Far into the horizon, were small specs of flames bundled together. They struggled to keep their flame going as they came closer. The sound of their footsteps were unheard of compared to the gust of frozen wind. At the front, stood a man with long black and gray dreadlocks in a ponytail with pieces of gold rings laced inside. He wore a golden cloak and robe with a hint of white trim around his vest. Tightly, he held out his hand holding onto a torch and another holding onto a small child wearing similar clothing but a thick fur hood covering most of her face.

“My Lord!” shouted a man behind the leader. Trailing in back of the leader were many soldiers wearing golden armor and face shield helmets. The ice was making their metal suits rust, their gold plates looked like old an bronze coins.

“The weather is getting worse the further we go. We have to turn back!” the soldier begged.

“We are not going back! There are innocent people who need our help,” said the leader. The little girl clutched onto her dads leg tightly, burying her face deeper in her coat. The leader kneeled down to the girl and lightly patted her head.

“Are you alright honeybee?” he asked. The little girl poked her head out of her hood, exposing her bright golden eyes to her father. He stared at her with the same rich golden eyes. The little girl nodded yes.

The leader stood up and pulled out a small telescope hidden inside of his coat. He peeked through and saw nothing but a barren land of snow. His eyes trailed back and forth until finally, he saw a small group of people cluttered together near an ice cavern.

“There!” the leader pointed. “We are close. Just a little further.”

The group of soldiers marched on. It was only about an hour but because of the intense cold, it felt like days.

When reaching the cavern, the thick snow exposed that the cavern was on the bottom of a steep mountain, the ice was so reflective and unbearable to touch with your own fingertips. The soldiers prepared their weapons by gripping the handles.

“Don’t,” ordered the leader. The little girl gazed at the cavern, noticing it looked completely lost in shadow inside. The girl and her father were the first to step forward inside. Immediately, there was the haunting sound of souls crying in pain. Still, that did not stop them from moving forward.

Once inside, the light from the torches spread to the inside of the cave. The bright light was enough to see deeper into the cavern. Inside, there was a large group of people. Men, women, children and the elderly; all with bright purple eyes, a pair of large gray horns growing from their foreheads. All of them were Xyiiux. They all wore tattered clothing and clutched together with each other in a huddle, looking lost and afraid of who was in front of them. The soldiers didn’t even bother to hide the disgust on their faces, making their leader angry with their attitude. He glared back at his people with a disappointing look on his face as they whispered harsh words to one another.

Everyone remained motionless for a moment. The soldiers carefully began to reach for their weapons when suddenly the little girl let go of her fathers hand and rushed to the Xyiiux! She approached them with a bright smile on her face and open arms. With being only a few feet away, the girl stopped to bow politely to them.

“Hello!” she cheered. “My pa and I are here to give you stuff!”

The girl raised her head and saw the Xyiiux clan still looking scared of her. The girls father approached his daughter and lightly patted her head once again.

“My daughter is speaking the truth,” he said. “We have come all this way to bring your supplies from our home in Baellon.”

The soldiers in the back came forward. They were pulling a large wooden dolly filled with boxes and crates of food, clothing and medicine supplies. The Xyiiux were still too afraid to approach.

The man politely kneeled down to the Xyiiux. The soldiers looked shocked to see their leader taking a knee to someone below their standards.

“My name is Lord Rauf of the Baellon clan and I am here to help,” he said softly. The Xyiiux people whispered to one another on how to handle this situation. In the midst of the crowd, a small boy struggled to see through and managed to see Lord Rauf kneeling down to them along with the little girl doing the same. For a small moment, when the girl was smiling at the people, he felt for a second she was looking right at him.

Casitas eyes remained locked at Levi, just staring deep into her eyes. A memory flooded back into his mind. The way she was staring at him, only stirred up so much built up into a single moment. Then, his eyes changed from the white around his eyes to it turning bloodshot red again. His fangs grew longer and his horns were creaking as they began to stretch. Levi could feel his hatred growing.

He took a step closer, making her back up again. This time, there was only a thin railing preventing her from falling. She gripped the railing as Casitas moved in closer. He stopped inches away from her. This time, the chills traveling through her body were caused by him. Already her palms were sweating.

“Levi,” he growled. His voice sounded husky with his sharp fangs and steam was escaping his mouth. “It doesn’t matter that I saved you. Don’t think that my acts of kindness mean anything. You are still a Baellon and they are nothing but vermin to me. If I see you do anything to hurt my kingdom, my people, my family; I will not hesitate to kill you and leave your body with all the other trespassers in Deadmans Valley. I don’t trust you and I never will. If I let you go, you will just make it back to your kingdom and tell your people about us and I cannot let that happen-”

“I wouldn’t do that,” she announced. Casitas eyes glowed again and once again the aura surrounding her was nothing but a calming color; proof that she wasn’t lying yet again.

“You are not my guest, you are not a prisoner either. You have to earn your keep, even then you won’t be anything more than an invader in my land. Do you understand?” he glared at her. 

Levi saw how angry he looked. His fists were clenched so tight that she saw trails of his blood dripping. She thought in her head that there was no way to make this work because even if she tried to be helpful, Casitas would only see it as causing unwanted attention and annoyance. Even though he said she wasn’t a prisoner, she basically was. Only needed whenever a Baellon was useful to him. Still, she felt that being here was still the better option.

“I understand,” said Levi. She stared back at him with no signs of fear or remorse on her face. Her body was freezing but now she wasn’t letting the cold take over her body. “Can you promise me something?”

She bit her tongue and inhaled sharply. “If my people, any of the Baellon clan comes here, if they know I am alive…can you promise me to kill me before they can take me away?”

