"Cassandra..."
"Cassandra..."
Cassandra's ears were piqued by a whisper calling her name. The girl's eyes slowly opened, and she faintly saw the figure of an old woman sitting against the wall facing her bed.
"Grandma?!" Cassandra whispered.
"Wake up, my beloved granddaughter. Don't you miss me?" asked the old woman in all black.
Cassandra immediately got up from her bed and jumped at her grandmother cheerfully. She hugged her grandmother tightly. The touch of their skin was warm to each other. Cassandra had not felt a loving embrace like this in a long time.
"I really miss you! I've been really sad since your death! I--… Wait!"
Cassandra then came to her senses with her own words. She glanced around the room. She saw that her body was sleeping on the bed together with Gomiko.
Her eyes then turned back to her grandmother. Now the cheerful face immediately turned into panic.
"KYA! NO! I DIE!" she screamed. Cassandra stepped back wide-eyed. She covered her mouth with both hands.
Grandma Cassandra immediately shook her head with a chuckle. The older woman with her hair neatly tied up stood up and walked over to her granddaughter.
"You're not dead, Cassandra! You are in dreamland!" said her grandmother gently.
Cassandra stopped her panic and lowered the hand, still covering her mouth.
"So, I was in dreamland? So you mean, you came to see me from dreamland?" Cassandra asked her grandmother.
The old woman in front of her smiled widely and nodded, and she then said, "You're right, Cassasandra. I purposely came to let go of longing. Surely the days gone by must have been tough for you, right?"
Cassandra took a deep breath, hugged her grandmother again and said, "So heavy. I don't know how to describe how sad this heart is. Mother is very mean to me. I'm sad. I feel like I'm being insulted and hated just because I was born different."
The old woman took Cassandra's hand and said, "Follow me."
Unknowingly their feet then floated and passed through the window with ease. They are like ghosts that float around because of wandering. Cassandra was amazed and very shocked by what had happened.
"Perhaps you should understand where all the distractions in you are coming from..."
Cassandra seemed to be frowning and looked confused by her grandmother's words.
"What do you mean?" Cassandra asked.
Her grandmother smiled kindly. The woman named Hera Seanna White then pointed her hand at Cassandra's eyes.
"You will understand after seeing this."
At the same time as those words, Cassandra felt an intense wind blow against her face. A bright light then entered between the fingers covering his eyes. Then, slowly, the hand lifted and released the darkness that covered the young girl's eyes.
When Cassandra opened her eyes, she could see she was in a courtyard. It can be seen in the square where xhe is standing in the backyard because not far from her, a magnificent palace stands facing the front.
"Where is this? Grandma, where are you?!" Cassandra shrieked loudly.
There was no visible figure of her grandmother. Cassandra swallowed her saliva and started to walk forward. Cassandra looked quite panicked because she didn't know this place. Also, she was terrified of being called an intruder. This palace is arguably not her parents' palace, and it is very different.
The sound of hooves from behind made Cassandra gasp. When he turned his head, the cavalry was already very close to his position. Cassandra widened her eyes and stiffened in silence, and she couldn't move.
"No! Stop! Please, stop!" Cassandra shrieked. She waved her hand towards the troops, looking very focused ahead.
Unfortunately, this was not heeded by the horse riders. Cassandra immediately squatted down while holding her head firmly.
With the sound of the horse's footsteps getting closer, Cassandra had resigned herself to having to die. But unfortunately, she forgot that she was wandering in a dreamland. Only when the horse riders pierced her body did she realise that others could not see her.
"Damn… I forgot that I'm a ghost now," Cassandra muttered.
The girl took a deep breath and returned to the front, following the cavalry.
This palace is majestic, and many flowers grow in the front yard. Even the fence near the entrance lobby is made of beautiful white flowers.
"Come back, Hera!"
Suddenly a scream of a deep voice rang out from within the palace. Cassandra immediately approached and saw an old man in a red crown and robe pointing at a young woman with long straight hair.
