'It has been about 5 years since mom left us.
Her absence has been harder on us than we thought it would be. Everyday we missed her presence more and more.
Isadora had it really rough the first few months, locking herself up in her room and refusing to meet me and father.
Sometimes she would only open the door for her Pegasus, which she named Snow. Snow has been a big help in getting Isa to recover.
I would visit her every night, but since she refused to open the door, I had to sit down in the hallway and tell her about my day, comfort her, and promise that she will get to meet mom again.
Sometimes I would hear her quietly sobbing on the other end, and it broke my heart everytime. But I had no choice but to be patient.
My efforts bore fruit, as one evening I came for one of my routine visits and I didn't hear her cries. In fact, she was quietly leaning against the other side of the door, waiting for me.
I was so happy that I almost cried, but I held my tears back, and proceeded to tell her about my day.
After a week or so, she would reply to one of my ramblings, and I heard her voice for the first time in a while. Just that little moment alone, gave me more push than I ever had.
We were still in Arx Immortalis, with no contact to the outside world. Still in a cage, but just with a bit more leg room.
Father mentioned that we will be able to leave soon, but he didn't give us a time frame or a reason for our isolation, just told us that it will take time.
But anyway, what has played the biggest part in Isadora's recovery, was when father came back from one of his long absences, with two maids in tow.
Mila and Nala. They were twins too.
They had long, soft blonde hair that fell to their buttocks. They appeared to be in their early 20s. On their arms were tattoos that had no distinct shapes, in fact it looked like drawings of a baby.
And the closer you looked, the more confusing it becomes.
Mila, the older and bustier of the two, was dressed in the traditional maid uniform, she wore shining silver pearls as jewelry, and had on one side of a shade on her left eye.
Anyway, she had the personality of a caring older sister, exactly what Isa needed at that time and so, she became Isa's personal maid.
(Image in discord channel)
Meanwhile, I got Nala. The petite, younger sister. She is a very rude one, constantly slacking off and not doing her job as a maid.
She had red eyes with a thin, slit pupils, almost like a cat's. On her nose was dark shades, and she had golden threads on her dress at her midsection.
(Image in discord channel)
But I couldn't blame her for not doing her job, because I think that they had no prior maid experience before us.
Their true shine was in the training room.
They were very intense, and knowledgeable about the art of fighting, or killing, rather.
I think that was their purpose, the reason father brought them; teaching us how to kill, or how they like to say it: 'Protect ourself'.
Speaking of father, he has been rather scarce these few years, more than he has been when mom was around.
When I asked Nala if she knew the reason for his absence, she said that father has to give all his attention to matters of the empire.
Apparently, there has been small skirmishes with the werewolves and demons, that could be blown into a full on war at any moment.
But I know the true reason that he has been avoiding us is because of the guilt he felt towards us.
For not being able to give us a happy and loving home.
So he avoided us, but by doing that, he drove a wedge between us and we no longer feel as close to him as before.
But we still love him.
And me?
Well, things have been very routine for me these past years.
Everyday Nala would wake me up with at the same time, very loudly, and early at that.
It was very frustrating being waken up like that, but after the first few times my internal clock adjusted and I woke up before she could enter my room.
You should have seen her face the first time I woke before she could arrive, it was that of a toddler robbed of fun.
Priceless.
After waking up, I freshen up and then it's straight to training center where Nala is already waiting with combat gear on and daggers in hand.
Training was hell, especially for me as I had to train my physical condition, the art of wielding three different weapon types and empty-handed combat.
The first of the weapon training I did was daggers.
It is like tradition for vampires to wield the daggers, as it fits perfectly with physical characteristics of the race.
Heavily based on speed, agility and precisely striking at critical parts on the opponent's body.
And Nala is intense on the training grounds, pushing my body to the limit each and every day.
I think she is just using training as an excuse to bully me.
Proficiency in daggers depended heavily on how capable the wielder was and not on techniques or how well you execute specific movements, because daggers was used entirely in a free flowing form.
All we did was focus on precision, footwork, and identifying openings you could capitalize on when fighting against opponents.
So, basically, we did a lot of sparring, which ended in me having a lot of bruises.
Then it was time to train with the katanas.
Nala was not as knowledgeable about swords as she was with the daggers.
That's why we only focused on the basics: movement, footwork, grip, stance, balance, and the occasional sparring.
Turns out wielding two swords was harder than it looks.
Personally, I feel like I grasped the system behind it pretty quickly, but Nala's constant reminder that true geniuses would've been more proficient than I am–in half the time–was enough to tone down my ego.
Since Nala was lacking in the swords department, I had to spent a lot of time in the library to read more about it and to adjust my training accordingly.
That wasn't the only reason I visited the library, though.
I was the first vampire in history to wield two katanas, so there was no information for me to fall back on, and also since I've chosen a different path than previous generations, I have to create my own sword art.
That's why I frequented the library in order to do a ton of research about sword arts, to use some of the knowledge applied in them as a foundation to my own sword art.
But Nala advised me to wait until second awakening before I choose which sword arts I want to use as motivation for my own.
The last weapon I received training in was the estoc.
Again, I could only focused on the basics when training with this weapon.
Not only because Nala lacked in this field, but also because our family has a signature sword art where you have to use the estoc.
With father's absence and the fact that one could only learn the signature sword art after awakening mana, my attempts to practice more in the way of the sword was at a standstill.
But, of course, I didn't train the three different weapons on the same day, no, the schedule for when training each and every weapon was frequently changed.
I don't know on which ground they were changed, but I did whatever Nala said who we'd do on that day.
I'd like to think that I'm really talented and that no one my age would be able to hold a candle against me in a fight, but Nala said my skills were 'decent'.
Barely worth a mention.
I have a feeling that she is purposely underselling my skills just to spoil my mood and to keep my head from growing too big.
For a long time it was only me and Nala, but after a couple of weeks Isadora left her room and she and Mila joined in on the training.
Isa only trained with the daggers.
The reason for that is because when we chose our soul weapons, she resonated mostly with a magic staff, which then altered her soul and should give her the mage skills upon awakening.
Since she had no mana to practice her magic, she had to train with the dagger.
After training, it was time to have breakfast that Mila made.
Yes, I trained on a empty stomach. Nala insisted.
After breakfast, I then went to the library and tried to learn about as much of the world as possible.
From swords and magic, to history, races of the world, geography, noble etiquette, the gods and so on.
Now, I finally feel like my knowledge about the world is up to date, but I still feel like there's a lot I'm missing out on, which aren't available in this library.
After studying, I go to spend some time with my Pegasus, which I named Midnight after hearing how simple Isadora named hers; Snow.'
"Prince Julian, Princess Isadora," Mila called out, breaking me put of my internal summary.
"I've been meaning to ask; between the two of you, which one is the older sibling?"