"You were burning up the last time I saw you." Lewis asked while looking at her with suspicious while entering the gates of the palace. "How is it so you have suddenly recovered this fast?" Unfortunately, the next time he saw her, she was happily chatting with Merissa with no hint of illness on her face, leading to this ultimate conversation.
"Uh..." Jolting awake from her thoughts and memories, she looked towards the person speaking and hesitatently answered. "Well my skills have a cool down so once my magic energy has been regained... which happens when I am not doing anything... I return to my original health." She answered with a short pause to ensure he wasn't mad.
Despite getting an appropriate response, he still suspected her, asking another question. "Then that's fishy... where did you go when you dissapeared from the library? Because you seem a little... magic wise... exhausted. And that can't be possible if the cool down happened after you regained your energy." This question made the realization hit her mind deeper.
"Alright fine!" Folding her arms in front of her, she made it a final decision to spill the truth. "I have a little bit of healing magic that I used to cure my feverish feeling, and that may be also the reason I seem more exhausted compared to the last time you saw me at the library." Her tone appeared a little irritated by the constant questioning.
"Your element is destructive... not healing." He added while looking forward to the giant doors opening and their younger brother barging inside towards the spiralling staircases where he rapidly climbed it without looking back. Right after they came from school, the brothers would go on to take a nap while she would be directly sent to work, and in the following hour, she would be sent back to the asylum.
"And how are you so sure about that?" This time, she stopped her steps to narrow her own eyes at him. "The last time I checked... you own the animal that allows you to controls a completely opposite element to what I can control."
"And no element can allow you to be both destructive and healing." Lewis too stopped on his tracks and fell into a narrowed eye stare contest. "And at least my element can destroy your element completely. Water can wash away fire."
"Yeah that's true... but fire can evaporate water."
"But it takes time."
"And time is something I control too!"
"You can only pause time! Not move it forward!"
"And what if I can but I haven't gotten to that level of power yet?!"
"That is not possible!"
"Of course it is! But to be able to unlock that skill, it will tear my mind apart!"
"Prove it!"
"..." Aefia, who soon realized that there was a way to prove it, broke the silence by bringing out her hair clip and pointed it's sharp point directly at the centre of her throat. A little hesitation later, she gave up and slumped forward. "Alright... you win... I can't do this."
"Haha! Loser!" He laughed while watching her as she immediately lifted her head and watched with a cringed view. "That was... second hand embarrassment... not a cool thing." She finally pointed her finger at him and stood in place with shrunk pupils and an annoyed looking face.
Realizing it soon enough, he quickly sped through the steps and ran upstairs to his room. Aefia silently laughed as she slowly ascended the stairs shortly afterwards. Looks like I am the evil sister now. I actually like how peaceful this is... no one asking me questions... no one trying to argue with me. And what else... I have a freedom to walk without being observed and told about random things...
A smile flashed onto her face as she reached the first floor. The thoughts brought her memories from Earth, where instead of her 'royal' siblings, she would be fighting with her little brother over things like food and place of comfort. There was once a fight between them about who sleeps in which room during a vacation. There was only two rooms left, and she ended up getting an entire king-sized bed for herself.
I would call that a life... compared to this one that I am barely surviving. I just can't wait to quickly complete my last tasks and then go back to Earth and sleep for a week straight, head over to the mountain side for a month long holiday... and what else?
She took out her broken pocket watch and glanced at the ticking surface. Suddenly, the daylight seemed to have reminded her of something and she immediately rushed to her room with a single thought. There is still time... and I really want to know what is up with the watchman. Meanwhile, I definitely also need a new watch... this one is painful to use.
But one thing... to be able to leave the palace, I will need to tell George or the duchess. But for the duchess, she is sick in the bed... so I am down to one singular option. She slammed her palm against her forehead with the realization as she blindly walked up the hallway. "Ugh! Why have I suddenly decided to stick up with this useless and no motion life?! This definetely should be called child... rights abandonment!" She softly muttered to herself.
Then, her room door opened and the bed stared at her the first thing. She was in fact so tired from her entire day that her mind really wanted to rest before trying to go ahead and solve the problem she had with the watch, that was currently at her hand, and the broken sharp edges of the glass leaving marks against her fingers.
Looking all the way front, she glanced at her busy desk with a frowning face. There was already a stack of documents that needed reviewing, but she didn't give it much mind as she set down a few more sheets next to the pile. Her homework and assignments, although not due the next day, she still needed to get them done if she didn't want to add the following day's work to it.
On a daily basis, they were given three pages of impossibly hard math homework, which were all problem solving, and for language studies, there was a necessity to write about three hundred words. It was all useless... but it was something that needed attention if she wanted to join in with the rest of the population, just so she doesn't stand out.
Pulling off her coat and hanging it above her chair, she walked over to the sitting area just to pull off her shoes. Her checkered blue pinafore reached her knee, which reached until her toe when she sat down, had a small patch of burn around the end as she rubbed her finger against the fabric.
Her restoring skill was the most powerful to use when it came to daily life. Especially when she was secretly taking on a battle, and needed her handmaid to not overwhelm over her appearance and clothing. Blood stains were common around this time, because this thick liquid couldn't be controlled when it splattered after stabbing.
