Chapter 14: Dream-like state.

"Neya?!" A male elf in extravagant cloth and wearing a gold crown while calling out to her in the hallway.

Neya sneaks into her father studies. Neya enters the studies, she begins to scan the room for a hiding place. She notices the large curtain that hangs at the window. She let out a smile as she hides behind the large curtain of the room. Neya loves playing hide and seeks with her father, every time her father has the time to spend on her.

"Here I come, my cute orange," The male elf with the same ginger hair, but shorter than Neya, enter the room.

Neya let out a big grin on her face while trying to hold her breath by covering her mouth and nose with her palms. So her father could not hear her heavy breathing. Neya heard her father footsteps in the room, searching for her in the room.

"I wonder where my cute orange is hiding?" Neya father said to himself.

"Is it behind the desk? Boo! Aww, she not here," Neya father said.

"Mhm? Maybe she... Behind the plant, Boo!" Neya father said aloud.

"She not here either, she must be a master of hiding. If this goes on even longer I might never find her," Neya father elf said.

Neya let out a muffled giggle after she heard her father words.

"Hmm, I guess she not here after all. I should search the other room," Neya father said.

Neya heard her father footstep slowly disappear, she peeks her head out from the curtain and saw her father with a big smile on his face. Neya screams and tries to run away, but her father grabs her. Neya father starts tickling her to the ground causing Neya to laugh aloud and unable to breathe properly.

"You think you can trick me, my cute orange?" Neya father said aloud.

"Stop it!" Neya said while giggling uncontrollably.

"Now confess who is superior in hiding and seeker?" Neya father asks while he keeps tickling her daughter.

"You daddy!" Neya said.

Neya father lets her daughter go and laid beside her on the floor. Neya was panting as she laid beside her father. Neya loves her father so much because he is the only person who would spend time with her. Neya doesn't have any brother or sister to play with her. Neya knows there are other people around her, but they all seem to be avoiding her. It not like she hasn't tried to get close to one of them, she tries, but fail.

The double door to the studies opens revealing a maid on the other side.

"King Ernest, there is a message from you from Major Arathorn," The maid said.

Neya looks at her father, his face sport a frown and seething anger. His faces change when he looks at her daughter.

"I'm sorry my orange, but daddy got work to do," Neya father said.

"Okay, daddy," Neya said. There a tinge of sadness in her heart every time her father had to leave.

Ernest stands up, wiping off the dust from his cloth, he waves goodbye to his daughter and heads out with the maid to the throne room. After her father leaves, Neya mother walks in front of the door with a cold and distant face.

"Get up, Neya. You will dirty your cloth if you lay on the floor," Neya mother said when she stopped in the doorway.

"Yes, mother," Neya said then she stands up again and wipes the dust off her cloth.

Neya mother has always been distant and cold toward her since she was able to talk. So Neya has always avoided her mother and follow her instruction, wanting to not anger her. Neya mother looks at her up and down then she walks away from the room without saying a word.

Neya walks out of the room, she looks around the empty hallway while wondering what she should do to cast away her boredom. She looks at the path that leads to the throne room, her mother always forbid her to go there, but what she doesn't know won't hurt her.

Neya let out a grin and walk toward the throne room. She sneakily passes the guard in the hallways and found the door that leads to the throne room. Neya opens the double door slowly, She peeks her head inside, seeing that nobody is inside. She enters the throne room and closes the door behind her quietly.

Her jaw drops and her eyes widen in awe by the massive room with pillar lining up at each side and the many large orange curtain dangle from the ceiling that reach to the floor. Neya has never been inside of the throne room before in her life so she was amazed by the room. She looks at end of the room seeing a large throne carved out from a single large rock.

Neya walks toward it when she gets close to the throne. She looks at the throne carving, but what grabs her attention the most is the dragon carving that is under the armrest. The door to the throne room creaks as someone opens it. Neya quickly runs to the curtain and wrapped herself with it; helping her to hide. She separates the curtain a bit letting one of her eyes to peek out.

Neya sees her father walk to the throne with a cane in his hand while all of his guards with spears on their hands, following behind him. He took a seat on the throne while his guards stand guard at each pillar of the room. Then, a male elf enters the room with his body cover with many bandages and another male elf also cover in bandages helping the first elf to walk.

The two elf drop to their knees when they are finally close to the king's throne. Neya could see many burn mark under the bandages.

"Speak," Neya father bellowed.

"I'm sorry, Sire. Bur, We lose our entire regiment, everybody is dead except for us both," The elf said then they both drop their head to the floor.

"You had a thousand men in your regiment, what happens?" Neya father asks in anger.

"The path on the ridge is too small for our entire regiment, so we had to line up the soldiers, but the path was not without obstacle, a single squad name the Jackal stop us from moving further." The elf said his voice shaking with fear.

"A single squad decimates an entire regiment!? That's not possible!" Neya father said with seething rage escaping his words.

