I slowly opened my eyes and saw that it was morning. A bird had made a nest outside my window, so their morning songs filled the room. It was quite annoying but they looked too cute to be disturbed.
My clothes were drenched in sweat. The nightmare I had slowly came back to me.
"Ah…"
I exhaled.
"It was so hot, I couldn't breathe. More importantly—"
A pause.
"Who were those children?"
No answer.
"Hopefully it remains just a nightmare."
I stood and prepared a small breakfast for myself and gave the birds outside my window some grains.
I noticed three eggs in the nest.
"Awwn." I smiled. "You guys are having a baby."
Poured more grains into their nest.
"Here…"
After eating I took a shower, dressed up and made my way to Zahir's dorm.
The fool was still fast asleep.
Wryo slapped his face.
"Wake up, Zandren's here.
"U-uh?" He groaned.
"Why is he still asleep though? It's almost noon." I asked.
"He and Isik spent the entire night discussing girls and their part sizes." Wryo answered.
"I see..." I replied.
Wryo scoffed. "Men."
I looked at him, and didn't respond.
He laughed. "Well.. I'm a different kind."
I managed to get Zahir out of bed, with the help of Wryo, and shortlyout of his room.
We had no work to do today since it was the week's end.
Students have four days of lectures and the rest for training or leisure, however they wished to use it. Students are also allowed to go out of the Academy premises into nearby towns for a quick change of scenery. Besides that there were a lot of fun things to do in the Academy.
And here I am, heading to the library...
I sighed.
Zahir turned to me."What do you need with the soul tree anyway?"
"I just need to check something." I replied.
"You just needing to check something wouldn't get you out of your bed dude." He replied.
I laughed. "Ok, ok. The book I borrowed from the library had something to do with the Soul Tree. So I want to confirm."
"Oh. Ok then."
—
We arrived at the library shortly after, and made our way to the tenth floor.
Zahir and I discussed about blessings along the way. We got to the third floor when all of a sudden Zahir's arc stone beeped.
He brought it out. And checked.
"Shit..." He said.
"What's up?"
"Sorry Zan, but I have to go now. Room crises." He bolted out.
"Oh..uhh. Ok." I stood there alone.
Wondering what he meant by room crises.
"I guess he'll tell me when he comes back." I turned to continue to the tenth floor.
I saw Eimira, approaching me.
I smiled, waving. "Hey..."
She tucked her hair. "H-Hi"
I was about to ask what she was doing here but she had already wrapped her hands around me.
I chuckled softly. "What's up?"
"Nothing. I'm just tired." She replied.
Eimira snuggled closer, digging her face into my chest.
It was cute.
I stroked her hair. "Stop, someone's gonna see."
She looked up at me. "I don't care anymore. Let them see. I'm allowed to be happy."
I smiled, and wrapped my hands around her.
"So what are you doing here?" She asked.
"Oh uh..." I whispered in her ear. "I'm trying to see if I can get to Nyseria."
"Oh."
Her expression brightened.
"I heard her presence in Nymirel suddenly disappeared, it wasn't that strong to begin with." She added.
"That must be why..." I sighed.
"What happened to her?" Eimira asked.
"The last time I spoke to her was at the Palace. Remember?"
Eimira nodded.
I continued. "She told me some things that angered someone... She called this person Elyndra."
"Elyndra?" Eimira's eyes narrowed.
We walked, Eimira leading the way.
I held her hand.
She giggled silently.
"But…" She said. "That name, Elyndra, sounds familiar."
"Hmm. You mentioned it once." I replied.
She tilted her head. "I did?"
"Yeah." I replied. "When you told me about how you awakened."
She didn't respond. Then suddenly, her face lit up.
"Oh, I remember now." she said. "I didn't ask about her so I can't provide any details. Sorry."
I chuckled. "It's the reason I'm heading to the tenth floor now. So, no worries."
We walked on in silence. Slipping through students.
Eimira said she didn't care anymore, but her movements says otherwise.
We entered the Dark Forest floor, and as expected. Silence.
Eimira smirked. "Phew… Finally."
