Story - CursedHeart

1 Antioch
The Enchanted City

As the sun slowly washed over Eastern QuMael, dawn broke on Antioch, The Holy Land. The Suns morning rays first hit the tower of Mina, flickering through the crystal spike that crowned it. As daylight grew the Kingdom was bathed in a glorious golden pink half light. It subtly illuminated the streets. The infrequent wind from Veredal made the silver ribbons on King Street flutter warmly.
In another monumental tower on the landscape of the city a woman watched her world wake up. Her peaceful sapphire eyes watched the tower of Mina glitter and sparkle in the first light. Her soft pink hair was not yet dressed for the day’s attire; it had fallen about her shoulders and over her eyes. She sat on a window ledge, with her hands folded in her lap, exuding calm. In the morning she looked beautiful. Tender and precious. Her delicate pale features glowing with her mild half smile. Occasionally she closed her eyes and slowly drew a silent breath of the already warm air.
Antioch. The kingdom of all kingdoms, that held the city of the king, also named Antioch (To avoid the Kings confusion). The jewel of QuMael. Or at least that was what it had been. Until 1202GG when Tzaziu, the war mongering planet of the Centrinial Universe, angered the King to the point of war. Tzaziu soon destroyed much of Antioch and the entire royal family fled to live on Renaa until the war descended into peaceful solitude once more.
Four days before this sunset, the sun broke through the mild aftermath haze above the city for the first time. Three days before this morning the King returned to his throne. However, he was without a queen.
The Kings wife, Siena had sat and wept on her new planet for her lost Kingdom. She’d wept for not being able to hear the soft waves on the beaches of Lei and a week later went deaf. She wept for not being able to smell her lily flowers or see her gardens, and a half a week later went blind. She wept for not being able to feel Veredian silk on her fingertips, or hold her son, Tempest who was sent away with his mentor a year previously and had been lost without a trace from the family since. That was the mentoring rule. No contact. Siena hoped he would be ok.
On the 13th day on Renaa, as she clung to her only daughter, Liasson, who was 17, she became paralyzed, and on the 15th day Semia, one of the four Goddesses of Sao, herself came and took her soul to rest.
So although the King had returned with no Queen he had returned with a woman. The maiden to his queen whom he coveted in secret, on the Queens untimely death he brought the maiden to himself and kept her as his own. And today, as the sun broke over the rebirth of the city, he would be married to her.
Bells began to toll from the tower of Mina. The woman in the window looked at them and then drew herself from the window. She could hear sounds of the servants, floors below, preparing the palace main rooms. She picked up a brush and sat down at her mirror. She eyed her imperfect reflection. She began to braid her hair and wished, once again for her mother.
There was a knock at the door. She ignored it. “Lia?” came a man’s voice through the thick oaken door. She smiled and hurried to unlock it. A man wrapped up in a velveteen robe stood, looking withdrawn and frail, in the doorway. She hugged him “Morning Daddy” the princess said to the King, kissing his cheek. He smiled, a soft glow in his eyes that re appeared each and every time that she reminded him of Siena. “Aren’t you ready yet?” he asked her pacing into the room.
“No not yet Daddy” she sighed. She had knots inside her about the wedding. She lay her hand over her yellow silk robe above her stomach and swallowed before forcing a smile as he turned from the window. “Shouldn’t you be dressed by now though?” she teased him. He nodded nonchalantly and sat on the edge of her bed, ignoring the sheets twisted and her blanket dragged to the floor in her just-woken-up irritation only a few hours previous.
“Don’t try and wind me up now Liasson I just came to see you before the ceremony to make sure you’re alright.” He said after a pause. Liasson, or Lia when her father was feeling particularly sweet, watched the dust dance in the shaft of light now seeping over the floor from the window. “Are you?” His voice interrupted a masterful pirouette by the leg of her bed. She shook herself to attention and the knot in her stomach returned.
Today. Today her father would marry Jiasuu. Jiasuu, the beautiful woman who had encaptured her father’s heart. Jiasuu, the beautiful woman who had cradled Liasson’s mother in her arms as she drew last breath. Jiasuu, who Liasson had slapped when she was just a servant who had brought her dying mother the wrong meal, causing her to choke momentarily. Jiasuu… who never forgot.
It had been four years since her mother had died. Liasson had grown from a girl of 17 to a woman of 21. Her servants became fiercely loyal to her as rumour spread that her father would surrender the throne to her on her 25th birthday. Liasson didn’t care for these rumours and tried to dispel them but then a conspiracy was called up by the creatively challenge in Renaa. Liasson loved her father. She was glad to see him happy, but she was afraid.
She had woken at four to see the Antioch sunrise. She was afraid she would not see it again. She had gazed at the Spike of Mina, the people of the Palace in the courtyards below, the gates to the city opening and letting the already awaiting traffic of war survivors’ return. Antioch was rebuilding itself for its new Queen. But in only four more hours it would learn, to its surprise, that its new Queen was not her. She thought, as she watched the dust go through its step positions, that she would be exiled after Jiasuu became Queen Jiasuu and she would die of the heartbreak like her mother had.
For there was nothing in the world Liasson loved more than her city. She lived and breathed its every wound. Bound to it by magic and spells and enchantments its every broken building hurt her. Every crying child enraged her… and every doom impending frightened her. And that’s what she was. Jiasuu. Doom Impending.
She bid her father a hurried goodbye. He had no ears for words of sadness today. He had not listened before he would not listen now. He was convinced Jiasuu could not hold sway over Liasson’s fate. Liasson would stay and at the right time become Queen herself. Liasson had packed already.
She sat again in front of her mirror to continue to braid her hair. She pulled the braids into her line of vision and then tied them with silver ribbons. Silver ribbons. She saw her reflection scowl. Jiasuu’s choice. But Liasson did not appreciate feeling like a birthday cake and pink hair and silver ribbons did not attribute to any other type of feeling. She pulled the ribbons out and then braided it into a braid of hair. That was better, she decided. At least she felt less like confectionary now.
She walked through her room, idly fingering things as she passed them, her bed, her window ledge, a small wooden flute she had made for her brother on his return. She knew how much his mentor, Joshua, loved teaching children to play. She herself had been taught with him, what felt like a hundred years before now. Joshua would be sixteen now, she remembered. Very soon he would return home and find everything changed and sour.
She walked into her second room where she kept her clothes. There, hanging, was the dress Jiasuu had picked for her. She cursed softly under her breath. She had been hoping for a dress she could despise. That would make the day easier. But the black dress in the plastic coating seemed to be perfect. Liasson suddenly realized she was being made to wear black so she was the opposite of Jiasuu. Maybe so that people thought she was wearing mourning clothes to spite her father.
She took a breath to calm herself. It was too late now. She took the dress from the hanger and went to face the day.

