While the crimson moon was casting shadows in the room, Skyler frowned in disbelief at what she was witnessing.
"He's talking to me…" She thought, her forehead broke out in a cold sweat.
The black-haired man spoke to her, breaking the silence after a long time. He slowly bowed his head, voice hoarse, "Klein Montgomery at your service, my master."
Skyler's body shook violently, her mind conflicted to comprehend the anomaly that was before her. The air became heavy, stagnant, though Klein's mere presence took her breath away, making her gasp.
"What? Surprised I'm talkin' to ya after all these years? Ya really should've seen it comin', my dear master." Klein mocked her, his Creria's accent grew thick.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Suddenly, a strong wind blew the window of the room, causing the flames of the candle to stir.
Skyler tore her gaze away, her lips trembling, "No, is that—"
"Ya can't deny it, did ya forget that I can sense your emotion 'n thoughts?" Klein expressed, interrupting Skyler as he showed her a vial. "Why do ya think I make healin' potions for ya every time ya self-harm?"
As the wind slightly moved Klein's black hair, Skyler placed her left hand on her chest, a warmth rising within her, "Erm, no, I didn't forget. I don't forget the immense favors I owe you."
She closed her eyes, remembering the moments when Klein put the potions on the desk every time she hurt herself. Then she smiled, clutching the fabric of her dress.
"Why is he talking to me after ignoring me for years?" Skyler wondered.
From the first time Klein spoke—why did he speak to her? What are his intentions? Maybe he wants to forgive her? She wanted to get along with him, that the long resentment would be over.
And at that moment—
"Ya're wonderin' why I decided to talk to ya, right?" Klein asked, voice firm.
The voice made Skyler blink. She saw Klein covering the left side of his face with his hand, his gray eyes giving a cold glare like he wanted to bend Skyler in half.
"The reason is pretty simple, I felt like doin' it, that's all. Ya know, ya made me tender when ya were in that buildin' wonderin' about the things related to the Unknown." Klein expressed, "Aside from that nonsense, ya must know one thin'... whatever happens, whatever bonds ya to the Gods, the bonds ya made with others will never have the same value as ours." He paused, sitting on the edge of the window. Then, he turned his gaze to Skyler. "Everythin' has an end. Your uncle, Evelyn, your teacher, 'n your classmates. All of them will die 'n disappear. 'N in the end, it will just be ya and me for eternity."
"Um, it's true that ours is a different bond, but for me, all bonds have the same value." Skyler advocated, convinced in what she believed. "Both ours and the one I've with others."
Even if their bond was special, even if it was unique, she wouldn't distinguish. Even if she thought she didn't deserve to have bonds, and all the people close to her were to die, she would treasure them, she will never forget any single bond.
Then, she heard the bells of the North Borough clock tower ringing in the distance at 8:00 pm. It continued four times before she finally found the courage to look Klein in the eyes.
"Ya are such a greedy woman, my master. Ya and I are soul-connected, 'n that's what makes our bond unique." Klein stood up, stretching both of his hands, "We're practically one 'n the same. No one can fully understand ya except me, just as no one can understand me except ya. Heh, ya may find it wonderful, but honestly speakin', it disgusts me a lot."
Skyler stood up from her chair, placing the candle holder on the desk. She gently placed her hand on her chest, looking at Klein, "Why do you've to say these things? For me, relationships are very important, which I value. Even if you despise me for what I did, I'm happy that you talk to me."
She smiled. In the room painted in red, Skyler smiled, her eyes sparkling after what she said.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Klein quickly walked at Skyler, placing her against the wall. Touching her black hair, he whispered in her ear, his voice darkening, "I will never forgive ya for savin' me. Ya bound me to ya, 'n condemned me to this stupid wretched fate. It's all your fault." As Skyler trembled, he placed his forehead against hers, "Did ya have fun interferin' with my plans? After all, ya did it for yourself, didn't ya?"
Skyler's lips trembled, feeling Klein's warm breath on her premaxilla, she tried to deny those words, "You're wrong… I, I just wanted to help you—"
"Help me in what, huh!? Don't tell me nonsense, ya fool!!" Klein vented the flames in an incandescent rage, shouting angrily, and slamming a fist into the wall in front of him, "I didn't ask ya to save me! Nobody ever asked ya to do this! But… ya only did it to please yourself!!"
