The world suddenly has no color. Everything felt ripped out of my hands and if not for my brother, I likely would have followed my parents to an early grave.

Part of me wishes that I had stayed with my parents and if it was time for me to go then at least I would have gone with them but then Oli would be alone and I can’t leave Oli alone.

The gravestones were etched by Mr. Ronik and my parents had already been buried. I don’t know how long I sat beside them but I definitely hadn’t slept and my eyes were so dry that I couldn’t see straight, much less shoot my bow if I needed to.

I felt a hand rest on my shoulder which I chose not to respond to but then the touch turned into a pull and I found myself wrapped up in a hug from Oli.

“I’m sorry,” he said “You wouldn’t respond even if I called you and I don’t want you to feel like you are alone.

“I’m sorry for not being faster.” Oli started to cry. “If I had just listened to Ronik when he said that there was nothing I could do to change the mayor’s mind then I would have just ended things as fast as possible and then they wouldn’t be dead.”

I finally put my arms up to hug him back. He was so much bigger than the tiny Oli that I had spent hours teasing like a little brother. Him reaching out to me truly felt that he was taking his role as the big sibling and pushing me forward.

I was crying some more and some of the colors of the Garden had returned and suddenly all of the exhaustion from not sleeping for two nights hit me.

Oli picked me up and took me inside the half-ruined house. My room was one of the only rooms left standing and soon I found myself resting on my bed drifting off into a long sleep.

Most would expect a nightmare or even a dreamless sleep after the exhaustion of the last few days but I can only thank the King for giving me a vision that night.

I saw two things that would carry me forward for likely the rest of my life. Firstly was an image of my parents at the feet of the King. They were happy and safe and they were thanking the King for making sure that Oli and I were prepared.

They looked comfortable and youthful again. Joy filled my heart knowing that they were being taken care of for the rest of eternity and I looked forward to seeing them again.

The second vision was something so far out because I could see a much more version of myself. Standing next to me, almost like the family painting that we had in the house, was a blurry man with his arm around my shoulder. In his other arm was a young boy with a big smile on his face. Grasping onto my leg was a girl that looked like a younger version of me and it wasn’t hard to get that she was my daughter.

Images of a happy future were exactly what I needed to go on and without my title, that likely wasn’t going to happen. I felt a little bit of pain in my heart manded as I gained consciousness, I cried more tears. They were tears of relief but tears all the same.

I frankly was a little tired of crying but at least I could pick myself up and move on.

I pushed myself to get up and move out of the house. Oli had made breakfast with some scavenged food from the wrecked village.

Oli and I walked out of the house to a day that didn’t deserve to be sunny. Oli and Akeinan had cleared the road of debris and there wasn’t a single body left unburied in the entire village. Ronik had gone off to report to his wife and likely wouldn’t be back for a while so everything was quiet. It was surreal knowing that the only survivors were standing in front of the only half of a standing house in the entire village.

Akeinan had a worried face but every time he glanced at me, Oli would give him a glare which made him turn away

Oli had assumed leadership of our little troupe. Akeinan’s family stayed huddled together most of the time but Akeinan would regrettably listen to my brother. Apparently, Ronik had given him a good smack when he tried to mess with Oli and when he refused to stop after Ronik’s knock on the head Oli used the earth to sink him neck-deep into the earth. It’s no wonder he can’t make eye contact with Oli. He isn’t exactly the small kid that Akeinan used to mess with anymore.

“There will be a guarded caravan coming this way today. The official that governs this section of the forest in the Capitol visits the Library once a year. We were lucky that it was today.” Oli fountained off information like he knew the exact schedule of official and it took me a moment to remember that is exactly what his title does.

Akeinan looked at him like he was nuts but before he could say anything Oli started to walk towards the village gates. “I’ll come to get you in a moment. They will be here in a few minutes so I’ll go wait for them.”

Once he was out of earshot Akeinan finally spoke up. “I’m glad to see that you are doing ok. I’m sorry you had to go through this.”

“Since when have you been scared of my brother? You seem so docile. It’s kind of funny.” I jabbed at him. If he didn’t have the guts to talk to me with my brother around then he was even more of a coward than I thought.

