It feels very warm somehow… same as sitting near the hearth.

Warm. Fire.

Mother of peanuts, the house is on fire! Just as the girl gathered enough strength to scream, she realized she was still lying on the bed dreaming. The chirping of birds and calming flow of water slowly reached her ears. 

The eastside was already glowing bright, extending its rays invading her room.

Wait, birds?

Sterne's eyes flashed, fully awake now. As far as she knows, the only birds they have are limited to chicken and crows. She always resented the fact that cute little creatures with multiple colours from the staffs' stories never came to their territory making it more gloomy.

But those dream-like creatures seem to be outside right now pecking at her window. Rubbing her eyes, Sterne tried to make out the balls of colour jumping up and down. 

Yep, birds.

Another thing was, the sun is brighter or did she accidentally bang her head while sleeping?

Who doesn't know that the duchy only has a perpetual damp season? There was never such strong sunlight.

"Good morning, milady." Emilia cheerfully greeted as she pulled the heavy curtains of the balcony.

Unknowingly, her mouth fell open at the shocking unfamiliar sight before her. The clear sky almost melted her eyeballs. Where is this?! Sterne jumping out of the bed made Emilia shriek and nag about propriety but the girl paid no heed to it as she rushed to the balcony in great speed. 

She needed to confirm one thing. Sterne stopped right next to the balustrade with eyes wide open.

No doubt about it. This is the Nachtwald she knows. Albeit different in some places. 

There's water above and below! The spillway of the east yard looks alive as clean and sparkling water gushes forth and flows down to the dried up stream. The waterfall is alive. All her life she thought that it had long dried up. 

Curtains of clear water drop magnificently from the six major precipices creating a pool of bubbling blue water below.

Greenery as far as the eyes can see invaded her sight. Yellow, red, violets a riot of colours splashing the knolls and prairies beyond. A kind of landscape people in the duchy only heard from stories and read from books.

Whoa, where did the grey land go? The dead trees? Turning her head up ahead then to her right, the sight almost made Sterne weak in the knees. The long-abandoned fields have crops… 

People started to gather below mirroring the same confusion. It's starting to turn into a carnival that the clamour can be heard to where she was at. Who could have cast this powerful illusion? Sterne stopped herself short, what am I thinking?

Wait, wait surely there should be an explanation to all of this.

Turning to the west side now, the light green ears of crops swaying above hundreds of acres of land blinded her poor eyes. This must be because she hadn't seen such vivid colors for a very long time. 

Uh, that's not wheat, is it? 

There was no such thing as wheat grown in the duchy, even rice and other grains. People used to toil in the fields but that's before the land became barren because of the demons. As far she knows, the soil only has potatoes. Yeah, those tenacious little tubers. When did the tenants start planting grains?

"Milady?" Emilia called from behind. 

If this is not an illusion or anything there could only be one answer. 

I, I want to cry. Don't tell me…

Sterne sniffled, "Emi, Emi can you see all this?"

"Yes milady, I have seen it." Emilia replied calmly.

So, not an illusion. And she's not going crazy.

"I-It's beautiful, isn't it?'

"More than words can express."

"I'm not dreaming, am I?"

"If you'd like, I can give you a pinch." Emilia said seriously while flexing her fingers.

Laughing nervously, Sterne closed her eyes and filled her lungs with the fresh and sweet scent of the wind.

Ahh~ bliss. 

"For now, milady must take a bath. I will accompany you outside if you want."

"Yes, that sounds just right!" She agreed enthusiastically. 

When Sterne finished her morning grooming, she couldn't wait to fly out of her chamber and dash towards the dining room. She thought her dear father and everyone else needed to know about this but alas, they were already in the midst of discussing it before her little self arrived.

"Hello sprout, it looks like you were excited about something. Mind telling big brother what it was?" Dio waved at her as he grinned silly.

Sterne stopped short and remembered her manners.  

Today's she was groomed prettily with her hair braided on both sides and twisted for a double bun at the base of her neck. The overhanging tendrils on her forehead were Emilia's handiwork saying that her lady's face would be more tender that way. Sterne liked it as she won't be having hair as an appetizer. Every day the burden of long wavy hair whips her face and gets in her mouth. If she could, she would absolutely adore trimming it with a sword.

"Good morning father, elder brothers." Stopping at the entrance, the little lady made a curtsy.

