Alicia immediately jumped out of bed, shocking Nadine and Gilmore beside her.
Leith spurted his drink as well.
"What—what is happening?"
Alicia's eyes were still wide with aghast. Then she looked around. She saw a blurry world, but she recognised the confused faces of Nadine and Gilmore with her gaze. She scanned the white mixed blue room and the figure of Leith in the corner. Luckily, she noticed not how foolhardy Leith was standing with his wet clothes on and his lips dripping with orange juice. Alicia breathed a sigh of relief, knowing it was a sheer delusion of slumber. She never foresaw it to feel so real. The tension. Facing Khaos right before her. Falling from the boundless void. The hairs on her neck tingled still.
Out of the blue, Alicia panicked again after palpating the table beside her.
"Glasses? Where are my glasses? My glasses!"
"Wait! Ah! Here, here." Nadine snatched the glasses from the drawer and gave them to Alicia.
"Nadine, Gilmore, Leith!" The girl sighed again after seeing that the three barely looked like they had been in a battle. "Looks like yer getting better. Last time I remember, you passed out from the Leichenhaufen's poison gas."
"The healers managed to concoct an antidote to it. But judging from the condition, yours is actually worse than ours, hen," said Nadine.
Alicia observed her world surroundings again. Leith threw out his foolish pose this time and approached her. "You alright, Sis?"
The girl looked at her infused hand. "I'm in the hospital, aren't I?"
"No, you're in a nursing home, Nana," replied her brother.
Ignoring his sarcastic response, Alicia asked again. "How long have I been asleep?"
"Not too long," Gilmore said, "more than a day, perhaps. Two? Ah dinnae ken."
"TWO DAYS?" Alicia suddenly screamed.
"Divine Mercy, Alicia, calm down!" Leith hit his sister's head. "You've missed nothing, okay? Enough surprises for a day."
"Leith! Heid still hurts, ye ken!"
"All right, you two, enough fighting," Nadine intervened with them. "Alicia, it's good to see you awake. Do you need anything?"
"I-I… not yet, not for now." While recalling her thoughts, Alicia felt something missing before her. "Orb? Where's Orb?" Alicia looked at the drawers on her sides. The big blue orb was nothing visible in her eyes.
"For the time being, Orb is with the Magisterium of Arcane Plane for safety measures. I hope you don't mind," Nadine answered.
No relief was implied from her, but Alicia allowed her head to return to the softness of the hospital pillow. At least no black mages would dare snatch Orb that easily. She then told her friends, "I had a strange dream. I saw myself becoming a giant cosmic being. Then I saw a pair of gigantic eyes above the clouds."
"Whoa, a dream! Must be an omen!" Gilmore was interested right away, and come nearer to his best friend.
"An omen? By Silent Divine, I think it is an omen. Those heinous eyes...." Alicia continued, "I felt like I know those eyes. Khaos. Khaos seemed to be watching me. It sent me a message, but I don't know what it is."
"Khaos, in the form of eyes?" Leith was a little doubtful. However, with all the events that had occurred prior to this, witnessing such a form from Khaos' in her dream was probably a legitimate sign. Alicia, who was viewed as petite by the Primordial Opposition, was a dangerous threat to it. "Quite strange. Then what did the giant you and that pair of eyes do?"
"They're against each other. Attacking with their energy. And suddenly, the world—"
Haddock suddenly slammed the door and leaned against it. The conversation broke up in an instant. The four juveniles could clearly hear wheezing from the Grand Magus' throat. Maybe he just finished the Olympics without the help of a magic broom.
"You…. You don't know what I've just been through. The crowd is occupying in hospital front. They want to see the pure Arcane bender!"
Gilmore looked out the window. The sizeable crowd screamed incoherently at the magicians who had closed the hospital doors for the importance of the organisation. The screams were faint, but Gilmore knew they were demanding that the face of Alicia, the bearer of Divine Grace, be displayed in front of them.
"Look at all that sea o' fowk. After fighting Leethoven fur a while, they dae keek like the necromancer's zombie hordes, don't they?"
"You mean Leichenhaufen?" Alicia corrected it.
"Yeah, Ah told ye. Leethoven."
"It's Leichenhaufen, ye deef!" Nadine squealed the Gilmore!
