?: 

“My Lord, the investigators. They have already gotten a hold of 3 of the regional directors. I am afraid they may soon find out about your existence. If worse comes to worse they may find this place. There are reports that they are enhancing their dark magic detectors. They may be able to use them to find you” 

The dark figure in front of me simply kept looking out and sighed. “You must have faith. My spiritual and magic power is strong. What they call a dark magic detector is primitive. They know not of the true nature of dark magic. You need not worry about whether they shall find me. If they do. It is just the will of the spirits.” He sat down and played with some of the rabbits around him. His majesty The Dark Emperor was a mysterious person. He had made our organization the most powerful it had been in centuries. But I suppose greats work in mysterious ways. I didn't decide to judge. He was a powerful man. However, for some strange reason he was very religious and extremely superstitious around white rabbits. To the extent that anybody caught touching his rabbits, was killed by him on the spot. Most of us had come to the conclusion that he was raising rabbits for food or raising them as a powerful super weapon. We mostly assumed the latter because of how much he cared for those rabbits. I need not disturb his majesty any more. I just went back to reaffirm the officers of the organization that his majesty had no fear.

Tamashi Kunshu:

Today was my birthday and my mother was hosting a grand ball to celebrate the occasion. I didn't have the heart to celebrate much. I felt like I was so close to seeing Asura again. There seemed to be a good trail to a person who looked very much like him. But I didn't want to get my hopes up like I had the first couple times. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. I opened it, and a servant came holding a silver tray with a black and red box on it. I thanked the servant and snatche the tray out of their hands. I immediately took it inside for closer inspection. The box seemed to be made out of a beautiful black polished wood with red designs surrounding the whole thing.I opened the box, and there on a velvet pillow was a beautiful golden necklace, with diamond and pearls all over. It was absolutely stunning. I put it around my neck and it saw a black envelope with a golden eagle on it. I opened the envelope very carefully so as not to damage it. Inside there was a letter. The letter said:

“ Dear Tamashi, My dear soulmate. 

Happy birthday. 18 years old, wow time flies no? Not a day goes by where I don't think of you my darling bunny rabbit. Please take this as a symbol of my everlasting love for you. I hope we may meet again. There is another Gift I have for you, my little bunny rabbit and I truly hope you like it. We both have turned to an age of maturity in our lives. Our paths have diverged as was written by the ancestors, but I know we will reunite once more. 

Yours truly and faithfully

Asura Khan

I was still in shock. He had been missing for just over a year and a half and he still wrote to me and gave me gifts. I still considered us to be together. As it appeared, so did he. I fought the urge to cry. If he loved me and missed me so much, where did he go? Why did he disappear? Why won't he reach out to me beyond these letters and stealing a kiss on a hill? I just couldn't understand. I couldn't fathom what led to this situation. I remembered he said he had another gift for me. I looked inside the box and there was nothing else in the box which confused me. Then there was another knock on the door. I simply yelled “who is it?”. No response came. “Who is it?” still no response. I hid the box under the bed and covered the necklace under my dress. I walked to the door and opened it. There was nobody outside but when I opened the door a little more, something fell to the floor with a metallic clang. I looked down and I almost fainted. In front of me was a beautiful Narakam sabre. The hilt was a shining silver and had a pointed diamond embedded into the bottom. The scabbard was a marble-like white with veins of silver running across it. I took out the sword itself, it was an urruk blade, yet without tasting blood it had taken on a colour. The blade was a dazzling white with a silver edge. I could feel the aura of dark magic emanating off of it strongly. I saw some words carved into the sword and painted in gold, near the base of the blade. It is read in the symbols of the teikoku language : Protection of Death. It was rather strange. But the blade itself was stunning. It was weighted well. It practically sang. I looked down and noticed there was another sword on the ground that hadn't been there before. I picked it up and was in utter disbelief as to what was in front of me. It appeared to be Asura’s own saber. I took out the blade and sure enough, it was the black and red blade of my soulmate. I couldn't believe it. Asura loved his sword more than anything. There were only 4 things he loved more than that sword, Me (he is a sweet talker), his eagle and his country and his sword in that order. So it seemed impossible that I held his sword. He would never give anybody his sword voluntarily and it seemed based on the letter he did indeed intend for me to receive it. So that left only 1 possibility. Asura was not only still alive and active. He was in the halls of my palace and in all likelihood was still here somewhere in the building to make sure I received his gift. I was about to rush out when my mother came upon me. I quickly hid the sabers then faced her. “Tamashi come quick, you need to make your address to the ball.” “Mother-” “Look you need to do this, please no more arguments. You are a president and are destined to be an empress one of these days.” “Mother it's not that. Asura, he-” she cut me off again while she dragged me off to the ballroom. “Look, I know he is your soulmate, it's his birthday too and you miss him dearly. But his location is unknown. If he was here I am sure he would just want you to enjoy yourself.” We reached the side entrance of the ballroom. I was supposed to make an address but mother agreed I could keep brief and just spend the evening with my friends. I prepared myself and entered. I entered the grand ballroom and walked along the carpet laid out for me. I kept my head level and smiled along the way. All along the carpet dignitaries from all nations bowed with utterances of “your imperial highness”. I walked up onto the stage and there stood all the world leaders. All had been invited and all came. They presented me with gifts. The most important gifts came from the rulers of the other 3 empires. Emperor Vansh of the Kanshai Empire presented me with a bracelet studded with rare kanshai desert pearls. Emperor Toloui of the Undesten Empire presented me with a beautiful Undesten bow and said to my mother, “Your little one is a fine archer, this bow of the highest quality should help her be the best in the world.” Lastly there was Emperor Khan of the Narakam Empire. He presented me with a Narakam Flute. It was decorated beautifully with swirls and Narakam style designs. “This is a specially enchanted flute, it will enhance your magical power immensely.” I thanked the emperor. Suddenly somebody who appeared to be a servant knelt before me and presented a red stone box. He spoke in a quite tone. “ His majesty The Emperor sends his regards”. Mother was confused. I took the box from the servant who swiftly left. I opened the box and pulled out a single, long black feather, with a golden tip. Under it a large single Sapphire about the size of my thumb. The emperors and mother all gasped. Emperor Khan whispered “Asura”. Mother was confused and the leaders began whispering to each other. I just took charge and went up to begin my speech. “I, Crown Princess of the Teikoku Empire and President of the Kulinan Territories, Tamashi Kunshu. Would like to thank you all for coming to my 18th birthday celebration. This is a major event in my life and I thank you all for being able to share it with me on this special day.” I looked out to the as I spoke. “I would also like to acknowledge the birthday of his imperial highness crown prince of the Narakam empire-” that’s when I saw in the shadows in the corner of the room, a set of familiar glowing red eyes looking at me. I lost focus and lost track or reality and shouted “ASURA!” He seemed to notice that I was staring at him and squinted his eyes a bit. I got flustered and abruptly ended my speech with “ um, thank you and please enjoy the night” I rushed off stage. My mother and emperor Khan were right behind me. I rushed to where I had seen the eyes. And noticed somebody was indeed standing in the corner. It was dark and hard to see anything but a black silhouette. I said softly “Asura? Is that you?” the silhouette opened its eyes to reveal a set of red irises, the whites of his eyes had turned completely black. It didn't say anything before a dark cloud surrounded it. I ran to where the silhouette had stood but alas, it was gone. There was nothing left but the smell of burning wood.