Melina's limp form lay on the forest floor, her red hair tangled with leaves. A gentle breeze rustled the trees, and a droplet of water fell from a leaf above, landing softly on her pale cheek.
The cool water trickled down her face, tracing the curve of her jaw. More droplets followed, each one a tiny, soothing caress. The forest's silence enveloped her, punctuated only by the distant call of a bird and the gentle patter of water on leaves.
As the water washed over her, Melina's eyelids fluttered. She moaned softly, her mind foggy.
Sitting up clumsily, her eyes opened, and her blurry vision slowly cleared as she saw a figure with long hair hovering above her.
Her mind reeled endlessly as she tried to remember events from earlier while turning her head in different directions.
The blurry vision finally cleared for Melina to find a familiar face staring right at her.
A piercing green eyes sparkled with concern, her raven-black hair framing her heart-shaped face.
Melina narrowed her eyes at the person before her.
"How are you feeling?" The refreshing voice asked calmly.
"You," Melina whispered in surprise and her eyes slightly widened.
"Missed me?" The young maidservant she had seen that day at the palace was right in front of Melina, tending to her with a smile.
With a gentle touch, she helped Melina sit up. Melina's gaze drifted to the lady's hands, adorned with intricate, scale-like markings. A mark she had seen that day but paid no attention to it as it held no meaning to her.
"How...how did you find me?" Melina asked, her memories returning.
Berlin smiled widely. "I've been watching over you, Dragon Lady. As I always have."
Melina's eyes widened. "You've... been watching over me..." Her voice trailed as the thought of this strange lady she had seen then watching over her the whole time surprised her.
Berlin nodded. "Your kin is precious. I must protect."
Melina, although stunned and short of words, felt an inner peace seeing someone close to her as Berlin soothed her, caressing her head gently.
Her strength slowly returned, the same way her memory did.
She looked around the forest where she had hidden; the scenery of what had taken place the previous night flooded her thoughts.
"Whew!" Berlin suddenly sighed dramatically, moving a strand of her hair to the back of her ear. "You truly gave me a tough time searching for you," she said as she stood on her feet and looked outside through the leaves that concealed their presence, taking in the view of the sunny day.
"I gave you a tough time?" Melina didn't understand.
"Hmm," she hummed and turned her gaze to the redhead, "You didn't drop your cloaking spell before you passed out. Thank the gods I could sense you." Her smooth voice resonated with gentleness.
"Cloaking spell?" She didn't know what that was.
"The spell that kept you hidden before you left the palace. It's a cloaking spell." She explained to Melina who nodded slowly in realization.
"Cloaking spell..." She called out the name to hear Berlin hum.
"You did well, Melina," Berlin told her but she shook her head in dismay as she wasn't done with her questions,
"How did you manage to find me if I was still cloaked?" She asked ignoring the earlier compliment.
"Kilgharrah aided me." She simply said and showed the dragon mark on her hand again, which looked more prominent.
"You knew about Kilgharrah," she looked at Berlin fuzzily.
"I did." Came Berlin's curt reply.
Melina still wanted to speak when Berlin abruptly turned her attention to the street outside, "You should get back to the palace." She said as if in haste.
Her statement quickly let Melina realize that a war had just ended some moments ago.
"Why?" She stood up from the floor to stare outside at the people, and her face churned when she saw the battalion of soldiers that lay dead on the streets of District 2; their bodies were being packed like sand and thrown in a deep hole that had been dug wide enough to accommodate thousands of people at once.
Melina watched as they threw the bodies of the enemy soldiers in the dump while they covered the bodies of their soldiers with a white cloth, preparing them for a proper burial as they lined their bodies up in a straight line.
"The enemy soldiers... they are so many." She saw how, even though these holes were dug in different places, some that were far away and she couldn't even see them, there were still a lot of men sprouting on the street.
Blood littered everywhere like a flood and she observed as the people poured water on the streets, flushing the blood away.
Her heart twisted at the sight of so many bodies as she refused to believe that in such a short time, things had gone so wrong.
"Here, drink," Berlin's voice brought her back from her daze.
She handed her a small vial filled with shimmering liquid.
"What's this?" Melina asked.
"It's a potion to help you regain your strength," she answered.
"You make potions," she noted.
"Yes." Came the curt reply Berlin gave her.
Melina could already tell that her guess had been correct. This woman before her was no ordinary person.
A brutal amount of questions about so many things flooded Melina's head as she looked at Berlin who suddenly began walking away from the woods back to the street.
"Wait!" She rushed to follow her, knowing how quickly this young woman liked vanishing into thin air.
"You haven't told me anything about you. Who you are," she said with zeal, eager to have someone to talk to, especially now that she figured out she was something extraordinary.
"You don't need to know anything about me, Mel. All you need to know now is that your kingdom isn't off the hook yet. There's an even bigger problem to deal with." She halted and gaped at Melina who appeared taken aback by that statement.
"Problem?" She tilted her head, "What problem?" Her brows were etched in a thin line.
"That's for you to find out. Get to the palace quickly before your absence becomes noticed." She told her and began walking in the other direction this time.
"No, wait!" Melina attempted to speak once more as she ran towards Berlin but the young lady already disappeared into the forest, the leaves covered her figure and by the time Melina reached the path of thorns where Berlin had passed, she saw no one there.
'No!' She yelled inwardly in frustration and pulled on her red hair that was terribly tangled.
"Why did you need to leave now?! You should've never come in the first place!" She complained out in annoyance, her voice echoing through the quiet bush.
