Prologue

"Listen, Emery."

I could still remember how soft my mother's voice was as she spoke to me that one late afternoon when the fiery red and orange colors painted the sky while the sun was setting. The warmth of her hand that caressed my cheek still lingered as she looked at the distant horizon with a small smile.

"It may be hard starting today but someday, you'll find joy in this mission of a lifetime," she said.

I was not yet aware of how bad her condition was at that time because I was too young to understand things on my own. All I knew was her complexion grew paler as the days went by and I would always find her lying down on that bed in the lonely and almost empty room of our small house.

On the day when the rain was pouring, I was holding hands with my mother as I sat on the edge of her already small bed. Her eyes were still looking outside the window as if she was waiting for something or probably, she was just watching the small drops of rain under the dark clouds covering the sky. I was not really sure. Her calloused and slender hand was larger than mine and as she patted my head, she slowly shifted her attention to me, making me stare into her almost sunken dark eyes. Her cheekbones became even more visible, making it look like her skin was holding onto her bones for dear life.

"Those who hold power must protect the people. If an emperor neglects his duties, it is the duty of the Arcana to set things straight."

She repeated those words a lot of times that I had lost count of how many times she said that same statement. She kept on mentioning Arcana, which I found a bit annoying at times because I was ignorant of what it was. I once asked her about it but she told me that the right time will come for me to know, leaving me more puzzled.

When her faint warmth faded and left me alone, that was the time I came to know what Arcana was. A group of women wearing hooded black cloaks came that day and each of them held a flower as if they knew of the passing of my mother. I cried. It was because I realized that even though they were strangers to me, they were the people who still remembered my mother. I thought I was seeing her off alone but I was more than happy that that was not the case at all.

The memory of her getting buried underneath the willow tree just behind our house was still vivid. Her gray hair was braided and her hand was on top of the other as they lay on her abdomen. Everything seemed black and white as I stared at her pale face. But what remained in color on the day of her funeral were the red roses that surrounded her.

That same day, I was taken under the care of the Arcana. However, my expectation of growing up like any other child was different from what I imagined when I suddenly woke up one day and found myself with several girls wielding weapons.

I was whipped in shape under their strict tutelage at a young age. I trained harder, studied harder as each day passed by because it was for survival and it was my way of pleasing my mother who could be watching from above. There were many times I wanted to quit but such an option was not there because the path I was to take was already set by the Arcana.

After years of training and countless missions I managed to accomplish, I turned 20 and was welcomed to the real battlefield as they called it. And it was not the battleground I dreamt of but I still needed to abide by the commands of the higher-ups.

In this new place, the ruler of this vast kingdom resided in the palace and for the reason I had trained for, I must protect him—the king known for ending the long-waged war between Silex and its neighboring kingdom. 

Now, I faced my so-called lifetime mission as I stand before the large gates of the capital city of Silex. However, one question still lingered in my mind; will I find joy in this mission of a lifetime?