The sun screamed as it launched itself into the sky.
The day came as quickly as the night faded and Jaci had an ominous pool at the pit of her stomach about the approaching day.
The sunlight had rudely woken her up from just an hour of slumber with the reminder of her new title fresh in her mind. It had been only a week since everything had happened, and she didn't enjoy the new weight upon her shoulders. Though, she did not expect it to be easy either.
True enough when she had returned home that night, her Father had looked at her and nodded with a grunt before returning to sliding a silver blade against a wet stone. He had not noticed the glaring mark on her forehead and the rest of the villagers seemed to have been oblivious to it as well.
Her heart rested easy from then.
But today was different.
Today the sun shone with purpose and dignity. If it hadn't wanted anybody to notice its flames, it was boasting about them now. It settled into a stationary spot amongst the clouds, resting upon its throne and only shifting when time went by.
"Jaci, remember to bring back more firewood. We're running low," her Father had said before he went on his way to work.
Ever since Jaci's Mother was persecuted and murdered by the villagers for being a cursed beast, her Father had normally kept her indoors to help with the house chores and meals. So, it surprised her that she was even able to step out of the house without having to sneak around her Father's snores and occasional dreamy mumbles.
But she had not questioned it and agreed. Perhaps, he was finally convinced that she wasn't like her Mother.
Only, she was and maybe even more.
She grabbed a deep woven basket to store the wood that she would find in the woods. Perhaps, she could even drop by Aria if time permitted. The sun seemed happy lazing upon its clouded cushions and she would finally see Aria's beauty in the light.
But the gnawing feeling in her gut didn't retract its claws.
She braided her hair to keep them in place and slipped on her thin and worn shoes. Her feet stepped out upon the beaten dirt pavement that was imprinted with signs of shoeprints, horse hooves and carriages. She wrapped a dark green coat around her shoulders and despite the heat, at least the hood was able to give her some shade. She lifted her skirt just slightly above her ankles, careful not to ruin the white fabric of her inner dress. The hood gave her the security she didn't know she needed as she darted through the gaps in the sea of villagers.
They looked past her as she avoided colliding into them, as though she were unnoticeable. Or maybe she just wasn't there at all. Perhaps they had purged the memory of that fateful day from their minds, perhaps they had not remembered that the woman they had claimed to be a monster actually bored a child.
Perhaps.
Perhaps.
Perhaps.
Perhaps, she didn't exist anymore.
Jaci trailed the path towards the nearby forests. There was only a section of it that people dared to enter into, most never ventured beyond the graves that served as a reminder of the dangers. The stone graves were glaring, a constant reminder that death had only awaited down that point.
The Crossover had always harboured mythical and mystical beings, though Jaci had never actually seen one before despite her constant trips to Aria.
She had wandered past the headstones when she was still a child, and now that she was nineteen years old. She knew the woods like the corners and cracks of her own home.
Yet, there were more to be discovered.
She was careful not to step on the small blossoms of flowers upon the grass and dirt. She could hear their chattering as she passed them, bidding her hellos and goodbyes in tiny voices. The grass, on the other hand, were alright with her steps. They were built to last, and they were tenacious despite their small stature.
When she knew she was out of sight from the villagers, she pulled her hood down and greeted the trees with joy and love. They whispered back their response in a gentle wind and rustled leaves.
"I need some dry wood; would you help me?" she asked her friends.
They eagerly responded by guiding her deeper into the forest.
Turn left here.
Turn right there.
There should be some under this tree.
There are some under that tree.
And Jaci gathered the wood until it filled the basket.
She thanked her friends for their help. Her heart had always been filled when she spoke to them. It was strange how she got along with the rest of the world but not the ones that ruled it. As she was about to leave, she heard a voice to her right. She knew this voice to be foreign because it did not speak in whispers nor leaves.
This voice was as human as it would ever be.
She leaned against the bark of a tree and peered out to steal a glance at who would wander so deep into the woods when such terrors were said to lurk – though Jaci supposed she was one of them.
"Sir, the supposed land is just up ahead. Five hundred metres due North," a low voice spoke, every word was crisp and sharp.
A servant perhaps? Maybe a guard of a Lord?
"We strike when the sun touches the horizon, they won't expect us in the night," Another voice spoke, a voice that she somehow knew the sound of but didn't at the same time.
She managed to tilt her head to get a better view. But all she saw were two figures in shrouded in dark grey cloaks of velvet. One taller than the other. One bigger than the other.
"Yes, Sir. We will ensure the battle to be a success," the shorter man saluted.
"No, this isn't just a battle. This is a war," the taller one said, his voice grumbled low, "We will take that village by the throat if we have to. This war signifies the end to magic,"
Jaci held in the gasp that nearly escaped her lips.
She hid herself behind the tree once more, shock took over her body and rendered her frozen. Her hands clenched into fists to combat the trembles that claimed control of her fingers.
Village.
Magic.
War.
They were going to attack Aria.
