♛ The Prince, ⚔ the Soldier, & the Gifted ☀

[Ranger of the North]

I have run out of words. ovo

haha, it's alright xDD

But, like 'aaaaaaaaah' is the only thing that can sum it up!
And I've already said that several times now. OvO

[~Teya~]

I have run out of words. ovo

haha, it's alright xDD

But, like 'aaaaaaaaah' is the only thing that can sum it up!
And I've already said that several times now. OvO

xD It's ok really, just commenting at all is very nice of you cx

Made a drawing of a scene in chapter 20 instead of a chapter today hehe cx

[Ranger of the North]

Aw, glad to help out! c:

AAAWWWWW <33

[~Teya~]

ՏԱИѺГѦ
Chapter 22

Bumping up and down on the aged cobblestone road, Sunora slowly turned right, going into a small parking lot in her borrowed car, glancing at the large granite rock with words etched onto it that read, ''The Golden City's Orphanage for lost and abandoned visclings'' she slowed the car to a stop, opening the car door and shutting it with a slam, walking up the three stone steps and over to the shiny pine door.
Ringing the doorbell, she listened to the sing-song rings it made, soon picking up on the soft padding of viscet feet making their way to the door, it opened a crack, and a small viscling peeked through.
''May I come in, miss?'' Sunora asked pleasantly, kneeling down to the little girl's height, staring into the visclings curious big blue eyes, the girl smiled, ''sure Princess Sunora,'' she replied, opening the door fully, Sunora laughed, saying, ''I'm not a Princess,'' the little viscling cocked her head dramatically, sucking her paw as she spoke, ''but don't you live in the Palace across the water?'' Sunora nodded in a ''yes'', and the tiny viscling smiled, ''than you're a Princess,'' she said with a fulfilled grin, apparently pleased with herself at clearing that up for Sunora, skipping away down the hall, almost running into one of the staff of the Orphanage, they spoke as she skipped past him, ''be careful Maria, you'll hurt yourself-'' the viscet turned, seeing Sunora their jaw dropped for a moment, but then the viscet-man regained himself and quickly walked over to her.
''Hello there, and what can I do for you miss . . . ?''
''Sunora,'' she said, shaking the somewhat starstruck viscet's paw, as she added, ''I was here a little over two months ago to talk to Frankie and Sarah Romero about the escaped convict that stole your horse, and I'm also the one who brought them to the orphanage awhile back, I was just wondering if I could check up on them?'' the male looked her over for a moment, not being able to help but stare at her peculiar color patterns, before eventually replying, ''huh? Oh! Yes of course, I haven't been working here very long so I wouldn't know much about that but yes, you can see them, right this way,'' Sunora smiled with gratitude, removing her coat and hat, and proceeding to hang them up on the hanger by the door, along with her thick leather gloves laced on the inside with cotton, it was late September, and was already beginning to look like it might just snow.
Once up the stairs, Sunora followed the viscet down the hall and to the left and straight again, to arrive at the door of what was most likely Frankie and Sarah's room, they stopped, and the male viscet knocked on the door as he loudly spoke, ''Sarah, Frankie, you have a visitor out here,'' with that the viscet disappeared down the hall.
The door to the room was flung open, just as Sunora saw Sarah and she jumped onto Sun with a hug, saying, ''hi Sunora!'' Sunora laughed, ''it's nice to see you too, Sarah,'' she said, looking down at the viscling, she had grown some since the last time she had seen her.
Frankie peeked his head out of the door, grinning when he saw her, ''how ya been Sunora?'' he asked, as Sarah lead Sunora into their four beds bedroom, two other visclings watched quietly on their beds.
''I've been fine, just thought it'd be nice to come and see you,'' Sarah grinned from ear to ear, saying, ''it sure is!'' Frankie cut in, ''what took ya so long anyhow?'' Sarah nudged him in the rubs with her elbow, and Sunora laughed, saying, ''I really don't know, I just felt like I'd come and see you, have you done anything interesting lately?''
Sarah shrugged, ''same old same old - oh, la Brisa came back home a few days after you left last time though,'' Sunora glanced towards the window in the visclings room, that had a good view of the barn.
''Did she now? Well I'm glad you have her back,'' Sarah nodded, saying, ''I guess so, I just hope Murlly wasn't thrown, she does that now and again, he told us he couldn't ride but-'' Frankie nudged Sarah this time, glaring down at her.
Sunora contemplated Sarah's words for a moment, ''I thought you told me Murlé zoomed past you out of the barn before you had time to react, plus . . . I didn't tell you his name,''
Sarah bit her lip, ''big mouth!'' Frankie sneered, ''hey!'' Sarah exclaimed, glaring back at him, but then turned back to Sunora, ''you aren't going to send us to j-jail now, are you?'' she whined pleadingly.

