Ha-Rin’s mind is in a daze. Her consciousness fading in and out. However, after some time she sees not darkness but light, absolutely blinding light. An everlasting fire. A dragon roar thunders across the skies. Raiba, the Storm Dragon of the End, the Destroyer of Two Continents, peaks his face through the dark storm clouds. Thunderheads and thunderbolts streak across the sky the clouds whirling like tornadoes the air itself an enemy of all life. Looking at the Storm Dragon, Ha-Rin is filled with dread. She is frightened in place. Raiba proceeds to consume her, but it was not so. A great whirlwind of fire consumes the world even Ha-Rin herself, yet she feels no pain. Darkness besets her. Then, opening her eyes she sees that she in a green hill overlooking a city of Arda. She hears the sounds of war, and she looks back. A great blinding light faster than sound overwhelms her, and she sees everyone melt like candles but before her consciousness fades, she sees a figure cloaked with the very flames of the Sun. It points at her. Now, everything is dark.
A black abyss stretches forth its tentacles toward her inching ever closer. Her eyes and ears are shut seeing no light and hearing no sounds. Then a great power overflows from her, a familiar revitalizing power, pushing back the darkness turning night into day. She wakes up.
She feels great, in fact, better than great.
“I feel like this body might be able to handle some of my sword training from Earth now,” she thinks.
She then thinks about her recent dream, “I need to get stronger. Whatever that dream means, it does not look good for me either way.”
Sunlight flitters between the purple curtains and a sound of silence permeates the room.
She lightly slaps her cheeks and thinks, “Focus, Ha-Rin. Nothing good will come about dwelling on the past.”
Ha-Rin looks at her surroundings again more clearly, admiring the artwork and décor of the room. They give the impression of old, regal king ruling from ages past.
Passing over the items in the room, she looks at her maid Jane sleeping silently. Ha-Rin who is now Princess Zana moves out of the bed and slightly pushes Jane to wake her up.
“Huh…,” Jane says half-asleep.
She yawns.
“Ah! Princess! I am so glad that you are okay!” she says hugging Zana.
Noticing that she is hugging royalty, she says, “Sorry, for my rudeness, my Lady.”
“It is fine, Jane. I am glad that you are always here for me,” Zana says.
“My lady, do you have your memory back?” Jane asks.
Zana shakes her head.
“However, I do remember now that when I was young child, you would play hide and seek with me in the palace,” Zana says smiling.
“I am so glad that you remember at least a little bit,” Jane says hugging her.
“Also, Jane, do you know the name of this city? I still don’t remember,” Zana asks.
“Why yes, I do, my Lady! We are in the city of Tel-Vanna, located in the northern heartland of the Empire,” Jane says.
Then, Jane’s eyes opened wide, and she exclaims, “You have mana in your body!”
Noticing Jane’s remark, Zana is at first surprised but remembering the sensation earlier. She thinks, “That good feeling from earlier must have been when the antidote unshackled my mana from the Blue Mana Fever. Luckily, my body is not in shock due to my mana flowing through it.”
She looks at her hands noticing that they are no longer pale.
“It’s a miracle,” Jane says, “Praise Great Pas! May He return and give us a Second Life.”
After making the sign of the square, she says to Zana, “My Lady, please let me tell the others about this wonderful occasion! We will celebrate right away.”
Zana still in deep thought and only half-listening says, “Sure.”
“Thanks, my Lady!”
Jane then hurries to others in the palace leaping with joy.
“Actually, wait…,” Zana says a step to late.
Sighing, she thinks, “It’s fine. They would have found out about it eventually. Since it looks like I have access to mana now, I should try some meditation exercises I learned on Earth.”
She peels her eyes away from the door and sits on her bed cross-legged. She then starts using the breathing exercises she developed as Hunter on Earth to sense the mana within her and mold it to her will.
At first, there is nothing only emptiness. No color, no depth, no texture, no movement, but then a dazzling light appears within her mind. It shines brighter and brighter until the light shrinks back down into a puddle within the void. Looking at the small puddle in her mind, she thinks, “It looks like a success. I can sense mana in my body. It’s good that I remembered this technique back on Earth. Also, since the mana coalesced as a puddle, then that should mean that I have an affinity for water magic in this life. I have mixed feelings about this.”