"No, Sire. The squad merely destroy the path keeping us from moving further," The elf said apologize.

"Then who killed my regiment!?" Neya father ask.

"It was not something that we had ever faced before. It was a monster shaped like a man but its body is shroud in a silver fire. The man called it the silver flame. It kills everyone and leaving a trail of fire behind it," The elf said while his entire body shiver when he remembers the event.

"I saw... it's eyes, it's was truly a monster," The other elf said, his voice crack in fear.

"You imbecile!" Neya father shouted, then he stands up from the throne and walks toward them.

"Please forgive us, Sire," The elf begged.

"I have sent a thousand men to break through Targia defense and not one of you succeed," Neya father said as he stands in front of the elf that cowers in fear beneath him.

"You fail and you dare to come back here!" Neya father raises his cane and whacked the elf in the head.

Neya father repeatedly whacks both the injured elf with his cane and start kicking them while they laid on the floor.

"You should have died along with them! Because of your incompetence, I'm losing this war!" Neya father shouted.

Neya father stops hitting them when the puddle of blood reach his shoes. The elf that Ernest was hitting cried like a baby while muttering "I'm Sorry" repeatedly. The bloody elf hugs himself in a fetal position on the floor.

"Pathetic, get them both out of here!" Neya father said after spitting on the bloody elf face.

Neya looks at what happens in horror, her father didn't even care about the elf his hitting. Neya had never seen this side of her father before, she has always thought her father was a kind king. Two of the guard salute, walking to the elf on the floor and drag them both out of the room; leaving a trail a blood on the floor.

Neya then notices her mother enters the room, she walks closer to the throne. Ernest sits on the throne while sighing about the news.

"What is it, Lucilla?" Neya father asks while he looks at her mother.

Neya mother walk closer to Ernest then takes out a dagger from her sleeve and throws it at Neya father. The dagger stab Ernest in the heart. Neya father screams in pain and his face filled with confusion. Neya eyes widen when she saw what happen, she was about to scream, but she kept her mouth closed with her hands.

"Guards!!" Neya father shout.

But his guards didn't respond to his command.

"What is going on?" Neya father grunts.

"Your tyrannical reign ends here, Greed king," Neya mother mocked.

"You think I'll go down without fighting?!" Neya father shouts as he stands up from his throne and walks toward Neya mother.

He raised his hand to cast a spell.

"Guards," Neya mother said.

The guards move their hands and aim their spear at the Neya father with lighting fast reflexe. Then they simultaneously throw the spears toward him. The spears pierce him from every side, it was a like horror scene from a play as blood splatter everywhere on the floor. Neya father was about to falls back, but stops when one of the spears holds his body up, he vomited out a massive amount of blood.

"You treat your subject like trash for far too long. They're sick and tired of it. So they appoint a new leader, guess who they pick?" Neya mother ask.

Neya father glare dagger at Neya mother. She only let out a grin to respond to his glare.

"Me. While you are busy with your stupid conquest. I was busy gathering support from the nobles, and I succeed it without you ever noticing it," Neya mother said.

"You damn—" Neya father was about to curse her mother name when his heart stops beating.

Neya screams while running toward her father, Neya mother look at her. Neya grab hold of his hand and cries when she felt her father cold hands.

"Daddy!" Neya said while her tears flow down her cheeks.

A guard walks to Neya mother side, "Ma'am, What should we do with your daughter?"

"She not my daughter, she has always been his daughter. Sell her to the slave market," Neya mother said flatly, without pity or sympathy when she looks at her own daughter.

"What...?" Neya said, the guard grab both of her arms and drag her away.

"NO!" She screams.

"DADDY!" Neya screams again for her deceased father.

"Daddy!!" Neya scream.

Everything around her begins to melt just like a dream. Then came the darkness, the pain, the torture, the humiliation, the anger, the despair, the abuse, the violation, the molestation, the maltreatment. Everything horrible that ever happen to her is because of her mother. Neya sees the face of men that once treated her horribly and taken advantage of her, flash before her eyes.

Neya felt her body freezing as the darkness and emptiness surround her while a horrible pain stabbing her entire body. Then she felt it, a warmth in her palms, something she never felt before. She holds it tightly and not letting it go.

Bird chirping cause Neya to opens her eyes, she was greeted by the wooden ceiling above her and the wetness on her forehead. She remembers she escaped from that painful place and saved by a slave. Neya turns her head and looks at the rough hand that holding her owns.

Neya looks at the source of the hand and saw Nesto sleeping face rest on the edge of the bed. He has been holding her hand while she was asleep, that warmth that she felt, it was him.

Nesto let out a quiet groan before opening his eyes while a lock of his silver hair falls out of place. Neya closes her eyes back up, pretending to be sleep. Nesto open his eyes, letting go of Neya hand and walk out of the room silently. Neya is confused, why is this man is so nice to her besides the fact that he is her slave now. His must have plans to use her somehow, she just couldn't trust him.