[ ensiger ]

blue belt - round five

Alazne flipped through the pages of the worn-out book, running her fingers over the printed words, reading about her ancestors and their powers. They were warriors, they all were. Not long after, she realised that there were some powers that were more common, which repeated over time, and some that appeared only once, or twice throughout the whole Royal Witches timeline.

With clammy hands and shaky arms, she frantically flipped through the book, with a sudden shock of realisation that she is the first of the Royal Witches to withhold the power of time manipulation. Alazne knew that her powers are extremely powerful, we are talking about time manipulation here! Of course, she is going to be powerful! But she didn't know that she was the only one with this power!

With a jump, she realised that someone was standing in front of her. And that 'someone' looked exactly like her, which was saying much, of course, since her entire family had different shades of eyes and hair, but the rest of the facial features were all vastly different. 'Someone' had the same boysenberry-coloured irises and the identical igloo white hair as Alazne.

Alazne could tell that this was her from the future, but why was she here? Future Alazne was glistening in sweat and blood, but she looked unbothered with it.

"Come with me." Future Alazne said.

Alazne cocked her head to the side, wondering if she should follow her future self. She internally chided herself. It was her from the future, for god's sake! She should be trusting her, it was her from the future after all!

With a jerk of the head, she gestured her future self the go-ahead. Following her future self to her room, her heart was beating wildly in her chest.

Future Alazne stuck out both of her hands, facing upwards, Alazne's hand atop hers. She closed her eyes and started chanting something that Alazne couldn't recognise, but she followed, the words pouring out of her mouth unknowingly, as her eyes shut.

A cold sensation started tingling at her toes, which soon spread to the rest of her body.

She opened her eyes, looking around she realised that she was standing alone in the middle of a forest, no longer in the safety of her castle. What had happened? Where did future Alazne go?

She took a deep breath of air, breathing in the nature around her. She could tell that she was in the past, from the much fresher air that wasn't polluted by the horrid waste technology has produced over the years.

A sudden lightning bolt shocked her out of her core. The realisation started setting in. She had defied the laws of physics! This was the first time that she had time-travelled, or used her time-manipulation powers. Alazne knew that if she had messed up in any way, she would tip the world on its axis, thus hear fear blossomed which stopped her from exploring her powers.

Not knowing how far back in time she had gone, she knew she had to tread carefully. She took small steps around, exploring inch by inch when she felt a barrier. A strong one. It seemed familiar like something deep inside her heart knew that this was one of her ancestors.

She put her hand against the barrier, letting it accept her into the magical wards. She knew that it would be easy, seeing as this has the marking of a Royal Witch engraved deep within the very magical core the barrier is holding. A bubble of warmth exploded within her entire being, gracefully welcoming her in as she stepped in.

Not that far away, Blyana, Nikolaus and Amora felt a prod in their barrier they had put up hours before. All three of them stiffened in their seats, their faces going stoic. Someone had entered.

No one had managed to find them before. How could they possibly know where they were? Unless... No. It couldn't happen. They promised.

All three of them quickly put up their defences, awaiting the intruder.

With an unexpected turn of events, Blyana's lookalike stepped into view. Gasps travelled amongst the four of them.

"But- what- How do you look like me? I've never seen you before! I must be hallucinating. I've really gone bonkers, haven't I?" Blyana sputtered out, shaken to the bone.

The girl in front of her was like an exact replica of her. They were alike down to the very little details. The girl was obviously stunned as well.

Alazne was similarly stunned, but not for the same reason. She could not believe her eyes. She knew these people. Well, not in person, but from the portraits she had walked past on so many occasions. Blyana was the first generation of the Royal Witches. Nkiolaus' children became the Royal Vampires, and also the god-siblings of the Royal Witches. Amora is an immortal being and thus was named the 'Ancient One'. She would name the children, as well as take care of them.

Amora named Alazne, as it meant a miracle. Amora would tell Alazne stories about Blyana, and about their uncanny similarities.

Coming back to reality, Alazne quickly dipped into a bow.

The three of them looked confused, but Alazne just chuckled. "Sir Nikolaus, and Madams Amora and Blyana. I am Alazne, one of the future Royal Witches, and I come from the future."

Blyana admired the authority that radiated off this little girl and wanted to comment about it when a loud noise and the rumbling of the ground alerted all of them.

"I have no idea what happened, but if there is a fight going on, I will gladly help. After all, I am one of the best fighters that the Royal Witches have." Alazne said as she reached her hand to a holster on her thigh, pulling out a stunning dagger.

The rest of them started getting ready, while Alazne stared at them in awe. These were the people she looked up to the most. They had single-handedly built an empire and did many more things.

As they marched towards the clearing where the noise was from, they could see lots of smoke. Amidst the smoke, there was a man that was in his thirties standing in front of about twenty other people.

"Attack!" That was all that was said before a mass of shouting and metal against metal could be heard throughout the air.

Albeit being outnumbered five to one, they had managed to kill all of them, leaving the four cut and bruised, all whilst covered in blood and sweat.

"Gods- I- I have to thank you for your timely appearance. We may not have survived that without you. Amora's decision to name you a miracle is true. You are a miracle." Blyana stepped forward, giving Alazne a hug. "I'm proud to call you my descendant."

Alazne smiled, feeling the coldness seep into her toes. She was going back to her timeline soon. "I'm glad to help you. All three of you are heroes. It was lovely to meet you."

With that, the coldness engulfed her entire being as she was whisked away, back to the safety of the castle.