"Umm... who are you?" Aiden asked, slightly embarrassed yet bold.
"That doesn't really matter, but I did just save your ass," she said with a proud smile.
"Do you know who I am?"
Aiden wanted to make sure she helped him for the right reasons before trusting her.
"One of the witch's kids from Gaia's kingdom, I assume? I heard you arrived here yesterday."
Aiden was relieved she knew who he was. He exhaled and kept questioning her.
"How did you get here?"
"I saw dark energy scattering from afar, so I rushed over to check. That's not exactly a common thing in the Kingdom of Light, you know..."
"That makes sense."
"Anyway, that guy got away now, but we need to warn the priests when they wake up and inform them that he's here."
"He must be the one who committed the recent murder."
"Yeah, I thought the same. I heard your mother was taken in as a suspect."
"Yeah... I need to go and tell the priests."
"No need, I'll send a message directly to one of their apartments - my brother's, actually."
"Your brother's a priest?!"
"Yeah," she replied indifferently, like the fact didn't impress her much.
"How exactly are you going to send a letter?"
"Haven't you studied other kingdoms' cultures at all?" she asked with a smirk.
"Not really," he replied quickly, hoping to avoid diving into the topic.
"Apparently looks and brains don't go together. Well, except in my case," she teased.
Aiden laughed in response, slightly embarrassed, but quickly returned to the matter at hand.
"So how exactly are you planning to send the letter?"
"See for yourself."
She pulled a small note from her pocket, then summoned a beam of light from her finger and etched words onto it.
With her other hand, she created a bird of light, attached the note to its legs, and sent it soaring into the sky.
"Wow, that's definitely an advanced skill."
"Not really. That's how most fighters in our kingdom send messages. Anyway, I think we should head to where your mother is being held. I think I know the place. You can talk to her until my brother wakes up and reads the message. At least you'll be able to calm her down."
"Good idea," Aiden replied, and they immediately set off.
---
One of the guards stationed where Ann was held received a note, sent to him by one of the guards at the priests' building.
The note said that the city guards had found a boy using dark powers who claimed to be Ann's son, and they wanted to confirm if it was true and what to do with him.
The guard who read the note immediately showed it to the others, but they quickly agreed they'd have to wait until morning for the priests to give instructions.
At the very least, they decided to verify that he wasn't an infiltrator from the enemy kingdom, so one of them went to speak with Ann.
"Sorry for the interruption, ma'am, but may I ask you something?"
"Of course," she replied, suspicious.
"What powers of the Hesmirion do your children possess?"
"One uses light, the other darkness. Why do you ask?"
"No special reason. Thank you," he said, and went to inform the city guards.
A full minute after he left, Ann couldn't stop thinking about the reason for his question.
She ran through all kinds of scenarios in her head that might've led him to ask. When she considered the possibility that one of her children had been caught or decided to rebel and reveal their power, she panicked and grew worried.
Suddenly anxious, she stood up. Her entire cell began to tremble.
She moved two of her fingers, pointing at the cuffs. Concentrated mist formed in the air and dispersed the light energy from which the cuffs were made.
The cuffs vanished, and she immediately leapt from the room, breaking every ceiling in her path.
Standing on top of the building, she scanned the horizon, trying to pinpoint her exact location.
Two seconds later, she began moving toward the place where she had last left her children.
---
Aiden and the girl walking beside him were on their way to see Ann, but it was quite a long distance to where she was being held.
"So, what's your name? I'm Aiden," he decided to start the conversation.
"I'm Evie," she replied with a cheeky little smile.
As they kept moving, Aiden decided to get as much information as possible about the kingdom.
"Hmm, you want to know about our culture? That's quite a lot to explain all at once, but I'll try to sum up the important parts.
First of all, as I'm sure you've noticed by now, everyone here wears the same kind of clothing. That tradition's been around for about 70 years, ever since our kingdom and the neighboring kingdom - Nyx's kingdom of darkness were at peace.
After people from both kingdoms mixed too much with one another, a joint decision was made: every citizen would wear colors representing their kingdom. Citizens of the Kingdom of Light wear yellow and white, while those from the Kingdom of Darkness wear black and purple."
"So what happened since then? Earlier you said dark warriors are rare around here. Did something happen to break the peace?"
"Yeah. Around 60 years ago, the peace was broken, and the two kingdoms became hostile. It's been 60 years of war and ceasefires on repeat."
"So you're technically at war right now?"
"Exactly. That's why it's so important to report that guy. If he really did sneak in, it means he probably managed to get crucial intel about the war."
"That definitely sounds serious. Shouldn't we wake the priests up now, or at least get someone else involved?"
"No point. Our kingdom's policy is that only the priests have full authority. No one else can make a truly important decision. It's a pathetic system…"
"You're telling me no one else has the power to act in emergencies like this? That really does sound like a terrible system."
"Yes… Ever since peace was broken and the former leaders were brutally murdered by the Kingdom of Darkness, the kingdom shifted to a new structure: 20 individuals who share equal responsibility for the realm. I don't know why they decided on a priesthood, but I guess the nobles back then were so afraid after the sudden assassination that they wanted a stable, untouched system. They picked 11 priests from among themselves, and let the rest of the population elect the remaining 9 through a process of voting and rank progression.
Since then, the 11 nobles' seats pass through family ties, and the other 9 are re-elected every three years."
"Wow, that explains a lot. To be honest, I've felt like everyone we've met so far has acted kind of… puppets. I guess they're all trying to model themselves after some ideal of what a 'priest' should be."
"Exactly. This entire kingdom is full of idiots trying to climb upward and reach the ideal image of a 'priest'… No one acts like themselves anymore. There's not a single genuine person left to have a real interaction with."
"Wait, you said your brother is a priest. So, did he work his way up, or are you from a noble family or something?"
"We're not nobles, thank goodness. Nobles are even worse than the commoners here. At least the commoners gain some level of skill and power. The nobles are just lazy stinkers who don't actually do anything."
"Hmm, I see. But you know, the nobles did manage to keep the kingdom in order for 60 years. That's something, right?"
Evie visibly stiffened at the comment, there was not an ounce of sympathy in her for the nobles.
"Maybe they kept things stable and helped the kingdom thrive, but I don't think it was worth it," she said with a slightly bitter expression.
Aiden realized he'd hit a sore spot. He quickly changed the subject, and they continued on their way.
---
Morning had arrived, along with the priests' routine morning gathering. One of them stepped out of his home, adjusting his robes as he got ready for the meeting.
"Hmm? Tamiel? What are you doing here?"
"On my way to the meeting. What about you, Lord Hossen? No guards with you today?" Tamiel addressed the older priest.
"They're waiting for me nearby. I'm heading there too, just didn't expect to run into you here. Your apartment is on the other side of the kingdom, isn't it?"
"I know," Tamiel replied, and with those words, his pleasant smile vanished. His face twisted into something cold and threatening. Light formed around his hand, shaping itself into a sword.
The older priest stared at him in shock and panic, but it only lasted a second.
Tamiel drove the blade of light straight into the priest's chest and killed him.