"Ah, my lady." His Grace Aldebrand, wiped the stoic look and smiled broadly after seeing his youngest. "Come."

"H-Have you been outside?" Throwing her sight towards the windows, Sterne asked cautiously.

"Yes, we have."

"And?"

"It seems that our territory has suddenly received a blessing from the magnanimous Herald."

Just like that? Indeed, but how can it happen overnight? Furthermore, this reaction. None of the three looked perturbed. It was as though it was just another ordinary day sitting for breakfast and waiting for her.

Was she thinking too much?

"By the way Sterne," Dio prompted seeing how she was jumping so excitedly racing towards them like a happy puppy, just used to be the case so often when she wanted to tell them an important matter.  "You happen to know something about it, correct?"

Her shoulders rose automatically. 

Kyrios glared, "Hey second, don't scare the kid." 

Just when she thought everything was going smoothly. With an effort, she turned her neck to turn towards her father.

"Viktor said that the cloudburst yesterday was the biggest he ever summoned. It might have covered the whole territory so for now, he is out along with five others on horseback confirming the extent of the vegetation."

"I see."

"If I have not seen it with my own eyes I would think this is a dream." Kyrios leaned his back on the chair, his head turned to the side, towards her. "At the very least, rehabilitating the soil is already enough but to grow crops accurately?"

"It must have recalled the previous bountiful era." Duke Al said

"It?" She asked her father.

"The Golden Core, the one responsible for the life vein of our land. Legend says that they are conscious. On the other hand, if the land is sick or barren it was either by a curse or a dying golden core."

"But Nachtwald's golden core had been weak for so long, how?" Big brother Dio asked.

"The Regen Solution I take it. Until today there were no clear means of reviving a dying golden core, there were multiple studies but no definite answer. Once the life vein ran out, it was over for the land and Nachtwald has been half dead for centuries. Who knew that only the omnipotent elixir can revive it. The water must have soaked deep in the soil making its way to the core. Remember the rain yesterday was the first strong rain we had in years and it was mixed with the solution."

Is Nachtwald's golden core healthy once again? Furthermore, 'it' have a memory?    

"The water reserves built by the dwarves are filled to the brim from mountain spring. If this goes on, the old aqueducts can carry the water to towns of our territory." Kyrios said.

"The Junior Mages have been working from the crack of dawn, testing the water if it is not poisoned or gives off a funny smell." Dio followed.

Seeing them talking casually, Sterne finally put down her tensed heart.

"Breakfast today is vegetable soup, Cook was very excited to sample the produce from the garden. Eat, after this, we will deal with the situation."

Her father then stood and pulled a chair for her.

 

After breakfast, Emilia and Sterne walked around the manor towards the northern garden where the waterfall lies. For the first time in so many years, it came back to life. The events she wrote on paper from that dream vividly reminds her about Nachtwald's fall. Did something change somehow?

In that dream, the land remained bleak, in fact, hundreds to thousands of monsters already marched inside destroying the whole territory. The border wall turned into a pile of broken stones… but that was inside the dream. Reality was somewhat different.

Different. Mainly because Nachtwald came to life but there is no guarantee that it will not come true. Cold fingers trailed down her back. What if…        

"Milady?"

No good, she's losing focus. Should she tell her father about the dream? Their society recognizes dreams as oracles. But people who receive oracles are only one in a thousand, a few in a million and they belong to the Heraldic Order.

She has to make up her mind soon. That dream must be prevented and yet she was uncertain on how to go about explaining it.

"Are you alright?" Emilia prompted once again.

"Unn," she groaned, "Just a little overwhelmed."

Emilia smiled gently. "I understand how you feel."

A light breeze blew bringing in a sweet scent of flowers. If she tried to find a specific reason why that dream came, she would definitely confuse herself. She would rather choose to believe that it came as a warning in order for them to prepare. But before acting blindly, she first needed to confirm whether it was true or not, an event has to start with something. There should be a trigger and she needs to find clues before the situation gets out of hand.

Nobody wants a future like that. She doesn't want to die that way nor see her loved ones turn into a pile of bones before her eyes.

Perhaps because of her age, it may take a lot of effort to convince her father but she still has to try. Slowly and cautiously she will do everything within her power to avoid the upcoming tragedy. 

Sterne felt a lot lighter now that she found her resolve. 

"Emi, let's visit the town." She said. 

