That One Chaotic Night

"Arrows, Miya?" Madam Touselle asked. Miya nodded. The girl reached for her bow and slung the bag containing the arrows without thinking.

"Miya, I've often explained arrows and all their impracticality in the battlefield, haven't I?" Madam Touselle asked. Miya nodded again. The other students started whispering to each other, feeling that Miya had lost her mind because of last night's attack. Miya just smiled and then got ready. "Okay, I believe in you." Madam Touselle said as she left.

Aden walked over to Miya and patted the girl on the shoulder. "I didn't expect you would actually choose a bow and arrow." Aden said. Miya shrugged, "I just feel like the bow is the most advantageous weapon. Guns and swords will only slow down my movement, especially if I have to run."

"But the arrows run out, and they seem too be heavy to run with."

"I have completely modified it. My arrows will continue to refill and I've made them as light as a feather." Aden raised one of the arrows and very much agreed with whay Miya said, the arrow was indeed as light as a feather.

"All right, you have a plan." Aden said with a smile and put the arrow he was holding back into the bag on Miya's back.

"Very well, students." Madam Touselle said while creating a celestial horse that was gathered from the sparkling stars of that dimension. "Anything can happen to you. If you die here, you will return to your bodies in the exact dimension of our class at the academy. You will not die physically, but you will be put to the lowest position available."

Madam Touselle opens the gates to the exam grounds for students. "Once you enter, you will be placed in a dimension and situation that suits your abilities. So when you enter, no one can see each other anymore. The exam room is separated from one another."

Madam Touselle almost opened the glass barricade before she remembered one more thing to say, "One more thing that is most important, children. Nothing is real inside. But if something that seem not right happen to you immediately cast a protective and teleportation spell."

Miya immediately rushed with the other students into the gate which was now wide open. She didn't really like exams so the girl just wanted to finish quickly and leave. She didn't really give any attention to what she would get. She might try her hardest, but she won't pressure herself with wanting to become something in the army. She will just go with the flow.

The girl ran through the colorful corridors of time, she looked at her surroundings which were filled with time circles that were increasingly ending showing a time that was longer than the one that she would pass before passing another one. The girl stopped and approached one of the events that seemed the most contrast among the others.

Above the memory window was a large, bright red title, different from the others. Blood Moon Festival, she read it. The girl stared at the end of the corridor that seemed far away. Miya should have run to the very end of the corridor where the door to enter her exam was. But the girl was curious about what was behind that window.

The girl brought her hand towards the window. Instantly the window opened, responding to Miya's body heat getting closer. Miya could hear the screams and cries of hundreds of residents who were scattering from the direction of a burning plaza. The memories surrounded her and pulled the girl inside. No, no. She shouldn't be here. The girl was dragged deeper by somethinf invisible, into the darkness of the night in that memory. She tried to reach out but the window she was dragged into had disappeared and she was trapped in the memory.

Miya immediately stood up and cleaned herself from the ground. She looked around her while putting her arrow into her bow. She must be ready with whatever happens to her. She looked at a plaza that was not burned at all. It seemed that the memory lane was restarted when Miya accidentally entered.

The girl walked aimlessly, getting closer to a light at the end of the forest where it had stopped being dragged away by someone. She would rather go towards the unfamiliar light than dwell in an unconvincing darkness.

The girl walked half running while looking around. The air grew colder when she reached the light source. A palace, she thought. A palace in the middle of a forest is no stranger to the Land of Dawn. Royal families are known to have bloodlines that have kept their existence secret for a long time from the outside world. This is done to prevent them from other lives that could threaten their existence.

But this policy also allowed the royal families to practice unreasonable traditions like the Renum family. Miya really feels sorry to what happened to the first and second daughters of the Renum family, Ve and Lo. Those who have to be removed from the line of throne because of the arrival of their younger brother.

Miya looked at the palace entrance gate that was open. She felt rude to go inside, but she heard a commotion of some people talking behind her back. So she hides behind a pillar the size of her body. Sticking her body from pillar to pillar until she arrives in the castle's garden.

She peeked a little to see some of the soldiers who had found an open gate. They immediately closed the gate and became Miya trapped in the unfamiliar palace.

The girl sighed and racked her brains. She must immediately exit this loop of memory. Madam Touselle may have crossed her name off the list of examinees for violating the rules. But that would be the last thing she's scared about. Miya must immediately focus on getting out of that memory first.

She could not see the lever to re-open the gate on the surrounding wall. She chuckled then leaned back against the wall, attuning to the shadow and darkness. Her mind was almost filled with her indistinct panic. The girl immediately sighed as she began to feel her body tremble on its own. She's scared. At times like that even a Frauser like Miya was afraid.

A window of memory lane isn't suppose to open like that. It was already peculiar that the window opened for her, not to mention that something dragged her inside. As if the memory was the one that dragged her inside.

The girl gasped when she heard the sound of baby crying echoing from inside the palace accompanied by voices of people speaking. She could not fully hear their conversation. But they seemed to be talking about the baby.

