Alaric's body ached with every motion. Over the past several days, he had been pushed harder and harder by each of the Dragon Knights that came to train the Initiates. It felt to Alaric as if they had begun to make a game out of it.

He had trouble keeping straight the names of the Initiates and could barely imagine keeping straight the names of the Dragon Knights that tormented him.

This day, the Knight in charge of training was something special. His name was Orik Intgarsson. He was the son of the High Lord Intgarsson.

The Dragon Knight seemed to be perfect in every way. He had cropped, blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. He was tall and muscular, but not quite as tall as Alaric. Every girl in the castle knew of his kindness and gallantry.

Alaric thought the man seemed nice enough, but most of the other young men thought that the attention that he had received went to his head. It was hard to believe that the man had any real flaws though.

"Alaric, come to me." The handsome man commanded. His voice was not stern, but it carried authority.

Alaric obeyed without a second thought. He had been talking Owayn, the son of Lord Moats. They had been waiting for the Dragon Knight to arrive.

The Dragon Knight looked concerned as he watched the other Initiates. "Initiates, get to sparring! You shouldn't need a chaperone every moment of the day!" he shouted.

Alaric was taken aback by the sudden venom in the man's voice.

The Dragon Knight's face softened as his eyes shifted to Alaric. "I'm sorry about that, Alaric. I was trying to prevent any curious Initiates from eavesdropping." The perfect man said queitly.

Alaric frowned. He wasn't sure what the man wanted. "Why do we need to keep secrets from the other Initiates?"

The blonde man shook his head. "It is less a secret than I have made it seem. There is an expedition that the Initiates will be taken out on in a few days. I have spoken with the other Knights that have seen you in action, and I feel that you should be appointed to lead the group. You will of course be working under me, but you would be my second in command."

Alaric was stunned. He didn't even know this man. He wasn't sure that he was ready or able to lead the other Initiates. They had all been bred and raised to be leaders, and he was raised to be a smith. "I.. I.. can do that. I'll follow your lead though."

Orik nodded. "Of course. I know that this is a lot to ask of you, but you are going to need to learn to lead. You are to be the next king after all. Along with that, your skills are beyond that of even any of the Dragon Knights. The other Initiates know that and look up to you for it."

Alaric's frown deepend. "I appreciate your concern. What is it that you would have me do tonight then?" Alaric was beginning to be excited each day for training against the Dragon Knights. Each of the Knights challenged him rather than let him train against the other Initiates.

The Dragon Knight furrowed his brow. The handsome man's concern made Alaric uneasy. "I would like to challenge you, but there is little point in sparring from what I've seen from you. There are other things that you need to learn. Patience will be your lesson today."

Alaric clenched his jaw as he turned to stare out over the other Initiates that were already in small groups, sparring. Patience was one of his weaknesses. He knew it. He wouldn't admit that out loud.

The Dragon Knight might not mind such a confession from an Initiate, but Alaric would not express his flaws aloud. Lilia had emphasized that it was improper for a king to do so, but he wasn't all that comfortable with it in the first place. He was slowly beginning to appreciate the time that the stubborn girl spent teaching him the ins and outs of nobility.

"Alaric, follow me. I need your full focus," Orik said firmly. It was strange to Alaric that the man could command with such an air of authority without any anger or condescension.

Alaric nodded and followed the man out of the training grounds. The Knight led toward the library. The man that ran the library had a strange name that Alaric could never seem to remember. The old man was smarter than anyone that Alaric had ever met.

The pair of men stopped just before they reached the library and turned down another hallway. The hall way short and ended with a heavy, steel door.

Orik drew a key from his belt that fit perfectly in the door's small keyhole. He pushed it open, but did not enter. Instead, he turned and motioned for Alaric to enter the room first.

The room was pitch black except for the light that came in through the open door. Alaric could see nothing in the room at all. There were no beds nor chairs nor doors in the room. Alaric walked forward to give Orik room to enter, but as he walked, he heard the door slam behind him. The lock clicked immediately after.

Alaric didn't move. He held his breath in the darkness. He listened for any sound that might tell him if Orik was in the room with him. There was nothing.

Slowly, Alaric raised his arms and walked back to the door. He felt around the walls feeling for any spot that he might be able to grasp on the door, but the door was gone. Alaric suddenly felt nauseous. His breath was growing shorter and shorter.

He wanted to scream, but he was having too much trouble breathing. The room was a new level of darkness. He had been out in pitch black night many times as a youth, but this was more. He placed his hand over his eyes, touching his face gently. He couldn't see his fingers even with them touching his nose and brow.

Alaric fought his body and took a deep and heavy breath. He made his way carefully to what must have been close to the center of the room and sat down. He fought with every movement to reach the spot. His body trembled, but he tried to maintain stillness in the silence.

He wasn't sure what Orik was trying to prove with locking him in the room. Alaric hated patience.

His heavy berathing echoed in the room. Alaric was unsure of how large the room actually was. It felt small, but the echo made it seem large.

