" An angel of destruction?
Or an angel of salvation?
La La La...."
All of a sudden, the ground shook violently again, the song echoed around the cave. This time, the voice is much louder and clearer. "Kirin, the voice!" Freyja shouted, clinging onto him.
"Whatever this is, we have to stop it. Hold on tight!" Kirin grabbed Freyja's hand and rushed forward. Since Freyja cannot see well in the dark, she can only trust him. "Listen Freyja, try to feel the source of the energy. I need you to guide me." Freyja nodded and did exactly that. She placed her full trust on Kirin and focused her mind and aura into 'sensing'. Soon after she started feeling faint pulses of aura which Kirin doesn't seem to notice. "Go left, Kirin." She instructed.
"Go straight. Right. Right. Head straight. Something's above us..." Kirin followed every single instruction. He broke boulders, scaled stone walls, until finally, Freyja sensed an overwhelming surge of malicious aura. She pulled Kirin back and crouched in pain.
"Hey! What's the matter?"
Freyja groaned in pain, feeling 'something' inside her violently react to the strange dark aura nearby. "Freyja! Hey! What's happening!?" Kirin had a good guess in mind. It must be the Celestial aura that's causing the turmoil in her body. At once, he tried to help Freyja suppress it by using his own aura. But it backfired. Instead, his black aura worsened her pain, leaving Freyja rolling on the ground. "AAAHHHHH!" As she struggled, the pitch black cave was slowly illuminated by the light leaking from Freyja's body. Her white aura materialized as light, and it seemed that she had no control over it. Kirin could only watch as her white aura stuck onto the stone walls, lighting up strange letters carved on the cave. It reminded him of Astrid's prison.
Slowly, the pain subsided. Freyja stood up, but still chasing after her breath. Just as when Kirin thought it's over, the ground started shaking again. This time, it shook even more violently that before.
Giant tentacles emerged from the cracks on the ground and this time, its core finally showed itself. Right before Kirin and Freyja, was a gigantic blob monster engulfed in overwhelming black aura!
'Alaric! Ryli!!" Not only that, Freyja saw her two friends inside the translucent body of the blob monster. Without any second thoughts, Freyja drew her sword and rushed to the monster to set them free. But of course, the tentacles were in her way, making it hard for her to even get near.
"Geez, why are you so hot headed?" Kirin too, summoned his black blade and ran after her.
Freyja ran around the monster, then, seeing a big opening, she charged at it. One of the monster's tentacles tried to attack her from behind, but Freyja immediately cut it off with her short aura-enforced sword. The tentacle fell off, but shortly grew back. The tentacles kept on growing no matter how many times Freyja cut it.
"It's no use Freyja! Stop it!" Kirin shouted, "Stand back and save your energy, I'm going to find out this thing's weakness." Kirin ran towards the blob, cutting and evading the attacking tentacles while carefully trying to locate the source of its aura. Kirin was extremely fast compared to the monster, it couldn't get a hold of his position. As Kirin started jumping closer and around the monster, he noticed a sphere like thing inside is body, emanating a strong dark aura. With a smirk, he jumped back, back to Freyja.
"Its 'brain' is that sphere behind its head...." Kirin quickly reported.
"I see, I am going to use Astrid and..." Kirin stopped Freyja from doing such a dangerous thing. "Don't. Do you plan to charge head on? It's probably using a Celestial Guardian as an aura core too. It's too risky to risky like that. Leave it to me."
"But Kirin!" Although Freyja knew that Kirin is extremely fast and strong, the monster can only sustain damage from her white aura. "Listen Freyja, save your energy for later. When I disconnect its source, your white aura sword is the only thing that can put an end to it!"
Freyja understood his point and nodded. "But I am going to rescue Alaric and Ryli too..."
"Leave that to me too." Kirin again, interrupted.
"Hah!?"
"Now, protect yourself!" Kirin didn't even let her complain. With inhuman speed, he rushed towards the monster, as the nervous Freyja carefully waited for an opening. Kirin jumped and jumped, skillfully evading each and every attack. However, the moment he got near the head, the blob monster started to spurt out a sticky jelly liquid immobilizing Kirin.
"Kirin!" Freyja was about to call Astrid, but Kirin stopped her. "STOP!" He rolled, and stood up once more. Without wasting a single second, Kirin charged at the blob again. The blob found Kirin too fast, that it could not react in time. With this, Kirin stabbed his blade into the monster's 'brain.'
