Nervously pacing back and forth, Kallie fidgeted with a sharp dagger in her hands. Her finger twirled the blade along its handle, spinning it in the air. Were she standing before any other door, her usual sarcasm could get her through the day. Eyes twitching and stomach upset, her mind flew through several possible excuses that could ease the Emperor. Usually, she faked her way forward or relied on her personal strength, but this time, she was facing a man who could see through her facade and overpowered her on multiple levels. Too focused on how to present herself, the large wood doors opened and an attendant layered in white embroidered robes stood waiting for her to collect herself.

"The Emperor is ready for you now." The attendant bowed and gestured past the ornate doors.

Though she wasn't ready to face the Emperor, making him wait was in no way a better option. The last man who made the Emperor wait upon them ended up being chucked into the mouth of a deeplar, with his soul being painfully chewed to pieces. The image of grinding teeth to spirit caused Kallie to shudder and quickly increase her pace.

The chilling air of the throne room made her skin form raised bumps along her arms. Mana powered chandeliers lined the stone ceiling illuminating the room in a pale moonlight. Less than a minute ago, she had been stressing over how to explain her failure in her quest, now, she struggled just to keep her composure briskly walking down the ludicrously long throne hall.

It reminded her of the long journey to her current status, a Royal Guard to the Emperor. She was once one of those bimbo nobles, attending parties for apparences and kissing the hands of richer men for reputational gain. Her home city, Dawncraft, hid an untold treasure trove of wealth within its politics, and more than a fair bit of corrupt bureaucrats played the game. Women such as her mother, sold themselves to such men, a sale that produced a litter of children known only as collateral waste. Kallie fought among hundreds of others who wanted nothing but to claw their way into a name. Once one had a name, they had power and access to a portion of the resources.

Not to say you were clear of threat with a name. Pandering to the wishes of higher ranked nobles was a daily ritual and the opportunity for another to take your spot was an ongoing endeavor. Bribes, assassinations, and shifting alliances all took place at a moments notice. Both her mother and father fell to such grim fates, but Kallie excelled above all else to take a position among the inner circle. The fact that she did it without selling her body further bolstered her pride. She herself never lost in political fencing, however, things took a turn when the Emperor himself flipped the board. The man spontaneously slashed civilian government power in favor of military run management. One needed the support of a high ranking officer instead of a lustful suit jockey or a sophisticated brain. Being near the top, Kallie fell from her short lived life in the inner circle and crashed like the rest of the noble elite. It was the first of many large humps to her current position.

Having reached the actual marble throne, Kallie kneeled to the man casually sitting upon it. His regal white and golden robes popped out, dark black silky hair lifted a jewel encrusted crown, and hands covered in gemmed rings relaxed upon the oversized armrests. Upon closer inspection of the throne, she saw the heads of previous emperors carved into it. Below, each step leading up to the throne contained known war stories throughout The Empire's history. Any other day she might have wanted to study said stories, but not any day the Emperor was looking down upon her. An erie awkwardness drifted as she noticed that she and the Emperor were alone within the absolutely massive throne room.

"You have returned," the Emperor spoke amusingly.

"Yes Imperial Majesty."

Kallie continued to keep her head down. Inwardly she cursed Stiggs and Mithros for disappearing. Both had missed their appointed follow up meeting two months from their start. Stiggs was well known in The Empire and his absence could only mean he was caught up in something else. Mithros on the other hand wouldn’t hesitate to leave her hanging. She once caught the old man hidden in a closet smoking an assortment of herbs and spices just to avoid teaching a class of children, but that is a story for another time.

"Rise and let me take a look at you." The Emperor stood up and took his time taking one step after another toward her.

Kallie rose as well and silently watched as the man before her slowly approached. Deep inside she trembled at the thought of being beaten within an inch of her life after revealing her inability to find the boy. She had burned many bridges and sacrificed tons of time to get where she is today.