Alaric focused his mind of the cold feeling of the stone against his legs and the sound of his breathing. He felt his heart slow over time to a regular rhythm.

Time felt warped. After awhile of sitting, he began to feel unsure about how long he had actually been sitting in that same spot. His back was starting to ache from sitting on the stone floor though, so he assumed that he had been there for awhile.

Alaric's pain got to the point that he felt that he needed to at least stand to allow his back to rest. He wandered slowly back to one of the four walls and began to feel his way around.

The wall gave little to no room between the stones for his fingers. There was no slits in the stones that helped him find the doorway.

Alaric felt trapped and had to stop his increasingly frantic search for an exit so that he could catch his breath again. The dark was unnerving, but he was at least fairly sure that he was safe.

After sitting for what felt like a full day, his eyelids were heavy. He wanted to rest, but the room was growing slowly colder. He laid for a time and tried to rest. The cold seemed to creep up through the stony ground. His clothes offered very little comfort and warmth against it.

Alaric had given up hopes of finding a way out after nearly a dozen attempts to find anything that could help him leave. He was at the mercy of Orik or whoever else Orik sent to release him.

A loud click broke the silence that made Alaric jump to his feet. The door opened slightly, letting a soft light enter the room.

Alaric had to cover his eyes despite the weakness of the light. It felt blinding. The door was pushed open little by little. Alaric wanted to pull the door open and run out, but that would have defeated the purpose of the entire exercise.

It was Amindra that was slowly opening the door. She was the softspoken and very beautiful maid that was assigned to take care of Alaric's every need.

"L- lord Alaric, are you well?" the timid girl asked softly. Her voice was a song carried by the voice of Lady Fate herself.

Alaric stumbled toward the door at the sound of his maid's voice. "Yes, I'm here, Amindra. Thank you for coming to retreive me. How long was I in here?" He asked as his fingers curled around the doorway.

"I- I'm glad that you're safe," the girl sang.

Alaric pulled the doorway open to face the girl, but she was nowhere to be seen. "Amindra? Where did you go, girl?" Alaric snapped. He was unsure of how she had made it out of the hallway so quickly and quietly.

There was no reply, but Alaric heard instead the click of the library door shutting. Alaric sighed and followed his ears.

The doors to the library were locked. Alaric swore that it was the library door that he had heard shut. He caught a glimpse of Amindra in the edge of his eye as she slipped around a corner back toward the training grounds.

He wasn't sure how she had moved all that way without catching his attention, but he shrugged it off. She was an odd girl after all. He would wake up to her coming into his room at times in the morning before he thought was appropriate. She was always extremely loyal and kind to him though, so he appreciated her company.

Alaric strode down the hallway quickly. Something was beginning to feel off. He couldn't place his finger on what it was, but he quickened his pace.

Alaric rounded the corner when he was tackled by Amindra from the side. They pair toppled over onto the ground. Somehow he ended up flat on his back with her sitting on top of him.

The beautiful girl stared down at Alaric with her hands on his chest. Her hips were placed firmly against his. He was frozen. He wanted both to push her off and pull her in, but he was too conflicted to really be able to pick a movement.

"Alaric... I- I love you," she whispered sweetly as she leaned in to kiss him.

Alaric squirmed under the assault of her tongue, but he really didn't want to fight it. Something about it all felt off though. Her wet tongue pushed past his lips into his mouth. She tasted rotten.

Alaric's eyes widened as the girl's eyes turned from blue to purple. He tried to push her away but her grip was too tight. She pushed further and further into his mouth until he started gagging.

Her body grew warmer with each motion. Alaric gripped and pushed to get her off of him, but her body began to soften and his pushes dipped further into her body.

Her face grew warmer and warmer until she began to melt before his eyes. Her enitre body slowly engulfed his. Her face seeped down covering his. He tried to pull her face off of his, but she wouldn't budge.

He realized that he was going to die underneath the girl. Once their faces touched, he could no longer breathe. He struggled for breath to no avail. Alaric felt his life slipping as he drifted away.

Cold water poured into Alaric's nose and mouth. He rolled to his side.

Blinding light poured into the room.

He was on the cold, stone floor.

Alaric flailed wildly trying to strike the source of the water and protect himself.

Someone caught his wrists firmly. "Calm, Alaric!" commanded a familiar voice.

Alaric no longer trusted his ears and kept pulling and pushing against the firm grasp. "Let go," Alaric growled.

He wrenched his wrists free and leapt to his feet. He could barely make out the figures that stood between him and the doorway, but he knew that he could make it past them easily. He planned to.

Alaric dove for the door. The figures didn't attempt to stop him though. He ran with all of his strength away from the hall. He didn't slow to look back.

He ran all the way to the training grounds. He only slowed when he caught a glimpse of Lilia. The Princess was standing idly talking with some other Initiates. Alaric grabbed the girl tightly around the waist and held her close.

She froze in his tight grip. He had never showed any form of affection like this before. As he held her, she relaxed and even ran one hand through his hair. "I'm here, 'Ric. It's ok." she whispered to him softly.