*BAM! "Why do you always have to leave me like this?!" A woman with short, curly, blue hair hit her fists on the kitchen counter in anger. At the same time, a man with short, straight, silver hair stood at the entrance of the small kitchen, looking over at the woman and sighs lightly. The pot on the stove began boiling over, the woman began crying, and the man slowly walked over to her. "I am sorry My dear. This cannot be helped. I intend to return to you and our daughter very soon. Never forget...My Love, My Life...-"*
"Madame Priestess! You are needed immediately!" Wren took a deep breath in, and sat straight up, after being startled by the dream, she was then jolted awake by Vivi loudly calling for her. She tried to steady her breathing and shake the familiar feeling from the dream. "I understand Vivi, I will be present in the meeting room shortly. In the future, please refrain from entering my living quarters in such a way." Wren ruffled her hair a bit and slowly got out of bed and adjusted her clothing. "I-I'm so sorry Madam-" Wren put her hand up in a dismissive jester and Vivi bowed slightly and closed the door behind her. 'I don't even remember when I fell asleep," she said just before groaning dramatically, getting dressed in her usual casual wear, then making her way to the meeting room.
..."-Calm yourself Horacio. You are always making such a fuss." Horacio was pacing around the room, while Abena was standing leisurely by the window scolding him, and Wren was standing near the table with her arms crossed. "Do leave me alone Lady Abena, I am in no mood today. *sigh* What is the meaning of thi-" *BANG!* Before Horacio could finish asking his question, Lord Valen slammed the doors open, causing every one present to fall silent. "There has been another attack. Our forces from the South have been cut down by nearly one third. We need to assess the full damage and continue with our original plan. Abena, Horacio, make sure and prepare your people for the journey. Wren, can I trouble you to prepare the others?" Wren nodded, "Good. Make sure everyone is ready, we will be heading into The Tradelands by dawn tomorrow. We cannot afford to waste more time. After finishing their evening tasks, I want everyone to meet back here to run through our plan. That will be all," after his statement, Lord Valen walked right back outside the doors leaving everyone slightly confused.
"Must be something serious." Horacio scoffed at Abena's words, "What kind of ridiculous statement is that Abena? Of course it is serious, our people, our ALLIES, were KILLED!" Wren shook her head and made a move to leave the room. ...*"Madame Wren I am so glad we were able to have lunch today," Aster was grinning ear to ear as he walked over to the small table where Wren was already sitting, with plates full of food. "I'm glad as well." Wren said with a smile as she picked up her sandwich after Aster took his seat. Aster's picked up his food which was *Souvlaki*, one of his favorites. "Whoa, this food is soo good! I haven't had this in the longest." Aster was happily munching on his food while Wren smiled and finished her food as well-* Wren was confused and lightly shook her head in efforts to focus. 'Why did I suddenly have a flashback to my lunch earlier?' She thought to herself. "Excuse me, I am trying to talk with you! Why haven't you said anything Priestess? Don't you have close ties with the Southern Clans?" Abena said to Wren in a tone full of disdain. Wren paused for a moment before answering, "Stop bickering and prepare yourselves," Wren said matter of fact as she walked out the door, closing it loudly behind her.
"Sheesh, you really are something else Lady Abena. Why must you always instigate things regarding The Priestess? She looks rather distracted today for some reason, can't you just let her be for once?" Horacio said as he too, walked out the door, Abena simple scoffed in response. "Madame Priestess, please wait!" Horacio quickened his pace to catch up to Wren, "Is there something you would like to discuss with me, Horacio?" Wren said, while slowly turning around to face the slightly out of breath Horacio. "I...Forgive Lady Abena...She-" "There is no need Horacio, I am in no mood to deal with Abena. Please do as Lord Valen asks and ready your people for the upcoming mission. I need to take my leave and do the same." Without waiting for his response, she used her teleporting abilities and disappeared, momentarily leaving behind a thin cloud of smoke. Horacio grumbled to himself then took off into the direction of the Water Unit's training area. While, Abena had made her way to the Fire Unit area in order to prepare for the mission ahead. Wren knew she had responsibilities as well, but she teleported to a secluded area at the edge of the temple.
The area was a small pond surrounded by large boulders and trees all around; making it virtually impossible to notice if you were just walking by the pond. She then "Reached Out" to the surrounding areas and noticed there were no other energies near. 'Just a quick soak...' she thought to herself as she quickly removed her outer clothes and walked into the cool pond. She took a deep breath and submerged herself under the water, then began swimming deeper into the small pond. After a short while of swimming, she began to see the dim shine of a light through the water. She swam towards the light, twisting her body to weave in between the series of tunnels and boulders that had fallen into the water years earlier. Wren knew she was close to her limit on holding her breath, and was relieved when she felt the water starting to feel warmer as she made her way to the surface. *"My Love..."-* Wren closed her eyes and scrunched her face in pain as the sudden voice from the man that was in her dreams, sounded so loudly in her ears.
She struggled to calm her mind while still trying to hold her breath and breach the surface.*"Believe me when I tell you, nothing is more important than the safety of our daughter,"-* This time Wren saw flashes of the same man and he seemed to be holding a small baby with blue hair, in his arms. Wren frantically swam to the surface, not even sure if she was going the right way. Her lungs were burning and her arms felt fatigued, as she finally reached the surface and took a deep breath in, *GASP! COUGH COUGH,* she was coughing and gasping for air while trying to access her surroundings. She saw that there was a small amount of light coming in from the small entrance of the cave. Once she made it towards the shallow end of the pond she climbed out and looked for the blanket she hid in a bag near a boulder.
After she found the blanket she wrapped it around her body and huddled behind the boulder to hide herself, just in case someone were to walk by while she was focusing. She took a few deep breaths, 'Why is that man so familiar to me? Maybe I went into his memories as some point in time and...*sigh* This is weird; I need to talk with Valen about this. It's all just...too familiar,' she thought to herself before focusing her mind. She took a few moments to try and find the silver haired man and blue haired lady she saw before but to no avail. She switched her focus and tried to find the phrase the man said before leaving, "My Love, My Life..." At the same moment she uttered those words her chest began burning and she felt a sharp pain all the way up and down her spine. She grunted in pain and moved her body to try and ease her pain, she also began to feel a dull pain starting in her head, soon it became more intense.
At this point she felt like she was close to passing out, "Find Master Kota..." Wren gasped for air and opened her eyes when she heard the loud yell in her mind. *COUGH COUGH,* she began coughing violently and ended up coughing up blood. Her breathing was ragged and she could taste the strong metallic flavor of blood in her mouth. She felt what she thought were tears and went to wipe them with the back of her hand, after she did she looked at the back she noticed it was smeared red with her blood. Her vision became blurry and her strength faded. "L...V-Valen...," she tried to call out for help, but ended up passing out before she could send a proper call. "She is too close to this...Everything will be up in smoke if we do not finish this properly..." said someone in a voice barely louder than a whisper. Shortly after the voice was heard, the wind changed directions. "Leave her be for now...someone will catch our scent..." Another voice said from outside the cave, "We cannot ruin this for Master..." both the voices hummed in agreement and one began to laugh in a deep, scratchy, cackle.