"Come on Naitey, wake up!"
A young, ghostly pale woman with cerulean eyes was on her knees next to her brother, whom was fast asleep on the floor, cuddling a stuffed wolf. She nudged his shoulders and shook his legs rather aggressively, but he gave no reaction. Frowning, she hiked up the skirts of her nightdress and sat on his stomach. She lifted his arms up and tickled his armpits. For a second she thought he was getting up, but he simply rolled over, causing her to fall off of him.
The young woman clicked her tongue in annoyance. She walked over to a sloppy pile of books, paper, and crayons in the corner of the room and rummaged through them. She couldn't find what she was looking for, so she tossed the dismembered stuffed animals to the side until she found her wand. Raising it over his head, she whispered "Rehugawst!" and a gush of water shot out at him.
He jumped up like a wet cat, frantically scanning the room before his eyes met hers. She was beaming at him. "Alsen! What was that for?!" he demanded, shaking his head, spraying water in every direction.
"Happy birthday, Naito!" Alsen giggled, clapping her hands and bouncing on her heels in excitement.
Naito pulled off his soaked t-shirt, revealing his slim, fit body. Stretching his arms out, he let out a yawn before rubbing his baggy, cerulean eyes. Digging through his pocket, he pulled out his own wand, lazily pointing it at the calendar. A thin, sharp icicle shot out of his wand and pierced through the calendar, marking off the date Juxisnthom 22nd, 4E584.
"Just two years left..."
"And you almost overslept on your sixteenth birthday! How could you oversleep on such a big day?!" Alsen exclaimed, hands on her hips.
"I had another dream."
"Again?" Alsen raised her eyebrow. "That makes three times in one week...was it about Nircogard again?"
Naito nodded. "Of course. I can't really remember what was happening. Just darkness, ice, a blizargwin, and loud noises..." He sat down on the floor and placed his palm on his forehead, as if deep in thought
"Well, there's no point in stressing over that now! It's your birthday, little brother, which means it's time to celebrate!" She ruffled his dripping wet, frosty white hair.
"Celebrate what? It's just another day passing by until my coronation. Everything until then is a waste of time..." Naito replied glumly, drying his wet hands on his shorts.
Alsen shook her head, causing her long, wavy magenta hair to sway from side to side. "Nu-uh. No gloomy attitude on your big day! Now come on, get dressed and let me fix your hair up. You can't be looking such a mess on your big day!"
"W-What? No! I've told you, I can take care of my hair myself!" He protested, slowly backing up with his hands up as if to defend himself as Alsen approached him.
"Nope! You're too little to do it yourself."
"You're only two years and seven months older than me!"
Naito was more than capable of taking care of his hair himself, but Alsen wouldn't let him. She couldn't let her little Naitey grow up too fast.
"Thanks for proving my point, genius. Now come on and be a good little Naitey!" she grabbed him by the arm and skipped over to the bathroom, but Naito resisted as she put her hand on the doorknob.
"Isn't Cosena in there?"
"No...I haven't seen her since last night." Alsen's eyes went downcast and Naito shifted uncomfortably at her words. They both knew it couldn't mean anything good if Cosena wasn't there. Sometimes when their father felt that Cosena needed to be punished, he would drag her out of their room and Naito and Alsen wouldn't see her again from anywhere from a few hours to a few days, nor know what happened to her or where she was.
Alsen shook her head before opening the bathroom door. Naito washed his face and rubbed lotion over his pale skin while Alsen took clothes for herself and Naito out of the cabinet. The two of them stripped off their pajamas, indifferent towards seeing each other undressed. Having grown up together in this room their whole lives, they were quite familiar with each other. Once they were dressed and their teeth were brushed, Alsen took the out the hair supplies. Naito tried again to tell her that he could do it himself, but he eventually gave in, knowing he was fighting a losing battle.