In her previous life, Ha-Rin was a magic swordswoman who specialized in fire magic and was known as the Ever-Burning Flame.
Remembering her past nickname, she cringes and says to herself, “I am not a battle junkie.”
She then continues to meditate and gain control over her newly accessible mana.
While Ha-Rin is in denial of her true nature, Jane is currently hurrying about the palace, informing others of her Lady’s recovery and triumph over her illness.
“Really, how wonderful!” many of the servants say.
“Let us celebrate,” Jane says, “we should host a banquet for celebration!”
Infected with her enthusiasm, the servants she meets nod in agreement and they tell others the same news.
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Eventually, the halls of the manor are filled with life with butlers, maids, and guards running to and fro busily preparing a banquet.
Jane then sees Mordecai talking to Master Gormenghast and hurries over to them.
“Lord Mordecai, Master Gormenghast, let us host a banquet for the Princess!” she exclaims.
Noticing her shouting at them, Mordecai says, “We can speak more of how Princess knew of the cure later. You can just ask her about it during the banquet.”
Sighing, Gormenghast says, “Fine, Mordecai. I will wait until then.”
Disappointment flashes across from his face. He says to Mordecai and to the approaching Jane, “I will be taking my leave now. Don’t worry I will attend the banquet later today.”
He then leaves the room.
“Lord Mordecai, we must prepare a banquet celebrating the Princess’ recovery. Come with me,” she says dragging Mordecai by the arm.
“Wait...” he says helplessly.
“To the dining hall!” she says excitedly.
While the butler and maid prepare a celebration for their Lady, a boy staggers on his feet coughing up sea water. It is Billy.
“Captain! Mr. Klein! Mr. Teddy! A-anybody!” he screams.
No response.
It is dusk and the sun’s light will soon disappear turning day into night.
Billy, being an orphaned street urchin, starts to find some dead sticks and other flammable material in order to make a fire.
He finds some dead sticks some pieces of wet cloth and some berries from the bushes nearby. Digging a small pit in the ground and placing the sticks there, he starts a fire manually in order to conserve his mana.
It is now dark, and stars are scattered across the high heaven. The moon peaks her head behind some clouds. Her green tint lights up the darkened world below. The small fire is burning well and Billy can be seen next to it trying to remember what happened.
“I think Mr. Teddy told me to something? Aha!”
“Hey, Billy. Go up on deck and mop it. Cap’ns orders. Yes, Mr. Teddy.”
“Okay, I remember that I was mopping deck and that the Captain told us that we were going to the island of Nublar in response to their distress call. Is there anything else, Bill? Come on think harder!” Billy thinks.
Then Billy remembers.
Billy was mopping deck of the ship during night. Small lamps of magelight light up the ship’s deck allowing him to see where he is going. While taking a break from mopping, he looks at the sea and night sky. The sea is surprisingly calm but pitch black like the abyss while the starry sky has only a few clouds blocking their light. He then looks at the moon. That green’s moon hypnotic beauty awes him in her majesty and he says to himself quietly, “Wow.”
He can then see a small shadow on the moon’s surface, and it soon gets bigger and bigger. He tries to stare at it to understand what is happening.
The shadow gets bigger and bigger when he realizes that the shadow is not a bird or flying monster. “A person?” he thinks.
Then, a person cloaked in darkness stares at him and the ship from above. Their face and figure is blurred.
He can’t sense their presence or any mana on them.
“Am I hallucinating?” he thinks.
He only hears incomprehensible sounds like the sound of metal clanging and scraping together.
Then he hears a lovely voice.
“Filthy dogs of Pas.”
Soon, a great bolt of blue lightning rockets toward Billy.
“Get out of the way!”
Captain Adrian shoves Billy out of the way.
A massive explosion occurs.
BOOOMMM!!!!
The blue lightening cracks the entire ship into two pieces causing it to sink into the water. Billy is thrown into the water beneath the cacophony of deafening magical explosions occurring above its surface.
“Am I going to die?” he thinks.
Then, darkness starts to overtake him, but before it does, he hears a voice, “Be still.”
“The Deity from before!” he thinks.
“Was he the reason I lived?”
“Where is this place?” he asks.
“I don’t see that person here. If they did find me, then the only thing I think I can do is roll over and die,” he says.
The gap between a Deity and a mortal is that great.
