❃.✮:▹ pov: the hero ◃:✮.❃
I woke up after a well-deserved, content sleep to hear the chirps of the winter birds. This bedroom was massive, and the bed was probably made with the most expensive materials that you could find anywhere. It felt like sleeping on a cloud. Needless to say, that was the best sleep I'd ever had.
I kind of felt rude for not cleaning up the gold embroidered red sheets. They seemed to somewhat be waiting for me patiently. I didn't think they'd been used since the last occupant was there.
I had a bed with a large canopy with curtains dangling off it... for privacy, I'd think. The room was decked out with things that would have cost a lot, if we needed them and had enough room on our backs. The dark floorboards stood out from the red carpet that draped them.
A lot of things were in red, actually. The carpet, couch, even small details such as books on the bedside table. It was a rich red that seemed very... regal. I think I'd chosen to sleep in the king's room.
The pale light was shining through my (also red) curtain. I got up, although I didn't really want to, stretched my legs and went to look out at the royal view.
It seemed to look out on a courtyard. There was evidence of things like barriers and bricks, and even a few snow covered plants still remained in rows.
I looked away. It was kinda pitiful. I went to put on the clothes I had that I'd hung on a chair, changing into my usual ones that were beginning to be dampened and worn down by the constant walking me, Toya and Kohane were doing. Especially my shoes. I could see the bottoms peeling off.
I changed, and then went outside. Kohane had the food in her room, so I decided to go there since it was nearby. I knocked on the door. "Who is it...?" A tired voice that unmistakeably gave me tingles whenever I heard it said. "It's just me. Can I come in? I'm hungry." I asked.
"Yeah, sure. I'm still in my pijamas." Kohane said. I opened the door, and that was definitely obvious. Her short hair had been messed up by the sleep she'd had. I smiled when I saw her. "Enjoyed your rest?" I asked. She nodded.
"It was much needed. I was so tired, and really didn't want to sleep on stone again." Kohane states as she laid in bed, obviously just having woken up. I nod. "Sleeping was sooooo good!" I said. "Now, get up or I'll cuddle you to death~" I joked. Was this too out of her boundaries? I hoped it wasn't.
"Aha- but I'd still like you to give me a hug. I kinda missed your warmth." Kohane says. I go red, but then realised I was and hide my cheeks behind my arm. "If you want." I say, trying not to do something stupid.
She gets up out of the bed. As opposed to mine, her room was covered with ornate, beautiful paintings. Some of the canvases were slashed, but most were covered with the most vibrant, realistic sceneries that I'd ever seen.
Paintings of the summer. I stared at one. It seemed like a painting of a field of flowers. Sunflowers, I thought, because of their dark heads, tall stalks, sunlike shapes and yellow hue. It looked like there was a girl in that painting.
I approached it. "Woah, this is a painting of when there wasn't snow everywhere? That's pretty cool." I said. Kohane gets out of the bed (I can tell because of the sound of her footsteps) and comes over to me, wrapping her arms around me. "Yeah! It's really pretty. Come to think of it, that girl kind of looks like you. The hair and everything. Too bad her eyes are closed." Kohane says, her arms tight around me, and I try not to blush.
"You think so? Aha, you're too kind. She has a pretty outfit on." I say. It's true- her yellow dress seems to be billowing in the wind, her straw hat sitting nicely on her head.
"Hey... that one looks like it's of me!" Kohane says. I look over in her direction, and see a picture of a girl that does indeed look like her. She has a white cap that maids wear on, with red embroidery. Her dress also reflects that colour scheme. In this one, she has her brown eyes open, and looks exactly like the familiar face hugging me.
Kohane lets go of me, and looks into the painting. I look around the room. "That one's of Toya! It looks just like him! And there's another one of that weirdo and me." I say. It looks like all these paintings had a relative theme around them.
Us.
The paintings were of every one of us in various scenes. Some even reflected things we'd been through. Like... me and Kohane scrambling for supplies. And one that looked like Toya, but as a young child. He looked scared.
"Holy shit, this is creepy..." I say, and I sigh. I look around, and my eyes fall on one of me kissing Kohane. I hide it, going scarlet. Thankfully, Kohane doesn't seem to mind. "Should we get the others?" She suggests, looking in the opposite direction to me.
"Yeah. Maybe anger issues will know what the hell's going on." I say with a small concerned frown. "Hopefully he isn't asleep." Kohane says. "And he doesn't beat us up for knocking on his door."
We walked into the hallway, when we realised we didn't know where the other two's rooms were. "Toya?" I yelled, getting slightly worried. Kohane looked at me. "Didn't they go that way? Yeah, I think they did. Let's look." Kohane says to herself.
I nod, and follow her down the blue-carpeted hall. I hadn't seen blue carpet before, and it was a shade of... royal blue. Ironic. It was also hemmed with golden dyed fringes.
