''Help me...''
''I don't want to die...''
''Please...''
''Help me...''
''He-''
Lorelei suddenly woke up under Maria's insistent taps. She was right over her bed. Smiling at her.
''Morning, Lorelei! Get up, get up, let's go see the field behind the hill. I think the dandelions already bloomed.''
''I wiLl be Right there.''
It was still that same dream. The same place. The same faces. No matter how much she ran, they would sooner or later catch her. Every time they would, those memories would come back again, and again. The same words would resonate through her ears. How long has she been having those dreams? Lorelei herself had no clue whatsoever. They felt like they had always been there, right with her, but lately they had gotten even scarier than they used to. The voices didn't whisper anymore: they screamed their pain away, carrying all of it through Lorelei, who would feel throughout every inch of her body the same pain as in the memory. The blame was hers to take, she knew that. The pain was hers to bear, she knew that. The boulder was hers to carry, she knew, yet Lorelei still believed that it was unfair. Why was she born like this? Why not the neighbor? Why did she have to suffer like this? What did she even do to deserve all this? Nevertheless, she chose to ignore those questions. Lorelei didn't have a choice to be born like that, but she did for the people she had killed. She got off the bed and walked towards the bathroom. She had to brush her teeth as she had always done since Silvia taught her how to. She hated this moment of the day because she had to stare at herself in the mirror. She hated the way she was. Lorelei didn't even know if she was human or not, but somewhere in her heart, she thought it didn't matter. Whether she was human or a totally different being, they were both just as despicable.
After she finished brushing her teeth, she put on her glove and walked downstairs to say good morning to Silvia, but she saw her at the door speaking to people whose voices she had never heard before. So she hid behind the table and slowly crawled closer by going behind the couch until she was able to see the people Silvia was talking to. They were knights, just like the ones she had seen at the capital. They seemed to be handing something to Silvia, but she couldn't see what it was. Silvia's expression looked bland, as if she had forgotten that she had to smile. Lorelei had never seen it before, even back when she was crying; she still tried keeping a straight face, but now all Lorelei saw through Silvia's eyes was emptiness. Before Silvia was done talking to them, Lorelei went back upstairs and waited until she heard Silvia closed the door. Once she did, Lorelei rubbed her eyes while walking down the stairs to make it seem like she was still asleep.
''GoodMorning SilvIA.''
''Goodmorning Lorelei!''
There was no difference in her tone, and Silvia was back to smiling. It made Lorelei question what she had seen before, but she quickly brushed it off as nothing important since what mattered was that Silvia was smiling again. Maria rushed in fron the front door and ran towards Lorelei.
''Come on! Come on! Let's go, Lorelei!''
''Maria, would you be able to leave some time for Lorelei later this evening? I need to speak with her.''
Silvia looked straight into Lorelei while saying those words. She was smiling, but she still felt so distant. Lorelei noticed that something was definitely wrong with Silvia's behavior.
''Yes, Mom, we'll be back before evening.''
Maria took Lorelei's hand and walked towards the door. While getting dragged by Maria, Lorelei was staring at Silvia, who answered her with a mirthless smile. Something was definitely wrong with Silvia today. She wanted to ask Silvia what was happening, but decided to leave it for later since Silvia also wanted to have a talk with Lorelei. For now, she just decided to enjoy the time she was spending with Maria. Ever since the incident at the capital, it seemed like the two of them had gotten even closer than they had ever been before. In fact, just like Maria had told Lorelei, the dandelions had indeed bloomed all across the field. As far as her eyes could see, all she saw were dandelions. They were of a beautiful, bright yellow, even though the sun was shining at its fullest, it seemed like the flowers themselves had merged within its light, forming a halo above the ground streching across the hundreds of dandelions. Maria went ahead and ran across the field first, spreading her arms out like an airplane and zig-zagging her way across it. Soon enough, Lorelei followed after Maria, and they both started running through the field. They were laughing and chasing each other through sometime they would stop and start putting flowers in each other's hair. Maria even made two crowns out of them and gave one to Lorelei. Who happily accepted Maria's little gift. Together they spent the whole day making all sorts of accessories out of the dandelions.
''I think we should go back now, Lorelei. Mom said she wanted to talk to you.''
''AlrighT!''
