A soft bell tinkles,

Colorful lights swirl dreamily, enchanting its onlookers.

“Art~,”

~It can be defined by what you express that has meaning or attachment to you,” a dreamy voice speaks,

“In this world, the highest form of art is magic.”

The colors scatter , forming an undiscernible image,

“How each person chooses to express their art is up to what they see themselves as,” the voice continues.

The image becomes more visible, forming a picturesque sight of a wavy ocean of sparkling color, before fading into a cold gray void.

“What do you see?” Quizzes Queen Patricia,

“Nothing, a gray void.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,

What does this say about my magic?”

“I haven’t heard of this happening before, you may not have any magic type at all,” the queen reckons

“Does that mean Kage can’t learn magic?” Lyra quips

“Not external at least,”

“Would you mind explaining the types and attributes?” I inquire confusedly

The Queens conjures an orange flame in one of her hands while a water swirls in the other,

“You see this?” she explains every person is either born with two attributes or one,

Having one being a bit rarer,”

Lyra grunts proudly from behind

I’ll assume she has one attribute,

“What two attributes one has solely depends on how strong their magic will be,” the queen continues,

“All attributes counter each other in some way,

If you have types that counter each other like me,”

She begins conjuring a foggy mist that envelops the room briefly,

“Your magic may be weaker individually but in exchange you may gain a third sub-attribute,

Most people have the wind-fire combination, which means, they are either primarily wind users or fire users,

Internal users, use their magic to boost their physical strength or even attack with elements

Regular external users, can cast low to decent strength magic, be it for attacking or however they choose to express their magical art,

Summoners, which are external users with one attribute, like Lyra, generally are rare, unlike normal users with two attributes, single attribute users have a high output of magic, they can summon the full extent of their magic, like explosions blizzards, etcetera,”

“Did Omari have a single attribute?” I ask remembering his explosion,

“Y, yes….,” The Queen stammers and pauses for a bit,

“Take this,”

She hands me a small book with a blank cover,

“You can read more about the type combinations on your own time, I am very sorry about you not having one,”

“Thank you,” I reply taking the book,

“You were a great help, but what I really came here for was to ask was about the state of this kingdom,

What happened ten years ago?

Queen Patricia clenches her fists as she recalls something presumably traumatic her red eyes glow sadly,

Lyra leaves the room, not wanting to be reminded,

“Ten years ago, back when this was still the magic city of Soterra,

A strange man arrived,

I don’t even know if he’s a man, or even a human,

Anyway, this man called himself a priest from the forgotten kingdom that now is known as the desert of death,

He said he only wanted to help us, to pass his wisdom, we allowed it,

And just like he said he would he, healed or soldiers, our sick,

We suspected nothing,

He began to spread his wisdom like he said,

In a matter of months, more than half the kingdom believed in him, in his god,

Still, we suspected nothing,

There wasn’t, even a civil war like they tell people,

It was a massacre.”

The queen’s eyes tear up remembering the dreaded past

“Then how did you get to this place?” I press, trying to avoid an awkward situation.

“The only people killed were the high-ranking military officials and members of the royal government and family,” she wipes her tears and continues

“Besides Apollo, who never had parents, everyone who lived in this orphanage witnessed their parents being murdered,

Be it by their family friends, or one parent killing the other.

Still the city still remained relatively peaceful,

No uproar was started, just the people who had any semblance of power were being killed,

Some managed to escape the city before a barrier was put up,

Most of us went into hiding thinking of ways to escape,

It wasn’t very long until we started getting caught one by one,

That’s how this place was created,

We ran under the city, but not quite.”

“Then what exactly is this place?” I query

Queen Patricia grimaces,

“A magic seal you can call it, but honestly, this is a prison, or at least it used to be,

We took the key and locked ourselves in.”

Lighting a pipe, the Queen puffs away silently, exhausted from recollection,

Her story feels like its missing something.

“I’ve shared all I can, my request for you, I’ll ask it later.” She puffs

“Wait, what happened to the king, when was he killed?” I notice he was never brought up,

The queen sighs,

“He was the first one to be converted.”