~~~Lady Bethany of Ethiria~~~

It was bright and cheerful outside. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and the world was existing joyfully, unaware or uncaring of the disasters rocking the empires.

Inside the throne room, however, was another issue entirely.

We had moved the council table into the center of the room and pinned a map down on it, the continent and its landmarks and empires colored onto the parchment and titled with looping script.

Surrounding the circular table, I stood with the Eclipse, Queen Cat, my big brother Indigo, and the head advisor of Arcefracti, Sir Declan Tyndall, who was standing in for Lord Sylver, since he was... 

Well.

Unable to attend, my mind supplied diplomatically. A good way to put it, considering the truth was that Lord Sylver was off doing whatever corrupted people did when they were corrupted. Kicking hay bales and stealing candy from babies, or something equally evil of the sort.

Arcefracti had a cross drawn over it, to mark our current situation.

With the corruption of Lord Sylver, corruption had spread all over their empire, crimson tentacles reaching to the sky and the ground covered in mossy evil fungus. People had rapidly started becoming sick. The corruption was apparently toxic to humans. Elves as well, since the few living in Arcefracti had fallen ill as well.

Now we had to evacuate the entire empire before anyone got even more sick and died. It was a daunting task, to say the least.

"Can the border villages hold them for a few days longer?" Sir Declan asked, head tilted at Indigo.

They shook stars head. "Those villages have a population of a couple hundred at best," he said. "They were never meant to hold so many more people."

Tsuki sighed. "And the Pearlescent Dynasty can't take anyone at all, because your people" - abyss nodded at Declan- "wouldn't be able to survive the cold and storms."

"How many more ships can we legally commandeer?" Cat tapped the map absently, running her finger over the ocean route between Ethiria and Verdania. "If we can get the refugees moving to their closest port, we can send them to Verdania. We have plenty of space, if we can get them there."

Indigo snorted, half laughing. "Legally commandeer," star repeated, dry amusement lacing their words. "Well, not many. The ships' crews still need to make a living, and there's only so much we can pay them to charter people across the sea. We can't force them, and we can't pay them too much or we risk draining the war coffers."

No one was talking about the lord at all. I mean, they were all close to him. The grief and worry had to be hitting hard. I could see it in the bags under Indi's eyes, in the way Tsuki kept fidgeting with their sleeves and moving the figurines that represented people and things on the map with miniscule adjustments. I didn't know Queen Cat or Sir Declan that well, but I knew they had to be stressed too.

Silence settled over the room, echoing unnaturally in the grand room and bouncing against the walls. Indigo dropped their head onto the table with a thump, eyes closed against the wood grain and the muted hiss of his short hair brushing against the parchment of the map.

Tsuki's face was hidden behind their mask, but their head was tilted upwards, probably lost in thought, even as their fingers continued to flip a torn corner of the map over and around in its fingers. Queen Cat was gripping the figurine in her hand so tightly I feared it was going to shatter. Sir Declan was still staring at the map, mouth moving slowly with unspoken words as his fingers gently brushed over the map, slowing to a rest over Amissan, eyebrows furrowed and lips downturned in worry.

I pushed off from leaning against the table, walking over to Indi and resting an arm over their shoulders, a silent hug of support. They straightened up to return the hug, tiptoeing to be able to wrap their arms around me as well.

After a couple more moments of hugging and silence, Indi let go with one last tight squeeze, turning back to the table and the others. "Okay, guys, let's do this. Nothing is impossible, even impossible says 'I'm possible'."

Cat's lips twitched with an almost-smile at the corny joke. I nodded at Indi, a reassuring smile on my face that they returned softly.

The others bent their heads over the table again, exchanging ideas and thoughts and moving figurines in mock playthroughs of plans. I noticed the door at the end of the hall slide open, and I met the eyes of my younger sister, Princess Artemis, as she entered the throne room quietly.

Leaving the table with a quick tap on Indi's shoulder to let them know I was going, I walked over to Arti, my slippers swishing with a soft hush over the smooth flooring, the normal royal carpeting having been rolled up for washing a few days ago.

I exchanged a quick hug with Arti, leaning my head in to whisper with her so our words wouldn't distract the strategizing rulers a few yards away.

"What is it?" I asked, fingers brushing over my broche anxiously. We couldn't handle more bad news, not with everything going on now. My mind skipped over all the possible things that might have happened; another corrupted ruler, a death, someone got attacked by the demon, anything really.

