*Concept art for Caleb and Kyla
Chapter
1 – A War of Love against Love
A loud noise wakes Kyla and me from
our sleep.
“We’re under attack!” a servant
says as they barrage into our room.
“Yeah, we know! Get everyone to
safety!” I say.
Kyla and I dress in our armor and
get our weapons before heading upstairs as fast as we can. Looking out the windows,
we see that what look to be black and white cannon balls are hitting our castle
and the surrounding city. One of these volleys tears open the wall in front of
us giving us a convenient way out. We jump out of this hole and onto our
dragons that materialize below us. My dragon fires volleys of crimson flame
while Kyla’s dragon fires volleys of blue flame to intercept the ones coming at
us and into the city.
On the ground, we can see black and
white creatures without heads and have blades and shields for limbs some of
which are no bigger than an infant and have blades for heads. All of these
creatures come in the same way as volleys by flying over the wall and taking
their shape when they hit the ground before moving to attack everyone in sight
that isn’t like them. Kyla and I command our dragons to continue to intercept
the incoming enemies while we go on the ground to attack the black and white
creatures. Once our army and city’s guards get a hold of the situation, we go
back in the air. Our citizens, the soldiers, and the guards cheer for us as we fly
over them.
“I didn’t expect Absalom to make
his move against us so early,” Kyla says.
“What else were you expecting from
a man whose influence is quickly spreading throughout the world?” I ask.
“Some restraint so you don’t turn everyone
against you?”
“Not Absalom. It’s not like him
when he has his heart set on something, especially with his new family and
conceited powers.”
Beyond the walls is a small army of black and white creatures and conceited people with heart shaped black
holes in their chests. Our dragons rain down their fire on this army that
creates a tornado of crimson and blue fire, and in minutes, this army is brought
to its knees or reduced to ashes based on the mercy and justice of the
Absolute. We bring back those that are still alive for questioning and are
cheered for on the way back into the city. While we wait to hear the results of
the interrogation, we help the citizens and guards clean up the mess the attackers
made.
“Absalom has finally given us the
reason we need to go after him ourselves,” I say.
“Still, it’s not like him to attack
us like this,” Kyla says.
“He’s conceited, which means he’ll
go from sin to sin and he’s no longer himself. That means he’ll be unpredictable
from now on.”
“He is unpredictable but part of
him must still be alive since he still lives. The Absolute doesn’t make anyone
live forever in falsehood.”
“We can only hope,” we hear a man
say from behind us.
A general from our army approaches
us and we drop what we’re doing to bow to him, greet him, and then shake his
hand.
“What did you hear from the
prisoners?” I ask.
“They told me that Absalom ordered
the attack on our home through his specters, those black and white creatures
that you saw,” the general explains.
“I didn't know he could make so
many with his conceited heart,” Kyla says.
“They are weaker than the ones that
he used to make when he was himself and had his Heart Absolute ability. I've
already talked to the other leaders in the city and we think it's time we
launched our own assault against him.”
“It's about time that decision was
made. When do Kyla and I leave?” I say.
“You leave after we make the
decision official and receive a blessing from the archbishop. We still have to plan
out how we're going to go about this attack. Your parents should have come back
from their own missions with valuable information on the cities that have
fallen under Absalom's influence, but they haven't yet. It's unlike them to be
this late.”
“We'll go after them as well. The
places they were investigating are on the way to Absalom's main city.”
“I wouldn't be too hasty about
getting there. He did take over the entire city by himself after all.”
“We also haven't perfected our own
Heart Absolute ability, so going up against a veteran like him and his army of
specters is going to be dangerous even with the power of our dragons of mercy
and justice,” Kyla adds.
“I'm not worried. If the situation
gets sticky, we'll combine our dragons and hearts into one. That thing can
destroy false gods.”
“It also takes a lot out of us to
use, so we can't abuse that power.”
“Whatever you say.”
“She's right, Caleb. Absalom fought
in many more battles than the both of you combined. Don't underestimate him
just because he's conceited. You too may have your Heart Absolute ability and
it may be one of the best out there but remember it doesn't make you perfect
nor unbeatable.”
“Okay, I won't. You don't need to
remind me of a lesson I already learned.”
After finishing helping the citizens
clean up, we go back home to our castle to eat and prepare for our deployment.
Our table is already set with our servants eating before us. It’s a rule that
they do not wait for us if we’re late. Many of them are concerned about what
happened and we fill them in.
“Well, get as much rest as you can
before you head out,” one of our servants says.
“Yeah, and you better enjoy this
breakfast that Cornelia helped make. She worked really hard on it like she always
does,” her boyfriend says.
“It is but, it won’t cut time off
her sentence so you can stop mentioning how hard she works,” I say.