BOOM!

All of the viscets turned towards the window, feeling a violent tremor as it shook the entire building, a picture on the wall fell down as Sunora hurriedly sprung to the open window, staring outside into the distance.
''What was that?'' Sarah and Frankie exclaimed in unison, all four visclings crowded around her, shaking, Sunora looked down at their petrified faces, saying calmly, ''it was probably just an earthqua-''

BOOM!

It happened again, this time smoke rapidly started to appear just a few blocks away, this was no earthquake.
The visclings covered their ears, the littlest viscling screamed, Sunora could suddenly feel the terror of at least one hundred viscets all around her, this was not good.
She knelt down to the small boy viscling, caressing his soft, tear-strained cheek, speaking warmly, ''it's going to be alright, I'll find out what's happening soon-''
Another deafening bang sounded, this time closer by; very close by.
''I have to go, if you have a cellar, get into it until the bangs stop, okay?'' Sunora said, looking down at the visclings, Frankie nodded, ''c'mon guys, lets go,'' Frankie said as he ushered them all out of the room.
Sunora knew what this was already, it was a raid. An attack on Ciudad Amarilla, and they were starting on the outskirts of the city, where she was now, and were without a doubt going to work their way to the palace.
Rapidly Sunora sprinted out of the building to her car, forgetting her coat, hat and gloves that still hung on the rack.
Turning the ignition and accelerating down hard on the gas, Sunora sped away from the orphanage, heading back to the palace, through the bumpy cobblestone streets, and hearing the occasional bang as she went.
Sunora tried her best to steer clear of the many other viscets fleeing, braking continuously so not to hit them, ''move!'' Sunora thought to herself desperately, she turned her head as she came to another holt, staring right at a certain viscet that just didn't seem right in the crowd, dark red fur, dressed in normal civilian clothes, but then she looked a little bit closer.
Something black covered one of his eyes and his neck, Sunora's eyes widened as she realized they were FFA tattoos, just as the viscet took a round, dark green object from his pocket, throwing it right to the back of Sunora's car.
Sunora's heartbeat pounded loudly in her head, she looked back straight ahead, there were still multiple viscets running across the street in front of her and to her side, she couldn't drive away.
Just as Sunora reached for her door handle, she watched in what resembled slow motion as her car's back end flew into the air as an explosion sounded, she could even feel the intense heat residing from it.

[~Teya~]

𝓟𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓐𝓻𝓪𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓻𝓷:
Chapter 23

Two months ago, the evening after the events of chapter 20 . . .

