(Please tell me your thoughts about this chapter! I'm trying to improve my writing, so if you can tell me what you think, that would be great!)
Sparse clouds did little to cover the bright blue sky. The sun nestled itself high on the blanket of the heavens as its rays touched upon a grand castle below.
A tanned, black haired boy squinted his eyes with visible annoyance as the sunlight assaulted his vision. Putting a hand over his brows, he looked around the vast garden of flowers he landed on, and the imposing walls that stretched far, encircling the castle and garden within it. The boy could hear the flapping of birds and humming of the wind—the faint melody it produced as it shook the grass.
Soft thuds intruded his ears; something was closing in on him by the second.
"Jack!"
The boy named Jack turned to gaze at the person who cried out his name. Across the field, he saw the familiar shade of long auburn hair flowing in the wind. Its owner was dashing towards his way, waving at him.
"Felicia!" shouted the boy as he ran over to her.
When he reached her, his eyebrows shot upward. Jack looked at her, and with a voice laced in disbelief, he exclaimed, "Y-You're completely healed!"
The words prompted the girl to raise her arms and look at them. The sun-kissed boy gaped at her unblemished fair skin that belied the earlier live burning of said girl. Though, as Jack looked at her face, puzzlement soon replaced his expression. There, on the left side of her face, just below her eyes were four reddish lines marking down her cheek. Slowly, without his notice, the boy's hand moved to trace those streaks.
Only for it to be grabbed by the young lady.
"Huh?"
He turned his eyes to match Felicia's, whose emerald orbs seemed to be laced with steel, as she said, "We need to hurry."
The noble walked briskly—the hand she was pulling was stopping her from breaking into a dash.
"W-Wait a moment. What's happening? Why are we here?" demanded the boy. "Where are we in the first place!?"
Still pulling him along, she answered, "We're in Thomas' mind—in his memories. Specifically, we're at Folde Castle, within the capital of the empire."
"How's that even possible?"
"I used my skill to transfer myself into his past. Though, I didn't know that you would also get dragged along. Sorry about that.
"The Soul Corridor I formed with you must've been the reason why it also brought you here."
He shook his head and said, "I really don't get any of it."
"I can't explain everything right now. I promise to tell you soon. If we don't make it in time, I will die."
Her words jolted his entire body. Adjusting his gait to match hers, Jack went to walk beside her.
"Let's get going, then."
The two ran across the garden, with Felicia stopping in the middle to close her eyes and put a hand above her heart. When he asked why she was doing that, she answered, "It's so I can sense where I need to go."
A few more minutes of running and walking around maze-like hedges found the two on a clearing crowded by an entourage of guards, who were watching over a young boy not even two digits of age.
A light of recognition shone on Jack's eyes when he saw the younger boy's wheat-like hair. Though, the former felt dissonance when he looked at the latter's face.
The smile the little boy wore was one of guilelessness that Jack himself never remembered wearing, much less seeing on the face he had come to know well these past few weeks. Not to mention those glistening cherry colored eyes that served as a window to the boy's heart, which was akin to a sheet of paper freshly processed—pure and pristine.
This was not the Thomas he knew. No, this was a stranger who would one day become him.
Little Thomas was currently tending to a flower, his lips curled upwards. The dirt smudged on his royal attire created a contrast between royalty and childishness.
Faint flapping sounds suddenly entered their ears, quickly becoming louder. The little boy stopped what he was doing and turned to its direction. The faint smile he wore became wide as he stood up and ran towards it.
A shrill cry abruptly assaulted Jack's hearing. The vibration came like a wave of needles piercing into his mind. The boy let out an involuntary scream, clutching his head and falling to his knees. He could faintly hear Felicia's voice swimming through the noise.
A long forgotten memory resurfaced. Under the deep blue, desperately thrashing around, he was tearing his throat screaming only for it to let out soft bubbly noises and let in salty water. Lungs heavy and drenched, puking out gallons of brine, an unbearable cold pierced through his entire body.
