The World of Enivid; The Story of the Forgotten

A/N: Ohshi~ I'm getting a bit faster with this. I'm going to try and work on getting the chapters I've already written posted up before I start classes next Monday night. Just like with the previous chapter, I had to revise a few things here and there and completely reconstruct a few sentences to make better sense.

Chapter 2
Overwhelming Passion, Minerva's Dilemma

The morning after was very tranquil, with small birds chirping within the large oak trees that stood within the backyard; their massive branches overflowing with green leaves to shade the earth of the sun's gentle rays. The sun was just cresting over the horizon on the East, casting long shadows from the tree branches all through the backyard, overshadowing the back of the mansion. The length of the shadows told everyone in the mansion what time it was and how long they had before breakfast, lunch, and dinner. All the house schedules were set according to these shadows. All of the specially placed trees had been with the house for so long nobody in the mansion wanted them gone. Even when some of the other rich families were complaining about them impeding their visions of different areas, the Roselily family and staff didn't do a thing to the trees.

Beneath one of the trees was a circular pattern drawn on the ground, within the grass. It was more marked off with white sand than anything else to keep the grass still growing. At the moment, though, the lines were faded a bit because of what it was used for: training grounds for the soldiers. The lines needed to be redrawn soon before they faded away completely. But it still wasn’t that time quite yet, as there was someone practicing within it. The man was using a drawn longsword to hack away at a large pillar of solid wood. The squad that worked under Roselily requested the family to order the hardest wood that could be found within Kelengan since the soldiers went through many pillars per day of training.

The soft grass was quite comfortable to Minerva, so he normally walked through it barefooted, even though it was still just the beginning onset of the cold season. He started to walk into the circle before the soldier called out.

“Stop right there. I don’t want you coming any closer.” The man's voice was calm but focused, giving the hint that something was about to happen. Minerva stood back out of the circle and watched intently what the soldier was going to do. His sharp blue eyes narrowed, losing interest in anything that was of the real world at the moment. His only focus was the sword, the man wielding it, and the target: the pillar of wood.

The man brought up the sword with his right hand, pointing it into the sky, and then bringing it down on the target, effortlessly splitting it in half from what Minerva was able to catch. But the soldier was not finished. Immediately afterward, he spun clockwise and cut the pillar again, this time in a horizontal fashion, going from left to right, leaving the pillar in four equal quadrants. Sheathing his longsword, as soon as the hilt hit the scabbard, the wood finally registered the cuts and fell into four equal-sized pieces.

The glazed look in Minerva’s eyes was now gone since the move was performed and his eyes returned to their normal, nearly emotionless stare. The soldier turned around and gave the small neko kid a smile, giving him a thumbs up.

“Yet another move for you to try sometime. I know you will go through more wood than all of my other guardsmen this winter.” He laughed heartily as he looked down at the kid, the height difference obvious. “I think you might be able to perfect it within a week, though.” This time the man laughed even harder, slapping his knee with his right hand.

Minerva just looked up at the man, a small smile spreading across his face. “Most likely, Master Tor. It seems easy enough to the naked eye, but there was something extra within it that you was able to refine. I can’t wait to learn the secret.” He let out a small laugh, his long sapphire and emerald hair getting ruffled with the large man’s gauntleted hand.

Minerva retorted. “Hey!!”

Tor laughed satisfyingly, seeing the desired results he wanted to. He always worried that the kid didn’t ever express enough emotion. “Just couldn’t help it, kid. Anyways, it is about time to get inside. The shadows show it is almost time for breakfast to start.”

“Alright.” Minerva nodded his head, watching Tor leave the training grounds again, with his special longsword hanging by his side. Eying such a work of a weapon distracted him a little, but shook it off when he looked at the shadow. It was receding very, very slowly towards a rock that was strategically placed to help determine when it was time to eat for the soldiers that trained outside. It was a white rock with a large B carved into it. Nodding his head once, the cat child walked back to the house, in full thought of the move that he saw Tor execute. He jumped up to his balcony in two leaps after jumping on one of the low pillars that was covered with moss and vines.

