"Stand up."
"I can't."
A boy, around 14 years of age, knelt on the ground with his head bowed, sweat trickling down his face.
He supported himself using his arms, holding on to his propped up knee to keep himself from plummeting down on the ground.
The boy already looked exhausted. With his sunken eyes and trembling arms, he looked like he could faint at any moment.
Yet the man in front of him couldn't care less.
"I told you to stand."
The man had dark ebony hair, paired with a contrasting silvery glow of eyes. His grand stature seemed greater than before, his whole figure towering over the boy's fatigued form.
The boy bit his lower lip until he felt a slight sting. Taking a deep breath, he willed his arms and legs once again, using what was left of his strength to lift himself up.
Alas, the boy crashed on the ground.
"I told you, I can't."
The boy mumbled hopelessly, his muscles feeling like it was being torched as it spasmed.
The man crossed his arms tightly on his chest, his uniform that had the same color of his hair became crumpled.
The man's lips pressed slightly, his sharp but carefully structured face rigid.
He conceded, letting the boy rest. The man turned towards the mansion, about to leave. But before he left, he bid his farewell to the boy.
"Siegfried."
"What?"
The 14-year-old boy faintly replied, his back facing towards the sky.
"We stop today."
Siegfried flinched. He hastily tried to move his body, propping his body on his elbows but fell face-first on the ground.
"W-why? I-just wait for a minute and I can--"
"You said so yourself."
The man glanced behind his back, his apparent calm eyes staring at the aggrieved brown orbs studying him from the ground.
"You can't."
The 14-year-old boy named Siegfried was left lying on the cold earthen soil.
He gritted his teeth, warm droplets of tears pooling in his eyes.
"I-"
He squinted his eyes, tightening, his lips trembling.
"-I need to save-"
Siegfried whispered dimly. Not taking it anymore, his eyes closed shut, giving him his much-needed rest.
--
Meltif entered his study, his rigid expression becoming conflicted.
He walked around his table and sat on his wooden leather chair.
The warm crackle of the fire burning from the fireplace calmed Meltif's heart.
Shortly after, a knock came from the door.
The door opened, a man with soft greyish locks and an earring in his left ear greeted Meltif, the man's amber eyes greeting his silver ones.
"Commander."
Louis bowed slightly, then reached for his left breast pocket.
"Letters from nobility."
Dozens of letters greeted Meltif's eyes. Louis placed it on the desk and proceeded to fish out a rolled parchment from his right pocket.
Meltif grabbed the letters with his left hand, then browsed through it, looking at its sealed insignia.
"Report."
He stopped, a black envelope with a familiar insignia aroused his interest. He placed the remaining letters down while keeping the black envelope in his hands.
Grabbing a short knife from the left side of his desk, he cut open the letter.
"Four of our generals have been dispatched on all sides as planned."
Meltif continued to read the letter while Louis proceeded with his report.
"The North, West, and South were successfully captured, Commander."
Louis looked up from the parchment, waiting for a response.
Meltif was still busy reading the letter.
Louis raised his eyebrows, inspecting the opened black envelope on the desk.
He squinted his eyes, the crest looked familiar.
"Ha."
Meltif chuckled, crumpling the letter.
He held it in his hands then grabbed the black envelope atop his desk, preventing Louis from inspecting it any further.
Meltif stood and walked near the fire.
He threw it onto the fire, watching it burn into ashes.
The contents of the letter, Louis did not know. Nor will he ever know for it was now gone.
"What about the east?"
Louis bowed his head, gripping the parchment tightly.
"Ban failed to conquer it."
Meltif nonchalantly asked.
"Why?"
Louis closed his eyes.
"Alain Bastien was assigned there."
A familiar name.
There was thickness in Meltif's throat. He tried to swallow it but it wouldn't go away.
The Bastien family.
A ducal household famed for their brilliance in tactical warfare.
The Bastien duchess had two sons; Alain and Alois.
Alain, their eldest, Alois their youngest.
Alois Bastien was Meltif's most trusted friend.
They were both inseparable - like brothers. That was until Alois died.
Alain, Alois' older brother hated Meltif to the core.
Meltif knew that's why he understood why Alain left.
And now his painful past resurfaced once more.
His best friend's brother now stood in his way, blocking him from his path.
"Louis."
Hearing his name being called, Louis responded.
"Yes, Commander."
Meltif had his hands clasped on his back. He turned his head to look at Louis, his eyes tense.
"Have you found Diana?"