“Let me pray to the Lord and thank him for saving me,” he continues.
“I will try to ask for the Lord’s name next time,” he thinks.
He then starts to pray to Adam thanking him for saving him.
He then starts to think about Mr. Teddy and the Captain.
He breaks down.
“C-captain…”
Some tears can be seen in his eyes.
He curls up by the fire and cries himself to sleep.
The palace lights up with a kaleidoscope of colors illuminating the night. Loud noises of laughter, hollering, and crashing can be heard inside the palace. Princess Zana is currently enjoying her dinner with everyone else at the dining table. Ornate chinaware, polished silverware and magical candelabra are placed on table flaunting the wealth and power of the Empire.
The Princess’ Captain of Guard is standing beside the double doors leading into the dining room. Her subordinates dot the perimeter, both inside and outside the dining room.
Various nobles that were staying in the Tel-Vanna were invited to this banquet by Mordecai, and other important characters such as the representatives of various guilds in the city were invited as well. Master Gormenghast was currently lecturing some ‘captive’ ignorant nobles on the subtle difference and between a spell and a ritual and the history of their creation and the current theories on why they work.
“Have you not wondered why a ritual must be done in a certain pattern and way like a spell but one requires a physical medium while the other does not? Well, there is current a current theory proposed by the Headmaster of the Institute of Magic which says that spells are really a type of ritual and that the medium in spells are words and thoughts themselves….”
While Gormenghast is currently ranting about this or that magical theory to some unfortunate nobles, Princess Zana is currently eating and discussing her current condition to her trusted butler, Mordecai.
“Congratulations, on your recovery, Your Highness,” Mordecai says.
“Thank you, Mordecai,” Zana responds.
“My memory is stilly fuzzy from before I fell, so would you mind supporting me until I have bearings?” she asks.
“It would be an honor, my Lady. Even if you were perfectly fine, I would still support you until death, Princess,” he responds.
Nodding her head, she uses her fork and knife to grab piece of succulent monster meat along with some potato and rice-like carbohydrates.
Juices from the meat mix with absorbent rice and potatoes causing a chain reaction of euphoria in her mouth.
While still somewhat entranced by the food, Mordecai says, “Also, my Lady, I must tell that His Highness the First Prince will be visiting in two months. So, I implore you to find a weapon to practice, my Lady.”
“I was going to do that anyway, Mordecai,” Zana says, “However, why are you asking me to do this?”
“You may not remember, but according to the legend, Emperor Ezna, made martial prowess and honor a virtue when he founded the Empire after the Great Journey. This tradition continues on even now, where even women are not exempt from this custom. Since you are no longer sick, it is possible that you may have to uphold your honor in a duel against the various noble houses. There was a silent agreement in not challenging you to a duel due to your ill health, my Lady,” Mordecai explains.
“Hmm, that sounds nice actually,” she says.
“Pardon me, my Lady,” Mordecai says.
“It’s nothing,” she replies.
“How much power do I wield within the Empire, Mordecai?” she asks before biting down on a piece of succulent meat.
“Pardon me, my Lady, but out of all your Imperial siblings, you have the weakest claim to the Phoenix Throne; however, my Lady, since you are now healed of your disease, you can strive to become Empress if you wish or you can pursue other respectable occupations,” Mordecai replies.
“I can actually become the Empress?” Ha-Rin asks.
“I thought that at best only the first-born where the heirs of kingdoms,” she says.
“That may be true of some of the uncivilized kingdoms around the Empire, but the next ruler of the Empire is always chosen from the Imperial Family by the seven Lord-Electors ever since its founding by Emperor Ezna,” he says.
“That’s good to know,” she says after finishing the last bite of her food.
“Before I leave, can you tell me about any legendary figures or deities associated with fire or the Sun?” Zana asks.
“That seems like an oddly specific question, my Lady, but from my memory there are several figures such as Ignis, Galahad, Raziel, …”
Crash!
BOOM!!
A large explosion echoes through the dining hall and black smoke fills the room.
“Protect the Princess!” the Captain of the Guard says.
Shouts of agony, fury, and fanatism echo across the dining hall. The clanging of metal can be heard as well along with the dying gasps of the living.
A cloaked man somehow makes it pass the guards in the chaos and yells, “Praise the Sun!”
Ha-Rin snickers in her mind.