Nonexistent

THIRTY-ONE- Zepher

MY brisk footsteps tear down the hall as I make my way to the palace study.

I have one mission today: learn more about the Immortal War. 

I know the basic facts. Westwind and Valburn were the wealthiest empires on earth, sustaining each other with invaluable trade and business. But on the date every history book in Valburn recorded, the fourth of December, in the 415th year of the sun, Westwind attacked. 

They stole all our trading supplies and raided our villages, leaving a trail of dead bodies of innocent Valburn citizens wherever they went. The Winter Massacre, they called it. 

That's when Father declared war, fury burning inside his kingdom. Since then, we've been sending graduates after graduates to the battlefield. Westwind has a system of their own. 

Soldiers fighting a war that never ends. It's the longest recorded war in history.

The Immortal War is what we know it as today.

I take a deep breath before I enter the library through huge double doors, knowing all too well the beautiful eyes that would greet me on the other side. Claire, the royal librarian stands as she sees me and bows. "Your Highness."

"How's it been, Claire?"

"You really should come here more often," she says with a giggle. Claire is the closest thing to a friend I have ever had. We met at a gala as children, as her mother was a countess, and her father, a duke. 

She was my first friend. My first love. My first kiss. 

She was a lot of things I never was to her. 

It's kind of funny, seeing as how naive I used to be... and ten years later I'm here. Still as dumb. Still as heartbroken. In the royal study I make every excuse not to visit. 

Avoidance is the cure. I tried telling myself that throughout the two whole years I never entered this study.

I was able to get her a job, here, at the palace when her parents passed away several years ago. They were killed by the most feared gang in Valburn, the Bloodhounds, whose victims somehow always consisted of high-ranking officials and wealthy families. Assassinating quickly and leaving the scene without a trail.

The Bloodhounds are the most wanted fugitives in this empire. After they orphaned Claire at the fresh age of thirteen, I made it my business to catch them. But they've been dormant these past few years. Inactive. Many believe they're plotting something, bigger than anyone has ever seen.

When they do, I'll be there.

After she was orphaned, I tried to help her out by offering her work here at the palace. She accepted and after a couple years, I asked for her hand in marriage. After she rejected me, it's been difficult to show my face here at the library. Thankfully, she's the type of girl who can keep a secret. She never told anyone about it, sparing me the embarrassment.