Dressed in long flowing robes of mesmerising jade green, and coated in beautiful tapestries of grey mountains, blue rivers and brown forests, with enormous pale white moons displayed prominently above it all on his back and long sleeves, as a serpentine like dragon encased it all in his dominant embrace, while a mask of a similar shade and design covered his face, as his own loose pale silver hair beautifully framed it, we all beheld the owner's voice approach us with a gentle bearing to him

"Prince Weixiao." I casually greeted, as I eyed him suspiciously.

"Lord of the Eclipse Empire." He replied with a respectful bow.

"Prince Weixiao." Aurelius repeated my greeting, but unlike me he lightly bowed to his eastern counterpart, since unlike me, he was not of a higher status than him, so etiquette must be maintained.

"Prince Aurelius." Weixiao returned the greeting, again bowing but far less than before; he too maintaining clear boundaries of social status, which to some might seem like a perfectly ordinary thing to do, but a foe often times knows their adversary more than a lover, and I knew that this display had absolutely displeased the always competitive Aurelius, who had absolutely seen this completely mundane adherence to tradition, as a grave insult and reminder of his deficiency when standing next to me.

"So..." I nonchalantly began "what brings the two princes to me this evening?" I slightly emphasized the word 'princes' in a petty and childish taunt to further aggravate Aurelius.

"Curiosity." Weixiao instantly answered with a small smile, and I sensed no lie in his voice, but that didn't mean he spoke the whole truth, as I still suspected another reason for his sudden appearance, especially since the eastern court has been keeping an unnaturally broad distance between them and everyone else, so I kept my guard up against him.

Aurelius stared for a moment at the eastern crown prince, his thoughts unknowable from his expression, before he then turned to me again and said with a carefree, yet undeniably expectant grin concealed behind his golden mask "I am the same."

Looking at the two an uncontrollable small smirk emerged upon my lips, as an old sensation once again re-emerged from within me, a feeling of competition as I beheld my two rivals from my past life, once again trying to quietly subdue me with subtle words and jabs.

'Trying to escape the endlessness of my shadow I have thrown you in, by entirely disregarding the great monument of prestige I had built from the innumerable accolades I have achieved in a paltry few years, by suggesting that they are merely curious of me and nothing more? Smart, but you are a few centuries too young for that little scheme of yours to work on me.' I thought in sadistic glee, seeing through the two's impromptu plan, that might have worked on a younger me.

"It seems the two young princes have a great deal of time on their hands," I said as I turned to Darius, before returning my gaze to the plotting two "but we on the other hand have far too many issues to deal with to allow us to indulge in simple curiosity; so if you'll excuse us." I finished as I nonchalantly spun around and began to take my leave.

My counterattack was a precise one, that expertly defused their earlier blow, while delivering one of my own, that not only struck true, but also left them reeling in momentary silence, too shocked to instantly reply, leaving the perfect moment to dominantly exit this low level skirmish.

Yes, this was undeniably little more than a childish spat between immature and still inexperienced monarchs, one that none of us truly benefited from or were hindered by; just a useless exchange of sophisticated and ultimately meaningless words.

Yet it was one I still gleamed great gratification from, as I imagined their stunned faces behind their masquerade masks.

Yet the irritating thorn of my life, the curse of my very existence, had yet to wreck my momentary happiness, and like a disgusting fly attracted by the faintest light in the midnight world, a smooth, magnetic voice, one that ground against my ear like a high pitched screech, then sounded out, locking my briskly leaving legs in place.

"You were having such an intimate meeting and didn't invite me? You're going to make me feel left out, you know."

An ancient rage, one set ablaze and fed through centuries of war and hatred was once again erupting in my chest, like a dormant volcano finally let loose to spew it's hidden wrath, as my blood began to boil like magma in my veins, all under the backdrop of the chanting cries of 'Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!' that reverberated hypnotically in my mind, as the tyrant thrashed against the confines of my skull, feeling as though he wished crack open my skull and rip that wretch with his own imaginary claws.

"Prince Nicholas." The two behind me greeted the latest arrival, but I remained rooted in my place, not moving an inch, as I battled the overwhelming desire to kill him, right here and now.

'We are stronger! We are smarter! We are more experienced! We can-No! We must butcher him, NOW!' The tyrant rampantly roared in urging.