Barely meeting her for some minutes only to run away again without answering her questions was something Melina found irritating as she glanced around the forest, hearing no response from anyone except her reverberating voice and chirping of birds.
Giving up after few minutes of yelling and talking to herself, she turned around and began walking out of the woods.
Her body felt frail and light and though she didn't feel light-headed like earlier before she drank the liquid in the vial Berlin had given her, she still felt weak and needed rest.
Melina was not aware of it but wielding dark magic in one night for over six hours and as a first timer was something a lot of dark magic users couldn't do.
In fact, it was impossible and silly to believe that one could wield dark magic for over an hour as it took unimaginable amount of strength to keep up with it but here she was, unknowingly defying cosmic balance and transcending mortal limits without knowing it.
She could hear voices from afar as she left her hiding place heading back to District 1 where the palace was located.
District 2, though not as quiet as earlier when she had been coming, still held a solemn outlook as most villagers were still displaced.
She made sure to avoid looking back at the streets as the amount of blood everywhere made her want to throw up.
Her body grew cold when she saw a little girl who had been injured, crying in pain near a small building as her mother applied an ointment on it.
She knew it was one of the problems and aftereffects that came with war. No matter what, people always got hurt.
Remembering what Berlin had told her about trouble, she hastened her pace to the palace as it was a long walk from this district.
As she strode back, she noticed how some people turned to stare at her simply meaning she was now visible. Berlin had managed to remove the cloaking spell like she claimed and Melina wondered how.
Some of the villagers had gone back to their daily tasks as merchants and traders as she could see them setting their workshops, some of which had been damaged.
Her heart skipped when a young carpenter who seemed to be doing some woodwork on his shop paused abruptly what he was doing and stared at her with furrowed brows.
She held his gaze for a moment with similar intensity until the man finally broke eye contact and faced another direction.
Although he said nothing, Melina could tell he was not thinking nothing.
Something had caused him to stare. Did he perhaps know about what she did earlier? Did someone see her and spread the news to the villagers?
She could feel her heart thump loudly in her chest at the thought of the entire kingdom knowing what she had done.
To make matters worse, more people began staring at her again, some even whispering.
What had she done? Fear gripped her at the thought of being brought before everyone in the palace.
Had it perhaps been King Albert? Did he figure out she was the one?
Melina shook her head vigorously, not wanting to dampen her spirit and end up exposing herself as she was not totally sure that was the situation.
Whispers from the people could be heard from the corners as she walked and some of them gaped at her in either confusion or shock. She tried to listen to what they said but to no avail.
Maybe it would have been better to get the cloaking spell done again to avoid all these unforeseen drama, she mumbled to herself.
Turning a deaf ear to their behavior, Melina walked away faster than usual. She knew they could tell she was from the palace as she wore her maid's uniform but she believed they would most likely assume she had been sent on an errand.
As such, she cleared the worry off her mind, heading to the palace in quickness.
When she reached, she sighed in relief when she noticed the palace gates had not been closed.
The few injured people that King Leon had ordered to be brought in to seek treatment from the royal infirmary were now entering the carriages, assumably going back home.
Melina's eyes softened at the emotional sight before her, her footsteps abruptly slowing down, observing what was happening.
She blinked in surprise as she looked through of the palace iron rails where she stood, seeing the carriages that lined up out of the palace, carrying people including children with bandages and multiple injuries from the war that had taken place in District 11.
"Careful," she heard the subtle voice of a maidservant who was helping a little girl climb into the carriage, her left leg looking bent and broken with bandages all over it.
Melina could tell this sort of order was not given by anyone. Surely, King Leon had commanded them to take these people back to their homes safely.
"Please thank the king greatly for us! We can never repay his kindness and consideration. We are truly grateful," A young woman knelt down, there was a bandage wrapped around her right elbow as she had also been affected by the war.
As she spoke, the other villagers hummed to her tunes as they asked the maids and guards who aided them to send their gratitude to his Highness.
Of course, they knew it was not a normal thing for a king to give orders for commoners to be treated in a royal infirmary. It was a privilege not many could ever afford and here they were, being served such opportunity on a platter.
Not only that, they were also carried out with royal carriages, ones that they never dreamed to enter before.
Melina's eyes were glued to the scene in front of her.
When the villagers were done sending thanks through the servants as the king was presently not here to receive it himself, the coachmen got into their carriages and began riding towards the gate.
Melina saw the leverage and headed towards the large gates.
Her presence would likely not be noticed since there were other servants around, standing by the gates.
She knew their attention would currently be lessened so she would likely not be noticed.
Tiptoeing, she followed the smaller gate as the large ones were open, distracting the guards.
She ran as fast as she could to take shelter among the other servants who waved their hands at the carriages before sneakily joining them, waving her hand as well like she had always been there.
Since the other maidservants looked just as tattered as her, the difference could barely be told as she camouflaged with them.
"You may head back to your task now!" The old ugly voice that irritated her the most spoke out loud and all the maids began to disperse gradually. Melina gazed at Carlos who was some meters away from her.
Moving back, she hid behind another girl's back. This one was a lot taller than her, making it difficult for Carlos to see her as she could tell the woman was searching for her all day.
She smartly followed along with the others as they scurried away, not wanting Ms Carlos to even take a glimpse at her.
Unbeknownst to her, her presence still held a surge of dark magic that had not completely dispersed since she had spent an inordinate amount of power last night.
A certain dark haired king who had been foreseeing the dismissal of the villagers sensed something similar to what he felt the previous day. Just as he was about to return to his quarters, he paused and whipped his head in the direction of the crowd of maidservants that were walking past him.
Although very subtle, he knew this lingering feeling totally well.