Chapter 1

“He’s coming.”

When Ros muttered those two words, I couldn’t breathe. I clutched the hilt of my sword, my eyes unfocused and blood slowly leaked from my dry cracked lips. “Ros, you can sense him?” I managed to choke out. Ros glanced at me, his eyebrows creased in worry.

“Yes,” he whispered, looking forward again. “Hey, Selene?”

“What is it, Ros?” I fidgeted.

“You have to make it out of here alive.” He stared at me. “You know what they said right? This is the Ultima Bellum. You have to stay alive.” He was practically begging. “Please.”

I smiled in assurance. “I’ll try my best, Ros. But you know I can’t promise anything,” I reminded him gently.

He nodded and suddenly froze. “He’s here, Sel.”

I gulped and felt a chill race down my spine. I tensed when the trees surrounding the battlefield began rustling, meaning something was approaching. My heart began racing. This is it. The final battle. Kill or be killed. I saw our first opponent make his way into the clearing, his murky brown eyes searching. I glanced at Ros and saw him begin the countdown. I slowly began to unsheathe my sword, hoping the bright light of the sun would not reflect. I watched as Ros got to 3. Then 2. Then…

He suddenly bounded out of the undergrowth, with me right behind him. Training for the Ultima Bellum was hard, and few survived. The battle was ten times worse. You had to be the top of the top to pass the first ten minutes. Our opponent was fast and bounded out of our reach. I watched as Ros aimed his sword, the Nero Prinkipa, at our opponent’s chest. Ros bellowed, “Tsunami!”

A wave of water shot out from the tip of Nero Prinkipa and blasted our opponent. He easily jumped back, a smirk printed on his face.

“My, my. I actually have some fighters this year,” he smiled evilly. “But what annoys me is that you two have no manners!” He stuck out his palm and yelled, “Ampeli!” Large vines grew out of his hands and they raced toward me.

I shrieked and deflected the attack with my Fengari Thea. Ros jumped in front of me. “You’re battling me right now!” he shouted and ran to the man, sword prepared to strike.

The man dodged again and landed on the tip of Ros’ blade. I watched in amazement. “We haven’t formally introduced ourselves, have we?” his voice dropped with venom.

“What’s the point of learning the name of the person who’s going to kill you?!” Ros began trying to shake the man off Nero Prinkipa.

“My name is Xyan,” he answered, ignoring Ros’ comment. “What’s yours?”

“Go to hell!”

I watched helplessly as Ros battled Xyan. There are all types of people in this world. Water, Grass, Fire, Moon, Bug, and the Deadly.

Water people can use their power at any time. They’re also the most cunning and focused, some even have the ability to sense other people, as long as a water source is near. They have an advantage when it comes to battle because all battlefields contain a pool which is for thirst, or bathing, since many battles reign from 2-4 days. I guess every battle is a war here. Ros is a water person.

Grass people are the friendliest, but can only have full access of their power if the grass around them is freshly cut and healthy. In battles, they are at a disadvantage, because the grass in battlefields are not kept and wilt easily. Usually, grass people are the first to be killed in a battle.

Next are the fire people. They are the fiercest, and usually are leaders of their packs. They also only like to keep to their race, and not associate with members of the other clans. Fire people are also the most feared because they can kill easily, as long as they have their fingertips and wood, they can create a fire. Most of the time, it’s a fire person who wins first place in a battle.

Bug people. They are the most… peculiar clan. They are quiet, and are often seen talking to themselves or picking at the ground. They welcome insects to live on them and have a great advantage in battle. The only negative thing is, is that their attacks are extremely weak. But I guess as long as they have a massive army of bugs, the amount of power in their attacks don’t matter.

The Deadly. The most despised clan. They are the cause of traps, lies, and poison leaking into the world of Chamenos. The Deadly are usually the second place winners of a battle. They usually come with the dark eyes, droopy black hair and pale skin. They have the ability to use all powers to their advantage with their hypnotizing spell. They usually like to toy with their opponents and you can’t get through a battle with them without seeing a corpse or two. That’s a special move of theirs called: mátia pou den vlépoun. Xyan is a Deadly person.

Finally, we have our moon people, the rarest and most elegant clan of all. Ruled by Ble Nychta, the moon people are the most secretive clan. The moon people are usually born with silver hair and violet eyes. Slender bodies and pointed ears. Moon people are the most “ordinary” group you’ll find. Whether they win or lose, it all depends on their strength. Ble Nychta believes that everyone must train and seek the results for themselves. They are also the most formal clan. And the clan that attract the most men. There are the few moon people that are special though, the ones destined for greatness. Their eyes are red, and hold an ability that awakens in harmful situations. It’s called Epithymía. Ble Nychta was born with red eyes, but after a terrible accident, her Epithymia shattered and her eyes became a blank violet. At first, people were scared of her and thought she was possessed. But what could they have done? She was their ruler and they could not defy her. Slowly over time, the Moon people relaxed and realized that their Highness’ eyes would not change. I have red eyes. Ble Nychta is my mother. I am Selene, the princess of the Moon Kingdom. Who will one day rule all the six clans and protect everyone from evil. Or at least that’s what was prophesized.

