Serelia and Aurelia stood face to face. A complete silence between the two. The Sanguira trio were all tense, all three of them felt the heavy silence.
Serelia took another step forward, until she was only one step away from Aurelia. And then suddenly-
Puff! Serelia falls face first on Aurelia's chest, who just sighs and pats her. "Welcome home, you little gremlin."
"I am not a gremlin." Serelia said in a muffled voice, then got a little up, putting her chin on her shoulder, to look at the three.
"So, what are you three doing at my home?" Serelia asked.
"Haha... Of course, why are we surprised? This is Serelia we were seeing, how could a fight even occur." Arabella muttered in a sarcastic tone.
"Ara..."
"Alright fine, let us explain!"
Then begin the explanation, because the three had no idea about the changes and advancements in the kingdom. They didn't even knew where to go, they asked Aurelia for help when they noticed she was a former Sanguira because of the dragon shaped mark on her neck, and followed her here.
"So... You three were lost?" Serelia asked.
"I hate to admit it, but yes. We were lost." Vesper answered. Serelia turned towards Lucius.
"Lucius, do you have an extra copy of the kingdom's map and the list of house addresses?"
Lucius understood her question right away. He answered her back in a polite tone. "I suppose, there is an extra copy of the two. Do you wish, that I give it to them?"
"Correct."
"As you wish, Young Lady Serenis." He walked out to get the copies from the cart.
"So Serelia... What's with that formal outfit? I don't expect you to wear them casually." Arabella asked, pointing at Serelia's outfit which looked pretty formal.
"Actually, she does wear them often a lot. More like, she made herself get accustomed to this if she wants to win the trials." Aurelia answered.
"I see..."
It was silent for a moment, then the realization hit the three. Trials.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN TRIALS!?" All three of them simultaneously asked, pushing Aurelia aside to question Serelia.
This is gonna be such a bother. Serelia thought with a tired look.
Aurelia got up, and put the three back on their seats in an instant. A very gentle look of anger on her face. "Listen first, act later."
The three stayed quiet from fear. As Aurelia started to explain since Serelia wasn't the type of person to do that.
Serelia was in fact. One of the ten candidates, that took part in the trials. But unfortunately, due to her lack of socializing. She only ever cleared the first trial, and always failed at the second.
"There was no need to tell, that I always fail at the second trial." Serelia muttered, sulking in a corner while hugging her knees.
"I mentioned it, because you have to understand that you can't pass all the trials if you don't change that habit of yours." Aurelia mentioned.
Serelia couldn't deny it. She barely ever socialized with anyone, and had little to no care about her ideology for the world.
"Just a question..." Arabella raised her hand to ask. Lucius also entered back in with the extra copies of the map and list.
"If Serelia herself don't wish to socialize, why is she taking part in the trials then? Wouldn't that only mean she will have to socialize further if she manages to win."
The question left Lucius frozen in track, Aurelia also froze at the question. As the two slowly turned towards Serelia who heard it as well.
"Why do I take part in it you ask?" Serelia muttered. But Aurelia immediately tried to change the topic. Lucius guided Serelia out of the room to the backyard.
"Let's talk about something else! Look, Lucius brought the map and the list. We can start finding your home addresses now!"
"I'll take the young lady out now, we have to go practice as well for the trials!"
Lucius took Serelia out, and Aurelia immediately shut the door behind. The trio watched, as they were confused.
"Wha-" Aurelia shushed Arabella before she could finish.
"I request you, do not ever ask Serelia why does she take part in the trials."
Arabella moved Aurelia away, annoyed. "And why can't we ask? She is our friend, it's our right to know why is she doing something she normally wouldn't."
"And I am her sister, so I also have the right to keep her personal reasons private from others, even if you are her friends."
Arabella couldn't argue with Aurelia on that. A sister's knowledge about their siblings's thoughts were better than their friends. Even if she knew Serelia since the time she joined them at the border, Aurelia knew her since her birth.
"Aurelia, just stop with that..." A male voice called out, as Aurelia turned towards the entrance. A vampire with a strong build and dark hair entered.
"But Father!"
"No buts. Go to your sister." Aurelia didn't said anything against that and left to the backyard as well.
The vampire sighed, as he looked at the three Sanguiras. "My apologies for interrupting, but who the three of you might be?"
"We are..." Arabella tried to think about something. But Vesper spoke before her.
"We are Serelia's friend she made at the border. We came to the kingdom along with her and got lost. Aurelia brought us here."
"Vesper!"
"What? Why should we make an excuse with our friend's family?"
"It's not that but. Ugh." Arabella sighed. "Our friend here is correct sir, we are her friends."
The vampire looked at them, and then sat down at the empty seat. "I see. I am Draven Serenis. The owner of this house, as well as Serelia's and Aurelia's father."
"It's nice to meet you, sir..." Desdemona mentioned.
"I apologise for my eldest's behaviour towards the three of you. Whenever the talk is about her younger sister, she gets really protective."
