Ch 5. The Strange Occurrence

Far away from the country where Idalia had woken up to, in a temple where the people could worship the stars, the sun, and the moon, three figures were huddled around a basin of water. Two of them were dressed in all white, their heads shaved, and wore a headpiece of silver. This headpiece had little circles hanging down where inscribed were the shapes of the sun, the moon, the stars, and anything else that had to with celestial bodies.

The three people had confused and disbelieving faces as they stared at the basin of water where smoke was arising from, signaling that whatever had been shown in the water had ended.

For a moment, these three people stood quietly, each making their own thoughts on what had been shown. Then, one of them, the one dressed in black majestic robes, went to crouch near the pool of water where the stars and the moon were reflected on since there was an opening to allow it.

The other people glanced at each other before they went to stand a few steps away from the crouching person. With the moon lighting the room, the appearances of these people showed them to be all men with the two wearing white to look older than the young man crouching and looking down at the pool.

The young man then spoke quietly, "Are you sure that what was shown is correct?"

One of the other men quickly responded, "You're Majesty, the stars don't lie. Something strange did happen but although we don't know where and what exactly happened we can wait and-"

"Darragh, I'm asking if what was shown is either true or not. Answer me with a yes or no," the young man stood up and turned to coldly stare at the priests of his country.

"Yes, it's true," the priest named Darragh answered, swallowing a sigh to not enrage his king.

"I don't believe it," the young king muttered but the priests clearly heard it. After thinking for a bit, he asked, "Will it be a threat to my plans or will it help me instead?"

"That...we aren't too sure, Your Majesty," the other priest answered this time, "It only showed that something strange has happened on these lands and it'll take time to figure out what exactly happened...and if it will threaten you or not." After the priest had spoken, both older men prayed in their minds that the king would be satisfied with their answer and not demand their heads.

The king could see his priests' forehead sheening with sweat. "Seven days," he ordered, "I'll give you seven days to figure out what the stars meant." After saying that, he turned and left, his mind already making other plans in case something went wrong.

The two priests stood in their place for a while before letting out relieved breaths. Darragh turned to his fellow comrade and scolded him, "Bilius, you should've kept your mouth shut when you saw the sign in the water."

"How was I going to know that the king was here?" Bilius defended himself. "Besides, you also were curious and looked so shocked and excited. If you had kept a straight face maybe the king wouldn't have stayed and demanded to know what it meant," he, also, scolded Darragh.

They made their way out of the room and continued to bicker while walking towards their own chambers. One could see them walking a little dazedly while remembering what had happened a few moments ago.

Earlier, Darragh and Bilius had entered the Sacred Pool room to make sure that they wouldn't miss anything that night. While making small talk and looking at the water, they saw a small dot grow bigger and shine brightly for a few seconds before diminishing. That wasn't all, though. While the star was steadying its light, another star, that had previously existed while shining in its place, raced towards it. Shocked and excited, Darragh and Bilius started to make a whole spectacle of joy and excitement that lasted until they saw the king present himself from the shadows.

The young king had wanted to seek guidance from the priests for a certain matter and the first thing he saw when he entered the Sacred Pool room was Darragh and Bilius happily shrieking about a sign. Curious, he appeared before them and demanded them to explain what was going on. Nervous and curious just like him, the priests went to one of the sides of the room where basins and cups and plates were placed. Reaching for a basin, Darragh then went towards the pool and filled the basin with its water.

Returning to where the other two men were, Darragh placed the basin on a high pillar and together with Bilius started chanting and making strange movements. It was an incantation. In a few seconds, the water rose from the basin and started to form into an unclear figure. Two figures actually.

One was diminishing and the other was growing out of nothing before they started to merge. At that point, the priests had finished their incantation and watched alongside their king. The water figures continued to merge into one before they sharply fell back down with the rest of the water. Smoke then arose from the water to signal that the process had ended.

Whatever had been shown was unclear and compared to previous messages, it was undoubtedly more huge and important. Yet there was no clear explanation for it and they would have to wait a few days to receive that answer.

From night till sunrise, neither the king nor priests could sleep for different reasons.

Back in one of the lavish rooms in the villa of House Midas, Idalia was still unconscious. With the sun rising on the horizon, Lady Catherine and Lord Darren both wished for their daughter to also rise from her unconsciousness.