I chuckled. "What happened to "I don't care anymore." Hmm?"
She nudged me. "Shut up."
We both laughed.
We resumed walking.
I tugged on Eimira's cloth. "Hey."
"Hmm?"
"Why does the presence of the Primordial Dragons matter in a nation?" I asked.
"Hmm." She thought. "How do I put this?"
She paused to gather her words.
"So, their presence is like a mark, telling veils or whatever comes from the dark forest."
Eimira took a deep breath.
"This is my place, stay out!"
I laughed.
"And with the presence of Nyseria gone—"
"That means the territory is up for grabs." She said, her smile slowly fading.
We arrived at the tenth floor.
Suddenly, Eimira remembered she forgot something.
"I was supposed to meet up with Aurivelle... I completely forgot." She said.
She brought out her aurastone and contacting Aurivelle.
Her face relaxed.
"What? Problem solved?" I asked.
"I love this kid, haha." She walked up to me. "Here look."
She showed me her aurastone, and it was a message from Aurivelle saying that she saw us and decided that she'd meet up with Eimira later.
I laughed. "She's quite mature about things for her age. How old is she again?"
"She's turning nine soon." Eimira replied.
I chuckled. "Wow. That's young."
Eimira stopped, pointing out her finger.
"Well, there it is." She said.
I turned.
The soul tree, well a fragment of it. Unlike the one from the palace, this one was much more smaller.
We walked closer. The wooden flooring slowly opened up into a grassy field, as if we entered someone completely different.
I turned, and saw an animal, grazing.
"What?" My eyes narrowed.
Eimira giggled beside me.
"You just experienced your first Void." She said, still giggling.
"Void?"
"Yeah. The entire tenth floor is a void."
Eimira stepped before me.
"So—"
She leaned closer.
"How are you going to turn into a spirit?"
I chuckled. "What do you mean?"
"You know…" She said. "You usually have to become a spirit to cross over."
She stepped back a bit.
"So, I ask again. How do you turn into a spi—"
"That won't be necessary."
A wave of oppressive force washed over both Eimira and I.
Our bodies trembled. We couldn't move.
No.
We could.
But we were too scared to.
"It's no use. She's not here."
We didn't respond.
"Kneel."
A force pushed us to our knees. We couldn't resist the Authority this voice holds.
The voice softened.
"Look up."
A young girl sat on one of the branches of the Soul Tree. Her face had no expression, just a blank stare into the horizon. Not even gazing down at us.
"Nyseria isn't her—" she said.
"She isn't because of you!" I snapped.
Her gaze shifted. Focusing on me.
Instantly, I was sent flying and crashing, just for me to appear in the position I was originally at. But now bruised, and bleeding.
"Speak only when I tell you to." She said.
The girl floated down.
"You."
She pointed at Eimira.
"You have a striking resemblance to her. I almost made a mistake."
Eimira trembled, as this strange girl approached her.
"Quite remarkable."
The girl caressed Eimira's face with her hand.
A tear rolled down Eimira's cheeks.
"Shhh. Don't cry. I won't hurt you."
She wiped off the tear.
She grinned. "I physically can't."
The girl turned to me.
"You are the boy that woman talks to."
She crouched before me.
"Tell me. What's so special about you?"
I remained silent.
"No answer uhn." She said. "Well. I won't force you."
She stood.
"As for Nyseria. She isn't here."
"Of course she isn't. You took her." I said.
"Zandren, please, remain quiet." Eimira sobbed. "Please."
The girl laughed.
"Only the strong can tell someone is above them." She said. "It'd be better for you if you listened to her."
The girl began to levitate.
"Seeing as you don't know where she is, then coming here was pointless." She said. "Need to report back."
"Who are you?"
She turned.
"Ulyra." She replied. "A fragment of Elyndra."
She vanished.
Eimira took deep heavy breaths.
She broke down.
I hugged her.
"It's over now." I comforted her.
"You're fine."
Her grip around me tightened. "Please, that was too risk. Don't do that again."
"Hmm." I nodded. "I won't."
"Let's go." Eimira said, standing up.
