‘Lean close, King... I have something to tell you, something concerning your Daughters and the Universe... something I’ve seen... something great and… terrible...’

- Ishkaluuad, to King Tridon Iminalia, as the Olden Soul died at the end of the Shatter Wars

XALLI – EMAHRA ACADEMY

Hart Iminalia sat barefoot and weaponless on the edge of a balcony, staring out at the thick forest that surrounded the Emahra Warrior Academy she’d been sent to.

She was still bristling.

I was sent here to hide!

She’d not slept since arriving. Now, as the sun rose, she was up, watching it, wishing she could just fly away and make her own decisions about her life.

Sometimes it seemed like most of her choices were made for her.

This, being here, was just another example.

And I’m not as bad off as Alathor, she reminded herself.

‘Hart?’ Alta said.

Hart turned, watching her teacher step down onto the balcony, through a doorway in the side of the castle.

‘You’re still frowning,’ Alta said with a grimace. ‘You still mad at me?’

‘Not as mad,’ Hart sighed, looking out at the forest again.

‘Well, that’s a relief,’ Alta chuckled. In a moment she was sitting on ledge beside. ‘Have you seen your Sister?’

‘She’s been in training since I got here… Heir to the Throne stuff, from what I’ve been told. She never gets to rest.’

They stared out at the sunrise for a few long moments. Then Hart turned to Alta.

‘These Regol... they’re as bad as you’ve told me?’

‘They were horrible during the final years of the Shatter Wars that I fought in,’ Alta nodded.

‘What was Melvin bringing to my Parents?’

‘The less you know the better.’

‘That’s stupid!’ Hart spat. ‘The more I know the better! Knowledge is never a bad thing!’

‘It depends,’ Alta countered.

Hart rolled her eyes and stood up, stepping over Alta and heading into the white castle. She stooped down to pick up her boots, belt, and sword as she went.

‘Where are you going?’ Alta asked.

‘To find someone who doesn’t want to hide behind cryptic answers.’

‘Hart, wait!’

She turned back to Alta. ‘What? Are you going to stop treating me like a child and tell me what the blazes is going on?’

Alta stood and stepped down to join Hart. She hesitated, then took in a breath and let it out.

She clasped her hands behind her back.

‘Why are they trying to keep me in the dark?’ Hart demanded.

Alta hesitated again. Then she said, ‘They’re trying to protect you.’

‘Protect me from what?’

‘A prophecy... one given at the end of the Shatter Wars.’

Hart furrowed her brow. ‘What prophecy?’ she asked.

‘Before Ishkaluuad was defeated, he had obtained some Seer Stones. He was trying to see the future... see his future power... he saw his doom… and something else, something he whispered to your adoptive Father as he faded away. Your Father shared it with President Aldevri and the Council of Mystics, and the Prophecy has been kept mostly secret since.’

‘But you know?’

‘I was informed of it when I was first made Alathor’s teacher, but I was sworn to secrecy.’

‘Well I’m commanding you, as a Princess of the Emahra, to tell me this Prophecy is.’

‘I can’t,’ Alta responded. ‘Your Father made me swear that no matter what, I would not tell you... unless I was commanded by him, or your Mother, to do so.’

‘This is madness!’ Hart exclaimed. ‘Why are we even giving heed to the ramblings of a dying Olden Soul!’

‘What he saw was confirmed in a vision Aldevri received.’

That stopped Hart and she stood a little taller, a chill running up and down her spine.

Then she asked, ‘And did the vision tell everyone to keep this from me?’

‘No... that was your Father’s decision, as far as I can tell.’

‘My Father,’ Hart said with a frown, ‘then I’ll go talk to him.’

With a thought, she commanded feathery wings to burst out of her back. Then, with boots and sword clutched tightly, and before Alta could say anything, Hart shot up into the morning sky.

She turned her course for home and flew as quickly as her wings would carry her.

It wasn’t long before she saw the spires of the Iminalia ancestral home poking out of the forest. She swooped down to a white and blue castle that was perched above a lake, and cloistered in deep woodland. She dropped down, down, to a large balcony high up, and landed in a crouch, her wings melting back into her body.

Soldiers with long staves hurried away from several stairways on the far end of the round balcony, as Hart stood and quickly slipped her boots on, while cinching her belt around her narrow waist. Hart looked to the stairways that led into the castle. She could see the round table, her Father was standing near it with her Mother, her Brother - a young man who shared the Iminalia family’s features - and some of the courtiers, Generals, and Ministers.

‘Princess Hart, we’ll have to ask you to leave,’ one of the soldiers said, pointing his stave toward the girl.

