Ladies and Gentlemen,
I bring you the first chapter of the second part of Synchronicity.
Paradise of Light and Shadow.
Enjoy~
( Don't forget to leave a review, favorite and follow. ;D )
Chapter 1: A Stranger
The clock hit 9 o'clock and the kingdom was, once again, bustling with liveliness. There were children playing, the markets from yesterday continued to shout at the passing people complimenting their goods and old women complaining about their husbands and how their children have no limits to their energy.
'Is it always like this everyday?' Len thought, amazed by the energetic atmosphere around him that was almost as lively as the day when he had just arrived.
"Freshly picked oranges and bananas! I'm dropping the price to 3 pence today, it's a great offer! Buy yourself some while the price is low!" A costermonger was shouting to the public from his stall, suddenly, people were starting to approach the stall. A crowd formed surrounding the stall. 'Should I buy some too then?' Len ran after the stall without any second thoughts. After that, more and more people headed towards the stall.
Len fought hard to squeeze into the crowd, it was a long battle, but he eventually managed to get into the front line. The costermonger laughed at him, "Ahahaha! Young man, I admire your determination! Thus coming this far, what would you like to buy, eh? I'll lower it to 2 pence for you." Len sweat-dropped, rubbing his slightly bruised arm.
'Violent crowd..' Len thought.
"Ah thanks.. I'd like to buy an orange and 2 bananas." Len handed the man the money, and put them in his pocket. He handed Len a bag with an orange and 2 bananas. Len bowed as the man waved goodbye and returning to the customers.
He took a banana from the bag and happily peeled it. 'I should sit down and eat my snacks somewhere quiet..' Len searched for a place where he could eat his snacks peacefully. In almost every corner of the kingdom, there would be homeless families. Len admired them, because even though they were going through such hardships in life, all of them managed to smile. It made him even more fired up on striving to complete his goal, to fulfill his purpose for coming to the kingdom.
At last, Len found a bench beside a tree. 'Lucky! A shade.' He grinned to himself. There was already someone else sitting on the bench, but he didn't care, there was room for two anyways. Len made his way towards the bench and sat down at the far end. He continued to eat his half-eaten banana.
"You.." The stranger beside him began to talk. Len looked around to see if there were any other people around them that he might have been talking to.
"I'm talking to you." This time, the stranger directed his gaze towards Len. He wore a hood over his head, but Len could tell he had black hair.
"Me?" Len pointed at himself with a surprised look. He eyed the stranger in front of him and noticed that he had citrine-colored eyes. Almost like the color the innkeeper had. Kagene Rui, was it?
"Yes you." The stranger slowly took off his hood that blocked his face revealing a familiar look.
"Kagene.. Rui?" Len stuttered. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? As far as he remembered, Kagene Rui was a little girl that wore black dresses, but the 'stranger' he was looking at right now was like looking at a mirror.
"Don't panic. Rui is my twin sister that helps me run an inn our mother left us. I'm Kagene Rei. You and I just happened to look alike." Len let out a sigh of relief.
"..I can sense it from you." Rei's tone of voice was serious this time, his eyes were still directed towards Len, which made him a bit uncomfortable.
"Sense what?" He asked with a puzzled-face.
"I have the ability to see the potential that lies within others. And yours is telling me.. something quite extraordinary." Rei narrowed his eyes at Len, observing him like he was some kind of being that wasn't originally from this world.
"And what is this 'extraordinary' potential you see in me?" Len replied with a sarcastic tone of voice as he continued to eat his banana.
"It's telling me that you, are the first born male in history, to ever grasp the power of a Diva. My intuitions has never wronged me. I'm quite shocked myself." Len's jaw dropped, his hand lost all its energy to hold the banana and dropping it.
"Wait, no, that can't be right. How am I supposed to believe that? My sister was the one who was chosen." Although Len despised bringing up topics about his sister in conversations, he figured that this one would be exceptional.
