"Kirin!" She shouted first thing, but it's too late. She's already lost her grip. Around her was a thick curtain of dark clouds. Though her fall happened in less than a minute, for some reason, she felt it happening in slow motion. Freyja's heart pounded. Her adrenaline started working in a futile attempt to save her. As she fell off the airship, the bright round moon locked with her eyes. Then, time seemed to stop that moment.
In her vision, the bright yellow moon slowly turned into a bloody red color. And then, she heard a voice from inside her head. It's the voice of a little girl crying. "I don't want to die!" The girl cried, desperately. Was it the hallucination of someone about to die? No one knew.
"I don't want to die." She heard another familiar voice. She recognized it right away, it's the same voice she's been hearing since she came into that world. They're all saying the same thing. "No..." Tears fell off her eyes. "I can't die. Not like this."
"NO!"
"FREYJA!" Someone grabbed her hand, and pulled her up right away. She found herself back on the deck of the ship, surprisingly in one piece. Kirin shook her shoulders, calling her name over and over. But Freyja won't snap out of her daze. She just blankly stared at the ship's floor, pale as a ghost. It was as if her soul left her body.
Fortunately for Freyja, Kirin happened to be watching her too. He's worried about Ryli trailing her, and kept an eye on the two of them the whole night. The moment he saw Ryli cast a spell, he rushed to her rescue. He jumped off the airship, grabbed her with his left hand while his other hand clung tight onto the gunwale's rails. One second later and he couldn't have saved her. Kirin's heart was beating so fast, his hands were trembling in adrenaline rush too.
Alaric witnessed everything. He came back to tell Freyja that Kirin was not in his room, and happened to find her falling off the airship. He couldn't save her. He couldn't even cast a spell fast enough to help Kirin. Alaric too, was in a state of shock.
Just as when Ryli is about to leave, quietly, Alaric blocked her way. His fists trembled. And for the very first time, Ryli saw a side of him she never knew existed. He glared at her, intensely. "What the hell did you do!?" His voice, shaking. "If anything happens to Freyja, I will kill you!" Alaric felt the heat climb up to his head.
Ryli couldn't explain the pain in her heart. Tears streamed from eyes as she ran far away. Alaric took a deep breath and ran to Freyja and Kirin. "Freyja, are you okay? It's alright now. Snap out of it."
Kirin noticed her dilated pupils and he held her chest to feel her rapid heartbeat. "Freyja, it's okay now." He embraced her tight.
Freyja just had a really traumatic experience. But what disturbed her more is the vision she had. She looked up again, and the moon turned back to its normal yellow color. When she fell, the moon appeared to be the same kind of moon she saw before she escaped Celestia.
But how did she escape anyway? How did she end up in another world anyway? Who sealed the guardians? She has forgotten a very important memory. And it's like that memory was demanding that she remember it right away.
"Astrid." She softly called. Then, Astrid spoke from inside the medallion. "Lenfiare, I sensed it too."
"Sensed what?" Kirin asked, leaning towards the medallion. But Astrid didn't reply. Freyja took a deep breath, finally regaining her composure. "I'm not sure. But..." Freyja didn't know how to explain that experience either. "...I think I saw a memory from before."
"From Celestia?" Alaric asked.
"Yeah. I think so."
Kirin took Freyja back to her room while Alaric scouted the place for other suspicious people. As Freyja slept, Kirin watched over her. He found it very intriguing that Ryli went as far as to try to kill Freyja. Kirin's gut feeling was telling him that there is far more to it than mere jealousy.
Ryli is still on the airship, hiding on the far, other side of the upper deck. She can't stop crying after what happened. She's at a loss.
"I saw what you did back then..." A young man in dressed in leather tunic appeared behind the girl. She didn't look surprised at all. "So you want the money after all."
"I don't care about your money." She glared at him.
"But, I told you, we are on the same page here." The man sat beside her. "The Aethelmaer clan wants that girl dead. That's why I asked you later to team up with me." He continued.
"The Aethelmaer clan!?" Ryli's eyes widened. "THE Aethelmaer clan? Who is she anyway?" Alaric is mad at her anyway, so killing Freyja won't make a difference. And this man, whom she earlier refused to ally with, is starting to make a lot more sense now. He wants the money, she wants her dead. They're after the same thing.
"But the rune master and the young Aethelmaer. They are a real pain." He continued. "I can't find an opening at all!"
"K...Kirin is an Aethelmaer!?"
"You mean you didn't know? Wow, you really are a kid. Anyway, this will be for the best." The man handed her three round, red tablets. "These are very strong, rune-infused sleeping pills. Make them drink this and take the girl away. Let's kill her then."
Ryli took a deep breath before taking them. "Alright."
After a long sleep, Freyja was finally back to her usual energetic self. Alaric entered Freyja's room, feeling guilty. After all, Ryli is an acquaintance of his. He felt gravely responsible.
"I'm sorry, you had to go through that."
"Don't sweat it Alaric!" She playfully slapped his shoulder. "I'm still alive so, it's okay!"
Freyja felt sorry for the girl Ryli. Though she is very angry, she can't bring herself to believe that Ryli really intended to kill her. Also, if she were in her position, she can't guarantee that she'd be as calm as she wanted to be. If Kirin suddenly decides to leave her, she'll surely feel devastated. She imagined Kirin saying the same words Alaric said to Ryli last night. And though hypothetical, it did hurt her a lot.
"Alaric, I can't say that I am not mad at Ryli... but, shouldn't we be looking for her right now?"
Alaric sighed. "I don't know."
"Two hours before landing. Two hours before landing."
The announcement cut off their conversation. After two hours, they'll be arriving at the 'cursed' islands. Kirin especially made arrangements for the airship management to drop them off there. No commercial flight dares to land on those islands, he had to pay triple the fare.
Freyja's heart thumped faster and faster as she waited for the ship to land from the upper deck, right on the same place she fell off last night. This time, Astrid in his human form stood beside her. It was already sunrise. Her eyes glued onto the rising sun that appeared crimson in color at first. Together, they watched the sun slowly ascend to the skies and illuminate the earth.
"Astrid..." Freyja called, "Last night, as I was falling, I saw the moon turned red. Then, I heard a voice." Astrid nodded. "It sounded so familiar. Surely, its a voice from Celestia."
"I think, the celestial aura inside you is keeping you alive at all costs." He made a plausible point, but Freyja shook her head.
"I don't know. But, there's only one thing that we know for sure." Freyja reached her hand out to the bright sun. "My life. I became too reliant on Kirin, acted more and more selfishly and unreasonably. I was at fault when I let my guard down. I almost forgot I am Celestia's Lenfiare. My life doesn't just belong to me anymore. Astrid, I command you to stop me every time I endanger Celestia's future." Astrid was taken aback with her words. He had to hear those big words from a thirteen year old human girl with very little memories about a place she cannot even go to. A smile graced his usually straight face. For a moment, he heard the ruler of Celestia speaking from inside that small body.
"...when I thought I'd die last night, I realized how powerless as I am and how afraid I am of ending things this way. I still needed Kirin to save me. I still needed Alaric to comfort me. I have to get stronger. I'm still far from where I'm supposed to be." Freyja clenched her fists in frustration. "And to reach that, I must live. I think that's what my father failed to realize back then. That, I am not just his daughter. I am also the heir to the throne."
Astrid felt a warm feeling surge inside his supposedly cold heart. "I obey, Lenfiare."
~ o 0 o ~