Ian rose and said, "My lady, our deity. I am your servant, Ian from the elven kingdom. I am at your command."
"Ian! What are you talking about? Did you suffer any concussions last night?"
"My lady—"
"That's not my name!"
Ian shook his head. "You are my friend Lira. But within you lies Diwata Dalisay, deity of the forest and of the earthen beings, one of the Dayanghirang—the chosen princess."
"Ian, please! I have already enough on my plate as of now. I don't find this joke funny at all. If you will not cease this nonsense, I'll walk out of here," Lira threatened. She couldn't take anymore jokes or any nonsense at this moment. Anytime soon, she might just explode.
"I am sorry Lira; I didn't mean to upset you. But I'm not playing any tricks on you. You are who I said you are. In time you will have all your previous memories back." Ian looked at Lira levelly. "When you confided with me about your dreams and headaches, I knew they were memories slowly resurging. Last night, I felt the earth shook, and I felt your power. The trees whispered me what happened." He took a step closer to Lira. "Did you not wonder how the trees in the woods came into your assistance last night? Or how at ease you are whenever you're here, surrounded with plants and trees?"
Lira remembered the root grappling the monster or the vine choking the creature; but she was too shocked that she had forgotten about it until Ian mentioned it now. Last night she had been more concerned with saving Matt and herself from the impending doom. "I don't understand," she said almost quietly.
"You commanded them. They protected you. Lira you are the descendant of Dalisay, she flows within your vein, she lives within you. The time will come when you will be one with her. For years, we have watched over your generations of family, as an oath we made to the deity. She made a promise she would rise once again when the right time comes. So we made sure her line does not die. We watched over your family from afar. But when your mother was killed, we could not take any more risk and we hid you in south."
"My mother was killed? My parents died in an accident."
"I'm sorry Lira. They were killed. But you will learn about it soon enough. Your aunt? She's actually a half-elf. She was tasked to take care of you until you're of age or your powers have bloomed."
It was hard to hear how the aunt that took care of her, loved her, the person whom she loved in the entire world was not a blood relative after all. And Lira tried very hard to understand and absorb everything Ian was telling her.
"When your aunt reported to the elf king that you decided to attend the academy, the king sent me to keep an eye on you. And to one day teach you your powers if the time for the deity to rise comes." He removed his glasses and waved a hand across his body and a blink of an eye he changed in his true elven form. The tall and lanky kid transformed into an elven warrior in form-fitting silver and gold armor underneath a gray hooded cloak, his brown hair became longer past his shoulders and eyes glimmered clear amber under the sun. With another wave of his hand he returned back to his tall and lanky form. "I used my glamour to guise myself as a human. But it's using too much of my energy. That's why I come here in the garden more often to replenish the lost energy." He shook his head and gave a small laugh. "That's why I constantly trip and fall. I was becoming weak with using too much energy for the glamour."
Lira's knees gave in and she fell into a heap on the ground. This was too much for her to all comprehend! Lira housing a deity, her mother killed, her friend an elf... And to top all of that was her deal with Nicholas. These much for a seventeen-year-old? What next, would she go on fight crime and evil and save the world? Those were just in the novels. If Ian would so much as mention that she would surely explode!
Ian knelt beside her and held her hand. "I know this is too much for you to understand. I am still the same Ian, your friend. Soon enough your memories will come back and you will understand everything. I will guide and protect you until the deity resurface within you."
"Why did she choose now to show? Why not with my mother or with my mother's mother? Why now with me?"
"Because now is her time."
She remained quiet for a while, still confused about everything. These days, anything was possible. Vampires roamed the land freely. Mutated vampire-like monsters attacked her. Her friend even transformed in front of her. So was there still any room left to doubt? Although, she still could not grasp most of what Ian said. She raised her eyes to Ian and gave a small smile. "Ian, your ears are pointy."
Ian smiled at her and wiggled his ears. "So it is." He wore his beanie to hide the top of his ears, stood and extended his hand towards Lira. "Let's go. We don't want to be late for class."
She nodded and accepted Ian's hand.
Later that evening, she took her dinner with Yumi and Mari in the mess hall. Ian was also with them, and Lira couldn't help it but glanced at Ian from time to time, expecting he might remove his glamour and reveal his true self. Yumi was quiet all throughout the meal, and whenever she met Lira's gaze, she would start apologizing all over again.
