joyous music pouring from across the world, an overflowing amount of people outside and stores giving off a welcoming aura, the celebration of entitlement given to all the kings and leaders of each race, but, most importantly-
"Mother! Father! you're here!" my Mother, Liliya Roza, the legendary Fallen of the Fallen race and my Father, Naoya Roza, the blood grim of the Fallen.
"Osiria! I'm so happy to meet you again! how's Theia's care? was it alright?" as of right now, we're both in the 3rd estate of Aunt Theia's mansion. Aunt Theia isn't here though, she's currently with Aunt Mei and Alice in the Underwater City of Kinquol.
"it's fine, more importantly, how are you two!? I've been worried when I didn't have the chance to say goodbye to you, mother"
"well... you can take a guess" my Mother perks up a smile and I took a glance at father looking quite... defeated...
"well-... besides that, how're your time in school? it's been a month and you haven't sent us a message so I was quite worried" huh? but I've been sending messages from the 4th day of school...
"did you two didn't get my letters? I've been sending them nonstop but I didn't get any replies so I assumed that both of you are busy..."
mother was curious, where did my messages go anyway?
"miss Liliya, sir Naoya, I think it's time for you two to explore the city, yes?" sir Rohel barged in, wait- I thought he was relieved?"
"Ahh! Rohel! it's nice to see you again. how's Maya been doing?"
"fine, and physically well too. she's been bedridden in milady's estate in the Fallen city for quite a while. thank you for asking"
mother was quite ecstatic about it... meanwhile, father has been preparing their stuff... wait-
"father- what's with the luggage? you two aren't staying here aren't you?"
both of them suddenly perked-stuttered, are they... hiding something?
"Lady Osiria, would you please kindly help me in preparing some stuff?" sir Rohel asked suddenly, but calm as always- "sure, what is it?"
"follow me-" so I did.
sir Rohel guided me to the temporary shelter, this was where the orphans and the apprentices were supposed to be living in 150 years ago. it's all just collecting dust now so it turned into a shed of some sort...
"miss Osiria, you have knowledge about the current celebration happening in the whole world as of right now, right?" he asks. of course, who wouldn't?
I nod and he explains a bit more further while cleaning some stuff- "you see, the human race celebrates this as the end of the war, where the peace finally came into existence for over a millennium. the Flora in the meanwhile celebrates this as the entitlement of their current queen, queen Caroline Arka which has lived for even before the war, the serpentines celebrates this as the history's final major bookmark in their legendary archives in the sunken city of Aric. and the Fallen, the celebration of their freedom."
the Fallen's freedom... I've experienced this firsthand... about a hundred and so years ago... I have a static memory of it but I can fairly call out some of the events.
"but, unlike the Fallen's celebration, your parents, so does milady and lady Mei, they celebrate this event twice in this month. it might have been taught to you in your class am I correct?"
"yes-" the year before this whole peace existed... when I wasn't born, both mother and father were fighting the demon child Parva, but- the stories they said were entirely different from what my parents told me...
Rohel sat down, he was also inviting me to sit down, storytime?
"you see, what the others have not told, or may have strayed from the actual story was that, both your parents and Alice's mother wasn't able to do anything, your mother knows this like it was the back of his hand, it gave her a traumatic experience that even invited herself to death right before you were adopted by them"
mother didn't give off the feeling like that when I met her... more like- she was like the angel given by the goddess Alyn...
"We don't entirely know the full story, but from what we heard from milady Theia, the grandmaster- Kirin himself told her own sister to not do anything that would propose the idea of helping him, there was a reason of course, for not being able to use their own abilities, Kirin made sure that she won't be harmed in any way, milady was known throughout the world but the only info they didn't know about her was that she was a fallen, fallen were discriminated as the devils of the world and should be exterminated from the past. if the mass caught wind of this, milady would be overtaken without question, there would even be some traitorous servants involved if that happens."
so... Aunt Theia would've died?
"besides that, the human kingdom, its mass specifically infiltrated the Fallen and took over the lab, with the mindset of protecting his creation- your parents, Liliya and Naoya was forced to retreat into a different world with an unstable contraption, trapping miss Liliya and sir Naoya in the process while Mei refused and stayed with Kirin. they failed, surprisingly. with sir Kirin's heavily depleted Ether capacity, they weren't able to protect themselves and had to hide decreasing their forces in the process. with that, Kirin had to come up with the plan to lose the Fallen's discrimination and at the same time, the safety of his creation when they come back. the wish was granted but at the expense of his death."
the window opens letting in a cool but shivering breeze- "alright, I think that's enough. please carry that large case over there"
large case? "oh! you mean this?"