"The mages, they found something," Arti said. "In the history books," she added, seeing the confusion flash across my face.

"Ohhh, yes- something big enough to go tell Indi and the others about or just for us to go look at?" Arti nodded vigorously.

"Get Indi– this is big, I think," she said softly, the hope still shining in her eyes. I smiled at her, looping an arm around hers to tug her after me towards the strategy table, Artemis letting out a soft squeak of surprise at the sudden movement before speeding up to follow me.

They all looked up as we approached, Indigo putting down the small ship in their hand and giving us his full attention. The others watched attentively, more than a couple of faces darkening with worry at what new problems could have possibly arisen.

"Good news, everyone," I said quickly, and waited as everyone sighed collectively in relief.

Sir Declan laughed dryly. "Oh, good, we need some of that. A lot of that, really, but anything is good. What happened?"

I nodded to Artemis, deferring to her to explain.

"The mages who had been searching the archives for the anomalies in the history books, they found something," she explained quickly. "They requested you and the Eclipse, Nini-"

Indigo brightened. "Something we could use to our advantage, hopefully!" They said to the others, stepping away from the table to reach over and give Arti a quick, happy hug.

"Do we come with, too?" Declan asked. Indigo looked at me and Arti and then at the strategy table, face pinching in thought.

Star shrugged. "You can come if you want, or stay here and keep working on the plan. We could all use a quick good news break, honestly."

Cat dropped her figurine, letting it clatter against the table. Declan caught it before it rolled off the table, setting it down gently near a cluster of other figurines. "Let's go, then."

It didn't take long to walk from the throne room in the eastern wing to the central courtyard of the castle, but instead of taking the entrance to the south wing, where I knew the archives were, Arti led us into the west wing, and from there to one of the residential towers.

As Arti pushed open the door to the Jade Tower's stairwell, Indigo asked, "Is whatever was found not in the archives?" The confusion that we shared was audible in the lilt of their voice as they looked around, taking the steps one at a time and holding onto the banister.

Their pain had to be bad today if they were being so careful up the stairs. I frowned, concerned. Indi was all too good at ignoring when their body was breaking down around them, as proven by the many times he had ended up bedridden and ill when we were all kids. Star would absolutely shove down any need to rest with everything happening right now. Looks like me and Noah were going to have to force Indi to take a nap later. It wouldn't be that hard, what with the obvious (to me) exhaustion lining stars face and movement.

We stepped off halfway up the tower, wandering down a seemingly random hallway, taking turns and twisting back as if we were traversing a maze.

Turning yet another corner, I was about to ask Arti when we would reach our destination when I noticed a trio standing by the wall ahead, two of them clearly mages.

They bowed as we walked closer, the third person, a young boy, having to be nudged into a short bow. A student, perhaps?

"Your Majesties, and Your Excellency," one of them said, straightening up from their bow. "I am Alera Albescu, archivist mage in the Shaded Citadel of The Pearlescent Dynasty. This is my wife and partner in magic, Dania Albescu, and our son, Kendi Albescu."

"It is an honor to welcome you to my empire, mages," Indigo said, nodding their head respectfully. "We were told you found something?"

Dania nodded. "Kendi here, he has the Sight. For those unfamiliar with the magical term, it means he can see things that most people cannot, such as the visible spectra of magic and the effects of spells. It's an extremely rare gift; the last documented person with the Sight died in around 8,500. We brought him to look at your archives to see if he would find anything we could not."

"And he did?" Tsuki asked. "Why are we here, then, and not in the archives?"

The boy piped up. "Because there wasn't anything in the archives. But there is here."

I looked around. The hallway was like any other in the castle, walls plain and broken up with the occasional hung tapestry or ornamental weapon, the floor simple wood. I didn't see any discoveries anywhere.

"You can't see it," he informed me tartly. Sassy little child. "I haven't opened the door yet."

"Door... to what, exactly, little guy?" Declan asked. There weren't any doors in this stretch of hallway.

He sniffed, clearly unimpressed. Walking over to the wall, he pressed both hands against it and began to trace a pattern, talking as he drew with his fingers.

"There's a lock here, a magical one. The illusions are strong, so like, nobody was supposed to find this I guess? There was probably a key at some point, but I'm just pushing the glowing buttons, so we don't need it."