"You got him!" Freyja rejoiced. Now that the he cut the monster's power source, the blob weakened and Kirin took the chance to pull Alaric and Ryli out of his body. Then, he ran out of the way holding the two in each of his arms.
"NOW FREYJA! Finish it!"
"ASTRID!" The legendary white aura started to radiate from her body, forming the white rune blade on her right hand.
"Let's get him Astrid," Freyja commanded. "Yes, Lenfiare."
Freyja didn't let Kirin hog all the glory. She charged straight at the blob monster, cutting all the tentacles that stood in her way! With all of her might, Freyja jumped up, aura on her feet to give her a boost, and slashed the blob's body into two. "Yahhhhhh!" She shouted, watching the monster's body melt into tiny bits of sticky liquid, which then evaporated into thin air.
"Good work Astrid... You may return." The celestial sword disappeared in one command.
"Wow, and you're still standing after all that. Not exhausted?" Kirin ruffled her hair. Freyja grinned. "Come on, I'm used to it already!"
"Sleeping Dragon,
My little dragon,
My beloved dragon
I'm always watching you
The strange song echoed around the cave once more. Freyja closed her eyes, feeling the nostalgic warmth the song brought with it. The medallion hanging over her chest started heating up.
What would you be?
An angel of destruction,
Or an angel of salvation?
La La La...
Fly up high, little dragon
See the world with those eyes
The song stopped. Freyja felt a cold hand on her face. A faded into existence right before her: A young man with a lady's face, with long, jet black hair and pale gray eyes, clad in a long, white tunic dress. Freyja's tears started rolling down her cheeks. Wide-eyed, her heart raced.
"Mo..." Freyja's tears streamed down her eyes. "Mother!" She threw herself into his arms, burying her face in his cold, firm chest.
The lady-faced man's eyes blankly stared at the girl, who stood there without moving a single finger. He addressed Freyja in the same polite manner Astrid does. "Lenfiare," He called, "Freyja Lenfiare Leafen, it is me, Aria. Do you remember now?" Aria gently held Freyja's cheeks with both of his ice-cold hands. He lowered his face down to hers, their foreheads touching. "Lenfiare, please remember me."
Freyja closed her eyes, and felt a surge of white aura enter her body. Little by little, memories started flowing into her.
~ o 0 o ~
Little Freyja slept on Reyrah Fiega's lap. Just like her daughter, the Alfiore's second consort had the long jet black hair of the Leafen clan. "Mother?" Freyja woke up. Then, she covered Freyja's eyes with her right palm.
"What do you see?" She asked.
"WOW!" The little girl exclaimed, amazed by her mother's power. "So many flowers! And... tall grasses! And there's a flying baby dragon!" Reyrah giggled.
"Hey!" Little Freyja suddenly blurted out, "Hey! Wait!"
"What's the matter?"
"There's a boy over there...but he's not looking... he has pretty silver hair..." She mumbled. "Mother, how come he can't hear me?"
"Because you're yet to meet him."
What Reyrah did was to show Freyja a bit of her future. This is her inherited ability from the Fiega clan. Reyrah Fiega, second consort of Kinju Alfiore Leafen and Freyja's mother,is well known for her prodigious clairvoyance, wit and fighting abilities. Apart from being consort, she is also the Alfiore's most trusted commander and advisor. She once led an entire platoon of one Celestia's most elite assault fighters. Even the celestial guardians, the king's most powerful 'weapons' and 'shields' hold her in high regard.
Reyrah was the best, until Freyja was born. Since then, both her body and ability to foretell the future weakened drastically until there's almost nothing left. For this, she lost her position as commander, and as all the prestige that came with it.
From a very young age, Freyja had already heard rumors about her birth being an ominous sign. Although Alfiore Kinju nor Reyrah never said a word about it, she sensed tension every time she tried to bring it up. And whenever she did, Reyrah most especially, had the most painful look in her face. No matter how much Reyrah would cover it up with a smile, Freyja knew deep inside how much it scarred her.
"Little Dragon" was what her mother used to call her.
Freyja enjoyed sneaking into training sessions wherein she would watch Reyrah train Celestials, singlehandedly beating elite celestial army commanders in training bouts, despite her already weakened state. But, while Freyja would cheer to her victories, Reyrah would not. There was always a clear disappointment that never left her face.
"Sleeping Dragon,
My little dragon,
My beloved dragon
I'm always watching you
What would you be?
An angel of death?
Or an angel of salvation?
La La La...