Arathorn took a long, deep breath, breathing in the scents of the sea as he made his way onto the peaceful white sanded beach, not a sound could be heard but the seagulls and the calming crash of waves swishing to and fro onto the wet sand.
Walking along he eventually came to his and Sunora's favorite old palm tree, he faintly smiled, staring up at the large tree, its long razor sharp leaves swaying in the lazy breeze, he looked down at the trunk, putting his paw on the initials Sunora and him had carved painstakingly into the hard wood with a dull pocket knife they had managed to snag when no one was looking.
Arath's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he heard the faint sound of footsteps behind him, he perked up his ears, turning to see who it was.
''Nice evening, isn't it sweetheart?'' came the familiar voice of his mother, Belleza, dressed in a soft pink and yellow dress that matched the growing sunset perfectly.
Arath smiled, walking over to his mother, and saying warmly, ''why yes, yes it is, and you look beautiful mother,'' Belleza blushed, ''come now, I suppose I look alright for my age,'' Arath laughed, saying, ''of course you do, you've never looked more fine,'' his mother shook her elegant head, with a laugh as well as she said, ''enough with the compliments Arath,'' she cleared her throat, putting a paw on her sons shoulder for a moment, adding in a more stern manner, ''I have to talk to you about something serious, dear,'' Belleza proceeded to sit down in the sand, urging Arath to do the same, he complied.
For a good minute the pair sat on the beach, gazing at the ocean and the reflection it created for the beginnings of the sunset, until Belleza said slowly, noticeably carefully calculating what she was going to say, ''Arath, when you saw your father react the way he did with that FFA officer, the Lieutenant, did it frighten you?''
Arathorn thought for a moment, his mother looked to him now, but he kept his eyes fixed onto the ocean in front of them as he said, ''yes, it did,'' he swallowed hard, biting the inside of his lip shakily, Belleza took in a deep breath of the ocean air, saying, ''did it scare you how suddenly, a viscet who is always in such control, that is warm, loving and caring could say so bluntly what he said to Murlé?'' Arath nodded, his mother was spelling it out for him, which he hadn't until now let himself think about too hard.
''It's not his fault, Arathorn, things have made Escarl this way, I've watched it happen to him first hand,'' Belleza said, still trying to make eye contact with him, but Arath was for some reason scared to, so she continued calmly, ''Escarlata's father, Rabia, and him were very close, Rabia raised him as a single parent, he did the best he could, but a viscling needs the love only a mother can give him,'' she paused, smiling a little, ''then he met me, we were both young adults, and we loved one another, soon getting married, Rabia was proud of his son for finding a mate, and was a bit blissful at that time, and that was when a viscet named Engaño came to Rabia and told him about the Free for All ''government'' agency, he graciously accepted Engaño's proposition, thinking it would be wonderful for his viscet-people to have free food and shelter for those who were poor, and jobs for them,''
Arath finally turned his head towards his mother, looking to her as he said somewhat confused, ''but, I thought father's father, Rabia, died before the FFA's proposition of an unknown illness and Escarlata accepted it?'' Belleza shook her head, saying, ''Escarlata told you that because the truth was much more painful than that,'' Arath paid full attention to his mother now, his curiosity growing as she continued, ''but as we all know, the FFA didn't just give our people free things, they started to control them, treat them like slaves and even thrust viscets who already had a job into their military or factories they began to create,'' Belleza sighed, ''me and Escarlata had been on an eight month vacation when this all occurred, we were at first just trying to understand what was going on, and a few months later it always just seemed to get worse and worse by the day, Rabia noticed it by now too, calling for Engaño, he asked him what he was doing, and Engaño simply answered it was the future, it was all for the better, and there was no stopping it now, and Engaño threw us out of our own palace,'' Belleza paused once again, looking back towards the palace for a moment, then back to Arath, ''Rabia was full of rage, he could not believe he had been tricked like that, so we began to hatch a plan, forming the Scarlet Scars Resistance Core, and soon we were followed by many, including Murlé's parents who helped tremendously, for two whole years we fought to reclaim Ciudad Amarilla and all of the surrounding lands that were owned by the Sirena's originally, and in the final battle, Escarlata and Rabia went to reclaim all of Ciudad Amarilla with there SSRC army, for days they fought, making their way to the palace and freeing the citizens to fight with them, they finally got past the bridge and into the palace after three days,'' Arath moved closer to his mother, ''and then what?'' he asked, completely enthralled.
''Rabia and Escarl stormed into the palace, side by side, it was all going well, most of the FFA guards surrendered and were taken away willingly, until they were suddenly met by General Engaño and ten of his most loyal viscet-men, Escarl and his father killed all of the Generals men after a massive struggle, and took away the Generals gun, planning on taking Engaño to prison where he could rot in failure, Engaño even said that he was wrong, and deserved it. But alas, as they were leading him out of the palace, Engaño had another gun hidden in his coat, and he shot Rabia and fled,'' Belleza looked into Arath's eyes with a serious but caring expression, adding, ''Rabia died in Escarlata's bloody arms, and your father swore to kill anyone even thought to be connected with the FFA, and that absolutely no one in the FFA could ever be good, and they were all just murderers,''
Arath shrugged, saying, ''I understand how he could think that, but not everyone in the FFA is like General Engaño,'' Belleza put a paw on his shoulder, saying calmly, ''no one can change how he thinks now, trust me, I've tried, but the point is, your father is still the loving and caring father you know, but when anything about the FFA comes up, that side of him is gone, and you have to accept that,'' Belleza paused, seeming to contemplate if she should say what she was about to say, ''Murlé's parents refused to believe that all FFA soldiers were bad, trying to come up with ways to resolve the conflict somehow or help the FFA soldiers see what they were really doing, behind Escarlata's back, eventually moving to an FFA controlled city and trying to talk to FFA officers and so on, but when Escarl found out, he raided the city, and you know what happened after that,''
Arath rubbed his forehead, pondering what to say, ''so they weren't even really traders, they just wanted to do what was truly right . . .''
Belleza got up from the sand, looking down at her son as he looked up at her and she spoke, ''you don't have to say anything more dear, just think about what I've said very carefully, I'll see you at dinner,'' Belleza smiled, brightening her features as soft radiant light from the darkening sunset shown on her creamy pink almost white fur.
Arath nodded, and Belleza walked away back in the direction of the palace, leaving Arathorn to ponder alone all that she had said.

