Chapter 002

Vague Whispers

Ailvan Castle Forest

The Ailvan World

Lina

Why were they here?

I needed to activate the Gyra bead on the gateway to the human realm to secure my safety. However, some of my clan members stood guard at the gate. They tensed up and put all 5 of their senses into critical overload to locate any intruders. This time, they were serious. Although recognizing them was out of the question, I could never forget the dominant force of my clan's Gyra.

But, why here? Why now?

Ever since I joined our clan, I had never seen my clanmates stay on the job once. We were the worse clan, not only because of our lack of strength, but our lack of willpower and determination. My clanmates decided they were right where they belonged - at the bottom of the top. We couldn't get any lower than this. We had previously proven our strength which prevented members from getting fired.

Three years ago, when an unknown force almost stole our treasures, who saved us? Father, Reno, and I, even though we were supposed to be taking Gyra lessons. What happened to our guard? They were out, drinking their life savings away in a nearby bar.

I had already inspected the Gyra bead myself. While I wasn't a master, I wasn't an amateur either. The bead was full of lofty, murky Gyra, but it radiated negative energy. However, the worst thing it could do was destroy the gate—which could be restored. And if there was a terrorist ambush, all we had to do was defend—which I was very confident we could accomplish.

Just a few hours ago, I considered ignoring the shadowy figure's order and risking my life instead, but my faith remained in the fact that they would be helpless in front of my clan's power. My civil war between evil and good had ended up in a draw; I would follow the path ordained by the shadowy figure, but not entirely. He wouldn't notice my stroll off the path. It was quite simple, since Father prepared for an attack, all I had to do was guard the gate for the rest of the night. However, my clan members finally did something useful and were guarding it for me. What a perfect plan!

All I had to do was throw the orb now.

That's the problem, how?

Gyra beads tend to release the spell within it on impact, but I couldn't do that without alerting my clanmates. If they caught a glimpse of my face or my Gyra then that would put me in a bad situation, to say the least. In fact, that would be a catastrophe!

I sat on the floor with my knees near my chest under the luminescent light of the night sky. My white hair stood out like a white horse in a brown stable. I peaked out to catch a glimpse of their locations one last time, and then I put my plan into action!

I slipped out, rolling and crawling closer to the gateway behind the trees, praying that they wouldn't catch a glimpse of my white hair. I reached the closest patch of bushes, hiding my head behind the tree. Wait... couldn't I just approach them casually? No, they wouldn't give me a chance to toss the Gyra bead, especially because it would be suspicious. I needed to hurl the Gyra bead straight into their blind spot.

I would get one opportunity, a slim opening, and a mistake could be fatal. High-risk, high-return, 1% chance of success.

Hell yeah!

I peered at the 2 closest guards, Gyra bead in hand. Calmly waited for my chance to strike. There were 7 guards in total. The two closest guards, Anex and Alina were on high alert. I had to wait for both of them to be turned in the opposite direction. Waiting. Waiting is the most crucial part of assassination from the shadows. Wait for the right chance and don't hesitate to take it. That's what Father used to say.

I've practiced assassination before. Lurking in the shadows and then leaping with full force. But that was just practice; this was the real deal.

heh, no matter how much I had practiced, there's nothing that can compare to firsthand experience.

I began to maneuver into a throwing position, leaning my arm behind my shoulder; Gyra bead firmly in hand. I trembled, nearly tripped, and tumbled over. I wasn't prepared for this. But who the hell cares, I was doing this no matter what.

...

...

what the hell. Are they really this good?

Is it luck? or a fluke? They never shared the same blind spot. No, they are just so lazy that they change directions at all. Damnit, all that time was spent on nothing! What do I do now?! Give up? Disobey Mr. Shadow? No, let's wing it.

"Holy Tree, I may never speak to you and this probably isn't my best moment. I know this is a sin but what can I do? I know that you probably don't care for me as you do Reno or Father, maybe even Shikka. Wait, no you definitely don't care for her. This might seem pretty greedy, but I could really use your help right now. Can I get some luck? Or can you make their heads turn in opposite directions, looking away from each other? Is that a yes? No? What?" I prayed with sincerity.

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well... here goes nothing.

I hurled the bead, extended my legs, and moved my arm in an arc. I reached high and fast, and with all of my strength, let go of the bead right at my fingertips. I sent it with extra wind Gyra as a cherry on top to make sure the bead flew fast. It zoomed across the clearing quickly, it was a good through.

This actually might work

I flexed my biceps and smiled widely

Until… it changed direction

…

fuck

The bead hit the floor with a loud impact on the left side of the gate. It then released the nauseous Gyra into the air. All the guards started to run, probably to raise the alarm. With looks of dread on their faces, some sprinted towards the quarters; some sprinted straight at me.

Damnit, what the hell Holy Tree. This is your fault, isn't it? I stared with a look of suspicion at the humongous tree reaching out of the atmosphere. I could almost hear it whistling, trying to feign ignorance.

This counts right? I mean... the spell landed on the gate.

