• The Eve of Eternity: Chapter 15 – Night of Brilliance

    “Ah… always nice to have a good rest after a long day of getting fireballs thrown at you while you’re carrying a girl and running away from hundreds of bandits.” Deckard yawned as he started to try to sit up in his bed. It was then that he noticed the tiny, cute, sleeping Rydia that was laying on his chest still. He looked at her face and smiled for a moment, a series of thoughts racing through his head about how cute she looked while she slept. After a long moment of staring at her, he closed his eyes and sighed, though it was a sigh that showed he was content with the situation. Rydia then slowly began to stir slightly and sat up, now straddling Deckard’s chest while she stretched out her arms and yawned a few times. “Good morning!” she said in her high pitched, still sleepy and squeaky voice.

    Deckard opened his eyes again and looked at her. “Good morning Rydia, did you sleep well?” he tried to avoid looking directly at her because she was sitting on him. “Yup, sure did! You make a really soft pillow, so it was really comforting! I don’t think I’ve slept this well in a long time, hehe.” She giggled as she jumped off the bed and ran into the bathroom to clean up. “A good pillow…?” Deckard brushed off the blush that was starting to form and shook his head. At that moment, Hark entered the room and walked over to a chair to sit. “Interesting news I have.” He pulled out an envelope just as he sat down and tossed it at Deckard. “What’s this?” Deckard asked as he started opened it carefully.

    The letter had a Royal Seal imprinted on it to seal it, which caused Deckard notice the seal and stare at it for a moment before taking out the letter inside. ‘To Deckard Lightfall and Rydia Silverlight: You are formally invited to attend the Night of Brilliance that will be taking place tonight at 7 P.M. It is a celebration of the inauguration of Firomis Caine taking up the position of Supreme Magistrate and is a Formal Ball. Should you be unable to attend this event, please burn the letter and the committee will automatically be notified as this letter is enchanted with tracking magic.’

    “Is this for real? Why would… Lightfall… That’s right; my father was an esteemed person in this city. Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to attend, but I don’t have anything to wear for the occasion.” Deckard sighed for a moment and looked at Hark. “I wouldn’t worry about not having anything to wear, since they’ve already brought something for you to wear anyway. It’s in the wardrobe over there, so be sure to wear it. As for me, you are probably wondering what I’ll do while you two are at the Ball. Don’t concern yourself with me however; just have yourself a good time since it’ll be a while before something like this happens again.” Deckard blinked several times as Hark spoke. “Well, whatever then. This should be an interesting night for sure.”

    Rydia slowly made her way back into the room and sat on the bed next to Deckard and looked at him. “What’s wrong? You look puzzled.” She smiled at him brightly to try to lighten his mood. Deckard handed her the letter slowly. “Looks like we’ll be having a date tonight, Rydia.” He slightly tilted his head and smiled at her. Without even looking at the letter, she blinked at him a few times and started to blush. “D-date?! Wha… what are you talking about?” she jumped off the bed and ran back into the bathroom. Hark looked at Deckard and began laughing at the situation. “You shouldn’t have said that to her.” Deckard looked at Hark, slightly puzzled. “Why do you say that? He looked at the mirror and started questioning the situation. Hark simply shook his head and laid out on one of the other two beds. “I’m going to sleep, I didn’t get any last night.” Almost instantly thereafter, Rydia ran out of the bathroom and over to Deckard and began jumped up and down, flailing her arms about. “We’re going to a ball?! YAY! Oh, but I don’t have a dress… What am I going to do about that? I need a dress!” She stopped flailing about quickly and looked at Deckard and inched closer, putting her hands into fists and bringing them together as she leaned closer. “I need a dress! Come on! We’re going shopping! Pleaaaase!”