----------------
we return to the lobby and- "miss Liliya, sir Naoya. please refrain from doing anything too sexual in front of your kid please?"
"..." I'm... speechless...
"R-Rohel! Osiria! y-you two are finally back...! we were so worried-" mother puts on a nervous smile... well... it looks like father is rather calm about this-
a guy suddenly enters the lobby- his race is... Fallen? no- a spirit?
"Mr. Naoya- oh! sorry for intruding. we are ready to depart. it's on your call"
"ahh- Tyl, you don't need to ask for my permission, we're ready whenever-"
father is talking quite a lot right now... hmm- surprising "father? who's he?"
"ahh- this is Tyl Leinhord our captain for our departure. Tyl, this is my daughter, Osiria." Tyl bows- "a pleasure to meet you lady Osiria" such a warm smile, he looks young too- a bit immature... "Rohel, please return to the house. Tyl prepare the ship"
Tyl salutes and walks back- meanwhile, sir Rohel is alongside me- "can I go too?"
"haha- Osiria, you do know that you're currently on school right?" mother gives me a slight laugh, I can feel a bit of loneliness from her...
"miss Liliya, sir Naoya- I believe it's fine to bring her there right? assuming that she'll return back here once we're finished" sir Rohel announce his opinion- so... can I come with?
"but-... I don't know... I want to but..." mother was hesitant... even father didn't know what to do- "why don't I call Ingrid if it's fine" mother does and while we wait-
"lady Osiria, I'd like you to be silent when we arrive at our destination, this is a very important day for both your parents and your aunts" hmm?
mother stops- "Ingrid said it's fine. if Osiria ever gets late then she'll be excused only for 48 hours then she should attend" aww... I wanted a one day leave...
"alright then, Naoya~ mind carrying mine too?" mother looks so young that being cute like that is still passable... Fallen doesn't age normally anyway and are practically immortal...
"no" father gave mother a death stare- sometimes... I don't know if they're even married...
------------
as of right now, we're currently boarding through the skyship from Mr. Tyl. I've also learned from sir Rohel that these ships are called Ikarus. an inspirational name from the world of earth we visited a long time ago-
"the celebration is quite dense... what are your thoughts Osiria?" mother asks-
"well... I'm still not used to people but as long as mother and father is with me then... I'm okay" I give my honest answer. the dense crowd can't even be counted anymore, it would also be certain that it could be considered as a flood.
"last time I saw this dense human crowd was when that time from the war! remember the time when we needed to command Arie to infiltrate the back?" mother and father were on their own world again... this happens most of the time when they get reminded of the past- it's... calming, to see both of them like this.
"now now, miss Osiria, please be careful of your step" ahh! "y-yes! sorry..."
-----------
the ship... I can't remember the last time I have ever ridden one... the skies is as breezy as ever, thankfully, the ship has equipment when going outside. the cold atmosphere is enough to kill even the strongest of the Fallen-
"Osiria, are you doing fine?" mother... "I'm fine. mothe- mom... did you two have to fight when it was the war?" I've been curious to this ever since I was adopted by them... mom sat down beside me, the lobby was silent that even her whispers could be heard across the lobby-
mother laughs- "Osiria, of course, we had to, that was our sole purpose when we were born" so she says... "if you were born because of that then... your creator wasn't nice... Uncle could've given you two a nice life without war and lived happily... why did he give you two a tough life?"
mother sighs- "hun, all of us Fallen have been discriminated. we were born to fight against this, to push back our rights when we were in our days of youth, but your Uncle- Kirin, he had a different mission, a goal, both to give us our freedom and- to defeat what one has become..."
what one has become? "what is that?" I ask. I could see mom shed a tear- "Parva, an ancestor of us, the one who gives hell. in short, only Kirin could've defeated her"
"so... why did uncle give life to you two? I mean... if he had no reason to, then he would've avoided hurting you right?" I was- curious, if Uncle didn't have the need of mom and dad then... why were both of them born?
"that's... only Mei knows it, she has always been close to Kirin to an extent and always follows him. Kirin's secrets, his types, his affection towards us, all of this could be asked from her but... don't ask her..."
mom looked at the sky out in the window, petals started to grow from outside the ship, mom's petals- "Mei have been tough around us but- just like me and Naoya, broke down when the time Kirin died..."