* * * * *

Not very far away, beneath the gates of Antioch, a man stood looking at his city. He was wearing an old and faded guard outfit. He had brought his mother back to the city where she was born when the war was declared over. She had passed through the gates to go and reclaim her house an hour before but he could not bring himself to go in yet.
When he had left Antioch he had a broken heart and a sick mother and father. Returning, he knew his heart had not healed. Just as his fathers sickness had not healed. He stood, admiring the tower of Mina where he and his sweetheart had spent many days as children playing. He felt a sickly rush of tenderness as her remembered her. Her dazzling silver blue eyes that were barely visible beneath her thick black lashes when she was feeling coy.
He tried to shake of his trail of thoughts but he knew only a few meters away, in a tower he could see from here, she might be waiting. Deep in his heart he knew the hopeless reality of the matter. She would be married and he was a wanted criminal.
At least that’s what she would have been told. Shera, his enemy had cloned him and told him, as he regained consciousness, that he was the clone. His brain had happily accepted the role as it meant he was not obliged to feel anymore. The spell had broken only a whole year later, releasing him from Sheras captivity but confused and convinced he was still a clone. After his clone had killed thousands in his name and he had been Sheras slave, Shera and the clone disappeared and he was left with the name and the memories of all the murders. Only one memory had got him through those dark hours of facing his clones victims in his sleep. Her. The simplest possible memory had never failed to bring a rush of love back to his heart. He could see her face just before she had left Antioch with her family. She had turned and smiled to him, and as she turned away her hair fell over her face.
He stood with tears running down his cheeks as his heart yearned to see her again. He wanted to touch her, wanted to smell her again. He wanted to hold her to him and run his fingers through her hair like he had always wanted to, always yearned to. Since they were children.
But that wasn’t how the story ended was it? I mean, after all… who would ever let the criminal marry the beautiful princess? Feng sat down with his back against the wall that held everything he had ever held dear to him. And cried.