We descended down to the first floor and parted ways.
"The wounds have closed." Eimira said.
"Yeah, though the self healing takes a lot of energy from me." I replied.
Eimira giggled. "I remembered you passed out the last time."
"Princess." She whispered.
I rolled my eyes. "Ha ha. Really funny."
We stepped outside the library and we were instantly greeted with stares from all directions. I was a bit bothered by them and turned to see if Eimira was doing fine. But at that moment, she wrapped her hands around mine and moved closer to me.
"You really don't care anymore." I whispered.
She smiled. "It's my life. I'm allowed to be happy."
We walked past the crowd and they were still surprised that the Lost Aegis, Captain Eimira, someone they believed was too cold to love, was actually in a relationship with a random person no one knows about.
We could hear whispers from the crowds as we walked past.
"So that's the guy she's with?"
"He's kinda... Handsome. Their kids would be beautiful."
"Tsk. He looks like a commoner" a male voice said.
Another replied to him. "But look at his tag. It's the same as Noble tags."
"Ok, Zandren. I'm starting to get uncomfortable." Eimira muttered.
"Me too.."
"Let's walk fast."
"Yes."
We picked up the pace.
We finally arrived at my room. When I closed the door. Eimira collapsed on her knees.
"That was harder than it looks." She said, trembling.
I laughed. "I thought you were fine."
She replied. "That's just my poker face dammit."
I crouched beside her. "Feona and the rest would be proud."
"Oh yeah..." She turned to me. "After your ceremony tonight. Would you mind coming over to my place for the night? Ryona,Tabbi and Chichi will be there too. Zahir is welcomed too."
"I actually have one more friend." I added.
"All your close friends are welcomed." She replied with a smile.
"I'll let them know."
I gave her a soft kiss on the forehead.
"I'm kinda hungry now." I said.
Eimira stood. "Oh yeah, I'm gonna cook up something."
"Can I help?" I offered.
She laughed hysterically, then looked straight into my eyes.
"Oh... You're serious."
Feeling a bit dejected. "Wow!"
"Sorry, sorry." Eimira said, still laughing. "Maybe you could help out with things that need cutting."
"Any sort of help I can offer is fine." I said, my head down.
Eimira wiped off the tear in her eyes. "Ok, let's get started."
We put on the matching aprons Eimira pulled out from nowhere.
"Woah!"
She chuckled. "I've been preparing for this day."
She brought out her Aurastone and called Aldren. She told him the list of things she needed and also had him deliver them to my room.
"Poor guy." I whispered.
The real cooking started and I began by cutting up some meats and vegetables as I said I would earlier while Eimira handled the main thing.
She was really good at it and I wondered where she picked all these up.
I walked up behind her.
"Where did you learn to cook like this?"
She chuckled. "From my late mother and my current mother. Why do you ask?"
"Well... Uh..." I hesitated.
She laughed. "I didn't strike you as the type that could handle house work?"
"Your words not mine."
We both laughed.
All of a sudden the door opened. I had forgotten to lock them after Aldren dropped off the ingredients.
"Zandren. Zandren. Where are you?"
Zahir.
I walked up and saw that he was also with Wryo.
"What's up?" I asked.
He held me by the collar, drooping to his knees.
"This whole time we were buddies, you couldn't tell me about your relationship?"
I laughed. "I was avoiding something like this."
"I heard from someone that you were with Eimira. Please tell me it's a lie." He said.
Wryo walked up to him. "You know the kinda guy he is. It's no surprise he pulled Eimira."
Zahir sniffled.
He finally noticed the apron I had on. "Why are you wearing an apron... You can't cook."
Eimira burst out laughing. Dropping to her knees.
She finally revealed herself.
"Oh my. I wasn't expecting him to know that." She said.
I lowered my head. "Now I feel more dejected."
"Hi Zahir." She waved.
She turned to Wryo. "And you must be the other Friend."
Zahir and Wryo both observed how Eimira was dressed and finally noticed the matching aprons
Their jaws dropped.
"Matching Aprons!!??" They both yelled.