A/N: I've just gotten summer holidays and will now post new chapters every second week :D My exams are officially over this year and I'm going to write my ass off XD
Hope you'll enjoy... Remember reviewing ;D



Chapter 6 - Dream or reality?

Her screamed pierced through the air. Haru felt how her body was burning and the pain was unbearable. She heard someone call for her and woke with at start gasping for air. She felt arms shake her calmly but her tears were already flowing freely. "It's alright. It was just a dream," Baron said hugging her but quickly jerked away from her, "My dear, you're hot," he let out. Haru could still feel the terror of the flames from her dream, "I… had… th-the… most horrifying dream…" she said in between sobs. He looked at her, "what was it about?" he asked quietly coming closer to embrace the frightened girl again.

"I… I was burning… the flames were… de… devouring me…" she answered a little too quiet but he just managed to catch it.

He didn't know what to say; he had never been in such a situation before, and in any case not with a girl before. He just sat quietly with her in his arms and after a while the shaking shuddered to a half.

Haru's sobbing stopped and she gave out a small sigh, "I'm sorry for troubling you," she whispered.

"That's quite alright," Baron replied, "Make sure to get some good night's sleep now, because you'll need your strength for tomorrow." As he said that he let her back down on her bed and let go of his grip. He noticed had changed into a nightgown and moved his hand above her body leaving a beautiful blue nightgown on her. He then slowly moved towards the door but stopped at the sound of Haru's quiet "thank you" before dozing off again. He smiled and then returned to the living room.

He sat back down in his chair he sat in before by the fireplace and took up the book he hadn't finished reading in before Haru had screamed. He sighed not knowing how to begin their quest for the scroll. He thought of the most obvious place – and the closest – for it to be; the temple of prophesies. It could be found to the south-west part of the kingdom; between the mountains and the Eternal Meadow. Oh, how he wished to show Haru the meadow; the beautiful flowers, the ocean, the colours… he trailed off… what was he thinking? Now was definitely not the time to think of that.

He sat there wondering why Haru's temperature was so high; perhaps she was getting a fever? He didn't hope so, they had to leave tomorrow.

Which reminded him; he put the book back and went over to his desk to look through some papers, "Ah, here it its, the map over the kingdom," Baron looked at it and drew on the route they would take to the temple.

When he was done he then went to Haru's bedroom to check on her. He opened the door and smiled; she was sleeping safe and soundly. He then closed the door but as he did so, he stopped in his tracks. Something was not right. He looked into her bedroom once more and now noticed it; her dark brown hair was no longer brown but a fiery red colour. Baron looked at her dumbfounded – was she really…? He trailed off once again, lost in his own thoughts. He then turned and went out the door quietly, surely he was too tired – it was two o'clock in the morning. He went into his own room to lie down on his bed, let's just see what the new day brings us, he thought and closed his eyes.

The rising sun shone through Haru's window and caught her face. She felt quite lethargic but managed to open her eyes to see she was lying on a beautiful bed. She looked around, not recognizing her surroundings, and then remembered what had happened. She sat up in bed and saw an outfit lying on a chair beside her bed. She rose from her comfortable bed and moved closer to the clothes; her outfit was composed of a long-sleeved, beige shirt, dark brown leather vest and black trousers. Under her chair was a pair of black boots (reminding Haru of pirate-shoes). How cool, Haru thought enthusiastically.

She noticed she was wearing a blue, silk nightgown and hoped it was one of Baron's magic tricks. She put on the clothes and looked in the mirror which was hanging in the other side of the room. This looks so cool, Haru thought and turned around to see how the clothes fit her. She found a comb and ran it through her brown hair. She put the comb away and lay down on bed spreading her arms to either side.

Then she heard a knock on the door. "Come in," Haru said and sat up. Baron walked into the room with a smile, "I see you're awake now. Do you like your clothes?"

Haru smiled, "yes it's a really cool outfit. Is this how the women here dress?"

Baron shook his head and said, "No. You'll have to pretend to be a man for our trip." Haru looked quite confused.

"Why?"

"Because it's really dangerous for a woman to travel so far – even if it's with the three of us." He looked at her and smiled again, "but there's nothing to worry about."

Haru nodded.

"Would you care for some breakfast? I bet you're dying to eat something." He gestured to the door.

"Sure, thank you." She smiled and walked out the door followed by Baron.

ooOOoo

At midday Toto and Muta arrived and they were all off to the temple of prophesies.

"Don't ever make me do this again," Muta complained while breathing heavily.