But because I’m a Moon person, I am at a complete disadvantage right now. I forgot to mention that Moon people’s powers only awaken when the moon is shining. Which is why I’m useless to help Ros right now. But the people born with Epithymia, are trained so that one day they can summon the moon’s power when needed and be able to fight anytime. All queens have to learn it. They need to in order to protect their citizens.

“Sel!” I heard Ros yell. “Behind you!”

I gasped and whipped around as I felt something grasp my calf. I looked down and screamed. A corpse’s arm was sticking out of the ground and the hand had clasped on me. I closed my eyes and shouted, “Lampro Fengari!” a small ball of energy escaped my palm and crushed the weak hand. I sighed in relief. Since I am a princess in training, my Lampro Fengari, which means Shining Moon, is really weak and usually leaves me a bit breathless because I summoned energy from the moon and it’s still daylight. I glared at Xyan whose long bangs were covered his eyes. He had a sickening grin on his face.

“Nice, nice.” I watched in horror as more arms began surfacing. “I wonder if you can handle 5 pairs of arms at once.” He pointed a finger at me and whispered to the skeletons, “Go.”

Ros jumped in front of me again, his face red in anger. “You’re battling me! Are you a coward? Afraid to lose so you’re preying on the weak?” He stuck out his sword and yelled to the corpses, “Drowning Wave!” A large amount of water squeezed out and Ros commanded the wave, “Vai, mia onda di obbedienza.” I had no idea what he said to the wave but I knew it was Italian. The wave shot from the air and pryed open Xyan’s mouth.

Xyan’s eyes widened in surprise. He tried to summon more corpses but Ros shouted, “Binding streams!” Two small jets of water shot out from the sword and went into Xyan’s energy source, located in the middle of his palm. His eyes rolled back into his head as his breathing became ragged from the massive amount of water blocking his throat. His energy source weakened and he collapsed to the ground, his eyes blank and his blood seeping out from his hands. Ros lowered his water which splashed on the ground next to Xyan and fell backwards.

“Ros!” I yelled, running to him. I lifted him up gently, my long silver hair softly brushing his face. “Thank you, Ros.”

Ros’ real name is Phoibos, but he doesn’t like it. When we met as small children, I had no idea he was the Nero Prinkipa, or the Water Prince. I imagined a tough, handsome protector. Not that he’s not handsome. He had a boyish face. Big blue eyes, blonde hair with a blue streak in it. And a bang that flopped over one eye. He changed his look since then. Now the front was spiked up and the rest gelled. He certainly has became handsome over the years. But he’s my best friend, nothing more nothing less. His name Phoibos means pure, so I thought of another word meaning pure. I came up with Katharos, but he didn’t like it either. We compromised and now I call him Ros, sometimes I even forget that Ros isn’t his real name.

Ros looked up upon hearing my soft voice. “Selene?” he whispered, his blue eyes searching my red ones.

“That took a lot of energy out of you, didn’t it?” I smiled and took his hand in mine.

He nodded and squeezed my hand. We sat there for a while before I decided it was time to leave.

“We have to leave now, Ros,” I told him. “We’re in the wide open and any opponent can come.”

Ros reluctantly got to his feet and almost collapsed again, but I was ready. I caught him and straightened him. “Hold my hand?” he asked weakly.

I nodded and took hold of his hand again. We walked to our camp, which we had set up the night before. Halfway there, I muttered, “I was useless.”

Ros shrugged. “What could you have done? At least you tried. I saw your Shining Moon.”

“It was weak,” I sighed. I parted the leafy entrance of our camp and crawled in, Ros closely behind me. I stood to full height once we were fully inside the camp. Ros walked ahead of me and tried to walk quickly to his tent. I narrowed my eyes in confusion and followed him silently. He zipped up the flap and I listened from outside. I heard Ros breathe heavily and once in a while groan softly. Frowning, I opened the flap and gasped. “Ros?!”

He was splayed on the floor of the tent, his shirt off and I felt my eyes water. His eyes had snapped open at the sound of my voice and he stuttered, “Sel, it’s not that serious!”

“Not that serious!” I screamed, sitting across from him. “Idiot!” I bit my lip at the sight of the blood dripping from Ros’ lower abdomen. “What caused this? And why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“That bastard Xyan,” Ros spat, still breathing heavily. He tried to sit up and winced.

