A Dream Foretold.

Prologue Arc (1) - The Melody of the Heart.

 

Neither of us separated, nor moved; our eyes stared wide open into one another, the warmth of our bodies was balanced between the two of us. I felt strange, not in a disgusting way but in a weird way… it felt oddly nice, like bliss in winter.

 

“Ah!” she screamed whilst peeling off from me, standing up abrupt as her footing, once more became unstable; her cheeks were blush pink whilst her ears were crimson.

 

No matter how much I tried, my voice wouldn’t leave my throat. The shock I had received was too intense for my mind to comprehend, everything happened in an instant, yet it also ended in an instant. The sensation of her lips, the moistness, the sweet taste of strawberries… everything was vivid to me.

 

“I am sorry!” Alice bowed as her figure reverted to her earlier form, a black dress that contrasted her earlier look; her hair was once more unrestrained, fluttering over the air in a land of no winds whilst her white ribbon hanged onto her hair with all its might.

 

The sight of her jade pink eyes glittering, the spectacle of her jade pink eyes reflecting the very figure of me, laying on golden grass with cheeks blush… it was embarrassing, to see my very own figure blushing before someone of the same gender.

 

“Ehem!” a voice echoed from behind, followed by a powerful smack on my head, waking me up from my dreamy state as I stood up in a panic before patting my knees several times as I soon replied to her with a wry smile, “It’s fine…”

 

The chances of me finding someone willing to take me is over the negative zones anyways, it’s not like there is any value to my first kiss anymore, everything about me was worthless and pathetic like an apple that fell from a tree, only to rot.

 

“It’s just an accident, after all…” I replied before she shook her head as if rejecting what I had said but it was pointless to argue over such little talks.

 

“Anyways… it’s about to be dusk, how about I bring you to the final place I want you to see…?” she said whilst reaching her hand out towards me as I looked behind me where the black-haired lady together with the platinum-haired lady and the short woman stood there with nods and smiles.

 

It felt strange, almost as if the three of them already knew where this final destination is… almost like they wish for me to head there.

 

“You should head there, my lady… don’t worry about us, I’ll be wai… no, we’ll be waiting here for the two of you,” the black-haired lady, Achelois said as the other two nodded before I sighed, feeling there was no more to talk about, I turned back my attention to Alice who had a beautiful smile on her face.

 

“I will accept your offer then… please treat me well,” I said whilst taking her hand as she winked before, out of the blue, our surroundings turned into a world mix between black and white.

 

It was an empty void of black and white, one side was completely white whilst another was completely dark, but it didn’t feel lonely, the hand holding mine was reminding me that there was someone beside me.

 

“We are here…” Alice said before cracks amongst the void appeared before everything shattered, revealing the sunset over a cliff.

 

The beautiful sun descending downwards to the deep blue ocean, glazing everything before it with its radiance, the ocean was of a gradient of purple, blue, orange, and yellow. It was surreal, divine; the air felt warm, the surroundings looked surreal.

 

“This is what I want you to see…” Alice mumbled as we walked further into the cliff before a gravestone stood there alone, filled with bouquets of lilies and roses. The gravestone looked lonely despite the bouquets that surrounded it.

 

To my one and only,

Alicia de Dahlia Amaya

[The First Princess of Miary & The Archduchess of Amaya]

 

My body turned pale, my heartbeat rose upon seeing the engravings of the gravestone; it felt like a snake had bit my heart, unwilling to let go… pain, it was the only emotion that was present inside my heart.

 

I couldn’t understand why my emotions were rising, why my heart felt painful, suffocating… It was as if my mind didn’t want me to understand, yet despite not being able to understand, my legs surrendered, kneeling before the gravestone as heat filled my eyes.

 

“Who…?” I asked Alice before she walked towards the gravestone and bowed before it as she spoke to the gravestone, “Dear Auntie, it has been a long time… are you doing well in the afterlife…?”

 

I felt everything turned bland upon hearing her words, the name on the gravestone, the house name, and more importantly, the words she spoke all led to a single conclusion, the person buried under this grave was none other than my biological mother.

 

Tears dripped from my eyes, an endless stream of water that was akin to a flood… the suffocating sensation inside my heart grew nonstop, my nostrils were filled. I wanted to scream from the pain my heart was experiencing.

