Sora
I awakened with a jolt to see an unfamiliar room. It was plain; only occupied by a bed and a small wash basin that stood in the corner. Smooth, but foreign robe like clothes brushed against my skin as I stood up.
My hair swung past my line of vision and I was taken aback by the foreign sight. The previous short and bright red hair I’d had my whole life had been replaced by dark and long hair.
I wondered how long i had been asleep
“Where am I? How long have I been asleep?”
A small, frail hand landed on my upper arm and prevented me from moving around while a soft and enchanting voice whispered out a response.
“Finally you’re awake. It's been so long... I thought it failed.”
Her cold breath made me reflexively stiffen and attempt to free myself but I quickly stopped when I realized that she didn't even have to tighten her grip to overpower me.
“Who are you? And could you let go of me, please?”
The strange woman thought about it. She tightened her grip for a moment before slowly letting go.
“Is something wrong?”
I turned around and saw her for what seemed like the first time. Large, pale blue eyes sat on high cheekbones and short, icy-blue hair framed her charmingly angular face.
“Wah.”
I couldn't help but exhale. She truly was beautiful. The woman softly laughed at my response and began to circle me, inspecting me like one would do to an animal before purchase.
“Not bad...not bad at all. If he hadn’t been trained as a Rekka, he’d be able to start right away,” she murmured to herself. Her voice slightly hardened when she mentioned the Rekka, as though she held some personal resentment towards the name. Her kind, cold smile slightly faltered as she spoke about me to herself.
“Those fools really don't know a gem when they see one. His physique is obviously more inclined towards the Eira, so how could they even attempt to train him like a Rekka? If I hadn't found him when I did, wouldn't he have broken?”
She referred my weaker and thinner body as opposed to the robust and rigorous physique’s of the Rekka.
As she murmured her monologue, I quickly began to retreat towards the doorway and hastily executed a bow; not forgetting to thank my benefactor.
“I would like to formally extend my thanks to you…”
She finally looked at me, connecting her icy-blue eyes to my red ones. For a moment we stood in silence, my unfinished sentence dangling between us like a noose.
“Dice. You can call me Dice.”
“Ah. Dice. I would like to formally extend my thanks to you as the Eleventh Prince of the Rekka. Upon my return, I shall make sure that you are rewarded appropriately.”
The kind smile suddenly fell off her face and her cool demeanor was released in full. She let out a low chilling laugh that sent a shiver down my spine.
“Are you trying...to
Eat and ditch
? Is that what it's called? Trying to take advantage of an old woman’s moment of sympathy?”
To hear the young woman who didn't look a day past twenty-five refer to herself as an old woman was jarring, but I couldn't let myself dwell on that as I rushed to explain.
“No! You misunderstand me! While I’m unsure exactly what happened, I can promise that you shall be rewarded!”
Dice’s aura completely shifted to one of suffocating oppression, completely disproving everything I had ever heard about the Eira being weak and light weight.
I crumpled down to the floor, unable to combat the overwhelming aura that reminded me so much of the Emperor.
She began to speak, not at all letting up the power that had pushed me face first into the cold ground.
“I think there was a misunderstanding….Sora.”
From my position on the floor I found the strength or rather will power to combat that foreign name,
“ Sora?…..My name Is Aden, eleventh pr-”
She cut me off with a voice as cold and sharp as a winter wind and increased the pressure as if trying to drain out all forms of resistance from me.
“You continue to say that, but I wonder why you would continue to use a dead man’s name.”
“What do you mean? I’m obviously still ali-”
“No. Sora is here and alive, Aden Cynbald, the Eleventh Prince died on that ice mountain after his father sent the order to retreat to the rest of his brothers and left him and his troops to die.”
A blinding headache erupted in my head as everything came back to me.
The memory the sudden order to join my brothers in the final suppression of the last non-pure Rekka tribe in the lands, the hasty rallying of my troops, the overwhelming losses we faced.
I remembered seeing the retreating armies of my family and realizing that we were left behind as sacrifices to buy time.
Resigning myself to death….And being saved by the woman in front of me.