Past, Present, Future

Chapter 4: My situation

The beast was gone. Probably vaporized by my attack. My body hurt. My head ached. Everything was hurting. The glow I had left. Looking down, my hands were normal again, so is the rest of my body.

I collapsed to my knees from fatigue. Footsteps echoed from the grass. Maybe Merio's. I can hear his voice, though muffled and I can't make it out. Beads of sweat rolled down my face, tendrils of my hair scrunched up as well. I suddenly felt cold. Really cold. 

I hugged myself as a desperate attempt to stop the frigid sensation I am having. Teeth chattering, I hugged tighter. But that's when someone hugged me.

Surprised, I jerked my head to look. A familiar face. Hair the color of the golden sunset. Eyes of azure blue locked with mine.

"M-Merio..." I started. It was hard, I felt really worn out. I felt like hell as if I was bathing in thorned roses.

Merio must have said something, 'cause his mouth moved. I couldn't hear it, let alone try to distinguish it. I felt myself blacking out. My eyes felt really heavy. I must have fainted. 

I was back again in darkness, for the second time.

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"She fainted!" Merio shouted. "We need to take her to a healer class!"

The Keeper just stood there.

T-This girl. She was able to release the First Origin, something the previous vessel wasn't able to do. Not only that, she was able to control it. The Origin must have obliterated the Cavisse, but I still sense the evil intent. It's faint, but it's here! But where? Don't tell me...

"Sir! We need to get out of here!" Merio shouted once more, disrupting The Keeper's thoughts. "The authorities will be here soon, we need to go, NOW!"

"Right."

Picking up Rin, Merio dashed for the treeline. The Keeper followed behind, glancing at the four pillars that Rin created.

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"Father, you should not sleep during a report!" A girl scolded. "You are King! Be wise as you are."

The man seated on the throne woke up with a start. Drowsy, he looked at his daughter. "Now, now, Melanie. I was awake all night deciding on a new law. But I do appreciate you scolding me. You remind me of your mother."

"Mhm..." The girl, now known as Melanie pouted, her crown slanting on her head.

"Continue on with what you left off." He gestured to a knight holding a ridiculously, long parchment.

"Why, thank you, King Geral. I will now continue with my report." The knight said. He looked at his parchment again and gulped.

"Uh, King Geral. You have fallen asleep at the start of my report and I am nearing the end of it."

King Geral's eyes went wide. "What? I slept through that?!" He pointed at the parchment.

"Yes. You did." Princess Melanie said out loud. King Geral sighed.

"Would you want me to read the whole thing again, sire?" The knight asked.

"No, no. Just tell me the important and crucial issues going on in my kingdom, to save you all the trouble."

"Well then," He started. "The Metihsula' tree only has three leaves left making the barrier protecting the kingdom come down soon. However, it is calculated that it will grow back all its leaves in late winter. Also, the kingdom of Del'sha has agreed into an alliance with our kingdom. Lastly, our own Philosopher's stone has detected a very large outburst of dense magic emanating from the village of Savaren. That is all."

The King was satisfied with the report, but the last one disturbed him. "Dismissed."

At once, the knight rolled his parchment and proceeded to walk out the throne room.

"Dense magic?" Princess Malanie asked.

"Yes. At this point, you would think that it can be Sigil fragments. However, this one delivered a massive amount of magic, denser than normal magic."

"So what will you possibly do about it? Send another Aegis?" She asked, her face scrunched.

The King grinned. "Why yes, of course. This is a big situation, and big situations should be taken care of by the Aegi."

"So what Aegis?" She asked, rolling her eyes. She knew that her father can't, once again, deal with the situation without the help of the higher-ups in the kingdom's ranking system.

King Geral scratched his chin. "I'm sending Five."

"W-what? The Aegis of Ebony?! You're sending out one of the strongest? Father, are you really that desperate?!"

Her father just laughed. "Oho! My dear daughter, I am becoming old, and I am having one of those empty days."

"Ugh, you could've at least chosen Three or even One!"

"Dear, you can solve a problem faster if you get serious earlier. I am not including the Aegis of Azure nor the Aegis of Crimson in this one. Five is usually more conserved and resourceful, thus solving the problem faster."

"Whatever."

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