Before I could say a word, Anna broke the silence that lingered when the two knights left. "I'm sorry…" She whispered.
I smiled at her. "Why are you apologizing? That's not like you."
Before she looked away, I saw her blush. "I can act however I want to act! Don't ruin the moment!"
I hid a giggle from my friend as I spoke. "Your eyes… they're purple. Is it because you're a part of them? A Tytolari?"
"Yeah." Anna looked at me and then she looked at the mirror to see her eyes, which still shined purple. "These are my Tytolari eyes. Everyone from this country has them." Anna whispered as she looked at her feet.
"Why do they change?" I asked my friend as she sat on my bed.
"I was born with them. I am half-human, half-Tytolari." Anna blinked and her eyes returned to normal as she explained. "You see, Tytolari each have a certain color of eyes. This is the Spirit Kingdom where everyone is able to create illusions or control dreams. Jason told you, right?"
"Yeah." I remembered the villagers and how their eyes shined purple like Anna's. "So everyone has those eyes just like you…" I said as I sat down next to my friend.
"Pretty much." Anna sighed. "All Tytolari have crystal-colored eyes. Like Jason and Lillian for example. Their eyes are crystal colored, but different colors represent different elements that they control."
I remembered Jason's green eyes and Lillian's yellow ones. "Jason controls the earth and Lillian controls air."
Anna smiled at me. "Yeah. It's a real shocker, huh?"
"Totally. My head started to hurt with me thinking so much." I joked back. We burst into laughter until we quieted down. Laughter really does make you feel better.
"Anyway," Anna looked at the ceiling as she continued, "my eyes change color when I use my powers or want to. I was born with brown eyes. That's true, but I was also born with these purple ones. They were just hidden." She explained as she stared at her feet.
"I see." I nodded. "So what are Tytolari? I mean, are they humans or something else?"
"You can think of them as fairies without the wings and pixie dust." Anna shrugged. "They're able to control the elements and humans can't do that, so I think of them as fairies."
"That's actually a pretty easy way to think of it," I stated as Anna nodded in agreement. I placed all the information I was getting into place as if they were pieces of a mental puzzle in my head.
A new topic came to me. "What about your fighting skills? When did you learn that?" I asked as I played with my ruby pendant.
"When I turned thirteen, Dad insisted that I learned how to defend myself so he got some people to teach me how to fight. So far, my weapons are a sword, a bow with arrows, and a dragger." Anna explained as I remembered how frightful she looked with the Excalibur sword.
"Hold on." I started, remembering the sword. "Why did the sword look more like a rapier? I thought it was big and more knight-like."
"Is that a word?" Anna smiled. After I frowned at her, she nodded. "So far, I'm the only girl descendent that will inherit the crown. The sword changed to a rapier so I could use it better. I mean, I'm not all that strong. Speed is my best fighting skill right now."
"I still can't believe your King Arthur's descendent."
"I still can't believe that I still don't know his story."
That causes the laughter in me to explode from my mouth. Anna's laughter chimed with mine to create a wonderful melody. The melody reminded me of home and my parents. My laughter stopped. "Does my mom know I'm here?"
Anna stopped as well, but her smile was still there. "She knows we left, but as I said, humans aren't supposed to know of this world."
"So she knows I left, but where?" I asked.
Anna looked away, the smile turning guilty. "I used my powers… The power of illusions."
"What?" I asked, shocked. "What do you mean?"
Anna only had a sad smile on her face as she explained. "I created another you… So they wouldn't worry about where you are… My mom knows the truth and is helping us out. The Illusion you is living normally but has some memory issues since I don't know everything in your household, but it's learning from Mom."
"What?" I was shocked to hear my friend's words. "You made a replacement for me?"
"No!" Anna yelled, a sad expression on her face. "It's just until I know it's safe to send you back! Christa, if she knew that you were missing, you know she would do everything to get you back! I can't let her involve herself in this war! I dragged you into this and I don't want to drag anyone else that's important to me! Please understand!"
"I understand…. But I don't like it." Tears formed and fell from my eyes, knowing that my mother was safe from harm but that I might never see her again. "I want to see her…" I whispered as I shut my eyes and hugged myself.
I felt my best friend's arms holding me close. "I'm so sorry, Christa. If only I was more careful, you wouldn't be suffering like this. You would be at home with your family and not in the middle of this war. I promise that you'll see her soon. Okay? Just… Please don't regret being my friend."
"Yeah, thanks." I smiled as I hugged her back. "I will never, ever regret meeting you."
Anna nodded as she pulled away from our hug. "Oh yeah, so you didn't tell me about your date. Did you have fun?"
"Date?" I blinked, not knowing what she meant. "What date?"
Rolling her eyes, Anna pointed at the door. "You always had a thing for guys with green eyes, so I thought you two would hit it off since he wants to learn about humans. Since you two didn't really look at each other, I thought you two didn't want to make me feel like a third wheel."
Anger fueled me up as I realized what she was saying. "Don't tell me you were setting me up with Jason." After a guilty smile and a long silence, I walked away from her and towards the window, opening it to get some cool air to hit my face. "Anna, you need to stop this already."
"I'm sorry, but if Jason's gonna fall for someone for the rest of his life, it has to be you." Anna smiled, swinging her legs. "He needs to have someone to look after him."
"What are you talking about?" I asked her as I faced her, annoyed.
"Tytolari are very loyal. Once they fall for someone, they can't love another person." She smiled. "That's why the king, my dad, has no other wife. He fell for a human and can't love another."
"I didn't know that…" I spoke slowly. "So he didn't remarry and have another child?"
