The talk was taking too long. You hopped off the chair and quietly sneaked out.
As you walked on the Imperial ground, everything felt overwhelming. As if the whole place was pressing down on you.
You took a moment to take a deep breath.
Let's calm down and think rationally. The Emperor probably found out about your magical abilities and was probably planning on recruiting you.
At best, the punishment wouldn't be something you couldn't endure. Maybe a few lashes and a few months or years of imprisonment?
You exhaled roughly and rubbed your throbbing head.
Yeah. You could probably survive it.
No, you would survive it.
Then you could formulate a plan to get away from everything and start anew. Nothing to hold you down. You'd be free like the birds you admired.
Cautiously, you stepped into the garden surrounded by trees and bushes. It hid your tiny presence.
You moved around a bit and came across a Palace with a red roof. You stopped dead in your tracks.
'What is this anxious feeling?'
You patted your chest and tried to calm down your breathing.
'Why am I feeling this way?'
A vague sense of despair and a longing.
The more you stared at the strange palace, the more the feelings grew stronger.
You shook your head and stepped back from that Palace. This place felt familiar which was ridiculous since you had never been here. It was your first time coming to the Imperial ground.
There was no way you should feel such a strong sense of familiarity from that Palace.
"Diana.."
A whisper left your lips. For some reason, you were feeling an intense need to see Diana and make sure she was alright.
"Diana..."
Your knees grew weak as images flashed across your eyes. You closed your eyes and clenched your teeth.
Blood. The sight of blood. A baby crying. Screams..and blood, lots of blood...
Shit, what is this?!
You were losing your head when loud noises of metal clashing with each other drew your attention.
The sudden distraction was a welcome reprieve.
You stayed in the spot and contemplated whether it was worth your curiosity and then shrugged off the doubt.
It was better to follow whatever that sound was than to make sense of the jumbled images your mind had conjured up.
Hurriedly, you got to your feet, and slowly with caution you tried locating the source of the sound.
You refused to look at the Red Palace as you passed by it. The sight of it was nauseating. And you didn't have the energy to investigate why.
The sound of metal clashing grew more loud and clear. You quietly stepped forward and cringed when the fallen, dry leaves crunched under your feet.
You paused under the shade of the trees and could see the sound was coming from just around the corner.
You made sure to properly hide yourself behind a tree and took a peek.
As you expected, the source of the metal clashing sounds was the sword.
Two lone individuals were sparring in what seemed to be a training ground in full armor with their heads covered in protective helmets that masked their entire faces.
Their swords clashed with each other as they tried to outmatch their opponents.
The graceful way they moved and the power each clash carried had you transfixed.
A loud gasp almost left your lips when you caught sight of magic suddenly being imbued in their swords and attacks. You quickly clamped a hand over your mouth and crouched down in fear. Had they heard you? Or by fortune, were you safe?
You waited with bated breath as the sound of the swords ceased and complete silence descended over the training ground.
Fuck my life...
"Come out."
A cold, sharp command was directed at you. You flinched and stayed silent and in place.
The owner of the voice sounded scary. And familiar.
Damn, why did he sound familiar?
Your mind flashed back to the museum incident and the blue-eyed boy.
...No way, right?
Claude sounded nothing like this person. Even though he was reserved and closed off, he never felt this cruel sounding.
Then, who was it?
The familiarity didn't go away despite you trying to rationalize it.
Seriously, what was wrong with these places and people? Everyone and everything seemed familiar. It was disturbing.
You wondered in confusion. Why did your heart jump at the sound of that person's voice? You were pretty sure you would remember someone whose voice sounded so cold and commanding.
"Oh?" The voice spoke again, sounding a tiny bit annoyed. "You want my sword to come there and greet you?"
You shivered. Crazy bastard!
No way, you met someone this crazy in your life!
"My liege! Why are resorting to threats? You will scare the person!"
You quietly nodded to the voice of the other boy. It sounded familiar too but unlike the first one which drenched your entire being in fear, his voice brought you comfort.
He seems like a kind and reasonable person.
"You want me to care for a trespasser?"
You did not argue against it. You were trespassing. But in your defense, you have no idea where the border of trespassing even began. You were mindlessly scrolling when you found them on coincidence. Nothing was intended as he seemed to be implying.
"Well, if you want them to come out and show themself, threatening is the last thing you should do."
"Keep your ludicrous idea to yourself, Felix. I will decide how to handle the intruder who decided to trespass on my property and refuse to come out when I tell them to."
"My liege..."
Before he was even finished speaking, you were already inching away.
No way, you were going to stick around. That dude sounded like the insane kind of person who would have your limbs cut off for the tiniest misconduct.
He was insane and you would not stay around to find out just how much.
"Hah, running away now?"
You flinched and stubbornly continued. Yep. Keep going. Don't stop. That man was looking for a punching bag to take out his frustration on.
You heard a sharp sound of a sword being cut through the air. And you shuddered.
"My liege, there's no need to go to such an extent! That person is harmless. I'm sure you can sense it."
"Harmless? I never thought of that sneaking rat as danger, Felix. But when flies surround you, you've to swat them away or else they will start annoying you. Now move."
Did he call you a sneaking rat?! And an annoying fly?!
Your temper almost took hold of you but you managed to calm down. You quickly started to crawl like a spider scurrying away from danger.
"No, my liege. This is going too far..!"
You didn't wait to see how their conflict would turn out. And quickly got to your feet when you were a safe distance away and ran away from them.
You reached the lobby you had left behind and saw Lionel waiting for you.
You thought you had escaped from danger and were safe but the moment Lionel opened his mouth, your mind turned blank, and red alarms went off loudly inside your head.
Say what now?