•Elia
The maid, whose name I do not know, leads us towards the dining hall.
Where we are heading has a huge door ahead, with two guards standing in front of it, who gently open the door as we move towards it.
When the door opens, I feel a heavy gush of wind engulf me. It feels strange, like something that is hot, and electrifying, but still gives me goosebumps at the same time. I glance at Lita but she looks unfazed. Almost like that rush of energy didn't reach her.
I turn my attention back to where it is meant to be, the dining. And of course, it is enormous.
Not that kind that has a table that stretches out across the room, with half the population of a suburban district sitting around it, while they all tear into turkey legs, speaking fancifully about war and politics.
Instead, there are only five people here, excluding the guards—The king, Ian, Kyron, a young woman, and a man I haven't seen before. And they are all staring at the both of us.
This is uncomfortable.
"Have a seat, please." The king gestures towards the empty seats. We both slowly take a seat next to each other.
The table is big enough to take at least ten people, but we are only seven right now. Do they always have empty seats around them like this?
Just then, a number of maid servants gather around the table and open up the food which was covered by a food cloche.
When the aroma hits my nostrils, I remember I haven't had anything to eat today, and I am hungry.
Everything looks, well, like food. At least there's corn, bread, meat-stuffed mushrooms, pork, crab, what I think is mushroom soup, and other normal-ish looking food.
Good. No screaming worms.
"Did you feel that weird energy just now?" I whisper
"What energy?"Lita whispers as well, before she digs into what's in front of her.
I look around to see that everyone is eating, except me.
All right, I think I'll try the mushroom soup.
I pick up the spoon, and when it reaches my mouth, I turn to Lita and she has the same look on her face—Mid.
But I am hungry, so it doesn't matter so much to me.
"You do look so much like Ella," The man breaks the silence, causing me to look at him.
He is smiling, like he's happy to see me, and I notice he has a little dimple on his left cheek. Just like I do.
Even though he seems older than my dad, I can see through his features that he must have be good looking during his prime, with his chiseled face.
"You knew my mom as well?" I ask
"Of course I did, she was my niece." His smile widens.
This man is my mom's uncle?!
Judging by Lita's gasp, she is surprised as well.
But I guess that explains his having the same hair color as her, and the dimple we have in common.
So that means he is my grand uncle.
I shouldn't be shocked to find any relatives in this world, but it still feels strange.
It somewhat reminds me of the fact that there is so much I don't know, not only about my mom, but about myself as well.
I face my attention back to my food as I have no idea what to say to him. This feels even more awkward than it was before.
Introductions, yeah, that should work.
"I'm Elia, nice to meet you." I say awkwardly, not being able to meet his gaze.
"You certainly do not have her character," he chuckles, "I am Idri Kiyoni, your grandfather's younger brother. A pleasure meeting you, grand niece." He grins.
After that, we continue eating, until Idri speaks again.
"Where are you from? It certainly isn't Anodohra."
"A place called… Scotland." I answer, my gaze still fixed on my plate.
Maybe he wouldn't ask further questions after this-
"That's a ridiculous name. Do you all just put a random name in front of 'land' to name a land?" The woman that I now realize looks like Ian's twin but without the elf ears, asks, and I finally lift my head up.
"No, I mean, yes we might have Ireland, England, Poland, Switzerland, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, but…y-you do have a point there." Lita answers, planning to defend her case, but ends up returning her attention to her food after proving the woman right.
For some unknown reason, my gaze shifts towards Ian who is focused solely on his food. But as if he could feel me looking at him, he looks up and our eyes meet. And just like before, I can't seem to tear my gaze away, trying to figure out exactly what creature he is.
He is an elf, right? But I wonder what position he has here? Could he actually be the prince?
Actually, I wonder what position Idri has here. Why is he the only Kiyoni here?
"I wonder if your abilities are similar to Ella's" Idri says, with a look that appears like he's fascinated.
"Huh?" I blink a few times
"Your mother was very powerful, some believed she was the most powerful in Anodohra. There is no way such power like that passed over her child." He explains.
"Called it!" I hear Lita mutter under her breath.
"My mother was what?!" I question with widened eyes.
I get that she had magic, could even create her own portals, that's impressive. But, the most powerful in Anodohra? That sounds crazy. This is a fantasy, right? It's not an anime.
I chug up a glass of water as slowly as I can so I don't look like I am in anyway alarmed.
"You do not have magic?"
"No, I don't" I answer as calmly as I can.
I notice that Ian is still looking at me, but now with an intrigued expression. The same he had when I first saw him.
"Not yet," He asserts, taking another bite of his food. "Ella did not have magic until she turned nineteen. How old are you?"
Th-that's exactly my age.
I didn't think of this either. I didn't even think it would be possible, it didn't cross my mind.
"Right now, I don't have magic." I refuse to answer his question, instead I return to my food.
At this point, I think I'm full.
When I sense the feeling that Idri wants to ask another question, I speak before he does.
"Your majesty, thank you for having us. Permission to be dismissed?"
Permission to be dismissed?! What even is that?
Luckily, the only reaction I got from that was a light chuckle from Ian. Which is still embarrassing enough.