"I see.. they took your sister away without viewing her potential as a Diva, because clearly, both of you were to take the role because each of you have half of the ability to become the Diva. But since a Diva is required to be a female, your sister was taken to play the role alone."
'Potential as a Diva..? Then that means Rin was..'
"It must be hard for you to process the whole concept of this at the moment, not to mention that you've been living your whole life viewing the situation differently." Rei added.
"If.. what if she doesn't have the potential.. there would be consequences, wouldn't there?" Len noticed Rei's expression turn dark.
"Well.. yes. That is true. Consequences are to be expected. The reason the castle has announced another Diva selection rather early is because they know that the current Diva, who is likely to be your sister. Because she only has 'part' of the ability to become the Diva, she cannot fulfil her role without consequences because you have the other half. Therefore.. she uses her own life force to keep the dragon in its slumber."
Silence.
"That means.." Len's eyes widened, his hands trembled. Rei noticed his reaction and felt pity towards the fellow. As much as Rei wanted to make it seem less 'dangerous', it would still count as a lie, a white lie.
"..It means that she's bound to reach her limit sooner or later."
...
Len knew where this was going..
...
"..She's dying."
'He's lying.' Len said to himself. He tried hard to convince himself that all of the things this guy was saying.. was all a lie. But then again, who in the right mind would lie about something like this? Len didn't know who to believe anymore. His own conscience or this stranger whom he had just met? What if he was only shutting himself away from reality because it was something he couldn't handle, something he could never accept? He was frustrated.
"I'm not lying."
Len looked back at Rei with disbelief. "But how am I supposed to..?"
"How are you supposed to believe me? A stranger whom you have only met? I know, I can feel your frustration, it's obvious that you think I'm lying. You came here, specifically to save her, yes?"
Len nodded in response. Rei stood up from the bench and turned to Len.
"If you're willing to come with me, I will discuss with you more information about the cycle and how the castle operates." Rei smiled at Len, although he was still uncertain, it was the only way to make sure, and to discover the truth behind what the castle was planning for the future. But what Len was most worried about was the fact that a stranger had suddenly, out of nowhere, offered to help him for no reason at all.
Who is Kagene Rei?
The bartender approached Rei ready to take his order. "Do you, gentlemen, want anything?" He asked while he dried beer mugs using a tea towel. "Yes, I'll have cider and a.." Rei turned to Len. "Do you want anything? My treat."
"It's alright. I'm not that thirsty." Len answered with a bit of a sheepish tone.
"Alright then, make that two ciders." Rei ordered to the bartender. "Wait- what? I already said that it's-" Rei stopped his hand right in front of Len's face, making him quiet.
"Anything else?" The bartender added. "Nothing else. Just two ciders." Rei replied. With that, the bartender turned to the shelves behind him that displayed a variety of beer and wine, pouring a bottle of cider into two glass mugs.
"Thanks.." Len managed to get out of his mouth. Even though Rei practically ordered him a glass of cider by force, he still needed to express gratitude towards his 'generosity'.
"So.. before we start discussing things, I haven't caught your name yet."
"Kagamine Len." Len's voice was sturdy and stiff.
"And I'm guessing you've had a.. tragic past involving the draconic cycle?"
...
"Tragic wouldn't even describe it.." Len clenched his fists tightly, his muscles slowly became tense.
"Ah.. I must apologize. It's rude of me to ask you about personal experiences so straightforwardly. I didn't mean to offend you." The bartender placed a mug each, beside both of them. Rei bowed to him. "Thank you." Then handed the bartender the money and walked away to serve other customers. Rei cleared his throat, prepared to move onto another subject.
"Moving onto what we came here to discuss. You know about the system of the kingdom right? Surely you would have gathered information about this place and the castle's system before you came here."
'Thank the heavens that he decided to move onto another topic.. I can't control my anger when people ask me about.. that.' Len thought.
"Not quite. I came here by impulse." Rei's eyes widened with disbelief. How could someone be planning on starting a revolution without a plan? This had to be some kind of joke.