"It's alright sir. We don't mind it. Siblings being protective for their family is normal." Desdemona replied.
"I apologise in advance if I shouldn't have asked this but... Why did Aurelia got so protective when I asked why does Serelia even take part in the trials?" Arabella asked.
Draven sighed, as he put a hand on his forehead. "How do I explain... Serelia's reason to participate isn't related to the way her majesty rules, at all. But because of what happened to our house because of it."
Outside in the backyard under a tree. Aurelia and Lucius tried to comfort Serelia who had her knees against her chest. Crying. Tears fell down from her eyes, as she made no efforts to wipe them away.
...
BANG! CRACK! Crackers exploded, as a large crowd of vampires gathered at the streets, cheering and screaming. Countless of them varying with a dark, red or silver head.
Crackers continued to explode as ten royal carts, all of them varying in looks hailed through them in the street, all ten moving towards the center of the kingdom or more directly, to the palace.
All the carts stopped in front of the palace, horizontally side by side. All of them opening. Ten different vampires jumping out.
From the first cart, came out a male vampire with silver hair. His outfit, a dark formal coat. He gave a wink, the female vampires in the crowd all went crazy.
"Its Sir Leoric!" All of them shouted his name. Leoric Graves. He is the candidate from the sixth nation, Hecata.
Another came out of the eighth cart, a red head with a charming attire. "This place is always so lively." She mentioned. Evelina Nocturne. The candidate from the fourth nation, Lasombra.
More came out from the rest of the carts. From the third and fourth cart, came out two almost identical vampires except their gender. The dark haired twins, Silas and Seraphine Vayne. From the third nation, Ankou. They wore a perfectly fit outfit, balanced for both looks and movement.
From the second came out a dark haired lady who wore a stylish outfit. Aeloria Seressa from the fourth nation, Lasombra as well.
"Ael!" Evelina called out with a wave, Aeloria waved back with a tired sigh.
From the fifth cart, came out a male red head with a white coat. And from the sixth, came a dark haired female with a blue coat. Caine Grimrose and Mara Jayde. From the fifth nation, Mordrath.
From the seventh, came another silver haired male with a white formal outfit. Darius Grimneth. From the first nation, Noctyra.
Finally from the last two carts, came out Serelia and another silver haired female. Morgana Olivine. Both from the second nation, Nerezza.
"Let's hope you pass the second trial at the least, this year." Morgana teased. Serelia gave no reply, and ignored her with a pout.
The announcer, a dark haired male vampire was flying in the air. He yelled loudly to make everyone greet the candidates. All the crowd cheered loudly.
"And now! Here arrives our ruler. Her majesty, Theresa Morveth herself!" A loud cheer came from the crowd, which was immediately cut off by the sound of lightning that struck the front of the castle's stairs.
The flash faded, revealing a mature female vampire who had a complete royal figure. Her hair, like a long silver string reached past her back, touching the ground. An expectant smile on her face.
"Today marks the sixth attempt of the ten of you to try and overcome me." She looked at all of them.
"Are all of you ready? Remember, it will be harder than last year like always and if you failed even one trial you have to come back next year to compete again."
"We are ready, your majesty!" All of them exclaimed in a serious tone, completely ready for whatever obstacle that would come at them.
"Then let's start the festival!" Theresa yelled, as she snapped her fingers. A large lightning struck the ten of them, all of them disappeared from there.
A hologram made from the lightning appeared in front of the crowd. It divided the ten candidates in ten column, with four blank spaces for each of them.
"We are going to miss it!" Arabella yelled, as her, Vesper and Desdemona ran through the halls of the castle.
Aurelia and Draven told them that they could watch the trials with them from the castle, they will have the guards informed about that already. But the three got late in their arrival because Vesper was busy buying some snacks.
"Hmm?" Lucius walked out of the corner as he saw the three running. He called them out with a smile. "Here! You three came just in time!"
The three stopped when they reached him, breathing heavily. They saw Draven and Aurelia already sat on their seats to watch the trials, along with two more male vampires sitting with them.
"Ah, you three came just in time." Aurelia called as she gestured them to watch along with them.
"Thankfully we did..." Arabella sighed, as the three sat beside them, also watching now.
In front was the arena. All the ten candidates from before appeared right there when the lightning struck there.
Theresa came in front of them. "I hope all ten of you remember the trials well correct?"
All of them nodded in confirmation. Theresa continued. "Let's see whether there is any change among the ten of you." She glanced towards Serelia, as she purposely spoke louder.
"And let's also see whether some of you can get pass the trials you failed at last year!" Serelia flinched slightly at that, almost biting her tongue off. She cursed Theresa in her mind for that.
"So let's begin! The first trial! The trial of courage!" The door behind Theresa opened, as it pulled everyone inside of it.
Some of them got pulled inside of it, others allowed themselves to be pulled in, while others like Serelia and Morgana just walked inside of it.
The five trials, beguns now.