Chronicles of the Red Sovereign

Telling them about the story of me entering Freya’s mind was not easy, especially when Freya and I had the complicated relationship of patient and healer (mental healer on my case). I was very surprised when Freya seemed like she was okay with telling my friends though.

I told them what happened a couple of months ago, but I did not tell them everything though, like what Freya's situation was for example or what was inside Freya’s mind.

“…I wasn’t sure what happened but all of a sudden, we were inside my mind and Freya got pulled in it.” I said.

“So you’re saying… you have an ability to enter people’s minds?” asked Peter with a very shocked expression. “You’ve… never done that to us, right?”

“Of course not! So far only Thomas and Freya were the ones I tried it on, Thomas being a complete accident!” I answered.

At the mention of his name, Thomas immediately perked up.

-Right, I did never tell him about that.

“You did what?!” Thomas exclaimed.

“I’ll tell you the details and apologize to you later.” I said to calm him down. “Anyway, as you are all aware already, I sort of do not have any recollection of my memories before I was taken in by my current guardian, but that time, Freya and I saw what happened to me before I was saved.”

“Whether you believe it or not, Little Miss Perfect here saw her village and everyone in it get slaughtered and burned. She also witnessed the death of her parents on the hands of some creature with intelligence.” Freya added. “She was about to die herself but weird stuff happened and we got out.”

“Yeah… That’s what happened. I apologize for not telling you about it.” I said shyly.

Silence once again enveloped us and to be honest, I was sort of getting uncomfortable with it. My friends were a noisy bunch, so such silence was something I was not used to around them. I was already thinking of how they would misunderstand me. I couldn’t help but sigh at that.

-I bet they’ll give worse reactions if I reveal to them the other secrets I’m keeping.

I sighed again in disappointment. Disappointment to myself.

All of a sudden, a hand was placed on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Kai with a smile on his face.

“It’s something between you and Freya. You don’t have to apologize you know.”

“What?” I asked, a bit baffled at his words.

“Kai is right.” Peter inserted. “People are entitled to have secrets that they wish to keep for themselves. Even we have our own secrets. And we wish for it to remain that way. Who wants to share their secrets to others?”

“Peter?”

My mind was blank as they spoke. To be honest I was really shocked at their responses.

“Luna,” Andrea called. “The first time I met you, I already knew you carry a lot of secrets. People like you tend to do so. We respect your desire of keeping it, after all they’re your secrets. Although, just remember that we will always be here to listen if you want talk about it in the future.”

“Andrea’s got a point.” Bernard seconded. “We will wait when you’re ready to share them. Besides, it's probably the same thing with us.”

“You guys…”

I didn’t even notice I was already crying. I felt so guilty as I heard their words. They were saying all those things but I outright lied to them just a few moments ago.

-Do I even deserve to be their friend?

I continued bawling, something I couldn’t believe I would ever do even in my current life. I could hear my friends try to soothe me so I could stop crying, but I was so touched at their words that I couldn’t help but cry even more.

“Damn it, you guys are so sappy.” said an annoyed Freya who scoffed at the scene we were making on the rooftop.

All of us froze and looked at her. I was told some of them actually glared at her because of her insensitive comment.

“I don’t have to make such promises, we’re not even friends. Anyway, if we’re done here, I’m going.” she stood up and left the rooftop immediately.

We just looked at each other and snickered. On my case, I felt a little relieved. Even with such atmosphere, we could still be friends. They even promised to wait for me to tell them my secrets.

At that moment, I realized (time and time again) that I found such great friends and I would do my best to protect them, especially with what I just learned the previous night. That time, I also hoped they would still accept me and consider me a friend once they find out who I really am.

We stayed there for a few more minutes before we left. All of us still had to go back to our own homes and I was pretty sure my friends’ families were waiting for them.

Just as we were about to leave, Bernard called my attention.

“Yeah?” I asked after hearing him call my name.

“Can I talk to you? Just the two of us.”

I turned to the others who just gave a nod and completely left the rooftop.

“I’ll wait for you in your room.” Thomas said. We were going to go home together later.

I stood before Bernard and I noticed that he was evading my gaze and he was actually fidgeting at where he stood.

“What is it? Spill.”

“Uhm… About your familiar…”

“Vyfal?”

“I kept thinking about it, as I waited for you to wake up. Vyfal’s true form, it’s a qilin, isn’t it?”

I couldn’t help but gasp and step back in surprise.

-How does he know that? I thought Vyfal is the only qilin in Afasia?

“Bernard, I…”

“I know one when I see one.” he said. “At least she fits the description I know. I’m not sure about the color though. But she’s definitely a qilin isn’t she?”

“How did you know that?” I asked, but I could hear my voice become edgy, something I usually do when I’m a bit skeptical.

“How did you make a qilin your familiar?” he asked again. “Are you perhaps… Perhaps you’re-“

“My aunt gave her to me as an egg.” I admitted. I was trying to be truthful after the lie I just told them.

“Your... aunt?”

“Yes. Bernard, you did not answer my question; how did you know Vyfal is a qilin?”

“I…” he took a deep breath. “I don’t know how to explain it, but do you know the term Chinese?”

-Chinese?

I racked my brain for the term, after all I found it familiar. A memory of Aunt Zaira telling me that some of the words she sometimes mutters by herself was called Chinese language.

-But I thought she said nobody else would know about it?

“How did you know that term as well?” I asked again.

“So you do know it.”

“Not me, my aunt.” I replied in a confused manner.

“Luna, I promise to tell you and our friends about it but first, I must meet your aunt. Can you help me meet your aunt?”

“I beg your pardon?”

I was taken aback at his request. Aunt Zaira, in many ways is strange (no offense), but I was studying incognito and nobody knew my real connection to her. But Bernard wanting to meet her would mean I had to reveal it.

“In fact, she’ll probably want to meet me.” he suddenly pulled out a piece of paper and gave it to me. I checked it and saw strange symbols written on it.

-These symbols seem familiar…

“Give that to your aunt.” Bernard said, cutting me off from my thoughts. “Once she sees that, she’ll probably want to meet me.”

I stared at Bernard and the note. Bernard had always been optimistic but the one I was seeing in front of me was someone with a desperate look. Someone desperate to have answers to his questions. And so…

“Fine… I’ll give it to her, but I won’t promise anything.”

“That’s fine by me.”

I sighed. I decided to might as well do it.

-What could go wrong?