Bad Dreams
By angelwings1
Chapter 10
Van stared blankly at the window, his eyes subconsciously following the raindrops dripping down the fogged pane. He ignored the need to respond as the door opened behind him. As a pair of feet padded across the library floor towards the king, his breath caressed the cold glass and slowly a white haze covered the spot the warm air had touched. It wasn't quite cold enough to snow yet, but it wouldn't be long. He guessed another couple of weeks at the least.
"What wrong, Van-sama?"
He exhaled deeply and bowed his head. His fingers gentle touched his red cheek and winced at the tenderness. "I screwed up."
Merle frowned and her eyes widened as she noticed the handprint. She flew forward and Van quietly walked over to a nearby chair to sit down. Merle's tail was straight up and stiff as she studied the mark.
"What happened?" she hissed, "Who did this?"
He wearily whispered a name and immediately the cat's tail dropped in shock.
Hitomi flipped the page and began reading the next sentence. She huffed angrily as it began another boring recount of some battle. Slamming the book shut, she glared at the title: Wars of Ancient Gaea. The book quickly returned to its slot on the bookshelf and her index finger once again brushed along the row of spines. Twenty minutes later a new title had sparked her interested as she was nose deep in its pages.
Unconsciously, she drifted down the many aisles. Her eyebrows pinched together as she contemplated the passages. She soon repeated her previous action and closed the book. Growing frustrated, the seer chose a new shelf to search.
"From Unicorns to Dragons."
"Ancient Darkness."
"Kingdom of Dragons: Fanelian Culture."
"Forgotten History of the Resurrected Country Zaibach."
She nearly knocked the rest of the books to the floor in her haste to snatch the volume of the shelf. Her green eyes roamed over the worn leather cover. The strange emblem of Zaibach, a giant eye, was stitched delicately into the center. It almost looked like the book was staring up at her. Flipping it open, she hurried to the first chapter, but hesitated when she noticed an unsuspected prologue.
Prologue
The history of Zaibach has forever been shrouded in mystery and death. Before the reign of Emperor Albert Dornkirk, the country was an overlooked civilization blanketed with starvation and continuous fear of invasions. During ancient centuries, the larger powers decided it was unnecessary to send anyone to investigate the country's culture due to the likelihood of Zaibach pending collapse. Thus, there is very little known of its early history.
Interest didn't stir the world's eye until the 22nd century when Dornkirk had sat five years strong in the throne. Unfortunately, spectators arrived too late and fell in the center of the largest war ever to cover Gaea. Most were killed before ever delivering their findings on Zaibach.
What notes and witness accounts sited in this book might be considered falsified, but it the firm belief of this author that they are accurate, and the only known information of Zaibach's early years.
Hitomi scowled and turned back to the title page.
Forgotten History of the Resurrected Country Zaibach
Written by Leon Schezard
Hitomi blinked several times, "Schezard? Allen Schezard."
The seer closed her eyes and pressed her hands against the scrawled signature. Taking a deep breath, she let her mind float deep into her fingertips and surrounded the black ink. Immediately, she was falling into a mist that was familiar, and frightening.
She blinked rapidly, already knowing it was vain to try to blink away the haze. In time it would evaporate on its own and reveal the vision she sought.
Seconds later, the haze fell back to the edge of her eyesight and she discovered a dirty blonde bent over a small table. As she had anticipated, the man, Leon, was writing the first edition of his book. Stepping into the room basking in sunlight from numerous round windows, Hitomi carefully examined the man's profile. He had a mustache, short beard, and glasses, but there was no mistake in the rest of his features. Leon was somehow related to Allen.
"Who are you to Allen?" she mumbled as she bent down to eyelevel with unaware ghost.
The abrupt sound of a door opening snapped her away from the author and she stared at a pair of children hurried inside. She chuckled lightly when she noticed the long hair of the oldest (a twelve year old). It appeared Allen was closely related to Leon—perhaps a nephew, or even a son.
"Father?"
A son.
"Yes, Allen?" Leon grumbled, never looking up from his work.
"Mother needs to go to the market for supper. Will you come with us?"
Leon sighed deeply and gave his children a whimsical smile, "I wish I could, but I just got in some research that needs my immediate attention."
"Please, papa!" the girl cried, her hands clenched together. She had to be half Allen's age, but her wavy hair equaled the future knight's length. "You've been working on your book for days."
