The Empire

Aiden of the Inferno

It was cold, the passing animals seemed to stare at Selena with teasing eyes. Selena could feel her joints tensing up as the two continued their trek North to Zenokar. She could no longer feel the grass on the ground brush by her legs as she walked by. The occasional patch of snow starting becoming more common the further they walked. Selena even saw a giant horse with horns walk by.

The two had stopped at a small village a few miles back and bought Selena gloves, shoes, and another layer of clothing. Since Zenokar was known as a geographical fortress, it was near impossible to enter. The country was surrounded by mountains, covered in snow during the winters, and had two rivers running by.

"We've been walking for a day. How far are we from Zenokar?" Selena questioned hoping to be given the expected words of hope.

The two had been walking without stop for almost a whole day. Selena's legs ached and her mind was going blank from both the cold and the seemingly infinite distance to Zenokar.

"Just over this mountain." Michael answers and pointed at the approaching mountain base. Selena was hoping for a, 'we are almost there' or a 'just a few more miles.' Rather, she got a, 'we just need to scale one mountain.'

Selena felt herself collapse to her knees from exhaustion. She now understood why Zenokar's military was considered the most powerful. If she had to live in this environment and scale a mountain to leave her city, she would be an unstoppable soldier as well. Pulling together the last of her energy, Selena stood up and continued following Michael.

"Why did you return to..." Selena trailed off as she started to wonder if it was moral to ask such a question. She became quiet while considering whether or not to ask the question.

"I returned because I wanted to check if any others who escaped returned to try and meet up again. But, like I expected, nobody was here. When you ran into me, I was on my way to Zenokar." Michael explained, he already knew how the question that was sure to follow.

"Why are you going to Zenokar?" Selena asked. She was hoping to get some information and start a conversation to distract herself from her freezing body. Selena was almost certain that her ears were turning into ice. Selena worried that the inquisitors would find her frozen solid.

"You heard the rumors being spread, right? We tried to overthrow the King and were executed." Michael asked and Selena nodded her head.

"The church's inquisitors have been hunting nobles recently. Do you think they suspect that the nobles are planning a coup like the King's Hand did?" Selena asked Michael. The knight's helmet shook.

"It's actually because I am not the only member of the King's Hand who escaped. There used to be a group of over eighty of us, some of us escaped the execution. However, Elizeh, the knight blessed with the power to control the wind, was killed by my Captain."

Michael stopped at the opening of a cave and gestured for Selena to enter. The knight glanced behind himself before stepping foot into the cave. The inside of the cave was extremely warm and Selena easily found a nice spot between two stones to hide from the cold.

"There are two types of magics, blessings and curses. If a person is born with magic, the magic will be called a blessing and the person will be able to advance their magic without limit. On the other hand, if the magic is stolen, it would be considered a curse and the magic can never progress past the level the original user could use it to. A person with a blessing can take in multiple curses while a person who never had one will die if he takes in too many curses." Michael described and Selena began to understand.

"Is the church trying to find nobles with magics to steal?" Selena questioned and Michael nodded.

"I believe that Aiden, the holder of the fire curse, has managed to use the Inquisition to find magic users by convincing the church that they are witches." Michael explained but Selena still didn't understand why the Inquisition was hunting her down.