Miya stared at the soldiers outside the gate who didn't seem like they would be moving any time soon. It seemed that she could not find a way out of the palace. But she may jump out from the inside of the walls, knock a couple of soldiers maybe. Miya couldn't think of a better way.

The girl walked sideways while sticking together with the shadow of the short, unlit corridor. She looked around the park which seemed to be deserted. It seemed that most of the soldiers had been transferred to guard the plaza which was very busy. The girl walked in haste. Pass through the pillars carved with flowers and swords and finally arrive at a ladder to climb up the front wall of the palace. The girl was about to jump down when she heard the sound of baby crying echoing through the trees again. She was forced to turn her head because her attention was immediately drawn to the noise.

She jumped towards the only brightly lit balcony. From behind the wall and the shadow of the night she saw a newborn child from a woman she did not recognize. The girl stared at the familiar child for a moment before the sound of a thud from the direction of the square rang out from where she was. The girl turned towards the source of the sound, the plaza.

She looked back into the room, but the candle had been turned off. Strange, she thought. Even though she had only turned around for a few seconds. But then the girl heard a stifled screech when she saw a strange blue glow from one source in the room.

The girl narrowed her eyes and saw the newborn child's hair glow bluish. The woman who had just given birth immediately cried and cursed at the heavens who had the heart to send her the baby. The 'cursed baby' like what she exclaimed. She cried so much that her face turned red and her tears mixed with sweat. "No, no, no! She's the prophecy!" She exclaimed over and over. A man enters the room in a hurry. He was shocked when he saw the woman who was in the bed crying. He ran towards the woman and tried to calm her down. The man spoke in a low voice, Miya couldn't hear him very well through all the cries and screams.

The man pointed out the balcony and looked very panicked. It seemed he was explaining the situation outside their window to that woman. The woman then immediately wiped her tears and swallowed her sorrow. The woman nodded her head at the man's words. But the woman immediately cried again when her lady-in-waiting came and grabbed her hand, she looked really sorry at that time.

The man spoke to a servant who was near another servant who was holding the child in his hands. The man seemed to be ordering the maid to do something, but again, Miya couldn't hear it clearly. The man seemed to be ordering the maid to take the glowing child to another room.

Miya glanced at the crying child. Her cries echo and are actually very annoying to her ears. The girl also realized that the child had never felt a touch from her own mother's embrace. The woman was reluctant to touch the baby who she considered cursed.

Miya saw a light appear in the next room. The girl looked at the rest of the room that was comforting the woman who was still crying then without thinking she jumped onto the balcony next to her. The girl saw the two servants who had been ordered to go out of the room with the little baby, arguing.

Miya brought her ear to the sidelines of the balcony door. Whatever these two people are talking about; she must know.

"Madame doesn't want to touch the princess." Said one.

"They haven't even given her a name." Another one said.

"We don't have much time. Where is madame's flower basket?"

"Where are we going?"

"This place isn't safe. We have to get rid of this kid first."

"But she doesn't know anything."

"Lord Vanya will not take any chances. This child or this creature or whatever she is is not a member of the Vanya family. Bear that in mind." He said as he put the child slowly into the big basket which they had covered with warm pads and blankets.

"What about the kingdom?"

"The king of Vanya will hand over the territory to Beau. Everything will be all right. We'll follow the king and queen's orders." His friend nodded and they left the room, putting out a candle that lit the room. Miya turned her gaze towards the window next to her which was also dark.

She looked between the two windows, back and forth, there was no lighting whatsoever. It seems they are not in any room any longer. Maybe they all went to the back of the palace. But Miya didn't know that. The girl wanted to find out about this child.

The madam seemed to keep saying that her baby was cursed. The little baby glowed blue and along her birth was a trumpets of the dark soul echoing through the lane. It is a signature call of entrance from the dark force into the Land of Dawn that Miya had heard from her teachers.

Miya though to herself. Why does it all sound like no coincidence. The blue glow on the girl's hair coincided with the opening of the seal in the royal plaza. The girl was stunned to think about it but she immediately ran and jumped down from the defensive wall and ran into the forest. This is the replica of 'that' tragedy. She is curious to what happened in that plaza at 'that' night.

However, another side of her said that she had to get out of the memory lane immediately. After all, this is just a simple replica of the real thing. So it seems that the girl doesn't have to worry about small things like this occuring.

She aims at anyone and whatever comes out of the broken seal in the ground. The girl helped the soldiers to fight. She ran and jumped into the open seal and saw all the spirits coming out of the broken seal. While on the air, Miya released another three arrows at once which glowed blue towards the sky above the seal as she continued to fall inside.

The arrows then exploded and sent down a rain of deadly glowy powder for the dark creatures that came out of the seal. Meanwhile, Miya continued to fall deeper into the seal. She knew what seal she falling into. She wants to know about the arrival of the Two Daughters of Renum. What is the connection between their arrival and the birth of the Prodigy?

***