With a few, chosen actions and words pointed toward the Holy Tree. I raced across the forest and leaped from tree to tree to escape my clan members who were hot on my tail at first, but a bunch of slackers could never catch me. After a few minutes of running, they began to tire out and passed out, hah! What a bunch of losers. That only left the people who went to tell my clan members about what happened to the gate. I had to hurry back if I wanted to avoid suspicion. Since I disappeared, I was already a suspect.

I needed to find someone to cover for me. Someone who slacked off and could be bought over with booze and alcohol. My mind whirled around, scanning all of the properties of my clanmates until I settled on two possible options. Jenna or Benn would work. Stupid? Check. Drunkard? Check. Greedy? Big Check.

What a brilliant plan.

heh heh heh

Until a calamity struck. Damn, I knew the Holy Tree hated me, but not this much. This really was my unlucky day. I raced through the treetops, landing on each branch with a quiet step. I had just reached the clearing near our quarters, where I could only watch in despair as Reno appeared before me.

"Holy hell," he yelled as my last leap aimed right at him. He used wind Gyra to shove himself away, barely managing to avoid the impact.

Unfortunately, with the surprise and my brace for impact, I ended up faceplanting not-so-gracefully on the grass. With all the momentum I carried, I ended up rolling 4 or 5 times in the clearing, tumbling like I was rolling down a hill.

"Ouch," uttered Reno. He obviously felt some pain from his rough landing, but that was clearly pointing at me. He closed his eyes and avoided eye contact and tried to look away from the mess I had created. "What the hell are you doing here Lina? Never mind that, are you okay?"

"Su-sure," I replied in agony with my face buried into the ground, so it came out mostly muffled. I raised my head out of the dirt but stumbled to stand up.

Damnit, looks like the feeling is mutual Unholy Tree

Reno rushed over to me as I collapsed lifeless on the floor, not paying attention to anything else.

"Hey!" Reno leaped over to me and skidded across the floor to catch me. I couldn't make out what he said next, but it was fine. Mission... accomplished? That counts right? Well, I could finally get some rest, sigh... I needed this.

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Darkness. No, light. Shining in the middle of an abyss, struggling and resisting the impending darkness. Murky darkness veiled the beating, bright flames of light. But what could this mean? Is the light being eaten? Is darkness being eaten?

The scene then switched abruptly. It was like a play that just pulled the curtains to switch scenes.

There I was again. My hair shone whiter than stars in the dazzling sunlight. My emerald-green eyes matched the colors of the trees nearby. I was wearing my clan's uniform—a white shirt and pants with an aqua robe—in the middle of the forest.

The scene switched again. This time, the same forest was on fire; most of the trees were already burnt to a crisp and looked like charcoal. The grass was on fire; the sky was red with meteors raining down. Instead of sitting comfortably like in the last scene, I was curled up in the ball with bruises and scrapes.

I sat there. All alone, surrounded by the lands of hell. I had a sorrowful expression while my eyes matched the color of the raging fire. Was this even me?

The me in my vision slowly turned to me like a doll, staring right into my soul.

"Why did you do—

Then the scene was cut to black.

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My limbs shot out frantically as I was squashed by that unusually terrifying dream, cold sweat pouring off me. A sudden realization hit me; it was just another dream. I shot up, and I gasped for breath as I squeezed my chest. But all I produced were shaky, shallow, uneven breaths.

Calm down, it was just a dream

I leaned back, plopping down on the pillow. That was a disaster, but it worked. I fist-pumped the air.

I wanted to sleep a little longer after last night, but that was only a fantasy. Apparently, Reno and I were out for a walk and I got caught up in the aftermath of the battle between the intruder and the guards. The guards clearly stretched the story out and added lies to make them more chivalrous. They gasped and panted after 3 minutes of chase, like, they were completely useless!

The story covered up my disappearance. Although, I was sure Reno would have millions of questions about what actually happened. Ugh, I'm sure that nightmare I had foretold my dreaded conversation with him. I shivered from only thinking about all the questions he had for me. Best to avoid him for now.

I dressed up, wearing our clan's uniform—a white shirt and aqua robe. White represents the Ailvas, and aqua represents our clan. Just like in my dream.

Shikka stood next to me, fixing her hair now that she had her uniform on. She struggled to tie her hair up. Her face screamed out, "I don't have time for this! Why can't I get it right?"

"Need some help?" I offered, managing a forced smile.

"Nah, I think I'll just let it fall today," responded Shikka looking away to avoid the embarrassment like she wanted her hair to fall on purpose. "Anyway did you hear about last night? Apparently, someone was attacking our gate!"

"Uhhh... yeah... did that... uh.. that happen? Well, that seems very... uh... strange. Well, she missed though—I mean... they uh... didn't do umm—didn't do anything! I chuckled, feeling my nose grow longer by the second. Damnit.

''Are you okay?" asked Shikka with a suspicious concern.

"Yeah... uh—I'm fine! I'm totally fine! Don't worry! I'm the best I've ever been!"

"Yeah... sure..."

heh heh heh

My flawless, foolproof strategy to avoid suspicion was a complete success! Look at her, she clearly suspected nothing... right?

Well, the day of reckoning was here. I ambled to the deck of the castle while Shikka went to the lower floors with the rest of my clanmates. I stepped out, and peered down at the gate, looking the same as ever. Even though I had that little voice, eating away at me for my lies, I was ready for anything!