* * * * *

Saint Loret temple was dazzling that day. The Spires had silver flags flying from them in celebration; every hole in the architecture (some designed in and some due to the war) was holding cream candles that flickered in the breeze so that the entire building seemed to glow. The newly returned Antiochians (and the new Antiochians) milled around the steps up to the door, waiting with bated breath for the cars to arrive and the wedding to begin. The King was remarrying; there were signs on every door awaiting the return of the house owners. ‘An invite to a city’ it had said in purple flourish. Where was the old queen? Wondered the Antiochians as they marveled at the decorations about the Sao Temple called Saint Loret.
At half past ten a car drew into the circlet courtyard in front of the temple. It paused as the people of the city watched it in intrigue. Then the door opened and a woman stepped out, her pink hair tied back, wearing black and looking melancholy. There was a silence. So thick that the birds had to stop flying and stoop to listen to it.
A few moments passed as a blush grew on the woman’s face, hovering around the door of the car. A man cheered. Ignes Rece, 64, still remembered Liasson from being 17. Of course he had told his children about her as he had felt it his duty to pass on his memories of the royal family but they did not recognize her. He shouted through the crowds her name and as more and more people heard him more and more people cheered. “Oh God” she muttered wishing she could crawl somewhere and die.
As Liasson was contemplating her own death by blushing another car pulled up into the courtyard. This time a man got out, a man easily recognized by everyone. The crowd stooped to a bow. Of course with Gods who make visual calls at dark times in your life everybody knew that the King was nothing supernatural or worshipable, but he had got them through a war, he had lost his wife, and he was about to decide the taxes regime.
He turned and held out his hand to help Jiasuu out of the car. She stepped out and for a moment a flare from the sun made the crowd wince while admiring her snow white dress.
Liasson stood in the temple and let her mind wander. Half way through the temples God, Sao, appeared. She smiled at him as he bound Jiasuu to the King in holy matrimony. He only appeared for royalty and it was nice to see him again. She played with her hair through the legalities of shared devotion to the church, to Sao, to the Goddesses, to each other and to the responsibilities of Antioch.
Liasson was finding it odd being back in Antioch. In those passing years she had made Renaa her home. Of course Antioch boasted her childhood memories but everything was changed now. Just enough to put the memory out of place. There had been one thing she had been excited about coming back to but on her return had found it gone. At this thought the miket began to play softly indicating the end of the ceremony. She waited for her father to leave the temple and went to follow him but Jiasuu turned and smiled at her. A nasty knowing smile. Liasson gulped. Four days back in Antioch… how much could a girl miss it?

