Chapter 51: Familiar Feeling
A picnic mat lay upon a set of small, flowing hills overlooking the palace grounds.
Two girls sat side-by-side, quietly consuming desserts and occasionally exchanging hushed remarks.
No sign of wealth, stature, or eloquence existed in this scene.
Instead, it was merely an image of two children playfully indulging in a childish picnic. A morning breakfast to prelude the meeting in the afternoon with Alora.
"Say, Esme, chocolate cake or vanilla cake? Which is better?"
"Hmm~ Chocolate."
"Oh~ I like mango cake more."
Their conversations remained simple, short, yet full of life.
"Oh, right, Yulei. I have a question."
"What's wrong?"
"Why did you keep Hilda a secret?"
Esme had been curious about that for a while now. Hilda was quite an interesting girl and the descendant of the Commander of the Sanctified Knights. There was no reason to keep quiet about her existence.
Hearing this question, Yulei shrugged her shoulder and scooted closer to Esme, "Because of Hildekar. She didn't want to run into him, so she was worried that by meeting you, it would lead to meeting him."
Esme pondered momentarily, "Does she not get along with him? What's their relationship?"
To this, Yulei simply shrugged:
"No comment. I don't know that much either."
Esme calmly accepted that answer, plus, at that very moment, she was mostly looking forward to her meeting with her dear sister, Alora. Every so often, soft giggles would erupt from her, her mouth spreading into a wide, warm smile.
A smile warm enough to melt the snow off her hair.
A smile hot enough to explode the golden lava boiling within her irises.
'I cannot wait for it, dear sister~'
This light mood filtered the atmosphere with a glossy tint, practically staining the sky around the two girls with sparkles and stars.
And.
At that very moment.
From the edge of this sparkling film covering the world, a splodge of ink entered the canvas.
A teenage girl dressed in an antique maid's outfit, Lily.
She hurried up the hill with furrowed brows and bit lips, sprinting with all her might with sweat gleaning on her forehead.
Sipping short, rushed breaths, she paused, took a deep breath, then shouted up the hill, "Lady Esme!"
Her voice echoed, ringing into the girls' ears.
They curiously looked downwards, at the distant Lily.
"Lily?"
"What has your maid so rushed?"
Hearing Yulei's words, Esme immediately had a suspicion rise up her throat, clamming her neck.
And that suspicion was immediately confirmed by the-
"It's an emergency!"
-subsequent shout billowing with the winds.
Esme's heart skipped a beat.
'No.'
Then another.
'Why again?'
After almost a month of careful decisions and supervision, she had just deemed it safe for Alora to start walking around again; she had just allowed for her freedom to be returned.
Yet.
It almost felt like the world was mocking her, blaming her for her stupid decision.
A pitch-black, gut feeling churned in her abdomen.
Gulping, Esme wobbled up and onto her feet.
"...I have to go." She whispered to seemingly no one, then-
Crackle!!!
-a miniature storm of lightning erupted from her feet, sizzling and crackling the air as-
BOOM!
She burst down the hill, sizzling the grass, plants, and falling leaves in her way. Explosions of lightning zipped across her body, creating a trail of destruction in her wake.
Her snow-white hair blended into the flashes of lightning; blinding light rippled outwards from the speeding girl, making it all but impossible to recognise the person within.
...Except for her eyes.
Golden, burning eyes.
Eyes like molten gold.
'...Dear sister, wait for me.'
-----
Swirls of Blessings overlapped over Alora's body, yet the effect was negligible. No matter how much the gentleman poured into the booklet floating above her resting body, the flow of blood only slowed, and did not cease.
Beneath her body, the bed could no longer be seen.
Only a mess of black and red, caked, coagulated, and cold.
Clicking his teeth, the gentleman retracted the booklet into his body. The ripples of gentle Blessings ceased, revealing the agonal cries cracking through Alora's broken vocal cords.
Meanwhile, Hilda sat on a stool in the corner of the room.
She held her head down, afraid to look at the scene. Interlacing her fingers, she seemed to be praying.
However, there was no prayer.
Who was there to pray to?
The Empyreans? Those beings had long abandoned this world.
In reality, Hilda was holding her fingers together because-
Clatter. Clatter. Clatter.
She couldn't stop shaking, her teeth wouldn't stop smacking into one another. Her feet fidgeted, and bile trickled up her throat, burning her.
It had never gotten this bad ever since that day five months ago, the day His Majesty blessed them with his presence.
Hilda wasn't ready for it.
Especially not when, deep within her heart, curled up, hidden, and repressed...
