkey will now teleport there in 3…2…1"

The pattern on the ground and the gem on 4 sides lit up. Then the monkey appeared. I checked if there are missing limbs, and nope, all are intact. Yes! Success for an animal.

"Success! We did it on the animal. Let's try the bigger mammal." I said. And we tried several animals then me. I inhaled and then…

"Yes!" A hug met me. I opened my eyes and smiled. "We did it!" Before I can say something, the gem and the pattern lit up again then we are both in the garden of my house. Upon realizing that you must get out of the pattern immediately. We walked outside it.

"Oh! The princess is here. Greetings to her royal highness." We heard my brother's voice. He has been observing me doing the test for animals since a while ago.

"Greetings to you too little Lord Quillion." The princess greeted my brother.

We both have a little celebration to ourselves.

We reported it to my father then to the king and we focused on our other project.

After 4 days, we finished the moment capturer device. The princess assisted me in my study room in making this device. At first, there was only black and white. Then the person cannot be captured, only the background, after adjusting things we finally are going to try it to ourselves.

"Cion, make sure to hold the cat well so it will not run." I said while I'm bent down adjusting this thing. "Princess Atasha, be careful there, there are papers scattered." I warned the princess where she was standing. "10 seconds and go. I'll be in the middle." I said then walked towards them, standing between Atasha and Cion.

A light flashed.

"Let me see." Cion said. "That is an amazing feature, sister. I hope you can give me a copy of it." My brother said with his great smile.

"What more can I say? Your sister is truly one of a kind. I applaud your success." The princess said after looking at the picture.

"Let's take more." I said and got it ready. We took a few more shots. "This is the last." I said and got it ready again. "10 seconds, both." I said and got into the position. I'm at the side, Atasha is in the middle and Cion at the other side. We were just waiting for a few seconds but then the cat ran off of my brother's arm. The princess went out of balance and I tried to catch her.

Her beautiful eyes. Those green eyes. Her nose, her reddened cheeks, and her lips.

*Light flashed

I was backed from the reality that the light from the moment capturer flashed. I made sure that Atasha was on her feet before getting off my hand from her waist.

"Pardon me, princess. Are you alright?" I asked if there's anything aches.

"No worries Ryne, all good. Thank you for not letting me fall." She said smiling.

"Always at your service, your royal highness." I said and bowed my head and we laughed. "I bet the last shot is not good since my brother here ran off." I said checking if the picture is good.

"Apologies, your royal highness. I'm sorry sister." My brother said apologetically.

"It's fine, Cion. No harm done." Atasha said. "Let me see the last picture." She said to me.

We looked at it. Nice. The capture is beautiful, for me. Not the way we planned but it came out very good.

It was Atasha and I. I was holding her waist with my left hand and my right hand holding her left hand, which is in between me and her. We looked into each other's eyes. It was our position a while ago where I caught her before falling.

"I'll treasure this." I said.

"No way. I wanted it also." Atasha protested.

"Alright, I'll prepare a copy of it. Get the ones you like, princess. You too Cion." I said.

After that, we planned to take it into business. The Princess, of course, is my business partner since she also helped me. And I can see that in the future, that this invention that we made will boom in the market.

~~~~

Third person POV

"What's the status of the rat?" the general of the imperial knights asked about the status of the person who was responsible for kidnapping the princess.

"We apologize, my lord but they lost him in the forest. 11 knights are dead and they are trying to find the person. Demon beasts were spotted since it is outside the wall." one knight reported.

"D*m* it!"