"then... what was uncle like?" I had to ask, I still don't know if he was nice to them-
"Kirin-... was nice, albeit a tad awkward to talk to-" mom smiled "he'd always make some ridiculous theories and contraptions, talk in riddles, even work overnight just to see us be at our best." the petals stopped flowing- "that scarf, his final gift to me until his death. it's the most precious thing he's given to me since I was born... and now, you're wearing it" mom gives a motherly aura- I knew uncle gave this to mom but... that's not really telling much on who he really is
"miss Liliya. would you please check up on the radar? we seem to have a problem" an employee?
"sure. sorry hun, I might need to do this first. we'll be done until we arrive so sit down and behave alright?"- mom left... the lobby is quite nice and large... it's like a restaurant with the sits in symmetrical order...
this scarf... these have sir Phaedra's stitch and that- that eye... it's gone, I don't feel it too... there's no aura in this scarf that gives off that similar feeling when I was with that strange guy...
"I'm gonna have to say sorry to uncle Kirin's grave... it might've been tainted..." I say to myself. I know he's dead but... I feel guilty for him and mom since this is sentimental to mom...
------
a few minutes pass and mom still hasn't returned, besides that, a girl came in and sat down with me, I-... that Ether... it's... not similar to ours... an otherworldly?
"hello there! you don't mind sitting here right?" she asks bluntly-
"I... mind-... who are you?" I ask. even though I was practically silent about it, she heard it loud and clear.
"ahh- right. I'm Ren, Kiriya Ren, although it might sound like a boy's name, I'm one hundred percent a female. so? are you the so-called white rose?"
that's... rather straightforward... "yes-... Osiria... Rosa..." I stutter a bit- I don't feel comfortable with her...
"please... excuse me..." I head to the bathroom and she gives me a smile... I don't know if there's anything hidden there... she's... an enigma...
------------
"hm? Osiria, what are you doing here?" it's dad-
"fa- Dad... there's a strange girl there, I don't know how to talk t-" dad Immediately dashed through the lobby leaving me alone, a moment after he arrived, he looked around and-
"are you sure Osiria? I don't sense anything here." huh? wait-
"I... I swear she was here. I-... she called herself Kiriya Ren and her Ether wasn't similar to ours so... I didn't know how to respond back and I was uncomfortable..."
I say that but... we took a closer look and there were no hint of someone else being with me. so... did I hallucinate? no... I would've sensed that if it was weak... but- if she was an otherworlder then she might've had some powers that doesn't correspond to ours...
"... everything's fine it seems... did you really see someone?" he looks stressed...
"I-... don't know... maybe I was hallucinating... I-... might need some rest..."
add hurriedly carried me to a room and let me sit in the bed. they had this too?
"Osiria, if someone besides us that manages to enter this room then call immediately. there's no one else supposed to enter this without permission"
what's with the tension?... "dad? why are you so nervous?" I ask him but he just shakes his head... "nothing. just sit there and take a rest. we'll arrive to the graveyard soon" he left-
what was that? but... I'm not one to talk to- did I really hallucinate that? was it an illusion? or is my mind playing tricks again... whatever it is, I'm sure it's not that big... probably.
----------
a few hours in and we finally arrive to our destination, Dad said it was a graveyard and it's seemingly close to our old home, it's just one street in and it's faintly visible-
"Osiria! it's been a long time" it's big sis Rin- I thought she quit being Aunt Mei's lapdog?
"Osiria! you came too?" Analisse was with her, it seems that Aunt Mei and Aunt Theia isn't here... "yeah- I was a bit curious but it was fine- how about you? it's been a day since I haven't seen you"
Alice is wearing some sort of traditional garb from back then, it's just white silk but it has a big meaning to it- mom and dad is also wearing some garb but a bit modified- I don't have one but mom said it's fine so I just stick with my uniform-
"isn't it the celebration of entitlement? how come you're here?" Alice asks, I answer her rather straightforward and blunt- I don't really care much. I'm not the type of girl to travel without someone else with me...
"ahh- right, well then, once this is all finished, why don't we hang out in the suite near here? I already booked there and I can hide you somewhere- let's see..."
sneak me in!? "um... no- I don't want to... that aside, did you see a woman with long silver hair?"
"silver hair? no- I don't think so, I've been with Rin this whole time but never saw someone with silver hair" as expected... I'm not in some story that everything will convenient for me...
. . .
. .
.
-to our goddess, Alyn, please let us send a message to the dead, give us the chance to talk to the past and see the dead.-
the normal prayer. mom and dad always chant this whenever the time comes... it's like some sort of prayer. along with that, they talk silently that no one could hear their voices...
no one's talking, sis Rin gave us a shh from the start so we didn't try to talk. the silence is eerie but somehow calming. mom lets out a patch of petals and dad excretes blood from his hands where the pulse should be. after that, the petals and the blood coated from Uncle Kirin's grave and absorbed it, nothing could be seen... it's like it ate everything by somehow not opening anything...
sis gave us a nod. is it finished?