"I understand that it's foolish. I've recently reached an age where I have the freedom to venture out to different places. I came here to look for my sister, the current Diva. That's all I've been training myself for, my whole life." Len felt ashamed, now that he's noticed the huge gap in his plans, even though it was obvious. He didn't have a plan. What would happen to him if he just barged into the castle without having any strategies?
"I can kind of understand how you feel. Of course you would feel that way, considering the fact that you've waited for this chance your whole life." Rei took the handle of the mug and began to drink. Len did the same, he forgot about the cider.
Rei continued to talk as he put his half-full mug down on the counter.
"Long ago, when a human and the dragon made a deal, not only to save the kingdom from harm, but also the entire world. Think about it, that dragon covered this whole kingdom in a sea of fire in one night. Imagine the world caught on fire in just a week. Because of the dragon's impact, the whole kingdom was influenced, thus making our main religion Dragonism. I'm sure that you already know about the deal, yes?"
Len nodded in response, though he was trying to catch up with all this knowledge about the kingdom. He just wanted to get straight to the point about the castle.
"Straight to the point about the castle and the main source of the cycle." Rei continued.
'It's like he can read my mind..' Len thought to himself as he narrowed his eyes slightly at the person in front of him.
"The person that's leading the new cycle is the descendant of the past priest. She's the first female priest to lead the cycle, so it's a big event. Her name is Megurine Luka, she's a noble as well as a priestess. The security around the castle is tight, so it might be a bit hard for you." Rei added, taking another gulp of his cider.
"I expected that.." Len sighed.
"When do you plan to make your move? Tonight?" Rei asked after drinking the last drop of cider from the mug.
"No.. tomorrow afternoon. I have to study the castle's shortcuts, and the positions of the guards. But.. I've been wondering.."
"Why I'm suddenly helping you?" Len stared blankly at Rei. He seemed to always know what he was about to say next. He was startled when Rei started to chuckle.
"Well.. you see. My sister and I used to have a younger sister named Rue. Unfortunately, she was also taken from us since her birth. It traumatized both of us, since Rui was a bit more attached to her compared to me, it practically wrecked her, even now. I couldn't do anything because I was a coward, but you, you're different from me."
"You have a chance."
That one sentence, gave Len hope. It brightened everything. His whole word.
A chance.
'He experienced the same thing..' Len thought.
"It's getting dark. Finish off your cider and I'll let you stay for free in our inn for the night. You want the cycle to end as much as I do, so this is the least I could do." Rei smiled at Len. He obviously couldn't say no to the offer because then, he couldn't just sleep on the streets when the temperature was freezing during the night. With one last gulp, Len finished his cider and stood up from the seat following Rei out of the bar.
The sound of light footsteps and a dangling anklet echoed throughout the cave.
The dragon has awakened.
Rin slowly took steps towards the dragon's direction. Facing the front, fearless. No maiden would be dauntless enough to face such a creature and sing to it without a trembling voice. Every second, their fate would be hanging onto an old rope, reading to snap any moment.
But Rin was different.
Unlike normal young girls, they grew up in a loving environment surrounded by their families, while Rin, on the other hand, grew up with the dragon that once set fire on a whole kingdom. At first, she was terrified of it, because of how it looked. The scales, the spikes, the wings.. everything about it was.. horrifying. But Rin for one, compared to the previous Divas, managed to befriend this dragon. Soon enough, the dragon grew quite fond of her too.
Rin continued to make her way towards the dragon, the fear she felt towards the beast from back then, had faded and turned into attachment. She stopped about four feet away from the beast, and faced the dragon with a determined expression.
'Protect..' Rin mumbled to herself as she clutched her necklace and looked at it, sadness filled her eyes. Although the necklace was a reminder of her deep longing to cross paths with her brother, it gave her something more.
The undying will to live.
Not only for the sake of others, but for the sake of her brother as well.
She looked up to see the dragon, patiently waiting for her performance. She faced him with strong expression as he began to dance beneath the withering light that poked between the cracks of the cave. That small spotlight provided her the feeling of connection with him.