Inside the rec room, when the girls decided to give it a visit, Lira observed a sudden change in the atmosphere. After Yumi's party, the students from different castes seemed to be getting along well. When at first they would only stay with their own caste, they were now chatting with students from other Order. They spend their time in the rec room more than they did in the elegant sitting room in the opposite wing where Lavinia and her cronies stayed.
Some vampire girls visited the rec room and joined their human friends as well. Lira prayed that the vampire girls were genuine with their offer of friendship to their human friends—unlike Nicholas' malicious intentions. If any vampire girls did have other intentions, Lira would be the one to put a stop to it—once she figures out how to.
And speaking of the devil, Nicholas strutted his way to the rec room, gracing the tittering girls with his sultry smile. Lira wasn't in the mood to face Nicholas. He might demand for the payment tonight; she was not sure. But she remained seated and waited for him to make the demand.
"A word with you Lira," Nicholas ordered when he reached her.
Lira glared at him and stood. "Yes, Your Highness?" she grated.
Nicholas raised his brows, looking annoyed by her insolent tone. "Follow me," he said and took long strides going out of the rec room.
Oh, now he wanted her to follow him like a puppy. Great. Lira gave a reassuring look to her friends who looked curious and worried as well. She went out of the rec room to find Nicholas in the hallway, leaning his back on the wall. She stood in front of him and crossed her arms. "What is it you wanted to talk about, Your Majesty?"
"You're testing me Lira. My patience has its bounds," he threatened.
"What do you want? I'm a busy person. If you need my blood now then by all means, take it now and end my misery," Lira burst, spreading her arms to her sides.
Nicholas clenched his jaw. "I will not require your blood for now Lira. I will inform you once I need it. I just wanted to recount your stupidity and recklessness this morning."
"I know; I get it okay? I'm stupid. I can't think straight if faced with troubles. I make stupid decisions that resulted to stupid mistakes and ending up with a stupid, stupid situation I have no way of getting out."
"You're quite right, actually. Your stupidity caused you to act rashly and made that bargain with me. Nevertheless, it is your stupidity that handed me what I have always wanted."
"Are we done talking now? 'Cause talking about my stupidity bores me."
"Very well. A warning Lira: never try to put yourself in danger again." He straightened his psoture and was about to leave when he said, "Before I forget. I am honored it was my name you called. Not Sevastian's. Not Stephan's. But mine." Then he abruptly left Lira, her mouth wide open in disbelief.
Lira forced all thoughts about Nicholas behind and went back to the rec room to find Miss Amara inside, asking for her to follow her in the office. Lira told her friends it'd be okay, but she was actually nervous about why the head mistress wanted to speak with her. She had a vague idea what it might be: her breaking curfew time. Would she be suspended? Or even expelled?
Miss Amara led her to a large room on the second floor. Lira let her eyes scanned the office. The walls were painted with a cool hue of green. There were couches on the sides and plush carpet covered the floor. The curtains drawn to the sides of the French windows were of color green and gold. A large mahogany desk was in the middle, where Philip Imperial sat behind it.
Yup, expulsion it is, Lira thought. Philip stood and smiled at Lira, which was kind of odd for someone who would sanction a student for expulsion to do so. Miss Amara ushered Lira inside and only then she noticed another figure seated on the far corner. Lira gasped as she recognized her Auntie May standing up and walking towards her. She met her aunt half way and threw her arms around her aunt.
"Auntie May! What are you doing here? Are you here to take me home?" She looked at her aunt and noticed something different. She was still the aunt that Lira knew, but the black circles under her eyes were gone, her skin seemed smooth and wrinkle-free. She seemed to look a few years younger than the last time she had seen her.
"No Lira," she said shaking her head. So she wasn't going to be expelled? "Have a sit and I will tell you why." They both sat on the couch while Miss Amara took the chair across the desk and sat as well. "I have heard of what happened recently. I was given word that by now you were made aware of whom you are."
Her aunt must have been referring to what Ian said. Everything was still unclear for her, but Lira still gave a small nod.
"I was already watching over you since the day you were born. Your mother sensed danger was near, so she asked me to take you away to safety. Right after we left your house, the vampires came and attacked, killing everyone even the slayers who were guarding your mother," Auntie May explained.
When her aunt mentioned the vampires, Lira turned her eyes towards the prince. He never met her gaze—he was looking down on his desk.
