"No! Stop, stop! Ahh!" I wailed.
Every night, my routine was the same: being awoken violently by fits of nightmares, reliving that day every single time I closed my eyes. The lifeless eyes of my victims looking back at me, reaching out at me, begging to save them.
I was beginning to dread going to sleep, often going days without sleeping, avoiding it like some plague. It had been two weeks since I slaughtered the rebels on Ickni's order. I hadn't been assigned to any other missions, so I sat idly in the palace under the watchful eye of Ickni at all times of the day.
While I was free to explore the palace, I wasn't permitted to leave or even go near the main gate. I wished to explore Grandheart more, but I was stuck, imprisoned once again.
Staring at the ceiling of my room, I slowly picked myself up and exited my room. Walking around the palace had become one of my nightly pastimes, often just wandering aimlessly until daybreak.
One of my favourite locations in the Palace of Grandheart was a small, disconnected balcony far away from the army of servants. In the palace, most of the servants were concentrated around Ickni's throne room; it was frankly suffocating to be around that many of Ickni's pawns. They all acted as her eyes and ears, reporting everything back to her, the slightest slip of the tongue resulting in an execution.
The veterans in Ickni's service were unnerving to be around; their eyes told a thousand tales about the cruelty and brutality of Ickni's ways. They looked as if they had lost their will to fight long ago, awaiting their eventual slip-up. I had once tried to strike up a conversation with one of them, but they didn't respond, just looking through me like I didn't even exist.
Their only concern was Ickni; deviating from their purpose would only invite pain. I knew that, but I still couldn't stomach their faces, so I thought it would be better for everyone if I just stayed away. Saving both parties' hardship.
Walking to the balcony, I stared into the vast network of stars above. I had always taken solace in the eyes ever since I was young, my dream to explore everything that I could see. I never thought that I'd actually get to visit another world, but now that I've lived through that dream. I say that it is nothing like what I once thought; my picture of a fantasy realm was swiftly shattered as soon as I set foot on this land.
Despite this, my dream to explore the stars still held firm, even though my expectations didn't match reality. My desire still burned bright in my heart. Fortunately, I hadn't lost that along with my innocence.
"The stars, I'm glad such a beautiful thing still exists in this land," I muttered to myself.
My power had become easier to control, no longer needing to focus all my attention on activating its power. However, it still wasn't instantaneous, taking a few seconds to activate, while I hadn't tried another spell since that day, I was still practicing in small amounts.
To save my mind from overloading with information, I categorized the power used as spells ranging from simple, directional, and catastrophic. While I hadn't discovered any catastrophic spells, many ideas revolving around world-devastating spells came to my mind, but I wouldn't dare try them. Such a thing would only mean countless deaths, and that wasn't something I could stomach at the moment.
Releasing a multitude of shimmering balls of pure light into the sky, watching as they danced in the air serenely before bursting, spreading my light across the whole air, creating a beautiful artificial constellation of stars.
"That's truly a majestic sight."
An unknown voice reared its head out of the shadows, and the visage of a six-winged angel soon came into view. He smoothly landed on the balcony, touching down on the bannister, looking at my constellation in awe.
"Who are you? I haven't seen you around the palace."
The man turned his attention to me, smiling sweetly at me, his eyes laced with admiration and care. His features were quite unique; he had pale blue hair and peerless sapphire eyes. His wings mirrored his hair and eyes. I was beginning to realise the connection between someone's features and the colour of their wings.
"Lucius von Snow. You are Evernight, right?"
"That's right. What is it that I can do for you?"
I was slightly alarmed by his sudden presence. My only memory of the man's name was when I first met with Ickni. His sudden interruption to our meeting caused the death of a servant, but I didn't blame that on him; it was just the twisted nature of Ickni.
"I've noticed you visit this specific balcony every day. I usually come here whenever I'm assigned to the Order Dominion; it's disconnected from those dreadful servants."
"You aren't from this Dominion, then? I noticed you aren't collared." I said.
"No. I'm from the Moon Dominion directly next to this one. I can't help but notice that you bear the mark of Order, but you aren't collared either. Is there any reason why?"
Lucius was fishing for information on me; I could blatantly see that. He wasn't exactly trying to hide his interest
"If I put a collar on, it just tries to kill me, so I don't wear it, but I'm still firmly under her thumb."
"The sacred band, a despicable weapon of control. I truly despise this Dominion, and the despair living in these lands. I wish I were still at home; even the frontlines are better than this wretched place."
It was nice knowing that other people outside this Dominion shared the same opinion as me. Although I still didn't understand why they willingly choose to ignore Ickni's plots.
"Should you really be talking to me about this?"