Chapter 15: Revelations
A shiver ran down her spine as she slowly rolled the cold floor. Something was waking her up… some noise.
'Bird…?' She mentally asked as she heard some wings flapping in the distance. She mumbled softly as she rubbed her arms, preventing the cold to penetrate her skin any longer. Then, a sudden jolt of panic came to her.
"Were am I?" Mirihanna quickly sat up and looked around, trying to identify the place but nothing came to mind. Her hair slowly snaked down her pale face and she quickly brushed it aside, finding it all out of place and slightly humid. She frowned in confusion as she traced her long white hair that was no longer in a braid. The room was dark but she could see the sturdy stones walls around her. She took a deep breath and placed a hand on her head, forcing her memories to return but with no avail.
"… Hime?" She asked mostly to herself. She was sure she was with the child not long ago. She knew that they sneaked out of their room following something she could not see.
"Sakura?" She spoke louder. 'This is not right.' Mirihanna firmly closed her eyes in annoyance. She wouldn't forgive herself if anything happened to that child. And if it did, it was her fault. She bit her lower lip. She was starting to get upset. She started to stand but heard a metallic noise and a strange weight on her left ankle. She glanced and softly gasped.
"…Chains?" She asked in all fours, outraged. She followed it until her eyes met the wall that was imprisoning her. She rolled in her heavy, yet beautiful dress and raised her delicate naked feet to inspect further.
"Chains." She repeated as if someone else was in the room with her, accompanying her in that moment. "And missing shoes." She mocked.
"To think that…" She started, clumsily lifting her slim body.
"…Some FOOL…" she sang in emphasis.
"…Could actually cage me like a bird…" She picked the chains and was now tracing it to its source.
"With such PITIFULL-" With a swift, yet strong push, she broke the chain from the sturdy wall. "-resources!" She finished in anger.
The long chain balanced in her small hands as she was curved to it. She puffed some hair from her face and recomposed her posture into her normal elegant state, calming herself down. Now the only question remaining was 'who'. Who kept her in there, anyways?
"First the child." She mumbled to herself. It was not strange to her having conversation with herself. She did it a lot when she was alone in her world.
"Then, the fool." She glanced at the wooden door and knocked it down with her shoulder. She klutzy fell down with it, making some dust clouds rise in the air. She did not pay attention to this, thought. She stood up and glanced both ways. Long stairs were circling deeper into what now she was sure it was a castle. She widened her eyes.
"Look, Mia-San! The princess is taking the children inside the castle!" Mirihanna looked as the children ran through the water into the castle.
"We have to stop them!" Sakura said, ready to sprint but she grabbed her wrist.
"Wait." She told her and Sakura gave her a weird look.
"Something in not right." Mirihanna said looking around. She could fell something approaching. Some presence she felt familiar. She grabbed closer the small princess as she could fell danger coming nearby but gasped as she felt the girl falling. She glanced down and saw Sakura falling asleep.
"Hime!" She said, kneeling next to her. 'Not know, child.' She was gently pushing the girl, trying to wake her.
"This is not the time, Hime. Please, stay with me." The girl looked at her with a sad face and mumbled words she could not understand and fell into a deep slumber.
She held her head low as she retrieved part of her memory. She opened her eyes and saw several small footprints on the dirty staircase. And curious enough, some shiny golden ones as well.
"This must be inside the castle." She quickly followed the marks on the ground, going deeper into the castle.
She saw another door open. She quickly hurried inside but saw nothing but beds and a painting of a beautiful golden haired woman.
"It is the castle of the princess, alright…" She continued down the stairs with determination, passing through a pair of shoes filled with golden powder.
'What is happening here…' She though as she continued running down the stairs. She couldn't help but fell that she missed a lot of things. Then, she heard a voice. A familiar voice.
"I was looking for you…" She heard in the distance. She hurried down the stair that seemed never to end.
As she reached the bottom, light filled the end of the stairs.
"How do you know I'm barefoot?" She heard the voice of the sweet princess as she entered the big bright room. And then her eyes stood on Doctor Kyle.
