Lumina Academy: Light and Shadow (Realm Series #1)

Chapter 20: The Sorceress

Chapter 20: The Sorceress
 
Third Person’s Point Of View
 
They already ate their breakfast and they are back again from looking for the house of sorceress. Sa tuwing mayroon silang nakasasalubong na halimaw at sinusubukan silang atakehin ay iniiwasan na lamang nila. Mayroon din silang nakikitang mga halimaw na nanghihina at hindi na sila kayang atakehin pa ng mga ito.
 
The moon is still shining brightly and it is causing the monsters to weak even more and they can hear them screaming with so much pain. Hindi nila alam kung paano nabuhay sa ganitong lugar ang ililigtas nilang sorceress ngunit hindi nila mapigilang hangaan siya. Considering that this place has a lot of monsters that can devour you in no time—and they are not even sure if there’s food and water here.
 
They are just quiet while walking and looking around until Prince Logan stopped which made them stop too. Prince Logan can see from where he is standing that a paper bird is coming from their direction and when others look at where he is looking at, a sigh of relief escaped from their mounts.
 
Their headmaster told them that if they can see a paper bird, it was either a letter or it will lead them where the sorceress was. Until the paper bird came from Prince Logan’s direction and it landed in his hand. He opened it and read the letter out loud. “Follow this paper bird,” he said before the letter formed into a bird again and when they saw the paper bird start to fly again, they didn’t think twice to follow it.
 
“For me, this is the easiest mission that we ever had this school year,” said Prince Kaizer before he drank water from his tumbler and brings it back to his pouch after he finished drinking.
 
“We’re only here to fetch the sorceress, idagdag pang hindi tayo masyadong mapapalaban dahil mga nanghihina ang mga halimaw na nandito,” sagot naman ni Prince Jacob dito.
 
“Kauumpisa pa lang kaya ng pasukan kaya dapat ‘wag ka munang magsalita ng tapos diyan,” asik naman ni Princess Gwendolyn dito na ikinanguso naman ni Prince Kaizer.
 
“Kung bakit naman kasi mahihirap ang binibigay sa ating misyon! Even the Occupation Building was always giving us a hard mission! Mga abuso sila, ah!” Reklamo ni Prince Kaizer habang nakasimangot itong nakatingin sa lupa.
 
Siguro nga at malaki ang nakukuha nilang kapalit sa tuwing natatapos nila ang misyon na ibinigay mula sa Occupation Building ngunit hindi na ‘yon kadali. Occupation Building will only offer them hard missions and nothing more. But even how hard those are, they still enjoys it, especially, when the headmaster himself was the one who will give them a mission.
 
“That’s because they know that we’re powerful enough to finish those hard missions, so, shut up, you dimwit,” Prince Jacob told Prince Kaizer and they started bickering while the others only shook their heads.
 
‘This is Alphas, huh?’
 
Isip ni Princess Lara habang pinagmamasdan ang Alphas na nasa kaniyang harapan. Na sa huli sila ni Princess Ingrid at parehong pinagmamasdan ang Alphas. Princess Ingrid still can’t believe that she was with Alphas and she can’t stop herself but feel honored to be with them. This is her first time going to a mission like this that she considered hard already.
 
Malayong-malayo ang misyon na ibinibigay ng academy sa kanilang mga Betas. A minor mission that’s why Betas can not help themselves but get mad to the headmaster and to the Alphas. Ngunit kung siya ang tatanungin ay mas magagawa naman talaga ng Alphas ang mga ganitong misyon. They aren’t just powerful but also wise that’s why she can understand the academy—the headmaster why he always choose Alphas.
 
‘It’s not favoritism—there’s no such thing… they are only narrowed-minded.’
 
Hindi naman nila namalayang lumapit sa kanila si Prince Azriel kung hindi pa ‘to nagsalita. “Are you already tired?” He asked but he’s only looking at Princess Lara.
 
But before the princess can answer him, Princess Ingrid interrupted. “Ako, hindi mo ba ako tatanungin at talagang ang kaibigan ko lang?” Nakataas kilay na tanong nito sa prinsepe na ikinatawa naman ng huli.
 
“Easy, Ingrid. Let me rephrase my question…” he said and chuckled a bit. “Are you two already tired?” He asked again then chuckled, especially, when he saw Princess Ingrid look satisfied while Princess Lara only chuckled lightly.
 
“We’re not tired but…” Princess Ingrid look at Prince Azriel—nanunuri ang mga mata nitong nakatingin sa prinsepe na katabi ngayon ng kaibigan niya at na sa kanang bahagi siya nito. “Are you and Lara that close?” She asked curiously.
 