In the middle of the girl's shrill plea, Hitomi's focused had narrowed onto her tearful blue eyes. The seer became overwhelmed with a tight pressure in her chest and her hand flew up to clutch her silk shirt. Her focus never escaped the vivid color of the girl's eyes as they began to swell out of her head. Gradually, her entire head began to expand like a bubble, and then the child burst into a spray of water.
Hitomi jerked back to the royal library, kneeling on the cold floor as she panted desperately for air. The empty room echoed with her heavy breathing and she numbly watched her sweat dribble off her face and dot the stone floor.
There was only a slight chance of mistake, but Allen's little sister was the water baby from her previous vision. But if Celena was the child that transform into rain, then fire child, Dilandau, was part of the Schezard family tree. Closing her eyes, Hitomi fought to recall the girl's face and tried to overlap the captain's features with his suppose twin. Even though the image was fuzzy, Hitomi could vaguely see the resemblance.
Once her breathing resumed its normal rhythm, the seer leaned back on her knees. "If Dilandau is part of Allen's family, it doesn't appear that Allen or Dilandau acknowledge their blood relationship."
Dilandau Albauto…it's possible neither know about it. In the vision, a figure had taken the fire child so Dilandau could have been stolen as an infant. Thus, he was raised without ever knowing his true family.
"What sick person would steal a child?" Hitomi hissed.
Her angry eyes suddenly found Leon's book stretched out in front of her. Her eyebrows pinched together as she read the top of the open page.
Chapter 4: Dornkirk's Unknown Origins
It is safe to say that Emperor Dornkirk's birthplace is far from Zaibach's sun burnt fields. There are few citizens who bear the white skin of their new emperor due to their agriculture. On a second note, his silver hair is rare to find even in the elderly who are prone to go completely bald from the culture's malnutrition. Third, his age and health is nearly nonexistent in the country. Due to these thoughts, it is believed by this author and several others that Dornkirk is from another land and has only recently entered Zaibach's world.
"Dornkirk isn't from Zaibach?"
A few months after Dornkirk supposedly arrived in Zaibach, the country took a dramatic turn in survival. Before Dornkirk, there were only handful of guymelefs owned by the country, but suddenly there were hundreds plus an army equaling over a thousand men. The dying crops multiplied and swallowed the dry fields with its green life. Buildings leapt to the sky, aqueducts raced through the streets, and people forgot centuries of feeling lost and dead.
Rulers of distant countries believed Dornkirk to have a vast knowledge of agriculture and industrious, but witness think it was a darker knowledge that manifested in Zaibach's walls. There are rumors among the dozen spies that the emperor holds a special team called sorcerers at his command. No one is sure, not even the citizens, know when the sorcerers arrived, but they have been very active throughout much of the rebirth of the country. Unconfirmed meetings and spell books are the bare shell of the rumors circulating through the citizens. Even if the magic is the center of this change in culture, the citizens refuse to challenge the element that gave hope to their lives.
"Magic? What sort of place held magic that could transform an entire kingdom?" She hastily flipped ahead and skimmed through several passages before stopping on a new title.
Dark Magic of Zaibach
…red designs cover their arms…
…images of eyes and stars…
…there is a strange emblem on the emperor's forehead…
…a third eye with heavy white lines, blending almost invisible into pale skin…
…stars drawn on the floor are found after secret meetings…
Hitomi reread the sentence.
…stars drawn on the floor…
She wasn't sure if there was enough oxygen in the room. A five pointed star was the same symbol she had drawn in the temple. He knew spells from the valley. No, it was different. The book talked about the eye symbols and red marks. Those weren't from home.
There was a connection though.
Hitomi glanced at her fingers and noticed they were turning white because she was gripping the book so tight. She was scared. If this book's evidence was correct, than the shadow creeping over Fanelia was darker than she thought. There were too many coincidences, too many dots lining up.
She was afraid to dig deeper. She didn't know what she would find. She could sense the darkness clouding in her search and knew she wouldn't find anything good.
She shuddered as she flipped the page and saw several symbol covering the left page. Most were unfamiliar, lines sweeping into crazed designs, but the handful she did recognized caused her stomach to drop on her toes. They were the ones taught to her in the temple.
