"Huff Huff-"
Each of Lucia's breaths had the weight of a thousand boulders and then some.
Never had she exerted herself as much as she did now. Her entire body felt ready to collapse at any given moment.
Luckily, once she had gotten over the steep hill that previously blocked her view, she had a full image of the ruins.
For a brief moment, she couldn't feel her pain, only admiration for the massive structure in front of her. Though its walls were overgrown and ravaged by time's hand, there was no doubt in her mind that in its time, it was glorious.
The Faurians weren't exactly knowledgeable in forms of architecture, after all, all they could do was build basic structures to preserve resources. To think that a civilization of ancient times was eons ahead of them tickled her brain.
In the end, Elicia wasn't just any empire, it was the mightiest and longest lasting empire that ever was.
Without their contributions to humanity, there was no arguing the future would have been massively different.
Elicia's culture had always captivated her. Likely due to the fact that she didn't show interest in religious texts, she spent her days studying the history and cultural vibrancy of the empire.
She loved to study the small things that made their culture unique. The meaning of different flowers, The symbolic crests of the empire's noble houses, its festivals, holidays and so on.
The ancient tounge was immensely beautiful to her. The way each and every one of their words had a peculiar rhythm to them and very specific meanings was beyond what she would have expected.
Before she knew it, Lucia had finally snapped back into reality. The pain came back to hit her as soon as she started to walk towards the fortress' worn down staircase.
This was it, the one chance she had. If this didn't work, she'd have to give up her dreams and leave the great hope her people harbored for her at birth completely behind. Lucia didn't know how she would ever face her father. She hoped that as a great leader, he'd make the right choice and elect to finally end the rule of lineage in Fauria.
All the way up the stairs, her legs quaked, ached, shaked and all the other words. As her petite feet reached the edge of the top step, her focus blurred which followed in a tumble forward onto the defense wall, badly scraping her knee.
"Damn you"
She let out a frustrated breath as she clenched her teeth and attempted to prop herself back up.
She coughed and dusted off her clothing. She wobbled like a cheap action figure and audibly sighed with every step she took.
The flag of Elicia waved violently as the sun began to rise. its tone of fierce scarlet blended into the sunrise's whimsical painting and the smell morning dew it brought along. Unbeknowst to her, the amulet that Lucia had brought with her shook faintly from underneath her clothing.
Though she thought she had felt something scratching her under her shirt, she was too tired to think much of it and continued her mindless wander.
She had not the slightest idea what to look for. All Cynthia had said was that she had a "vision." Lucia felt ridiculous wandering back and forth waiting for something to blow her away all of the sudden.
The trip was so tiring that Lucia began to believe Cynthia's vision was just a hallucination she had from sleep deprivation. Afterall, she knew Cynthia would never lie to her.
Soon, yet another pessimistic thought sprung into her head. Sure, one person had a vision- but what made her think she would too? If the Saint King was real she doubted he'd find her worthy in any way, she didnt feel she deserved it. If only one person could tell her that she was worthy and needed, she would give anything for that.
She paused her train of thought when something in particular caught her attention.
"Hm?"
Lucia's eyes fixated onto a spot in the defense wall overlooking what was probably an ancient village. She tried to move her gaze away, but she found that her eyes were locked onto that spot like a moth to the flame. She began half limping towards the spot in a way that seemed almost hypnotized.
Something felt wrong, unbelievably wrong. She couldn't describe the feeling but she felt like she was being guided by the strings for fate, unable to use her own body.
One step away from the center of the defense wall, Lucia's heart rate began to pound to an extreme degree as if war drums were sounding furiously in her chest.
Her eyes opened wide in pure shock. From under her collar, the shaking pendant was freed at last, levitating itself proportionate to the top of her head.
Her hair began to float to an unearthly degree, giving rise to her similarity to a goddess on land. Her blood pressure seemed to continuously increase as several drops of blood mixed sweat rolled down her face.
Her pendant radiated so brightly, she could no longer ignore it. It was as if a newborn star fell to earth's surface and engulfed the entirety of her body.
No one could withstand the immense pressure of what felt like hundreds of tons, let alone Lucia. She fell to the ground crashing into the stone rubble of the ancient defense wall.
Her head spiraled so violently that she couldn't decode her own thoughts.
As the blinding light her pendant emitting had finally consumed her, she saw everything go completely black. Her only sense was the muffled sound of drops of water dripping off of leaves and reaching the ground.
She felt warm, as if a loved one was hugging onto her tightly. She could vividly feel someone holding her in their arms. She wished this feeling would last for an eternity and that whom ever it was, that they would caress her head and tell her that everything would be alright.
"A-are you ok?"
She heard a soft, echoed voice of an unfamiliar man while she began to drift away.
She felt as if she was not in her body, but flowing through a void with her spirit alone.
As she slowly opened her eyes she found herself in the arms of a stranger. It wasn't a familiar face from the island, but a tall young man.
Her head spun like a tornado as she tried to adjust to her surroundings despite her overworked eyes working against her.
She looked up to find the man's worried face.
Her head laid against his chest, carefully supported by his gentle hand.