Queen's Protector's Story

Queen's Palace, Anatoli

In a land far east, past the Impassable Mountains, where pink flowers bloomed all year long in the trees as old as the land, the scenery was about to change. Ironic was the people's mentality to be paired with the serene landscape. Their warlike nature contrasted their surroundings, and material culture. Their elegant robes, red tiled roofs, and avatars of deities masked the ugly truth underneath: The people loved war. Tribes warred against each other, clans warred against each other, countries warred against each other. The beautiful ever blooming blossoms were fertilized by the corpses of fallen kin, brother against brother, sister against sister, children against parents. Peace was a miracle of god; the people of this eastern land did not worship any peaceful god, the worshippers have been rooted out and easily eradicated due to their pacifist nature, no one was left to stop the madness. The conflicts became a part of the country's nature, the flowers bloomed on as long as steel cut flesh, the people loved to watch the flowers bloom. They loved the flowers so much, as much as an accidental glance at another person's tree will result in bloody conflict lasting for years.

In a forest of red bamboo, one of the last havens free from the scent of the pink blossoms, there was a group of people who lived in harmony, all fighting for the same cause: prevent a single pink petal to land on the red leaves covered floor of the forest. These people were blessed by the deities of the forest to have strength and vitality of wild beasts, and the harnessed that ability to fight off any invaders, no country was foolish enough to set foot in the red forest.

The land became unhappy one day, a new breed of weapon was introduced to the daily battles: The firearm, a single tribe to accidentally stumble upon "The Gods' Lightning, Thunder, and Earthquake Spear" eventually rose up to become a country. The secret could not be kept for long, even dead defectors speak in the era of the firearm; everyone wanted their hands on the weapon, by any means necessary. These "means" threw off the balance of the land, and the flowers began to wilt.

The people fought even harder to appease the gods, but the more they fought with firearms and those "means" the further the flowers fell into decay.

A shooting star fell over the mangled red bamboo branches one day, the next day the land far east was no more, the trees were no more. Only a desert remained.

A sharp pain as if someone cut his finger off seared through Nginnam's hand, the needle he was using to sew pierced right through his index finger, it looked like a sausage on a stick. The needle was magic infused, but not for long after it passed through his skin as the worms gobbled up the rare morsel of magic energy. Painfully pulling out the now only exceptionally sharp and bloody needle, he placed it softly onto the white stone table, moments later a circle of runes glowed and the tabled bubbled, swallowing up the discarded needle. He had been dozing off and seeing that falling star again, what does it mean, for him to be seeing it again? No time to ponder about dreams, he was not a psychic, his job is to protect the queen. The fabric noticeably hummed and glowed green responding to the residue magic energy floating around the white room. Nginnam snatched up the fabric with the now healed hand and made for the wall. Facing the wall, he pressed the fabric up against it and a rune circle appeared. Glowing, the rune circle made the entire wall bubble like a liquid that just reached boiling point, and Nginnam stepped right through it.

Once through the wall, and clean of the residue magic, Nginnam took off his helm and rubbed the ears on top of his head; wearing the helm all the time made them sore. The corridor he stepped into was surrounded on both sides.... by hundreds of thousands of weapons sticking into the ground and out of the ceiling; they were like stalactites and stalagmites. At the end of the corridor was an anvil on a platform. Nginnam stepped up to the platform and drew some runes in the air in the shape of a cross, and instantly there was a glimmer in the dark sky like ceiling and a sword dropped, piercing through the anvil. Nginnam pulled the sword out with a slight grunt. He did not bother to inspect the ceremonial sword, because he knew it has just been sharpened the most a normal sword can be.

Nginnam took a glimpse at the wrapped weapon that was propped up against the anvil, sighed slightly and turned to leave the corridor of weapons the opposite end he entered from, leaving in the same boiling water wall way as he had entered. Now inside another room, he scanned over the map of the castle laid out on top a white table, the guard's quarters was stained in purple. He'll have to check that out later, but now, he was nearly late for his appointment with the queen, they had a very important event to discuss. Draping a cloak over his armor, he stepped through the final wall as he put on his helm.

The greenhouse was empty, not surprising considering this wing of the castle has been abandoned for hundreds of years. Nginnam walked up to a fountain that still spewed water despite the plant growth that cracked the stone surrounding it, and cupping a handful of the sparkling clear water, he poured it over his helm. The water raced down the engravings on the helm to his shoulder and breastplate, dripping a few drops onto the ground that bloomed into various flowers.

