Dreams caused many humans to live their fantasies in the land their mind created in their sleep.
It was what made expectation versus reality factual.
Whatever one wished to feel, see, or hear in their reality will be plausible to happen once one sleep. That was what one's mind was capable of.
Anything she wished for to happen in reality will appear in her dreams to make her feel as if her expectation was rendered into existence. But a downside to this was once her eyes wide open when she lay awake, this reality she have seen in her dream will vanish into thin air.
She'll be shattered finding the hope she thought came authentic was just an expectation behind the mirrors of imagination.
But to this extent, in Selestia's case, it was different. For her, this dream was a vision.
A vision of the future catered to her, for her to waver for her to succumb to pain, for her to lose hope in even fulfilling what she wanted to be done.
"Selestia, how could you...?"
Selestia stood with a figure of her and a man whose silhouette was representing him. He was standing in the frontiers of a shadow that housed his head.
Astounded, as she was, she grimaced at the figure of herself who was melancholic and baffled. Some tears came to shore up the lids of her eyes and her brows crinkled with sorrow.
Selestia could feel the sorrow she held, it was a conscience that she once felt before when she betrayed Grandell to win a simple competition. That was the only time she felt the strong urge of conscience, and this was the second time she did.
Though his face was unseen, it was apparent that his apparel was of great expense, one which the Imperial members of the constitutions used.
From the tone of his voice were his disappointment and a tinge of hatred grimaced on the tip of his tongue.
"How could you betray this country which housed you?"
Her figure responded with solemnity, her hands caressed her elbow before she could hurl her response. "I...I did it for the better of Celeste..."
Selestia was greatly baffled, 'Is this a vision that held the future? If so, who was the future me talking to?'
But even if she questioned many times, no answer will emerge from her dreams.
"You did it for the better of Celeste? How about Thuhelda? How about this nation that loved you since your return?"
Selestia's figure wore a good over her head, her cheeks were bleeding from a bruise that fortunately was not made deeply on the surface of her skin. Her feet looked worn out and one of her footwear was missing. It was as if she was surviving amidst her luxury.
"How would I care about your nation when mine is coming to its end? How could I care for yours when you knew well that Celeste is about to be enslaved? How could I not care for the land I grew up in?"
The tears that were only shoring in her eyes suddenly fell like a waterfall from a high pavement of rocks. Selestia seemed to get the part of what the other Selestia spoke of.
'Was she talking about the battle with Trost? How long has it been to her? Did I not resolve to fix it?'
"Then how about Thuhelda? How about this land that became yours? Do not tell me you came here to attain its benefits and leave once you already turned it into ruins!" he yelled.
"Yes, yes, I did! I came here for the sake of Celeste! I did not come here with the intent of marrying that Emperor, I came here to save my land! I loved him not, I loved his riches, his power, and all that he possess that might come into Celeste's possession if I succeed! Who would love such Emperor who runs colder than ice with just warmth in bed?! Why is it so hard for you to understand that what I was doing was to save my nation?!"
"What avarice enticed you, Selestia..."
He grimaced with disappointment.
"Indeed..." she responded. Her face numbed but her tears endlessly flowed down from her eyes like a river that never dried.
Her face painted a mix of exhaustion, sorrow, conscience, and all such emotions that she could not figure out. She felt regrets and soon enough, she felt this emotion form into words and slipped off her tongue.
"I am a covetous woman, I loved the riches and not Thuhelda. I love his warmth but not him. I love his power and not him. My love is only reserved for Celeste..."
Her fists clenched, and the Selestia who viewed this scene became immensely baffled. What could have happened to them? It was still unknown to her who the man was, for some reason, she cannot configure whose voice does it belong to.
"Then, what about Grandell?"
Selestia soon found herself enmeshed with greater perplexity. What bout him? What was there to know about him? Could there be some incident that happened to Grandell?
"What about Grandell?" the other Selestia inquired.
"You knew not? Grandell was waiting for you..."
Then this scene was blacked out, there was only her and the figure. No man was housed by the silhouettes, it was as if the scene was her who was talking to her future self.
"Forgive me, Selestia..." the other one spoke. Solemn was traced in her apertures as if she was a fragile glass that was broken.
"What should I forgive you for?"
"Forgive me, I scarcely accomplished..." she sobbed, "...there were more casualties than successes."
The other her knelt down before her, her knees touched something which seemed to be the flooring of the black void. "Forgive me, Selestia..."
The other Selestia mumbled under her breath of inaudible noises. Her brows creased as she grimaced.
"What are you speaking of?"
Slowly, she felt the floor shifted, it gradually slid her down as if she fell from the cliff and all she could hear were words that they together mentioned.
"...I regret it greatly, Selestia..."
As soon as she fell, Selestia sprung up from the bed when she awoke from her slumber. She gasped for air whilst nervousness made her heart create waves of palpitations. It was a suffocating scare.
'What could have happened to Grandell? What could have happened to Celeste? What wrong did I do that led to the casualties she mentioned?'
The sun was already up, Venemiah who lay with his arms raised above him was still soundly sleeping. His tanned skin was stung by the drastic kisses of the hot sun.
Selestia thought wisely, if ever did this happen in the future, could she stop it? No, it was more like a question of whether she could prevent it before it could happen.
"What should I do...?" she mumbled to herself.
To her surprise, a hand reached to her waist, he had a sly smile on his countenance yet a portrait of drowsiness smudged his countenance.
"You woke up early..." he smiled.
She looked at him, there were no words that left her tongue, she just looked away from him with no response to his word even if he expected such acknowledgment.
His face contorted with a grimace, he arose from the bed with an awful complexion, his brows met each other as they furrowed. It was to no word whatsoever that he picked his clothes and buttoned them together leaving the chest exposed. He strode toward the door in an aggravated and galled manner whilst he reached for the knob of the door.
For a scarce minute, he started at her and his voice rigidly spoke a must.
"Be certain that when I return, you are finally prepared. I am not overly passionate about you to just let you off the hook when it comes to bed," he warned before he left.