1 Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Oɴᴇ

Trees were swaying as the strong gust of wind past it. Several lights shot out dancing in the air, shuttering the several elephant-sized boulders. Sounds of swords clashing and the multicolored tailed-arrows creating hollow sounds hit the targets could be heard. It appeared to be lively, but it's not unusual though.

On one side, a young woman slowly pulled the tail of an arrow using the slender fingers of her left hand. Her posture was firmed and steady. Round black eyes seemed to have turned sharp, staring intently at the target meters away from her position.

The arrow was then released, creating a dark-bluish swaying light on its end that appeared like a majestic tail of a dragon, making its way to the target. Her long straight ink-black hair fluttered together with her black dress in the wind. The arrow dug on the red circle creating a 'thunk' sound. It cut through the arrow that she'd shot earlier in halves, except for its pointed gray metal that was pushed deeper in the target made of hard wood instead.

Applauses soon reverberated within the training grounds as some youngsters cheered, making the place livelier.

"My, my, Scar, that kind of precision is really a demonic one. Getting better and better, aren't ya?" a voice coming from a few meters away behind reached her ears. Although the place was rather loud due to the continuous of cheering and clapping, the young woman still managed to hear those words.

Slowly turning her head around, she saw a very familiar young man who's only a few years older than her.

"But still not as good as you, Zae." She shook her head slightly, gently lowering her right hand that was holding the black metallic bow which weighed as heavy as a sword.

"Alas. Why do I feel that my position here will be threatened in the future?" Zaedan jokingly said as he also moved forward. His footsteps kicked the marble stone floor, making his way to the girl's direction. The cheers and applauses stopped and the eyes of spectators were focused on the duo.

The young girl shook her head again, "you must be kidding." A faint smile soon appeared on her lips. "An orphaned girl like me is nothing to be compared with you--son of Sir Vandrem Lex Dawnsen."

She placed the bow on its wooden holder and took a water jug on the nearby table. "I believe you didn't come here just to joke with me, senior apprentice," she added right before she attached her luscious lips on the water jug without making an eye contact with him.

As the second disciple of the organization's leader, Scar didn't forget to address Zaedan like that since he was her only senior apprentice under Vandrem's guidance.

"You know me too well." He sighed and shrugged helplessly. Leaning on the crafted wood where the bows were placed at, he dismissively waved his hand. "Alright, alright. My father said he wanted to have a word with you as soon as possible. He's in his study room right now, by the way."

She stayed silent for a while. She then drank again the water stored inside the small jug. Some of it was left on the sides of her lips.

Placing the water jug back on the table, she wiped her mouth with a black handkerchief embroidered with gold silks and placed it back in the hidden pocket of her dress.

"Well, then. Thank you. I'm going there now," she said at last, walking away as she left him behind without glancing at him.

"That girl....really..." His eyebrows twitched, he then looked at the small jug that the girl left behind and took it, gulping up the remaining water inside without realizing that some people saw him. Seeing him or not, he didn't care either way though. Not at all.

She walked through the aisles. Gardens could be seen which were designed meticulously and maintained by the assigned earth attributed gardeners daily.

Turning left and right multiple times, her pacing wasn't that fast, more like she's taking her time leisurely as she also appreciated the things around her. Athough she'd seen it countless times already, it still didn't fail to calm her nerves.

Nodding her head as she walked pass the people who were bending their backs to her in acknowledgement, a complicated feeling swelled up within her.

Finally, after walking for around fifteen minutes, a huge opened door came to her sight with the majestic two words written above '𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐨𝐧 𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧'.

Passing through the door, she spotted many people wearing dark-blue garments who mostly were walking around in haste. They were also members of the organization, just like her, with higher positions than the people outside, however.

The organization was pretty known in Yndrevis Empire. Most of its members were homeless before. Neither family, relatives, nor friends were willing to take care of them. Young or old, no matter what one's age was, they're accepted as long as they wanted to stay given that they wanted to be trained and their magical attributes were also high enough to meet the organization's requirements.

After walking upstairs for around five more minutes, she finally arrived on the building's sixth floor. In her front was a door which looked so peculiar with its designs of different patterns.