Before exiting the greenhouse, something caught his eyes; Nginnam reached out and plucked a pink petal from the tree branch that loomed over the door.

"Janittey, dear, would you mind fetching me the jars of pig's feet, sheep wool, and horse hair, please?"

A young girl of only twelve years, Janittey was child-like only in appearance. Her personality, however out-matured those beyond her years - hence why she had begun such serious training at such a young age. A sorceress-in-training, she had been taken in by Celestial when she was only six years old. The elder woman had found her wandering in the forest near her home, her memory completely gone, with only her ability to communicate with nature guiding and protecting her. She had been lucky to have been discovered by Celestial when she was, for surely the girl would have ended up as wolf food not too long after.

Due to their similarities in abilities, the Magister had deemed her a worthy apprentice, and as soon as she turned eight, she began to train her. It began with smaller spells - growing plants and flowers for herbal and medicinal uses, or calming animals when they were skittish and nervous - but the girl had progressed so impressively that she was already learning not only defensive potions, but also offensive potions. Her main focus, however, remained on nature and animals, due to both her love for it and Celestial's refusal to over-teach her on things that could corrupt a young mind, despite its maturity.

Janittey nodded eagerly, turning and scampering off to a nearby shelving unit. Their room was stationed on the main floor, yet near the back of the palace for safety purposes. It was one of the largest rooms in the castle - it had not been claimed for anything before Celestial's arrival only for the fact that it would become immensely drafty in the winter-time. However, she had no problems with that, seeing as she used her magic to warm the large, stone room.

The girl returned, holding out three jars to her mentor. Celestial accepted and opened them, dropping one product of each into the large mixing bowl. A puff of smoke flew up, before the fog inside of the bowl settled. Celestial turned her spoon in it a few more times, before removing and setting it aside.

"Alright, so what potion did I just create, Janittey?"

The girl pursed her lips and scrunched her nose, a face she often made when she over thought anything.

After a few moments, she spoke hesitantly. "Um ... From the ingredients, I want to say that it was one of your potions that you made to use as a joke against anyone who made you angry. So I want to say that it was the Hair Removal potion, applicable to any part of the body. Once applied, the hair on that section burns off, never to grow back?"

Celestial clapped her hands, smiling as she did so. "Correct, my dear. And why is this potion one that is not often allowed for creation?"

Janittey paused briefly, before beginning slowly. "Because it is wrong to harm others, no matter what they've done to you. Magic and Potions are for good, not evil. If you are being forced to do something that you know is wrong, atone for it later - because your safety is a number one priority. Right?"

Smiling, Celestial dropped her hand onto the girl's head, leaning over to be at her height. "Very good, my Ittey-Bittey Apprentice you!" Janittey beamed at the praise. "Now, lessons are over for today. Run along and play with the children of the staff - I'm sure they're waiting for you outside the palace." The girl nodded and eagerly bounded off, her black ponytail bouncing as she did so.

Turning back to her work bench, Celestial quickly discarded the potion. Plucking up her spell book, it immediately zipped down to the side of a silver dollar, and she slipped a chain through a hoop at the top of it. Dropping the chain around her neck, she tucked the book beneath her top.

Seeing as the Queen had yet to request anything special from her, and she had already finished her ordinary duties around the palace, her schedule was relatively free at the moment - a rare occurrence for someone of her abilities and title. Honestly, she wasn't sure what to do with the free time she had been granted.

Shrugging, she adjusted her dress before turning and striding from the room.

Only to bump point-blank into none other than the Queen's Protector himself, Nginnam. Catching herself on the wall, she finished shutting the door, pulling the large gold key that adorned the same chain as her spell book, and turned it in the lock before returning it beneath her clothing. Turning back to Nginnam, she bowed her head at him.

"I apologize for bumping into you. I hadn't a clue that you were out here," she said, tilting her head back to see his hidden face. "Speaking of which, what are you doing in this wing of the palace? It's rare that I see anyone here at all, let alone you. Aren't you supposed to be with the Queen?" she asked, tilting her head to the side, her curiosity evident. Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she went on her toes. "Do you have any food by chance? Bread? Mutton? Anything? I'm positively famished!" she exclaimed.