"Aura Warriors of the White Hot Flame," Lady Myers took held her mic closer to her mouth as she spoke to the crowd of excited Flame members. "I have a very important announcement to make today. Finally, we begin to see a sliver of light at the end of the dark tunnel we journey through. Princess Viviana...has returned!" 

Cheers broke out through the crowd, as my friends and fellow warriors yelled at the top of their lungs, thanking Lumys and some even crying tears of joy. 

"Oh my gosh, Aron! She's really coming home!" Mariana Ramirez, one of the Flame's younger Aura Warriors, squealed with delight. 

"I know!" Another one of my coworkers, Patricia Pralix, high fived Mariana and the two of them began to talk in hushed, excited whispers. 

"Yay!" My brother strolled into the middle of the crowd, grinning sarcastically. "Princess Viviana has returned! It's the end of the Flame- and possibly the Empire- as we know it!"

"Oh, shut up, Teren!" Calissa rolled her eyes. 

"Actually, Coco, Teren has the right to be skeptical. She is Queen Saralee's daughter, no matter how much of a legend she is," Samuel shrugged. 

"There's nothing like a Scientist Clan nerd to ruin a good celebration," Patricia sighed. 

"What did you say about my clan?" Samuel raised an eyebrow. 

"Guys, guys, that's enough," Talessa put her hands up defensively. "You guys are so excited, and you haven't even heard her explanation yet!" She pointed to the stage, where Lady Myers stood, waiting patiently for the crowd to quiet down. 

When we were listening once again, the Flame leader continued. 

"We picked up her Aural signals for the first time yesterday. She and the human Glitches must have only recently escaped the Program. It seems as if she's leading the humans to the Lessaenite Empire!" 

"That's amazing!" Mariana gasped. "That means she's already gotten us the support of humanity!" 

"Statistically, humanity isn't going to do much to improve our overall strength. At least from what I've heard, there's less than twelve of them left," Samuel shrugged. 

The other Aura Warriors shot him a dirty look before turning their attention back to Lady Myers. 

"And does the leader of the Flame Aura Warrior Department's junior division have anything to say?" She asked, smiling at me. 

Well, I wasn't prepared for this...

But it wasn't like I could refuse the leader of the Flame.

Taking a deep breath, walking up to the stage and standing beside Lady Myers at the podium as she handed me the mic. The room was filled with thunderous applause as I took a deep breath and began. 

"Thank you, everyone. It's an honor to be able to stand today before Rhena's finest: the Warriors of the Flame. We were all born of the same Empire, which has dealt us injustice after injustice. It has thrown at us trial after trial, and most of us chose the easy path. They chose to submit, to give up, to accept that the evil that looms above us is stronger than the strength within us. But we didn't. We chose this life of sacrifice, this life of constant running and fighting. And soon, we will be repaid for our blood, sweat, and tears. Lumys has sent us a sign, a sign that the Empire's suffering will soon be over. A sign that the Golden Age of Airel and Thalayna is soon to return. Lumys has sent us Princess Viviana Arystenn!"

Shouts of "Aron!" and "You go, Faerlen!" echoed through the room and I slowly but passionately raised my hand in the air, displaying the intricate Flame tattoo on my wrist. 

"Thank you, Aron," Lady Myers took the mic from me, quickly whispering in my ear. 

"You never disappoint." 

I smiled in acknowledgement, getting ready to descend the steps off the stage. However, before I put my foot down, I noticed something. 

A girl stood on the balcony of the floor above us, watching the assembly from afar. From her outfit and composure, I guessed she was a warrior. 

Why wasn't she down here? 

Curious, I snuck past the groups of people eager to talk to me, curious about the girl. As the leader of the FAWD junior division, I felt like it was my responsibility to make sure all the members of my department were happy and satisfied. At least, as much as was possible in a rebellion.

It was time to climb some stairs.

~

"Hello?" I said tentatively as I walked up to the girl, careful not to startle her. 

"What?" She snapped, turning around. 

"Mey!?" I gasped with recognition. 

"Oh, hi Aron," she said with a small smile. "I'm sorry if I sounded rude. I thought you were someone else."

"That's alright, I'm sure you weren't expecting me," I laughed. "What are you doing up here? All the Aura Warriors were supposed to be down at the assembly." 

"I'm aware," Mey said dryly. "I just really didn't feel like hearing about Princess Viviana again." 

"Oh, come on," I sighed. "Teren isn't getting to you, is he?" 

"Of course not," she snorted. "This has nothing to do with Teren." 

"Then what is it?" I asked. "You should be excited! Princess Viviana is returning! The Flame isn't a lost cause anymore, we actually have hope again!" 

"See? This is what I hate," Mey spat. "You're always talking about her. It's always 'Princess Viviana this, Princess Viviana that'. You never talk about me." 

"Don't be silly, Mey," I chuckled. "Of course I talk about you, you're one of my best friends!" 

"Right...friend," Mey said bitterly. 

*Picture of Mey Olidade*

"I bet you're thinking about Princess Viviana right now," Mey said with venom in her voice as I paused, looking back over the railing. 

"Mey, stop it, this is ridiculous, I'm just trying to-" 

"I bet you're thinking about what your first kiss will be like," she cut me off, her words dripping with sarcasm. "It's awfully romantic, don't you think? The handsome rebel and the beautiful princess, like something out of a fairytale." 

"I don't think about her like that!" I fumed. 

"And then, of course, there's the poor country girl. The one who wasn't important enough to make it into the fairytale. The one who was forgotten."

"I'd never forget you," I said through gritted teeth. 

"Thank you," Mey said with contempt as she walked away. "It's good to know that when you're living in Icicle Hall with your legendary Princess, you'll still think of me once in a while.

"Mey! Wait!" I yelled, but she had already turned the corner, headed for her room. 

.........................

No, Mey was not introduced just for the sake of drama! We will be seeing more of her later...

Also, there are a lot of new cast members in this chapter!

 @mari_lom12 as Mariana Ramirez

TheMermaidFreak as Patricia Pralix

NikkiStewart110 as Talessa Grey

@MadhuriaRudhra as Calissa Scarlet (Coco)

@TheMackontauish as Samuel Barley

I don't know why it let me tag some of you, but not others...I didn't do that on purpose, it was probably some weird glitch (no pun intended.)