Her eyes gradually lifted from the page and slid to the library doors in deep thought. She had barely drifted anywhere in her mind when one of the door opened. The seer hastily straightened as the Fanelia king hesitantly stepped inside. "I figured you would be here."
Hitomi smiled feebly, "Well, I have been coming here for the past week."
He returned her smile as he quietly closed the door behind him, "How are you feeling?"
The seer shook her head as she glanced down at her book, "Not sure. I'm fine right now, but earlier I was shaking. I haven't been able to focus since the guymelef competition."
She shrugged, "It's the stress."
'And the Forbidden Spell…'
Van frowned lightly and stepped closer, "You sure?"
Hitomi carefully looked up into his red wine eyes, "There's nothing you can do, Van. My health isn't a result from a stab or beating. You can't give me a bandage to fix this."
"Doesn't mean I can't try to help," he mumbled softly.
The seer shifted away, but he followed close behind. She wasn't what to say to him. After last week in the temple, she and the king had grown quite close, but had spent little time in each other's company beside the meeting hours. Visions and the unknown song of the mysterious woman were continual plaguing her mind, swallowing it like a thick blanket. She could barely concentrate through the day and during the night, the song and nightmares followed her into her sleep. Her free time was forced into solitude in a desperate attempt to rest and escape the nobles' eyes.
The only other time she saw Van was to tend to his illness, which was rapidly fading from existence. He had confessed he was sleeping pass the sunrise and hadn't been affected by a single vision since the night in the garden with Dilandau. Her logical conclusion from the sudden change was that through the Forbidden Spell she had somehow freed him from his illness.
Unfortunately, when she had finally cured him, she had taken the full weight of his illness. She wasn't sleeping, except in short spurts, and if it wasn't for the discipline she had been taught in the temple, she would have long ago lost all sense of reality. If their health continued on this path for another week, it would confirm her fears.
Her hands began to shake. It wouldn't be long before Van realized what was happening. He wouldn't know about the Forbidden Spell, but he would know she had done something.
'It won't matter than…'
"Hitomi—"
"My lord, I must tell you I predict my departure to be coming soon after the treaty is signed," she stated loudly, never turning around to face him. She was afraid of her feelings towards his reaction.
"W-What?" his voice was hoarse, and she winced when she caught the sound of hurt in his response.
"It is abnormal for a victim of your type of illness to be free of nightmares and visions for a week. If your health is the same at the end of next week, which is very likely, than there will be no reason for me to stay."
Hesitation. "Then you're telling me I'm practically healed?"
She nodded and bit down her lower lip to keep from crying. She was hanging on the edge of oblivion as she waited for him to yell, to leave, to agree, to do anything.
"I can't let you leave," he insisted firmly.
She wasn't sure what to think of his response. Turning around, she met his mahogany eyes and studied him. She had always been good at reading people's emotions, but she couldn't figure him out.
"What reason do I have to stay?" she asked tentatively.
His mouth flapped opened, soundless. The eyes were so beautiful. He had never realized there were flakes of brown in her irises. The flakes looked almost gold in the sunlight.
"I need you to stay," he replied breathlessly.
Her heart pounded, "You need me?"
For next five years, Van Fanel would feel guilty for his momentary indecision to her question. In his heart, he wanted to yell out a resounding proclamation of adoration for her. He was desperate for her to know the depths of his feelings, but somewhere in his chest, he was brushed with cold doubt. If she denied him, he knew his heart would stop beating. So he took a foolish escape.
"I need you to stay with me as I go against Zaibach," he replied firmly.
Her heartbeat skipped to a standstill and her shoulders tensed. Van barely registered the look she gave him and pressed on to say, "You can help me stop them. You've told me they are planning something. I need you're power!"
The crack of her hand hitting his cheek echoed off the ceiling.
Hitomi stared mutely at the rain, her breath ghosting out in wipe vapors from her pink lips. She was hiding in the only place she believed no one would find her. With the rain, it made her escape more effective. There wasn't any shelter from the weather on the roof.
Wrapped tightly in a special water resistant cloak of hers, she was determined to stay there until her anger passed. She was normally a passive person, very patient and calm, but her temper was long lasting when it blew. She normally had to wait several hours before she was considered once again sociable. With the level had reached an hour ago, she guessed she had another two hours before she could dare the halls.
Shifting closer to the edge of the torso high wall, Hitomi studied the wet Fanelian streets. She gave a short growl of frustration and slapped both her palms on the wall. An angry hiss of air passed through her teeth.