And then he heard them—the squawking of seagulls all around him. Shrieks so similar to the one that he was hearing right now.
It took a little while for the boy to calm himself.
"What was that?" thought Jack groggily.
When he came to, he realized he was on the ground, and the girl he was with was looming over him, staring at him worriedly.
She asked softly, "...was it because of your hearing?"
His eyes widened a little. "Is it so obvious to notice?"
Felicia chuckled. "It kind of is, with you always trying to show off."
The boy could only avert his eyes.
He faked a cough and asked, "What was that, anyway?"
Felicia pointed towards the direction the sound came from. "Those were the griffins. The ones riding them are called griffin knights."
Jack sat up. Turning his head, he saw creatures with the body of a lion and the wings and head of an eagle. Riding them were knights with the empire's insignia, an open book with a fire burning its pages, marked on their light metal armors.
He saw young Thomas run over to the griffin knight that landed frontmost of the group. Just as the knight set foot on the ground, the blonde boy jumped forwards and hugged him.
"Who's that?"
"That's the captain of the griffin knights, Gideon--"
"Brother!" A shout came from behind the both of them.
Jack became more alert and tried to hide somewhere, but he was stopped by the girl.
"Won't it be bad if anyone sees us?"
Felicia shook her head. "They can't see us, and we can't affect anything here. We can only watch."
Soon enough, a brown haired boy younger than them but older than the blonde one came running past them, ignoring them as if they weren't even there. He ran towards the same knight little Thomas was hugging and did the same thing.
Jack looked at Felicia for an explanation, to which she answered, "Those three are the princes of the Empire of Endlore: Gideon, Henry, and Thomas Folde."
"...Folde?"
That wasn't right. The boy remembered that his blonde friend introduced himself as Thomas Slate, not Folde.
Felicia saw the first memory she encountered and sighed in relief.
She explained to Jack about what had happened.
One of the abilities of her newly acquired skill [Heartfelt] was to "experience" the memories of her target. Of course, that wasn't all there was to it.
She still didn't completely comprehend it, but from what she had gathered, this ability was meant to be used to form a bond between her and her chosen target by sharing each other's memories. Though, she needed the consent of the target to go through it smoothly. Even then, if both of them didn't understand each other enough and didn't come to some sort of agreement even after the sharing, then the bond wouldn't form. If that were to happen, she would face some form of mental backlash.
That was if the target had consented.
Because she wasn't able to reason with the prince, she activated the skill forcefully. The difference was that if she failed to bond with him, her soul wouldn't be able to return to her body. She wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but she figured that that would be no different from dying.
Additionally, because of the forceful activation, she needed to find the memories on her own instead of going through them automatically. She had a limited time to find and witness each memory. If she wasn't able to make it in time, then she would suffer the same punishment.
In hindsight, this was a really bad idea. With a clearer mind, she realized that she could've just stayed away from Thomas until he came to his senses. Then she would've been able to console him without being burnt alive. Alas, she herself was mentally distressed, and people tended to do stupid things in the heat of the moment.
But it wasn't all terrible. She was able to acquire a skill, after all. If she survived this then entering the academy would be much easier.
(Sorry for the long delay and disappointingly short chapter. I have trouble writing down my ideas and making long chapters. Next chapter will still be Revelations. I'm posting it into parts because I feel that I can never complete long chapters, and I felt that it was better to post something than nothing at all. Again, sorry.)
(I dedicate this chapter to Anton Fire, who notified me about someone who had been plagiarizing my work. You're awesome, Anton!)
(to JackTheSpades: Wow, I didn't think an anime-only would actually read my story. Thanks for reading! More badass Rimuru coming up!)
(to Alpha Bot: I'm thankful that you think so highly about my work!)
(to SwhoPG: Thank you!)
(to kirikachan1: You praise me too much. I'm really not that good of a writer.)
(to Omnipotente Vargas: I'm so glad to know that at least someone is interested with my OCs! I was worried that they might make my story unenjoyable.)