"go ahead, both of you can go now." Rin said. were we just here to watch? I'm concerned about mom since she looks like she's about to cry but the moment I look at sis Rin, she just shakes her head. Alice and I just agreed to it and left the graveyard.
"that... was anticlimactic..." I try to grab a drink in my bag but-
"huh?" nothing. my bag's half-empty. "something wrong Osiria?" Alice tilts her head. I show her that most of my belongings seem to be missing.
"ahh- that? I took out most of it and gave it to sis Rin. although... aren't you a bit too young to play with foreign magic?" ahh- she noticed...
the things I had in my bag were mostly useless junk I found lying around aunt Theia's warehouse and found some items that Aunt Mei was working on but gave up halfway through.
"sorry... I was just curious-" Alice bonks me in the head- "idiot. if you're going to apologize then tell that to mom, plus- you being too curious at everything is a bit concerning... you should really stop"
"I know... it's just... everything that your mom- Aunt Mei makes is amazing and piques my interest. a servant said that it was fine to play with some of them so I took them with me." Alice is giving me a concerned look...
"look, do you even know how to use them?" I know... it's just-
----------
we blabbered for around 10 minutes and returned to where mom and dad were supposed to be but- "huh? where are they?" they're gone- the bags aren't here too. did they left?
"ahh! they're probably in the old inn from the south of here, it's close and has a hot spring too! sis Rin and I were booked there earlier so Aunt Liliya and Uncle Naoya are probably there" ahh- I see
"well? why don't we head there?" I say that and she leads, as always... this is the most common plan for us two and has always been considering that I'm quite older than her... probably not smarter since she was created by Aunt Mei...
"a-ahh s-sorry, excuse me." ehh?
a man with gray hair. he's... not human? I try to ask him but- I felt something grab my arm- it's Analisse.
"I keep telling you Osiria, curiosity could kill you any day you know? you should stop your habit" ahh-... right... "sorry" she gives me a sigh and started heading to the exit without me
I tried to follow him but-
I took a look at the man again and he seems to be praying at what seems to be a grave- Uncle Kirin's grave?
"no... curiosity could kill me... right- just listen to Alice and slap your face" well... I do just that- it hurts but at least I'm awake.
"right! to the inn..." I trot to the annoyed Analisse who was just waiting for me outside and start heading to south. I wonder who that guy is...
--------------
"starting the prayer again? you're quite diligent~" a girl in long white hair appears, wearing callous clothing for a graveyard-
"Ren. I told you to wait outside" the man was annoyed. he looks at her and the girl was suddenly on his back, caressing through the leather jacket the man was wearing
"hehe- don't worry, I won't show myself all too much. A~nyway, how's that little girl? you know? the one with jet black hair?"
"the one I just passed? she's nothing- leave her be. she has nothing she can do against us" the man started walking to the opposite exit. the girl sat around the grave, as if waiting for someone else to come.
"aren't you too lenient about this?" the man look back again- with a short knife barely visible in his hand-
"aren't you too prepared? that said, how's the boy?" the girl stands, with an ominous shadow towering over her slowly engulfing her
"fine. he's still passive for today." the girl smiles at her response. "well then, I'll see you again once I'm finished on my end" with her final words, the shadow engulfed her and immediately disappeared.
"tch- damn her." the man leaves with a pissed face, carefully looking around if anyone saw, even if anyone did see them-
"they'd be dead in an instant- by me."
-----------------
the night strikes and both me and Alice are done with the hot springs, we didn't find my parents but they left a message saying that we're free to do anything for the week, but still...-
"I'm quite surprised that I'm allowed to take a leave for one week... even Aunt Theia isn't that lenient about it..."
"I know right!? Aunt Theia will destroy you if you even miss another subject if you keep ditching, but then again... you did ace the whole test... how'd you do that?" Alice was walking around butt naked... at least she's comfortable with it...
she looks rather life-life now compared to the first time I saw her... looking all too much like a puppet "mind if I get that?"
. . .
. .
.
with the hectic party last night, the morning strikes and we began to look around the old village.
"hey- Osiria, I heard from mom that the old lab they were using from the day we weren't born was just a few walks away, care to join me?" she looks oddly prepared...
"sure... I am curious about that- haven't visited anything like a lab and I don't know anything over there..." "well duh. anyway, we should just be around there... mind holding this for me?"