Facing Klein's cynicism and negativity, Skyler could only shake her head. "No, it's not what you think. You are wrong… I… I didn't do it for myself…"
But Skyler's tongue restricted like it had gone numb, rejecting her effort to put feelings into words. Having failed to express her feelings, she put both of her hands into her lips, collapsing on the floor.
"Our conversation ends here. I have nothin' left to speak to a selfish woman." Klein seemed like he was disappointed.
He might be sad or crying, but Skyler didn't have the courage to find out. She couldn't bring herself to look at him, even if he might be sad. Klein got down on his knees and held out his hand towards Skyler, blowing on it. The action scattered a magenta powder against her.
As soon as the powder entered Skyler's nostrils, her vision blurred. Her mind was collapsing, her eyes became heavy, the world around her slowly began to fade away.
"No… wait…" Skyler murmured, trying to communicate with the man she could barely see.
She forced herself to stand up, but her body refused to move any muscle, collapsing helplessly into the wall.
"—Ya are just a fool."
She thought she heard a murmur she should have been unable to. Then, it vanished along with the rest.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Skyler finds herself shrouded in an endless gray fog. Her face, her body, her limbs, her supposed skin were all corrupted by the fog, akin to sludge soaked into her blood, and accompanying that was a sense of discomfort like calling upon her thirst.
"Skyler, Skyler Hall."
A female, ethereal and melancholic voice was echoing in the thick gray. Her vision abruptly shifted downward, as if some unknown force was forcing her to see.
A silhouette emerged beneath her.
Her outlines were soft and greyish-black that blended with the endless fog, the lower part of her body was completely merged with the fog. With the emergence of the human shape, the silhouette stared intently at Skyler.
"Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall."
The redundant whispers which emerged from the lips of the woman who was shrouded in dark gray contained an unimaginably strong emotion.
There was quality, there was quantity, there was desperation, there was bitterness, there was desolation. It was as if she were on the verge of tears.
Skyler's mind was reeling. The woman's melancholy whispers rang through her molten mind. She felt a strong emotion growing inside her with each passing second. She wanted to console her, she wanted to hug her, she wanted to protect her, she wanted to reassure her that everything would be fine.
"Forgive my sin."
With that faint whisper, a white light rose from the silhouette's chest, and in that instant, Skyler felt the figure beneath her fading into the light. Something was being generated, something was being generated in the light.
Skyler's vision forcibly towards the light. A vivid image was forming in the light. She sees the image of a girl reflected.
She had long braided reddish hair that was almost close to black, gray eyes full of innocence, and she had thin body features. She was sitting on the reddish-brown stone floor with her legs and arms extended.
She seemed to be confined in a tower, and the only source illuminating her was the sunlight streaming in through the window with iron bars. Skyler could only watch the scene in horror. The girl had her wrists chained to the wall behind her, and her slim body that gave the appearance of one who was malnourished, was completely exposed.
"Why is she chained to the wall naked!? What happened to her? And then, and then that…" Thoughts raced through Skyler's mind as she continued to watch horrified.
The girl's arms, legs, belly and chest were covered with deep wounds, crimson blood dripped down the floor as a tear rolled down her pale face. The cuts had been engraved horizontally, and blood was spread all over her body.
The girl's trembling lips moved. "I shall die… everything is… destined to die in the end…"
Her voice was frail, sorrowful, though she'd now lost all reason to live. She seemed to have surrendered to her tragic destiny.
Skyler wanted to cry in the face of the tragedy she was witnessing, but was incapable of doing so.
Whilst the girl was laughing ethereally, two men wearing rough black tunics covering their legs approached her with heavy steps. One of them grabbed the girl by the hair and yanked her head up, while in his other hand he held something long and silver shining—a sword.
"What do you villains want to do with that sword!? Can't you see she's just a poor defenseless girl?" Skyler yelled a voiceless scream.
She was overwhelmed, her mind trying hard to reject what she was witnessing. She wanted to close her eyes and look away, but since she was deprived of her limbs and organs, the image went on engraving its outcome into her consciousness.
A disgusted grimace was carved onto the man's face, as though he was looking down at the filthiest thing in the world.
"You're a filthy witch wearing a saint's skin!" The man exclaimed in ancient Solomon, gripping the sword tightly as he raised it horizontally.
