Author's note; tome one side note

This is one of the notes from the apendicies of the 'Epic of Petra'. The original author included notes such as this that were relevant to characters not Petra herself. The first note was already shown; the Headmaster and Mrs. Prevance's conversation. These are the second two notes; offered chronologically.

Dante told me about this years later. It's a shame no one had told me then or things would have been different; but such is fate.
This was one of those times. A near Death experience; the poor kid would be traumatized for the rest of his life.
I arrived to see Her strike him. She wasn't even aware that a shade was the real power behind Her blow, all that mattered to her was beating him for some percieved wrong. The Califrax was behind her, laughing. It pained me that nothing should be done about him, but it wasn't his time.
I could see the boy's soul now, the shade simply pushed it into the open and filled the void it left. I wasn't the only one who saw it though, the other girl; Nielda certainly, but more like the Nielda of my day than of this one; she too saw it.
Well I thought she did anyways, turns out some Nielda have this ability to sense demonic power. What with the shade possesing the boy's body everything in her was probably screaming for action. She brought her hammer to his knees and crippled him; Everyone else's shock was palpable. Among other things it is very hard to break Nieldic bones; bend them perhaps, but to shatter them takes a lot of power. She propped his body against the wall and recited a sort of rhyme. It was an old one, it took me a moment to remember the Nieldic Excorsist's Cant. Califrax began to charge her as the shade and the boy's soul switched places.

I won't brag about stopping him, In the end it really wasn't me. I realized that it wasn't the boy's near Death experience, it was hers. So I delivered the message I was sent with.
"When you have spent all, and none can cull the flowing of your life. HE walks the land of the Human's birth as one of them. A mere touch of HIS robe and even the wounds of a demon's horn can be healed."

Shame it took her so long to remember, sometimes Nielda can be just as forgetful as Humans. But I suppose He has his ways.




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And that spring several future rulers watched the stars

"Tell us Vlad, where is this place you're taking us?"
"Ah, Kora; it is my homevorld. Lovely little marble in space, blue and green, vith a hundred shades of brown."
"Sounds nice, why did you only invite us?"
"Kara, don't spoil this. How often do we get a chance to visit people's homes with an invitation?"
"Vhy vould you need an invitation? Could you not simly valk right in?"
"If you were trying to rob or kill them maybe. It's not polite to enter someone's house uninvited."
"I see."

__--__--__

"Here ve are. My palace of vonders in the mountains of the east."
"It's lovely Vlad, simply...Kara put that back!"
"Pub hut bah?" Kara muttered through a mouthful of gold coins.
"Take them. Gold is to me as vater."

Kora followed their host around the regal fortress with awe. Kara tried to see how much she could fit into her blouse without it showing. It was indeed a wonderful palace, with vaulted ceilings and inlaid columns. And not a guard or servant to be seen.

They arrived at the balcony. Kara looked down at the little town below; thinking of the wonderous things she could buy with her newly aquired wealth.
Kora looked up to the sky in the west.
"Vlad, have you ever seen a star as beautiful as that one?"
He stroked her arm gently, "I see on more beautiful still."
"We should see how close we can get to it." Kora continued, ignoring her companion's advances. "A star like that can't possibly mean nothing. They say that when a king is born there will be a bright star over him, shining brightly with his power. If that's true than the king under that star must be even more of a king than all of the other kings in the universe."
"I bet he's loaded. We should visit."
Vlad sighed, this was not going the way he'd hoped. "I suppose if you vish to see it, ve can go and visit this newborn king of yours."

__--__--__

"I think we should give them something. It would be wierd for a couple of young travellers to show up uninvited and empty handed"
"King should have money. Have some of...I suppose it's his really."
"And spices; Babies smell like, Well babies. I picked up some Spices in town; they can cover up the smell in that critical part of his life."
"Vhat spices did you get?"
"Murry and Frank's incense."
"You mean Myrrh and Frankincense? Those are funeral dressings!"
"Oh! I just picked them cause they smell nice. Do you think they'll be offended?"
"We'll just give them some extra gold and hope they don't notice."

Vlad told me about this later, much later. I always figured that there had to be some good explanation for his fear of crosses; I suspect he felt bad about the lack of thought they put into birthday presents. Kora's prophecy did start forming around this point; Must have gotten a glimpse of the future in His presence. Kara must have had a bit of her sister's gift too; Sight of a cross had as crippling an effect on her as it does on Vlad, only she cried instead of just freezing up. I find it ironic that out of the whole team; I, the one who served him longest and most directly, am the only one to have never actually met him while he was alive.

Kinda sucks really; even Dante made the time to meet him.