Familial Connection

In the midst of a large plain is a person running frantically, small tails of golden lightning being left behind, that is emanating from her body. The lightning is especially thick in the heels of her feet. Surprisingly, the grasses and flowers that the lightning touches does not get burned or affected, a sign of control.

"I don't have a good feeling about this, something bad is happening to father, I can feel it" I thought worryingly.

(Several hours ago)

"Hello Crystal, why are you there? why don't you join the rest of us in the table?" a woman with a red uniform said at me at the door of my room.

"I don't feel so good, Reine" I replied tiredly.

"You have been feeling and acting unwell since the war started. I told you that you have nothing to worry about, the republic did not lose to the empire last time, and it will not lose this time." She replied optimistically.

"You know how flawed that logic is, Reine. Things are different now, it is not the same as back then. Besides, that is not the thing I am worrying about." I replied at her, making sure to express my disagreement about the situation of the war.

"I am worrying about my father, and my hometown. I have been having this nagging feeling that something bad is gonna happen to my father."

"Why didn't you tell me? You know that you could always rely on me to be there when you need me right?" Her aura changes from a cheerful one to one of seriousness, going near me and sitting beside me.

"I just didn't want to burden you with this, I want to, at the very least, handle this myself" I look at her with a determined look.

"I-" Reine goes silent, and seems to think about something.

"I can understand you, if you wish to endure your own worries and problems, that is, by all means, fine by me. I just hope that you don't forget that you have friends that you can rely on" She replies after a moment of thought.

"Thanks Reine, though you are right, I should relax. Shall we go to the dining hall now? I said to her, feeling a bit better now.

We left my room, while talking about academics, our romantic interests, and other stuff, but despite all this happy atmosphere, everyone is aware of the suffering of war and the possibility of it flaring up to the same standard as the previous one.

We arrive on the dining hall, everyone is busy talking and eating. Some of our friends invited us to a table.

"Where have you been?, we are supposed to be celebrating for the great ratings we had" A man with black hair asks us cheerfully.

"oh it is nothing, we were just doing some stuff"

"We should not waste this time you know, it is not always that they are not strict and let us relax. They are normally monsters, constantly grinding us till our bodies ache like there is no tomorrow"

I laugh a bit at his remarks. After talking to my friends for several minutes, I excused myself and proceeded to go to the table where the food are. I took some of my favorite food, a pork wellington, my father used to make me these when I was still living there.

I was gonna return back to my friends when I suddenly lost my grip, and dropped my pork wellington. The sound of the plate breaking rang through the room, for a moment, everyone stared at her, the wasted food and the broken plate but eventually pulled back their attention and returned it to what they were initially doing.

A butler and a maid entered the room, and slowly walked to the site of accident. They cleaned floor of any plate shards and throw the wellington in the trash. They then left the room without a single word uttered.

"Are you okay Crystal? Why did you drop the plate?" one of my friend said, clearly curious as to why I dropped the plate. Her mind didn't even consider it was an accident.

"Oh it is nothing. Just return to the table, I will just take another pork wellington." I said with a small smile, hiding the emotions that is surging through my mind right now.

{Back to present}

I felt that feeling of worry again when the pork wellington fell, and it was even stronger than before. I wasn't able to suppress my emotions, and I had to leave the academy 5 days earlier than School break.

I already asked for master's permission, he refused initially because I would be getting a bit closer to the frontlines but I managed to convince him since they were guarding the frontlines, and the only way I would get hurt by Imperial forces is that they get broken through. I can't exactly stop something that had defeated the people stationed at the border, though a big part of why I was allowed is that the Imperial Forces is not showing signs of movement, yet.

"I am sorry my dear friends, but I have to leave for a while. I need to satiate this myself." I continue running through the plains, planning to take a rest on the city that I should encounter in the way there.

Several minutes passed, and I am still running. I eventually tire down since I have already been running for 3 hours, having taken one break besides this. The sun is already up and shining for the world. I stretch my body a bit as I sit on a rock that I found.

"I should give my body and energy time to recover. I should be able to exhaust my entire energy and body after I arrive on the City of Alsasin." I said to myself as I look at the trees of my surroundings and appreciate the beauty of life.

Suddenly, the air gets cut and a light blue bird descended from the sky like an arrow about to hit the target. I move just in time before the bird hit the spot where I was originally sitting. The animal seems to panic and flapped its wings hard in my direction, sending a gust of wind that pushed me back by a few feet, this seems to further panic the bird and quickly tried to fly off.

I quickly pounce on the blue bird and concentrated electrical energy on my hands, sending the electrical energy towards the bird before it could even go back into the sky. The blue bird managed to go 43 meters back into the open air before being hit by the electricity, shot from my hand. It comes falling down from the sky and into the ground.

I quickly move towards the spot it fell and came upon a bird that is struggling to move, a few flashes of electricity here and there in its body. It is crying out in pain, at least that is what it seems to be. It is trying to distance itself from my approaching figure but to no avail.

"Master said to finish business right when you can finish it, or it might bite you back in the future. But, I don't believe that you would be able to hurt me in the future, and you are just trying to let feed yourself, so I will let you go" I said to the limping bird, it seems to be able to understand my words and slightly calmed down.

I left the bird on its own, and going back to resting, though that probably just increased my break for 10-20 minutes.

"I wonder, what the heck is a semi-magical beast doing in this woods. It is not supposed to be here, Magical beasts only roam the magical forests. Though I did hear that it is possible for a normal animal in a low-magic forest to become magical, but it is rare. What is most fascinating about it though is its audacity, I am sure I wasn't suppressing the strength of my aura" I said, lightening my mood a bit but eventually getting dampened when the severity of the feeling I am getting suddenly returns.

I continue on my route after thinking about my little encounter, analyzing the effects of my electrical shock on the animal, on the way.

{1 hour, and 47 minutes pass later}

I walked towards the front of the city gate, looking at the gate's features and comparing it to last time I visited. I quickly walked towards the entrance.

"halt. The entrance fee is 10 bronze pieces or 1 silver piece"

I show my academy badge, while being a bit shocked at the increase of the price. (it wasn't this high last time I visited, it is probably because of the war)

The guard's eyes widen and quickly apologizes, bowing lightly and sets aside to make way for me to enter.

I thanked the guard for his services and set foot upon the city.

" Finally, Alsasin City."