"I can expl..."

"Shhhh...."

The Emperor stopped right in front of her, inspecting her face too close for comfort. He moved his hand to gently caress her smooth face. In a quick and unexpected fashion, the other hand wrapped around her waist pulling her in. Tongue penetrated her mouth exploring to its contentment. Seconds felt like hours as the Emperor entwined his face with hers. His hands grabbed all over her body each clenching hard into flesh once it found what it wanted. After taking what little pride she had, the Emperor finally released her, grinning wide. Then as if it were a normal day, he moved around her, exiting the throne room at his leisure.

Overwhelmed in shock, Kallie collapsed to the hard floor. Brain spinning at what just happened, the Emperor took the one thing she wasn't expecting, punishment no judge or jury should ever conclude. Etched into her mind was each hand roaming about her body, unlocking its personal secrets. Feeling absolutely filthy, Kallie curled up into a ball, arms around legs. Being violated in such a way seared a pain somewhere that couldn't be healed. She always prided herself in being a strong independent woman, but all that was just stripped away. A look of emptiness settled on her defeated face as tears silently flowed, dripping to the already cold damp floor.

Physical pains she could handle, it was the mental ones that left an everlasting scar.

0---0

Scanning the ceiling treetops from below, I crouched low with sword in hand. A soft tipped arrow flew straight at me, but I dodged by rolling to my right. In the direction of eight o'clock, I heard a faint noise of a broken twig. Before I could process what came next, a rope bola shot at me from behind wrapping my legs tight. Falling to the ground wasn't what hurt, it was the bash to the face that came after.

Reeling in pain I looked up to a pair of elegant eyes. One eye was more blue than the oceans themselves while the other was more green than the trees that surrounded us. As my view panned out, shown below was a smile so wide and white that it almost looked exaggerated. Topped with Moon's radiant silver hair, she was the embodiment of a full canvas of colors.

It's been a full two months since I started training and I can't get a handle on this mana thing. Whether it be shooting flames from my hands or enhancing an arrow, nothing seemed to work. Oh well, becoming firelord was never on my to do list anyways. On the bright side, large amounts of mana have been constantly spilling into my muscles and bones, completely erasing my previously anorexic body. Every chance I get, I pushed the dark blue mana into my mana veins to strengthen them even though I cannot for the life of me use them. For some reason whenever I try forming an element with my mana, it just seemingly falls apart.

Moon was the complete opposite of me, as well as most of her peers. She handled mana like it's her bitch. Turns out, her silver hair actually has meaning. A silver haired elf was one born with a mana core. Most mages form cores in their early youth, but being born with one takes natural affinity for mana control to a whole new level. It was also the real reason why every one of her classmates alienates her during training. Envy was a strong emotion that existed in every living creature with elves being no exception. To make a comparison for non-mages, I assume it's similar in feeling to competing with another person who was born filthy rich. Her control over mana allows her to easily cover her feet and push off with insane bursts of speed. Running circles around me can be taken both literally and metaphorically. For this reason, our little daily duels always end up with her on top.

What frustrated me the most was that the elves won't teach me any of the finer techniques until I prove I have the basics. Many of our classmates can light their arrows on fire with ease while everytime I try, the arrow disintegrates from my mana.

"I win again!" Moon reached out a hand to help me up after cutting me free.

"Can't you go a little easier?"

"No. My mother says going easy is a disservice, and I agree with her. You just need to figure out what your fighting for, so you can fight the good fight. What do you want?"

"I don't know what I want. Before it was to not starve and now I have no idea."

"Well, I want to eventually be good enough to beat mother. You are just a very small stepping stone for me."

"I'll beat you eventually," I said with wavering voice betraying my words.

"Haha, sure... Let's go get lunch I'm famished."

Moon rubbed her belly then interlocked her arm with mine. Before we managed to take two steps, a man nearly twice my size in height and width appeared twenty paces in front of us. His towering figure imposed a wall of an aura causing both me and Moon to freeze in place.