2 Liasson
The Witches Daughter

Liasson sat on her window ledge again that evening. She was weary after the festivities. She had walked around the Great Hall with a glass of champagne talking to people she didn’t know. Her feet were aching so she had walked down into her mothers garden and dipped her tired feet in the pond before finding a circuitous route back to her room.
She removed her shoes and threw them behind her and then swung her legs out of the window. The air was still again but cool. She had let her hair fall down and not brushed it since. She was sure she wasn’t fit to be seen in public. But at that moment she was not thinking about her hair, she was watching the pathway down from the palace into the city proper. People were leaving in hurried groups suddenly.
It was no surprise why. Liasson could hear the shouting from her window. The King and Queen. A royal fight so to speak. As if that wasn’t bad omen enough for the people of Antioch, they were arguing about their princess. Jiasuu was saying Liasson had ruined her day. Liasson was out to get her. Liasson smiled weakly at her fathers even weaker attempts to protect her.
Jiasuu however was determined, she wanted Liasson out. Or she would leave herself. Liasson knew with a deep sadness her fathers pain from the death of her mother. She doubted he would risk loosing a wife again. Her room was already half packed but Liasson couldn’t help wishing for a friend to talk to.
As Jiasuu became more and more hysterical, screaming and running in the courtyard below towards the fountain; Liasson watched. She saw the water shiver in a pool inside the stone circlet and some of the spray fall on Jiasuu’s dress as her father held her by the shoulders and made her face him.
Liasson saw her turn her face away, she saw the tears on Jiasuu’s face as her father lifted her chin with his fingertips. She turned away before they kissed. She went to her walk in closet and over to the drawers. Wrapped in a white linen cloth in the top drawer was an amethyst stone tipped in silver on a necklace. The Stone of Amia.
It had been delivered to her on her 14th birthday by her personal body guard Feng Tiannai. It had been from her mother, she had said it would help her in the dark. In a way that had been true. As a child, afraid of the dark, she had held onto it and cried and believing it would help her had helped her… to fall asleep.
Liasson woke up some time before dawn. The wind was carrying voices from the courtyard up to her window. The words were muffled and secretive so she got up and wrapped her robe around her. Pulling her hair out from underneath the material she walked to the window and hid in the shadows. Still unable to hear properly she leant out the window to see Jiasuu and Rabi Sunah, a notoriously nasty pub crawler.
Liasson quickly picked up the context of the discussion. Three thousand silver coins for her head on a plate. Liasson gasped. She had been suspicious but never thought her new mother would go so far to get her out of the way. And then it dawned on her, of course, why hadn’t she seen it before.
Liasson turned and swept from the room. Her robe trailing behind her as she stormed up the stone steps, her feet slapping the icy blocks. She swept into her fathers library and headed immediately for the cupboard. She threw it open and froze. Gone. The crown was gone. It was all gone. Her mothers crown. She screamed under her breath and ran back to her room. She was after the throne. So she was coming for Liasson.
Liasson ran from Antioch that night. She threw one bag on her back and clutched another to her. In her pockets she hid all the money she had. She pulled on jeans and a jumper and ran through the gates.
And just like that Liasson fled her home country for the second time. She stopped after running until her lungs burnt with every breath, then collapsed beneath a tree in Santamon Woods. Then she began to cry. Afraid to leave Antioch as an exiled princess but too afraid to return home Liasson pulled her sharp silver scissors from her bag and softly and slowly, strand by strand, cut off her beautiful pink hair. She stopped crying and calmed herself enough to say a soft prayer to the gods to bear her in disguise and deliver her from the adversity facing her.
Teynn, one of the four Goddesses of Sao appeared in a shimmer of gentle light above her. Teynn watched Liasson praying for a moment and then spoke. Her voice was delicate but had a metallic sheen to it.
“What’s wrong Liasse-Ci?” she whispered softly. Liasson didn’t reply. She didn’t need to. The Goddess touched her shoulder gently. “We’re looking after you. You know we are.”
Liasson looked up tearfully “I won’t survive in the real world. Princesses die in the real world because they aren’t supposed to go there. Nobody likes us there”. Teynn touched Liasson’s forehead. “You don’t have to be afraid. Change your name I have changed your hair for you. Trust us Liasse-Ci we can’t risk you dying. Your mother would kill us” this made Liasson laugh “you’re already dead”. Teynn disappeared.
The brunette with sparkling silver eyes under a tree in Santamon Woods renamed herself. Princess Liasson transformed and came out of her cocoon as Katherine Delta.

2 Feng Tiannai
Running from your fear

Feng finally stopped crying and sat with his head in his arms for a long time. Some times he listened to passerbys and other times he thought to himself.
He knew he only had one option in reality, an old friend from childhood, now in Veredal, land of the peaceful, Kiyoto. Of course Kiyoto being constantly at war with Shera, hell bent on destroying the samurai warrior would believe him to be evil, but then again he just might be.
Feng pushed himself to his feet and took a battered and yellowing map out of his pocket. He noticed his hands were thick with dirt and some dried blood. He unfolded the square and drew a line, from Antioch to Veredal. He would go north and stay in Antioch for as long as possible. Completely bypassing Kellke, land of the human reign, where he was a known murderer.
He felt a shudder in his stomach, an odd purple sensation and his head became light. He knew the Gods of Sao were calling for him, desperate to assure the safety of Feng Tiannai… he did not respond. He took one last glance at Antioch, at the silver spike that held his princess and ran away.
He ran from her. From her hating him. From his own fear.