Eternal Power Pretty Cure

Chapter 24「Run in the Blood」

A sea of blackness, not a splotch of color daring to rupture the inky ocean that flooded the state of her mind. It was a black so dark and deep, nothing could disrupt its uneasy aura.

The sounds of constant clashes arose onto the surface ever so vaguely, as if put through a faint filter. The sounds of Soleil Fanfare's scorching fire, the sharp swipes of Corneilledore...

The sounds of magic...

The noises approached before everything dropped back to silence, only to return and then fall quiet once more.

Every source of noise went mellow for a few seconds or so. That is until the battle cries of seven legendary warriors came into play, retaining a similar filter of fragility. Those cries soon transitioned to the desperate and pained screams of the heroines as they slipped off the edge of failure for defeating their strongest enemy. She could remember it so clearly, the pain that coursed through their hearts knowing they had been defeated.

It was unsettling.

So unsettling...

Unsettling...

...

Her eyelids fling open like shutters. A gasp palpitated from the depths of her throat and out the wide loop-shaped mouth. The dread in her citrus-hued eyes permeated through the clear lens of her glasses.

Karin found herself neatly seated at the dinner table, a hand to her chin to keep her head upright. The supper that laid before her had rarely been touched, appearing as it did the moment it had been prepared. Faint breath bisected her lips as sweat leaked down her cheek to her chin.

"Karin, are you okay?" Her mother queried, lifting the curry-filled spoon in her hand. She had the look of a worried mother planted on her face.

"You dozed off for a minute or two." Her father added with that same old look. Nothing too surprising there, really. "You haven't even touched your food."

"Eh?" Karin looked at her mother, then alternated to her father. "Eh?"

That nightmare... was it really just that? Just then she felt as if she was reliving that very night, and this wasn't the first time this had happened. Recurring memories of their failure against defeating Necro and the Destruction Domain kept bubbling up to the surface of her crippled mind, and it was something she had no control over. Karin felt disturbed. She needed to act.

"Excuse me." Karin jolted from her seat as she wiped away at her eyes with the sleeves of her navy blue shirt. Her glasses bent crooked briefly before falling back onto the bridge of her nose as she lowered her arms. She forced an awry smile. "I'm not that hungry right now." She turned away from the occupied table, not letting the scent of curry drift into her nostrils and lure her back in.

"Huh? Karin?"

As their daughter departed from the dinner table, the parents lock glances with one another, transmitting ounces of worry one after the other.

Footsteps treaded across the wood-tiled hallway, passing Karin's pet tabby cat as he watched her go ever so silently. Lifting one of its paws from the floor and tail swaying, Tama purred a mild meow.

"Not now, Tama." Karin stroked his tail briefly before continuing on her way, leaving the feline to watch quietly. She flashed one last grin at her pet before looking directly ahead. Karin's fake smile melted away, revealing the sadness that had skulked behind it. Her gaze sailed across the mahogany flooring.