The dinner in that evening was unlike anything Zaiveil had experienced in the past eighteen years of her life experience.
There's no one dictating precise seating, no hushed servants monitoring every movement for a misstep worth reporting.
Instead, the whole royal family gathered around a long table in a smaller, private dining hall, the candlelight flickering warmly against tapestries depicting constellations she still couldn't name, while Zyver argued animatedly with Heriot about whose fault it was that the fountain in the eastern courtyard had briefly turned purple two summers ago.
"I'm simply saying," Zyver said, gesturing with a fork for emphasis, "that if you hadn't startled me mid-experiment, it wouldn't happen at all."
"I only sneezed once."
"But it was in the most important moment of my experiment, Heriot."
"Boys," Empress Hernia said fondly, not looking up from where she was carefully arranging a piece of honeyed fish onto Zaiveil's plate despite Zaiveil's perfectly capable hands. "Your sister is trying to eat in peace."
"He started it," Heriot said, pointing toward Zyver.
"I most certainly did not, it was all your doing!"
Zaiveil watched the exchange with quiet fascination, the easy chaos of it, the total absence of danger beneath the noise, is something relaxing in her eyes
At the head of the table, Emperor Zyron allowed himself a rare, unguarded smile, and even Herox's composed expression cracked into something warmer as he shook his head at his younger brothers.
"Does this happen every night?" Zaiveil asked quietly, leaning toward Zyrcus, who sat beside her.
"More often than Mother would like to admit," he said, amusement threading through his voice. "You get used to it. Maybe next time, you'll be adding to the chaos yourself."
"I doubt that."
"We'll see," Zyrcus said, and something in his certainty made her almost believe him.
After eating their dinner, It was Empress Hernia who broached the subject, once the plates had been cleared and the worst of the boys' bickering had settled into companionable quiet.
"Zai," she said, folding her hands atop the table, "there is still so much of Creignmeia you don't yet know. Elder Cryzton told you fragments during your journey through the cosmos, but that little information alone won't serve you well, and you'll need to learn more about this world since we'll know your charm soon, we're just waiting for you to adapt."
"Training?" Zaiveil asked.
"The Awakening Test," Herox said. "Every charmer in Creignmeia takes it at Elysium, to determine what charm they carry and how many spell slots they begin with. Given who you are or what you are, everyone goes through that process to determine their status in this world. The elders believe it should happen soon. Best you understand something of the world you're about to step into first."
Zaiveil considered this, turning her water glass slowly between her fingers. "Then tell me," she said.
"Tell me everything. I'd rather understand things now, than stumble and blindly experience things that would harm me."
Emperor Zyron leaned back in his chair, studying his daughter with quiet approval. "Very well. Where should we begin?"
"From the very beginning," Zaiveil said simply. "What is Creignmeia?"
It was Zyver, unsurprisingly, who answered first, practically bouncing in his seat at the chance to lecture someone who couldn't yet argue with him.
"Creignmeia is our planet," he said, " and it has five continents, all ringed and surrounded by living oceans, because the water responds greatly to charm energy, did you know that? and skies that shift depending on what's happening beneath them. That's part of why the tremors and the shimmering sky were such a big deal. The world itself reacts to things. It's alive, in its own way."
"Five continents," Zaiveil repeated. "And ours is?"
"Southemeia," Empress Hernia said. "Kingdom-ruled, mostly peaceful, home to Celestia and a dozen sister kingdoms. Aethore, Vulline, Aquilla, Terrakia, Floreia, and others. We sit at something of a crown among them, given the Hyeleux bloodline's history. And it's because the famous and one of the most dangerous places a charmer could ever be was right besides our kingdom. The Havenmyst Forest."
"Centremeia is the sects heart," Herox continued, taking over with the precision of someone who'd clearly recited this lesson to visiting dignitaries more than once. "Nearly every major sect and faction calls it home. Sects are also among the strongest in Creignmeia, nearly eigth out of ten people would rather join a sect, just to improve the charms within them."