    Deckard shook his head. “Apparently they also sent us some clothing to wear, and it’s supposed to be in the wardrobe over there. But why don’t we go do something else since it’s still early. I’m sure you’re getting hungry right? Hark gave me some money to help until I can earn some on my own, so let’s go and let him sleep.” Deckard stood up slowly. “Okay then! So... this will be our first date huh?” she smiled at him and twirled around. “I bet you would be fine with having a date with just any guy, wouldn’t you?” he scratched his head a bit. Rydia quickly shook her head, “That’s not true at all! It’s just... because it’s you who I’ll be on a date with...” She brought her index fingers together and began pushing them towards another nervously. Deckard blinked a few times and then quickly looked away, a red tint showing on his face slightly. “Ah... I... I see then. W-well let’s get going then.” He started walking towards the door and quickly left the room, with Rydia hurrying to follow him. “Wait up Deckard! Geez, you can’t be leaving your date unattended you know, that is bad manners!” she smiled for a moment before she grinned. “Oh I get it! You’re embarrassed by all of this aren’t you?” she giggled and locked her left arm with his right and began pulling him towards the exit of the inn. “W-wait! Why are we walking like this?!” The red tint from before quickly began to show in brighter color now.

    “The royal district is so pretty... I wish I could live here someday.” She sighed for a moment before taking the initiative to lead Deckard on through the town a bit more. The royal district was indeed pretty, as all of the roads were lined with a smooth and perfect cut surface of a rare silver marble rock and there were several Cherry Blossom trees that were in bloom all year round, thanks to the royal gardeners that kept watch over them all. All of the buildings were large and spacious even if they were just small shops selling bread or other foods. Since it was still early in the morning, the smell of fresh baked goods filled the air and seemed to draw in the crowds of the nearby nobles. “Ohhh... I’m getting hungry just from smelling this air! It smells really good, right?” she looked at Deckard slowly with a smile. “Yeah, it does smell really delicious; let’s eat then since it is still morning.” Rydia simply nodded and began rushing Deckard into the nearby bakery where several others were flocking too. Following the lead of the others, they sat down at a booth to wait for a maid to appear and take their orders, which didn’t take longer than a few seconds to happen. “Welcome to Lucia’s Bakery, what can I get for you two?” the young female maid bowed and handed each of them menus. “I’ll have a chocolate milk to start off with, and it may take us a while to decide after that.” Deckard said as he opened the menu to read it. “Chocolate milk here too!” Rydia smiled and scooted in closer to Deckard.

    The maid nodded and walked off to get the drinks. A few minutes later, the frustration of being unable to choose something for breakfast began to show on Rydia’s face. “There’s so much to choose from! I can’t decide! Help me decide something Deckard!” she pouted and looked at him for an answer. “Okay then, you can get a royal cinnamon and spice pastry with a side of eggs and I’ll get the same.” Rydia stared at Deckard as the maid came back with their milks. “Decided on anything yet?” He nodded for a moment as he began to speak. “The royal cinnamon and spice pastry with a side of eggs, and she will-“Rydia quickly interrupted in. “Banana bread pastry with a cinnamon bagel and a side of eggs for me please.” She smiled as the maid took the menus and walked off after nodding. “I thought you couldn’t decide?” Rydia looked at him quickly. “Ah. I suddenly realized what I wanted to eat, hehe.” She took a straw from one of the holders and started sipping away at her chocolate milk.

    When their food finally came, they stared in amazement at how neatly decorated and garnished the plates of food were. The maid bowed after placing the plates on the table and smiled. “Enjoy your meal!” she said as she went off to serve another person. “So they put strawberries around it for decoration, this looks too pretty to eat...” Rydia started to complain but slowly took up her fork and began eating. “Really? I would think that this food is nothing compared to how pretty you are Rydia, you are definitely way too pretty for anyone to want to eat.” Deckard unconsciously said as he was eating his food. Rydia smiled and leaned into him a bit. “Thanks!” she said before hugging him. It didn’t take long for either of them to finish their meals, and they left shortly after Deckard paid. Rydia once again locked her arm with Deckard’s and once again they began walking around the district, though with no direct ambition this time. It wasn’t until several hours later that they found a good resting spot in a park.

