Realm of the Sun

Chapter 5

Yue Chang was a special kind of girl.

As the last member of House Chang, and the only one with the gifts of Vischo, she was by default, a court favourite for telling prophecies and spouting visions. One major downside in particular, were the chronic headaches she often experienced everyday, regardless of whether or not she had a vision that day.

Unlike other Elites, Yue couldn't control her powers. The visions came and went, and never at the same time or for the same amount of time. Sometimes they were mere glimpses of the future, like whether or not it would rain the next day. Other times, they were full-on prophecies, like the one she had been apparently chanting in her sleep recently.

She had been summoned before the court and council to recite her prophecy. Yue had unintentionally memorized the passages, and was then required to write down the whole thing on a piece of parchment. The task she was currently dealing with.

Yue dipped her brush into the ink cup and brought it to the page, gentle strokes of calligraphy narrating the unfortunate tale she had foreseen.

Among the common, one will rise.

To fight, to love, and to wage war,

The battle against darkness is soon to occur.

Five companions, all unique

From different houses, high and low

One on the brink of extinction;

One born of chaos.

Another of the weak-

One of power.

One roped in by love,

And a saint born by the creator himself.

Usually when she had prophecies, she always knew the outcome- good and bad. But this one in particular had an uncertain ending. She was sure that it had something to do with the incident at the Sun Trial- apparently, a supposed varien girl had been utilizing the blessings of Crysallo. King Magnus took it as a sign; trying to force the prophecy, by reading too far into the words. This hero and the five houses that were allegedly going to be her allies and comrades had vague wording. The few things she could be sure of were that Yue herself was part of the prophecy, seeing that she was the only member of her house left, alluding to the brink of extinction phrase, and that this hero was most definitely the girl from the trial. The other bits, Yue wasn't so certain of. King Magnus had tried to force the love aspect, presumably by marrying one of the High Court house heirs to their new hero.

Poor Sylas, she thought as she finished scribing her words. Engaged to someone he just met for the sake of political scheming and possible prophetic fate interference.

As if summoned by thought, a knock came at the door. It was a special knock- not too hard, soft enough to wake her up when needed without fuss but loud enough to announce the arrival. Sylas spent months researching the kind of sounds and volume everything made. He had perfected the knock in good faith for Yue. She smiled, and unlocked the door to her chambers.

Sylas greeted her with a hug, and a basket of pork buns. "I noticed you skipped breakfast," he said sheepishly as he handed the food over. "I was worried you weren't eating again."

"It's already morning?" She tilted her head. Had she really been up all night? It did feel strange- her eyes were not quite as swollen, nor was her headache as bad. She lifted the blinds she had placed over her singular window- a precaution, in case anyone wanted to eliminate House Chang permanently. While every other Elite had their own fancy bed chamber in the main palace, Yue had been locked up in a sad old stone tower. It was grossly cluttered, and filled with various scraps of paper around the floor. She was sure that the room used to be a quarantine zone, back when the Red Fever had first struck the country.