Moonrise ✔ [Complete]

41 Wish (Part 4)

"Hello?" she called out. She didn't know why she expected a response. The desert went on for miles, with no sign of civilization or vegetation in sight. No matter which direction she looked in, all that she could see was the horizon where sand met sky.

She was alone, and she was stranded.

There was no doubt in her mind anymore: none of this was real. The wedding ceremony, the cage fight, and now this desert—all of it had happened in the impossible span of an hour.

This wasn't real. And if this wasn't real, one would assume oneself trapped in some kind of illusion.

At the sudden thought, Maeyune's breath drew short.

Illusion, she considered. A dream.

Awareness flooded into her like an unleashed dam.

This was a dream.

There was no sensible way she had traveled from Suolan to Bera in seconds, then to find herself stranded in a desert with no recollection of how she had even arrived there. Her memory was riddled with unexplained gaps, and she wondered why she had been able to change in and out of clothing so fast.

It was because she was inside a dream. And if she was dreaming, why could she not wake?

"Maeyune?"

She turned and nearly jolted at the sight of Deiyu. He stood waiting behind her, still wearing his black uniform from the wedding ceremony. She craned her neck to glimpse behind him, half-expecting to find a doorway in the air leading back to the Ursan palace.

A heavy weight folded down her body, and when she looked down at herself, she saw that her wedding gown had reappeared. She also felt the weight of her crown as it alighted atop her head.

Standing inside the desert and covered in layers of white lace and gossamer, she wasn't as hot as she thought she would be. Even so, she must still have looked incredibly bizarre in the environment.

But then again, this was all a dream, and she needed to escape.

The Suolani commander held out a hand and smiled. "Come, beloved," he said, his words soothing. "Is this not what you have always wanted? To marry me and live as princess of Suolan?"

She swallowed hard. Yes, she had wanted it, because she had thought she loved him.

Since the days when her young heart rebelled against responsibility, she had wanted to forsake all training to spend time with him. And when she had learned his heart belonged to Princess Shana, she had been jealous.

But looking at him now—smiling with the promise of being hers forever—did not make her stomach flutter the way it used to. No, all that she felt was a humble respect for a comrade and nothing more.

This had been her dream once, her wish a long time ago, but she no longer craved it the way she craved something else.

Something else...

Why was she dreaming? Why could she not wake? Who was she in the real world?

Silver and gold...

Moon and sun...

What did that all mean? And why did such thoughts continue to haunt her?

"Come, beloved," Deiyu said again. This time, there was more command in his voice. Behind him, sand swirled from the ground as a portal of light tore open in mid air. Inside the portal, she recognized a silver hall of the Ursan palace. She took a step back in alarm, but Deiyu remained unflinching.