Once Minerva entered the threshold into his room, he looked over to his disheveled covers on the ground. He fixed them, folding them up and stacking them on one of the smaller boxes. He had to keep his few items out of the way for people that had to get something from the storage room since most of the non-perishable food items were held here. This was the soldiers' storehouse for long travels. Seeing that everything was alright in the room, he walked to the door and crossed the open threshold, looking right down the hallway to see a fair-sized bloodstain on the wall opposite of the one he just came out of.

Closing the door behind him, Minerva walked down the long, wide hallway and stopped right in front of the blood stain, letting out a small sigh. ‘I could have prevented this if I didn’t actually fall asleep while waiting for Najra to come. I’ll have to tell Tor about it sooner or later, otherwise the soldier’s death would would be a large burden upon my soul.’

Kneeling down, Minerva crossed his right arm on his chest and bowed his head to the spot where the soldier was left to die. “I am sorry Yassor. I should have been more careful.” He waited a minute before he got up and opened the door again. He wasn’t able to do that last night because he was pressed for time before the master thief had gotten away. Nodding one more time to the bloodstain, he crossed the threshold and closed the door behind him; in the same manner he was going to have to tell Tor about his folly from last night. To be able to close that door that Minerva inadvertently opened, leading to deadly results, would weigh very heavily upon him.

Entering the grand hall, a few voices could be heard on the first floor. They sounded like they were coming from between the two staircases that led down to the ground floor on either side of the hall. It was two solders talking about Minerva. Blinking once in confusion, he walked to the edge of the banister, right beside the left staircase leading down and used his acute hearing to pick up on what they were saying. Minerva knew eavesdropping was bad but he couldn't help it with his curiosity. He didn’t want the soldiers to know that he was listening in on their conversation. They were new voices to the neko-jinn, too. ‘Most likely new recruits to replace the ones that had died.’ He let out a small sigh before he focused his complete attention to the men.

“Did you hear last night? A small servant kid beat the shit out of the Great Thief Najra, the man who was nearly untouchable and nigh impossible to catch.” The first voice went on, his hearty voice hushed down to a low volume.

“Yes I did. That has to be the biggest load of horse shit I have ever heard. How the hell could a servant, let alone a kid, attack such a grand master of thievery as Najra was? That just doesn’t seem possible. The little shit should not have that kind of experience for his age.” The second voice continued, his booming voice just the same as the first, though a little lower.

Minerva blinked once, his face contorted into a grim look. He listened more.

“Exactly. There is no way a bratty little servant child like that could do something so grandiose. And Tor even said that the damned cat-eared kid was an expert fighter, much more advanced than most of the guardsmen hired here. And even more skilled than most of the soldiers that are within the City Guard. There is no way in hell that anthro human could ever hope to beat me, the Great Horano of the House of Reina.” The first man’s voice was angry, spitting such vile things from his mouth like that. Minerva felt no ill will to the new recruits, but he still felt a little angry and sad that the two soldiers felt that way.

The second man laughed lowly, agreeing. “Yes, yes I know. You are supposedly the 'strongest warrior in the city of Sal.'” There was a certain humor in his voice.

Horano stifled a growl. “And what is that supposed to mean?” There was certain anger in his words.

After that, laughing was exchanged between the two of them, loud and hearty, not keeping secret anymore. “Bwahaha!! What would I do without you, Lorzo! You are a riot!” The sound of metal slapping against metal was heard; the first man slapping the second one’s back. Then the sound of greaves upon the stone floor was heard. They were leaving the grand hall, going back outside through the main doors.

Nearly infuriated, Minerva patted his face with both hands and put on a steely guise. He was hurt by them words. ‘What did I do to them to make them hate me like that? I just did what any soldier would have done.’ Letting out a small sigh, he let the rest of his emotions flush out of his system with that expelling of air, turning to walk down the stairs. He saw the two men that were just talking about him walking out the main front door, closing it behind them. Both of them were quite large for humans, built very heavily and were quite tall. He was actually somewhat intimidated by them now with what he heard.