"Oh, stop grumbling and keep walking," Toto replied. "The horses are just at the top of the hill. It's not our fault that you never work out – or eat so much."

"I'll remember this," Muta breathed, his pace beginning to be more slacking.

"Oh, I doubt you'll forget. There's an old saying; elephants never forget," Toto snickered.

"That's it!" Muta yelled and they both started to throw insults at each other.

"Are they always like this?" Haru asked, looking up at Baron.

"Yes, but it doesn't mean it's a bad thing. They like each others company even if they don't want to admit," he answered back.

Haru nodded and looked forward. "What is it precisely we're looking for? I mean, I know it's an old scroll but what will it tell us?" It was hard for Haru to concentrate with Thomson and Thompson insulting each behind them.

"Well, the scroll will tell us what we need to know. Firstly we'll find out why you descended from the sky the other day and then we'll figure out how to find the other half." He trailed off, not knowing why himself.

"Can I take a look on the ring you're wearing?" He asked gesturing to the ring on her finger.

"Yes, of course," Haru answered but when he tried to take it off, she couldn't.

"I can't get it off – it won't… come off," Haru said after a short while, trying to take it off.

Baron looked at it, "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Haru answered but suddenly everything went dark around her. She felt lethargic – even more than she had this morning. But she could feel she was soaring.

"Are you Haru?"a soothing, female voice asked from the dark. Haru looked around and "yes" was all she could answer.

"I am Vespera," Haru saw a beautiful woman stand in front of her. Her hair was long and was unnaturally red, like a gemstone. Her eyes were hazel but to Haru the woman's one eye seemed gold for some reason.

"I am what people call a 'witch' but I prefer to call myself an enchantress."

The woman walked towards Haru and Haru couldn't do anything but stand and wait for her to come over.

"I wouldn't try to take off the ring if I were you. I shall tell you why later but now let me tell you who you are." The woman now stood in front of Haru and looked at her in awe. Suddenly the complete scenery changed into a beautiful garden with cherry trees everywhere and they were now sitting on a bench.

"I lived here in peace," the woman, Vespera, began. "I didn't hear about King Lucifer until I heard from my sister what he had done to his people; letting them starve, letting them rot in the streets. He had even killed his father to get the throne. I wanted to make him change the way he behaved – or at least make him think about what he did. But it didn't help – he bound my hands and burned me on the stake. I made a spell that made my soul part into two pieces; a male and a female. You have already found one of the parts and now it's time to find the other half." Vespera smiled to Haru.

"But going to the temple of prophesies won't help. You'll need to look deeper than that. You shall go to the south; there you'll find all the answers you need."

"What did you mean before when you said I shouldn't take the ring off?" Haru asked perplexed. Vespera's face became very serious.

"If you ever do that you shall go down with pain. The pain which is held inside the ring – the pain I felt when I got burned at the stake. If you take off the ring you shall release it you shall feel the same pain. Your body won't die but your soul wouldn't be able to take the suffering I went through. Farewell, my child."

With that Vespera disappeared and everything went black again.

"Haru? Haru?" a very concerned Baron's voice woke Haru. Her eyes fluttered open slowly. She remembered her 'dream' vividly. "Are you alright? What happened?" His voice was anxious.

"I'm fine," she reassured. "I just passed out – or Vespera made me," she added.

"Vespera?" Toto asked. "Who's Vespera?"

"She's apparently the witch you talked about yesterday evening."

The others looked at each other, confused.

"Are you sure you didn't just hit your head, Chicky?" Muta asked her, concerned for her mental state.

Haru sighed, "Yes, it was really her. I remember it vividly. She told me about the spell and that going to the temple of prophesies won't help us at all."

"Why did she appear to you?" Baron asked. "Are you the other half?"

"I don't think so," she said wondering, "She just mentioned that we had already found one half – you, Baron – and we needed to look a little deeper."

"Oh, and she mentioned we had to go to the south to find the answers we needed," Haru added.

They all thought about what just happened and then Baron broke the silence. "Alright," he said, "Let us go south. But I think we should first head back home, there are just a few things I need to look up."

"Are you kidding me?" Muta exclaimed annoyed. "Are you telling me that all this walking was to no use at all?"

"Yeah, you actually got some exercise, what a wondrous word," Toto snickered. And then they were at it again.

Haru noticed she was still lying on the ground in Baron's arms. She sat up and Baron looked away from Muta's and Toto's fight to help her up on her feet again.