"but you're the girl I always ask to carry me stuff..." "girl- look at how many things I'm currently carrying right now. just shut up and carry just one bag- I need to find where we are."
she's rather blatant right now... is she serious at finding this?
"I heard from Aunt Mei that the security in the lab is quite lax but thanks to the human race, they had to strengthen it with all their might. we should be careful heading there since both mom and Uncle Kirin doesn't know what rust means"
oh- no wonder... I forgot Alice is a nutcase when it comes to labs and security systems... it's supposed to be old and ancient right? it should be easy cracking this considering that Alice is a battle droid supposed to fight and do these kinds of stuff...
. . .
while we wander around the path, I noticed that the villagers here are mostly Fallen, I heard from Sis Rin that this was supposed to be the place where the Fallen race was supposed to be compact so the pure Fallen race here is not questionable. what's questionable to me is that it seems like she exaggerated a bit on considering this as the place where the Fallen were supposed to be living... but if that were true then... some of them probably have moved out thanks to the topography and the climate this place always has. being in the north doesn't help and being next door with the dragon race is quite nerve-wracking...
. . .
"ahh! I found it!" we're in a dense forest! well... I say dense but it's just a kilometer away from the main road. plus, there's a road leading to the lab so we basically followed the road there. I wonder who made this road...
we carefully sneaked around and opened the door, its still in its prime huh?
"Mom was right... the security is pretty active even right now... it's probably been abandoned for 800 years ago... maybe? but besides that, the old contraptions this lab has is quite complex... albeit inefficient." Alice just takes everything in sight... meanwhile, I'm too scared to even touch anything here...
"hmm... this is a long hallway... it's like something's supposed to ram us here"
"p-please anything but that! I don't want to fear death..." Alice laughs...
"c'mon, I already shut the system down, mom already told me the sequence so it was a piece of cake to crack so you don't have t- ugu" that strange sound... bonking her in the head poutingly-
"you should've told me that earlier..." "hahaha- yeah, I just wanted to see your reaction. although, what I said a second ago wasn't false. this hallway was meant to be a choke point, just so that only a limited amount of people can charge in, plus, this cannon right here, it seems to be enchanted and linked with a different Ether pattern, it's still alive to this day too-"
an ancient pattern still being alive? that's rare...
"every pattern is the same meaning that it's been created by the same person with familiarity with it... that being- only Uncle Kirin could control this..." we both stand in awe. Uncle Kirin was a king here huh?
is this-? I open one of the lockers and-
"woah! that's Mom's! and that's Uncle Naoya's Bloodlet! Aunt Liliya's Jade Sword!"
Alice was ecstatic to see these huh? so this is my parent's old weapons...
"bloodlet... it's dad's scythe when he was just a newborn... and these are-" I look around and there's more weaponry in the side, all of these are-
"ooh~ aren't these still practically usable?" Alice took a small amount of Ether crystals, I think these are all prototypes...
. . .
we snoop around for a good long minute and found something at least interesting
"yo- Osiria! aren't these old tape recorders? care to find what's inside?"
"hmm... sure. how about now? can we open that?" conveniently, there's a computer inside the. "so? how do we operate this?..."
. . .
after a while of cracking the password, we managed to watch an entire 10 tapes of a full 3 hours of video about mom, dad, a girl we haven't seen before, Aunt Mei and another girl who looks like Aunt Mei who we haven't seen before-.
"if my memory is correct from mom's old books, the people we didn't know was miss Yuna and Aunt Tai. and still... no images of Uncle Kirin huh?"
"was that your intention in the first place?" I ask her and she just nods blatantly... I see... "aren't you curious about it too Osiria!? I mean, besides the picture, we haven't seen Uncle Kirin moving or his voice at least... gahh! I'm infected by your curiosity syndrome!"
th-... that's not a word... and don't say that I infected you... "ignoring your remarks- I feel content with what we found, how about we carry all of the tapes and save them for later?" we took glances of our schedules and, we seem fine. we don't have much to do anyway-
after all that, we grab everything we wanted, the old necklace that was hung in the lightbulb and a few more things we considered interesting, we could already guess who's mine...
"are you really just going to take that Osiria? y'know... mom said it was fine to take anything there that we considered important or we like right?"
"yeah but... I'm more interested in the necklace. why was it hung there in the first place is my question"
Alice nods and says "that's the Osiria I know"... you don't have to be blunt about it...
we returned to the Inn quite content after this. it's still a bit early so we decided to explore around the city, I feel like the week will be nice and comfortable- for the most part at least- school's still boring even if you know what they're teaching or simply just listening...