There was no sound, and there was nothing to see. It was darkness, all around him. And he was there in its midst, covered in a red and violet hue. He was familiar with the violet shade. It was his aura and his strength. The red shade, more like the shade of blood and wine, he had always found himself covered in this strange dream, was a mystery to him. He knew that it was a part of him that he could never separate from, but he still didn’t know what it was. He felt safe there, in the light of these two shades. The darkness around him didn’t scare him, nor did it ever try to eat him.
Right now, he was busy looking at the red shade forming symbols on his violet aura. He had already figured out what these symbols were. The symbols were alphabets of a language. He never understood what these alphabets meant. Whenever he would wake up from the dream, he would forget about these symbols and this realm. And sometimes, these alphabets would combine to form what would be words. And now that he was back in here, after what seemed like a fraction of time, he was adamant on understanding this situation better.
Time passed and passed, but he couldn’t understand anything. He never felt so frustrated at anything. He was always good at learning things, but even after so long, in 24 years of his life, he had only figured out that these symbols were alphabets. His mind would deny every method he had used. His mind wouldn’t accept the sounds and meanings he would give to the symbols. And now his frustration was taking its toll. He pulled his thoughts away from concentrating on these words. It was as if he was mad at these words and refused to see them again.
His eyes wandered around the realm of darkness. He didn’t know what he was looking for, but he still looked around. And then his eyes caught something. There was another red shade in this realm of darkness, and it was caging something inside of it, just like his red shade caged him. And that red shade was connected to his shade. He wondered if it was always such. If the shade had always been there? It felt like the other shade was part of him as well. He tried to draw his hand to it, and then the dream burst like a bubble, taking away all its memories with it.
He felt a fragrance, unique in its flavor, engulfing his sense of smell. He felt a head resting on his heart, and felt an arm protectively wrapped around him. There was no need for him to open his eyes to know who it was. It was his Esme.
Shazan followed the source of the fragrance and planted a kiss on the head of his beloved. And then he opened his eyes. She looked peacefully asleep, and he couldn’t bring himself to get up and disturb her. And so he stayed just like he was, and used his aura to pick up the cell phone from the side table. He gathered it in his hand and then checked what time it was.
He wasn’t surprised to see that he had slept in for more than two days, and it was almost dinner time on this Tuesday night. He checked the call log and found that he had received a call from Asaya yesterday. And since it was in the received calls, Renesme must have picked it up and informed her that he was asleep. Other than that, there were several messages from The Line. It was Hexis as he explained the proceedings of the task he had assigned him to complete.
Shazan didn’t bother going through the log. He had no doubts about Hexis’ capabilities. After all, Hexis was known as a crazy perfectionist.
The task he had assigned to him was done. Arabian Prince, Khalid al Dozar, was dead. He was just another person listed on the file of the missing, never to be seen again. And the world was now searching for Michael Angelo, his wife, Silna Angelo, and his son Marcus Angelo. Two days ago, some hackers revealed several human trafficking rackets all around the world, and Angelo’s name was on it. What came with that revelation was his video in which he indulged in his carnal desires with his wife and son. What shocked the world, even more, was the detail of a recent transaction he had made. He had sold off his daughter, Olivia Angelo, and her classmate, Francesca Mauris, to some unidentified client in UAE.
Michael and his family were found missing by the authorities when they went to arrest them. There was no trace of them, and the world believed that Michael had managed to flee with his family using one of his client’s powers. There was public outrage against the authorities’ negligence. The social media was going insane as millions of people demanded the forces all around the world to recover Olivia and Francesca. The dark side of the world was unacceptable to the general public.
What amused him was the signing of a petition by millions of people to raise funds for the search for Olivia and Francessca. Some people and authorities deemed it a good chance to gather some wealth. People had also reached out to him on social media and had asked him to give his stand on this matter, and to support the search for of hundreds of people that have been the victim of human trafficking.
He had the power to make everything right, eradicate every immoral act from this weak world. But his power lied in the fact that he could dictate them, engulf fear in their hearts, and control them. And that would, eventually, lead the world in the chaos that would wait silently for the perfect opportunity to eat alive the humanity left in every individual. A world ruled by strength and fear would take away the freedom and the free will of people. The very characteristics that make us human.
On the other hand, he never believed in interfering too much with the matters of the world. He never counted himself the same as the people that roamed on the streets. He was superior to them. He was better than them in many ways.