“When did your brother get so scary?” Akeinan had a look of fear on his face that I had never seen on him before and it gave me a little satisfaction to see him squirm.

“Oli went through hell because of you. Why should I tell you anything?” I knew the best way to deal with him was indifference. As long as he wasn’t getting the attention that he wanted then he would continue to squirm.

“I mean we are the last people alive from our village. I just wanted to know that you were okay.” He looked like a kicked puppy.

I turned towards him and gave him a glare before scolding him “Akeinan, I will make this extremely clear. I know you have liked me for a long time and It was plain as day to anyone with eyes. As of right now though, I am still grieving. Piper and I will leave you without eyebrows if you try anything right now.

“I am my own woman, I know my own strengths, I am not a coward like you. I fought three days ago against our own zombified village. Right now I know that I have bigger balls than you and it is only made worse than you have practically resigned yourself to being a beaten version of your tamed beast which has become so fat that it has barely moved over the last three days.”

I jabbed him in the chest with my finger making sure I got right up into his face so that he couldn’t mishear me “I suggest that if you want any chance with any woman in the future you grow a pair. You should give up on me though. You aren’t even half the man that I want for my future husband.”

I pushed him backward and watched him stumble before Oli came around the corner to get us.

Oli only looked at him once before making eye contact with me and smirking. I lightly chuckled at his reaction.

“They are here. We should all go meet them. Your family is already at the gates Akeinan.” Oli turned on his heels and I quickly followed behind him. We could hear Akeinan struggling to stand up behind us which made both of us chuckle again.

As we approached the gates we met an entourage of 30 soldiers, a few merchants, and a nicely dressed, but extremely lanky elf that must have been the government official. A priest stood next to him and he looked like he had been struck with a brick. His complexion was ghostly.

He made eye contact with Oli first and rushed up to us before stammering out his words. “What in the King’s name happened here young’un? I can feel the presence of evil in all of the destruction. But when I look at you with the sight boy I can see that you are quite touched.”

Oli looked confused for a moment but you could see the gears turn for a moment before he spoke. “My name is Oli Vestwood. Sir, our mayor got his hands on some magic no man should ever use and zombified the entire village. If the King had not prepared me to strike down such an evil then none of us would be standing here today. But we have lost much and we were hoping we could talk with you about joining your travels back to the capital.”

The priest looked awestruck but nodded along to the story. Before he could speak, the lanky official jumped into the conversation, eagerly rubbing his hands together.

“Of course you can come with us. You all look about academy age as well. How about this then? You will come with us and I will sponsor your admittance to the academy.”

His offer sounded almost too good to be true but Oli just smirked slightly. If it was anyone but me it would have looked like a normal smile but I could tell that Oli knew what the intentions of the official were.

Oli bowed slightly and said. “We can only accept your generosity, sir. Could I have the name of our benefactor though?”

“Of course! How could I forget such a thing. My name is Governor Paiton Gillywood.” His bow back to Oli was extremely exaggerated and he seemed like quite an eccentric man. After presenting himself he ran off back to the caravan yelling for a Chronicler.

Oli leaned over and whispered “You go up in society by being generous to those who need it. So when the parliament hears about us, and they will have to because a village was wiped off the map, then he will likely be able to run for a position on the elven board of leadership other than just managing a territory.”

The priest said his farewells and moved back to the carriage as well. We stood alone for a few moments before a guard came over to guide us to a carriage.

“Name and Title, please. We are going to send a letter ahead to the school so that they can prep rooms for you and a home for the family.” The guard sounded very professional and thorough. I’d imagine that he was well respected in his troop.

Oli went first. “Oli Vestwood, Knower.”

“Seri Vestwood, Seer.”

“Akeinan Vestwood, Beast Master.”

“Goodness, You all have quite unique Titles. I don’t even recognize Knower. Thanks for being quick about it.”

The guard walked over to Akeinan’s family and repeated the process.before returning to the caravan. Waving for us to follow we all took seats together and once we were on the road I drifted off to sleep.

***

Metal rang against metal as a slender rapier slipped across the massive blade of a greatsword. It was almost as if the clash of steel marked the end of the battle because just moments later, a gust of wind swirled around the guardsman only to find that his opponent already had the tip placed neatly under his right ear.