The hallway was pretty long, and we knocked on every door in there, until someone answered, "Who is it?" I sighed in relief. We'd been searching for about 5 minutes. "It's just An and Kohane! Can we come in?"
"Yeah, sure." Toya says. I open the door, and his room unfolded before us. Yellow covered the curtains, carpet and bedsheets. It was a very radiant room. "Good morning." He said. I nodded. "Good morning, Toya. We have something we want you and weird- uh, Akito, to see. It's very important you guys do."
Toya raised his eyebrows. "Okay. Should we go get him- or what?" Kohane shrugged, and I was also a bit stumped. "I don't think he'd like it if me or Kohane woke him up. Can you go get him?" Toya sighed, but nodded understandingly.
"Sure. I'll be back." He said, going out the door in his thick jacket. After a few minutes of us just standing in the vibrant room, he came back. "He's coming. It's just, he's still in his pijamas. Give it like- 5 minutes?" Toya said, and I nodded.
"So, what is wrong anyway?" Toya asked. I frowned. "Well... it's easier if we just show you." I said, with a sigh. I honestly couldn't think up a good explanation except 'There were paintings of us in a room' which just sounded kind of stupid.
"So it isn't urgent?" Toya asked. I nodded. "Yeah. It isn't an attack or anything." Kohane continued. "I don't think Akito will be too happy about that." Toya said with a small sigh. "Judging by his personality."
I hoped that guy didn't choke anyone again. If I was being honest, I was slightly scared of him. He had come out of nowhere and his appearance correlated to the mysteriousness of this castle. Maybe he was a ghost?
"Toya, Kohane. Call me crazy, but are you sure this guy isn't just some spirit that's been anchored here for... however long he's been for?" I asked. The two looked at me doubtingly. A shiver went down my spine. I hate ghosts.
"A what?" A voice came from behind me. "AAAAHHHHH!" I screamed, certain that was the voice of an apparition. I turned around, my hand on my sword, and it was just weirdo. "You are really jumpy." He said. I glared at him. "Quit it."
A period of silence ensued. Since me and Kohane didn't want to talk to that weirdo, and neither of the boys knew what we were called here for and expected us to speak out about it, it became so quiet, you could hear a pin drop.
"Ah... An, and Kohane... do you mind telling us what's going on?" Toya asked. I nodded. "Basically, we found these weird paintings. Come with us, please." I said awkwardly. Toya looked at me, furrowing his eyebrows, but didn't say anything.
We walked down the corridor, to Kohane's temporary room. "This is the room." I said. "That's my sister's bedroom. I've never been in there." The weirdo said. I refused to acknowledge him as anything else in my head.
We opened the door, and once again saw the room sprawled with paint over canvasses, walls, curtains, floors and just about anything. Neither of us spoke. Except for Toya. "That's Kohane... and me! And you two! You're actually getting along!" He said carelessly. I glared at the weirdo, and he glared at me back.
"Anyway. We think these paintings are representing our future." I said. "But maybe not that one." I said, pointing to the one of me and weirdo hanging out and laughing together.
I looked over to him, and he now seemed lost in the paintings. "This is crazy. Ena never let me in here." He said in a mumble. "I knew she had some sort of prophetic power, but not like this." He said, staring into one of him, seemingly a bit younger than he is now.
"Your sister had powers?" Kohane asked. Akito looked at her perplexed. "Yeah... Doesn't everyone?" He said, confused. I looked at Toya, then Kohane. "Who wants to break the news to him?" Toya asked the two of us.
I sighed, seeing as I was the braver one out of the two of them. "You aren't going to like this, but everyone that uses magic has either been killed or enslaved by this evil force-" I was cut off by Akito's yelling. "You have to be joking! No way that they got all of them!"
I sighed. Neither me or Kohane were good at comforting people. "Okay... uhm... I've heard that there's still some alive if that helps?" Kohane said in a mumble. "That means all my family... all my friends... everyone I know..."
"They probably died with honour. Your sister would have wanted you to see these photos. She could see the future, right? She must have known you'd be here." Toya said, looking at me for a split second with a look of 'What am I doing?'.
"I'm going." Akito said with a snarl to his voice. He rushed out the door. We stood there for a few moments there in the paint-filled room. Just standing in awkward silence.
"I'll leave him to himself for five minutes. When I feel sad, I like to be alone. I don't know if it's the same for him." Toya says, his gray eyes slightly sad. "Poor dude. You guys aren't going, right?"
We nodded unanimously. Then, Toya waved a silent goodbye and walked out the door, on the hunt for a very obviously distraught boy.
Then it was just me and Kohane. "Hey look! This one's of spring!" Kohane pointed out. I turned around, to look at the canvas.
In that painting, animals were out in full force. The grass was green, the sun illuminated the blue sky. I wondered what the rays of sun felt like.
But if all these were promises of the future to do with us, maybe this could be linked to us too?