The world was naïve. Lost in their lifecycles that were repetitive and confined in the shells of rules and regulations that constantly changed, the people forgot and neglected the wisdom the history of mankind provided them. The people of this age believed themselves to be superior to their ancestors. They believed themselves to be wiser. Would wise men drown themselves in their own creations and neglect nature? These people didn’t even know what the laws of nature were, and they refused to ponder over them as well.
Shazan stopped thinking too much on this matter. The problems of the world were not his problems. He was different, his people were different, and his responsibilities were different. He would never concern with them unless the matters directly concerned him.
He closed the phone after watching the latest feed in his log. Keira had donated several million euros to humanitarian causes on behalf of Silverstein empire. That was all she could do and should do.
Renesme still slept soundly. And so he decided to unleash his senses and observe what was happening in the house. He checked the top floor first and found Karen in her monitoring room. She was working on something on her computer, and there were several feeds on her monitor. She was listening to the news that The Line had sent to her, as well as what was happening all around the world. There were also some feeds that were observing some members of the family. He didn’t keep his senses there and moved to Arianna’s room. He couldn’t find her there, and so he scanned for her aura in the house. She was out of the range of his senses, and that meant that she was out in the woods. He couldn’t find Maira’s aura as well, and Kaiya seemed to have gone with them. He guessed that they were out in the jungle to see the animals. Arianna would go to see them every other day. And she would be back by dinner time.
Keira and Serafina were in the lounge together with Marilyn and Mary. They were chatting about something and seemed quite enthusiastic about it. Ella and Joanna were in the kitchen on the ground floor, and they were helping Lena cook the dinner. Ilsa, as usual, was in the training room on the ground floor. It was right next to the one that was his private training room. She was there sparring with Isha. It was more of a regular exercise for them, but Ilsa was never an easy one when it came to regular exercise. She was a training manic.
His senses caught Mina and Nina searching for something on the first floor. They were checking every room, and they had opened the door of the lounge where Keira and the rest were. And they left the room after asking the girls about something. He was quite curious about what they were asking about, but he soon understood what was happening there. It was Roselyn, being as playful as ever. She was playing hide n seek with her two maids. And how could Mina and Nina cope up with Roselyn? This little princess of his was getting more skillful each day at using her aura. And she had used it on them to quietly sneak away from their watch. For the two of them, who were not Azeros, it was not easy to stop Roselyn from sneaking away. It was a good thing that he and Arianna had taught her well. Roselyn was playful, but never too mischievous. She never used her powers to influence the minds of people around her. She was capable of it. But she never did it. It was rare for a Silverstein to be able to suppress the urge to control the people around her.
No matter how adept she may be at her powers at such a tender age, she could never escape her father’s senses. And he found his little devil happily running towards his private section of the Palace. She stood outside his door for a few seconds, and then she slowly opened the door and peeked inside. There was not much she could see from there. And after understanding that Renesme was asleep, she debated if she should enter or not.
Shazan didn’t miss this chance and used his aura to blow away her hair from behind. She was spooked as she almost yelped. And then a smile blossomed on her face. She didn’t hesitate any more and entered the room. She climbed the bed carefully, and then crawled her way to the side of him that was free. Her face leaned in to kiss him, but he caught her first and planted a kiss on the tip of her nose. She giggled at his action and then kissed him back on the tip of his nose. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to sit by his pillow-side.
“How’s my Little Devil?”
“Humph!” She glared at him. “I am a Princess! Princess…” She cutely stressed on the word ‘princess’, trying her best to keep her voice soft. She didn’t want to disturb the sleep of her Renesme mommy.
“Yes. You are my Princess. But you are also my little bird, and also my little devil.” He was not done teasing her.
“No no. I am not your little bird. Your little bird is Asaya. You always call her that. I am your little princess.”
“But I also call Arianna, my little princess.”
“Nope… You used to call her that, but now I am your little princess. She’s now your empress! But you call her princess.” She cocked her head as she tried to make sense of it.
“That’s because she will always be my princess.” He answered her and nudged her nose. “You still haven’t answered my question, love. How have you been?”
“Umm… I have been fine.” She seemed to be really thinking about it. “I spent most of my time with Serafina mommy. She has been telling different stories lately. They are all very interesting!”
There was a shine in her eyes when she mentioned stories.
“Do you know about Kurzok?”
“Yes, I have heard of it. But I have never seen it.”