Was her guilt.
Guilt that she was responsible.
That she was a part of the problem.
That she was to blame.
At the moment, ironically enough, her truest, deepest worry wasn't for Alora's safety, for Alora's wellbeing.
It was:
"P, please forgive me..."
Forgiveness.
She was merely hoping for forgiveness.
Click!
Thud!
The door to the bedroom swung open, drenched in sweat, with glaring, stern, golden eyes
Heaving for air, the stench instantly assaulted her nose, forcing her to scrunch her face uncomfortably. Then, Esme, looked to the right, at the little dummy resting on the bed.
Or, at least, what was recognisable of the little dummy.
"D, dear sister?" Her voice cracked, tinged with deep sorrow.
But there was no one available to respond.
Only a doctor with a grim who spared her a glance before continuing his efforts to stem the bleeding, and, resting in the corner of the room...
Sizzle!
Flames stormed out of her irises, "...Hilda."
Step.
Crackle!
By step.
Fwoosh!
A hurricane of flames approached the timid Hilda, boring down at her with incinerating fires of judgment.
"Explain."
That singular word ruptured from Esme's chapped, cracked lips.
...Hilda could feel it, at that very moment, staring into Esme's golden eyes;
...The same something she had felt from the little dummy all along;
...That dark, sticky;
'Madness.'
It was faint.
Light.
Feeble, even.
But there, nonetheless.
It had been growing, festering, and now, it was given a reason to erupt.
Hilda opened her rapidly drying lips; she wanted to explain herself, to say something—to beg for forgiveness.
Yet.
What came out was:
"Eek!"
A cry.
A weak, pathetic cry.
The words couldn't come out.
The thoughts ruminating in her brain couldn't come out.
Nor could she tell her of yesterday's events.
It was her duty to remain silent.
Thus.
Hilda's brain went blank.
And, instead, only a child, helpless, ridden with guilt, and afraid, remained.
Esme frowned, continuing to stare into the soul of the older girl seated before her. Ironically enough, that same, erratic, cheerful, and aggressive older girl had turned all timid—pathetic.
Thus, with her emotions running wild, "Useless." She spat that word, doused her flames, then walked over to her dear sister's side.
She left the useless girl to rot in the corner.
Releasing her taut breath, Esme stepped up to Alora's bed. She walked over the debris scattered across the ground and arrived at her bedside.
The stench of rotten blood filled her nose; she could practically taste it.
She had many thoughts coming into this room.
Many emotions as she ran across the palace grounds.
But once here, once in front of her dear sister...
Quiet.
Silent.
...And hollow.
Her heart felt hollow but heavy all the same.
'Ironic.'
Scoffing inwardly, Esme gently knelt. There, she tried to reach for Alora's hand-
Squelch!
Unfortunately, the outpouring of continuous, pitchy blood rendered her effort invalid.
"I do not recommend it, Lady Esme of Light. It is toxic."
Esme, faintly nodding, retracted her hand.
"...You must remove her mask, must you not?" She asked the doctor.
Sighing, he rubbed his weary eyelids as he pulled a book from his kit. "I do, but I may not. Orders."
"..."
Esme lay silent.
She knew whose orders they were.
'Mother.'
What was so secretive about her dear sister's face?
And why has neither of them told her the reason behind her dear sister's sickness?
Esme held quite a few questions in her heart, questions she knew she couldn't quite get the answers to at the moment.
'I'll wait a bit longer, dear sister. So please, for now...'
Clenching the tattered, stained bedsheets:
"Get better."
-----
The sound of water entered my ears.
It was close, too close-
Swoosh...
My body swayed in the currents, passing alongside the never-ending water stream.
I opened my eyes.
But, darkness.
I could see nothing.
Only the sound of waves, rushing water, and the sensation of the cool liquid wrapping around my back existed.
My brain was still muddled, twisted from the combination of drugs and Curses.
Yet.
It was oddly peaceful here.
In these cool...
Peaceful...
Waves...
Smiling, I twisted my body in the water; I pushed myself upside down, face-first into the liquid. Nonetheless, I could still breathe.
And, even more interestingly...
Huh.
...the world had turned white.
A pure white canvas.
The waves were white.
The foam bubbling on the surface of these waves was white.
Everything was white.
Intrigued, I twisted my body again.
Upon that action, I returned to the darkness.
One side: Dark.
The other side: Light.
Interesting...
Resting on these waves, I tensed my muscles, then, with another push, entered the bright side of the waves.
Where am I...?
Darkness and Light.
Black and White.
...Curses and Blessings?