Oath Kingdom - Iris's conundrum

Not long after Seth departed from the capital, a small note flew through Iris Golden's window, landing on her messy desk. She knew this was how the shadow order communicated, so she quickly picked it up and unrolled it.

'The king is unconscious. High Ascended, Iris Golden, your presence is required in the royal castle.'

The text was short, but Iris's heart skipped a beat when she read the content. Burning the note into ashes, she flew out the same window the letter arrived through and headed for the palace.

As she flew over a recently built structure in the academy, her eyes darted toward it briefly, and a wrong feeling gripped her heart, but she didn't stop flying toward the king.

Reaching the palace late at night, she didn't bother with the formalities and rushed the long halls, arriving shortly at the king's room. Two guards were placed at the door, and two others were hidden in the shadows.

Iris ignored the bowing guards and opened the door with a gust of wind, stepping into the king's royal chamber with a sense of urgency in her steps. 

A few maids were using wet blankets to clean up the king's body while the queen was bawling her eyes out on the side of the bed, holding onto the king's hand.

Hearing the doors open, she turned her red eyes on the newcomer. Seeing it was Iris, she let go of her husband's hand and knelt in front of Iris.

"Please, Grand Protector, you must seek justice for my husband." Her voice was hoarse from all the crying, but Iris didn't even bother looking at her, her air energy surrounding the king, checking his breathing and pulse.

Noticing everything seemed alright with him, at least physically, she heaved a small sigh of relief before finally looking at the kneeling queen.

"What happened?"

The queen looked towards the floor and started telling her how she headed for the king's room to perform her duties, but when she entered the bed, the king was unresponsive. Thinking he was just asleep, she planned on sleeping as well but then felt something wet on the bed coverings.

When she checked carefully, she found the king's eyes were open, but he was unresponsive and bleeding from all his orifices.

"Was it him?…" muttered Iris, a conflicted look in her eyes as she moved past the queen, grazing her face with the hem of her robe, and walked in front of the king.

She bent forward, letting her long silvery hair flow gently on the bedsheets as she brought her face down.

Looking into the king's open and lost eyes, Iris' face turned uglier instantly. She could see a slight tremble of the pupils, barely noticeable with the naked eye.

Clenching her fist so hard her nails penetrated the soft skin of her palm, she turned towards a dark corner of the room: "Keep guard over him. I'll have my energy covering the palace, so whisper to me if anything unusual happens or he wakes up."

Not waiting for an answer from the shadows, she turned around and flew out of the palace, heading back to the academy. Blood was flowing out of the wounds in the palm of her hands, but she ignored it completely. She flew high above the academy ground and extended her energy, listening carefully for Seth's voice.

When she didn't hear anything, she listened for heartbeats inside his classroom, dormitory room, Maya's room, or any of his students' rooms, but she came with no result again.

"Don't tell me…" she muttered, starting to check every building in part, but she didn't find anyone there anymore.

When she entered Maya's room, her body shuddered at the clean and abandoned place.

"Not you too…" muttered Iris, the rims of her eyes reddening uncontrollably. She walked further in, and even if the room was immaculate, she spotted a small note lying on the table.

Beckoning with her hand, the note flew on its own in front of her eyes.

'Iris, by the time you read this, we're probably already long gone. Before picking up this note, I had a lot of things I wanted to say to you, but as my pen touched it, all those thoughts seemed to fly away on their own.

I'll miss you where we're going, you being the only person I could call a friend in that entire kingdom, and I hate myself for leaving like this, but there was no other way. You probably hate me too, and rightfully so, but I finally found someone I love with my entire body and soul.

In all my years of life, he is the only one who makes me feel whole, and I don't want to let him go. I know about your oath and that you and Seth will have a hard time seeing eye to eye, so I won't say anything to try and convince you otherwise, but please don't follow us south.

You're strong, Iris, a lot stronger than I am, but you can't beat him. His power, you can't even begin to comprehend it. 

There are things you don't know, things I can't tell you since I promised him, but Seth is not someone you can ever hope to beat in a fight. 

Please stay there and continue protecting the academy you love so much. I don't want to see either my best friend or my lover die, incapable of doing a thing to stop it.

Take care of yourself, Iris, and let's have a long chat when we meet again. It might take a few years, but what are years to us.'

'P.S.: Make sure you keep your virginity until we return to Oath. I know someone interested in taking it.'

Iris closed her eyes, a teardrop rolling down her cheeks as the note in her hand burst into flames. Her hands were trembling as her sources were rotating like crazy, and she flew out of the teacher's dormitory.

Extending her senses as far as she could, a stiffing feeling encompassed the entire capital, with people even waking up from their sleep, breathing becoming much harder suddenly. Still, no matter how much she searched, there was no trace of Maya, Seth, or his parents anywhere.

She kept listening, going by Seth's students, their families, the teachers that had a relationship with Seth, like Hollie, and so on. 

To Iris's dismay, they were all missing.

Her heart sank, knowing what this meant for the kingdom as well. The king was unresponsive; the academy lost a sixth and fifth shell ascended and many lower-ranked ones. It was a tragedy.

"How did they leave like this, leaving not a clue behind?" Iris asked herself, her breathing already quickening, and she lost control of her source and landed on a nearby roof.

She tried calming her palpitations and breathing while supporting her body with her hands. It took over a quarter of an hour until she alleviated her panic attack just enough to sit back up.

She took a deep breath and started flying back towards the academy, getting ready for damage control. 

When she entered her office, a person wearing a ghostly mask was waiting for her on the windowsill, twirling a flute between her slim fingers while her long ashen hair danced gracefully with the wind.

Iris immediately got on guard, but the woman didn't seem to care as she turned towards her and said in a calm voice: "Welcome back, headmistress."

"Ghost." Muttered Iris, her sources starting to spin, but she didn't get the chance to attack as the intruder chuckled: "If you kill me now, all your worries will come true."

Her words barely ended when a hole appeared in the marble floor of the building, and Necros came out, kneeling toward Ghost.

Iris was stunned by everything happening but stayed her hand, Ghost's words making her consider things more carefully. Ever since her defeat to Seth, she was a lot more reserved in her way of attacking first and asking questions later.

"The underground is now under my control, and you need us to clear up the spies around the kingdom. With the hole left by Seth's departure, you know what will happen if any of the neighboring kingdoms found out about it, so I came to offer you a deal."

Iris frowned and retracted her energy before asking: "What do you know about Seth?"

Ghost shook her head and said: "Not much, but he asked me to look over this kingdom while he's gone, so I'm just keeping my word." 

"He even brought me a gift before he left." Added Ghost as she threw her flute toward the kneeling Necros. A small blade came out of the hole of the flute and pierced Necros' shoulder, but he offered no resistance other than a slight wince of pain.

Iris watched this and understood the point she was trying to make. Necros was now under her complete control.

"What do you want from me?" asked Iris, still slightly apprehensive about everything.

Ghost motioned towards her office.

"Sit down, headmistress. We have a lot to talk about."

//I thought about it and decided to post some chapters from time to time describing the situation in the capital following Seth's departure. 

They would mostly follow Iris as she deals with the kingdom's various problems, her friend's departure, and the hole left by Seth in the academy's overall strength. It would serve as a side story that runs parallel with the main one. 

Everything relevant to the main story would be explained there as well, and the side stories would only serve to add more depth to characters like Iris, Ghost, the royal family, and even the brainwashed Necros.