    The park was incredibly gorgeous, and it was encircled by Cherry Blossom trees that were larger than normal and many white marble benches that were cushioned with the finest and softest fabrics available in the district. In the center of the park there was an enormous fountain that had a statue of a Kitsune on top of it. The statue was fully colored, and it was laden with various jewels in order to give it a special shine that would reflect different colors into the fountain’s water. Aside from the jewels, the entire statue itself was made out of a translucent prism-like rock that further enhanced the jewels’ abilities to color the appearance of the water, making it look like a small version of an aurora borealis was there at almost all times. The appearance of all of this was simply mesmerizing, and the cherry blossom petals that were floating and dancing in the wind in the park made it all the more wonderful to look at.

    Deckard quietly yawned and caused Rydia to look at him because of it. “Are you tired?” He nodded slowly. “I didn’t actually get much sleep; I was worried about Hark because he wasn’t in the room last night. I’ll be fine though, don’t worry.” She shook her head quickly, and pulled him over to a bench. “Take a nap here! Since it’s a good quiet spot, you should be able to rest easy.” She sat down first and patted her lap. He sat down and leaned against the back of the bench and closed his eyes. She simply blinked at him a few times with a small frown. She began to get a bit frustrated and pushed him hard. “Hey! I thought you wanted me to rest? What are you pushing me for?” She stared at him without saying a word and patted her lap again. “What is that supposed to mean? I don’t quite understand.” She sighed and brought her hands up to his head. “Lay your head on my lap, that way you won’t hurt your neck from sleeping in a bad position.” He was slightly reluctant, but he slowly did as she said and sprawled out on the bench while laying his head on her lap. After closing his eyes, it didn’t take much longer for him to fall asleep. Rydia looked down at his face with a smile on hers, gently caressing his cheek from time to time. The nobles in the district that walked by all began to smile as they looked over at the two, not seeing such a sight in a long time. A young noble girl slowly walked over to them. “Hey there little miss, would you mind if I took a picture? This is a perfect time of day to capture a scene of romance in the park! The blossoms are dancing in the sky and the sun is just right!” Rydia looked up and smiled. “Yeah, I’d very much like to have a picture of this taken! Um... can I get a copy of it also?” The girl nodded quickly. “Certainly, okay let me just take a few then.”

    She backed up a few feet and focused a fancy looking camera on the scene of Deckard and Rydia, taking a few quick snapshots of them together. Each time she took a picture there was a printout of the picture was printed and hung off the side until she took them out. “Here you go! Thanks again!” the girl handed Rydia a copy of one of the photos and ran off while waving. Rydia quickly put the photo in a safe place and then looked at Deckard. Without even thinking, she slowly began to get closer to her face as if drawing in for a kiss. Just as she was about to give him one, he began to stir and she realized what she was doing and quickly sat upright again. In doing so, Deckard began to stir even more and finally opened his eyes. “Are you feeling less tired now?” Rydia stared at him with a smile. “Yeah I am feeling a lot less tired now, thanks Rydia.” He sat up a bit and then stood up. “We should get ready for the ball, it’s almost 3.” He looked at a clock nearby and then looked at her. “Okay then, we can head back. I suppose I sort of lost track of time while you were sleeping there, hehe.” She rubbed the back of her head gently. “You’re all dirty now.” She looked at his clothes and started patting them down to get the dust and dirt off of them. “I can probably do that myself you know.” He looked at her for a moment. “Oh, right I guess I got carried away.” She blushed and looked away. Deckard for once took the initiative and locked his arm with hers, causing her to blush even more. “A-ah...” Deckard looked at her in slight confusion but started walking with her towards the inn.

    “Hey Deckard, what do you think about Estellise?” she was finally able to speak clearly again. “Estellise? If you’re trying to figure out who I like more right now, it isn’t going to work unless you directly ask me. Estellise is Estellise and Rydia is Rydia, both of you are completely different people with unique personalities of your own. So in other words I am saying that the two of you can’t be compared to one another at all.” She blinked at him a few times before she started to show a small smile returning to her face. “I guess that is also true. So does that mean you also like me then?” she stopped walking and looked up at him anticipating his answer with eagerness. He stopped when she stopped and stared at her for a moment, not really knowing how to answer. “I know that when you said we were going to have a date, you were just playing around but I am still going to treat this like one.” He looked away for a moment. “We should really get back and change.” He paused for a moment and then looked at her with a smile. “I honestly wasn't truly joking when I talked about this being a date, but that is all I can say right now.”