"Are you sure you can walk?" he asked, wanting to make sure that she was alright.

"I'm fine," Haru reassured him and smiled. "But I am a little embarrassed though… How many times have I passed out already?" she asked.

"A few," Baron chuckled but Haru swore she could hear a hidden worry behind his laugh.

ooOOoo

Back home Muta had already lay down comfortably in the couch (short of breath) and Toto was brewing some mulberry tea. Baron had gone to his bookshelf to find some book as soon as they got in and Haru now stood and looked at him waiting for him to find what he was looking for. Baron was in his thoughts and was still searching for a specific book after some time. But finally the search had paid off.

"Aha," he exclaimed, "Found it." He took from his shelf a book called Realms and wiped off the dust (which had been gathering for quite some time now) with his handkerchief.

"I'll need your help Haru," he said to her and she was immediately at his side.

"I want you to point out your world. You see, there are quite many realms so it would save me some time to let you tell me where you're from."

Haru nodded. Baron then walked to another couch (not the one Muta was napping on) and sat down with the open book. Haru followed him and sat down beside him.

"You just say stop when we get to your world, alright?" he asked. Haru nodded affirmatively and Baron started to flip through the pages. Haru had no idea that there were so many different worlds. There were many different kinds; the first page showed Alderra and then there were a few pages with facts about the kingdom. Then there was a world called Dormus; a world with gremlins and trolls – things that Haru only knew from fairytales. When they were halfway through the book Baron flipped a page to reveal a map of the Earth.

"There, that's the one," Haru said happy.

"Alright," Baron sounded satisfied, "let's see what there is to know about Earth."

Haru skimmed the page and was taken by surprise. "Vampire?" she asked sceptically. "Seriously?"

Baron looked at her, "you didn't know this?"

"No, they're just a myth on Earth. But I'll remember that I won't ever go to…" she read where they lived. "…Bulgaria." Baron chuckled a bit and flipped a page to read about something else than creatures. Something caught his eyes.

"The rate of time is different," he said wondering to himself.

"So that means?" Haru asked curiously.

"That you're not seventeen in my world."

"So how old am I?" Haru asked and Baron started to calculate. Haru kept up with the different numbers at first but gave up not able to understand how he did any of it.

"Tea is ready," Toto said as he walked in with a tray on which was a teapot, four cups, sugar, milk and lemon slices.

"What a delicious smell," Haru said and leaned towards the table to receive a filled cup with tea.

"Thank you," Toto said nicely, "It's an old family recipe."

"Baron actually also makes incredibly tasty tea but since he was so busy I made the tea today." Then he looked over at Muta. "I see the fatso has finally fallen asleep. He prefers to stay put or otherwise he might actually get some exercise."

Haru giggled with Toto but was interrupted by Baron. "How peculiar," he said. "According to my calculations you should be exactly 22 years and one month; like me. But I must have mistaken some numbers." Then he started over with his calculations.

Haru was about to offer help but Toto said, "Just let him work on it himself. He has more control of it that way." Haru nodded and went back to sipping her tea.

Suddenly a yell went through her head as though it had been spoken out loud to her. "I'VE FINALLY FOUND YOU!"

This made her gasp and Baron looked up from his notes. "What's wrong?" he asked curiously. "Nothing, I just thought I heard something but it was just my mind playing a trick on me," she answered. Baron looked at her for a while to make sure but soon went back to taking notes. Haru drank her tea and leaned back to take a nap. The time was six o'clock in the evening but she didn't have any strength to stay awake. Her eyes closed and the sleep kicked in.

"Baron?" Toto asked, "Haru has fallen asleep. Should I just carry her to her bed?"

Baron looked up from the book and looked at her, "Let her sleep here."

"Toto, I don't think my numbers are wrong. It says in the book that for each year on Earth that past, a year and three months pasts in Alderra."

"I told you from the beginning that she is the other half. But you wouldn't believe me," Toto said accusingly.

"I'll just check again," Baron said and started over once again. Toto sighed, rolled his eyes and went out with the tray and tea.

Baron had checked the numbers too many times and his head ached. He leaned his head back and put his hands on his forehead.

Toto came back into the room and gasped loudly, "Now do you believe me?" Toto pointed at the sleeping girl and Baron's eyes went wide. Haru's hair was once again completely red and long (reached her elbows). Her skin was also paler – something Baron hadn't noticed when he saw her the night before (which he thought was just his eyes playing tricks on him).

"Yes," Baron said calmly but with hidden satisfaction, "I believe you."