Chapter One
Half the world away

A Few hours after the sun had set on Andrei, it was rising again in another part of the world. In a small room made of stone, the obscured sunlight beamed in past the two small bars that kept the Young Lady and Large Cat that were being held captive from any escape. The little light that seeped into the room was focussed on a small metal bowl of water, in the centre of the room, the flecks of light bouncing off the water to be reflected on the walls. That was the only entertainment for the two curious creatures that had spent the last night behind iron bars.

In one corner of the room, there sat a young lady, huddled up against both walls, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees as she held then to pull up against her chest, her head rested on the top of them. Her bright blue crystalline eyes were focussed on the walls, staring off into space, in the deadly quiet atmosphere surrounding her, the only noise was the light breathing of the cat and her own lungs, inflating and deflating every few seconds. The latter was still huddled up in the corner, as the sound of footsteps began to echo faintly from down a corridor, until the heavy clumping slowly grew louder, followed by a set of keys clanking in a lock. The door creaked open, and the noises stopped for a minute or so, before a tall man stepped through the doorframe. Held in his hand was a small bowl, and a spoon protruding from the edge, his face wore a look of disgust as his gaze moved to concentrate on the Lady, yet his eyes showed a form of compassion for her. Moving toward her, he set the bowl on the ground, as her eyes lifted to him, and he spoke.

" nihi'm ayoh pliegwemd. Ied " Although he had most obviously spoken in foreign tongue, the lady seemed to comprehend, and she picked up the bowl, staring at it's contents for a while, moving the spoon around it slowly, a slight frown on her face.

" What. In. Aetherspace? You expect me to eat THAT? " She raised an eyebrow at the man, her gaze lifting to the look of amazement on the Guard's face, as his head turned to look at the cat that had made it's way across the room, gently resting it's head on the lady's knee, pulling a cat-like frown at the bowl, before staring up at the man, as if awaiting an explanation.

" I. I. I was told you were an Aetheon! " The man glared at the two of them, as they shared an amused glance. The Cat peering back up at the guard, his eyes studying the look on this man's face, before The Lady spoke again.

" We ARE Aetheon, simply because I speak English too, Seems you people still have much to learn about our race, " A slight sigh escaped her, followed by a quick shake of her head,

" Whatever shall we do about them Keeley? " The Cat shrugged, yawning heavily, the action pulled at his jaw and his set of perfect and indeed sharp teeth were exposed, in such a manner that may draw some into fear, but this was merely a harmless expression of boredom. The Large cat's eyes fell on the man.

" I don't know Alorae, however, the less they know, the better the advantage we hold. "

The second the words had escaped the cats mouth, the guard had stumbled back, his eyes wide as he stared at the two of them " It Talks? But the only difference is supposed to be the Armlet. "

Alorae's eyes fell to her left wrist, shimmering free was a thick armlet, made of pure gold, but its gleeful glow was not something from here. 'Here' of course being Physeospace, the guard being one of many Physeons that lived there, in a whole universe, the planet Earth was that only one inhabited by 'people'. However the place that Alorae called home was millions of miles away, in the superior universe, Aetherspace, where Almaya and Onellei stood. She herself was what those in Aetherspace call Aetheons, they held a superior knowledge, battle techniques, and an array of other ideals to those of the Physeons, bearing a divide between the two races, and of course it was the Superior race that new more of the lesser.

All This was running through Alorae's head as she continued to stare up at the guard, whose expression was unchanging, still that of bemusement, obviously he and whoever else wanted her held captive hadn't put much research into her and the rest of her race. Of course, that wouldn't have been easy for them anyway. Perhaps that was her purpose, Research? Maybe they had no idea of hierarchy in Aetherspace, to pluck someone like herself from the thousands of Aetheons. Unless they thought she were an easy target, using her for bait. Her thoughts stopped as she sensed movement, the man stepping closer to her, kneeling down in front of her, his eyes baring down into her own Crystalline blue ones. It was then she realised how un-important he must have been, from the look of his uniform. It was a beige brown in colour, he wore a plain beige t-shirt, under a deeper brown coloured jacket, a pair of trousers and black shoes, they were scuffed too, in fact covered in marks, he wasn't wearing a tie either, that was one mark off for presentation, not good. He held all this authority about him, yet from what she could see, he was a nothing. Yet, she was helpless now. He coughed slightly then, clearing his throat to speak.

" Hmm, So. How much is there about you that we don't know? " Keeley and Alorae shared a quick glance then, before Alorae shrugged and the cat spoke quietly, talking more to Alorae than the guard.

" More than you'll ever know. " The man's stare at the woman continued, his eyes were emotionless as far as she could tell, an act, but her own were full of a mysterious happiness, even in the knowledge that this cold stone room was to be her 'home' until Andrei made some kind of move to get her out, which, she figured would be quite some time, as he only knew she was gone. At the thought of Andrei, her eyes fell back to the Golden Armlet, she placed her hand over it, moving her fingers across it to brush over the red bracelet the metal dug into her skin a little, as if to stop her getting at it from wrenching it apart, as she let her fingers continue an intricate search over the alien object at her wrist she lifted her head to the man.

The man's gaze had still been fixated on her for the few minutes that had passed, as she gazed at her wrist, and now his eyes were showing a hint of discomfort, which was displaced, the moment she had looked up at him. And he began again in the same unfeeling tone.

