(Year 0)

A flash of lightning illuminated the sky, accompanied almost instantly by thunder. Cassidia shivered, crossing her arms over her short-sleeved gown. I should go back, she thought. She turned from the clearing to find the trail again, her heart beating quickly. Maybe I shouldn’t have snuck out. But I just wanted some time to myself, and Father insisted I had to stay in the palace, and… oh, I’m a fool!

A sharp crack, like a branch breaking, sounded just behind her. She yelped, covering her head and whipping around, but at first nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Then she saw the hunched form in the bushes, barely more than a lump in the moonlight. Is that a person? she thought, rushing forward. Did they just fall out of a tree or something? But no; they were in a clearing.

She reached the form, reaching out to touch whoever it was, when they moved. She stumbled backward in surprise as the person raised their head, then jumped to his feet. It was a boy who looked to be a few years older than her -- maybe seventeen at most -- but his more than six feet in height made him far more intimidating. A black-hilted sword was strapped to his back, but he had no other visible weapons, and nothing as technologically advanced as a skybike. His hair was a pale blonde that shone silvery in the moonlight, and it was long enough that for a second it hung in front of his eyes. Then they caught the light as he tilted his head slightly, and Cassidia caught her breath involuntarily.

His eyes were frostbitten silver. They were slightly lighter toward the center around the pupil, giving the appearance of an eerie glow that offset his icy expression just enough to make him look not entirely human.

“Um… sorry,” Cassidia said with a gulp. “I’ll just… go, okay? If you don’t need help, I mean. Sorry.” She stepped backward. No. I will not default to subservience! She raised her head, squaring her shoulders and opening her mouth to speak again.

He turned down to look at her. “It’s really quite fine,” he said in a dry tenor-ish voice that carried an odd edge. It was almost like excitement.

“Okay.” She took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. “Um… do you want to tell me your name, or…” Dasdaka, I’m still not acting like royalty. “Tell me your name!”

“That’s the thing,” the boy said, staring at her with unsettling intensity. “I’m not entirely sure.” He blinked, the edges of his mouth stretching up in a smile completely void of mirth. “I wonder if Ember knows. Shall we ask?”

Cassidia took a step backward. “Who’s Ember?” There’s no way it’s really-

The boy’s smile broadened, though no amusement crept into the cold expression. “You want to meet it, then?” Before Cassidia could respond, he reached back, grasping the black hilt of his weapon.

Cassidia shrieked, raising her bracelet in front of her and readying her other hand over the switch. He won’t kill me, will he? It seems like he just wants to talk. Maybe he just wants to… introduce me to his sword. Yeah. She tried to ignore the fact that swords were incredibly rare, and that the chances of someone building a replica of the weapon rather than defaulting to something like a handaxe were low.

The boy drew his blade, and Cassidia drew in a sharp gasp. The blood red blade, the midnight hilt… it was Ember, alright. It was the same sword passed down to each eldest Falcondar child, until they were ready to take the throne and inherit Doriander itself. It was the same sword Cassidia had watched her sister train with, jealousy aching in her every time.

I should try to get it from him. Then Father will see that I’m worthy of one of the swords. The thought jumped out of nowhere, and she clenched her jaw, banishing it. Her father wouldn’t reward foolish bravado.

“You like it, then?” the boy said, and his smile went from cold to childishly eager in a second. “Do you want to see what it can do?”

“N- no,” Cassidia stuttered, her breathing speeding up. Gods protect me. “I’m alright. I really need to go back home. Shouldn’t be out this late-”

“That almost sounded rude,” he said in a low tone. “Ember doesn’t appreciate that any more than I do.”

Her eyes darted around, hot fear spreading through her limbs. Her finger twitched over the switch on her bracelet, practically humming with tense energy.

The boy’s eyes snapped to it like a cat watching a mouse, and his brow furrowed. “I remember. My name’s Jake… I think.” He raised his sword in an offensive stance as if asking to play.

Cassidia jumped back, though he had made no move to attack, and flipped the switch. The skybike formed, shimmering into existence, and Cassidia took a running jump to climb on top of it. The familiar hum soothed her somewhat, but not nearly enough.

Jake narrowed his eyes, growling at Cassidia’s skybike. “Machine,” he spat, seeming to address the skybike directly rather than its owner.

“Wh- what’s wrong with machines?” Cassidia asked as her right foot readied over the pedal.

“It’s machines that stole my sister,” Jake said, his voice dropping suddenly to just above a whisper as he turned away. “I found the place they took her and went in to find her, but the cursed little cat had already gotten out.”

His eyes snapped upward, finally locking with hers, and he cocked his head to the side with a look that could only be described as a jumbled mess of curiosity, excitement, and hunger for revenge. “It’s machines that stole my sister,” he repeated, but the way he said it completely changed the meaning from sorrowful to something far more sinister. Tendrils of electricity snapped out from his eye sockets, almost like wings unfurling from his silver irises, and whatever trace of humanity he had possessed vanished.

Cassidia screamed, and her foot came down. The skybike flashed forward, and she pulled in a turn, rocketing back toward the castle as fast as she could. As she flew, her lungs sucked in air, and she felt like she had just run for a day straight. I escaped, she thought, but her relief was underlined with a terrible apprehension.

She swerved suddenly on gut instinct, pulling in a tight roll as a flash of light shot just inches from the edge of her bike’s wing. She looked behind her as Jake fell from the sky above where she had been, his arms outstretched in a pose that somehow managed to be welcoming, vengeful, and utterly superior at the same time. He twisted slowly as he fell, lightning flying from his eyes, and his body language said I know I can catch you. I’ll take my time, because I am infinitely overpowered. We’re playing my game now.

A/N: I hate this super awkward cut in the scene, but there really was nowhere good to split it and the word count is just *slightly* too high for a single chapter on Tapas. Sorry about that! I'm posting both parts on the same day because I really don't think they count as two entire chapters.