They walked hand in hand towards the house, happily jumping at every step they took. Silvia was calmly sitting at the table, waiting for them with dinner ready. When she saw them, Silvia gave them a warm smile before signaling to have a seat and eat. The two girls ate until they were full and went to sleep, saying goodnight to each other. Tonight, Maria didn't come to see Lorelei; instead, it was Silvia who came in. When Lorelei saw that someone had entered, she quickly got up to turn on the lamp. She saw Silvia standing over her bed with a book in her hands.
''May I have a seat?''
''YeS.''
Silvia sat on the bed, and Lorelei got up to join her.
''I... I have a favor to ask of you once more, if it doesn't bother you. In exchange, I will tell you about the massacre that happened 18 years ago. Do we have a deal?''
''YeS.''
Silvia gently smiled at Lorelei and placed her hand over the book she was holding. She seemed to be thinking of something that Lorelei wasn't able to understand, so she did not bother asking Silvia. Silvia opened the book from the back, and in bold characters, Lorelei saw a signature. Silvia placed her hand over the signature.
''Lorelei, could you tell... could you tell me what is written there?''
She lifted her hand over the signature, revealing a long, bird-like image on it. Lorelei inspected the letters that the bird was composed of.
''You're able to read it, aren't you?''
''L''
''E''
''O''
''N''
''E''
''L''
''It'S wRittEn LEONEL.''
Silvia stayed still. Lorelei saw her lips moving; she was mumbling to herself something, but it was too low for Lorelei to hear what she was saying.
''Thank you, Lorelei, truly. Now then, I guess it's my turn to respect our deal. Do you know what the solemn lament is?''
Lorelei shook her head.
''It's a day, we, people of the honorary kingdom of Vileth, mourn the dead. It's a primordial rule, even though it is not written, that anyone who knows about the lament shall never talk about it. I think it's important for you to know what the lament is. It happened even before you or Maria were born. Back then, I was still so young, about 15 years old. I was still living in the capital with my family. I had everything I've ever wanted, even a fiancée I was going to marry later on in the future. Everything changed in the span of a day. I still remember it as if it happened yesterday. A small figure appeared in the skies and spread its wings above the capital. Not even a second after that, a scream echoed through everyone's head. In just a few minutes, people had gone crazy. I was still outside when the scream echoed. I still remember it, it was a horrifying one.''
Silvia seemed to be shivering a little when she talked about the scream.
''The things I saw out there... It seemed like their minds had been taken over by an unknown force. People began running to the river with a knife at their throats, they stood in line all around it, and on the second scream, they all slit their throats, dying the river in scarlet red. I think if I had been out there for even a second more, I would have gotten taken over by it, but thankfully, my fiancée brought me back. He held my hand and told me we had to leave as soon as possible. I was young and foolish and refused to abandon my family, but he told me that they were already killed and even more were being killed. If we didn't leave now, another scream was going to echo again, and this time, he wasn't sure he would be able to maintain his sanity intact. He told me to cover my ears with the pillow and not let go. He said he would prepare a carriage and that he would be back soon. I obeyed his very order and saw him off. Then the inevitable happened, and a third scream echoed through. This time, from the window outside, the sky turned to a bright red, and 6 pillars appeared in the middle, forming in the middle a kind of crest. At that moment, I was getting worried for my fiancée and decided to go look for him, but before I could reach the door handle, he opened it and held my hand. Together we ran across the capital all the way to the meeting point, he said the carriage was going to be located at. We hopped in the carriage, and it rode off away from the capital. I was still staring at the pillars of light in the sky through the carriage, and that's when I noticed they became even bigger and were now standing vertically. Then the fourth scream resound and this time the pillars divided and spread across the continents in six different locations. Every time a pillar would strike down, it seemed like for a second the whole earth was being shaken from the very core. It's about that time that I lost consciousness. After that, my memory is blurry, so I do not remember much except living with my fiancé for the next few years here.''
There was something Silvia was hiding from Lorelei; she could see it through her eyes. It was not the whole truth. Lorelei was sure there was something aside from that. Silvia leaned closer to Lorelei and stared right into her eyes.
''Now then, Lorelei. May I ask you why you wear that glove at all times?''
Lorelei was startled by Silvia's question. Up until now, she never seemed to care about it.
''You killed him, didn't you?''
Silvia smiled at Lorelei.