"Nope." Anna shrugged. "He couldn't betray my mom and he knew that we were still alive. I was actually born here in the Tytolari world."
"What?" I jumped then remembered her previous words. "You said that your dad knew about you when the wolf approached you. You also asked your mom to cover up for us. Does that mean that your mother knows about this world and the king expects you to come back?"
"Yep." The princess nodded as she hopped to her feet. "I wasn't a child that was born by mistake. They knew about me and that I was born here. I left this world before I turned one year because there were signs of a threat to the kingdom. Dad said that mom and I had to be safe and since not a lot of neighboring counties knew about us, it was a perfect plan for our story."
"Was it the Shadow Tytolari?" I asked her, concerned.
"Nah, it was the Ice Tytolari." She answered as if she was answering for a spelling bee. "There are other countries in this world that aren't a part of the Spirit Empire. Most of them are descendants of King Arthur's knights, but over the years we got shortened to only four, following the Spirit. The Ice Tytolari are now our friends and trade partners, but we weren't so close then. Actually, the war against the Ice Tytolari ended before I found this world. Dad was hurt so he couldn't go get us. It worked out in the end though."
"Yeah, you became Alice from Wonderland." I joked, getting my friend to smile.
"I still want to find that bunny." She told me, crossing her arms over her chest. We both laughed at her comment until a knock got our attention.
Knock, knock!
We both looked up at the sound of the door. On the other side, a voice could be heard. "Lady Christa, Your Highness! We gathered the others in the dining hall. We are ready for your presence!"
"Time to shine." Anna smiled as she jumped towards the door. "He's waiting for you."
"Oh please." I rolled my eyes as I opened the door to reveal a boy with the amazingly beautiful green eyes that I adored. Before I could answer him, a push from behind caused me to fall into his arms and his grip.
"Your Highness, why did you just push her?" Jason asked, letting me know who had done the deed. I knew I was blushing due to the heat on my cheeks.
"Anna!" I yelled and looked behind me to see her taking off in a run. "Get back here!" I shouted as I chased after her, leaving Jason alone and confused. I followed her down the halls and made sure I didn't lose sight of her. However, I wasn't as fast as her so the distance wasn't getting shorter. She finally ran into a room with large doors, giving me a chance to catch up.
"Anna, come here! You're dead!" I yelled as I followed her in. I seriously regretted it when I saw who was inside.
Three very angry teens who had my best friend behind them and out of my reach. There were two boys and one girl. The girl had short, black hair and crystal blue eyes that stared at me with hatred. Her outfit was similar to Jason's, except it's concept colors were royal blue and purple with a hint of black. The tallest boy had on what looked to be a horse rider's uniform. His blonde locks defied gravity as they stretched to the sky and his orange crystal eyes looked at me with no emotion, but a smile was on his face which confused and scared me at the same time. The other boy was much smaller and younger than the other two. His chocolate brown hair was combed to one side, covering his left eye but showing his eggshell-yellow right eye. He seemed a bit scared of me but he was determined to protect their princess like the other two.
"Is there a reason why you're threatening our princess?" The blue-eyed girl asked, clearly annoyed with me. "If so, I'll be glad to kill you after you share with us your reason." She growled as she popped her knuckles.
"U-Umm.. Zoey…" Anna giggled. "That's my childhood friend, Christa. She was just playing around because I played a prank on her."
"Don't worry, Milady." The blonde boy smirked. "I promise you that we will not hurt your childhood friend. Although I would be lying if I said that we trust her."
"Well, at least stop scaring the life out of her." Anna sighed, sounding quite annoyed. "Man, this is why you three won't survive high school."
At that moment, the three back downed and I realized that I was shaking in fear from the blue-eyed girl. "I'm sorry for being so rude to you all," I spoke with a small voice as Anna rushed to my side.
The blonde stepped forward with the same expression but more relaxed. He took my hand and bowed, making me even more nervous. "I'm Luke, Princess Annabella's Squire of Fire. It's a pleasure to meet the famous human who cares for our princess deeply."
"The same to you." I answered back, a bit shaken from his introduction. Can you blame me? He just said that he didn't trust me because I threatened my best friend. That's normal in my world! Okay, it's not, but we were just joking.
"I'm Edward. I'm from the lighting tytolari but not a squire." The little boy spoke up, getting my attention. "Just call me Ed. If not that, then call me the Great Edward. I dislike just being called Edward." He said, crossing his arms over his chest, proud.
"O-Okay…?" I answered, a bit relieved that he sounded nicer and normal. "I think I'll call you Ed, if that's okay." I let out a giggle when he nodded his head.
"Zoey, come on." I turned to see my friend approaching the girl who was still glaring at me with her blue eyes. "Luke and Ed did it. All you have to say is your name and your race."
Without taking her eyes off me, Zoey only sighed. "I'm Zoey, Squire of the Water. If you hurt my princess, I will drown you and ruin your lungs so you can die quickly." She turned around and stomped out the door, passing the just arrived Jason who only stared at her in confusion.
He looked at us, pointing in the direction that Zoey walked towards. "Do I want to know what just happened?" He asked, wanting to hear the answer he prayed for.
"Not really." Anna and I said together. The boys behind us nodded as well, noting that they too feared the Water Tytolari.
"Don't worry. The water girl is only jealous that you are her friend from the human world."
I jumped at the voice behind me and ran to Anna who only laughed. "Miura, don't sneak up on her like that." She giggled as I hid behind her. "Christa, this is another friend that you have to meet."
I looked at the boy who wore clothes that resembled rags. He had messy black hair and crystal black eyes. I stared at him, already knowing which element he was.
"A Shadow Tytolari…?"