Confirming that it wasn't locked, she pushed it open. The rows of wooden shelves which were neatly lined up within welcomed her. Various kinds of books and scrolls were properly placed with their refreshing smell lingering around the aesthetic room.

With the illuminations lit up, one could see the furnitures beautifully designed with plenty of symbols and characters carved on it. The jaw-dropping paintings on the walls were also visible in the eyes. The floor was made of dark-brown wood, making the whole room appeared more antique.

The man who's looking outside from the window discovered the young girl's presence long ago. Turning his head to the door's direction, he smiled.

"You're finally here, Lady Eirlys." His stature also turned around, eyes locked at the young girl who's standing a couple of meters away from him.

"Sir Vandrem," she respectfully called as she bowed and dropped down to her right knee on the floor with her hands cupped in front. She always did this salutation to him regardless of the place they're in. It could be said that she highly respected the person in front of her.

His face showed complicated expression as he saw her acting like this. He shook his head slightly, "Please siege the formalities, Young Lady Eirlys Ciara of Leone family. We're not in public right now and this one doesn't deserve such grace on top of that," he exclaimed.

"I've troubled you for years, sir. This little salutation of mine doesn't count much of how great you've helped me all this time," she insisted, without raising her head. Her eyes locked on Vandrem's leathered boots, showing sincerity in the depths of her black eyes.

"Alas.... alright now..." He flicked his fingers and a yellowish smoke surrounded the other's body. She'd finally gotten up from kneeling. Only by force, though. "You must have guessed why I called you here, I presume."

"More or less, that'd be right, sir," she replied with her eyes straight on the man in front of her, not looking down anymore. She no longer knelt, even without the smoke which forced her to stand up like earlier. She remained standing, as the man wanted her to do so.

He nodded. "You can go, tomorrow at earliest. The documents are being prepared and will be done hours later." He turned his gaze away from her, watching again the people below, training vigorously.

"Since you've fully decided about it yourself, there's no reason for me to stop you," he added with his gentle voice. He treated the young girl as his own daughter. All these years, he taught her things as much as he could. He knew the day would come when the young lady would finally spread her own wings, not needing his shelter anymore.

"...sir, I-" She wanted to say something but was cut off.

"Young lady, listen to me." His hands moved, opening the glass window in front of him. The wind from outside made his blond hair fluttered.

"You mustn't act rashly." Placing his hands on his back, he looked up at the calm azure sky with the white clouds slowly moving in one direction. "The world outside is far cruel than you think it is."

Hearing what Vandrem said, she clenched her dress with her fists tightly.

"But about what happened four years ago, I think... nothing's more cruel than that," she said as she also lowered her head, gaze fixed entirely on the floor.

She didn't know why... but whenever she thought about it, it made her furious. She could feel her heart longing for vengeance. This feeling was also so familiar to her. However, she knew she didn't have to feel this way because in the very first place, she wasn't the real Eirlys Ciara Vargard and only she herself knew about that, no one else, not even Vandrem. She thought of herself as a wandering soul which possessed the body of the former Duke's daughter since four years ago by chance. She didn't even know what or who she really was.

Silence creeped the whole room.

He didn't speak out for a while, neither did she. Her teary eyes couldn't be seen by the man, but he knew. He knew very well that she's trembling all over, that she's doing her best to not let her emotions burst out at any moment.

He let her be. He decided to not associate himself and the whole organization to her from then on. Besides, nobody knew of her true identity aside from them both but little did he know that there's another identity which the girl possessed.

"𝑃𝑒𝑟ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑜 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝐵𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝐶𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟," 𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒, he said within his mind.

He could still remember of what happened in the Leone estate four years ago. Aside from ashes and burned trees everywhere, he couldn't find anything. Even the body of his sworn brother, Clawther Leone, left no trace at all.

He was in great despair at that moment. Not long after, a couple came knocking on the organization's door. And there, a young girl who looked only nine years old was standing in daze accompanying them.

A couple on their twenties explained to Vandrem that they just found the girl beside the river, gravely injured. They took care of her for five days and after ensuring that she's out of danger, they decided to hand her over to the organization.

