Chapter 3

"In the Carpathia household there two things you must know, you are forbidden to go to the northern forest near the castle and the whole west side of the castle is also forbidden,"

"Oh," Circe says not at all interested in either of the two.

"You are not going to ask why?" Ananke asked annoyed.

"Would you tell me?" Circe asked a little amused by his childishness.

"No…but still it's normal etiquette,"

"But I am a country bumpkin, like you said, I don't know basic etiquette,"

"Wha…hmph anyway the Carpathia house hold has five wings; Arsia, Aysel, Ahmya, Armaros and Ophir. Each of the wings have their own owners and their own rules. Arsia belongs to the second child and the first daughter of the house hold Riona Aneislis, she hates loud noise, her wing is the furthest and all the magical plants in the castle belong to her so you can't touch them without her permission. Aysel belongs to Avianna Aneislis the second daughter of the house. She is a mage and a seer, she one of the protectors of the Aneislis family,"

Protectors huh, it reminded him of Eliphas, he hadn't seen him for six years. Protectors were chosen from children of the main family, they led the guards of the house hold and their goal was to protect the family with everything they had. Eliphas was one the Dahl family protector.

"Ahmya belongs to Xanith Aneislis first son of the house hold his side doesn't have many rules along as nobody disrespects him he doesn't have a problem. He is the general the Carpathian sect of the imperial army, so he's mostly never here. Armaros belongs to Elivi Aneislis, the youngest son of the household, he doesn't have a major role in the house hold yet. The western side of the castle or Ophir belongs to the duke who is also the master of the house and like I said the only rule he has is not to enter the place. Where we are now is the central part of the palace where guests stay and also where her grace, the duchess, their mother, stays."

"Well that's a lot," Circe manages to say after a while.

"Get used to it there is more,"

They walked him through the castle showing him the kitchens, servants quarters, green house filled with exotic plants and a huge play ground where the duke keeps the beasts he collects. They finished the interior and took him out to see the fountains and exits then finished by showing exactly where they said was forbidden and Circe could see why cause just outside the door that led to the west wing he felt violent and unstable energy.

"We have ten minutes remaining, let's go to the dining area,"

They led him to a huge room filled with candles, this was something he had noticed it seemed the duke preferred lighting the mansion the old way, instead of mana crystals he uses candles with no magic at all, it felt a bit wasteful.

"Take a sit, the duke will be joining you shortly," they told him as all the servants left, he could only sense the guards on the other side of the door remaining.

It was getting boring, he stood up and walked around the room admiring the portraits and the artistic candle holders, he then sat down and started looking at the table trying to entertain himself but failed. Seeing that he could not do anything, he leaned back on his chair, but maybe due to the day's fatigue and boredom he started feeling drowsy and he was soon a sleep.

As soon as he slept his mind began to drift. His surroundings faded away, and he found himself in a different realm—a realm where reality and dreams intertwined.

CLANG!

The sounds of chains banging against each other reminded him of a familiar dream that he'd had for as long as he can remember, a dream whose contents he would forget as soon he woke up.

He looks at the familiar door in front of him and his body starts moving before he could tell it to, he reached the door and slowly lifted his hand towards the door and the sound of the chains got louder as he opened the door. Before he could understand what was happening a black shadow engulfed him and then and ear splitting scream could be heard echoing through the area, it took him a while to register that the scream was coming from him and that his skin felt like it was being stabbed by a thousand knives hot knives coated with salt and the bones inside his body felt like they were being re arranged. It was excruciatingly painful.

He woke up with a gasp sweating, which was normal for him, and as always the dream that scared him to the point of waking up was forgotten. With a groan, he got up and sat on the bed in a tired manner. He was still confused.

He had footsteps passing him then a bright light entered the room letting him know that the curtain were opened.

"Good morning, young master, it's dawn, you need to clean up and head to the dinner for breakfast, the duke is already there. You do not want to sleep through another meal" a familiar calm voice spoke.

"Mohan?"

Cerrise blinked his eyes open, momentarily disoriented. As his vision cleared, he saw the familiar face of Mohan, his loyal servant, standing by his bedside.

"Yes, it's me, young master," Mohan replied with a warm smile. "You must not keep the Duke waiting."

Cerrise nodded, slowly sitting up in bed and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Thank you, Mohan," he said, his voice still laced with a touch of confusion. "I'll freshen up and head up in a minute."

Seeing that he was up, the Mohan exited the room telling him that their was warm water in the tub and leaving him to wash.

After washing, he was finally awake and his mind finally exploded and his face turned red with embarrassment. He knew how he slept. He's seen beast's with better sleeping postures, did the duke find him sleeping? He felt like digging a hole and burying himself in it.

He wore the clothes prepared for him and walked out of the door. He found the servant outside and she lead him towards the dining area.