She never believed he would request her service in such a way. After all he learned of her past, he, like so many before him, saw her as a tool. Not a person, a tool. A God forsaken tool!
It wouldn't hurt so much if she hadn't poured everything into this one mission. She had sacrificed everyone and everything she knew so she could save a stranger. She had been faithful to her beliefs and now she was facing the possible outcome she had ignored. She had been foolish.
Her fingers wrapped around her pendant and rubbed her thumb over the smooth gem. There was little comfort found in her pendant, the connection to her home and family. She had never felt more alone.
"Why am I doing this?" she mumbled wearily. "Why did I ever leave?"
The heavens crashed and lightning shot down on Fanelia. Hitomi squinted against the flash. It was barely noticeable against the dark clouds, but she thought she had seen a large mass cross in front of the clouds. The darkness hurried to swallow the sky once the lightning had receded and her mysterious mass disappeared in her eyes.
As lightning continued to expose the sky, Hitomi searched the clouds diligently, but she was unable to spot the object. Perhaps it had been airship. She frowned on the idea. The object had been flying in the opposite direction of the docks and as far as she knew there were no large ship departing. If the mass had been an airship, than it should have been docking. The rulers of every country part of the treaty were to be arriving in the next couple of days to official sign the allegiance. Only present rulers had the authority to do that.
"Excuse me?"
The seer slowly turned to the door she had used to gained access to the roof. Standing under the awning of the doorway leading into the spiral stairwell, a surprised Austurian knight stood. He was dressed in his normal blue and white uniform plus a black cloak of his own. His blue eyes lit up the moment she swiveled her head in his direction and her face was revealed under the dry warmth of her hood. "Lady Hitomi?"
"Sir Allen," she nodded, returning to her watch over the sky and blocking the sight of him with her cloak. To the knight, he had never seen a more frightening image of the seer. She was completely surrounded by the dark cloth with her porcelain white face peeking out. The black column she formed against the storm clouds made her appear like the curse she was thought to be.
"I had no idea you were up here," he commented, never moving out into the rain though he had obviously been intending to face the wet weather.
Hitomi silently exhaled through her nose. She wasn't in the mood to be polite to the knight. She had come here to be alone and now he had was looking at her with a curiosity that wanted answers. "I needed the air."
Allen nodded slightly, unseen by her eyes. "I love to watch rainstorms."
"Really?" Hitomi mumbled. She wrapped her cloak tighter as the rain picked up in speed. Even with her body completely swallowed by her cloak, water began to creep in through the hood and dribbling like ice cubs down her clothes. She flinched went a particular drip somehow made it to her lower spine.
His voice suddenly was at her shoulder, "Storms are better when you're by the ocean. It a bit more dangerous for the people who live nearby, but when the waves leap up and meet the clouds it makes your breath catch in your throat."
When Hitomi didn't respond, he turned. If he hadn't had nearly shouted the statement, the storm would have drown his voice. "Perhaps I will take you to Austuria one day and show you the ocean."
Her green swiveled to the knight. He was looking at her intently and a shudder raced up her spine. Even if she had been blind, she would have been able to sense the wave of emotion swelling from the man. The warmth of his love brushed the core of heart and a flutter of joy passed through her.
To suddenly face someone who wanted her for her heart and not her abilities was clouding her judgment. Their heads had already leaned inches closer. When Hitomi realized what was about to happen, she froze just as his eyelashes slid downwards. There was only a heartbeat left of opportunity to stop him. All that she could find was the frustration and bitterness she had been feeling for the past hour. The rain began to slow around her as a selfish desire overtook her. She wanted to throw away all thought and him kiss her so she could for the first time feel what it meant to be loved. It was just an innocent press of lips. There was no reason she shouldn't. After all, it would do no harm to knight's reputation in comparison to a king's.
Thunder clapped through the air, but it was the thought of the Fanelian king's reputation that caused her to jump. She hastily covered the knight's lips with her fingers. He blinked his eyes open in surprise and found tears—or were they raindrops—spilling over the seer's pale cheeks. He pulled back slightly to study her better, but it gave her the perfect opportunity instead to race away without any offered explanation.
"Hitomi!"