‘Get out of my way, Ondo,’ Hart growled, pushing her heel down into her right boot, her hand falling toward her Hanul-Kal weapon. ‘I will talk to my Father.’

‘He cannot be disturbed!’

‘He will be!’ Hart barked.

The other soldier, a young and inexperienced warrior took another step toward Hart. Her sword came out in a flash, and as it lengthened, the blade ignited with flame and she lopped away the front of the man’s stave. The small Princess stepped forward, the burning tip of her Hanul-Kal directed directly at the man’s throat.

‘Hart!’ a voice said sharply from the stairs.

Hart’s blue-green eyes slid toward the speaker, and she saw her Father, in blue and white robes, wearing a cape, marching down the stairs, followed closely by her Mother, Brother, and to her astonishment… Alathor!

There was a storm swirling in her Father’s grey eyes.

Hart was sure there was no less of one in her own eyes. ‘What is going on here?’ she asked. She stared at Alathor. ‘Eunni… I was told you were at the Academy.’

‘I got called here,’ Alathor said, looking embarrassed.

‘What are you doing?’ the blue-haired Emahra King demanded. ‘You are supposed to be at the Academy.’

‘I’m not going to be kept in the dark about whatever is going on, Father... I believe you have something to share with me.’

The King waved off the soldiers, and in a moment he was standing in front of his Daughter, looking down at her.

‘What are you on about?’

‘A prophecy, about me, given to you at the end of the Shatter Wars.’

Hart saw her Father pale. ‘How did you-?’

‘How long were you going to keep the truth from me?’

King Iminalia looked to the soldiers. ‘Leave us!’ he ordered.

The men looked uncomfortable with that idea, but they nodded and strode away.

‘How much do you know?’ Hart’s dark-haired Mother asked, stepping forward. Alathor was the spitting image of her; aside from her hair.

‘Just that there was a Prophecy given and it has something to do with what’s going on, and why you’re trying to hide me away.’

Hart’s Mother looked to the King, there was pleading in her eyes – eyes so like Alathor’s.

‘We have to tell her,’ the woman said. She glanced at Alathor. ‘We have to tell both of them. It was for both of them!’

‘What prophecy?’ Alathor asked, stepping forward.

‘No!’ the King snapped. ‘If all goes according to plan, they will never need to know! This can be stopped... things are already in motion.’

‘And if they can’t?’ Queen Iminalia demanded. ‘We’ve already lost Melvin... there are only three pieces left... if the Hell Gate is completed, what Ishkaluuad said will surely come to pass, you know that!’

‘We will stop this!’

‘What are you talking about?’ Alathor growled.

‘Yes,’ Hart seconded. ‘What is this all about?’

Her Mother turned to the girls. ‘The Regol… Alathor, Hart... they started the Shatter Wars... They were trying to open a gateway to Hell, to release the Fallen One.’

‘Myklor?’ Alathor asked in horror, bringing a hand to her mouth.

‘They instead released Ishkaluuad. In the end, he learned the truth of it. He saw he’d been used... he saw the future... The Regol are trying to open the gateway to Hell again... they are desperate to release Myklor and start a Hell War in this Universe.’

Hart couldn’t believe what she was hearing, she looked at her Sister, who was as startled as she was.

‘But that’s not the worst of it... Ishkaluuad said Myklor wants you… both of you.’

‘Why?’ Alathor asked.

‘The Emahra will join with a Demon... new Genesis will be born from it, and everything will change...’ Alathor’s Father said in a choked voice and she looked at him. ‘The Seraph will join with a Demon and hordes of evil will spread across the stars.’

Hart and Alathor stared in dismay.

‘What?’ Hart asked. ‘What are you saying?’

‘We believe Myklor wishes to take each of you... he will have a child with each of you, something... new... half Emahra, half Demon... a new Genesis that will change everything... will be born to Alathor. Something… worse will be born to Hart. We cannot allow this to happen!’ There was anger in the King’s voice, and he closed one hand into a fist. ‘We will hide you both, in the far corners of the Universe if we must, but no Demon will have either of you!’

Hart saw Alathor look down at her hands... they were trembling.

Hart just stared in shock and anger.

She blinked, and realized tears had streamed down her face.

She was about to say something, but as she opened her mouth, suddenly, something large moved in front of the sun, blotting it out and casting shadow across Hart, Alathor, and their family.

They turned and looked.

Dimly Hart heard her Father shout something.

Then fire streaked away from the massive ship in the sky – all dark and red and covered in spikes – and slammed ruthlessly into the castle.

Hart screamed as her world ignited with fire all around her.