She gritted her teeth and threw the long chain that was still attached in her ankle at the man like a whip. Unfortunately, being small and slim like he was, he dodged it.
"Because he was the fool who took them!" She screamed at him.
She grabbed the girl's hand, begging her to wake up and finally felt someone behind her. A shiver ran down her spine as she then starter to fall into a deep slumber. Her head was bowing down but she tried hard to regain her strength. But it was a failure. Her eyes were slowly closing at the sound of flapping wings. In the corner of her eyes she saw a black bird looking at her from the soft white snow. Mirihanna frowned in confusion.
'A… black bird?' She said has her head rested in Sakura's belly. A figure stood there, looking at both helpless girls. Almost entering the world of dreams, Mirihanna rolled and took a glance at the person and slightly gasped at the sight of Doctor Kyle, surrounded with flying black birds.
Her memories finally came back to her as she glared at the Doctor with fire in her eyes. The Doctor looked back at her but instead of a glare, a smirk formed in his lips. He chuckled darkly at her while adjusting his small seeing glasses. Mirihanna gripped harder her chains as she felt heat steaming out of her own body.
"You fool…" She said to him but he only chuckled harder.
"You are just like that assistant boy… you both are too clever…" Mirihanna looked at him with anger and worry in her eyes.
"…What have you done, Doctor?" She snapped but he ignored.
"Even though you both were on your bare feet and chained, you still manage to escape... interesting." He seemed amused with his own thoughts.
"Who dare you?" She said to him, outraged. She felt her pride fill her chest as she glared at the man.
"Thinking you can cage us…kidnaping children and innocent women." The Doctor chuckled louder this time at the girl and looked at her, the reflection of his glassing hiding his eyes.
"But you aren't a normal woman…. Aren't you, Mirihanna?" She froze. What did he meant with those words. Fears stroke her as she heard her name. No one called her by her name in that town. She was only known as her nickname, given by Fay. Her eyes widened at the sudden realization.
"W-who… are you?" She asked as she cracked her voice. All her pride and self-esteem were gone and she felt small in front of Kyle. He gave her a deadly glare and turned to Sakura.
"Give me my feather!" He screamed, walking towards Sakura. Mirihanna looked at the girl and noticed the girl's precious feather crystalized in her hands.
"Princess Emerald!" Sakura screamed and the Doctor laughed.
"Are you hallucinating? I'm sure that I only hypnotize one of you." He said glancing and Mirihanna. She looked at him with a mixture of anger and cautious, but it didn't stop the Doctor.
"I took all of the town's children to gather that feather for me, for it was in a place only a child could crawl in…unfortunately for me, it took longer than I expected. And you, your majesty…" Mirihanna gasped at Doctor whose words were now directed to her.
"You were a sight for sore eyes! I was going to blame your pathetic friends for all the kidnaping and get you after all this. But you came to me instead." He said giving her a daring smile. Mirihanna flexed her knees, ready to defend herself.
"You're from my word…" She spoke softly and a Doctor's smile widened.
"No…let's just say I have a … friend there." She gritted her teeth once more. For she knew who he was speaking of.
"But now, nothing really matters. I have both things that I wanted." He said, reached for Sakura's chain. She noticed this, and quickly started to crawl back in fear, with her feather in her hand. Mirihanna snapped from her fear, noticing the young girl in danger and rapidly ran to the Doctor, throwing once more her long chain to his reaching arm. The Doctor winced, as the heavy chain rolled in his arm. She pulled with power, and threw the Doctor to the ground behind her. She then ran to the kneeled girl and hold her arms.
"Are you hurt?" She asked her with her hands trembling. Sakura had pure fear on her eyes as she looked at the white haired girl, but nodded sideways, reassuring her. Mirihanna released a short breath and smiled at her. She really wouldn't bare the thought of seeing this child in harm. Suddenly Sakura's eyes widened once more and she looked behind her.