"Noooooo!!--" Skyler shouted with all her might.
Whoosh! With a rapid movement, a clean, deep cut formed on the girl's slender chest, blood splashed onto the gray floor in blotches. The man slammed the girl's skull against the wall, the girl slowly collapsed on the floor as blood gushed from the left side of her face.
Whilst she lay on the ground, the other man took out from his tunic a golden chalice with jewels of different colors set on it. He bent his legs, and extending the arm with which he held the chalice, he collected the blood that came out of the girl's lacerating chest.
"The queen shall be happy to know that she can drink the blood of this witch who believes herself to be a daughter of god." The man with the sword said as he chuckled.
Skyler was in disbelief, disturbed by the tragic epilogue. As the naked girl's body trembled faintly, she could only feel disgusted at the two men who were laughing outwardly. An incandescent rage was rising within her, her mind repudiating what was in front of her.
"How… how could you do something so horrible?" Skyler wondered.
The two men who were abandoning the girl while they were laughing were the greatest pestilence humanity could ever conceive. This was the depth of their crimes towards a defenseless girl, and she would curse them until her end, for eternity.
As her mind was in conflict, the light that was projecting the epilogue was gradually fading. A purple-black discrepancy was generated in the endless space. Everything was getting sucked into the discrepancy!
"Holy Son of Nature not now…" Skyler tried to resist, but her every action was completely useless.
She faced her front. Her heart trembled. She shouted ferociously. But everything was pointless. She was in despair as the endless fog became distant, fading, fading away. A soft, grayish finger stretched out toward her, who was on the verge of crying as if to console her.
"–rgive me."
And in that moment, Skyler Hall's consciousness vanished along with the rest.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
15, Angel Lane Street, 8:00 am.
In the North Borough of Conan County, Skyler woke up, her eyebrows widening as she stared up at the familiar ceiling.
For a few seconds, she immersed herself in the nebulous state as her mind groped for its memories, such as how she ended up lying on the bed, what happened before she slept…
Skyler felt aches on her shoulders and back, which made her barely remember what had happened. "Last night… Klein put me to sleep with a powder, and then…"
She lifted the white blanked faintly, her eyebrows furrowing while she saw what was underneath.
"Why am I wearing pajamas?" Skyler was dumbfounded.
Gasping poorly, her blue eyes immediately turned into the usual corner, noticing something strange. Klein Montgomery, who used to sit in the corner staring at Skyler, vanished from the room.
"Why did he drug me, change my clothes and then disappear like nothing happened?" Skyler's mind was in a whirlwind of doubt.
Why did Klein, a person who hated Skyler from the bottom of his heart, change her clothes? Why did he disappear? Why couldn't he understand her altruistic gesture?
As she touched the fabric of her pajamas, a white hot flame of hope grew within her. Even though he hated her, Skyler was willing to save him. She wanted to prove to him that she wasn't wrong.
"And then… there's that girl I dreamed of… I don't understand anything about it…" Skyler thought, massaging her temples with her fingers.
Her mind thought back to the dream in which she saw the girl chained to the wall completely naked. The braided reddish hair she had was similar to that of the little girl she had dreamed about days ago.
What if those two girls were the same person? On the other hand, they both had the same color and way of styling their hair, but who is that girl really? Why is she a victim of abuse from different people? Why did she keep dreaming about her?
Everything was far-fetched, surreal. Skyler struggled to understand the reason for her dreams, and felt her head becoming heavy with the dilemmas plaguing her. It was as though those dreams were a ploy to torment her.
Her heart was beating so fast she could hear it in her eardrums, a warmth was growing inside her as the slender girl shrouded in fog became vivid in her mind. She felt her soft, gentle caress on her skin which gave her uneasiness.
"Thinking about it for a long time will only make me feel bad. I have other important things to think about." Skyler hastily shook her head, trying to control the rush of thoughts in her mind.
She rose from the bed and went downstairs, closing the door behind her. Touching the diangular necklace around her neck, feeling its smoothness, Skyler saw from the corridor Benson in his pajamas sitting on a single sofa in the living room,reading a newspaper.
"I must ask him." Skyler thought back to what happened the night before.
When she was sucked back into the mirror, ended up in the mysterious space with moonflowers, the ancient palace, and her title as the Princess of the Unknown. Determined to uncover the truth, she walked across the embroidered red carpet of the living room.