Eventually standing up, she glanced at her watch one last time. "I still have fifteen minutes before three... so it should be alright if I had a nap before getting along with the work." She softly muttered as she stood up and set the watch against the wooden table. Lifting her gaze, she caught sight of the nearly made bed and immediately ran to it, leaping a short distance and flopping onto it. But sadly, the light coming from her windows were blinding, and her limbs were too lazy to pick themselves up.
"Puppet... Cindy... close the blinds please..." She trailed off as the two creatures rushed over and shut the curtains without a single word and came over to slump next to her. By the time, she had already fallen asleep, as the two animals pulled the blanket over her head and over themselves too. It was very cozy at first, with the soft breathing sounds and the warmth next to her face with the dragon's fire flaring slowly, as if breathing. Beside the dragon, the wolf tucked in its tail and rest its chin over its paw while it's ears pricked with small, trembling movements.
Silently, Aefia's brows started to furrow and sweat settled against her forehead as she fell into the dream world. The first few minutes, she saw normal scenes where she was just living a regular day, then by turning she came into the sight of an abandoned house that only she was standing on, and no one else, not even a faint organ sound echoed against the wooden house.
It looked as if it would break in any second, expecially the roof. The colour scheme was an odd red and grey, with hints of greyish blue, the same colour palette the horror game she played had. But in this dream, it seemed like she was playing the horror game in real life. She had to escape, through difficult means, without getting caught. Otherwise, the maniac was going to hit her in the head with a bat.
Like she was back on Earth, there was no use of magic, no allowing her to use any alternate means that could help her with this problem. Only skills and adrenaline, where one wrong move was going to end her, unlike in the game where she managed to wake up again, at their starting spot. Alongside this, in the game, the player had about a week to escape, where at the last day, they were killed off by the owner of the house.
Although in that game, the player was a horror house explorer who got trapped inside while trying to find the reason for why it was left behind to rot. But in her dream, it seemed that she was trapped by no will and she was at the same starting position as the player and her room was locked unlike the usual start. The only thought in her mind around that time was, how did I end up in here?! And how do I get out?! There is no key to this room!
There was an empty bookshelve, a table, a tight cabinet and a bed. All of them were bloodied with handprints and stains on the floor as if a body was dragged in here. There was a small fragile coffee table at one corner, with a vase on top with a few words engraved into it. 'Grandpa's vase, don't knock over'.
Unlucky for her, she had already stumbled into that table and it fell backwards while breaking completely. Her eyes widened without needing to turn around as footsteps neared the front of the door and a few clicking of keys were heard ringing against each other... Then one inserted into the door knob. The knob turned violently as the cluttering sounds of its mechanism rang into her mind with solid alerts, but her arms didn't move for a very long time.
Her eyes rolled around as she quickly scanned a proper place to hide, somewhere not common to the person. With each cluttering sound, her nerves wrecked and her mind turned foggy, her breath turned speedy as she found a place to hide at the most last second available. The key was taken off as the maniac twisted the knob, opening it very swiftly and quickly, to not allow any time for hiding.
Noticing the broken vase in front, he shouted loudly, that almost caused Aefia's ears to bleed. She held a hand against her mouth and nose, and the other against her left ear, which was nearest to keep away from the shouting maniac's loud voice. Holding her breath, she counted her seconds, as the footsteps hurriedly ran around the room, slamming open the cabinet door, checking under the table, checking behind the door.
"Where do you think you can hide?!" The maniac yelled, feeling defeated over the time. Inside the small space between the bookshelve and the wall, her breath slowly depleted as her vision spun, but eventually, she took in another gulp of air. And that was enough to alert the man, as he slowly approached her area, with a feminine tone that spoke out her name.
***
"Aefia?!"
Her eyes jolted awake to the sound as she immediately sat up, heaving deep breaths while she held her mouth and nose the same way she did in her dream. Looking up, she was relived to see it was her handmaid looking concernly at her. "You look paler... as if you were a vampire." She smiled while looking at the now alive girl.
"Nothing... except a troubling dream." She calmly replied while looking at her mirror sideways to see disheveled hair which silvered at the ends a little longer then the last time. "You really should learn how to quit playing those games... now they are appearing inside your dreams." The girl in front of her spoke while standing up. "Anyway, you slept through dinner last night and you are late for school."
"..." She heavily breathed out as her ears caught the sound of her door being slammed open. "What is up with you?! Henry is screaming the heck out of everyone because he thinks I scolded you!" Lewis shouted. "You tell him! Whether I said anything!"
"Did you actually say anthing?"
"Exactly!" He spoke while barging in and walking near the table as he glanced at the empty pieces of paper. "You didn't do your homework, none of the work, and you are not ready for school... what were you doing last night then? You weren't at the table."
"...Sleeping." She spoke while rubbing her eyes. Shutting them, only the visions from her dreams came alive, as it left her paranoid and her eyes widened. What was the meaning of the dream?! She thought to herself as her eyes flashed red with anxiety.
"What are you thinking?!" Lewis yelled at her face while shaking her shoulders hard, leaving her wondering when he came to her side. A concern lifted into his face as he slowly let go and sat in front of her. "You look paler then usual. What is wrong?" He softly added while staring at her face.
"Nothing is... I guess I need a day to process what I saw." Aefia finally spoke as she shut her eyes and leaned against her pillows. "I think I want to take a leave from school for one day." But in truth, she had another job she needed to complete besides that.