"Mia-San, watch out!" She warned and Mirihanna glanced back, seeing the Doctor sprinting at her with a sharp dagger. She held her breaths. Time stopped in her mind. She didn't had any weapon with her. It was too late to pull that chain and defend herself and she could just dodge for the young princess was kneeled helpless behind her. There was nothing she could do…. unless she used her power. The power that she so much feared and swore to avoid it. But there was too much at risk. She had to break her promise. The Doctor charged at her with fury in his eyes and she closed her eyes and a bright light flashed in her hand. A clash was heard and the Doctor's dagger bounced back. Mirihanna held her hand in front of him as a bright invisible shield protected herself and Sakura. She was forcing her mind to concentrate greatly, for she knew the side effects of that shield if summoned wrongly.
"Stay. Back." She threatened, a single sweat drop rolled her cheek. The Doctor stood tall in amusement while the young Sakura looked at her power with pure surprise.
"The light magic! At last we see some action!" He teases and Mirihanna gasped, flickering the shield ever so slightly.
"And I see you still haven't perfected it. Tsk tsk…" He said with a hint of disappointment.
"How do you know so much about me?! How do you know who am I?!" She snapped in a whimper making the Doctor smirk once more. Suddenly steps were coming closer to the room and Syaoran, Fay, Kurogane and another man entered the room.
"Sakura-Hime!" She heard Syaoran scream while Kurogane snapped an 'Oy' at them. Gasps came after that as they all saw what she was projecting at the Doctor.
"Mia-Chan!" Fay screamed, seeing her in her ragged state. He stood forward but Kurogane stopped him, realizing the fight wasn't theirs. Kyle looked backwards and laughted at them.
"It seems we have company, your Majesty-"
"Answer me, you devil." She snapped at him angrily. "Or I won't be so kind afterwards."
"Ahah!" He chuckled back at her. "The delicate Mirihanna, the fairest Draklin of them all!" She flinched at the mentioning of that name.
"Daughter of the mighty Emperor, ruler of the most powerful race of the Kingdom…"
"Stop it." She muttered, hearing the titles.
"First in line of the royal family…"
"Enough…"
"And deserted of her people-"
"Enough!" She gave him a mighty roar that even surprised the men behind them. Such petit figure would never hint such power. Kyle smiled in content.
"I though you wanted me to speak…" Sakura slowly stood up and hid behind Mirihanna.
"You see… your Majesty-" He faked a bow "Even sliced ears can't fool me… a lot of your kind did. And died." He teased as Mirihanna bit her lip in anger. She could hear the boys behind them whispering thoughts.
'So he noticed.' She thought 'Even so, this situation, it is to much of a coincidence.'
"Someone want you dearly, your Highness." He said, waving his dagger in front of him.
"But first, I need that feather." He finished darkly before advancing once more. Mirihanna winced and took two blows with her shield before bumping him backwards. Her shield faded and she carefully transformed it into two daggers, which she gripped them with each hand with the blade backwards. She couldn't move much with her long heavy dress, so she limited on defending his blows and sending him back. The Doctor glared at her and his face seemed unsettling.
"I don't have time for this…" He said as he with one hand, threw her into the other side of the room into the wall. Mirihanna cried in pain as she felt the hard wall on her back cracking from impact. Her feet gave in and she fell on the ground next to the fallen stones. She was almost loosing conscience, felling dizziness around her head.
'D-dark…magic?' She though to herself, puzzled at what just happened. She wasn't expecting that. She wasn't aware of his power. Only in her world…in her race…they had such thing. This didn't felt right to her. She did not fell like he was one of own. But why. Why was he attacking her? Why would he want to give her to Him.
'I'm such a fool father…' She though, thinking on the caring face of her lost father.
"Mia!" She heard the voice of Fay from far away.
"Don't move or I'll kill her." Kyle's voice rang. She felt a hot liquid pouring across her face. She carefully reached her head with her hand and saw the red liquid in her fingers. But she didn't care. She was puzzled with the mystery of Kyle's purpose. She rolled her head to see Kyle, threatening Sakura with his blade. She bit her lip. Why did this always happen to her. Why was it that she was always so helpless? Weak. Ignorant, or not strong enough to help others. Syaoran stood in front of Sakura, preventing a fatal wound on the girl. She gasped, in pain, but gave a weak smile, relieved for the princess.