"He looks different than I remember... Not so skinny anymore...." The man doesn't move but watched us like an eagle.

"Who is the girl?" A female reply caused us to look behind. A shoulder length cut, brown haired woman with full standard imperial armor and several shiny accomplishment medals molded to the front stood also twenty paces away.

"Doesn't matter, leave her and take the boy."

With unnatural speed, Moon chambered an arrow and fired it into the sky. The arrow exploded into a symphony of light and sound, echoing for miles. Me and Moon like our privacy so we tend to travel a decent distance away from camp. Even so, the elves have watchers everywhere and one was bound to see our signal, which meant that this will be a battle of time rather than power.

"That complicates things..." The man started to move forward bringing his full unbreakable line of defense aura with him.

The woman from behind pulled out her sword and also started enclosing the distance one step at a time.

I took off running perpendicular to the two unknown attackers while Moon pushed off with both feet launching up into the treetops. Barely seconds into my escape the woman caught up and reached for my back. Two soft tipped arrows zoomed down at my attacker but were slashed away just as quick. It did little but pause the woman for a mere moment.

Who are these people and what do they want from me? I turned in an attempt to fire off a fireball but nothing happened. Damn it, what's the point of being a mage if I can't use any of this mana? I finally found a place I like and now i'm going to be taken away by some mysterious wackos.

Moon continually fired arrows from above more out of desperation than dealing any real damage. I know she was seriously trying but the two chasing me are years our seniors in just about everything.

The man appeared out of nowhere in front of me and landed a punch right in the gut. The wind was knocked out of me and I clutched my chest to breathe, unfortunately, two months worth of training has done little in the way of combat. I didn't even get to throw a single punch.

Lifting me by the collar of my shirt, the man looked me straight in the eye and mumbled, "Now what does the Emperor want with you..."

Meanwhile, Moon abandoned all hope with her arrows and charged at the female knight. A fury of punches and kicks missed their mark as the female knight parried every single one with ease. With a sweep of the legs, the female knight retaliated dropping Moon on her ass and a follow up with a knee pinned her to the ground.

"Release them!" A wind enchanted arrow fired from the Warden flew at the female knight with unrelenting speed.

The female knight rolled off of Moon to avoid being hit and properly put up a solid guard. Two more arrows came spiraling toward the knight as Moon disappeared back into the trees toward the warden cursing in elven at the same time, watching as both arrows missed their target.

"Halt! I am Royal Guard Stiggs of The Empire. I am just retrieving what belongs to the Emperor."

The male knight switched me to a headlock with my back to his chest, effectively using me as a shield. In response, the Warden ceased her actions and lowered her bow.

"You are in elven territory. What makes you think you have the right to take anything?"

Out of nowhere, fifteen elven archers revealed themselves with bows at the ready, a decent show of force.

"My orders come directly from my emperor. I will be taking this boy back with me. Whether blood fertilizes this forest or not is up to you."

Nineteen imperial soldiers stepped out from behind trees decked in full shining imperial armor. Well there goes the number advantage. Seriously, why do they want me? What possible reason could an emperor want with me?

"Wait here. I need to speak with my elders," the Warden threw out to stall for reinforcements.

"No. We are leaving."

Stiggs chucked me over his shoulder and casually walked away.

"NOOOO!" Moon screamed in defiance.

The Warden grabbed her and pulled her back before she could do anything. With arms and legs flailing, I looked back to see her eyes start to water. I'm weak and pathetic. Moon was my first real friend who I ever really got to know, even though our time together was rather short. It burned me deep inside that I didn't have the power to fight back.

"I'll be back!" I shouted out.

This time Moon broke out in full tears knowing full well we may never see each other again. Our distance apart continued to climb. Everybody in my life always gets torn from me, I should really expect it at this point, but it still hurts nonetheless.