Febuary 16, 8:30 AM - Kingdom of Khura'in - Rei'vol's Room

I slowly opened my eyes, the shackles of sleep releasing me from its cold grasp. My blanket hugged onto me warmly and my head was sunken deep inside my pillow. Usually, I would tell myself that I would only sleep for a couple of minutes, only for it to turn into an hour. However, today was no ordinary day. I knew I couldn't wait any longer to leave. Grudgingly, I forced myself out of my comfortable bed and walked along to my closet. I opened my closet and grabbed my clothing, before putting them on without delay. Dressed and feeling ready, I quickly traversed my home, the cold marble floor only serving to quicken me. However, on my way to the exit, something caught my attention. It was a picture of a certain someone, hung on the wall. It was a picture of Queen Amara Sigatar Khura'in. Or, to be more specific, the late Queen Amara. At that moment, I stopped. I slowly approached the portrait and, for the first time in a while, I got on my knees, closed my eyes and clasped my hands in prayer.

It has been one year. One full year. One year since that scum of the earth rebel Dhurke assassinated Queen Amara, as well as a traveling musician. He killed her in an arson; his bride, in fact. Honestly, I have no idea why he Queen would choose such a horrible human being as husband. The only thing I could think of would be her compassion and kindness. How sad, though. To think such an amazing thing would get her killed. Luckily, the rebel Dhurke was caught for his crimes. Since no decent human being would ever take his defense, he had to take on his own. Because of his obvious guilt, the rebel Dhurke was forced to forge evidence. And worst of all, he almost got away with it! He had initially been found innocent. However, Ga'ran, Queen Amara's sister, managed to expose him for both his assassination and forgery. Once found Guilty, the coward ran away. His actions pumps fury into my veins, something I haven't experienced to this level in my entire life. It also made me feel another emotion. Fear. Now that he's exposed, Dhurke can now go around, committing crimes as he pleases. The thought of someone like him running free around Khura'in is terrifying.

However, right now isn't the time for spite. Now was the time to pay my respects. My respects to the greatest Queen I could have ever served and lived under. I stayed in my position of prayer for a full five minutes, mentally blessing and thanking Queen Amara to my fullest. When I felt my respects were paid, I stood back up and continued to the exit of my house. Once there, I put on my boots. Afterwards, I ran outside as fast as I could. I had wasted enough time and I needed to get to Tehm'pul Temple.

You see, today is the first year anniversary of the death of Queen Amara. Our new Queen, Ga'ran, had decided to celebrate her legacy. Personally, I am hoping that this becomes tradition. Either way, as Queen Amara's previous servant, I need to go and see what this is all about.

Febuary 16 8:45 AM – Kingdom of Khura'in – Bazaar

The bazaar of Khura'in is filled with people bustling about. There is a good amount of people walking up to the temple, most likely for the same reason I was. Other than that, they were merchants selling various food items, children running around carefree and even an oxen roaming around. At first, I planned to head directly to the temple. But then, out of nowhere, my stomach growled. Despite no one paying no mind to it, I lightly blushed. I suppose I should have eaten before I left. Oh, well. I brought some money with me, might as well buy something. I didn't have the time to buy a full meal, so I decided to just buy myself a magatah'man. I went over to the stall selling that was selling them.

"Hap'piraki!" The person who was at the stall was a woman, probably in her forties. She had black hair tied into a bun, and was wearing a red robe. She was waving at me, having noticed me. I put my hand in my pocket and I dug out the change for the snack.

"Hap'piraki." I replied, handing over the change. She seemed nice enough. "I'd like one magatah'man, please."

"No problem." She said, taking the money, before she began to stare at me for some reason. I couldn't say I was uncomfortable, but I couldn't say I was fine with it either.

"Um, are you okay?" I asked in uncertainty. My question seemingly brought her back to reality.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She answered dismissively. "Hey, is your last name 'Lu'tion', by any chance?" She asked.

"Pohlkunka!" My voice managed to tone down my words, but I was nevertheless surprised. The woman chuckled.