“Lay down, dummy,” I huffed. What am I gonna clean this with? “You just had to get hurt on the first day of the Ultima Bellum!” I snapped. “I was supposed to go hunting!”

“Then go,” Ros shrugged. “I’ll be fine.”

“No you won’t! What if someone finds our camp? What if they find you?” I continued my search to find something to stop the bleeding.

“I’ll knock them out just like I did to Xyan.” Ros glared at me.

“You almost fainted from that with all of your energy! What do you think will happen if you used drowning wave with only a quarter of your energy?”

“Then I’ll go hunting.” Ros tried to stand.

I pulled him back down. “You can’t even sit up! And you know your water abilities are useless when hunting game.”

Ros continued to glare. “Who do you think you’re talking to?”

“The water prince, Phoibos.” I glared back and stopped my search for a cloth. “Here goes nothing,” I muttered. I ripped off a piece of my shirt and tried not to blush at Ros’ intense blue eyes staring at my exposed flesh. I set the fabric on top of Ros’ wound and the shirt quickly absorbed the blood. “We need something to clean it. On my way back from hunting I’ll bring water.”

“Be careful, okay?” Ros dropped the angry act and looked at me, worry making his eyes shine. “Watch out for opponents. If you run into one, scream as loud as you can. I’ll be there.”

“Quit acting like my older brother.” I rolled my eyes and said teasingly, “I’m older than you.”

Ros blushed and stuttered, “J-just by two months!”

I giggled and walked out of the tent. I closed the flap and walked away. I almost burst out laughing when I heard Ros yelling,

“Hey, did you hear me, Sel?! Two months!”

 

I walked back to camp silently with two rabbits and damp moss I found on a tree. I glanced around and then raced for the camp entrance, ducking inside safely. I opened Ros’ tent to find him alert yet sleepy. “If you were tired you should’ve went to bed.”

“Not with you out in the open,” he snorted. “And besides, I’m hungry. What’d you get?”

Rolling my eyes slightly, I showed him the two rabbits. He licked his lips hungrily. I gave him one and we began skinning it and I used my Lampro Fengari to slice the head off. We gutted it and I finally took it outside so it could cook on the fire. Coming back to Ros’ tent, I showed him the moss. “Here’s all I could find.”

“Will it work?” Ros looked at it in doubt.

“I don’t know.” I bent down and slowly removed my sodden shirt. I placed the moss on the large wound and began rubbing it.

Ros let out a loud sigh of relief and let me rub for a few more minutes. Suddenly he blushed and stopped me. “Okay, that’s enough.”

“What do you mean? It’s working!” I continued to rub and was surprised when Ros let out a moan. “Ros?”

“I said stop rubbing!” he snapped at me.

I glared at him and he shuddered under my red eyes that always flared when I’m angry. “Well, excuse me for trying to help, you ungrateful Nero Prinkipa!” I huffed and exited the tent, not bothering to close the flap.

“S-Selene!” Ros called.

I ignored him. I went into my own tent and fell back onto my the ground, not noticing the pain shoot up my back. I rolled onto my side, thinking about Ros and his odd behavior. “He’s never rejected my help before,” I whispered. “Maybe it’s because we’re older now?” Does Ros have a girlfriend? I shivered, feeling a pang of jealousy enter me. “Well, he is the Water Prince. He’s gonna find that special someone one day.” I closed my eyes and attempted to fall asleep, only to fail. I sat up and began braiding my hair. I rarely braid it, because all royalty have to let their hair down. But this was a special occasion. I heard my tent flap unzip and I instantly gripped Fengari Thea. If it was an opponent, they chose the wrong time to battle.

But it wasn’t. It was Ros. “You idiot!” I yelled, seeing that he was limping and the wound was reopening.

Ros ignored me and zipped up the tent. “I’m sorry,” he grumbled.

I sighed. Same old Ros. “It’s okay,” I accepted gently. “I should’ve listened to you.”

Ros blushed. “N-no… I didn’t want you to listen to me.”

“Huh?”

Ros looked deep into my eyes and I felt the waves crashing down on me. He looked so cute when he blushed. I shook my head slightly. What am I thinking? He opened his mouth, before unsheathing Nero Prinkipa. “An opponent!” he whispered.

I grinned and unsheathed my own sword. “Just what I needed.”

 

 

 

Impressum

Texte: This is owned by Jane Washington and will not be copied or be made as a profit. That is all.
Lektorat: Anna Dupell
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 27.07.2013

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Widmung:
I would like to dedicate this book to my wild imagination which one day just decided to create a mix of a few anime I've watched and a certain book I've read.