A Dream Foretold.

Prologue Arc (2). Letters to Me.

 

A day had passed since that night, whilst waiting outside of the Guild; I stared up at the skies, the crystal-clear skies that was unlike last night with the sun shining brighter than anything else. It was truly unlike last nigh…

 

“Amelia…?” a voice called from behind, surprising me as I hopped up in the air, pushing myself backwards as Alice’s figure stood there holding a wooden tag on her hand, the way she gazed at me was burning… it felt like the sun was roasting me alive.

 

“Are you done with your errand?” I said, fidgeting unlike the usual me as she tilted her head before nodding, as she stood beside me and leaned on the wall before looking up at the sky as she said, “Yeah, I finished acquiring the quest tag.”

 

“Is that so…” I said before awkward silence ensued between us as we stared at each other, eye to eye with both cheeks flushed as the scene of last night approached my mind like the inner demon inside.

 

“Uhh… about last night, it was all an accident, okay?!” I broke the silence before she shook her head, replying back with a quivering voice and words that conflict one another, “Yeah… it was all an accident, nothing happened at all… what do you mean?”

 

“Anyways… what should we do next?” I asked before she stood up straight and placed the wooden tag on her pocket as she replied, “We’ll head to the eastern side of the city since I heard there are a lot of Feathers of Love scattering around there.”

 

“Huh… feathers of love, weren’t we going for an herb gathering of some sort?” I asked before she smiled wryly, replying. “It seems like someone had gotten the quest ahead of us, some beginner party that had only started operations yesterday.”

 

“Is that so…” I said with a slight disappointed voice before continuing, “What does this feather of love look like, and why is it called such?” as she turned her head towards me, taking out a tiny book from her pocket and opening it at the dead center as the drawing of a feather appeared.

 

The feather was completely white with a bright red heart shape at the tip, not only that but the edges of the feather seems to look goldish… if I had to say, like it had some kind of stroke pattern on it that goes from darkish gold to light gold.

 

“The Feather of Alacia, more popularly known as the Feather of Love due to the many instances of it being called as such on the Tale of Alacia, said to be a miraculous feather that would bloom into bouquets of lilies and sunflowers that will increase the chances of a confession between two parties ending with a success.”

 

“The Feather of Alacia is also said to bring fortune to the men, and women who are given such feather before heading to a dangerous place, either war or simply a battle. Though, there is no actual instances of it being scientifically proven to do such, but according to the many testimonies, the feather indeed does have such powers,” the book wrote.

 

The lore behind it seems interesting, as over on the noble side, instead of feathers, most people would hand either handkerchiefs or flowers since they are apparently items of fortune and health.

 

“What does the client need this feather for?” I inquired before the wry smile on her face grew as she responded, “The client, in question, seems to be someone from the Kingdom of Aliz which is said to be heading to war with the Kingdom of Balruz.”

 

“The Kingdom of Aliz, that kingdom which is said to hold the corpse of the former Fairy Queen…? For what reason are they heading to war with the Kingdom of Balruz which only cares about agriculture and machinery?” I asked before she shook her head, “We don’t know, as well why they decided to go to war… rather no one knows except that the Queen of Aliz sent the declaration.”

 

“Well… it’s not like we would be affected much by their war, even if they tried to involve us, most of them would most likely be squashed by the Ophelia Towers that are placed around the city… and that is also if they can break through the barrier the Twin Goddess had imposed,” she added before peeling herself off from the wall as she held her hand out towards me.

 

“It’s already going to be noon soon, how about we start walking to our destination? If we head to the destination an hour from now, collect what we need within two hours and head back home, we will still have time to play around if you like,” she suggested before I took her hand and pulled on it.

 

“Let’s head to the destination then, be sure to buy me cake later,” I said before she smiled as the two of us soon started walking eastwards, holding one another’s hand without realizing the fact that we were holding each other’s hand.

 

And soon, an hour and ten minutes later before the second bell of the city, we soon arrived before a flat beautiful grass field filled with grasses of gold and trees with leaves of summer. Far away from the field was the sun looking at us with its light glaring down to the land.

 

“It seems like there is a lot of people here,” Alice said as we walked around the fields filled with crowds of adventurers who were all fighting a monster of some kind, mostly wolves and slimes which piqued my interest as I asked, “Why are there a lot of people here?”

 

“It’s because this is the beginner’s area, where mostly low-level monsters like wolves and slimes roam around. It is also one of the few most populated pathways to the Merchant City Alkadia which is why it has to be cleansed every once in a while,” she answered before placing her hand on the handle of her rapier, unsheathing it before a black shadow jumped towards us.

 

Her hand moved like the wind, only silhouettes could be seen as the black shadow fell to the floor, sliced in eight parts. The black shadow soon became clear as blood dripped from its body, revealing a black wolf with large white fangs and jewel red eyes.

 

“A nether wolf while the sun is still up, aren’t you too suicidal?” she said before swinging her rapier once more as the jewel eyes of the wolf plopped out before she sheathed her rapier and picked up the jewel eyes, placing it above the sky and nodding.

 

Everything happened within the span of a few seconds, not only that but she managed to predict and foresee the wolf before even I could notice it… and that was only the bottom of the true extent of her powers… the fact that it was not even a few percent of her true powers brings shivers all over my spine… imagine how much stronger would she be if she used a hundred percent.

 

“What are those for?” I asked before she winked, “Nether Wolf’s eyes, especially the ones with super clear red eyes like these are very nice for accessories since they have give elemental boost to Fire Magicians, making them a very good money source.”

 

“Anyways, how about we start looking for the feathers… the best way to find them is through manipulation of shadow magic which should be your spirit’s specialty, how about you let the Moon Spirit teach you?” she said before a black shadow appeared beside me, standing upright with her two fats resting on her arms.

 

“Do you wish to learn Shadow Magic, my lady?” the lady with murky hair, Achelois inquired as I asked, “What is Shadow Magic…? It sounds like something dangerous.”

 

“Its’ not exactly dangerous, to be exact, Shadow Magic uses the powers of darkness to locate, manipulate and create shadows that you can control. Take for example, if I want to find a certain key to your bathroom, I could manipulate the shadows and have them look around for them instead which speeds up the process by a dozen times,” she explained before adding.

 

“Not to mention, Shadow Magic is also effective for offensive and evasive attacks as the most proficient among them for example the second daughter of the Twin Goddesses could use Shadow Magic to perform spikes like these and also turn into a shadow and stab you without knowing,” she said before flicking her finger forward before eighteen sharp pikes of shadows appeared from the ground, stretching up to the same height as a tree.

 

“Though, the complexity of using those are at the level of a SSSS rank if there was such a rank as the shadows are invisible to any other person who doesn’t hold Darkness attribute,” she explained before looking at me as she asked, “How about it, do you want to learn the basics?”

 

“Hmm… if it isn’t much of a trouble for you,” I said before she kneeled down, held my right hand and kissed the palm of it as she shook her head, replying with her eyes staring into me, “Nothing is considered a bother if it is you, my lady.”