Five planets of the Validus solar system surrounded the powerful rays of the central sun. Five planets that the citizens of Lyerion worshiped. There were no gods or higher beings like in ancient fairytales, there were simply the five planets. Many Lyerions believed certain planets had more draw to them than others. Coranthia always thought it was a load of bullshit. The only draw she felt was the gravity from the planet she was anchored to, Dormus. Astronomers flooded the population of Lyerion's capital city along the bay. They always had a way of running their mouths when it came to insinuating what planet someone "belonged" to. Coranthia already belonged to a regime, so anytime it was shoved in her face about belonging to some higher being she would simply scoff when someone tried to tell her otherwise.

Coranthia had always wondered what other people on the continent of Phion thought of the ridiculous insinuation, because she had never met anyone outside the borders of Lyerion. She wasn't allowed to. No one was. 

A force field had appeared around the Empire's borders around one hundred-fifty years ago blocking anyone from leaving or coming in. She had never met someone with different origins than the homeland she stood upon every day of her life. She knew they existed. People scattered throughout the four territories of Lyerion that held a variety of ancestry existed, but were forced to be in hiding because of the oppressive manner the Empire was run in. No one seemed to care. Everyone was happy here. Not her though. Lyerion had always felt like a cesspit of elitist and power hungry leeches that would do anything to keep it that way. The rich stayed rich and the poor stayed poor yet everyone seemed content with that. Content in their bliss to stay exactly where they were placed. Coranthia wanted out. Needed out.

Although the closest bordering kingdom of Lyerion was only a two days trip from the Capital, the prodigious kingdom of Visora had never been seen by the eyes of a Lyerionn. At least none had seen it and lived to tell the tale.

Coranthia attempted to cross the border over a year ago now, on her eighteenth birthday during a solo mission that was assigned to her out of pure spite. 

How was she supposed to know that Florence was already in a bad mood the same day Coranthia decided to tie all of her shoe laces to each other? When she had gotten back to the Futurem, Florence's disgruntled reaction to the clutter of laces sprawled across the commons hall brought forth an overly boisterous laugh. A laugh that was instantly regretted because it practically flashed a bright light on the culprit.

When Coranthia decided she wasn't particularly interested in the assignment and was reaching a breaking point when it came to the uncertainty of her freedom she did what only a logically sound person would do. She made a run for it.

After a day's worth of travel down the dirt and cobblestone roads of the vast plains and dunes of Lyerion’s eastern terrain she had finally run out of water. Food had never been an issue to find in the bountiful lands, whether the creatures of the bay or moon pools, or the crops of farmers in the more rural areas, but getting clean water, that was the issue. She would have to boil the water which would entail stopping and that, in Coranthia's experience, was never an option.

"No water it is," Coranthia murmured to herself.

It wasn't a rare occurrence that the assignment strung out longer than the intended amount of time so it didn't concern her. She could adapt to almost any and every circumstance when it came to things not going to plan. Something Jaxton had always told her he admired. 

When Coranthia was by herself in instances like the one she was currently in, she would dwell on how her relationship with Jax always tore a part of her walls down. The walls that she worked so desperately to keep up and she absolutely loathed that. Against her best intentions, she had socialized and become closer to Leona and Jaxton over the years they had grown up together. Levi saw it as one of her only weaknesses. Coranthia agreed. 

She charged through the sand littered grassy plains of eastern Lyerion with gut wrenching determination, because when her mind was set on something nothing else mattered.

The blinding light from Dormus's second moon, Titania, was truly a relief to Coranthia. Once a month Titania was beheld at its full glory, bright and alive with streams of milky rays. It was the only gift Coranthia would receive this year on her birthday, it wasn't like she received many, but Leona would always conjure up a pigment for her cheeks or lips of her own creation. Granted the pigment would rarely be put to use by Coranthia but the gesture always knocked on the walls of her heart.

The first moon, Terberus, was cast in dark shadow tonight. The only one of the two moons that had that ability. Coranthia never really bothered to understand why that happened but she always loved the complementing counterpart to Titania's glow. 