"So, what do you have planned for my 'big day'?" Naito asked sarcastically as they walked out of the bathroom, rolling his eyes as he said it.
"Secret!" Alsen replied, although she didn't actually have anything planned. There wasn't much she could plan for him, being limited to their tiny bedroom. Their father never allowed them outside this room, and they couldn't leave if they tried, as the door was always locked from the outside. There was one time the door was left unlocked and they tried to leave, but their father found out before they could, and the result was something they all wished to forget.
"Okay, time to bring on the party guests!" Alsen pointed her wand in the center of the room and chanted, "Animal Spirit – Frog!"
At the command of her voice, a mystic, foggy aura shot out of her wand. It swirled around in the air until it formed the shape of a small, ghost-like frog. The frog, despite it's ghostly appearance, seemed to have mass, as it hopped off the floor and onto Alsen's shoulder.
"Croakie and Shadow are your party guests? We see them every day." Naito rolled his eyes at her again, but pointed his wand in the center of the room just like her, chanting 'Animal Spirit: Wolf!'.
The same translucent vapor shot out of his wand and swirled around until it formed the shape of a wolf. As soon as the wolf saw Naito, it pounced at him, knocking him over and licking his face.
"Happy birthday, Naito! I heard Alsen has a big birthday surprise waiting for you. I wonder what it could be!" The wolf said, panting with it's slobbery tongue hanging out.
"Hey Shadow." Naito smiled, stroking Shadow's fur.
The frog glared at the wolf, squinting in disgust as if he were staring at a swarm of maggots. "Yes, being greeted by mutt saliva first thing in the morning must be a very happy birthday indeed..."
"Thanks guys." Naito wiped the dog drool off his face. "It's just a little hard to be excited for this 'big birthday surprise' while trying to make sense out of these dreams."
"Another one? That's the third time this week. Now I'm certain that there is a deep meaning behind your dreams. I think your inner self is trying to communicate with you." Shadow said.
"My inner self is trying to communicate with me? What do you mean by that, Shadow?" Naito's curiosity was piqued.
"My mother once told me that dreams are our inner self trying to give us a message of something we might not be fully aware of. Since your dreams were all about Nircogard, and you happen to be his reincarnation, this must be the case here!"
According to their father, Naito was the eighth male born in the Raizu family, which meant that he was the reincarnation of Nircogard. That was the sole reason he was to be crowned king of the Zodiac Empire on his eighteenth birthday. Alsen would never tell him, but she wished it could have been someone else. Why did he have to be burdened with the destiny of becoming king because of something he had no control over?
"Oh don't go feeding his mind with that delusional stuff." croaked the frog. "Dreams are just visions in our head to keep our minds working as we sleep. It's what separates sleep from death."
"Croakie, that's just what ignorant, simple minded fools who don't like thinking outside the box say." Shadow retorted.
Croakie croaked even louder this time. "Ignorant? The delusional mutt dares to call ME ignorant?"
Shadow barked right back at him. "I'm no mutt, you filthy slime toad!"
Shadow looked ready to pounce at any second, while Croakie also looked ready to hop any moment now, not that a frog could fight a wolf in the first place. The two of them were startled by the sudden sound of Alsen stomping her foot on the floor.
"Enough! What have I told you two about fighting? Anymore bickering, and I'll unsummon you both for the rest of the day, and you'll miss out on Naito's birthday!"
Shadow and Croakie said nothing further.
"Now, let's start this birthday off with a bang! Come on, let's, uh..." Alsen glanced around the room until her eyes spotted the paper and crayons, "Draw some pictures!"
"But we do that every day..." Naito whispered under his breath, but shrugged and went along with it.
They spent an hour laying on the floor drawing pictures before there was a sudden, rasping knock on the door. They didn't need to respond, for they already knew what knocking on their door meant. The door creaked upon ever so slightly, just enough for a hand to slid in three trays of food. The Raizu siblings received their meals this way every day. Naito used to try and run out of the room, or at least get a peek of what lay beyond the door, but by now he had long since given up on this. The door always shut in a split second after their food was slid in.