Days later, Hitomi stood in one of two long lines flanking the castle's main hallway. Several rulers had arrived this morning for the signing and the entire castle had been turned upside down for their entrance. With colorful banners hanging down from the ceiling and everything sparkling like sunlight on water, Hitomi was entranced by the display. The castle had looked beautiful before, but now its magnificence was doubled.
Unfortunately, the display quickly lost its color as the seer glanced towards the head of the line to study the Fanelian King. He appeared to be distracted by the nobles' arrivals. He was only offering short curt answers to his sister at his shoulder and though his eyes were directed towards the motion in the courtyard, she suspected his mind was far away from the carriages rolling in. They hadn't spoken since the incident in the library and the chance of their speaking soon was still very far away.
Every time he glanced at her she could definitely read the apology laced in his mahogany color. She just couldn't accept it, at least not yet. The statement had stabbed a part of her soul she had never felt. She was confused.
Hitomi sighed and darted her eyes over to the cat-girl. She was bitterly regretting her earlier fight with Merle. After she had fled the roof, she had sought the privacy of her room, but only minutes after she had curled into her sheets, Merle had entered. The cat woman had explained she understood the situation and asked to help. Hitomi refused, desperately wanting to wallow in her tears alone. When the woman had insisted, the seer's temper had snapped and she had flung a pillow. Hitomi was so shocked she had hit the woman in the face that she could utter a sound as Merle had stormed out.
The seer's shoulders drooped lower as she looked over at knight. The man was doing the very opposite; he was continually seeking her out. At first, he tried to apologize for his behavior and then he proceeded to subtly charm her. Plus, Millernia was confused what was happening between everyone in between the meetings.
Hitomi just couldn't win it appeared.
"King Grava Efud Aston of Austuria."
Everyone hurried to straighten as a stout man dressed in a navy suit with white puffed selves and feather hat passed through the main arch. Hitomi attentively watched from her post several spaces down the line as Van welcomed the ruler and his attendants. 'So that's Millernia's father. He's much shorter than her, but the wrinkles in the corner of his eyes definitely prove she's his daughter.'
After conversing a short while with Fanelia king, the man continued down the hall to his room. The line bowed or curtsied respectfully, but as he passed, Hitomi snuck a small glance through her eyelashes. Discreetly studying his party, she noticed two knights of Calie, eight soldiers, and a beautiful woman wearing golden pointed ear cuffs.
"Duke Mahad dal Freid of Freid."
Next, a tall figure approached. He was dressed in a long navy vest and white undershirt and pants. In his head was a complex golden hat that appeared to weigh several pounds. Though, the King of Aston could easily be connected to his daughter, the duke looked nothing like his child. Chid was pale with blond hair while the duke was tan with dark brown hair. If they had stood next to each other and she was never told of the connection, she would have easily dismissed the pair from separate families.
For the next fifteen minutes, nobles continued to pour into the hall. There were a total of fifteen countries being represented in the treaty so the door greeters would be stationed for a good hour before anything new could happen. Hitomi hardly mind the responsibility of being stationed in the hallway. The thing that was grating her nerves was the fact she had to wait to see the Emperor of Zaibach. When she heard he was schedule to arrive in two days she had lost all need to sleep. She had instinctively believed the ruler was the key to figuring everything out—to her valley's capture, to the visions, to the shadow hanging over her life, to everything.
"Emperor Issac Dornkirk of Zaibach."
Her emerald colored eyes snapped to the doorway and widened at the sight. She had envisioned several personas of the spoken ruler, but she had never guessed she would see a wrinkled, elderly man being rolled in a wheeled chair. A purple blanket covered his legs and algae colored robed peeked out from under his enormously long white, curly beard and hair. Alongside him four figured hiding beneath thick blacks robes with hoods draped the ruler with a fifth robed person pushing his chair. Two other lines composed of ten gray armored soldiers stood on the outside of the group.
'That's a rather large party.'
The emperor and Fanelia King exchanged a very short greeting, which didn't surprise the seer in the least. She waited patiently as the old man was soon rolled forward and the door greeters acknowledged the procession. Hitomi did as she had done with King Aston and stared up through her eyelashes. It was hard to catch a glimpse of the man as he passed with so many people surrounded him, but she caught sight of the white eye symbol branded on his forehead, the very same shown in the book. Her heart stopped completely when she saw his eyes were locked firmly on her as if he had known exactly where she had stood when he had walked into the castle. Her eyes quickly returned to the floor.