ERICA
Ever since the disappearance of Manni I have been receiving strange dreams. At first, I thought it was all just an imaginary made-up fantasy that my mind somehow conjured it up, but over time the dreams continue and they just keep getting worst. Then there is this woman. She looks exactly like me, but she has a different vibe around her loyal, brave, and kind. Everything that I am not.
This girl is a warrior. She is often caught to be on battlefields putting her life on the line for sake of the country and the people. When she gets home she would buy up some delicious food, toys for little brother, and medicine for her sickly mother. She plays the role of the eldest son in the family since there weren't any men in the house. She needed this job. It was good pay but comes with a dangerous price; her life.
In order to come back safely from the war. She often visits an abandoned shrine in the middle of the forest. In there, she will clean up the place and restore it to its former glory. She would feel like she has this connection to this shrine though it is lost in many people. She would go there pay a visit to the shrine offer it some fruits and pray to the gods for the safety of her family and her safe returns from each war. Each time she does she feels like there is a god beside her protecting her.
The warrior always goes there always paying her respect to the gods and it was that one day she met the love of her life. A girl in red and white priestess clothing hiding beside a sakura tree. The warrior bows her head to show her respect.
"You always come here," the priestess said. "Why is that? Not many people come here anymore. It had been left abandoned."
"Yes," the warrior said. "Yes, it had, but I will not."
"Why is that?" the priestess questioned her curiosity for the warrior.
"I don't know, to be honest. It seems like there is some kind of pull here that drags me here. This place makes me feel very at ease."
The priestess laughed. "You say that like you're not a human. Only, monster say words like that."
"Perhaps, I am," the warrior joked. "And perhaps I am not. I have never known my father. I don't know if he is dead or alive or even how he looks like. Maybe he is a monster and my brother and I are his halflings."
"I like you," the priestess compliments. She walked out of the shadows and into the sunlight. The priestess long black hair shimmered underneath the sun and her white skin reflects the sunlight. She had a small elegant face with sharp features along with big round eyes. It was in the warrior thought that the priestess is one of the most beautiful women she has ever met.
"It's a pleasure to be liked by a priestess," the warrior smiles.
The priestess smiles and turns to look at the shrine god. She arched her eyebrow in surprise. "How do you know the fox god likes peaches?"
"Like I said it's the pull."
"Hmm... you're mysterious, aren't you," the priestess implied. "My name is Hisa Kanae."
"Nora Jamison," the warrior greeted.
Since then every time the warrior visits the fox shrine so does the priestess. They became fast friends and they were quick to fall in love. As a priestess, she knew it was forbidden to fall in love but she defied the law and came to a decision to be with her lover forever no matter how harsh the consequences were. All they needed for each other. She longs to have a family.
However, the sweet days did not last forever. The dreams will always end up in blood, corpses, and fire everywhere with the warrior standing in the middle of everything screaming in pain, but that's not the worst of everything. The warrior appearance changed her long dark hair was cut up in rage all ragged up and in a mess. The blue eyes she has changed into lavender purple holding onto a sword. A sword that I always carry when I summoned it from the other side.
It was the ice sword!
There were many gaps in this dream it was as if someone or something is preventing me to see more of this story, I don't know if this is just all just a dream or a reflection of the past or my past, but the only way to figure this nonsense out was through Micah. She acts like the priestess from my dream. It is the only explanation that Micah wants me so bad it is because Hisa and Nora made a promise under the very tree that they met.
The weird part about this. It is how did Micah remember all her past life while my memories as Nora remained sealed. I open the room to Micah's bedroom and she stared back at me.
"Hisa Kanae," I called.
"You remembered," she asked.
"Of course," I replied. "After all, we did seal our promise with a kiss."
Micah's gaze began to tear up. It was the first time in these five years that I have seen Micah cry. She was always a strong person who never cries and does whatever she wants and whenever she wants. Seeing her like this makes me realized that I was really Nora in the past life, but if so, how did Micah has all her memories of her past life intact?
I breathe in this situation. "I am really Nora, aren't I?"
Without having to realize what was happening I was being pulled into an embrace with Micah tears all over my clothing. "Yes," she replied. "You are Nora. Ever since the day my eyes had laid on you. I saw the soul of my lover dwells within you. Even more surprising that you still have your old looks. You are Nora, my lover, my fiancee. Always and forever."
I sighed and reminisce about the time we had together in the past. However, in this life, we are not. I pulled out her arms that were wrapped around my waist and backed away from her. She looked at me, shocked. "We promised, Nora!" she exclaimed. "Always and Forever."
"Perhaps," I whispered. "Perhaps we had, Kanae, but right now we are not. I am Erica Von Lumia the boos of this family meanwhile you are Micah from the Arcana family. In this life, you had not only tried to threaten me but you had almost killed my lover and my best friend. Now, you are still in the body of my daughter's mother. Tell me, Hisa, how is this love?"
"I did it all for us. We promised... you promised!"
I shook my head. "That life had ended, Micah. We can't go back to it anymore. You have to move on as I did."
"No!" she yelled. "I will not move on from it! We promised underneath the cherry blossom that you and I have both met. We will always be together for infinity. I will not believe that this is the end of it."
"Micah-"
"Stop! I don't like people calling me Micah. I want to be Hisa Kanae. I won't believe in all of this. I will make you love me again."
I shook my head and I couldn't help but smile sadly at this situation. I am disappointed. "What happened? You weren't like this back in the past you were sweet. loving and caring. What happened to you that turned you like this?"
"Love happened," she said. "It is because of the love that we shared that made me like this."
"You know it isn't. It's because in this life you merged with your god it made you like this."
"And it's because of whom?" she asked which surprised me. "It's because of you. It is because I wanted to find you. We swore underneath that tree to be together and now you broke it."
"Micah-"
"Stop calling me by that name!'
"Ok, Kanae," I said. Her eyes were so red filled with so much disappointment, but I just can't let her have her way. She has cost me so much misery in this life.
She wipes her tears away before she continued talking. "I have waited for you to retrieve back your old memories. I thought it was impossible, but now you do, but this is not the only reason why I had to inhabit your wife's body. I have betrayed my position as a priestess to be with you, and my people weren't so kind to me in this betrayal. They have locked my body up. It was because of Hephaestus that my spirit was allowed to roam free in another body to search for you.
You should probably know who they really are by now, Nora. If you really had retrieved back your old memories. The battles you have as Nora is not over. Listen to me, Nora what I am about to say is a warning. Once I finished saying I will be forced to return back to my original body then the mother of your child will be returned back to you." I listened but I didn't get a single word out of her mouth. "Your brother is still alive find him. He needs to return the-" Before Micah can say anything else her eyes quickly closed and she almost fell onto the ground. I quickly went in and held her before her head could even hit the floor. I brought her into my arms and saw a tear escaped her eyes.
My heart was filled with guilt, but I couldn't ignore the fact that she almost killed people I hold dear to get in this life. Truly, I had once loved her when I was Nora Jamison. I kissed on her forehead and I let a tear slipped past my eyes. "I'm sorry," I apologized. However, there is a more important matter at hand than the love I had lost.
The ghost of my past is not over. I have not fully revived my memories as Nora. My little brother Olive Jamison is still alive.