Walking all the way down the stairs, he turned towards the center of the two staircases, going towards the wooden door and opening it, entering the dining hall. Tor was there, as was Lady Roselily and Rosalyn, among a few of the elite guardsmen that were stationed to this house. It was normal routine for Minerva to be the last one to enter and walk over to Lady Roselily and await her instructions. Today, though, something was quite different. The Lady actually had a smile across her beautiful features. She looked exactly like a grown up version of Rosalyn, more mature and very well-endowed, always flaunting it whenever she got the chance. And this was one of them chances.

“Minerva! Come here!” Her voice was stern, but there was a certain amount of humor and...respect in her voice? The humor was quite normal. The Lady was a very fun-loving woman and quite valiant. She always treated Minerva with a certain amount of respect, almost like her own child. But today, she was treating him like an adult, like someone who was actually important, which he was most definitely not, considering the status difference.

The young boy hurried over to the Lady and arrived at her left side, bowing to her. “I am here, m’Lady. What is it you would like?” His voice was steady, but if it wasn’t for the fact that he could steel his emotions, it would have been very shaky, considering that this was a most awkward situation, very different than normal.

Lady Roselily smiled devilishly, like she was concocting a plan that was twisted and evil. “Please help the waiters bring in the food. My daughter and the guard are exceptionally hungry this morning.” There was a certain humor still within her voice.

Minerva nodded his head once. “At once, m’Lady!” He left hurriedly before he would have been scolded. While he was going towards the kitchen, he thought about the smile that the Lady gave him and the gleam in her eyes as she looked at him, almost like she was planning to eat him or something. He was more than a little disoriented now. First the two soldiers, now the Lady. What is next? Someone trying to kill him?

Just then, a knife flew right at him from the kitchen, barely missing his left ear. His deep blue eyes were very wide as he turned around to see the knife stuck in the wall. After that, everything went black. His body fell to the ground with a small thud. The chef that threw the knife heard something from the hallway and immediately went to check it out. The fat, old and usually cheery man spotted Minerva on the ground and started to panic, thinking the knife he threw at one of his subordinates impaled the young boy.

Quickly gathering up two more cooks who knew first aid, the three of them went to Minerva, only to see that he was not hurt in the least. The three of them exhaled their breaths in relief. One of the medic cooks went to the knife stuck on the wall, pulling it out, and was looking at the now broken blade. The cheery cook picked up the small child and carried him to a cot in one of the storage rooms that were adjacent to the kitchen.

It only took about a minute for Minerva to regain consciousness. He opened his eyes to see the cheery old man standing beside him, a worried look on his face. But once he saw that the kid was alright, he put on his normal big smile. “Oh! I’m glad to see that you are awake. I’m guessing the knife rattled you enough to make you pass out?” Minerva nodded his head once, still a little shaken from the near-death experience.

The old man let out a hearty old laugh and patted the cat human’s shoulders. “I didn’t think you could actually get rattled like that. Sorry for that. One of my stupid assistants did something wrong and I had to prove my point. Get it? Point? Knife? Gahahahaha!!!” His large belly jumped up and down as he laughed.

Minerva could only give the man a soft smile, letting out a small giggle, unable to keep his steely composure to with the jolly old man’s contagious laughter. “Yeah, it came as a surprise to me too. Just...too many weird things going on today. And that knife throw kinda capped it off on the weirdness of it all.”

“Don’t worry. It wasn’t meant for you. Are you alright? Good! Now help the waiters get the food to the table. We don’t wanna keep the Lady waiting.” The chef left soon after that, leaving behind a hearty laugh that Minerva could not help but laugh at with him.