Fly up high, little dragon
See the world with those eyes
Because I know that you, are the light
Sleeping Dragon,
My little dragon,
My beloved dragon
I'm always watching you"
This was the lullaby that Reyrah sang to her, over and over. The only lullaby she ever sang for her.
It is the Second Consort Reyrah that the celestial guardian Aria was molded after. Aria, the youngest of the five guardians was born under Kinju Alfiore's rule, emerged from his very own aura core.
"Aria..." Little Freyja stared at the celestial guardian, who, in turn, stared at her with blank eyes. "Nice to meet you!" She greeted, pulling his long black hair. Aria knelt down and held the little girl's warm cheek. "So warm..." He mumbled.
Freyja held his hands in turn, and shivered. "So cold!"
On the day of the Lenfiare's fifth birthday, Celestia fell. The traitors and their allies forcefully broke the barrier protecting Celestia and its capital. Riding Astrid's back, Freyja fled back to the palace, desperately looking for Reyrah.
Reyrah stood there, fists clenched, a sharp dagger on her hand. As the little girl came to her, she took steps back. She hesitated. She bit her lip, so hard it bled. She then ran to Freyja and grabbed the little girl's hand. Reyrah covered the little girl's eyes, so that she won't witness the embers engulfing her homeland. She pulled her up, so that she won't hear the cries of her kinsmen.
On the very top of that tower lies the Core of Celestia, the very heart that keeps the Kingdom alive. It is the source of their aura, of their sorcery, of their lives. A fraction of that tremendous power can only be caged by those born in the Leafen bloodline. But Reyrah went beyond the limits, she had to. She pushed the little girl in the middle of the cold room and started chanting spells Freyja could barely make sense of. "I'm sorry." Freyja read her lips for one last time before Reyrah took half of the Core of Celestia and forcefully fused it with Freyja's tiny body. Freyja couldn't put the pain she felt in words. It was like every fiber in her body was torn and burned.
In exchange for her life and the lives of the remaining loyal troops that guarded them, Reyrah summoned a gate to the farthest dimension from Celestia.
"Mother! Don't leave me!" Freyja reached her hand out to her, but her cries were ignored. "Mother! Help me! No!"
The gate Reyrah summoned started to suck her in, away from her mother, away from her home. "Mother! Alfiore! No!" All she could do was watch her mother's limbs turn into a pale crystal, her life and aura all seeped away from her.
~ o 0 o ~
"Lenfiare, are you alright?" Aria's voice awakened Freyja. She wiped her tears off and faced Aria with a smile. "Don't worry about me, Aria. I'm glad you're alright."
"You okay?" Kirin asked. Freyja nodded. "Aria resembles my mother so much, but he is a celestial guardian like Astrid."
"H-HE?" Kirin emphasized, with a raised eyebrow. "That doesn't look like a 'he' to me." He thought.
"Yeah, HE." Freyja repeated and Aria nodded, still with a blank face. "That lullaby, that's my mother's song right? That's an ancient lullaby in Serleira, my mother's hometown. Mother used to sing that song to me." Freyja softly spoke.
"Yes, it was Reyrah Fiega who taught me that song. Pardon my earlier actions Lenfiare, that monster drove my memories into chaos. All that was left for me to find you is through the song." Aria explained, kneeling before her. Freyja shook her head while holding Aria's ice-cold cheek. "So cold..." She murmured. Fondly remembering very first time they met, Aria closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of Freyja's hand. "So warm..." He thought.
Aria disappeared into a thick, white smoke, encircled the girl's body before entering the medallion hanging over her chest. Now, Freyja holds two celestial guardians with her. "Welcome back, Aria."
Freyja and Kirin now attended to the unconscious Alaric and Ryli. From inside the medallion, Aria spoke. "Lenfiare, I can mend flesh and bones through your aura." With Aria's help, Freyja closed her eyes before touching Alaric's wounds. Her hand was suddenly illuminated by a radiant white light. The wounds she touched with her glowing hand started to heal at a phenomenal rate! Even Kirin couldn't believe such fast aura-assisted healing was possible. Not for long Alaric and Ryli's wounds were healed as If nothing happened. However, the cost of this new power was quite expensive. The moment she restored her friends, Freyja felt dizzy and weak. "Kirin... I'm..." She whispered, feeling her consciousness leave her little by little.
"It's okay, go to sleep." Kirin covered her eyes with a hand, letting the girl drift into a deep sleep.
~ o O o ~