"Hoi, dinnae force me tae pronounce it! A' body has their own accent!"
Leith gawked.
With a quipping grin, Gilmore turned to tease Alicia, "Ay, look who has her own admirers noo?"
"Fine, maybe something like that can't be helped," Alicia replied calmly, albeit the blush on her cheeks could not be hidden.
"My nerd friend is everyone's idol now!" Nadine also teased her, "I wonder how many men will line up from all over Camelot to admire this great bookworm wizard? Hey, maybe you can get a proposal!"
"Nadine, stop making this up."
"All of you are disgusting," said Leith.
The triplet yelled at him together, "Oh shut it, Leith!" Then Gilmore added, "What, dinnae ye have any mates, mate?"
"Whatever. Ahm getting some fresh air."
This was probably the first time Alicia received acclamations from other than her closest family and friends. She was indeed nervous. Confused even more. She had yet to find the right feeling to react. Of course, she was in joy for finally she and Orb could be of use to the townspeople. But the definition of joy she expected was when she felt satisfied, a big smile crossed her face when stepping out of the carriage or curtain onto the stage, turning and waving to the cheering crowd in the flickering luminescence.
But wait, it was akin to an actress walking the red carpet at the premiere of her latest show.
Or perhaps she thought of it as an experience of being appointed by a king, then facing the world with outstretched chests, and all beings cheered her with war cries. Feel the tension and pride flowing into every bloodstream.
It was just that both options were too strange in her notion. She was not someone who was open enough to accept all these awards. As for now, Alicia felt that the description of the joy she could accurately describe was "happy yet frantic at the same time because they already know Alicia Crimsonmane, and they depend on her more than ever" type of joy. Was that the normal feeling?
After Leith passed through Haddock and exited, Haddock begins to approach them. "Well, maybe you didn't get to listen because you fainted yesterday, but you have done a marvelous service. The Magisterium owes you a great debt."
"You didn't confiscate Orb for good, did you, Mister Haddock?"
"What?" Haddock giggled. "No, Alicia. You don't have to worry about Orb. What you need to worry about now is if your body gets enough rest. And as promised, I shall provide facilities to practice your new skills...."
The Empire of Roma was not a country that had a good impression in Alicia's eyes. However, meeting the Celestian monks and seeing the source of Arcane was part of the girl's bucket list that must be fulfilled before dying. A trip to the Eternal Empire, the centre of pure Arcane? Let's go! Alicia's eyes lit up. She could not wait to recover and hone the control of the power that the Divine had entrusted to her.
"...That is, if you eat my Stillmajik Steak."
"N-NAE DANGER! Divine Mercy, just drinking one bottle made me sick, and I had to drink four back then! Then you want me to eat it with the meat? No thanks!"
How surprised Haddock was by Alicia's cute response. "You never know 'till you try it. Do you want to get out of the hospital quickly or not?"
"Laying here a little longer is fine with me! I mean, with today's technology and knowledge, can't they add some sweetness, like berry flavoring, for example? Isn't that better based on common user experience?"
"No way! Adding flavor will take away its potency. The horrible taste doesn't apply to protein, though. I can guarantee it." Showing off his white teeth, Haddock confidently gave Alicia a thumbs up.
"Stillmajik steak? I love steak." Gilmore joined the conversation.
"No, Gilmore! As your pal, I advise against touching anything contaminated with Stillmajik. You will never like it!"
While they were arguing about wildflowers in steak cooking, a mage knocked on the door and whispered something to the Grand Magus.
"Too bad, it's work. All right, friends. All of you get some rest—especially you." Haddock pointed at the bookworm girl. "I'll send Orb to your papa's place when you recover. We'll converse later. Ciao!"
***
Evening came, and it was Donar's turn to visit, bringing dinner and sweets. "Hi, my wee mare is awake at last. All is right, hen?"
Alicia greeted her father with a warm smile. "Papa! My head is still a bit vertiginous, and my whole body still feels heavy. But so far, I'm fine."
"If you don't mind." Donar turned to Nadine and Gilmore. "I want to discuss with my family for a moment."
Nadine nodded. "We understand, My Lord."
"Take some of that food. You can eat outside."