'Silence you fool! If I do that, then all I have safeguarded so far will be lost! My family, my empire, my loyal men, Everything!' I shouted back at the beast.

'We will lose nothing! We can manage! But we must kill him! He is the greatest threat!' He rebutted.

'Do you think I don't know that?! But I am still at the third gate, and even if I had my weapons on hand to utilize the full extent of my aura, I still wouldn't be able to reach him before his guards do! And even if I did, it would spell war with not only the Boreas Empire, but the entire world as well, for the horrid offense of breaching the sacred accords of the Banquet of Concordia! So how do you expect me to continue protecting what I hold dear? How do I find Eve? How do I shield her from her fate my previous life? How? Tell me!' I roared back a reply with the only words that he and I ever agreed upon, which echoed out in the fragments of my fractured mind, finally silencing the writhing monster.

"Prince Nicholas." I belatedly replied a few seconds later, which caught the attention of them all, but they couldn't decipher my odd reaction.

Yet I cared nothing for that, as I stared coldly at the face of my most reviled nemesis, the man whose face plights my peaceful dreams, and whose possible actions plagues my waking thoughts.

He was dressed in long winter robes, that matched perfectly with his neck length snow white hair, with fur and silver threading weaved in intertwine with sapphires, that greatly complimented his pale blue eyes; yet the most unique thing of his attire was undoubtedly his mask, which only covered the upper half of his face, while leaving his mouth without cover.

"It's an honour to meet you, lord of the Eclipse Empire." He replied with his trademark smile, that's said to have enchanted all the maidens and ladies of the Northern Ivory Court, but in my eyes was a smile so revolting it caused goosebumps to instantly sprout across my skin, like parasitic mushrooms after rain.

"Have you also come here to sate your curiosity?" I asked, suddenly thankful for the masquerade party, as I only had to keep my eyes in check to not reveal my true thoughts, and not the entirety of my face.

"And is that an oddity in your eyes lord?" He asked with the same smile, yet now tinged with the stench of faux sincerity and veiled sarcasm "After all, you're an enigma that boggles not just the mind, but common sense itself, wouldn't you say?" He finished as he glanced at the other two younger princes.

Since ironically enough, despite Nicholas being born so late to his father, he was still the oldest of us, being nearly nineteen, with me coming in second a year after, before Weixiao and his twin sister, Ziyi, then following two years later, making them both sixteen this year, and then finally Aurelius, the youngest of us, was born a year after them, making him fifteen.

"I can't say I disagree." Weixiao was the first to answer, and again I heard no falsehoods in his words, I even caught the whiff of genuine admiration, making momentarily reconsider the meaning behind his earlier words, which I'd interpreted as a subtle method to undermine me with Aurelius' help, but now I'm not so sure.

"You do have a point, lord Nicholas." Aurelius then began, interrupting my thoughts, as he continued "Though your actions are well known to all, I always wondered how much is exaggeration and how much is fact, but since we are fortunate enough to be in your presence today lord Alexander, would you do us the honour of shedding light on our suspicions?"

Though he spoke with undeniable courtesy, one that clearly reflected his princely upbringing, the sting of jealousy and his need to diminish my prestige was easy to notice.

'You're still far from the Aurelius I know.' I mocked in my mind, looking at the clumsy attempt of this young prince before me, that still hadn't had his fangs sharpened enough to stand so proudly in front of me, as I simply replied with an edge of ferocity to my words "I assure you my lords, that all you've heard of me is nothing more than watered down drivel of the actual events."

They all stood before me stunned, chills running up their spine, as the illusion of a cut suddenly began to burn of their throats, but before anything else could happen, a gentle yet cold voice, like the morning dew in the early hours of a frigid day, rung out, saying "Pardon me, my lords."

Turning to the voice's owner, we saw Elisabetta, Nicholas' older sister bowing to us, before she straitened back up again and said while looking at her youngest brother "Nicholas, Farther demands your presence. At once."

He seemed to be broken from his trance at his sister's words, before his earlier confidence and demeanour returned to him and said "Oh well, seems like we have to cut our talk short today. It was a pleasure, my lord; let us meet again sometime."

'The only place I wish to encounter you again is on the opposite sides of battle, with my blade slotted into your neck and my fist clenched around your heart!' I venomously spewed in my head, as I watched him turn around and leave, while my eyes and body, the only thing they could see, remained the epitome of calm.