He didn't make much sense, but a moment later the area he had been drawing imaginary lines in shimmered, silvery blue light dancing over it for a few heartbeats before the entire section of the wall just... vanished.

"What the-" Cat cut off what they were going to say, probably because of the child present, staring at the brand new hole/door in startled astonishment.

"Well," Indi said, pursing their lips. "That wasn't there before."

Arti giggled. "So what's inside?"

Kendi shrugged. "Dunno. But there's a lot of magic in there. A good chunk of it is dark magic, too, I can smell the smoke from it."

Alera smiled proudly at her son. "Thank you, Kendi. You've done amazing."

He shrugged, but there was a hint of a pleased flush on his cheeks as he slunk over to stand by Dania.

Indigo stepped forward, waving his hand through the entrance. "So we just walk in? It's not going to close on us?"

"Kendi and I will wait out here. If it closes, he'll open it back up for you," Dania said.

I nodded, going to stand by Indi. Together, we were the first ones to walk in, the others following right behind.

It was pitch black inside. I heard Tsuki whisper a spellword behind me, and a ball of light bloomed, revealing its outstretched hand and our surroundings.

We were in a small room, small enough that the five of us and Alera were cramped for space amongst the dusty shelves and short tables also occupying the area.

There were rusty torch scones against the wall, and Tsuki moved the mage light to hover in one of them, freeing abyss' hands and keeping the area lit.

I brushed my hand over a stack of books, fingers coming away stained with dust. "No one has been in here for a very long time, I think."

"It's probably not on the maids' cleaning route," Indi joked. Star was peering at a bookshelf, mumbling the titles to themself and poking around curiously. "I can't believe my castle has secret rooms, this is so cool-"

Alera snorted, then covered her mouth with a hand, eyes widening slightly. "Sorry, Your Majesty, I wasn't laughing at you," she said quickly.

Indi laughed. "Oh, no, not the formality!" He grinned reassuringly at Alera. "Don't worry about all that silliness, that's for the dramatic nobles and such. You can just call me Indigo."

She dipped her head politely, turning back to the books. "Thank you, Your Ma- Indigo," she corrected herself with a sheepish grin.

"Hey, what's this?" Declan said, and I turned to look at him, along with everyone else.

Declan was standing next to a pedestal in the corner of the room, a book set atop it. It glowed faintly, like an echo of lamplight that used to be shed regularly on it. He tried to pick it up, but his hand skated off a few inches away from the leather-bound cover.

"Why did it..." Alera walked over and reached for it more slowly, her hand reaching the same couple of inches away before it pressed against something invisible.

Indi stretched their neck to peer at it from by the bookshelf they were at, since it was getting a bit crowded around the pedestal. "Magic?"

She peered at it, rubbing her fingers around to find the extent of the barrier. "It feels like it, but this is very ancient magic, not anything a modern mage such as myself would know."

I stared at the book and its pedestal, thinking.

This room was so well hidden that it took a child with an extremely rare gift to find it, and within it a book that couldn't be touched. And the book was apparently ancient, if the magic protecting it was as old.

And it was hidden inside a castle, the seat of the Ethirian royal family.

"Indi, can you try to grab it?" I asked. Star blinked, pointing at himself with his head tilted in question.

"You're the king of Ethiria, and the book is hidden in your castle. Maybe it can only be accessed by the royal family, or something like that," I said, and Indi nodded as understanding dawned in their eyes.

He made his way over to the pedestal, fingers hovering for a second before star gently reached forward.

Everyone watched with held breath as they slowly brushed their fingers over the cover, not a speck of dust on the book.

"...Huh," Indi whispered, picking it up and flipping it open. Scanning the pages rapidly, star suddenly closed it and opened it again from the back of the book.

"It looks like some sort of magical lineage tracker?" He said, running their fingers over the page. "Like, I saw a bunch of my ancestors from the beginning of Ethiria on the first few pages, and here at the end is my page, and-"

Indi turned to the next page and froze, staring at it in pure shock.

"What? What does it say?" Cat urged, and Indigo looked up, face pale. It took him two tries to get their voice to work, and when it did, what star said made my mouth drop open in shock.

"It- it says here, 'Prince Arlo Joi of Ethiria, twin brother to High King Indigo of Ethiria'."