'He reminds me so much of you…Ryu.' She said in her mind to her former beloved. But her thoughts were broken at a snapping instinct. Something was coming. And at full power. With her arm she pushed her body from the floor and looked at her party. Fay and Kurogane were looking at her with worry in their eyes. She stood up and instantly felt her broken ribs. She grabbed her torso, trying to control the pain. And as if on cue, one of the walls burst open with the fury of the river water and she lost conscience.
"Oy!" Kurogane shouted. "Woman!" He was trying to call her but he saw her head fall a second time. The river tide was pushing strong inside the castle and the ceiling begin to crumble, blocking Syaoran, Sakura and Kyle from the rest of them.
"Get the children out of here!" The young boy said. "We'll be fine!"
Kurogane looked straight at him, observing his determination and nodded. In the meantime, Fay ran to Mirihanna. He crouched to her and brushed some bloody locks of hair from her face, revealing her painful sleeping expression. The water was starting to spread quickly in the castle and her hair and dress were beginning to soak. Fai quickly, yet carefully picked her up in his arms and with the rest of them, ran from the sinking castle.
After a few hours in the darkness, Mirihanna started hearing some familiar voices screaming at each other. She opened her eyes, still weary of tiredness and rolled her head to the left. She was sharing a bed with the small princess who was still peacefully sleeping while Kurogane and Mokona were running around the room, screaming loud while Syaoran and Fay laughed at them from a corner of the room. She shifted a little and slowly sat up, wincing at the forgotten pain in her ribs.
" I see that everybody is alright." She softly said with tired eyes. Everyone turned to her and retrieved a small. Except Kurogane who had Mokona's ears gripped in his strong hand.
"Mia-Chan's awake, Mia-Chan's awake!" It said trying to jump off the tall man.
"Mia-San!" Syaoran said, quickly hurrying beside her bed. Fay looked at her and gave her a warm relieved smile. After she opened her eyes, he felt relieved.
"…How is your back, child?" She asked him, looking at his shoulder where she saw Kyle striking his blade. Syaoran widened his eyes and politely shook his hand.
"I'm fine. Please take care of yourself first, Mia-San." She looked at him surprised. She was so worried about the others that she almost forgot that she could heal herself. She gave him a small smile and placed both her hands on her rib cage, slowly healing it. She flinched in pain but rapidly it changed to a cooling sensation. Syaoran looked at her with admiration.
"Mia-San…" She heard the boy start. Still healing her wounds, she glanced at him.
" Thank you… for protecting Sakura-Hime." He said, standing up and bowing deeply. She smiled at him in amusement.
"There's no need for that, love." She said softly and tenderly. The boy smiled kindly at her and sat down next to her in the bed.
"The princess when after the children in the middle of the night, right? You followed her." Kurogane said firmly looking at her.
"Of course I did." She started "But the unexpected happened. Sakura felt asleep in front of the castle and the Doctor…" She bit her lip regretting her for being so incautious.
"The Doctor sneaked behind me and put me in some kind of slumber…" She said in annoyance. She took her hand off her torso and took a relieved breath, felling her cage rib freshly revived.
"He hypnotized you." Fay said looking at her. She now placed her hand on the back of her head where she had hit it, and let the healing spread.
"It so seems…but it looks like a lot happened while we were away... I apologize for worrying you all." She said, taking the bandage off her head.
"It looked like you had your own worries as well." As always, Kurogane was the sharp one.
"Kyle knew you…he's from you world." Fay sneakily pointed.
"No." She calmly snapped. "He wasn't. But he did sound like he knew all my life." She looked down. Afraid that they would press the subject.
"Where is he?" She asked.
"Presumably … dead." She did not know either to be happy or angry with the boy's answer.
"You're not human." Kurogane sharply stated without hesitation. The boy and the mage lock gazes, as if they were thinking about the same thing. She looked at them, with a sad expression. Mokona jumped on her lap, giving her a worried look as she shifted into a more confortable position.
"I saw how you moved back in the previous world. No one with the kind of body that you have could move like that. Plus, you emanate a powerful magical aura." Fay nodded slowly at Kurogane's statement.
