"Princess Lilian, it's ti to wake up," a muffled voice from one of the house maids drifted through the closed doors of Lilian's bedroom.
Lilian's groggy eyes slowly opened, and a scowl appeared on her face as she rolled over to fall back asleep. Just as she did so, Lilian quickly sat upright, rembering her plan from the previous night.
"I need to hurry and get there before father and brother do," she said hastily, and quickly strode out of the room and entered the nearby washroom.
The maid waking Lilian up was startled by her energy, as it was normally quite the hassle to get Lilian towake up and leave her bed.
"What's got you so excited?" The maid asked as she stepped into the washroom to help Lilian clean up and prepare for the day.
"Hehe, I'm going to prank father and Zeras today," Lilian said mischievously while scrubbing herself clean.
"Dear heavens," the maid exclaid. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"It's an amazing idea!" Lilian exclaid with passionate excitent. "Just you wait. When I get back, I'll tell you all about it."
The maid didn't know what to say, and instead remained silent as she helped Lilian clean up and get dressed. A short while later, Lilian sped out of her mansion, wearing a stunning green dress which fluttered behind her as she raced forward down the mountain and into the valley below, which was starting to be illuminated by the early morning sun.
She quickly made her way through several valleys and past several mountains, and eventually arrived at the center of the Astral Empire capital.
While the Astral Empire was beyond massive, the capital itself was only several dozen miles across, and was nestled within a private mountain range in the very center of the empire. The capital was exclusively used by the empire royalty, as well as other high ranking mbers of the empire.
Beyond the secluded mountain range was Astral City, which stretched out for a hundred miles in each direction.
Lilian arrived at the central valley of the the capital, where most of the common use buildings were located. Her gaze shifted upward and locked onto a floating landmass a mile up in the sky, hovering over the valley.
On that landmass was a palace beyond compare; the palace of the Astral Emperor. Lilian moved swiftly once again, and arrived before a well guarded teleportation formation.
The guards noticed her arrival, and all nodded respectfully.
"Princess," they greeted in unison.
"I'm going up the the palace," Lilian said, and the guards nodded and stepped aside, allowing her onto the platform.
"Has father arrived yet?" She asked one of the guards curiously, who shook his head sideways to indicate that the emperor had not arrived.
"Hehe, perfect," Lilian cheered softly.
The platform then lit up, she vanished, and then imdiately appeared on the floating landmass hovering in the sky. The other end of the teleportation formation was located at the edge of the mile wide landmass, with the palace located in the very middle.
Lilian hopped off the platform and made her way forward, walking through colorful gardens which contained beautiful fountains and incredibly rare flowers, each more stunning than the last.
Since it was quite early, the gardens were quite empty, and only beca more active later in the morning.
'Perfect,' Lilian thought to herself. The less eyes that saw her, the more likely for her plan to succeed.
She reached the end of the gardens, and gazed down the long pathway to the front of the palace entrance.
"Curses," Lilian grimaced, as the palace doors were being guarded as well.
Her father only used guards on the floating island itself when sothing important was happening, and would always ask the palace guards for a list of who had entered before him.
She continued to peek around a shrub, eyeing the guards cautiously. If they saw her, they would no doubt inform her father. A new plan formulated in her head, and Lilian crept around the garden and to the side of the palace, away from the guards. She walked for several hundred yards and then stopped facing the palace
wall.
"The throne room should be just on the other side of this wall. I wonder if I can…" she mused, gazing in both directions to make sure the coast was clear.
When she confird it was, a faint power emanated from her, thick with the Dao of Space. Her face scrunched up with stern focus, and after a short delay, her figure vanished.
The scenery before her eyes changed, and her face lit up with excitent.
"I'm in the throne room!" She cheered, filled with self pride regarding her improving command of the Dao of Space.
"Now…where to hide," she mused as she gazed about. She was currently standing in the corner farthest away from the throne, which was on the opposite end of the room nearly a hundred yards away. The throne was large, golden in color and regal looking, as if only the most heavenly of emperors were worthy of sitting on it.
"I'll need to hide closer to the throne-" Lilian whispered to herself, and stepped forward. Her step halted imdiately, and panic appeared on her face as she heard soft footsteps approaching the closed throne room door.
"Curses. Father is here already!" Lilian cursed as two runes lit up on her forehead, each a different color and emanating a different aura.
The two runes, which were her innate connections to the Daos of Ti and Space flared for a mont, wrapping her in the powers of the two Daos. Lilian suddenly vanished from sight, as if she had never been there in the first place.
Fifteen seconds later, the set of doors to the palace room parted, and a man who appeared to be in his thirties strode in. He had long black hair, a charmingly handso face, and wore regal robes, adding to his already inspiring persona.
"Stange," the man muttered as he inspected the room for a mont. "I thought I detected Lilian for a mont. Did the guards lie to ?" The man frowned, but after his brief inspection of the room, found it to be empty.
"I must have imagined it," he muttered to himself before walking across the throne room and seating himself on the throne.
He sat there i silence and stared at the doors he had just entered, as if waiting for soone's arrival.
In the corner of the throne room, Lilian breathed a sigh of relief as she stared out of the cocoon of ti and space around her, which had hidden herself from her father.
She had no doubt a full inspection from her father would have found her, but he had only briefly glanced about the room, and did not scan it with his powerful divine sense.
"Lucky," she whispered to herself, her face slightly strained. "Using both Daos takes quite a lot out of , so hopefully big brother shows up soon so I can attack."
A few minutes later, new footsteps beca audible, causing Lilian to grow excited with anticipation.
"Finally," she whispered, getting ready to pounce.
Boom!
The footsteps grew louder and louder, and Lilian quickly realized sothing was wrong.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The footsteps were loud, and powerful. Each step shook the floor slightly, as if a massive beast were approaching. Lilian's face scrunched up in confusion, as beasts were forbidden within the palace.
"Who would be so brazen as to bring a beast into fathers palac-"
Her voice cut off instantly, as if she was too scared to utter another word.
Her eyes went wide, her lips trembled, her breathing beca heavy, and a wave of instinctual fear surged within her as a massive four-ard creature stepped through the doors and into the throne room, so monstrous and terrifying, it was as if it had co from the depths of hell itself.
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