Now only the Crimsonmanes remained. Donar took a seat to Alicia's left, while Leith was already loafing on the long sofa by the door.
"Papa, if this was a matter of a few days ago," said Alicia, "I'm sorry for my harsh words back then."
"Why are you apologising? If you hadn't fought back, Eidyn would have become a necropolis," said Donar.
He sighed and added again, "You're my only daughter. Perhaps I was wrong and worried too much about you. I was too blinded by emotions, I forgot that you were appointed by the Silent Divine itself. But to the truth, I want to discuss other matters.
"Is this about me and Orb again?" guessed Alicia.
"It has the connection to it," replied the father, "but nothing to do with the deal you and Grand Magus Haddock made."
While chewing on the piece of Red Velvet her father brought, Alicia nodded in understanding. "The House, of course. The rumours must have been all over the place already."
Leith jumped from his seat. "No, don't tell me they're going to hunt us for not handing the Orb over to them."
"What? Of course not." Donar took a sip of his freshly poured tea from the pot. "Yeah, maybe it was at first. But after processing everything through reason, the orb is still in the hands of a Crimsonmane, which means their mission has actually been accomplished."
"Just don't fall to the right Crimsonmane," Alicia's tone became gloomy as she said this. "Oh well, it's not that I've never been mocked by them. So what other insults are they throwing now?"
"They invite you to Grandpa's villa for a banquet dinner, celebrating your achievements."
"Aye, of course, they—" Alicia choked on her own cake and took a quick gulp of water. "—They what? A banquet? At Grandpa's villa? That's the worst mockery I've received in my entire life!"
"So bad that it's true, Alicia."
The siblings exchanged looks. But really, what kind of joke was that? There was no way House Crimsonmane did not slip a sarcasm when they said that. Alicia knew all their jokes were not funny, but this one was so awful, Alicia was either annoyed or wanted to chortle to death. Donar must have been deceived by the scheming of the family. They both stared intently at their father, hoping it was a mere spring moon fool, and Donar was losing track of time.
"Surely, they want something in return," Leith said.
"They certainly do! The pure Arcane!" Alicia agreed. "They only invited me to the villa now? I guarantee they were gossiping about our family not too long ago, thinking they have succeeded in fooling us—fooling me—to be used for their selfish interests!"
"Hen, we've had issues with them all along. But think about it. No more living with our own family like a broken ship anymore. We can make peace with each other and be part of the Crimsonmane again."
"We all know why they set Papa and Leith on a quest to find the source of Arcane and its connection to me. Why are you still trying to convince me? I just don't want to, Papa, I don't want to come!" Alicia's voice rose an octave, pushing her body towards Donar in rage. But the agony again grabbed her body, making her wince. Donar swiftly grabbed her shoulders and slowly laid her back on the bed.
"Maybe because you really want to be with them again. Don't you miss seeing your family? Your cousins, uncles, and aunts? They probably miss you."
"What is there to miss about them?"
"Not even Grandfather Alasdair?"
Alicia was silent for a moment. "Those days are long gone. There's no way Grandpa Alasdair could see me like he used to."
Strange. This strange dilemma came again. Again, was this not what she wanted? Gaining magical powers, saving people, being hailed by the masses, and most of all, being acknowledged as part of the House Crimsonmane once more? These were what has been her shadow all this time. Crimsonmane was just a name, but if they were kind enough, they could simply say they did not know if Alicia Crimsonmane ever existed.
Alicia had a great longing to meet her extended family, no matter how much her heart hurt every time the relationship with them became more tenuous and distant. She just wanted to get her good childhood memories back, when people had not asked "Can you do magic?" to her. But this time, she was upset. Incredibly upset.
Damn human emotions! Can you just earn what you want all along? Why even fickle, anyway? Just this once, stop being complicated, can you please?
If only. If only one of them came on behalf of the entire family, then prostrated himself at her feet to apologise and ask her to accept the banquet invitation, her heart might melt. Unfortunately, no one wanted to see her. There were only Donar, Leith, Nadine, Gilmore, Grand Magus Haddock, and the crowds—whom Gilmore said resembled the undead failing to storm the entrance, but still having the desire to meet Alicia even just for a quick glance. Of course not with this House. Typical elite. They were too shameful to visit. They were not even there when Agosh Grendi and his undead attacked the city. Where had they been? Busy with hot spa treatments and glamorous garments? Alicia could consider herself accepted by House Crimsonmane, and then contribute to their vision and mission by Orb's power. But no, they only wanted her Arcane might in the first place.