[Ranger of the North]

Oh wow, that's interesting.. *fingers chin thoughtfully*

[~Teya~]

Oh wow, that's interesting.. *fingers chin thoughtfully*

Hmm . . .

[~Teya~]

𝓟𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓐𝓻𝓪𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓻𝓷:
Chapter 24

The echo of a fourth thunderous bang reached Arathorn's ears as he stood on the highest balcony attached to the palace, located on the top floor.
Although the noises were around two miles away from him, he could still hear them quite clearly, Arath turned to his mother, father and the two guards that accompanied them, as his father tensely stated, ''it must be the FFA, they've finally managed an ounce of courage to try and overtake us,'' Arath turned back to the faraway outskirts of Ciudad Amarilla, there was now visible dark smoke going high up into the sky, mixing with the clouds.
''It must be,'' Arath remarked quietly, staring long at the growing plume of smoke, as his father conveyed out orders to the two guards, telling them to alert the troops and to be ready to throw the enemy back as soon as possible.
Arathorn suddenly stiffened, whirling around back to his mother and father, blurting out in an anxious voice, ''Sunora went to visit some visclings at the Golden city orphanage, which is near the borders of Ciudad Amarilla, where the smoke is, I have to go and see if she's alright,'' he began to walk swiftly away from them, but his father stopped him, putting an unwavering grasp on his arm, saying firmly, ''you are not going anywhere, it's unsafe out there and you could get hurt, again,'' Arath tried to yank free of his father's grasp but it was no use, so he said pleadingly, ''Sunora's out there, what if she couldn't get away, what if she's hurt-'' Escarlata cut his son off, ''Sunora will be fine, she knows how to take care of herself, shes not even from this planet for goodness sake!''
Arath continued to resist his father's grasp, ''it's not like she's invincible, I just have to make sure-''
''No, and that is final, this discussion is over,'' Escarlata said firmly, and Arath looked to his mother, pleading with her with his eyes, ''mother, what do you think?'' Arath asked, Escarlata glanced towards his mate, and Belleza turned away from both her son's and her mate's gaze, somewhat shamefully replying, ''I have to agree with your father, Arath, it's just not safe,''
Arath clinched his teeth, she was right, but he didn't care, he couldn't just stand here knowing Sunora could be in trouble.
''You can't just keep me locked in my room and throwaway the key father, I'm old enough to make my own decisions, reasonable or unreasonable,'' Arath declared, holding his head up high and straightening up.
For a brief moment, he thought he might've finally gotten through to his father, but his hopes were quickly dashed when his father said, ''oh Arath, you have a lot to learn, son. I will not allow you to be needlessly killed in the streets of Amarilla where, no doubt, it is swarming with FFA soldiers right now as we speak,''
''But I-'' Arath started, but Escarl interrupted calmly, looking Arath straight in the face, ''no, I won't have it, I will not let another Sirena die by the trigger of a Free for All scum,''
Arathorn swallowed hard, he didn't want to leave his mother and father without an heir, with a son. He didn't want to die, but knowing Sunora could be in harms way as they argued, he wouldn't be able to live knowing he could've done sometime about it.
''Alright father, I won't try to leave the palace, I promise,'' Arath replied, trying to sound as genuine as possible as he looked up at his father, Escarlata softened his grip on Arath's arm, looking deep into Arath's eyes to make sure he really meant it, Arath held his breath as he waited.
''Thank you, Arathorn,'' his father said, releasing his grasp on his son. Arath nodded, walking slowing away and down the golden steps of the palace, but the moment he was out of sight, went racing down the stairs as fast as he could, eventually coming to the ground floor, he made his way to the nearest exit.
He suddenly stopped, seeing two guards standing by the door leading outside and to freedom, he knew they most likely had strict orders not to let him pass, biting his lip in thought, he turned away from the guards and went to another exit, same thing.
Around and around he went, guards at each exit. Looking around the hall, he saw a large window, he smiled to himself, strutting over to it, he quietly attempted to slide it open, but the stubborn window wouldn't budge, it probably hadn't been open in years.
''Open!'' Arath exclaimed in annoyance, he paused, realizing how loud he had been, he listened for someone to come by, no one did, so he continued to work on the window.
Abruptly the window slide open, causing Arath to fall to the ground, his quickly got up and climbed up and out of the window, landing on his tail.
He flinched slightly, getting up once again and hurrying away from the palace, just praying none of the palace guards might see him.

[Ranger of the North]

Aaaand, people like Arath are the reason that promises no longer hold any weight :p

[~Teya~]

Aaaand, people like Arath are the reason that promises no longer hold any weight :p

Exactly. x'D