Light Up The Night
”Burning and rising up from these flames, we’re finally taking the reins.” ~Lyrics from Light Up The Night
Frill stood behind her mother as the Ritual of Peace began in earnest. Everyone was present. Everyone that mattered. The event was as private as it could be. Aside from the housekeepers, Celosia, and Lor, only those who had arrived with her were in attendance. Elizzel was nowhere to be found, presumably hiding inside the Visitor’s Mind Palace.
As soon as she confirmed everyone was prepared, Celosia formally opened the ritual.
“Tonight, on the three hundred and thirty-third day of the twenty-seventh year of Monarch Denis’ rule, we say goodbye to Liona Veli, a beloved daughter—” Celosia’s voice cracked. She shook her head in pain, unable to continue.
Frill urged her mother, placing a gentle hand on her back. Celosia wiped away a tear and nodded towards her. “I’m alright dear, thank you.”
The felintine gathered herself. Her ears perked, and her tail rose as she took a lungful of air. As she slowly released her breath, meiyal began to steadily gather, shining around the entire patio and surrounding all the guests. At the same time, she produced her own meiyal, adding a hue of bright pink to their surroundings.
Frill could see the Visitor completely mesmerized by the display while the rest of her friends were more solemn. She returned her attention to Liona and contributed her own meiyal for the ritual. A bright red.
Celosia finally found the courage to carry on. “A sweet sister, a loving friend, a faithful soldier, and a caring servant. We burn her tonight so that her memories will forever blaze within our hearts.”
She stepped aside, giving way to Frill, who had requested to personally take charge of the burning.
The Aria stepped forward, activating her meiyal marks at the same time. She presented them to her sister, as if proving to her that all the effort she had invested in making her meiyal system adaptable had paid off.
Two-hundred meiyal marks in total, twice that of any other Meiyal Arts practitioner, alive or dead.
The meiyal surrounding them responded to her will, producing heat while expressing sorrow. Only during times of intense emotions would it respond in such a way, as if it had a life of its own.
Now that she understood better, Frill appreciated the meiyal’s reaction. Even for a Ritual of Peace, this behavior was rare, and it signified for her Brymeia’s favor and attention more than anything else. She focused and gathered a portion of her mother’s meiyal and mixed it with hers, creating a vortex atop the palm of her hand.
The Aria gave the signal to her companions, and one by one, they produced their own meiyal.
Lor was first to do so, releasing a pristine green glow. He directed it towards Frill’s outstretched hand. She took it and combined it within the vortex.
Kristel’s was gold mixed with silver. Now that she thought about it, Frill had never seen the Princess produce her own meiyal at all. It was beautiful, a fine addition to the gathering power in her hand.
Next, she went to Xiv, who frowned, confused. “Me?”
Frill nodded. “Yes, please.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am. I never got the chance to introduce you to her, so this will be the only way I can do that.”
The Vyndivalian was hesitant. He looked to everyone else for confirmation, but none of them denied Frill’s request. Defeated, he held the Aria’s hand and produced his meiyal. A metallic shine of blue surrounded the vortex before completely mixing with the rest.
Next was Katherine. A simple gesture was all she needed. The floating meiyal marks beside her temple spilled ribbons of light. She produced her own meiyal. They were like glittering gemstones reflecting light in a prism, creating rainbows of colors before they mixed eventually with the accumulating power in Frill’s hand.
The yumas were next. Fittey and Stiry contributed the most meiyal. Enza as well, but the rest of her siblings were not as miraculously developed as her. Still, they gave what they could.
Last was Frein. His face said he didn’t want to give his, but Frill insisted.
“You saw my meiyal back in Atlas Sid,” he said. “Do you really want it mixing with everyone’s?”
Frill nodded. “Liona never knew you, either, Frein. And I want to introduce you as well. Don’t worry, I can handle your meiyal.”
“I don’t doubt that.” Frein smiled and produced his meiyal.
Even without his intent mixed in, the meiyal was sinister in nature. Blood red with an aura of darkness. Was this really the Fallen Dragon’s meiyal?
The moment it mixed with the vortex of other meiyal, the overall color dimmed somewhat, mitigated in general by all the other sources.
It was heavy as well. Frill felt the weight for the first time. The Visitor did not produce more meiyal than the rest, but the one he gave was the highest quality of all. Katherine’s was the prettiest, but she had been long surpassed by Frein in terms of meiyal intensity.
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How? Frill gave it serious thought. It was weird. The Visitor didn’t produce Milled meiyal. He gave his own. So how and why did this feel like it was Milled over and over?
“You okay?” Frein asked. “It’s not too much, is it?”
Frill shook her head. Despite the added weight, the vortex itself was still manageable. “I just don’t understand how your meiyal is like this.”
Frein smiled and whispered, “It’s not just mine,” implying the faunel within his Mind Palace. “But good catch. I’m somewhat continuously refining my own meiyal aside from just constantly doing Perpetual-Layered Milling Form. I can explain more in detail later if you want.” He winked, urging Frill to proceed with the ritual.
She felt like there was more to it than just what the Visitor was saying. But she didn’t want to linger too long. Liona had waited long enough, and she didn’t really have that much fortitude to keep holding her emotions in the first place.
With the meiyal of all participants finally in her hands, Frill returned to where Liona rested. The next part was rather simple, despite the complex mechanics involved.
In a way, Frill used the principles of Meiyal Weaving. Kristel and Frein had shared what little they knew about the discipline and found that the Ritual of Peace was, in its very essence, Meiyal Weaving. Modernization had taken root in this ritual, applying parts of Meiyal Arts within the process.