The girl, though, was in her own dreamland again but this time it seemed that she was seeing the Young Lady Idalia's memories. Idalia saw how the other Idalia grew up, from her first steps to her first picking up the lyre to her recent argument with her father about marriage. However, she didn't see all her memories, just snippets and the most memorable and cherished ones.

While Idalia still laid in bed, her parents were having their own talk outside her room. Darren was holding his wife's arms and Catherine had placed her hands on her husband's chest. She wasn't crying anymore, but her eyes were red and swollen showing that she had been crying for a long time. The couple stayed like that, getting strength and warmth from each other's hold. Catherine who had been lost in her own thoughts while calming down in Darren's arms, finally spoke, "I want to consult with the Gods."

"We have our own altar and offering here," Darren sighed. He had already expected to hear this again from his dear wife but he couldn't understand why.

"Darren, I feel something's wrong with her," Catherine revealed. Hearing that, Darren furrowed his brows and opened his mouth seeming want to speak, but closed his mouth once his wife continued. "She's been acting a bit strange. I feel strange. There's something wrong," her words came out as a whisper towards the end.

Darren thought hard about her words. He always believed his wife but he was hesitant to believe her this time. They were talking about his daughter, their only daughter, and he didn't want to believe that something bad had happened to her. But his wife was an expert in consulting with the Gods, just like almost any other aristocratic woman, so he would always quickly believe her. But not this time.

Coming to a conclusion, Darren spoke gently to her, "You can consult with the Gods in a few days."

He moved one of Catherine's hair strands that had come to fall in front of her face, behind her ear. "Let's wait to hear Idalia's answer and see how she behaves."

Although Catherine also disliked doubting their daughter, she could feel something strange. It could be a mother's intuition or it could be a feeling sent by the Gods, but she felt that she had to discover what it was. Humming in agreement, she completely leaned into her husband's embrace. She would wait a few days and then go to a temple nearby to consult with one of the deities.

A servant suddenly ran out of Idalia's room and happily exclaimed, "The young lady has awoken."

At once, Lord Darren and Lady Catherine hurried inside the room.

Idalia was awake, sitting up on her bed, and trying to comprehend her current situation. So she had fainted, she realized. She noticed how this room was also lavishly decorated, more than the other room that she had first stepped into. She also understood that this was the other Idalia's bedroom.

Her mom went to sit on her bed and held her hand lovingly, "Are you feeling better, Idalia?"

Idalia responded with a "Mmh" and a nod. Lady Catherine wasn't that satisfied with her response but knowing how rough her daughter's situation was, she let it go and turned to the physicians that were in the room. Lord Darren had come to stand at the end of Idalia's bed and demanded to the physicians, "Explain what's going on."

One of the physicians, the one that Idalia had seen last night, stepped forward and said, "Pardon us, Lord Darren, we need to ask the young lady some questions first."

Lord Darren looked at his daughter and asked gently, "Do you want to answer some questions right now?"

Idalia, besides still feeling a bit of pain at the top of her head which had now been bandaged with a cloth and feeling hungry, felt more refreshed and better than yesterday so she decided to just answer the physician's questions. Also, she wanted to get over this quickly so she could eat. "I can answer his questions," she responded to her father.

Nodding, Lord Darren gestured for the physician to ask his questions. The physician, after receiving permission to question the young lady about her situation, asked her, "Yesterday, you mentioned not remembering what happened to have caused the bump on your head. Is that the only thing you can't remember or is there more?"

Idalia wetted her lips, feeling a bit guilty for whatever must've happened to her and the other Idalia and for lying to her parents' faces, "I don't remember many things." It was the truth, though. She knew that she had seen some of the other Idalia's memories but just like yesterday's dream, she couldn't remember exactly the scenes, they were all blurry and unclear.

"Can you elaborate?" the physician asked while the other physicians took glances at each other and some started to quietly discuss after hearing her response.

"I can remember some things but I can't see clearly my memories," Idalia replied with a half-truth, the only lie being that those weren't her memories but the other's.

"You remember them?" The physician pointed at her parents and she nodded,

"They're my parents." The physician nodded before pointing at other people to which she truthfully replied that she didn't remember them nor know them. He also asked a few questions like if she knew their kingdom's name or if she recognized a few events about her that many were aware of.

The physician then turned to the other physicians and had a small talk before turning back to face them and concluded, "Young Lady Idalia must've hit her head on something too hard and due to it, lost her memories."