"Um, do you mind me asking how exactly you know that?" I asked, suppressing my embarrassment.

"I knew your parents." She said. I would have said something, but she continued. "Your parents were called Ab'sol and Re'sol Lu'tion, right." I nodded my head. "They both had the same red line on their nose."

That made a lot more sense. My parents sort of forced me to put this red line on my nose as they did. I kept it as I didn't have much problem and I thought it looked nice, but I did catch rather early on that no one else had markings like me and my parents. Most people had markings on their forehead or the side of their face.

'I guess I can see how this woman can connect me with them.' I concluded.

"Ah, I see. How did you know my parents, exactly?" I asked once again. At the back of my mind, I was still thinking of Queen Amara's anniversary, but the conversation I was having was rather interesting.

"It was a couple of years back, at the Dance of Devotion rite. We just so happen to bump into each other, and we became friends." She explained. "Though, I would think I would meet their son at such a traditional celebration." At this, she glared at me playfully. I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment.

"Well, I wasn't terribly interested in dancing back then, so I'd often pretend to be sick on those days." I admitted. She laughed.

"Heh, it's nice to know their legacy still lived on, even in death." She smiled.

'Well, she knows how to change the tone of a conversation.' I thought. True, my parents died two years ago. I'm just happy I had come to terms with it a while ago or her words would have been a train crash to my gut.

"Well, you wanted a magatah'man, right? Well, here you go." She handed over a small brown bag, containing a sugary treat that was the magatah'man. I grabbed it.

"Thank you." I thanked, bowing my head. "My name is Rei'vol, by the way. Rei'vol Lu'tion."

"Ah, no problem, Rei'vol. My name is Frie'nd Tu'all." Frie'nd stood up and bowed as well.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow." I said. Afterwards, I left.

The conversation I just had took up a good five minutes of time. Despite that, I still had a good forty minutes before the ceremony started. While I didn't want to wait until the last minute to go to the temple, I decided to take it easy. I found a bench and sat on it. I pulled out the magatah'man from the small brown bag and took a bite out of it. It was delicious. After chewing up the first bite, I quickly devoured the rest. It may just be me, but this magatah'man was a lot better than usual. Maybe Frie'nd was just a better cook? I wiped off some of the crumbs from my pants. Now done eating, I crumpled the brown bag into a ball. I stood back up and walked over to a garbage can. I through it away, but in that moment, I saw a shadow in the corner of my eyes. At first, I dismissed it as nothing. But, it managed to keep my attention. I turned around to focus on the shadow.

It was a person in a black cloak that covered their entire body. I couldn't see exactly who it was. They were currently running towards an alley and were carrying food in their arms. While a bit confusing, there wasn't anyone chasing after them, so it was doubtful he stole the food. But they did seem to be in a bit a hurry. And in their rush, they ended up dropping some of the food. They didn't seem to have noticed, since they didn't stop at all. I quickly ran to the fallen food items and picked them up. The person in the black cloak was quickly getting away.

"Hey! You dropped these!" I yelled, running after the person. Luckily, they managed to hear me, and they turned. And the person I saw was...

I dropped the food in shock.

The person was a man, probably in his twenties. Under the cloak was a blue shirt, covered in golden stripes. He had green eyes and black hair, and a red diamond marking on his forehead. However, the most defining part of his appearance was the attorney's badge on his shirt. That man was Dhurke Sahdmadhi.

My mind went blank. I completely lost any ability to think rationally. What replaced it was pure anger.

"DHURKE! How DARE you show your face here in Khura'in after murdering our queen!" I yelled, my emotions running out of control. Dhurke faced remained neutral, and he did not move or reply. That was the final straw. I snapped. I charged towards Dhurke.

"DHHHUUUUURKKKEEE!" I yelled, raising my fist to punch him. However, right before I managed to approach him, someone hit the back of my head. Hard. So hard that my consciousness quickly began to fade. The last thing I saw was Dhurke slowly approaching me and moving his lips as if talking. If he was, I couldn't hear it. The moment my body hit the ground, I blacked out completely.