Heir

4) Cookies

I stared at the beautiful but deadly creature sitting cross-legged in front of me.

This is a dream, I realised. My body, which had subconsciously turned rigid, softened sightly. The woman closed her eyes, a smile tugging at her lips. Her hands landed on her legs, facing outwards. She looked peaceful. No one would have known who-or what she was.

"I'll be seeing more of you soon, Lyn. In the meantime, do as I do. Sit like me and close your eyes."

I wanted to ask half a dozen questions like 'What is going on?' and 'Why in the world are you invading my privacy?' but I figured I could get electrocuted by the creature, so I followed her instructions.

"Think about the trees, the grass. The plants, the animals, the sky..." she murmured. "Aren't they beautiful?"

This was not how I imagined things to be. I tried to visualise them, but it was a pathetic attempt. "Erm...yes. They look nice."

"You don't trust me."

It was as if the low and relaxing tide of her voice became a tsunami. I opened my eyes to see her staring at me. Not in hatred, but in...nothing. Her eyes were blank, devoid of emotion.

"Erm..."

"Guess I can understand that." she said softly, though her eyes were still the same.

"Try again. Think of nature. Just try."

I closed my eyes and tried to throw all the plants and animals I could think of which I had seen from Traevale. The trees in Mr and Mrs Silver's orchard bearing fruit, Alys' pets, the Hamilton stables which housed both local and foreign horses...

Then, they were gone. All I could see was burnt land and blood...so much blood. This dream made no sense! I could feel my eyes open, but the same image still stayed I'm my vision. I couldn't see the white surroundings, nor her.

Her voice seemed to be far away, "Remember this scene you're seeing right now, Lyn. This will happen if humans oppose me. Better polish your skills a bit."

...

The alarm clock rang like a stubborn child, screaming and throwing a tantrum just for my attention. I groaned and swirhxed it off, glancing at the time. "Argh...curses!"

I did my daily routine and changed into my uniform. I hurried towards the main hall, where the same set of guards looked at me in surprise.

"Again?" Guard 2 said incredulously.

"Yeah."

They knocked on the door.

"Come in." Mr Raverton seemed to know that it was me.

He was sitting on his fancy throne, holding two pieces of paper, glancing at each other.

"Come here." he ordered.

I approached him until I was right in front of the table. Stacks of paper made themselves comfortable on the table along with a couple of books, such as 'The History Of Astiana' and 'Heir-The Tournament'.

"I need you to read these and answer me which one is more important, Miss Jas?" he questioned. I didn't know what else to do, so I stepped beside him and he handed me both pieces of paper.

The first one read:

...

15 Syfan Town Square
24 June 2017

Dear Lord Raverton

I am writing this letter to request for your help. There has been a lot of crimes happening in Syfan. Our prison is performing with criminals.