As the time flew by Naito eventually got bored of drawing, so he decided to read the same books he had already read hundreds of times instead. While he read Intermediate Potion Brewing Vol II with Shadow curled up in his lap, Alsen sat behind him, peering over his shoulder, pretending to read along. She had never been fond of reading as much as him and their older sister, and she always told Naito there was no point in reading that old book. He didn't have the ingredients to brew a single potion in it, and Gaiamancers were the ones adept in potion brewing, not Aquamancers like herself and Naito.
Naito was taking such interest in this particular potion he was reading about, he subconsciously started reading aloud.
"Retindrorm - the Mind Terror potion. Use this potion only on your worst of enemies. Drinking one fourth a vial of this terrific potion will force the consumer to relive their worst memories. Ingredients – Basilisk venom, Cerberus saliva, Minotaur skin..."
"Why are you reading about something so horrible, Naitey? You wouldn't imagine using that on someone, would you?" Alsen asked, running her fingers through Naito's hair.
"I was just looking through potions related to dreams. I figured maybe someone might have slipped something in my drink, causing me to have these dreams."
"Don't be silly, Naitey, no one would slip something in your drink! You're our future king, and I think you'd know if you drank something so foul!"
"Yeah...I suppose I would."
Naito stared at the picture of the cauldron, filled to the brim with a sickly green and purple liquid, emitting a horrible black mist. He shut the book with a heavy sigh.
Naito put the potion book aside. He was immersed in a children's story book when they heard the door unlocking before it swung open unexpectedly. Panting with her hands on her knees was a rather tall young woman with skin equally as pale as Naito and Alsen's, and the same cerulean eyes. She flicked her long twin braids over her shoulders, looking up at Naito and Alsen. Her face was a mixed expression of shock, terror, and joy, sending an uncomfortable shiver through Alsen's body.
"C-Cosena...there you are! Your foods already cold and you've missed the start of Naito's birthday!" Alsen exclaimed with her hands on her hips, attempting to sound reproachful.
Completely ignoring Alsen, Cosena walked over to Naito. Standing up to her full height, which had to be half a foot taller than Naito, she gripped his shoulders and stared intently into his eyes.
"Naito, your coronation..."
"What about my coronation?" Naito asked, sounding highly interested at the mention of his coronation. It was a subject she would usually tell him not to worry about, as it was still years away.
"It's...it's today!"
"WHAT?!!!" Naito, Alsen, Shadow, and Croakie all shouted simultaneously.
Alsen didn't know what to think of this. Naito's coronation was rescheduled? Why?
"Cosena...if this is your idea of a joke..." Alsen began, but Cosena didn't allow her to finish.
"Of course not! Do you really think I'd joke about something so serious?!" Cosena replied harshly, glaring down at Alsen. "Look, all I know is that father told me the coronation is to begin in four hours. One of the High Mages will bring us more fitting outfits to wear to the event."
Alsen bit her lower lip. Naito was going to be crowned king today...but king or not, he'd always still be her baby brother, right? Besides, this meant they would finally be free from their bird cage of a room. "Happy birthday, Naito! Didn't I say I had a big surprise for you?" she embraced him as tight as she could.
Naito stared up at the ceiling and shut his eyes. "Sixteen years. I've waited sixteen long years, and now it's here two years sooner than anticipated..."
"Naito, are you ready for this...? This has to be a lot to take in so suddenly. M-Maybe we could talk father out of it..." Cosena suggested, toying with one of her braids.
Naito looked down and opened his eyes, beaming a big, bright smile."Are you crazy? Of course I'm ready! No longer must I wait helplessly, I'm finally going to be king! The first door to my destiny has been unlocked, and I'm going to change this world so we can all live in peace!" he erupted into joyous laughter.
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