He was quite glad that the chef was able to lighten the mood some. Otherwise, Minerva would have passed out again from the lack of blood going to his face and brain. Once he felt that he wasn’t shaking anymore, he left the room and helped the waiters take the food to the dining room.

After all the food was in place, Minerva took his place to the left of the Lady again, like always. “Do you need anything else, m’Lady?” His voice was normal and calm, very much average.

What the Lady did surprised everyone, though Tor knew it was coming sooner or later, since the impish grin on her face spoke louder than words. Lady Roselily gently grabbed Minerva by the sides of his face, caressing his cheek with her thumb before pulling his face in and kissing him full on the lips. His eyes were extremely wide, his blue eyes being stared at, quite intently, by the Lady’s soft chocolate brown orbs, a certain hint of humor and...lust in them?

Rosalyn gasped loudly as the elite guardsmen let out roaring bellows of laughter and one was even bold enough to root them on for more.

Rosalyn, Minerva, and Lady Roselily’s faces were flushed, though the cat human's was of the deepest shade. He had never blushed like that before. He always tried to keep himself in line for the Lady, but this time, he could not control himself as she kissed him, quite passionately.

After more than a few seconds of full-lipped kissing, the Lady pulled back, smiling just as impishly as Tor was. She looked to her immediate right, where the leader of the guardsman sat, both of them quite amused with what just happened. She then turned back to the startled kid, still holding onto him. As a matter of fact, her holding him was really the only thing left that was keeping him from completely falling in a disheveled pile to the floor.

The Lady gave him a small wink and let go of his face. Thankfully, Minerva prepared himself and kept his balance as her soft and silky smooth hands released his face, completely red with embarrassment. Rosalyn was the first of the startled ones to speak. “Mother!” She was quite stunned by what she just saw her mother do. “How could you do that to one of your servants? Wouldn’t that degrade your dignity?” The young girl was trying to hide her own frustration that she could not steal Minerva’s first kiss with trying to determine why her mom would do something like that.

Lady Roselily looked at her daughter and let out a somewhat shrill laugh. “Ohohoho~! Why to thank him of course. He DID just help capture one of the most notorious thieves in the entire southern continent of Enivid. And what other way to congratulate him with a kiss from a beautiful lady such as myself. It was perfect! And it isn’t demeaning at all. He is more like family with us than anything else. I’m only keeping him as a servant to save face with the other Houses and with the royal family.”

Suddenly, the Lady took a hold of Minerva's head and clasped him hard against her ample chest in a hug. And with the tight dress that she wore, it only accentuated her curves even more, making her breasts look bigger. After that, Minerva went into meltdown and completely lost all feelings in his legs. He would have fallen to the floor if it wasn’t for the Lady still hugging him. “Oh? Does my little slave enjoy this?” She kissed him on the forehead.

Minerva’s face, along with Rosalyn’s, turned a deeper shade of red, almost looking like a ruby. “Mother!!!” Rosalyn nearly screamed with her shrill voice.

The Lady let out a mischievous laugh and let go of the nearly passed out slave boy, letting him fall gently to the floor, his eyes glazed over, unable to handle everything that had just happened. Everyone except Minerva and Rosalyn laughed and started eating. Soon after, he got up off of the ground, still red-faced, and bowed to the Lady. “H-have I finished everything that you h-have wanted, m'Lady?” His voice was a little shaky at first, but he was able to get a firm grasp of it after the first few words. So it sounded something like his voice crackling.

All the guardsmen burst out laughing. Tor was the first one to speak. “Bwahaha!!! It seems that the Lady has just made a man out of our little Minerva. Within that little bit of time, he just started his adolescent age!!” He laughed again, with the other men laughing harder. Even the Lady was giggling at such a comment. Minerva grinned a little, knowing that the way he just talked did sound that way. The only person that was not having a merry time was Rosalyn.

“Please excuse me. I forgot that I have something important to do. Come Minerva!” She looked over to the servant.

“A-alright...” His voice was a little uncertain as he excused himself from the Lady and the soldiers, following right behind the girl’s quick pace to get out of there.