Her mind was a blank canvas upon her empty thoughts. She waited for an idea or a notion to paint across her vacant landscape, but it remained clean and untouched.
She dared another peek, only to be greeted by trees and the wind once more.
The men were gone, hidden somewhere in the woods and shrouded with secrecy.
Who were they?
How did they find Aria?
Why were they doing this?
There were too many unanswered questions, too many gaps and cracks in the story, too many flaws. There were pieces of the puzzle that remained missing from the picture that she attempted to form in her mind. They said that they would put an 'end to magic'.
Were they after the Ikigai Hoseki?
Jaci gritted her teeth and blew air out through her nose. She needed to calm down. She needed to do something. She needed to warn the Elders.
Her footsteps hit the ground faster than she ever had. Her feet following the same path she had always taken for the past decade. She called out to her trees for help, to look out for the men that were just there.
South of Aria. There is an army of ten thousand men. They told her.
She swallowed her nerves as she ran towards her home.
Ten thousand men upon a small village. This wasn't a war; this was a massacre.
She ran through the barrier, through the grey wall and into the familiar fields of Aria. She was somehow unsettled with the peace and untouched scenery when she had already shrouded her mind in the horrors that were about to come. There would be destruction and pain and hurt.
She had to prevent it.
Somehow.
Her lungs hurt as she continued her journey towards the Veteris. The council should be there. The council will know what to do. The council will save Aria.
The council.
The council.
The council.
The council wasn't there.
Jaci heaved in the air as she looked around the empty room within the Veteris.
The same room where she had earned her title as Guardian. The same room where pictures were painted on both the long-curved table and floor. The same room that she was supposed to find the Elders that would have a plan to save Aria.
Yet, they were not in the room.
Her mind rushed for an explanation.
Maybe they are in another room. She thought.
Jaci turned to leave.
"You won't find them," a voice echoed behind her.
She paused just as her fingers brushed the door.
Jaci whirled around only to see Mrs Parvathi. Her long silver hair still in a braid and her staff accompanied her as she made her way to the middle of the room.
She stood on top of the moon.
"Mrs Parvathi, there are people that have found Aria!" she exclaimed, partially relieved that she found a familiar face, "I think they are after the gem, they mentioned something about the end of magic and –,"
Mrs Parvathi's eyes held hers in a knowing glow.
The picture slowly fell into place.
"You knew," she whispered, "All the Elders knew,"
"We told you, Jaci," she said slowly, as though she were still a child, "We told you that there will be a war and that the King would do so out of greed,"
"I –," Jaci stuttered, her mind going through the night when she first became the Guardian, "I knew. But if you knew then, are we going to do anything about it? How are we going to save Aria?"
Mrs Parvathi smiled, yet Jaci did not feel reassured, "What do you plan to do, dear?"
"I – I don't know," she shook her head, "They have ten thousand men outside, and I don't want to risk the lives of our villagers,"
"Have you asked them?" Mrs Parvathi asked.
"What?"
"Have you asked the villagers if they want to defend the land?"
Jaci pursed her lips, "No, but it's impossible. They would die."
Mrs Parvathi tilted her head with an arched eyebrow, "Do you have such little faith in the villagers? In their expertise? In magic? In them?"
Jaci fell silent.
She believed. But she didn't want to put them in danger. She believed. But she didn't want their lives in her hands. She believed. But she didn't.
"What if they lose their lives in battle?" Jaci's voice shuddered in uncertainty.
Her hands trembled as she looked at them. They were coarse, rough and sprinkled with calluses. She had worked and tolled even while she stayed at home. She harnessed her powers, she trained her mind, she developed herself.
And even if she were not a blacksmith like her Father, her hands had suffered the majority of splinters and wood-related injuries. Yet despite her efforts, she still had not felt confident.
"Jaci," Mrs Parvathi laid a hand on her shoulder, "Their lives are theirs. Oftentimes, Generals, Kings, Queens, Emperor, Empresses or Dictators feel like they have claim over other people's lives, that they are responsible in their fates and their time. But they are wrong. Other people's lives do not belong to them, they do not have responsibility for their lives. They are to help them, care for them and develop them. But never, ever, do they have claim over them,"
"I want to protect them," Jaci simply replies.
"Sometimes you can protect somebody by letting them fight their own battles instead of fighting it for them. This is not your fight, it's our fight. Our fight for our land. But all these rely on choice,"
Jaci looked up at Mrs Parvathi.
She took in a deep breath, allowing herself to process the things that Mrs Parvathi had told her.
She was right, as she always was. Jaci knew that she was still green, a small fish that was released into the ocean. She knew that she had a lot to learn, and she was grateful that Mrs Parvathi was here to guide her. Jaci knew she needed to trust herself, she needed to trust her friends and the place where she called home.
Magic made her stronger.
Magic made her better.
Magic made her.
"Shall we ask them?" Jaci smiled softly.
Mrs Parvathi nodded, "Yes, we shall,"