Casitas was stunned by her words. She was serious, she would rather die than to go back home. His face began to look troubled, wondering why she hated her own kind so much but knew since it were a Baellon clan, she probably had a good reason to.

“I promise,” he answered.

Both of them remained motionless, acknowledging the deal they just made with each other. Either way, Casitas wasn’t going to be at fault for any situation that may come, good or bad. He led the way out of the tower to properly escort Levi back to her room. The two once again, remained silent to one another. The sound of their footsteps echoed through the empty halls. As they passed by, the maids and knights once again bowed politely to Casitas but turned away from Levi. She knew that this would be her new normality from this point on. In her mind, she was reflecting on how here she was avoided but back home she was praised and loved.

When arriving at her bedroom door, there was a single blue rose petal with a white stem and thorns laid on the floor. Next to it, was a note. Levi reached over and read the note.

“Thank you for coming to dinner. Sorry my brother is an asshole,” she read. Casitas exhaled annoyingly and turned away. “Would love for you to join us again for afternoon tea. Avan.”

Her eyes stared intensely at the flower as she felt her heart beating rapidly. Flashes of the past triggered in her head. It looked like the same blue rose from her past memory. She was holding a bouquet of them in a golden dress in her past and now a single rose was in her hands. Casitas noticed a faded gold aura started to surround her body and lightly felt the ground tremble. Her eyes were beginning to cry as she remained stiff and having trouble controlling her breathing.

“Levi!” he shouted.

She immediately snapped out of it and everything settled back to the way it was before anyone noticed it. Upon realizing what happened, she dropped the rose and clenched onto her chest tightly.

“I am sorry, I-” she trembled. She felt her skin crawling and felt her power slowly growing stronger. “I won’t do this again. I will never do this again. I am so sorry!”

She rushed into her room before anyone could see her and slammed the door behind her. Casitas was stunned about what had just happened. He reached over to her door about to open it, when he heard her crying on the other side. Her back slid against the door until she fell to her knees. Faintly, Casitas could hear her speaking to herself.

She was repeatedly saying, “I can’t be that.. I can’t be that…”

Casitas picked up the blue rose on the floor once again and was about to leave it back on her door, but instead he walked away with it still in his hands.

Levi heard Casitas footsteps fading away as she continued to let her tears out. She lightly touched her forearms yet again as she tried to calm herself down. Slowly she tried by breathing slowly and closing her eyes.

Lightly, the aura surrounding her reappeared again. The light swirled around her and traveled to her hands. They looked as though strings of glittering white light that grew brighter by the moment. She placed both of her hands on top of her eyes and exhaled loudly. She felt her tears drying up by her touch as the light traveled from her hand to her eyes. Carefully, she removed her hands from her face, her eyes still closed. Her breathing slowed down more and more. As soon as the light disappeared, Levi opened her eyes. Now, her eyes were golden and the other brown.

She picked herself up and walked to the wall window in her room. When gazing at her reflection she noticed only one eye changed.

“Damn,” she groaned. “I guess I can wear an eye patch over one of my eyes. It would be better if no one could see my awful golden eyes.”

The more she stared at her reflection, the more she started to hate what she saw. When looking at her face deeper, she took another deep breath and the aura returned again, only this time it started forming at her golden eye. Immediately it faded away.

“Well, at least it worked,” she said to herself. “All my power locked away in one spot. Now I cannot be seen as a Baellon anymore.”

Meanwhile, Casitas wandered back into the library. As he casually wandered around the maze of bookcases, he couldn’t help but wonder why Levi was having a panic attack. That moment, he heard the library doors swing open.

“Nobody knocks anymore,” Casitas groaned. The steps grew closer and he saw it was his brother approaching him.

“I figured I would find you here,” Avan said.

“What do you want, Avan?” Casitas asked as he kept his gaze at the shelf of books.

“I just wanted to say thank you for dinner and thanks for keeping a straight face for Conall. Instead of your usually scowling angry attitude,” Avan teased.

Casitas glared at his brother. “You are lucky I love my nephew otherwise I would like this all the time.”

“So,” Avan lingered. “Did Miss Levi find you?”

“Yes, she did,” he said as he handed the blue rose to his brother. “You should have this back. By the way, where did you get a blue rose? They don’t bloom here.”

“This isn’t a rose,” said Avan as he took the flower. He gently pulled onto the petals making the flower look more in full bloom. “It is a blue peony flower with some petals pulled out. I heard in the Baellon kingdom, they have rare blue roses so we decided to get Miss Levi one. That is odd she didn’t keep it. Did she like it?”

“She was overwhelmed,” Casitas bantered.

“Brother,” said Avan sternly. “I know you don’t like Miss Levi but I think she could be a good asset to this kingdom. Think about it, she knows what is outside our land. If something happens, do you know how amazing it would be to have a Baellon on our side? Especially a royal one!”

“I am aware of her usefulness,” said Casitas as he pulled a book off the shelf. “But don’t expect me to hand her a pampered life. And for that, you have to earn your keep just like anyone else who stands for our kingdom.”

Avan began to happily smile. “I am glad you are turning around about it.”

“By the way brother,” said Casitas. “Have we found out what was the cause of that horrible smoke in the air a while ago.”

“Still unknown but to further investigate it, we would have to venture outside of the lands-”

“No,” said Casitas harshly. He clutched the book tightly in his hands, slowly letting his nails dig deeper. “It’s not worth investigating if it endangers anyone here.”

Avan nodded. “I understand. I wonder what caused that smell.”

Casitas memory triggered and remember that when finding Levi, she was wearing a golden dress that was torn by her feet. When thinking deeper, he realized it wasn’t only torn but also burned.