Prince Azriel smiled at her dashingly before nodding at her. “Yes, she became my friend way back in the mortal realm and we’re close,” he answered while still smiling before he look at Princess Lara who only nodded her head.
 
“Hmmm… I see,” Princess Ingrid answered. “Our world is really small, huh? Even there’s a mortal realm that quite big and the magic world that has many realms…” she said and she heard Princess Lara chuckle lightly.
 
“Yes… even you think that the world is big—if people are meant to meet each other, they will still meet each other regardless of how big this world is…” she said and silence fell between them.
 
‘You will meet the unexpected people in your life and will be part of your life unexpectedly…’
 
Princess Lara thought before her eyes look at Alphas before smiling secretly. ‘This is just the beginning… this is just the beginning of the story…’ she sigh before talking to Prince Azriel and Princess Ingrid quietly until they heard Prince Logan’s voice.
 
“We’re here,” he said and stopped and that’s also what they did.
 
Sa harapan nila ay isang maliit na cabin. Gawa ito sa kahoy at lumang-luma ito ngunit ramdam nila ang nakapalibot na kapangyarihan dito and it is enough to scare the monsters lurking around here. Now, they understand why the sorceress isn’t devoured by the monsters yet. They know that the sorceress is powerful but they didn’t expect that this is how powerful she is.
 
Princess Lara and Princess Ingrid have no idea about why they are here but Prince Azriel spoke—feeding their curiosity. “We’re here to fetch the sorceress who was trapped here for seventeen years and now we had a chance to bring her out here, we grab the opportunity. Monsters here are weak because of the moon’s light that’s why we’re not encountering a lot of monsters earlier. Just a few of them but weak,” the prince explained and both princesses nodded their heads.
 
“I see.”
 
But while looking outside the sorceress’ house, Princess Lara can feel something that she can’t point out. A strange feeling that only her can feel. But she doesn’t feel any threat—it’s only a strange feeling that she can’t determine. She stops thinking about the strange feeling because she doesn’t want it to bother her. Hindi siya makatutulog kapag patuloy niyang iisipin ang bagay na ‘yon.
 
Bigla namang bumukas ang pintuan at lumikha pa ito ng tunog. They are waiting for the sorceress to come out but she didn’t show herself to them kaya nagkatinginan sila. “P-Papasok ba tayo?” Takot na tanong ni Princess Arielle habang nakakapit ito kay Princess Clara.
 
No one answered her hanggang sa nauna ng naglakad papasok si Prince Aiden at wala ng nagawa pa ang iba kung ‘di ang sumunod sa kaniya. They entered the old house and look at their surroundings. The house was clean—you can’t see anything inside since there are no furniture or anything. They also tried looking for the sorceress’ presence but it looks like she hide her presence.
 
Not until she showed herself and some of them were shocked which made the sorceress laugh a bit. “Sorry… did I frighten you?” Her gentle voice echoed to their ears as they look at the sorceress with relief.
 
The sorceress has long green hair and her eyes are color green too. She’s wearing a black long dress—a vintage style and her white skin was vibrant. If they didn’t know that she is a sorceress, they will think that she is one of the sirens. Her beauty is captivating, especially, when she smiled at them. She looks young because that’s how all immortal looks like but the sorceress was giving them an adult vibe—just like their parents.
 
No one dared to speak—except the prince of fire who looks pissed and the one who wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. “We have no time with chit-chats. We have to go back as soon as possible,” the prince said and he’s deadly serious right now that it even gave them goosebumps because of his tone.
 
Alphas look at each other because of what happened and they have no idea why he looks piss which is a bad idea for them—but except Princess Gwendolyn who knows the reason why the prince of fire was pissed. The sorceress remained smiling at them before her eyes turn to the prince who talked before she shook her head.
 
“Relax, son of Zaiden and Azalea… that person only yours… since then the whole magic world reborn…” the sorceress said and her cryptic words made everyone frown—especially the prince who stilled. The sorceress smiled at him like she likes what she’s seeing from the prince right now and she saw something in his eyes that made her feel happy before she looks at one of the royalties in front of her.
 
‘Seventeen years had passed…’
 
She thought while looking at someone who’s also looking at her while frowning. ‘This is the reason why the deities are calling me…’ she smiled even more before looking at everyone. “I am excited to leave this place too after seventeen years but I still want you to rest—if you wanted to rest…” the sorceress said and she was waiting for them to answer her.
 
“No need, Miss…?” her eyes look at the prince who answered her.
 
“My name is Amanda Margaret but everyone calls me AM, son of Lorcan and Emerald…” she said and they just can’t help but be amazed at the sorceress because she knows who are their parents.
 
