Blue Roses (prologue)
My name is Kiia. I was born on a planet called Terrestia located in the 76th quadrant of the Plutox galaxy. Terrestia is, much like yours, a watery planet with seven small scattered lands. The largest continent is called Cyironia or the Mainland, and the other lands dot around it.
Cyironia was where it all began, in a city named Istaldia. Istaldia was the capital city, and also the very first civilization to appear on Terrestia. It was built by the Cyiros, the oldest and wisest race ever known. Cyiros were beautiful creatures; their skin was white as snow with long golden brown hair, and they had long whip like tails and long fingers with black claws. They also had either orange or green eyes that glowed brightly in the darkest of nights, and theyre blessed with both male and female sex organs. They thrived in the city and built many beautiful monasteries and temples using their secret knowledge of the magical arts. They also created a powerful stone called a geotrix that, although very fragile, could "shape" and alter anything they pleased. They soon began to shape some of the native animals, and made them intelligent enough to share in their accomplishments. The stone, however, proved to be too powerful and they decided to lock the geotrix and their secrets away from the eyes of the public in a sacred library. The Cyiros and the twelve other races lived together in peace on the hand-made utopia. But one race, however, saw things a little differently.
A race called the Xan saw the potential of the Cyiro's magic, and sought to claim it as theirs and use it for selfish desires. The leader of the lot, named Ixeera, banded together a group of followers and tried to steal their secrets. They were easily defeated, though, and banished to the farthest island in the chain called Kotonka. But Ixeera was persistent.
Soon, Ixeera turned his entire race against the Cyiros and a horrible civil war erupted. The Xan greatly outnumbered the Cyiros, but another wolf like race called the Tyrans came to help them and the two opposing sides were soon matched. Ixeera, greedy and impatient as he was, found a way to sneak into the sacred library and managed to steal the secret of power and immortality. He shaped himself into a monstrous creature and destroyed half the city and millions of innocent people. My fourth great grandmother who was the queen at that time decided to use the stone one final time in order to protect the innocence that inhabited Terrestia. The power of the geotrix eradicated half of the Xan population and sliced Ixeera in half. The remaining Xan scraped up his remains and fled with the army back to Kotonka. The land of Cyironia remained in peace for another 500 years.
Five centuries later, the present Cyiro queen gave birth to female twins. Twins were considered a miracle, especially considering female Cyiros only give birth once in their lifetime.
Expecting them to be identical and as normal as can be, the queen was shocked to find that the first baby was completely abnormal. Instead of having snow white skin like the rest of her race, her skin was dark like soil, and instead of having orange or green eyes, they were bright purple. She also didn't cry like a normal infant would, she only yawned and blinked twice, and the tip of her tail twitched thoughtfully. The second baby came out fairly normal; her skin was white and she bawled till she was red, but her eyes were a bright, piercing blue and she was a bit vicious. She tried to fight the nurses and wouldn't let the queen hold her at all, and when she was put in the crib with her sister she tried to knock her out.
Everyone was terrified and believed it to be an apocalypse, but the queen saw it as a miracle indeed. She let her soft glowing green eyes fall upon the unusual pair and a smile spread across her face. She named the white infant Azra, meaning fire, and the black infant Kiia, meaning sky.
Yes, the strange one was me, but although I was so different, I was fairly accepted by the other Cyiros. My sister and I grew to be very beautiful and revered, but although we had the same features I was looked upon as a goddess. My uniqueness drew all kinds of attention from the people of the village, much to the dismay of Azra. She soon allowed herself to grow bitter and spiteful, and constantly teased and bullied me. As I played with my Tyran playmate Dozu and tended my garden of blue roses, Azra isolated her self and studied powerful magic to make herself fierce and respected.
When my sister and I grew to be ten years of age, our mother fell gravely ill. She decided that she needed one of us to take her place, but hated the idea that she had to choose. She decided instead for us to battle each other, and the victor will become the heir to the throne. We battled in the center of the kingdom in front of the entire empire and in what seemed like a stroke of luck, Azra was shamefully defeated. Full of shame and blind fury, she left Istaldia in search of a way to get revenge.
Two years passed and my mother finally died. Mournful, I sat at the throne and received the ceremonial tattoo on my right eye as a sign of royal authority. A massive assembly was held to praise my attainment of the throne, and I knelt before the king to receive my helm. As soon as the crown was about to be placed on my head, a massive blast of energy came from the east and impaled the king in his chest, killing him instantly. Azra appeared in the crowd and cackled coldly, and an army of Xan burst through the walls and began to raid the city. Azra flew to me and looked me in the eye, her chilling blue eyes looking deep within my soul. Her expression was incredibly cold and changed, like she saw me as nothing more than a speck in existence. She snatched the helm from the king's cold hands with her tail and placed it on her head mockingly. Furious, I lunged at her, and we battled viciously as the rest of Istaldia was in flames. The battle lasted for hours, and then chance allowed me to strike Azra in the stomach, making her fall to her knees. She gave me a cold emotionless look as a ball of fire gathered in my palm. As I was about to strike, a loud, shrill, unworldly roar erupted from behind me and I felt large claws tear at the flesh on my back. I fell to the ground defeated as I looked into the scaly reptilian face of Ixeera himself. He laughed malevolently and helped Azra to her feet. All I could think about was saving the geotrix and, in a state of panic, I dragged my limp body to the throne and pressed a green button under the seat. The button led to the library, where it triggered the altar where the stone rested upon to transform into a rocket that launched itself into space with the stone inside. In an act of rage, Azra flung me across the stage where I hit the back of my head on a stone.
The last thing I remembered was Azra telling me in her smooth hissy voice, "Live on sister...live with memory, with fear, and with hate...and when you become as envious and furious as I did, come and find me so we can fight as equals once more."
And with that, I fell into darkness. Luckily, Dozu and a Laekan goat cub named Siri came by and took me to safety.
In a nearby cave just outside Istaldia, Siri, Dozu, and I made a pact to always stay together and fight together as long as the Xan existed. And since then, our friendship grew to an everlasting bond. Through every battle we've won or lost, every enemy that fell at our feet, every ally that joined and gone astray, we still kept our pact. But this is only the beginning, the beginning of a long perilous journey.