"Finally, I'm out of the palace again," Gala chirped enthusiastically, a familiar knapsack hanging on her back. She spread her arms and closed her eyes, then slowly twirled around.
Deviro suddenly leaped in front of Gala from an icy branch that he had climbed a while ago. He mimicked Gala's actions, a silly grin plastered on his face.
Alvaro was mortified beyond words at the sight in front of him. The newly anointed whisperer of their land was already a pain in the ass; imagine how much worse it would be to add the easygoing Deviro to their group. One could say that this group would be bound to fail without the elder faye. It was like babysitting two rambunctious toddlers under his care.
"Can you two give it up? We're not going on a vacation, may I remind you both." Alvaro scoffed at her and Deviro, his hands on his waist, his hazel-brown eyes turning into golden orbs as they reflected in the afternoon light. He slowly walked towards us, his hands still on his waist, ranting about how we're uncontrollable and the probability that we might fail if we continued goofying around. "Deviro, stop tolerating Gala's buffoonery. You're the second commander of Aelfrey's warriors. You should act like one."
The smiles on their faces vanished as swiftly as the brush of the wind through their hair. The carefree Deviro next to her, flustered in embarrassment at the young warrior's impertinent remarks. Alvaro's actions were out of line. Both of them did not do anything wrong at all.
Gala approached the dark-haired faye with her chin held high in defiance of him. "Why don't you stop imposing your principles on other people, Alvaro? I see nothing wrong with having fun once in a while. Besides, we're still far from our mission. I don't get where this incivility is coming from." Gala snarled at the young warrior, who was taken aback by her sudden outburst.
Alvaro's expression darkened at the visibly irate girl. What's wrong with what he said? After all, he was just speaking the truth. Warriors like him and Deviro were trained throughout their younger years and abided by their code of conduct, especially high-ranking warriors like them. He could not believe that the young woman would twist his words to fit her narrative of him being arrogant when all he had done was carry out his responsibilities.
Deviro placed himself in between the two, who were shooting daggers at each other with how sharp they were glaring at each other. He carefully patted the young woman's and the dark-haired faye's backs to relieve the thick tension going on in the atmosphere. "Easy, you don't want to kill each other before we can even reach our destination, do you?"
"Tell that to her Deviro. Just because she was officially proclaimed as our whisperer doesn't mean that she can interfere with how I handle the people under me, especially during missions." Alvaro spat, his jaw clenched while he stormed out, leaving Deviro and Gala behind.
Gala was offended by his words, but chose not to say anything further as the young warrior made valid points. The young woman could only sigh as she gawked regretfully at Alvaro's marching form ahead.
--
Gala and Deviro finally caught up with Alvaro when the sun had retreated from the horizon and the pathway had slowly faded against the dusky sky. The young warrior's stride was long and hasty, as if he was deliberately trying to leave them behind.
Gala wanted to apologize for her unwarranted outburst, but she was so embarrassed about doing it that she chose to keep it to herself and let the man be upset with her. To her defense, the young warrior went a wee overboard with his sternness that she felt was fed up with his 'stick to the rules' attitude.
The young woman and Alvaro's resolve not to talk to each other was as sturdy as a hard rock, as both of them were too stubborn and dismissive, not knowing that the awful silence had made the carefree faye exasperated.
Gala could hear Deviro's heavy sighs behind her, and the moon was steadily rising into the night sky, illuminating the dim pathway. The pale night sky cast shadows on the frozen landscape, and the extreme cold only added to the strain in the atmosphere.
"You know, I don't care if you two continue your little squabble, but can we stop for a night? If you both didn't notice, it was already night." Deviro grumbled, his tone tinged with sarcasm.
As if Gala and Alvaro were being splashed with cold water, they stopped in their tracks both at the same time and turned to the light-blue-haired faye. Without uttering a word, they dropped their knapsacks on the ground. Gala began to spread her blanket on the ground while Alvaro conjured up his bubble heat to warm them up through the night. Deviro had seen this every time they went on missions together.
'The level of pettiness of these two.' Deviro grumbled inwardly.
--
The vision started off misty; she could hear incomprehensible screams in the distance. Loud roars of the cackle of fire echoed throughout. Seconds after, the vision started to become clearer, albeit still hazy. She could make out forms of silhouettes; she saw the fayes running frantically in all directions, their wings spread and no longer dressed in thick robes. She saw a particular faye whose part of the wings was being chewed up by the fire. She wanted to yell 'run', but surprisingly, she couldn't find her voice.
The next thing she knew, her body was being yanked away and transported to another vision. This time, it was clearer than the last one. Four towers stood on a small hill which seemed very familiar to her; she let out a hushed gasp, realizing that it was the palace. The only thing odd about what she was seeing was the bright pink horizon behind the magnificent structure.
