Incoherent Perspectives
Chapter 5 - Unnamed Assassin

"You're telling me that the mysterious dragon you saw in the cave is Queen Eleni's assassin? We don't know that," Asteria said. Almost as if it was in the queue, Aurora noticed the body of a Sunburst Aether floating down a stream in the woods. "That's the same river where the other runner's body was found. We have to see who it is," Aurora said. She bravely pulled the body out of the water and it was indeed the body of Queen Eleni. There appeared to be a struggle. As in Queen Eleni tried to fight back. But something was off about this. She had her throat slit but Queen Eleni wouldn't let a single dragon sneak up on her. No queen would. This meant there had to be multiple dragons who could've managed to do something like this.

She was busy fighting the one which allowed another to sneak up behind her and slice her throat using some barbed weapon. There were two dragons in this. There had to be. So the mysterious dragon in the cave... Has an alibi. We decided to head back to the cave to see how many more targets the mysterious duo had to go to. I was the only one who bothered entering and noticed surprisingly detailed carvings of the dragon next to the name. Then I noticed. There was one more name on the list of targets. Helia, the daughter of the elected queen. Queen Eleni. That's not good I thought. At least in this one area, there are two of the embers. Standing where I am right now, you can see both councils. The Shadow Flare council from this coastline and the Sunburst Aether council across the sea.

In this cave though, among the many carvings we didn't see last night were two bios for both breeds.

In the Shadow Flare's council, where the Shadow Flare abides, Seventeen summers mark the tides. Ignius Noctern, his age, a mirrored sheen, As Queen Shizen’s heir, in royal sheen. Palace walls echo with the queen’s refrain, A mother’s absence, a monarch’s strain. Massive guards surround, a vigilant choir, For he is Pyrix’s lone male heir, being one is not his desire. Strangely fates wove, a darkened spell, Siblings fallen, where shadows dwell. Their father’s deeds are a tale untold, In Sunburst Aether’s grasp, he’s shrouded.

I don't understand the way these are written out. They all sound like they are ripped from old medieval scrolls. They just sound like Shakespeare. The next bio read:

In the realm of embers, young Aether’s glow, sixteen Summers old, a celestial show. Daughter of Queen Eleni, elected in grace, Her destiny woven in fate’s embrace. Eyes of gold, scales of white and blue, A mythical radiance, a queen anew. Stella Alis heir, a bond untold, Friendship’s flame in tales of old. Upon the throne, she’ll gracefully sway, As queen ’til the next election’s day. A mythic tale, in scales and fire, Her reign ignited, a destined lyre.

It wasn't very clear to me. What did these bios mean? There had to be one for every Ember of the prophecy out there. That meant there were two more bios somewhere. One for the Ignisarbor and another for the Irisalis.

We decided to split up. Asteria headed towards the Shadow Flare council and Aurora and I decided to head right, to the Sunburst Aether council. We agreed to meet back up on the beach because of how close these two councils were. The Sunburst Aether council - unlike the Stella Alis council - is fairly coastal. The castle was located on the farthest end west and the polls were located to the east end of the council. When we arrived at the gate it was shaped like a sun and painted gold. It also had a wall all around the council and appeared to be the second-biggest council in Pyrix, with the Daemoalis council just beating them. Something told me these dragons were incredibly wealthy. Their castle was massive, about the size of the entire Stella Alis council and I thought they were big.

There were two guards on the wall just like the Stella Alis council except they were both female. They looked more serious than Apollo and Nova from the Stella Alis council. The first guard noticed Aurora instantly. "Would you look at that, Aurora, the Stella Alis saga paying a visit? Wow, I'm honoured, do you happen to have any information on Queen Eleni? She went out yesterday and hasn't returned since," She said. "That's the thing. We wanted to talk to you about that," I said. The guards exchanged worried looks before opening the gate with a more advanced pully technique. Meer seconds after we entered, the two guards flew off the wall and in front of us. "What happened to her?" Said the second guard in a slightly frustrated voice. "She's dead. Aurora found her body in the lake with her throat slit," I said. The two guards' serious expressions disappeared and they were furious. "She's dead?! Who did it?!"

"We don't know, that's the thing and Helia... She's next on the list." The two guards looked at one another before the first one said, "Take us to where you saw the list."

"Can you at least tell us your names?" Aurora asked.

"Andromeda and Solaris, please take us to the list," said the first guard. I nodded and began heading over to the cave. It wasn't an incredibly far walk. We soon arrived at the cave right after Andromeda and Solaris entered the cave to see the list. I could hear them whispering amongst themselves after they saw all the targets. Back at the council when we returned. Aurora and I headed into the castle. Much like the Stella Alis council, the castle was full of guards except there were about a thousand times more. I noticed that there were no male royal guards in this council. All of them were female, strange but I didn't question decisions in diplomacy.

Helia saw Aurora and me instantly, and when she did she ran for it. Helia had the energy of a Twelve-year-old ember and the personality of one too, but she wasn't one. She was small, you could tell for a fact she was a Sunburst Aether. She even had a few scars, which was surprising for her age. Her scales were white and blue, she even had some gold jewellery. She looked more like an angel than an Angelusalis dragon. My guess was she had heard about what had happened to her mother and that if she didn't leave that very minute she'd end up just like her. "Please tell me I am a part of the prophecy and if so I'd rather come along. Being out there where the assassin doesn't know where I am is better than being here where they do know," Helia said, her voice full of emotion.

I nodded slowly and Helia just kept saying "Thank You," over and over again. The poor ember is only sixteen and lost both her parents and is being hunted. I genuinely felt bad for her. I can only imagine all the horrifying thoughts running through her head currently. The entirety of Pyrix is falling apart just like Earth. War and assassination, It seemed that every council and every region was dealing with problems. The Highlands War was the biggest problem. It also affected the prophecy, trying to get the Ignisarbor part of this was going to be incredibly difficult.

When we arrived back at the beach, Asteria was already waiting for Aurora and me. She had somehow managed to convince the Shadow Flare to help out in the prophecy. I think I may know how we can get Clockwork's daughter involved. If the Shadow Flare comes with Helia and I when we get the Irisalis, Asteria can maybe convince Clockwork's daughter. That was something for tomorrow though as it was evening. The journies to the councils took a little while. We had to replace a new cave, however. "Cassius, this is Louis. He is the creature of unknown descent just like in the prophecy," Asteria said. Cassius nodded, respectfully. He looked exactly like what I'd imagine a Shadow Flare to look like. His scales were black just like the night sky. His pupils were golden brown but the sclera was a void black. Not white like usual. So something told me that Cassius has a bit of Daemonalis in him.

"You have my utmost respect, human. Do as you need to end this strife between my mother and King Clockwork," Cassius said. Those words are so going to show when he replaces out that the one ember is an Ignisarbor. I thought. We decided to split up once again to get to the final two councils which were much further apart compared to the Sunburst Aether and Shadow Flare councils. They were also much smaller compared to any of the councils we headed to recently. Aurora and Asteria headed over to the Ignisarbor Council in hopes of getting along due to the ordeal back at the Stella Alis Council. Helia and Cassius came with me to the Irisalis council. Only there was a fourth guest, a mysterious figure, one none of us knew.