Tor looked from Rosalyn to the Lady, a sheepish grin on his face. “It looks like you might have gone a little too far with Minerva while Rosalyn was here. I’m guessing that you had that planned the whole time, didn’t you?”

“Yes I did. I knew that she was going to act exactly like that. That was why I did that: to get her riled up and quit beating around the bush like she has been in the past year with her degrading clothing that she wears while with my little servant.” The Lady said servant with a loving tone, getting the questioning looks of everyone at the table.

“What? Can’t an older woman lust over a younger man?” She let out a small giggle. Everyone’s eyebrows rose at what she said.

“You mean...to tell us that you’re after that boy now?” Tor’s voice was in astonishment. Once he saw the Lady acknowledge and answered it with a nod and resting her face on her left hand in a large flush, everyone started laughing again.

“That is great!!! The two ladies of the House of Roselily after the same man! Though Minerva is still only a child in body. Oh, this will bode well with him. He is very much modest about women, and blushes whenever a cute little girl even looks at him.” Tor chuckled.

The Lady raised an eyebrow. “You mean whenever he goes out with you guys, he gets the looks from the girls?” Tor nodded his head, a large smile across his face. The Lady laughed this time.

“Oh that is wonderful. I thought it wasn’t just the two of us that have started to notice that certain...handsome charm that he possesses. Just like his fathers, really.” Everyone stifled their chuckles at what she said. But a few of the newer solders were a bit confused at the last comment the Lady said.

“I actually knew about his family from when Minerva wasn’t even in this world. That is why he is with me now. It was a promise I kept to a man I fell in love with so many years ago, long before I met Lith and married him. Sadly, that man was already taken by a woman.” There was a hint of sadness in her voice and eyes before she waved them away again.

“But I did promise him that I would take care of Minerva if anything happened to him. And in that incident 14 years ago, only a few months after I had Rosalyn, I had to quickly get Minerva before anyone else was able to. I knew that him and Rosalyn would have gotten along well as soon as he saw her cry and started to hold her and rock her to sleep again. She still doesn’t know that Minerva is at least five years older than her. She still thinks he is younger.”

All of the soldiers, except Tor, were surprised to hear that. One of the spoke up. “You mean to tell me that he is nearly twenty years old?”

Tor answered the question before the Lady did. “Yes, he is. But because of his racial heritage, he ages much slower than a human, slower still than the elves.” Everyone’s eyes were widened at this information. But then everything started to become more clear to them all.

“Alright. Enough chat. We still have things to do today. Men! Get to work!” Tor’s voice boomed in the hall, sending all the men saluting him and running out to do what they were told to early this morning. He then looked over at the lady.

“I’m guessing you’re going to let Rosalyn have her way with Minerva whenever the time comes?” There was a certain glint in his eyes with his wolfish grin.

“Not before I have a little piece of him. He is definitely of the Reistorm lineage. I don’t want to pass up an opportunity like that.” The Lady let out a giggle that was very much giddy.

Tor only nodded, excusing himself from the room, leaving the Lady’s presence. ‘Poor little Minerva. Before long, he will have all the ladies within the city after him.” He grinned widely before he crossed the threshold into the great hall and called his men to attention.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Meanwhile, Rosalyn was almost literally pulling a still flushed Minerva by the arm to the back yard, where the training grounds were. Turning around, she scolded him. “How could you let my mother do that to you?” Her voice was stern.

Minerva meekly looked up at Rosalyn, and flushed again when he was really able to notice the similarities between mother and daughter. “Erm...well...she IS the Lady of the Manor. I can’t just pull away, no matter how uncomfortable the situation. She is my master, I her servant. I would have been punished if I showed signs of pulling away from her grasp.” He stated it matter-of-factly.

Grunting, Rosalyn knew it was true and decided to go no further with it, realizing that she could do something just like that while they were training.