"I kept you hidden in south since it's the safest place away from vampires. I kept you, raised you—" she smiled at Lira before saying "—loved you. I was hoping that you would grow up normally; never knowing what is inside of you or who you really are. But Diwata Dalisay chose to rise through you." She looked at Lira. "You are the fated one, Lady Lira."
Too much was happening—too much information within a day! First the monsters attacked, then Nicholas making Lira his very own bottomless ice tea, then Ian turned out to be not Ian after all but an elven warrior sent to guide and protect her claiming that she was a deity, and now her aunt who wasn't really her aunt recounting stories of her mother dying by vampires' attack; and apparently, she was to be the fated one. Of what?
Her aunt shifted her gaze to Philip. When he gave her a nod, she continued, "The Diwata Dalisay along with her Sisters made a Blood Promise and a Covenant that they would rise once again to free the people and this land and save them from suffering. Long ago, this land was under foreign rule. They were an integral part of our history, since they introduced many things that became part of who we are and our culture. But after sometime, they started oppressing the people, exploiting the land and its dwellers. They maltreat the weak and oppressed the poor. That time, there was an outside force controlling the colonizers. The... the vampires have been ruling over the colonizers. The vampires became the puppeteers—the manipulators—and the colonizers were the marionettes. And the natives of this land were the offerings, slaves to do the biddings of the colonizers' master. The Diwata and her Sisters led the fight against the vampires while our great heroes led the revolution against the colonizers."
Lira tried to absorb everything her aunt told her like a sponge. She never knew about that. She didn't even know her country's history. "But what does that got to do with me?"
"I am half-elf, as you may know by now, and I have lived a longer life than most people around me. I have experienced the life before the Great World War and before the Plague. There is a vast difference between the life before and after the Great World War. Although the oppressions were in different form from what transpired during colonial period, what we are experiencing now is the same slavery, the same exploitations, the same discriminations."
Miss Amara walked towards Lira. "What your aunt is trying to say is there are vampires who worked secretly to mold our country the way it was during the colonial times, or worse they are trying to build a new kingdom for vampires. And we will need your help. The slayers have sworn loyalty to the deity, and vowed to be of assistance to the Dayanghirang—the fated ones, princesses of the revolution. We have sensed the rising of one of your sisters, and we knew the remaining Dayanghirang will soon resurface. We have been searching for the remaining two princesses for they are in deep danger until they will be in full control of their powers. The president and his council have been alerted of the existence of the Dayanghirang. We... we have suspicions a high member in the vampire council is controlling our president, coercing him to do his biddings. They have already started their moves in some parts of Middleland a few years back. We want to put a stop to it. And we need your help to do it."
Lira gave Miss Amara a questioning look. "So basically, ma'am, you're telling me I'm to be the president's enemy and some unknown vampire lord? You're telling me that I'm to be leading a revolution against vampires? I wanted to be of help, I really do. But what can I do? I'm only seventeen."
Lira heard a chair moved and saw Philip standing up. "I'd like to have a word with Lira alone, please," he said gently. The two women nodded and left the room. Philip moved around the desk and went to sit beside Lira. "I know it's too much for a seventeen-year-old to bear." He fell silent for a moment, looking as if he was trying to find the right words to say. "Have you ever felt your life was restricted because of the caste you belonged to?"
Lira nodded.
"Don't you find it unfair that you were not allowed to go to senior year like the others from higher castes?"
Lira again nodded.
"Did you ever dreamed of becoming a nurse or a teacher, but knew it was a hopeless dream because not only does poverty prevents it but the society itself speaks that you are not allowed to be one?"
Lira gave a nod.
"It was like that too, a long time ago. The people were not free to be whom or what they wanted to be. There was always someone higher than them to dictate what they can and cannot do. They were even punished for speaking about it. We don't want that to happen again. I am ashamed of what some of the lords in the vampire council were doing." He took a deep breath. "My father took advantage of the situation during the Great World War and the Plague. He had somehow influenced your previous leader—the president—to make decisions unknowing of the malicious intent of my father." He rose from the couch and paced forward. He then turned, facing Lira with a sad look in his eyes. "I knew your mother. She was my... friend. She was the kindest, most beautiful person I have ever known. I knew she had a daughter; I never expected her daughter will be one of my students." He gave Lira a sad smile and briefly closed his eyes. "She trusted me even though I was a vampire. I—I betrayed her trust, you see. I was the one who gave the orders to kill her."
***
*Dalisay: a female name, which means pure