 

“Auntie, I have brought your daughter with me today… I hope the two of you can talk at least a little bit, chat at least once… and most importantly, laugh with one another once more, like in the past…” Alice said before she turned around and walked towards me as she reached a hand out.

 

The two of us didn’t move, my tears kept flowing… I didn’t take her hand and simply stayed in the same position… the two of us stayed like this for who knows how long before I looked at her whose eyes were like mine, moist.

 

Her face indicated she was also suffering the same as what I felt right now, but unlike me, she endured it and didn’t cry, the jade pink eyes of her were blurry… her other hand was clenching onto itself as hard as it could.

 

I felt like I should take her hand, and talk to the person buried on the gravestone… the person who should be my biological mother whose face I couldn’t remember… and so, with determination, I wiped the tears on my eyes and took her hand before she squinted her eyes whilst smiling.

 

The two of us soon walked towards the gravestone before Alice released my hand as she stood behind me, nodding as I kneeled before the gravestone, the cold gravestone.

 

“Mother… right? I am really sorry for not visiting, somehow… I don’t have memories of you, but even then, I felt like you have been watching over me… taking care of me with your spirit, somehow… seeing your name brings nostalgia into me…”

 

“I… I don’t really have anything to talk about, I don’t really know what to talk about… I don’t have any memories of two of us…. I… I am sorry,” I said before all of a sudden, two hands wrapped behind me, taking me by surprise as I turned around before the sight of Alice’s face drenched in tears became clear.

 

“What are you waiting for… smile, you idiot!” she screamed into my ears as I felt her warm hand clench into my trembling left hand, both of our rings touch one another… a sudden flood of emotions reached me as I nodded to her and looked back to the gravestone before continuing.

 

“Even then… I promise to visit you more, I don’t know how you left me… but I promise to be strong, strong enough to pioneer my life and smile,” I said whilst forcing out a smile as a warm sensation rushed into my heart before everything around me turned white.

 

Alice was still with me, I can still feel her body touching my back, her hand holding into my left hand… I could still feel her, I was not alone… as if someone was calling me, I looked upwards before the figure of a beautiful woman stood there.

 

The woman had cream white hair, with pink eyes… she wore a white one-piece dress with frills at the ends, and on top of her head was a straw hat with a single rose and a single lily embedded on the right side.

 

“Mother…?” I mumbled before she smiled as everything reverted to its normal state, the sound of the water splashing and the whispers of the wind.

 

A storm of emotions blossomed inside my heart, the gate stopping my tears broke and a stream of water came out from my eyes as I dropped my head onto the floor whilst my body was being hugged by Alice… unconsciously, screams came out from my throat as I cried under the sunset.

---

(Achelois’s Perspective)

“Are you sure about this… Achelois?” the platinum-haired lady whispered into my ear as I shook my head and replied, “There is no issue at all…”

 

“Don’t you feel like this is almost like that time when the Goddess Althea cried after hearing her mother’s last words…? It feels nostalgic, right?”

 

The platinum-haired lady flinched upon hearing my words as we stared at the two who were hugging one another as they cried before the gravestone until the silhouette of a cream-white haired lady dressed in a white one-piece dress appeared over the gravestone.

 

“The Goddess is always sympathetic towards her descendants who also experienced something close to her experience huh… to allow Alicia’s soul to appear before the two of them even after she had finished reincarnating… as expected of her…” I mumbled before smiling at the two of them who were being stared at the soul of the lady.

 

“Well, Alicia was, after all, the Priestess of Miary and also the best person… and Princess the Empire had seen in its lifetime, I wonder if her daughter will ever surpass her glory and take over the Archdukedom whilst leading the Empire to success…” the platinum-haired lady said before all of a sudden, a silvery voice that was like the voice of a mother whispered into our ears.

 

“The two of you are the same as always, huh… You shouldn’t doubt my daughter, Achelois and Elaina… she will surpass me and bring the Empire into its golden age. I hope the two of you will help her until then… no, not just her but her fated partner as well…” the voice said before both Elaina and I turned around before the phantom of the cream-white lady appeared before us.

 

“Even after death, you still order us around, don’t you… Alicia?” I said before she smiled with a wink as she vanished into the air, leaving nothing but fireflies.