The Emperor lied on a bed of white sheets as his white snow hair spilled over his pillow.
A weight in his chest seemed to be expanding as if its bones would break.
His hands clenched the sheets as he closed his eyes trying to force himself asleep. The selection ended a few hours ago. There would be another one again tonight. If he was going to continue tonight without losing his sanity, he needed as much sleep as he could get.
But his body didn't seem to be letting him.
It was rare for his body to ache. Anytime it did, It usually hinted one thing: A bad omen.
Calamity was about to befall the Empire and he was feeling the brute of it first hand.
Whatever it was, he would have to prepare to fight it. Ending it before it even happened would always be the ideal route, however the problem with premonitions was that it gave little to no information. Only a warning to prepare you for an inevitable doom.
"Greetings, Great In'er," A new voice spoke his head. Telepathic communication, he allowed it only with his new Commander General.
"What is it?" Najeer responded. A gut feeling told him it had something to do with the bad omen.
"We found something—no, someone that may be of interest to you."
"Who?"
"You will have to come, Your Majesty, to see for yourself. We're still in disbelief, only you can tell if it is really what we think it is."
Najeer remained silent, sensing the urgency in his tone. His new appointed Commander General was not the type to raise false alarm.
"Where are you?"
"The palace barracks."
Najeer moved away from his bed and walked to change into a more formal attire. He slapped on black leather gloves incase he had to get his hands dirty. Washing dried blood from his nails could be a pain.
Not bothering to tame his wild and messy hair, he transported to the told location.
"Your Majesty!" A deep voice called out drawing Najeer's attention to a group of men who seemed on stand with their heads bowed.
Their bodies were visibly frozen like statues. In their hearts, they were still shaken from the last encounter with the Emperor. The day they revealed they had lost all access to Earth.
They recalled how the Emperor had executed the last Commander General, Vero, right there in front of everyone's eyes. The soldiers under him suddenly disappeared shortly after, without a trace along with their families. Everybody knew what happened to them but non had dared to speak it out. They believed Vero's team had been secretly killed by the Emperor. Secretly because he didn't want to deal with repercussions of public opinion.
"What did you want to show me, Heler?" Najeer questioned as he noticed the growing uneasiness in the room. Fear. A scent he recognized too well.
"A soldier just came forward with something important," Heler answered. He was a tan skinned man with hair tied up in a bun. He had deep red and cat-like eyes. He was just about the same height as Emperor Najeer, them being the tallest in the room among the soldiers.
Najeer couldn't help but notice the thump of twelve beating hearts.
There were only eleven people physically present in the room, including himself.This caused him to glance in the direction of what looked like an ice sculpture. It was spiked and tall enough to nearly touch the roof.
Rather unusual.
But what confused Najeer was why he was summoned. His soldiers usually handled odd cases like this independently. Unless there was a large-scale threat concerning the entire Empire.
"He claimed to have found an Earth soldier," Heler glanced towards the ice. "In there."
"A human." Said Najeer
If that were true, then perhaps this visit could be worth his time. A live Human right now would solve a good portion of his problems. After losing access to Earth, portals barely even picked up Earth's energy. He could potentially use a human to serve as a link to respark the connection. He already had a human in Naqil that he had planned to use as the sacrificial link, but only after the selection.
A new human showing up would change his plans. He could potentially keep the other human alive as his plan B in case there were errors in his calculations.
Heler pointed to the ice. "We detected a heavy amount of gold from within." Gold was considered a rare metal in every realm, especially on earth, accessible mainly to the wealthy.
"And how exactly was this soldier found?" Najeer questioned as he began walking closer to the cold sculpture.
"It was found near the Gates, shortly after our army's expulsion from earth, by a soldier. He was probably caught up in the wind that sent us back, by accident."
The tip of Najeer's fingers touched the surface of the ice. It felt so cold that it burnt. Hard to believe a human would survive inside it.
"Why am I only finding out now?" Najeer questioned. This was a serious matter, considering what was on the line.
"I recently received this information as well. The others thought to tell you after your wedding, but I thought it would be wise to inform you now," Heler said.
The atmosphere shifted in the room as the soldiers heard Heler's words. It felt as if he had betrayed them with a dagger.
"Tell me after the wedding?" Najeer repeated in a threatening tone as he glanced at the men. Three years.
As the words left Heler's mouth, the soldiers thought their lives were over. Najeer had a murderous reputation of killing before asking questions. Heler was innocently clueless of what was happening.
The scent of fear spiked, irritating Najeer. For soldiers their heart feared too easily.
"Why haven't you broken him out?" Najeer asked.
"We tried. Our magic surprisingly was not strong enough."
Najeer could feel the aura of chaos spreading. It was coming from the ice. But only he could sense it.
Whatever laid in there was trouble.
"Then let us greet our guest," Najeer said, already plotting a torture worthy enough for the human unfortunate enough to be found by his men. If truly the human was a soldier, it would make the process convenient. He knew just what to do to get any information he wanted.
Najeer's hand flashed a beam of light, creating a field of energy that pierced through the ice. Afterwards, the frosted layers began melting down, breaking like a cracked diamond.
Suddenly something dropped to the ground along with a short scream.
"Ow!" A high pitched voice yelled.
Najeer and his soldiers trained their eyes upon a soaking wet figure lying on the floor dressed in all black.
"Ugh. Strange water.... on my face?" The figure touched their face in disgust, noticing a dark smudge on their fingers. Mascara? "...and..." There was a short silence before a tearing scream. "My makeup!"
The men all furrowed their eyebrows as they slapped the
ir ears. Not merely from shock but in response to the scream.
She sounded like a screeching bird.