Louis' eyelids drooped, shaking his head.
Meltif uttered nothing and went to look back at the wood crackling as it lit on fire. He crossed his arms, his right hand close to his mouth.
He seemed like he did not care at all.
But the tight clenching of his jaw and the way his fingers rub the ring on his hands told otherwise.
--
A carriage stopped by the stone archway that served as the gate for the town.
A soldier stepped forward from his post and approached the driver of the carriage.
"Sir, proof of identification please."
The driver, dressed in an old cloak, rummaged for a bit and presented his badge to the soldier.
The soldier grasped the badge with his hand and inspected it, squinting his eyes.
After a while, he nodded and let the carriage pass.
The cloaked driver bowed his head and urged his horse forward.
The soldier looked back at the carriage, peeking on what's inside.
Passengers.
He coughed, then turned back to check the next in line.
"Next!"
Moments after, the carriage stopped near the fountain.
Slowly, passengers left one by one, but not before paying the driver for the trip.
The last passenger, a woman, gave the payment to the driver, bowing her head.
The driver accepted the payment with both hands.
Once all the passengers left, the driver urged his horse forward.
He stopped in front of a stable. Leaping down from the front carriage seat, he spotted a boy around 18 years of age.
"Here."
A slightly deep, soft voice spoke, handing the payment to the boy.
The boy, a bit taller than the driver, accepted the payment with a smile.
"For 2 days?"
"Yes."
The boy nodded slightly, then led the horse by its leash.
Once the boy left, the driver sighed and left the stable.
A lively town starting its day, with the sun raised high and the wind blowing lightly.
Signs being posted by its hinges, people sweeping their front doorsteps.
The driver held his hood then took it off.
Strands that were brown, deep like mahogany, swayed faintly, lying long and loose. It softly reflected the wakening rays of the sun, its locks flowing down her willowy back.
A disarming smile coated her lips, genuinely sweet and warm.
It was Diana.
Her ocean-like eyes, unhurriedly blinked from left to right, her eyebrows furrowing as it searched for a place, or a thing.
A tall arched building, she saw it peeking above the houses.
Finding what she was searching for, her right foot took its first step.
--
Entering the grand library, what Diana first saw was a figure sleeping comfortably in a wide wooden desk, nearby the tall oak double doors guarded by two soldiers.
Diana walked towards the figure sleeping on a desk. Looking closely, the figure had long braids that colored the desk black.
Diana was about to speak when the woman suddenly sprang up from her seat.
"Welcome to the Grand Library, how may I help you?"
With her hair sprouting all over the place, the woman abashedly grinned, drool in the corners of her mouth. One of the soldiers sighed while the other tried to keep himself from laughing.
Diana disregarded the woman's appearance and asked politely.
"Where can I find books about pillaging?"
"Huh?"
The woman did a do-over on the blue-eyed woman in front of her. With just a few words, the kind, polite smile plastered on the blue-eyed woman's face swiftly became sinister in her eyes.
--
Diana leaned on the table, her gaze focusing on the braided woman standing on one of the legs of a wooden ladder.
"Here you go, miss!"
The woman climbed down the ladder, her right hand holding the wooden leg while the other held books stacked on top of the other.
Diana's eyes shifted, noticing the imprinted name on the woman's clothes.
"Thank you."
Frail, veiny hands held the books on each edge, its grip hard on the covers.
"Say,"
The woman's feet finally touched the cold, hard ground.
"Hmm?"
Diana placed the books on the table.
Raising her right hand, she faintly caressed the thick cover of the book.
"Would you like to know your fate?"
The woman, about to put away the ladder, abruptly halted. She glanced sideways, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.
"...Are you a fortune teller by any chance?"
Diana exuberantly laughed, the corner of her eyes crinkling.
"I suppose so."
The woman shrugged then sat on a chair near Diana. Presenting her palms, she patiently waited for Diana to read her fate.
Diana waved her hand, signaling that she didn't need to look at the woman's palms. Instead, she simply sat on the chair near her, taking a deep breath.
"You will meet a man in the middle of the streets."
The woman's eyes sparkled with glee.
"You will meet that man again at night."
"He will ask you to follow him, without explaining why."
Her ocean-blue eyes bored into the woman's forest green eyes.
"If you answered yes, you will lose your freedom."
The woman's face went blank, her eyebrows furrowed.
"If you answered no, "
Diana's lips paused.
"...then you will die."
Shivers run down the woman's arm, her eyes rapidly blinking. With her deadpan expression, she sighed.