Alicia uttered again with a heavy heart. "For now, I'm not interested, Papa. I hope you understand."
Donar nodded. "You know, you have time to recover to think about this. If you happen to change your mind, do tell me."
The evening turned into night. Donar and Leith went home to rest at the official residence, leaving behind their beloved daughter and sister. Now Alicia joined the classic formation with her two friends, Nadine and Gilmore. It felt like forever since there were only three of them again, no Orb, no one else, even though it had only been more than a week. Nadine was wrapped in her blanket, curling up on the sleeping sofa next to Alicia. The former Leith's long couch was taken over by Gilmore; now he was the doorman.
While looking at the dimmed yellow light, the still-indecisive Alicia asked her best friends. "If you were invited to dinner by your family, do you think it would be okay if you refused the invitation outright?"
"Why would you reject it? I mean, free scran, and it's juist the three of ye," Gilmore replied. "Wouldn't it be pure weird if it's juist Leith and yer da eating together? Ah cannae jalouse that was more like a date than a family dinner."
"Gilmore, she didn't mean her immediate family!" Nadine denied it. "Wait a minute, is that true? Did you mean the other 'family?'"
"Yes .…"
Nadine gasped straightaway, "Your own House invited you to the banquet…." She immediately leaned back on his sofa. "That's insane! Nae wonder yer nae excited much after you wake up. Too many miracles aren't good for you either! That, or maybe you're still sick."
Nadine continued her sayings. "Well, let's see. The family that dumped you all along, started glancing at you when you had the strongest magic power in the universe, using it to defeat a necromancer...."
"I say dinnae fash yerself, Liz. Refuse it," Gilmore uttered. "Even if they come and lick yer bits. Better yet, juist drop the Crimsonmane name and start yer fresh day with a fresh clan! Never have anything tae dae with them again. Ah thought o' loads suitable names, like Horseglasses? Bookworm? Or Nerdmane?"
Alicia and Nadine instead burst up with laughter. "Sorry Gilmore, I politely refuse your ridiculous surname change proposal," replied Alicia, still laughing. "I mean, Horseglasses? Nerdmane? What kind of name is that?"
"A foolish name created by a genius at creating foolish things." continued Nadine.
"So does that make me a genius or a fool?" Gilmore asked back.
"Rejecting their invitation makes sense, though," said Nadine. "But I thought you were eager to reunite with them."
Alicia sighed. "At first I was. I thought if I could do magic, I could get together with them again. Turns out it wasn't that easy. They did want me back, but with an ulterior motive behind it for sure—using my power to increase the family's influence in the kingdom. Is that true? They want me because I have Orb? What if I lose it? Will they still accept me? What if they manage to take Orb away and banish me again like before, because their hatred of me has blinded them since a long time ago?" Alicia clutched her head with both hands. "Just a matter of dinner invitation, and my head's mince."
"You know, if you really don't want to come, then don't come, let alone seek justification among those closest to you." Nadine gave her advice. "It's your right to come. It's also your right to use the Arcane power as you see fit."
Alicia pondered for a moment. "Aside from changing my clan surname, I think you're right. Thanks, Nadine, Gilmore. I'll consider it."
Nadine saw the clock. "And… it's getting late. It's time to rest, sweetheart. Don't consider that in your dreams, awright? You seek a sweet and calming dream. No family banquet invitations, no Arcane against Khaos, no finding Orb."
"What, you think I'm a dream bender?"
"Haven't ye ever heard of 'lucid dream?'" Gilmore asked.
"Scunnered Ah cannae dae it," retorted the Crimsonmane bookworm.
Nadine turned off all the lights in the room. "Okay, Alicia. Good night, dear. Sweet dreams."
"Good night, too, Nadine, Gilmore."
"Aye, Alicia. Sweet dreams, dear," Gilmore said.
"You're disgusting, Gilmore."
"Ha. Woman." []