Instead of Gathering all these different sources of meiyal to Mill and Draw an Art, Frill instead pushed her will to it, projecting the pattern of a flaming phoenix.
“Diferenfra.”
The natural meiyal surrounding them responded to her will, using the vortex of everyone’s meiyal as a catalyst to manifest the Art. Instantly, a great conflagration of a magnificent phoenix soared to the skies, flying around before falling like a wishing star.
It engulfed everyone with its flames, but burned only Liona from within her coffin. The smell of burning flesh quickly disappeared as Frill intensified her flames until there was nothing left but her sister’s ashes.
It was done before Frill even realized it. She felt something let go. The tension in her legs gave way as she fell down on her knees. Her tears didn’t stop falling, even though she knew not when they started. All her Meiyal Arts disappeared and she was quickly slammed by Art fatigue.
The world was in sorrow.
“What?” Frein asked. He was the first to notice.
“What’s going on?” Katherine asked next.
The rest expressed their confusion. Frill paid them no mind, they were all looking at the sky anyway.
A brilliant display manifested among the clouds, rays of light that gathered to create a sea of colors. Pink, blue, red, gold, silver, mixed with more tones and hues than Frill could describe. She cried in awe and sorrow at the magnificence before her.
What was the world trying to say? What did Brymeia want to show them?
The aurora lasted until Frill had fully recovered, never really finding an answer to those questions. By then, Celosia had gathered Liona’s ashes and stored them in an gem-encrusted urn, while the rest of the manor housekeepers had buried the coffin beside Histrom’s grave.
After the sorrow came hope.
Frill could feel it in her heart, the desire to live on to carry her sister’s memory. It was bursting, pushing away the sadness as if she was finally released, no longer shackled by the feeling of loss. It was bittersweet. The desire to keep still, to forever wallow in darkness with her sister’s death was tempting, but the happy memories Liona gave her pushed her forwards. She couldn’t stop herself.
Frill realized, she truly, deeply, and wholeheartedly loved Liona.
Her Meiyal Art, Beautiful Notes manifested, and the first pitch was perfect. The melody that followed after carried with it hope, burning with passions so true that the colors in the skies returned livelier than ever.
Frill, then, in a single breath, lit up the night.
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Frein felt his heart was going to burst from the overwhelming mixture of sadness and hope. He listened to Frill sing the very song he had recommended, and couldn’t stop himself from following along
“We’re gonna light up the night… Leave the darkness behind…”
He had never really once considered himself a singer, but that barely mattered at the moment. The hymn Meiyal Art was too strong, far stronger than any he had ever witnessed from Frill. It pulled on his feelings with ease, twisting them and wrenching them with each passing bar of music. He looked to the side and saw Katherine in tears while smiling back at him.
Elizzel manifested behind them, well hidden enough from Celosia and Lor who was on the other side of the venue. They were too mesmerized by Frill’s song to even notice her appearance.
Katherine embraced and hid the faunel underneath her coat, and she and Frein sandwiched her. Elizzel didn’t care, she hugged both of them.
By the time Frill was on the third chorus, everyone was singing along.
No more holding on
No more pain
We’re gonna light up the night
We’ll set the past aflame
And light up a future with my name
The song ended with a grand display of meiyal flares.
The moment he broke the embrace, the faunel returned to his Mind Palace. He simply couldn’t stop himself from giving Frill a round of applause. Everyone quickly followed suit.
The Aria managed one smile before she completely collapsed from exhaustion. Kristel managed to catch her just in time.
“Is she alright?” Frein asked, urgently assessing the Aria with Mesiffera. Art fatigue had completely settled in.
“The Ritual of Peace is exhausting,” Kristel explained. “Don’t worry. Frill just gave all she got… I think.”
“Apologies, Princess,” Celosia said, approaching them. Her eyes were red and her cheeks wet. “I hate to impose, but will you please bring Frill to her room? I wish to attend to Liona and formally close the ritual.”
“Don’t worry,” Kristel said, “I’ll take care of her.”
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Kristel waited until Frill was finally asleep before she took her turn to cry. The Aria’s song was magnificent and new. She only learned after the performance that it was a rendition of a song from Frein’s world. It was truly magical.
Only after she calmed down did she try to listen to the original, realizing that the language was foreign. So how had Frill translated it? Frein had said it was a perfect rendition.
“Destiny, little Princess,” said the Entity’s voice.
Kristel ignored it just like the other voices she had heard before.
“Oh, how cold. You didn’t think you’d get to visit me and I wouldn’t be able to return the favor, did you?”
Kristel sighed. “I didn’t want to see you in the first place,” she whispered. “Just go away. I don’t have time for you.”
“Fine, fine. Have it your way. I would’ve spent the entire night telling you my elaborate plan to kill your sweet, little Aria…”
“What?”
“No take backsies, little Princess. I’ll see you after the Incursion. Make sure you don’t die until then. That’ll be too boring.”
Kristel stood from the chair so abruptly that it made too much noise. Immediately, she looked at Frill. She stirred, but did not wake. The Princess, then, looked within herself, feeling for the Entity to see if it was still there.
Gone. Completely gone.
Kristel slumped back down on a chair, pressing a hand on her temple. They wouldn’t even let her properly grieve. Pained beyond frustration and sadness, she couldn’t stop herself from expressing her stress in a growling whisper.
“Goddammit…”
She didn’t know when she fell asleep. But when she woke up, rising from the study near the bed, Frill was already looking out the window.
The Aria turned to her with a worried face. “It’s Ashtine. I think it’s urgent. I don’t see Smyl.”