“Serafina mommy says that it’s very big. It’s black and has golden scale-like-spots on its body. It is almost a thousand meters in length and is always sleeping. She has heard of it as well but has never seen it.”
It was not the first time he had heard the name Kurzok. The first time he had heard it was when Black had mentioned it to him. Black claimed to have seen it with his own eyes, and he was only the second person who he knew and who had claimed to have seen it. Kurzok was a sea serpent that lived in the bed of the Baltic Sea. And its specialty was its power to create illusions around it, the reason why not many people were able to see it in person.
“I wanna see it!” Roselyn couldn’t contain her excitement.
He was glad that his little princess had not lost her childlike personality given that she was highly intelligent for her age.
“I will see to that.” He said and smiled at her.
Roselyn looked surprised at his reply. She must have thought that he would tell her to grow up first and get stronger or that it was hard to locate and see that monster, but he had said that he would see to it. That was because he knew that it wouldn’t be so hard to find that monster with Renesme, and that girl by his side. A face appeared in his memories, and a pale smile crept on his face. He still didn’t know much about her, but as long as he felt no hostility from her, he was fine. And besides, she had claimed to have seen the monster in person, and even give it a thrashing.
“So when will we be going to see it?” Roselyn asked expectantly.
“It must be hibernating right now, but Kurzok will wake up next year in summer. I will take you to see it then.”
It was not him who answered her, but it was Renesme. Of course, she would know about these things. He had never heard her mention anything about Kurzok before, but he could sense that she knew about it very well.
“Yay!” Roselyn laughed excitedly. “Renesme mommy, I love you!” She leaned in and kissed on her cheek. “And my apologies for disturbing your sleep.” She apologized, but her expressions were not in the least apologetic.
“It’s okay. It’s almost dinner time.” Renesme didn’t seem to mind it. She was rather happy having Roselyn being playful with her.
“Umm… Renesme,” Little Rose really seemed to be thinking about something, “Arianna mommy said that you are the strongest one in the palace. Does that mean you are stronger than father?”
Shazan couldn’t help but shake his head at his daughter’s question. She was still a child as so she couldn’t see the aura on Renesme. Only Serafina, Keira, Karen, and Arianna were able to see her aura other than him. And they could only see it because she allowed them to see it.
“I may be, in terms of strength, a little stronger than your father,” Renesme smiled at little Rose and patted her head.
He laughed at her answer. It was really amusing the way she had said it. A little stronger than him? She could kill him in the blink of time if she wanted to do it, and he would not even realize what happened to him. He was unable to comprehend the depth of his Esme’s powers. She was a mystery to him, but he knew from their bond that she loved him more than anything in life. And so he felt safe around her and never worried about the safety of his family when he would be away from the Palace.
“Awesome!!!” Little Rose got excited when she heard Renesme’s reply. And she could tell from her father’s laugh that Renesme was being humble when stating she was only a little stronger than him. “Will you teach me?”
“I can’t help you out with your bloodline strength, only Arianna and Shazan can teach you on it. But anything other than that, I will help you with it. And when you grow up, I will teach you a lot of things.” Renesme happily complied with Rose’s request. She was already guiding Arianna from time to time. And it didn’t seem like she minded teaching Rose as well. She looked happy having Rose ask her to teach her.
“Yes!” Rose started laughing in her excitement. “Soon I will be able to beat father.” She looked resolute. It was all the influence of Arianna. She had watched Arianna send him flying whenever he would upset her, and so she wanted to do the same to him when he upset her. The only reason why Arianna could send him flying was that he never kept guard when in front of her. And his princess would capitalize on that.
“Alright, it’s time for dinner. Let’s go.” He could only shake his head at Roselyn’s plans. And he knew he had trouble coming his way.
Renesme got up and placed Rose in her lap. She was lightly caressing her head and whispering something in her ear. He couldn’t hear her words as she used her powers to create a shield that he couldn’t hear past. Roselyn was attentively listening to her and then started laughing. It made him curious, but he didn’t bother with it and got up to head to the bathroom.
“Father!” Roselyn suddenly called out to him.
“Yes?” He turned to her and smiled.
Roselyn looked excited as she came running to him and lapped in his arms.
“You know, Asaya is coming to live with us tomorrow!” She happily told him.
Her words surprised him and elated him at the same time. He was surprised that Helen had made the decision so fast. And he was happy because his Asaya would finally be living where she belongs. He showered light kisses on her face that sent her in fits of giggles.
“Come, let’s take a bath together.” He carried her with him to the bathroom.