"I shouldn't have asked."
Diana had her head tilted back, her chest out. She rested her arm on the table, leaning her head on her palms.
"You don't believe me?"
The woman's lips tightened, her elbows close to her sides.
Diana hummed, absentmindedly drumming her fingers on the table, looking deep in thought.
"What about a bet?- Wait, maybe not. I don't have anything to wager on."
Diana straightened her back and stretched. "If it does not happen, then you'll live."
"But if it does..."
Standing up, she takes a book from the pile.
"...then you, Shavinna,"
Diana beamed at the woman named Shavinna.
"...owe me a favor."
--
The woman named Shavinna visited the church after that.
She kneeled on the pedestal, hands tightly clasped on one another, praying that her foretold future would not come true.
She even confessed her sins after that. That was how much it spooked her.
It was her break that day, she just finished eating lunch at her favorite spot near the river.
Before reaching the library, she always passes through the market.
She was always eyeing something out of the corner of her eye.
Her favorite pair of shoes, she always visits to look at it.
Its leather skin was woven, creating intricate patterns on its whole frame, similar to flowers. It shone with deep luster-like mahogany, closer to the color of the trunk of a walnut tree. Its slim frame was wrapped with a similar leather, stapled by a golden pin shaped like the sun.
It was just there, sitting there, waiting to be bought.
Sadly, Shivanna's money wasn't enough to take it away.
She passed by to look at it, only to see a man inspecting it from the side.
Shivanna pursed her lips, gripping her hands tightly.
Her forest eyes were piercing through the man's skull, her expression sour.
In the end, she could only sigh as her favorite pair of shoes were taken away.
She walked back to the library, crying silently.
--
Shavinna regretted many things.
Believing in another person's lies, declining the only job she ever wanted-
And now of course, not believing the fortune teller's advice.
It was already night time, and she was still awake.
Her colleague did not appear for his graveyard shift thus she had no choice but to take over.
As she was about to go out through the back of the library, a familiar man blocked her in front of the doorstep.
It was that man who bought her favorite shoe.
Shavinna could tell right away.
That stinking mole on the man's left cheek gave it away.
The man repeated exactly what the fortune teller said.
Recalling the outcome that the fortune teller had spoken, she couldn't help but cross her arms, hugging herself tightly.
Shavinna gnashed her teeth, trying to calm her shuddering breaths.
'What should I do?'
Her forest green eyes were wide open, looking beneath the darkness- searching for a way to escape.
The bushes at her left, the pile of crates behind the man's back, and the cracked piece of wood that used to be a shelf inside the library.
Sweat dripped down her forehead, biting her lip hard.
The man was still waiting for her response, the disgustingly sweet smile on his face.
She could see the corner of his lips go down minute by minute.
Time was ticking and she made no sound.
Finally, the man's lips were set into a frown.
"I guess its too hard for you to decide when you don't know what's at stake."
The man clicked his tongue, rubbing his chin with his fingers.
"I'll give you power, unimaginable power that can control a person's life."
The man grinned at her, showing his white sparkling teeth.
"How about it?"
Shavinna froze, her head hung low.
The man chuckled quietly.
'It's so easy to make them agree.'
He was about to raise a hand when a laugh came out of Shavinna's lips.
She giggled then guffawed, howling with laughter.
Her head that was hung low raised up in the sky, her whole body bent backward, tears coming out of her eyes from laughing so hard.
With her laughter dying down, she pulled her head forward, smiling at the man, the corner of her eyes crinkling.
"Yeah, right."
Then she dashed for the broken wood.
The man raised his hand, heaving a heavy sigh.
'What a waste.'
Men surrounded them afterward.
Just before Shavinna could reach the wooden plank, her breath stopped.
With her breath shuddering, she looked down.
A sword protruded out of her stomach.
It was covered in blood. Her own blood.
Her hands that were outreached was slowly losing its strength.
She let it down, reaching towards the sword with both her hands.
Finally, cold steel met human flesh.
"Aahh..."
It was real. Very real.
"Aha...Ha..."
She laughed absentmindedly, her hands tightening on the sword.
Then suddenly, the sword was ripped out of her.
The man watched as the woman fell to the ground.
Pulling out a handkerchief in his breast pocket, he wiped the blood on his sleeves.
The man clicked his tongue, then glared at the men in front of him.
"Useless creatures."
He opened his pocket watch, then closed it with a sigh.
"We wasted too much time. Let's go."