    “Okay then, but I want a more serious answer sometime soon.” She glared at him with incriminating eyes that were much unlike her normal demeanor. He immediately started waving his hands at her as if to wave off the look on her face. “Okay okay I get it; I just have a lot on my mind with all that’s happened recently so I’ve not been thinking about anything else. Finding out Kaneas was my brother was quite a shock, and now we have this mysterious man with a mask following us to help us. But I guess one night of having a little fun wouldn’t hurt.” She shook her head and made her way into the inn, leaving him to follow behind her.

    Hark wasn’t inside the room when they got inside, but neither of them really took any notice of it and instead they immediately took the clothing to wear from the wardrobe. Rydia went into the bathroom to change, while Deckard changed in the room itself in order to speed up the time they were spending changing. Deckard’s outfit was somewhat simplistic, but it was still fancier than any other formal outfit he’d worn before. It was comprised of a pair of pure white pants with gold trim around the end, a red dress shirt with frills on the ends of the sleeves and the chest, and a pure white dress coat with two shoulder tails hanging down in the back and gold trimmed cuffs on the edge of the sleeves. The frilled sleeves of the shirt and the chest portion near the neck were easily visible due to the shirt sleeves being longer and the coat not covering the portion below the neck completely. The shoes he were with the outfit were also white, in order to match the rest of it and he also put on a white trinket around his neck for decoration. It didn’t take very long for Deckard to change into his outfit, but he had also decided to change his hair style from the normal messy look to something a bit nicer. He walked over to one of the mirrors with a sink in the main room by the door and took a comb out from the drawer and some styling gel. After wetting his hair down and lathering it with the gel, he started to style it in a way that he thought might look best. After 30 minutes of making attempts at it, he finally got one that he liked, but he ended up having to cut some of the hair in the back off to trim it up a bit. His hair was now short in the back, long in the front and the sides in front of his ear curled down around his cheek, while his bangs were hanging over the front of his face, four bangs in total.

    Almost immediately after he turned around after finishing cleaning up, the bathroom door opened and Rydia came out. “Wow...” they both said in unison at the same time, each one staring at the other. Rydia’s dress was a matching outfit to Deckard’s, with crystal clear white heels, a mostly white dress except for the red chest portion, red frilled sleeves and the bottom part being layered red, white, red, white. Her dress also had the white tailed shoulders that his coat had, but they were much shorter in length as well as width and since she didn’t have a coat they were attached to the top straps of the dress. She had also changed her hair style up quite a bit, changing it from the usual straight her into a curly version. Her hair was still down to her shoulders, but the circular curls decreased the length quite a bit. “You changed your hair.” She said as she slowly circled him over and over. “I think it suits you quite well. You should keep it like that from now on.” He smiled at her and nodded. “All right then, your hair looks quite well like that also, and you look really beautiful in that dress, Rydia. Well then, shall we head off?” She smiled and nodded as she locked her arm with his and allowed him to lead the way this time.

    It wasn’t long until the sun finally began to set in the sky, signaling the start of the Night of Brilliance. Since neither of them really knew where they were heading, they just followed the crowds of formally dressed nobles that they believed were also attending the Ball. By the time they finally reached the ballroom, the sun had completely set and the Night of Brilliance began. The ballroom itself was in a clear building that fully allowed the outside to be visible, but not the inside. All around the outside of the dome, several small domes opened and orbs of red, blue, white, silver and purple lights began to float in the air and started making circles around the building. The light poles surrounding the area where the ballroom were turned off slowly, leaving only the orbs of light which made the entire appearance of everything look a bit magical in a way. It was a sight to behold, and it was one that did not happen very often.