They were all waiting for her answer. Patiently giving her time. She took a deep breath and smiled.
"Yes…and no." They looked at her confused but she kept her smile.
"Let me tell you a tale of my world." She softly said to them.
Legend as it, that in the beginning of times, life was hard and meaningless. A common young woman lived by herself on a small village near the misty mountains were no one set foot. Every night she would gaze upon the mighty mountains and praised its natural beauty. After many years being drawn to it, the woman climbed the mountain without fear and with ease and on top on it she found a tall handsome man with white silvery hair. Knowing that it was impossible for a man to live on top of the mountain, she ran in fear, but the man was lovable towards her and she was instantly drawn to him.
After being alone for many years, the man enjoyed her company and then he decided to share his wisdom with her. Wisdom beyond human understanding…
He showed her the element of the world she lived in. Explained the importance of life and the meaning of death. And most importantly, he taught her how to be in balance with herself and all the living things around her.
The woman was amazed at all the things that the man shared with her and spoke with the town's people. She believed that the world would be better with this knowledge but unfortunately, unlike her, the town's people were ignorant and pronounced her wicked. She found console in the man on top of the mountain and he in her, and their feeling toward each other turned from friendship to love.
Soon after, she mastered all the elements of the world.
She started seeing the spirits in the lands.
She could feel her spiritual energy flow and she now understood the meaning of live.
Being in peace with herself and the world, she looked at the man and saw his true form.
The man turned into the White Dragon, one of the world's God and protector. She kneeled in front of him and tears rolled on her cheeks for the gift she received. The White Dragon touched her delicate face and spoke the holy words.
Be in peace, and carry my wisdom.
Months later twin children were born with the hair as white and silvery as the moon.
And so, the first Draklin wore born.
Mirihanna paused lost in thought. This tale was one of her favorites. Countless times she would beg her father to tell her this tale. The men in the room looked at her in admiration. Specially Syaoran.
"So that means…that you are a descendent of the White Dragon." He said in awe, looking at her long hair.
"Descendent of a God." Kurogane said darkly.
"Meaning…you're immortal." Kurogane and Syaoran gasped at Fay's remark. She slowly left the bed and walked to the window. Gazing and admiring the reunion of the children with their mothers.
"I am Mirihanna Daichiko, descendent of the royal dragon family… Daughter of the Emperor Hao… In other words. Dragon born." She softly spoke.
"Daichiko…Wisdom child. Tsk." Kurogane said with a grin. Fay also smiled in realization.
"So that's what you meant by your people." He said gaining everybody's attention.
"The humans in your world are fighting against the Draklins. Your people." She slowly nodded.
"Why?" Asked Syaoran, instantly regretting it. "I'm sorry, it's not my place…" Mirihanna smiled at the boy.
"They seek power…like every other mortal. Humans fear the unknown. They envy our power and fear it at the same time." She sat down on the window.
"And they want me." She stated making them gasp. She looked down, ashamed, fiddling with her small thumbs.
"They think that I hold the gift of God." She said dropping her hands side ways.
"But I do not posses such thing." She admitted, opening up to them. Silence invaded the room for a brief moment.
"That's why I came to Yuko-Sama." She firmly said. The men and boy looked down, sinking the girl's story. She looked back at them and realized how pathetic she must have sounded. She hugged herself when feelings of denial started emerging within her mind. How would they see her now? Like a hopeless, sensitive princess? After all, in her mind, they were mortals, just like the ones in her world. Would they see her any difference now? She felt a hand on her shoulder and she glanced at his owner.
"Don't worry Mia-Chan. I'm sure that everything will be alright…" Fay said looking at her.
"We all came here with our circumstances. We all have our stories." He continued.
"It is destiny." She looked at him with her eyes wide open. She looked at the others and saw their serious, yet reassuring expression. Feeling a little bit more like her old self, she gave a bright smile that contaminated everyone. Even the ninja gave a cocky smirk. She never thought she could be this close to mortals before. She never thought that it was actually possible. But she was glad. Glad that the first true friends in years, came out to be her former enemy.
Hello my beautiful readers! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Make sure to leave a comment!
Have a lovely day!