The men left silently in the night.
--
Shavinna lay on the cold brick ground, looking up at the stars.
Her hands were resting on her stomach, blocking the gaping hole.
'Am I dying?'
She couldn't believe it. She doesn't want to believe it.
She doesn't feel anything. Only numbness and emptiness, like there was something missing.
Her back was getting damp, just the same with her hair.
It was getting wet with her blood.
The stars were glowing brightly before, but she noticed that it was getting dimmer and dimmer each second.
Her eyes vaguely inspected her surroundings, her eyelids heavy.
Her heart throbbed painfully.
There was no one around.
Shavinna whimpered, sobbing brokenly.
'Someone...Anyone...'
She did not want to die alone.
Her eyes blurred, her lids drooping.
As she was about to close her eyes, she spotted a familiar woman approaching her.
The fortune-teller.
Shavinna closed her eyes, smiling slightly.
A lone tear cascaded down her cheeks.
At least she did not die alone.
--
Diana approached the dying woman lying in her own blood.
She knelt at the woman's side, her dress getting covered in blood.
Her baby blue eyes held a tint of regret, her mouth downturned. With her palms, she rubbed Shavinna's hand that was slowly losing its warmth.
In her past life, 'she' was once a doctor.
With her hands, she could save a life.
She just needed to put on her gloves and take a step to save one.
She had the power to do so.
But that does not mean that she could save everyone.
While many lived with the use of her hands, a few also died.
The first time she lost a patient, she couldn't speak nor walk.
Grief surged her whole body making her stunned. It expelled with every breath, mixed with remorse.
Remorse for the life that was already lost and anger for her lacking capability.
The dead cannot be brought to life.
She then wondered if the patient from before came out safe and sound.
"Do not worry."
But for now,
"I will save you, Shavinna."
She had a life to save.
Diana placed Shavinna's hands above the lying woman's heart.
She then closed her eyes and prayed.
It was already night, but the stars still twinkled brightly.
Behind the grand library, a sparkle of light started to shine faintly.
It was like stardust, silverish golden grains coming out of the ground.
A woman with earthen hair prayed with her hands clasped tightly above her heart, her head meeting her palms.
"I pray for the life that lost its luster,
still young and unripe,
To come back again,
and fulfill its dreams,
till it's called by time."
The brown strands of her hair flared brightly, floating from the ground.
It was also the same for the dark-haired woman lying on her back.
Both shone brilliantly, the silvery golden specks of dust swirled around them, encasing their willow forms.
Shavinna was floating in darkness when a bright light came.
She was pulled out of that empty void that ate her whole naked body, her whole being.
Finally, a clear set of eyes, similar to the leaves of trees, greeted the dark night sky.
It saw the stars sparkling bright, and the glittering woman by her side.
'So warm.'
It reminded her of the sun, the warmth its rays bring.
Sighing contently, she closed her eyes gently, drifting to sleep.
While Shavinna slept, the shimmering stardust started to dim.
It grew dimmer and dimmer until there was no light left.
Diana, who had her hands clasped for a prayer, started to open her eyes.
Sweat was dripping from her forehead, her whole body was starting to shake.
Bile was coming up from her throat, she lurched forward, her right palm covering her mouth.
A splatter of blood came out of her mouth.
Diana couldn't stop vomiting, her whole body starting to lose its strength.
She faced away from the woman, both of her hands hitting the pavement, acting as a pillar to keep her head hitting the ground.
A dark shadow blocked her from the faint light of the night, a pair of shoes meeting her sight.
Using the last bit of her strength, she looked up.
It was a familiar face, a man with golden hair and golden eyes.
Diana's eyes welled up, the physical pain from her chest becoming unbearable.
With her trembling lips, she whispered.
"It hurts."
One of her arms gave out, making her stagger.
The golden-haired man swiftly kneeled, about to hold her in his arms.
"...Don't..."
Diana couldn't take any more pain, much less of aching guilt.
The man became rigid, his heart beating loudly in his chest.
His strong hands, that were about to wrap around her, clenched tightly; making a fist.
His eyes hardened and fixed on the woman who was trying to stay strong.
Her bent figure bowed in front of him, her bedraggled earthen hair kissing the smeared pavement, and her disheveled robes tainted with her own blood.
His distant eyes writhed with woe, his perfectly shaped lips forming a thin line.
He could only stare as she tried to stand up.
He could only stare as she falls to the ground.
He could only stare,
as she removed his own little space inside her heart.