Realm of the Sun

Chapter 5

"Gods, Yue, you haven't been sleeping? Didn't I give you that book from the library for this reason?" Sylas sighed, exasperated. It made for a typical sight.

She took a bun out of the basket, inspecting the film that had set on top of the bread. She looked over to the book, laid unread on her nightstand. "I should probably return that."

A sudden spike of pain erupted in her head. "Agh..." she moaned in pain, dropping the bun she was previously holding while her hands shot up to her head. The agony was horrid- it felt like a stampede of bulls had run through her head, trampling everything in their path. She dropped to the floor, kneeling on her knees as the pain surged and slowly subsided.

"Yue!" Sylas reacted quickly, catching her arms as she fell and eased her back up onto her bed. "Are you okay?"

She squinted her eyes, trying to focus her vision as the world swirled around her. Yue blinked rapidly, clearing her sight and trying to rid herself of the aching in her head. Once she composed herself, she nodded and let herself fall backwards onto her bed, closing her eyes to enjoy the moment of peace. To her dismay, it did not last long.

A loud siren echoed and blared through the palace, reaching Yue's tower quickly. As quick as it was gone, the headache rushed back, amplified now. It's still daytime. Her thoughts began swirling around in her mind like one big melting pot. There shouldn't be a monster attack.

"Yue, look at me. It's not a shadow monster attack. See? The sun is still out. You'll be fine. It's probably a false alarm or a drill. We have to go take attendance in the cellars. Come on, Yue." Sylas picked her up and put her on her feet. He held the door open ushering her outside into the long, winding stone staircase.

Sylas muttered a curse, before grabbing her hand and leading them down into the cellars beneath the palace. It was a tedious climb down the stairs, and her head was throbbing every step of the way, but at least they had made it.

As soon as they reached their designated cellar, Sylas had plopped her down onto the singular available bed. "Stay here while I ask about the situation, alright? Don't go anywhere." He threw her a key. "In case you need to find me in the chaos, that's the key to this cellar. Only I have the other set." The boy ran off, navigating through the chaos while Yue sat alone, trying her best to beat the pain pounding in her head. She groaned, and felt like screaming, but knew it wouldn't do anything- there weren't even any visions to accompany her suffering. A useless waste of her fragile state of mind.

A little while later, Sylas returned with four others- a few she recognized. Jin Lang from House Crysallo, Roza Zhelvakova from House Corinne, and General Ng from House Arachnos. The last girl, she did not recognize, but it gave her a sense of familiarity.

"Sylas, what's going on? Nobody is telling me anything!" The girl prodded at his shoulder. She looked over at Yue, and paused, examining the frail girl's appearance. "You're... Yue Chang?" she finally said.

She nodded. In a flash, her headache was gone, crawling back to the depths of her brain, probably to come back more ferocious the next time. She heaved a sigh of relief, thanking Vischo for his mercy.

"Solarie, stop bothering poor Sylas. It's just a drill, right?" Roza turned to the General.

She shook her head. "Rebel attack. They're speeding up in frequency. They used to be months apart, but now, they're only days. The one before this was only four days before, right before the Sun Trial. I'm trying to manage, but between night watches and border stations, my resources are spread thin." The general put a hand on Roza's shoulder, but pulled back a second later.

"Rebel attack?" Yue and the other girl called back in unison. Roza jumped in to explain. "In the last few years, there's been this alliance that the variens call the resistance. It was just a bunch of people with swords at first, but it's been escalating recently. They've brought... cavalry and projectiles."