" The only reason we have you hear is because Andrei would have been to hard for us to capture, and that girl of his is too weak, may as well grab his student for research instead, figuring that you will have to know a thing or two about the power he has. "

He snickered a little as he finished, his eyes drawing in a little evil, Alorae frowned as she heard him out, and the cat beside her was stood to his feet, pressing a paw forward to step closer to the Guard, before a gentle hand fell to rest on his head, and he stopped.

" Our Daughter. " Her eyes drawled up into the guard's a sour look apparent, hidden in the sea of blue, "The girl you speak of, is the daughter of a very happily married couple, who I must admit seem to be very much in love. You have no idea how rattled Andrei will be when he finds me gone, You have bitten off more than you can chew, perhaps you will learn for next time you try to learn more about us? "

The guard's eyes had widened again, considerably, as this was revealed to him, and he abruptly stood to his feet, staring between the door and Alorae nervously.

"Uh. This could be bad, you're Andrei's Wife? "
The sound of another set of footsteps started up again, coming to a stop as another man approached the door, he was taller than the other guard, he had a bigger build, and the difference in uniform and his presentation was remarkable. The Beige was replaced with Black, A Pure White shirt, with a Black tie, Black Jacket, Black Trousers, and neatly polishes un-scuffed Black Shoes. On the breast pocket of his jacket, there was a small badge that read in neat black letters 'Commander Grieves' She scoffed a little, glad the man didn't hear it, his attention to full on the other guard.

" What's this? Door Open? You're slacking. " An Eyebrow lifted from Alorae's direction, as she looked between the two men, and Keeley moved forward, only to sit back on his hind legs, staring up at the new guard, his head tilted as he looked to Alorae, who nodded in agreement, a cat-like smirk tugged at his face, looking like a cat having just caught a mouth, his eyes connected back with the Commander, as his eyes drawled at him.

" Hello There Sir. "
The simplistic words brought a look of confusion to the Guard as he stared at the Aetheon Duo, taking a step towards them; he looked back to the guard, frowning as he turned his attention back to the Cat.

"You Speak? Why give us all that trouble yesterday? "
Alorae's head shook lightly as a short pause followed; she let her eyes focus on his, her arms resting on her knees.

" We were going to see how long it took you to realise quite how alike our races are. You Failed. "

The man smirked, and shook his head mocking her silently, he leaned down onto one knee, placing a hand on her shoulder, only to have it shrugged off quickly.

" Your master won't come for you, we've arranged to disconnect your armlet and. "

He was cut short by the other male voice, which coughed slightly, tapping at his shoulder gently
" Sir. Uhm. About Andrei, he isn't actually her Master at all. "

All heads turned to the Guard, who nodded to the Commander, sharing a timid glance with Alorae, who smiled at him wearily, as she nodded slightly to make him continue.

" Uhm, She's his Wife. You see? "
The Commander's immediately threw his gaze on Alorae, shaking his head slowly in disbelief, his eyes closed for a minute or so, obvious that he was thinking hard over this, before he let his eyes bear their weight on Alorae once again.

" Andrei will not come for you, He will have no way of knowing where you are, and probably doesn't even care that you're gone, beside, the small red armlet? It's there to stop the use of your little Golden thing of yours, before we find a way to remove it. "

His smirk lifted slightly, as he stood to his feet, and patted the Guard's shoulder, pointing to the door.

" Come, leave her in peace, she'll need some time on her own to get ready to explain everything she knows about these Aetheons and Andrei's Power Hmm. " At that they both made for the door. The first guard taking a quick glance back at her as he left after the Commander, who was already halfway down the corridor as Alorae flashed a smile at him, Keeley, still sat beside her baring his teeth once more. After the door had been locked, and the sound of footsteps gradually faded, Alorae growled slightly, shaking her head.

"Physeon!" Keeley turned to her, nodding his head slowly as he hopped into her lap, curling round in it to rest his head on her knee, in an attempt to comfort her.

"Indeed they are Alorae, but what can we do? " Alorae's shoulders lifted in a shrugs as she let her hand move to Keeley's head, running her hand down his back gently, stroking him gently, as she studied her wrist still, letting her hand lift from the softness of his fur to her armlet, running her fingers delicately over the indents and bumps, a few thoughts running through her head again as she tugged lightly at the red armlet, knowing she would not be able to pull it off.

" I don't understand how they did this? Physeon Technology halting Aetheon Magicks? "

Keeley's eyes were closed, though he listened to her with rapt attention, letting his thought dwell on her question, he had no answer, he knew as much as she did on this topic, but his heart was telling him that he was failing as her guardian, he felt awful. They both knew that all that could be done was to sit and wait for Andrei, who would certainly know what to do with the red armlet, but until he found her, she figured all they would have was each other and Time.

Time that she knew would be spent trying to figure out how such a simple device could render her harmless, and most of all, keep her out of contact with Andrei, the two of them had been inseparable since the day the two of them had met. A soft sigh escaped her, but reminiscing was to be no use to her now, she shook her head, her body leaning back to rest against the wall as she placed her hands back over Keeley's back, her eyes concentrated on the feline, it's silvery fur, the deep grey eyes, it's build was something between Reaya and Shaika's if Reaya were a household Cat, and Shaika a Lion, then Alorae's guardian would be a Tiger, all the Aetheon race had a Guardian of some sort, their attitude decided on that of their owner, and their type, hereditary. Keeler was slowly dozing off to sleep, and Alorae could feel the gentle tug of sleep slipping over her too, she slipped her arm to hold around the body of the sleeping feline, closing her eyes with another sigh as the two of them drifted into sleep.