"Most certainly. But I want to discuss something with you beforehand, in private." He rises from his seat and begins to walk away. I think I am supposed to follow him.
When I turn to Lita, she gives me a reassuring smile, before whispering,
"I'll be in your room. We need to talk about the tension I just felt between you and elfie over there." She winks.
I simply roll my eyes and move ahead to catch up with the king so I don't get lost.
•••
I'm too tired to register the whole set up of the king's room. It's massive and black, I know that much. And his bed is really soft, I can't help but run my hands through the duvet subconsciously, and anxiously.
"You don't know much about Ella, do you?" He finally speaks up from where he's seated across from me on his chair.
"That's why I'm here, to learn more about my mom." I fixate my eyes on anything but his.
He nods, still not giving a reason why he called me here, or why he's letting us stay.
"The reason why Ella ran away was because of me."
His surprising words make me finally look at him, but now he's the one avoiding eye contact.
"She was arranged to get married to me, and she did not like that." He continues, "So, she chose to run away, to a different dimension. She was always so unpredictable." His mouth forms a sad smile, like the one Leon had on earlier.
"Really unpredictable" His sad smile forms into a sadder frown.
Mom was supposed to get married to the king?
Wait, my mom rejected the king? Why does that make me a little proud?
But now, he believes he is at fault for whatever happened to her.
"You think you had a hand in how everything played out?" I ask
"If I was not so adamant on having her, she would not have run away. If she didn't run away, maybe she would still be here."
At that moment there was a crack in his voice, and a crack in the mask he was wearing to hide his emotions. He let himself shatter right in front of me, as he covers his face with one of his hands, his shoulders rising up and down from his silent sobs. He loved my mom. He loved Ella.
I let him have a few moments to himself, and only decide to speak when his sobs become quiet.
"You are not the one who killed her, therefore it is not your fault." I begin to walk towards him, "My mom wanted freedom, and she thought she could find it in another world. And maybe she did, I don't know for sure. But I know it wasn't that world that killed her." I take a short pause before continuing, "Whatever it was, it followed her there."
He looks up at me in realization, "She was murdered?" He says, switching quickly to a gruff voice.
"She was murdered." He repeats, gripping the armrest so tight, it would leave marks.
"Who did it?" His voice takes a much harsher tone and I hear the sound of glass breaking from behind me, and I don't need to turn around to know it was a vase. And he is the one who caused it.
"I would like to know that myself." I reply, right before the sound of something else breaking startles me.
I feel something splash on me once, then again, and again, until it becomes countless splashes of water. I look up but there is no cloud, and the fact that we are indoors makes this all the more terrifying.
I feel a powerful rush of wind surround me, one even stronger than the one I felt earlier.
The king is still seated, with his hands running through his hair. I don't need anyone to tell me that his anger just caused an indoor storm. Now I understand why royals are ranked so high in power levels.
"Your majesty!" I try to call out to him but the wind is too strong, and he looks like he's lost in rage.
Maybe I should have found a better way to break the news to him, after finding out that he cannot control his anger.
I feel sudden goosebumps, as well as something really strong telling me to jump to the left, and it might just have been instinct, but when I see the burnt spot right where I was standing before I moved away, I begin to thank every lucky star to exist in my life.
I almost got pulverised by lightning.
I jump onto the bed when another one almost hits me, again.
Is this how I die? By lighting and rain caused by magical anger?
I hear a louder rumbling sound, and just when I think it could not get worse, a tiny cloud of lightning bolts appears and begins to swiftly move towards me.
Okay, so this is how I die?
I close my eyes, hoping and praying the king calms down.
The sounds die down, but I don't dare open my eyes.
"Elia" The king whispers
I slowly open my eyes and realize the storm is over. Should have known when I wasn't feeling the rain or the wind.
"I am desperately sorry, I-I have not lost control like that in a long time." He runs his hand through his hair with still shaky hands.
I simply nod and leave the room as fast as I can.
Once I get as far away as possible, I lean on the wall in order to catch my breath and place a hand on my chest to try steady my rapidly beating heart. I almost thought I was getting a panic attack, because of the throbbing in my chest, and the pounding in my ears, but that was probably because a second ago, I thought I was gonna die.
After what I think was half an hour of deep breathing exercises, I open my eyes and scan my surroundings. I didn't even notice when I slid to the ground.
Did I even take note of where I was going? This place does look familiar.
Of course it does, the hallways are identical to each other.
I rise to my feet and heave out a heavy sigh. This whole magic thing is not going to be easy to get used to.
"Elia?"
I turn around, and when I see it's Leon, I sigh in relief.
"Why are you drenched? What happened?" He rushes towards me looking worried.
"I'm okay, bathroom accident." I fake a smile.
I have no idea why I'm covering for him, but maybe it's a good thing if the King owes me one.
Who am I kidding? He's the king, he can kill off anyone he wants, guiltlessly.
"I also got lost" I add
"I have countless questions, but let's get you to your room first."
•••
I decided to use the opportunity to ask Leon about ACA.
"Luckily for you, they are opening up a new session soon. You can join then." He assures
I clutch tightly to the blanket he draped over me, "Really? When?"
"Tomorrow."