Cornelia’s boyfriend hits me on the
shoulder and then says, “Hey! She better get something extra for all the extra
work she does for you!”
“It’s okay, Stallworth. Don’t worry
about it,” Cornelia says.
It’s a tradition in our kingdom to
allow repentant criminals to be our servants to serve out their sentence
whereas before they became slaves for the rest of their lives. Cornelia is one
of these criminals who was taking over parts of our kingdom, but she repented
of her sins and gave herself up to us when we came for her. It also helped that
we met previously and her friend picked up for her. Her boyfriend, Stallworth,
isn’t a criminal at all and just came with her because she loves her. We allow
this because of their love and the two serve us along with other servants who
were once criminals and conceited.
Stallworth is still staring at me
as if he’s trying to intimidate me into giving his girlfriend something extra
as thanks for her efforts as if we haven’t done that and still do that today.
The guy is younger and smaller than us, and yet, he has the presence and
determination of a man twice his size. When he asked me to train him, I kept
knocking him down and he kept getting up no matter how many times and how hard
he got hit. If he has his Heart Absolute ability, his ability probably gives
him resilience. He's also asked me how I proposed to Kyla so he can have an
idea as to how to propose to Cornelia and even asked for extra work so he can
earn a ring to give to her one day. I gave him one of the best rings we have in
our jewelry collection. It's not like we wear all of them anyway.
He was astonished I did this and
really should remember it not as extra thanks or payment for his work and the
work of his girlfriend, but to remember that we do things out of kindness in
the Kingdom of Simbiosi to replicate what the Absolute does for us. I wonder
when he'll propose. It has been a month since Cornelia and Stallworth started
their relationship, so it should be soon. Kyla and I were married after a month
and a half of knowing each other. I'm sure that Kyla wants to see the two
married. She still admires Stallworth for offering his freedom up so that he
could be a servant in this castle with Cornelia. What I find most impressive
about him is not his tenacity, but the crown of flowers that he made for
Cornelia that she wears every day in addition to the colorful bracelets he also
made. The flowers haven't rotted or changed and still smell fresh. Even though
Cornelia isn't royalty like Kyla or me, she's allowed to wear her crown since
the Absolute crowned her through Stallworth because of her conversion, and who
are we to take away the crown of someone who rightfully deserves it? We might
as well give up our own crowns if that's the case.
After breakfast, Kyla and I clean
ourselves up before heading out. I wear a traditional crimson and black set of
armor that has spikes on its shoulders and arms. In addition, I wear a helm
that has spikes on it like the spiked crown of my dragon. Kyla wears her crown
of gold and blue stones and a silky silver and light battle dress, which is
decent protection and allows her to move swiftly in battle like a rose petal
through the air. I've tried suggesting that she wear something like I do, but
she always denies it since she prefers outfits that originate from her side of
the kingdom. To be honest, I don't care what she wears because she looks
beautiful in everything. Her captivating gold hair and gold and silver eyes
never cease to capture my eyes. She says the same about my gold and black eyes
and my crimson-colored shaved head.
We then go to the grand cathedral,
which never ceases to amaze me, especially with its dual design that shows both
sides of Simbiosi. Both sides of the cathedral have statues of serviles, who
are angels and loyal servants of the Absolute. One side has these serviles
holding books and shields while the serviles on the other side hold swords and
scales. Further inside the cathedral are statues and paintings of heroes and depictions
of historical and scriptural events. Our kingdom gathers and separates
itself based on which side they’re from as the ceremony begins. Eventually,
we go up to the altar where we kneel before the archbishop who holds out his
hands over us.
“Prince Caleb and Princess Kyla, receive
this blessing of the Absolute through me to aid you in your future battles not
only in the physical sense but also the spiritual and moral. Deliver mercy to
our enemies so that they may know the Absolute’s love, be saved, and be welcomed
in the Land of the True. Deliver justice to our enemies so that they may know
the Absolute’s love, shorten their sinful lives, and be condemned to the Land of
the Forgotten. Whether mercy or justice, deliver the Absolute’s love to our
enemies in all its forms either in charity or violence. This the Absolute
commands and blesses you in doing this holy work. Bring them all to Divine
Judgment, be pure of heart, and yourselves as you were made to be as you will
be judged as all sinners are judged,” the archbishop says.
Kyla and I say together, “We accept
our duty and give our lives to truth and love.”
The archbishop gives us our
blessing and the ceremony ends. Once this is done, a mass is held and then we
head out on our dragons to the cheers of our people that pray for our success.
I kind of wish our friend who could teleport us around was here, but because
of what Cornelia did to him, he’s still resting at home. Regardless, Kyla and I
start our war against Absalom to bring an end to his corrupting influence and
to save not only our parents and our kingdom but also the world at large.
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