"Sorry uncle, but can I ask you a question?" said Skyler, stiffening her cheeks.
Benson placed the newspaper on the table in front of him and looked at her surprised, "Skyler… of course, go ahead."
Skyler sat on the adjacent sofa, and displayed the necklace, "Do you know where dad got this necklace?"
"Well, it was given to him as a gift years ago when he went to Aetheria." Benson replied.
Skyler's eyes sparkled, "Did my father go to Aetheria Kingdom?"
"Yes!" Benson clasped both his hands together, "Before you were born, your parents loved to travel. They went from place to place just to satisfy their curiosities."
"Dad… Mom…" Skyler imagined her parents dancing with carnival costumes and masks during an Aetheria dance festival as she smiled, "I'm sorry, for having deprived you of joys."
Her parents would be happy without her, they wouldn't have suffered because of her. Nevertheless, they both died, leaving her alone, wounded and helpless to the harsh reality. She smiled, realizing how bitter the reality was.
Despite having her uncle by her side, despite having her best friend and her teacher by her side, she felt she had an emptiness that was tearing her apart.
"Um, look, Skyler… I'm sorry for what I said that night." Benson apologized, "I… shouldn't have said those things to you."
Benson stared out at the steam coming out of the cup of coffee that was on the table. His voice was soft, as if he regretted what he had done, condemning his actions. Skyler looked at Benson dumbfounded. She was falling into a spiral of self-blame and self-loathing for robbing her parents of their golden age, only to be brought to reality by his words.
"I-It's not your fault. I knew how worried you were. I'm selfish." Skyler's lips trembled.
The previous night, Klein had told her how selfish she was, and now she realized that his words were true, proving that she was a reckless woman who thought only of herself. Tears began to fall from her face, covering her with disgrace as they fell into her hands and pajama pants.
Benson rose from the single sofa, gently patting Skyler's head, "Listen to me, Skyler, you may be reckless, and that's true. But you also have good qualities that make you an amazing woman." He then knelt down, looking at Skyler who was crying, "You must never lose these parts of you, because these are what make you special. Use these qualities to change the lives of the people you'll meet."
"…Uhm, kuh." Skyler sobbed.
Having heard Benson's words, she tried to wipe away her tears with the palm of her hands, while snot dripped intensely from her nostrils. Even though the world around her was dark, she would cling to her uncle's words, because for her it was a glimmer of hope that she didn't want to give up.
As Skyler struggled to rise from her despair, Benson continued to stroke her head. A silent stroke that reminded her that she wasn't alone. She continued to sob, until they gradually stopped.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Center Borough, 6:00 pm.
After finishing her afternoon lesson at Sallon University, Skyler went to the Cathedral of St. George which was located two blocks away from the university building.
Ding! Dong! She heard bells ringing from the spire, pigeons fluttering in the evening sky while she walked over the arched doorway framed by stonework.
Holding the bible of the Son of Nature in her hand, Skyler drew the leaf emblem on her chest, then, three bishops dressed in white and red kneel in the altar. She sat down on the tan bench in the back row, and clasped her hands.
"Oh, good evening, Skyler, it's rare to see you in church." A voice called her name.
Skyler heard a familiar voice coming from behind. She turned, and came across a curly brown-haired woman with black eyes—Susie walking primly towards her with high heels on her shoes.
"Well, um, good evening. Do you come to church every night?" Skyler asked as Susie sat beside her.
Susie laughed faintly and answered, "Only when I'm free." She then sighed, "I pray that my husband doesn't get sick while working in Ravenport. My goodness, words aren't enough to express how much I miss him."
A Bishop played the organ in the altar, the melody resounded mesmerizingly in the cathedral. The people bowed their heads to the ground, whispering their prayers.
As they both bowed their heads, Susie whispered gently, "Why did you come to church?"
Skyler smiled, her cheeks flushed. She was thinking deeply about her best friend, Evelyn, and the promise that she wanted to keep as a sign of their genuine friendship. Her wall was surrounded by her and Evelyn, with all the moments spent with her.
"It's the anniversary of Evelyn's parents' death in a few days, so, er, I'm praying to her family." Skyler whispered, her smile becoming genuine.
She clung to the hope that her prayers would bring some joy as the memory of her and Evelyn as children rose in her mind.