"I can't stay here, Dad! I have to go after my love. I love Arion! After all, what's wrong with marrying one of the black royals?!" shrieked the young woman.
Cassandra wrinkled her forehead, and she then thought because she felt familiar with the names Arion and Hera.
"Who are they? I've heard that name… Um…" Cassandra mumbled. She turned her gaze back to the young woman standing at the end of the steps of the palace terrace. When the woman accidentally faced her, Cassandra immediately gasped and covered her mouth.
"That face! She looks like grandma! Oh no! Arion and Hera are the names of my grandparents!" said Cassandra.
"You can never marry anyone other than a member of the white kingdom, Hera! You're breaking the ancestral rule! You're going to wreak havoc!" shrieked the old man.
"I don't care! I'm sick of living in this kind of confinement! The ancestral rule is meaningless! It's just a trick of selfish adults like you!" said Hera loudly.
Cassandra opened her mouth in shock at the grandmother's answer. After saying that, the young woman took out her wand and said, "Alayno birdopia!"
From a distance, the figure of a horse bird with the head of an eagle with a white body flew closer to Hera.
"You! How dare you, Hera!" cried the king.
The moment the bird arrived before Hera, the young woman turned to the king and said, "Goodbye, father. I will return when my child is born."
"HERA! STOP IT! NO!"
The king's voice seemed hoarse as he screamed for the child who had already left. At the same time, Cassandra's shoulder was suddenly tapped from behind. When She turned her head, she found her grandmother coming and smiling broadly.
"Time to go back," said Hera. She closed Cassandra's eyes again. Cassandra felt the same wind blow against her face.
"Open your eyes."
Cassandra followed her grandmother's orders. They were back in Cassandra's room when her eyes opened. Cassandra was still at a loss for words from what she had just seen.
"So, do you understand?" asked Hera.
"Yeah, you're the cause of all this weirdness, grandma…." Cassandra answered quietly.
"You are right. I'm sorry, because of my selfishness bad things are happening between these two kingdoms. I gave birth to three children, Lilya, Abercion and Dandelia. Lilya was born as a pure black magician, Abercion as a pure white magician and Dandelia experienced weirdness like you, she has mixed powers. At that time, both of Arion's parents were still alive, they had already decided to take care of Lilya and Dandelia. While Abercion is given to the white kingdom. However, unfortunately, while I was away with my three children to visit my parents in the white kingdom, the black kingdom came under attack from the giants. In that fight, both of Arion's parents died. Arion believes that all of this happened because of Dandelia's presence, when I got home Arion ordered his bodyguards to… kill Dandelia…."
Hera's face immediately looked gloomy. Cassandra seemed sorry to hear what Hera had to say.
"I'm so sorry, grandma… I didn't know if all this was really hard for you."
Cassandra then stepped up and hugged her grandmother.
"This is my fated, Cassandra. Now you must understand that your duty is to erase the strife between these two kingdoms. You have similar prowess as Dandelia, you are a witch with mixed powers," Hera exclaimed firmly.
"But how can I do it? I can't even use black magic, grandma! And that dispute, what exactly happened?" Cassandra asked.
Hera smiled widely and then let go of her granddaughter's embrace. Slowly her body floated toward the window.
"You'll have to figure it all out yourself, Cassandra. I've already shown you an important point tonight, fight!"
Hera then waved her hand and disappeared with a puff of black smoke that appeared in front of the window.
Cassandra tried to catch up with Hera while shouting, "No! Wait! Grandma!"
"GRANDMA!"
Cassandra is awake. Sweat soaked all over her body. She immediately sat up and found that it was still very dark, and Gomiko was still late in her sleep.
The young girl panted. She then stepped towards the window and stared at the moonlight from the black membrane covering the window.
"Grandma… how can I handle everything?" Cassandra muttered. Her head began composing every story and clue she experienced in dreamland earlier.