Chapter 29: Luna
I watched as all four personalities of Freya trembled in fear. The headstrong Fina avoided the newcomer’s creepy red eyes, the composed Fiona was rooted in her spot, the anxious Faye lost strength in her legs and fell to the ground and lastly, Freya remained motionless to where she sat.
“I suppose father gave you an earful.” the red-eyed newcomer, Fan, snarled at the four of them. “And Fina, you got into unnecessary trouble again.”
“That… Uhm…”
“You don’t have to concern yourself about it Fan. I already took care of it.” replied Fiona, her voice trembling a little.
“Oh sure, but remember this all of you; the Berialis name will not protect us forever.”
Everyone became silent again.
“But now that I think about it… Isn’t father disappointed at you Freya for getting bested by a commoner called Luna Hysi?”
“Luna is mine to deal with. Butt off Fan.” Freya growled.
“But you lost to her, over and over again.”
Freya was silent again, not meeting the eyes of Fan.
-Is Freya’s condition perhaps caused by me? Did her condition only happen recently?
“Do you know why you always lose to her Freya?” Fan smirked. “It’s because you’re weak. You’re weak Freya.”
“Shut up.”
From where I was hidden, I watched as the red-eyed Freya form wind blades and grazed Freya in the cheek. To my shock, all of them received the wound in the same place.
“You’re very weak Freya!” another wind attack exploded in their midst and threw all of them away. “Since you’re very weak, and father seems to have no more hope for you, why don’t you just end it then?”
“What?”
A dagger suddenly appeared in Fan’s hands and pointed it at Freya’s throat. The tip of the blade grazed her skin and they all started bleeding. Fan suddenly stopped and smirked. “You’re so weak… you didn’t even notice somebody has entered your mind.”
“What?”
The dagger in her hands was suddenly flung at my direction.
-There goes my plan of just being an observer.
““Luna?”” all Freyas called.
Since I was already busted, I just dusted myself off and stood in front of them.
“So this is how your mind looks like?” I inquired. “It looks dark and dreary.”
“How did you get in here?” asked Fiona.
“I don’t reveal my secrets to others that easily. Fiona, right?”
“How long have you been watching.”
“Long enough. This is serous Freya. Your state of mind is… I don’t even know what to say.”
“Then don’t say anything.”
Fan suddenly smirked. “See Freya? She can even enter other people’s mind. You can never defeat her.”
“Shut up!”
The surroundings suddenly trembled, reflecting Freya’s state of mind.
“What are you doing here Luna?” she asked.
“Well, you were in the middle of a dangerous place staring into space with a blank look on your face. Snapping you out of it forcefully might cause more damage.” I answered.
“And entering my mind won’t?”
“If you did not only notice it.” I smiled, no smirked. “Although, the one you call Fan seems to have sharp senses. She’s too negative to my liking though. I guess she’s the owner of that creepy drawing.”
“What creepy drawing?”
“The one you submitted to Professor Tresde. She noticed something was up when you kept submitting the drawings five times without remembering you already gave her one before that.”
“She-“
“She asked me for help since I happen to know something about this field.”
“This field?”
“Yes. My aunt calls this psychology; the study of the mind and behavior. We’re some of the few people who don’t treat people like you as complete lunatics.”
Suddenly, I felt very sick. I felt a ripple of energy pass through me and I felt dizzy. Fiona, who happened to be the one closest to me, caught me before I fell face first to the ground.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I should ask you that question. This is your mindscape and I’m only an invader.”
“That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.” said Fan. “The one with the strongest mind usually controls this place. Among the five of us, it would be me but I usually stay out of their way, only showing up at the direst of moments. But among them, it should be Fiona. But in this situation, it seems to be you.”
“What?”
“We may not look like it but Freya’s originally a genius in terms of magic and is quite knowledgeable in many fields. But ever since she studied in the Imperial Academy, she seemed to throw it out the window just to defeat you.”
“Stop insulting me Fan and get on with it.”
“See? Such a bratty attitude.” Fan sneered. “Anyway, we are no longer inside Freya’s head. We are now inside yours, Luna.”
“What?!”
A chill suddenly crept up my spine and I heard screams from a distance. I looked up to the sky and saw smoke rising up from somewhere inside a forest.
-A forest? But Freya’s mindscape doesn’t-
“I told you, this is no longer inside Freya’s mind.” Fan repeated. “This is now what’s in your head and you’re powerful enough to drag us in here.”
I did not know how to explain it, but I felt tremendous fear and something was pulling me to where the smoke was coming from. Without further questions, I ran inside the woods. Freya was following behind me, the other four personalities gone.