No words were spoken. I stood hidden by my armor and bowed to the guard before he walked off.

My maid with a towel and some water soon stood before me but no words were spoken.

I sheathed my rapier and removed my helmet. locks of bronze fell between me covering my back and ears on both sides.

“Thank you, Niki” I signed to my maid, taking a short gulp of water before wiping off my face with the towel.

“Of course Lady Junia.” the maid signed back.

The signs were odd and not at all like the common sign language. They seemed to include some essence in some of the motions.

I walked with my maid back to my room and it was not till the doors were locked and wind magic was used to prevent peeping that we finally spoke.

“We got some news, my Lady, your father, the king has sent a letter saying that the sword has fully disappeared. It is likely already in the hands of the next Knower.

“Some even better news though is that the spies have just received a letter from one of the guards that left for the lands governed by Gillywood. They mention that a student with the Title of Knower will be coming to attend this year. It seems that the prophets were right about the Knower having returned.”

“Of course Niki, once the sword started to disappear we knew that it was returning to its owner. It is more important now than ever though that we get to know them and establish a good relationship.” My voice came out strange but that was to be expected.

I was born deaf and there was no surgery or technology that could fix my hearing. Instead of learning to speak proficiently, my maids taught me how to sign in common and I soon was making and teaching my own form of sign language to only the people closest to me so that we could talk in secret.

My maids have since been my own little spy force and without them, I would actually be deaf to more than just sound. They helped me get permission to learn the sword. They were like family to me and Niki was practically my mother.

Everything change when I got my title though. I lived secluded in the castle and never appeared publicly. A priest came directly to me on my 15th birthday and helped me through the ceremony. My father stood next to me as if it were completely normal for him to visit even though he never came to see me. It was as if all we wanted was for me to be useful and sadly he got what he wanted.

When I got my TItle, My father broke into tears as I was titled Queen and with the understanding that I would soon rule my nation, my essence responded to my body’s deficiencies and heightened my senses.

My father kept my Title a secret and had whisked me away to the elven nation so that I could study and so that my siblings would not attempt to kill me to prevent my rise to the throne.

I knew that he was going to try and find a way to rule me and my Title and by whisking me away he would attempt to find the man titled King so that he could put him under his wing and make a nice little puppet.

Thankfully, his moving me away from the castle was perfect to give me a chance to use the things that I had learned in secret. The biggest change for me was what the Titling ceremony did to my body. When you lose one sense, the body will commonly heighten another to compensate for the loss. My body chose to heighten my sense of pressure, not one of the main four senses. It has essentially turned my body into a giant ear and for the first time in my life, I am able to hear and learn how to speak. I have spent three years adjusting to being able to hear but speaking is still odd for me.

It heightened so many things that I could do. I can now feel the sound and the pressure from each little wave. I can feel the weight of my enemy’s sword as it hangs in the air without touching it. There are so many things that I am extremely sensitive to and though it was a little annoying at the start, it is now extremely useful.

I only need to hide that I can speak and hear now and that alone has made me privy to information I never would have been able to get. People just spout off some of the craziest stuff when they assume the person in front of them can’t hear.

My health wasn’t the only reason my father moved me to the Elven territories though. Our kingdom had one of the vastest historical collections in the world and knowledge about one man was the most important information to my father. Something that could give him all the power he could ever want. The Knower.

The Knower has a history of removing corrupt rulers and rooting out the problems of the world. When the previous Knower passed away, he left his weapon of choice, a sword he called the Prince, in the Kingdom of Isa's protection. it was unwieldable by anyone but him but recently it had begun to disappear which meant that it was going to its new user.

My father was mad with power and anyone who really knew my father was scared of him. He came across as benevolent but I knew that he harbored Ill intentions and The Knower was the only way I was going to dethrone my father quickly without ruining the Kingdom. I was going to take the Throne and use my Title through my own hands, not my father's.

I know he had intentions for me to collect the Knower for his purposes but without him here I could turn them for my own sake. I’ll need him to take my kingdom from my father and soon he will be walking right into my hands.

I sat down in my room and knew I just had to wait. I would have to play politics soon and that was never fun and always extremely exhausting.