Something in Zaiveil's chest tightened faintly at the mention, though she couldn't place why. She let it pass without comment.
"Northemeia is split," Heriot added. "The half is ruled by kingdoms, while half was untamed wilderness, thick with beasts most sane charmers avoid."
"Westhemeia's fully controlled by kingdoms, like us, though they are much more smaller."
"And Easthemeia," Zyrcus said, his voice dropping slightly, "is the one you should be most careful of, even in conversation. It's the most dangerous continent by far, full of hidden realms, ancient beasts, and at its heart was the most terrifying place pf all, the Abyss."
"Abyss?" Zaiveil repeated slowly, an old instinct stirring, the same sharp attentiveness she'd once reserved for the Crosantas and their most dangerous enemies.
The table quieted, just slightly.
"A stronghold of demons and dark creatures," Emperor Zyron said, his voice grave. "Few venture near it, fewer still return. It holds an ancient relic, the Dark Oracle Book, said to speak prophecy when it chooses to, and never without cost."
"And the Charms," she said instead, steering the conversation toward something she was curious too.
Empress Hernia's expression brightened, visibly relieved to move toward a topic that wasn't that heavy. "Every charmer in Creignmeia is ranked through trials at the Elysium, the first test a charmer have to go through is the Awakening Test, then the successive Level-Up Tests as they grow stronger. The rankings run from F, for the newly awakened, all the way up through the Godly tier, which fewer than a handful of charmers achieve in an entire generation."
"That sounds awesome, the may i know what rank are all of you?" Zaiveil asked, glancing around the table.
"I'm an SS-rank Ice charmer" Herox said casually, you won't able to see any pride on the way he acts. "Zyver's an A-rank alchemist with dual fire and wood charms. Heriot is an SS-rank space charmer and he's a swordmaster. Zyrcus sits at S-rank as a metal charmer, though he'd tell you he doesn't care that much for a ranking at all."
"I care more about the strength and power," Zyrcus said mildly. "The rank is just what other people call it, cause it wasn't all about the rank, a charms power is the most important thing to remember."
"Charmers can be on the same level or rank but the quality of their charms would determine who's more stronger, So Zyrcus is right, little sis. Focus more on the charms power, not on the ranking." Herox added
"How about me?" Zaiveil asked. "What might be the charm that I would get?"
The table went quiet again, though this time the silence carried something closer to anticipation than caution.
"No one knows," Empress Hernia admitted softly. "Well not really, based on the history and the said prophecies of our Royal Clan. The first girl that would be born in hyeleux clan would carry Cosmic Veil lineage, a goddess-tier legacy, if the old texts are to be believed. Elder Cryzton believes your rank won't be fixed the way ours are, he believes that someone like you who's soul could travelled through the cosmos would never have a weak charm, cause not every soul could withstand the pressure and power of cosmos. Cosmos it self could erase a weak soul existence."
"That sounds dangerous," Zaiveil said carefully.
"It sounds extraordinary," Zyver corrected, eyes shining. "Do you understand how rare that is? There hasn't been a charmer like that in recorded on history. You could rewrite everything we know about the ranking system, you're unique little sis."
"Or draw attention neither of us wants," Emperor Zyron said, quieter now, his gaze steady on his daughter. "Power like that doesn't go unnoticed, Zai. Not by the kingdoms nor by the sects and maybe ever the abyss itself."
Zaiveil met her father's eyes, understanding the warning beneath his words even as the rest of the table fell into contemplative silence.
"I've survived being noticed by many dangerous people before," she said quietly. "I'd rather understand my own strength than fear it."
Something in Emperor Zyron's expression eased, pride blooming quietly beneath his concern. "Spoken like a true Hyeleux," he said. "Though I hope, for your sake, that this world will proves it worth to you than the one you left before."