“Yeah… we don’t have to rest, Ms. AM. We can not waste any time. We have to leave this place as soon as possible while the monsters here are still weak,” the prince said which made the sorceress nod.
 
“I understand. Let’s go,” she said at nauna na itong lumabas sa kanila. Sumunod naman sila dito at tahimik na naglalakad. But the sorceress can feel their curiosity that’s why she spoke, “If you have something to ask, just ask,” she said before looking behind her where the Alphas was.
 
“How… did you live in this kind of place?” Princess Gwendolyn asked her which made her smile again but they didn’t say it.
 
“Starvation won’t kill immortals but it still affects us…” ‘To you…’ “Even so, we still have to eat to make us stronger but in my case…” she took a deep breath. “I didn’t eat for seventeen years,” she continued and she heard gasped from them—especially from the princesses.
 
“Pero… wala naman pong nagbago sa inyo… tama po ba?” Tanong ni Princess Clara at ramdam niya ang tingin nito mula sa kaniyang likod.
 
“Yes, walang nagbago sa katawan ko,” she answered before a thought crossed her mind. “I didn’t look like I suffered from starvation but I have my own way to feed myself…” she added at ramdam nilang hindi na niya ito dadagdagan pa which remains a mystery to them.
 
“Do you perhaps want to eat?”
 
Napahinto naman siya sa narinig niyang tanong at tila napako sa kaniyang kitatayuan ng marinig ang boses na ‘yon. A sweet, gentle, soft, tender, and concerned tone that coming from one of the princesses. She look at her and her eyes just softened when a concerned eyes met hers.
 
A soft smile made its way from her smile before speaking, “No, thanks, daughter of Lance and Jade…” she said before a thought crossed her mind again but she did her best not to utter those. “For seventeen years that I barely eating, I don’t know if my body will still accept food,” she gently said like it was a normal thing but it wasn’t for the children of her friends.
 
They started to walk again but this time, they are quite—no one wants to break the silence. Nagpapahinga sila ng kaunti bago magpapatuloy muli. Nagmamadali na sila dahil malapit ng sumapit ang kinabuksan kung saan muling babalik ang lakas ng mga halimaw na nakatira dito.
 
***
 
Hope Lorelei Lara Sapphire Watson
 
After Gen and I ate breakfast, we headed to our training room. Kahapon ay hindi kami nakapag-training dahil nga sa naisama kami sa misyon ng Alphas. I explained to Gen why we were summoned that day and she confessed to me that she should be one of the Alphas too but she asked the headmaster to put her in Betas.
 
We’re supposed to be a member of Alphas…
 
“Are we allowed to summon our guardians in the ranking?” I asked and she nodded.
 
“Yeah. We’re allowed to do anything aside from killing each other—if it is student versus student. Dati kasi ay gano’n ngunit bibisita at manunood ang mga students sa ibang realm kaya baka ibahan nila,” sagot ni Gen habang kumakain kami ng ice cream.
 
Katatapos lang namin mag-ensayo and we bought ice cream as reward to ourselves. We did great! Ngayon ay pinanonood naming lumubog ang araw habang pareho kaming kumakain—chocolate flavor ang kaniya habang strawberry flavor naman ang sa akin.
 
“Hindi ba’t mahirap makapunta sa ibang realm?” Takang tanong ko sa kaniya. Huminto ako sa pagkain bago siya hinarap at gano’n din ang kaniyang ginawa.
 
“Yes, it is. But there are phenomena where the portal going to a different realm will open—the portal in every first institution will open. You see, we have two portals na maaaring magdala sa atin sa iba’t ibang realms, the first one was in every sacred mountain but it is too dangerous for us to step our feet in there. While the second one that only happens once in a lifetime—I think—was in every realms’ academy at sakto namang ranking natin ‘yon kaya maaaring bumisita ang mga taga-ibang realm sa realm natin. I heard that the portal was open for one week kaya maaaring magtagal dito ang mga taga-ibang realm. But you know what? The portal where can only be found in academy is choosy—I mean, kung hindi ka estudyante o guro ng academy ay hindi ka makapapasok dito, also if you are not one of the people of academy—you won’t be able to use it,” mahaba niyang paliwanag na ikinatango-tango ko naman.
 
I see…
 
Well, I guess, the first institution—the academy is a mystery itself. Pakiramdam ko ay madami pang hindi natutuklasan sa academy na ‘to. It is just simply mysterious for me considering that this was the first one that the deities built. And I know and I am sure that there are untold stories and a lot of mystery that surround the academy that hasn’t been found yet.
 
“This academy is so mysterious. I can feel it…” I muttered before looking at the dark sky.
 
Gabi na pala…
 
“Indeed.”
 
***