    “Wow, this is really beautiful!” Rydia watched the dancing orbs of light in awe. Deckard nodded and looked at her. “Shall we enter then?” She nodded with a smile and allowed him to lead her inside the ballroom. Not even a moment after entering, they were greeted by Firomis, as he walked over to them. “Good evening, Rydia and Deckard. I’m glad that you could make it here tonight.” Rydia nodded at him and smiled. “Thank you and congratulations on your new position Firie.” Deckard looked Firomis for a while before speaking. “I am not sure that we’ve met, but you seem to already know my name.” Firomis nodded. “Please follow me; there is an issue we must discuss briefly.” Firomis waved for them to follow as he made his way to an area that was empty, and quiet enough to speak normally.

    “You may have already realized it, but I am the one who sent you the invitations for tonight as well as the clothing. Though there are several reasons as to why, the main reason is simply that I wanted to meet you, Deckard. I also wished to give you these Sigils of Royalty.” He held out two small ornately gemmed pendants in his hand which had the royal emblem embedded on them, and both of them took one without hesitation. “What is this for? Some sort of scheme?” Deckard examined the pendant over closely. “Not at all, they are just something that belongs in your possession as part of the Nobility of this city. The sheer fact that the two of you are in the royal district now, means that you were with someone who has one of these. The royal district cannot be entered by anyone who doesn’t have one of these pendants. Your brother already has one of his own, but I never could find a way to get you yours and as for Rydia, she is being given one for other reasons now that she will be accepted as part of the nobility. Your may well already know that your father was a highly esteemed person, especially within the walls of this city. Because of that he was given the highest rank of the nobles, Arch Sage. As one of his children you too inherited this rank of nobility, hence the reason for the difference in the pendant you carry as opposed to Rydia’s. The final reason I wanted to meet you, is because I wanted to ask you to join, even if temporarily, Aegis. It is a reformation of two similar organizations fighting for the same goal, striking down evil and preserving the good will of our land. It may even be beneficial in helping you find who you look for, as we share our information with all of our members once we know something.”

    Deckard looked at Firomis and then at Rydia. “I’m afraid I will have to leave answering that question to another time, if you don’t mind.” Firomis nodded slowly and bowed. “Then I shall contact you tomorrow before you set off again, to see if you are ready to answer. Please enjoy your evening and good night.” Firomis slowly walked off to mingle in the crowd while leaving the other two to talk. Rydia looked at Deckard. “Was there something preventing you from giving an answer to that tonight?” Deckard nodded. “Of course there was, but don’t worry your head over it. It’s not something complicated, it is just that I wanted to enjoy tonight.” He smiled and held out his hand. “Shall we dance then, Rydia?” She took his hand quickly with a smile on her face. “Yes!”

    Deckard led her out onto the dance floor where several others were already dancing and placed his hand around her back under her shoulder blade, and using the other to hold her hand. It took a moment for him to catch the rhythm of the song in order to start the dance, but once he did he began to gracefully lead her around the dance floor. In all of the years since he had last danced, it appeared that his skill with it had not diminished one bit but in fact he had become much better at it. The two of them stared at one another as they glided across the floor. He twirled her around in circles, twirled himself, dipped her down low and the two of them were a sight to behold amongst the nobles. It wasn’t long before many of those dancing began to watch them, the two of them somehow managing to make themselves out to be the best looking, best dancing, and most awe inspiring couple in the ballroom. The two of them continued dancing for several hours, until finally stopping for rest and moving out onto the balcony of the ballroom to watch the lights in the night sky.

    “Phew, I’m exhausted now and my feet hurt!” Rydia giggled and complained with excitement at the same time, leaning against the railing of the balcony to rest. “That was pretty amazing; I think we caught the attention of everyone in the room for a while there. I haven’t danced like that in a long time.” Deckard walked over and stood next to her. “Thanks for the dancing, it was really fun.” She leaned in closer and put some of her weight against him rather than the railing for comfort and warmth. “I believe I have an answer to what you asked me earlier today.” He turned towards her slowly and looked into her eyes for a moment. She looked at him, waiting to see what he was going to say or do. Without anymore hesitation, he finally leaned down towards her face and kissed her on the lips. Rydia almost jumped in surprise, but prevented herself from doing so and kissed him back, slowly putting her arms around him. After a while, he finally moved and stood straight up, looking at her with a smile. Without saying anything, she closed her eyes and pressed her head against his chest, as he put his arms around her to keep her warm.