Striding forward, a gust of wind caressed Coranthia's skin and she breathed in the alluring scent of lavender and cedar wood that hadn’t been there seconds prior. 

She wasn't alone.

A flash of bright light blinded Coranthia’s vision for a split second and then fizzled out. The sudden flash of light jolted her back a step. Her hand now covered her eyes out of reflex. When Coranthia gathered her senses she lowered her hand to see a glowing figure standing in front of her. The figure’s lean and tall stature hovered over the grass. 

A woman? Coranthia thought to herself in disbelief.

Her long glowing white hair billowed around her as if they were under water, as did  the silks draped over her creating a beautiful gown embellished at the hips with what seemed to be opals. Wings of pure prismatic light streamed from her, warping at the edges in radiant pastels. Her face was cast in white light but with what Coranthia could make out of it, she was devastatingly beautiful. Her long face looked like it was sculpted from marble and her bumped nose appeared as if the artist that curated her spent extra time on it to ensure its striking aspect.

Coranthia was at a loss of words. For once in her life, she was speechless. Humans can’t glow, animals can't glow, living things can't glow, not like this. She didn't know how to react to the threat in front of her so she did what she usually did in threatening situations. She drew out her flint dagger from one of the shifting folds of fabric at her thigh. Wrapping her knuckles around the leather hilt of the dagger, she prepared to aim it at all living things' weakest spots. The heart.

Before Cora could open her mouth to what was going to be a tongue lashing, the world around her blurred into shadows of purple, blue, and black.

Coranthia jolted and her eyes flashed open. Engulfed in total darkness she lurched up and grabbed the flint dagger she kept tucked under her too thin mattress.

A dream. It had been some freak dream and she was back in her nineteen year old body, back in the quarters of the Futurem.

Coranthia often had dreams that led her to jolting up in the early hours of the morning. Jolting that often led Leona and Indira to want to strangle her because of the close proximity of their sleeping arrangements. But this wasn't one of her usual dreams, it was a play by play of her memory. Except it wasn't all of what she remembered occurring that night.

She tried to focus her sleep heavy eyes in the dark chamber. The room was always referred to as the "female quarters'' by Levi but it had always truly felt like it belonged to her and Leona. The recent addition of the talented healer, Indira was an unexpected change. So unexpected that Coranthia and Leona almost took off Indira's right arm after pinning it behind her back and shoving her larger frame to the floor. Realizing the girl on the floor was not a threat to their lives, they helped her up and gave her the closest thing to an apology either of them could muster. She was only twelve and the two other girls had found that Indira had a quiet and timid soul but proved to be an asset more times than not, especially at times like last night.

Coranthia sat up from her bed placing her drawn dagger back under the pillow. She cupped her face with both hands and dragged them downward in an attempt to scrape away any reminiscence of restless sleep. Her calloused palms felt rough against her smooth skin. She turned her gaze to the open window to see the sun peeking over the horizon coloring the landscape in orange and purple light. The only upside to her nightmares was waking up in time to behold the glorious sunrise of the Lyerion bay.

She stood and looked at the two occupied cots.

No strangling this time.

She grabbed a clean suit and stripped off her black knee length nightgown. The unofficial uniform of the children looked more like prison attire than anything, dark gray, shifting fabric with black boots. Although the suit showed minimal skin it was luckily breathable, especially in the heat of midsummer. When she was in the suit, she had a purpose and that was the sad truth. She snatched up the roll of wrapping lying on the ground beside Leona’s bed, a waft of her sweet cherry scent hitting her as she proceeded towards the door.

The halls of the Futurem in the early hours of the day were unexpectedly bustling. Usually the halls were lined with higher ranking guards and soldiers heading towards their designated posts. Today there were servants, florists, and cooks roaming about the marble floors. Coranthia knew what was coming in a few hours and was dreading the impending boredom and obnoxious elites that had shimmied their way up the ladder of the Empire.  

"Cora!" she heard an awfully familiar voice ring down the halls of the manor.

"Damn it," she said under breath.