We reached the edge of the woods and I saw raging flames burning down a village. That wasn’t all, the villagers were slain by grotesque looking creatures; demons.
“This is-“
“Hey Luna.” called Freya.
“What?”
“I think that’s you.” she was pointing at a child who looked like the mini-version of me hidden behind a tree.
-No, that’s not me. I don’t remember this scene. This is-
“-'her' memories.”
“What?”
The child watching the burning village with the look of fear and with tears on her eyes was the real Luna before I took over her body. And she saw her entire village get massacred and wiped out by demons.
“Luna, what’s going on?” Freya demanded.
“I don’t know! I don’t remember this one.”
“Ha?”
As I watched the village burn down, I could feel that fear had a tight grip on me. I usually did not feel extreme fear, but the fear I was feeling was possibly what Luna felt when she saw everything.
“Luna!” called a voice.
A man and a woman appeared from the darkness and immediately grabbed little Luna so she could not watch the burning village anymore. The man had dark red hair which resembled Luna’s hair a lot. Meanwhile the woman…
“Is she your mother?” Freya asked. “You two look exactly alike, except for the hair. You two could pass off as twins!”
Freya was right. The woman had the same green-jade eyes, fair skin and silky hair. But instead of dark red like the ones I had, she had fiery red hair.
“Mommy! What’s going on? Why are they killing everyone?”
“Shh. It will be alright baby. We have to get out of here.”
“But… but what about everyone?”
“I’m afraid, we can’t save them Luna.” said the man. “We have to get out of here.”
The three left the burning village and headed deeper into the woods. Whether it was a coincidence or the family just bore great misfortune, the family of three was stopped by a demon. Unlike the demons doing a killing spree in the village, the one before them looked and felt stronger.
“So this is her?” asked the demon, his unusual bright yellow eyes were rather eye-catching. “She looks too young to threaten us, don’t you think?”
“Don’t underestimate her. She will be your greatest foe in the future.” said a deep voice.
I noticed little Luna glance at a direction and I followed her gaze. I couldn’t help but gasp in both surprise and disbelief. There was a man wearing the robes of a Celestial Palace court official. A man supposedly revered as a god to the mortals.
-Why is he working with a demon?
“It will be good for you and your people if you nip the bud before it blooms.” he added.
“I suppose you’re right.”
With inhuman speed the demon struck the couple and let them bleed to death in the ground. I watched as little Luna froze in fear. Well, I was frozen as well and all I could do was watch.
“Now, now little one. It’s not your fault you’re in this situation.” the demon smiled and showed off his set of sharp teeth. “You should blame the gods for putting such fate on you just to save their asses. But don’t worry. We will get rid of those pretentious bastards in the future and everyone will finally attain unity and real freedom.”
The blade dripping in blood slowly made its way towards little Luna. I wanted to help her. I wanted to save her.
-Move damn it! Move!
But another part of me screamed…
-It’s just a flashback! You cannot interfere even if you want to!
I fell on my knees and couldn’t help but watch as Luna was struck by the demon’s blade in the chest. Pain suddenly flared in my own chest and I could see myself bleed.
“Luna? Hey Luna! What the hell is going on?!”
I could feel Freya shaking me but her voice was becoming distant. I felt my body temperature rise and I felt really uncomfortable. All of a sudden, little Luna’s body glowed really bright and I heard both the demon and the celestial roar in pain.
One moment, I was watching things unfold before my very eyes and the next 'I' became Luna. I felt like my body was getting torn to pieces as a strong surge of energy was released from inside me. I screamed like no tomorrow as I was engulfed in the unusual light.
I felt a sting on my cheek and I gasped. I suddenly found myself back in the forest clearing with Freya in front of me.
“Are you back now?”
“What…”
“You tell me. What was that back there?!”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember that one. What was that?”
“Kyuuu.” <”Luna.”> called Vyfal, her tone worried.
My breathing was still shallow and I was shaking.
“What do you mean you don’t remember that one?”
“I don’t remember that one.”
“Huh. Looks like I’m not the only one with a problem up here.” she smirked while pointing at her head.
I couldn’t feel any strength in my body. And when I tried to move, dark spots danced on my vision and I blacked out.
A/N:
Hi! Author here... Somehow there's something wrong with the novel and it's messing with the publish schedule. It's blocked(?) that's why I couldn't update on the designated day. Please be patient as I try to resolve this... Don't worry, I haven't given up yet. Also, if the story really was blocked, tell me why...