Though Vandrem was skeptical at first on why they insisted so much that they wanted the child to be sheltered in the organization instead of taking care of her, he still received the child and kept an eye on her. Soon after, he accidentally saw the sapphire-jade pendant in Scar's possessions. He felt familiarity with it; he then remembered that it was his sworn brother's most treasured pendant.

After taking a good look at the sapphire-jade pendant, Vandrem finally confirmed that it was the pendant that his sworn brother had been bringing with him when they ventured around the Harfeude Continent years ago.

He asked some questions to Scar and found out that she's actually the known Eirlys Ciara Leone, the daughter of the Duke and who also lost her memories. Though her appearance completely didn't resemble the youngest lady of Leone family who's known in the empire, he's still convinced that it was her.

"I'll have someone deliver the documents you needed to join an academy when it's done. And also, don't lose the pendant. Bring it with you everywhere but don't show it to other people, even to your friends. It's good that your appearance has changed, although I don't know how it happened. Anyway…it would greatly help you to hide your identity." He sighed and smiled lightly after.

"You may go back now and prepare your things." He gave her another glance, then walked toward the door and left the room.

Scar slowly raised her head out from the floor. Fixing her gaze at the ceiling where the symbol of the organization was meticulously carved, she softly murmured, "Thank you, everyone... and I'm sorry. I'll be back... soon. I will...and that's a promise." She let out a big sigh and added, "Father, mother, and sister of Eirlys, I will definitely seek justice for you all. Please guide me."

She walked toward the door. It's locked. Without Vandrem's presence within the room, it would automatically lock itself outside and even inside. Placing her hand on it, countless lines and curves appeared, slowly forming into a huge circle. She pointed her index finger on the upper left side of the magical formation, creating a small black smoke. The smoke followed her fingers as it moved around the formation in pattern. With a click sound, the door opened.

"I guess this will be the last time that I could unlock this door." She smiled with different emotions in her eyes. As she walked out from the room, the door slowly closed by itself.

༺❀༻

"𝐹𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜..," she spoke within her mind. Too many things had happened at that time, even Scar, herself, didn't know if it were all true: She woke up with another body; the moment she opened her eyes, she knew that the body was a foreign one, even the things around her.

She's confused though. She couldn't remember any events from her past life aside from the moment she died. At that point, the eyes of her past self in her memory showed deep regret and sadness. She recognized that person, it was her. She didn't know why she's sure of it, however. Perhaps, it was the connection that she felt whenever she remember those dark-brown eyes.

"𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡...𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝐸𝑖𝑟𝑙𝑦𝑠'𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦? 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔.., ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒? 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑟? 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑟. 𝑁𝑜...𝐼 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑑. 𝑅𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝐼 𝑑𝑖𝑑."

Lying on the grass, she raised her left hand to block the sunlight from hurting her eyes. Without her realizing it, she slowly closed her palm as if crushing the sun within. She's deep in thought then her eyes slowly closed.

The surroundings were calm as ever. Longer grasses were blown by the cool breeze. Leaves from the trees fell down as it also moved in either left and right directions together with the wind. Birds were chirping and singing, harmonizing with the whisper of the wind. Small noise coming from the thickets made by the animals that were hiding within could also be heard faintly.

Not too far away, Zaedan was swaying his left leg lazily while sitting on the tree's branch, leaning his back against its trunk. Only now did he notice the young girl's presence.

"She seems so tired, eh. I wonder what they were talking about earlier." His pink lips curved into a faint smile—a smile that would definitely make the young girls crazy.

Added to the emerald eyes with the captivating thick sharp eyebrows, his long pointed nose and his masculine good-looking face with a perfect jaw line were already so hypnotic to others despite his young age.

He resembled Vandrem a lot. In fact, they were often mistaken as siblings, with the latter as the elder one, of course.

After staring for a while at Scar as she was lost in her thoughts, he slid his hand in his pocket and took out a seemingly simple bamboo stick. He then placed his long slender fingers on some of its holes with the blowhole in front of his mouth.

With his eyes closed as he still faced Scar's direction, he started playing. Not with the jolly music that he usually played though, it's a lullaby instead.