Walking into the sand circle, as they like to call it, Minerva walked over to a small shed that was under the gargantuan tree and pulled out a pillar of wood that was used for training. Once he got it, he placed it on the tempered steel pole, since the wood pillar had a hole in the bottom of it for putting it on the pole. He turned to Rosalyn and nodded, driving a sheathed sword that he also picked up from the shed into the ground.

“Alright. Since you are so adamant about combinations, I think it is time we moved to using a sword. You are not yet ready to have your moves flow together in quick succession. With a sword’s added weight, it will help tone your arms and get your body used to swinging it around, which helps with the fist’s speed.”

Minerva went on a little bit more with the lecture, with the young lady intently paying attention. Nearly anything he says she loves to listen to. She adored his soft spoken and knowledgeable voice as he went on with the lessons that he was forced to give her.

Once they had actually started to practice using the sword, Rosalyn had a fairly hard time trying to keep herself balanced with the weapon. The long sword WAS much heavier than she was anticipating, quite a bit heavier for a girl of her size and age and inexperience in using weapons. Many times, Minerva had to quickly catch her before she fell, holding onto her with his strong, yet small arms. And every time that happened, Rosalyn would blush and want to hold back onto him.

After about an hour and a half of practicing the sword, Minerva decided to call it a day with the training session. Rosalyn, as he looked at her, was disheveled from such strenuous work. He took the sword from her and put it back where it was in the shed.

“Wow...I didn’t think that swinging a sword was that complicated.” She was wheezing somewhat as she sat on the soft green grass with her knees to her chest. She had 'forgotten' that she was wearing a short skirt, so her white panties were easily seen when walking to her, which Minerva was doing. As soon as he saw what was under her skirt he turned red in the face and glanced off to the side, pointing at her exposed area.

“Y-you know....you ARE wearing a skirt, Miss Rosalyn.” Minerva could not help but be modest.

The little girl giggled and gave him one of the weirdest smiles he had ever seen. There was something...strange about it. “I know...why don’t you come over here and help me adjust it...” She gave him a wink and started to spread her legs open a little bit, bringing her hand down to her panties and pointed at him, telling him to come over with her index finger.

“...!?” Minerva could not believe what he was seeing. The young Rosalyn was sitting there, purposefully exposing herself to him. His face beet red, all he could do was obey her orders. He wasn’t in a position to resist at all.

Just then, though, Tor called out for Minerva from the main house. Both of them looked over to see him and Minerva called back over to him.

“I’ll be right there!” Minerva’s young voice echoed across the backyard courtyard. Looking down at the now adjusted Rosalyn, he gave her a wry smile. “It looks like I gotta go. I’ll see you later, Miss Rosalyn.”

“Alright then. I’ll see you soon, too, Minerva.” She waved goodbye to him as he left with Tor, disappearing to the front courtyard. Then she started murmuring under her breath. “Damnit! And I was so close to having him, too. I guess I will try harder next time. I’ll get him sooner or later.” She brushed herself off as she walked back into the mansion.

The Lady was standing at her balcony window, overlooking the entire courtyard with her gaze. But she was looking at how Minerva was training Rosalyn and her first real advance on him that spoke on many levels. She watched it all. With a slight smile, she turned away from the glass windowed doors and chuckled. “It looks like I will have to get him before my daughter does. Tonight sounds good. I’ll get him to come directly up to my room after dinner. Then I will turn him into a man.” She shifted around, her lovely petals between her legs starting to moisten with anticipation of having such a person to bed with her. Giggling, she left her room to go about the business that needed to be done today: being escorted by her guardsmen into the main city so that she could run her seasonal errands in preparation of the coming cold season. And since Minerva was going to be with them, she had the rest of the day to plan for their night of passion that will ensue. She crossed the threshold of her door before pausing, looking back into her room, imagining Minerva’s father, Nex, sitting on her bed with no clothes on, beckoning her to join him in a night of passion filled love. Sighing once, she closed the door, determined to get the young Minerva to bed with her before her daughter gets to him.