As usual, Emilia followed a step behind. Despite the tremendous change in the environment her eyes maintained its focus and never left her lady's back. They walked around the manor and finally arrived at the front courtyard. 

Seeing them approaching everybody halted and gave a morning greeting. Sterne increased her pace after answering them with an equally enthusiastic greeting of her own. 

"It's a good day for a stroll today, milady." 

"The sun's up Lady Sterne!"

"Everyone, thank you for your hard work!" She waved back and turned to the exit quickly so that she wouldn't hinder their exercise routine. The smiles from the people of the duchy filled her with warmth. 

She felt a twinge of pain knowing of their future. She had to walk away fast to stop herself from remembering the bloody scene. It's different now, she can prevent it. 

"Emi, let's run!" Her aim today are the fields!

"Milady, slow down. You might get hurt." 

"It's alright, I feel a lot better than before." 

In the future a calamity will fall, famine is one of the greatest factors why Nachtwald was thoroughly destroyed.

"You're going to trip again if you walk that fast." Emilia reminded anxiously.

They are now crossing over the spillway bridge where the small dam on the left side of the estate lies. There used to be a muddy moat here but now it turned into a stream filled with pristine water mirroring the azure sky and emerald green vegetation.

"Emi, look." 

The two of them walked to the awaiting coach Sir Thais prepared. 

"A pleasant morning, Lady Sterne, Miss Emilia." He greeted them cordially. "His Grace said you are free to explore today. I will be accompanying you as an escort." 

Sterne happily hopped in and comfortably seated. The farm fields are located half an hour away from the estate. The duchy has hundreds of hectares for planting fields, several woodlands, prairies, hills and mountains. Coming down in an open carriage cuts about twenty minutes of travel time. Duke Al is at the square in Freesia, capital of Nachtwald, meeting with the people to ease their worries and at the same as assuring them that this was not a kind of curse.

"The land really has recovered." An old lady cried.

"The Gods and Herald haven't forsaken us."

"Yes, the life vein of Nachtwald has been restored. We must take this opportunity to harvest, save seedlings and replant the fields for the next three years before the cycle goes back to normal."

Everyone murmured and nodded.

The cycle the duke spoke about is the period when a new golden core is born or restored, plants, crops, all things related to the land that takes a long time to harvest will fall in rapid growth. What happened today is indeed one of a kind, although people knew about this it still exceeded their expectations.

Three years, there will be enough food for the people to eat.

"Would you like to take a walk in the fields?" Duke Al suggested when he saw her curiously walking around thus the father and daughter pair along with many others marched into the farmlands in great vigor. 

Plants do not grow overnight. It takes at least a month to four the fields to yield crops. What's more, when they walked down the vast expanse of the fields they discovered crops that were never before seen in the fief.

Sterne looked through the Herald's Eyes and was delighted to learn that due to the core's revival, some extinct species of plants are slowly budding in their land. 

 

A couple of days after this miraculous event the whole duchy was abuzz with activities. She and the everyone in the family went around the whole territory for thorough inspection not only with the fields but for the forest, the herb plantations, the ranch and the situation of the folks.

Nachtwald is massive with its six towns including the capital city but they enjoyed each visit putting the people's misgivings to rest. The duke's five trusted retainers managed the domestic affairs pertaining to the handling and processing of crops. There were old grain silos and granaries but they were rotting, rehabilitation of the facilities were prioritized before harvest time.

Muddy rivers and dried up streams flowed with water once again giving the animals a wide pasture to graze and water to drink. To make sure that it was not a temporary phenomenon after the heavy rain scouts were sent to trace the water source, the reports are favourable.

According to them, it was as though the earth had split, releasing the long trapped underground water. Not all territories have their own secure water source. With this Nachtwald is on its way to a bright future unless of course, that nightmare she had comes true.

Even with this positive progress Sterne's heart still held misgivings.

One cannot be too negligent. Securing food comes on top of the list. Next would be finding a source of income so that the people can restart their livelihood and earn. When the time comes for this place to fall, at least they will have something that will aid them the moment they leave, she thought gravely. 

But still, she hope that the calamity would never happen…

"Your Grace!" A messenger on horseback caught up with their entourage while they were doing inspections in Freesia.

Sterne looked over cautiously, this never happened before. Normally, the messengers would wait for her father to return at the manor to give the report. As he galloped closer and closer, the thumping of horse hooves began to align with her heartbeat.