A muffled cry escaped her throat when the bright pink background against the palace was actually a blazing fire, roaring its way towards the kingdom. It gained a steady pace towards the kingdom, gulping everything on its way. She was confused as hell when no one in the kingdom seemed to notice the danger that was coming their way. Her eyes darted in panic. She wanted to signal a warning to them, but no matter how much she tried, her voice just wouldn't come out. She looked up and saw the radiant, full moon gliding across the cloudless sky.
--
"Gala? Gala! Wake up!"
She jolted up immediately when she heard Deviro calling her name. Beads of sweat were all over her forehead; her chest was heaving up and down erratically. She looked at Deviro and Alvaro, who were towering over her with distraught expressions on their faces.
'What was that? Was it all a dream? But it felt so real! ' Gala thought carefully as she recalled the puzzling dream she had just had.
"What was wrong, Gala? You were whimpering and murmuring incomprehensible things in your sleep." Alvaro asked, his brows knitted together.
Gala was momentarily surprised that Alvaro was now speaking to her, but chose not to comment on it. Her dream, or whatever it was--that was more vital right now; It is very hard to explain, but she can sense something ominous about the dream. Somehow, she was certain that it was not just any ordinary dream.
"I had a dream, Alvaro. Something was odd about it." Gala began. Alvaro and Deviro sat down beside her and attentively listened to her. Gala relayed the first vision she saw in her dream, not leaving out any tiny details from her memory. A crease on their forehead gradually appeared as Gala went on. "Then, the wild fire moved in the direction of the kingdom." Gala started explaining to them her second vision. Alvaro and Deviro squatted in front of her, their arms on their chins.
"In your vision, did the fayes in the kingdom noticed the impending danger?" Alvaro inquired again. It was evident that Gala's dream troubles the young warrior.
Was it just a normal dream? Was it a memory from the past or something that would happen in the future? Gala had no answers.
Gala returned the young warrior's gaze. "That was one thing that I noticed. No one noticed the danger coming in their way. It was too impossible as there were look-out guards in every direction."
Alvaro and Deviro nodded silently. Something is wrong with Gala's dream. However, it was difficult to reach conclusions for the time being because they didn't know if the vision was from the past, that their sacred-faye had shown Gala, or if it was a prognosis for Aelfrey. It could have been the former, but there's a good chance it was the latter. Gala may have the ability to see things ahead of time.
"Have you seen a fire in pink?" Gala asked out-of-the blue.
Deviro chuckled. "Why are you asking that so suddenly?"
Gala blinked, "Because it was the color of the fire I saw in the vision. Aelfrey was ablazed in a pink hue."
The light-blue-haired faye who had thought it was funny a while ago, became solemn. She became lost in thought. Fire? Pink? It sounded ridiculous, but once she stepped onto this magical land, nothing surprised her anymore.
"There was this one time when the frost was only a week old. I set a frozen tree on fire in an attempt to thaw the solid ice, and as you might expect, the heat from my fire did not melt the icy case, but the tree was burning in a pink hue," Alvaro revealed, much to Gala and Deviro's astonishment.
Gala threw her arms in the air with glee. "So, the reason the fire in my vision turned pink is because of the frozen landscape, which softens the fiery color to give the illusion of pink. It makes sense!"
Therefore, Alvaro's suspicion that it might be a vision from the past is no longer reasonable as the frost occurred a year ago. That leaves them to the latter. It was a vision of what would transpire in the future.
Nevertheless, Alvaro knows that straining themselves to solve the puzzle right away won't do them any good. They were assigned to a mission that they must accomplish.
"Let's go back to sleep for now; it'll be midnight soon, and we have to continue our journey early tomorrow," Alvaro urged them as he rose up.
Gala inadvertently looked up, as if experiencing déjà vu, the previous scene in her vision entangled with what she was seeing now.
'It's the moon!'
The young woman hastily rose from her blanket and shoved them off into her knapsack. Deviro and Alvaro looked at her in shock, speculating if she was still in her right mind. She might still be shaken by the vision she saw.
"Alvaro, Deviro, we need to go back to the kingdom! Right now!" Gala yelled in a frenzy at the two fayes who were casually lying down on their blankets, gaping at her in amusement.
"What do you mean?" Alvaro asked, although, not grasping as to why the young woman acted frantically; he mirrored the urgency of her action. He signaled for Deviro to do the same.
The young whisperer finally faced them with a troubled look on her face. "The vision!"
"Yeah, what about the vision, Gala?" Deviro asked this time.
Gala walked left and right, her hands trembling and her steps faltering. "I believe it will happen tonight at midnight; we must return to the kingdom before it is too late!"