Celesse Witherspoon
I walked into my house just as school ended and immediately ran to my sister's room. I entered and saw her sitting in bed, reading a book. "Alva! How're you feeling?" She looked up before smiling and putting something in her book. "I feel amazing. How was school today?"
"Prince Balere is going to train the Lowell twins and me." She smiled and nodded. "That's good. He was the one to heal my sickness yesterday, right?" I nodded. She smiled. After she was healed yesterday, she looked much more beautiful than before.
"That reminds me, who's Danny?" Her face went flush red. "Ah, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make the illness come back!" I yelled. "No, no, you're fine! I was just embarrassed. I'm not sure if you remember, but used to read a book series when I was a kid and the main character was named Danny."
I sat in the chair next to her. "Whew! I nearly had a heart attack there! But wait, I don't remember you reading before your illness..." She shrugged with a goofy grin. "I guess you just don't remember!"
I laughed at her. She put her hand on top of mine and smiled brightly. "What's wrong?" She asked. "What do you mean?" She looked at me like I was stupid. "I can tell something is wrong. C'mon, tell your little sister about it."
I sighed. "I know you probably don't care and just want to hear about my stuff to make me feel better, but I guess I can go along. I already told you that the prince will train me, right?" She nodded. "Well, this morning, Cassius picked a fight with him."
"That can't end well..."
"That's what I was thinking. Anyway, they were just going to have a little swordfight, but then the headmaster comes out and makes it an actual duel, giving them real words and everything!" She seemed intrigued. "Well, it starts, and suddenly the prince gave off this... pressure. I think it was a skill, but it was so chilling. Then, I think he was toying with him. He put him in a small vortex, and we couldn't hear him. Finally, he got this ball of ice, about this big, and then he hit Cassius straight in the stomach with it."
"Yeah, that oughta do the trick. I'm guessing he was done after that?" I nodded. "It turns out, with that battle, they decided who would be the headmaster's next pick, since Balere Lowell disappeared."
She raised an eyebrow. "I know what you're thinking, and no, they aren't the same." She raised a brow. "I don't believe you... Anyway, so he's going to be set for life on top of being a prince? And, on top of all of that, he's overwhelmingly strong? Sounds like a crappy novel come true."
I laughed at her, relieving my worries a little. "Wait, so what's the problem here? Did you want to be chosen as the headmaster's pick?" I shook my head. "If I want to make it, I want to earn it." Her face turned solemn. "You sound a lot like Danny..."
"The novel character?" She nodded. "He was always talking about how he wanted to make it by himself."
"How did the novel series end?"
She bit her lip. "I'm not sure..." She seemed like she was lying, but I decided to not press the issue. "Anyway, I think the problem is how strong he is. The moment he stepped into the classroom, I could tell there was something off about him. I tried to see the color of his mana, but all of it was clear, and he had a lot more of it than I do."
"And you have a lot of mana?"
I smiled proudly while jabbing myself in the chest with my thumb. "So much so that I've already won two awards from it!" She clapped, and I could tell it was sarcastic. "Anyway, I was shocked about how it went down. Later, he trained the Lowell twins and agreed to also train Cassius. He's super nice."
"It's starting to sound like you have a crush on the guy," She joked. My face flushed and I pounded my head into her bed. "It isn't like that!" I yelled, the bed muffling my voice.
"Sure it isn't~" She patted my head. I sat up and fixed my hair before sighing again. "So, anything interesting happen in your life recently?" She smirked. "Yeah, I just recently became healthy from an unknown illness." I chuckled before standing up. "Let me go get you some water."
I began walking downstairs, where I saw my father already in our kitchen."Oh, hi Dad!" He looked up from his paper. "Oh, hi sweetie. What're you doing?" He asked me. "I'm getting Alva some water. What're you doing?" He sighed. "Looking at bills and wishing that they would disappear." I laughed before grabbing a cup and heading outside.
I got some water from the well before running carefully back to Alva's room. I put it down on her dresser before sitting down again. "Do you think I'll be able to use mana?" She asked me. "Totally! I think you'll grow up to be as strong, or maybe even stronger than the prince!" She smiled.
"So, I wanted to ask you a question. What's your favorite part of the novel series you were talking about?"
She quickly took a drink before sitting there. "I would have to say the cafe scene. Danny and his girlfriend were at a cafe and enjoying their date when his favorite song came on. There just so happened to be a stage, so he jumped on without a thought in his precious little head. He sang like no one else was watching, when in fact everyone was laughing."
"Was his singing bad or something?" I asked. "No, the author made it clear he had some singing training. I think he was young when he had it, though."
"You seem to remember this novel series very well." She shrugged before taking a drink from her cup. "Well, for me, it hasn't been that long since I've read them. Y'know, since I've been mostly in a coma for a while because of the sickness. They just resonated with me, I guess."
The door opened and Dad entered. "Hey guys, I'm going to be out for a little bit. I'll be back soon!" He waved before dipping back out.
"What would happen if, say, the city was invaded?" I raised an eyebrow. "That's a strange question. If I had to guess, the royal guards would come and help defend. I mean, they're walking the streets every day, so they must have to do something in that scenario. Why do you ask?"
"I just get the feeling something bad is about to happen. Like a premonition in the form of a feeling."
I felt the ground rumble and ran to the window. Outside, I saw a group of people in marching band uniforms—black with gold highlights. They each wore masks with skulls on them. The ones in the back had black skulls, and there were about two hundred, maybe more of them. The ones in front of them wore red masks, and there were about double the amount of people in black masks. In front of them, were about 9 people wearing yellow masks.
"What's happening?" Alva asked me. "I'm not sure. It looks like a marching band just walking down the street."
They all stopped before everyone except the yellow-masked people pulled out a curved, single-edged blade with a square grip. They pointed them up to the sky before the people with the yellow masks turned toward them. "Eins zwei drei!" Suddenly, fireballs shot from the swords, about sixteen centimeters in diameter each.
A wave of mana, like a shockwave, resounded everywhere, making me stagger. I turned to see Alva breathing heavily. "Are you good?" She nodded weakly. "I'm just a little light-headed. What just happened?"
"They shot fireballs, almost all of them. Hang on..." I looked out of the window, ad I saw a hill on fire, and people running amuck. The people with the masks were marching on, toward the capital. As they walked, if anyone was in their way, they were murdered. "Wait, Dad left right before this..."
The thought set in quickly and I ran for the door. "Stay there, and don't go outside!" I ran outside, grabbing a wand from the table just in case.
Everyone was worried and scared, so I ignored them and ran down the street, looking for my dad.
"—lesse!" I turned to see my Dad on the sidewalk, holding his side. "Dad!" I ran toward him and hugged him tightly. "Oof! Hey, I'm injured here, maybe loosen your grip?" I quickly let go to see his side bleeding. I checked, and sure enough, I had blood on me, too. "Are you OK?" He nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Could you help me get to the Lowell house?" I nodded, and let him lean on me.
I helped him walk to the house, and he opened the door. "Patrem?! Oh my gosh!" Rufus was the first to help him, Adeline hurrying soon after. I looked over to see Adrian and Lucille staring at the situation. "Celesse, what happened?"
"Well, those people must have gotten him while they were marching! I'm not too sure about the specifics, so you'll have to ask him..." They ran to their cabinets and pulled out a healing crystal.
"So, who were they?" I asked. "We aren't sure. Whenever we saw them, I instantly brought them inside," Rufus said, motioning toward the twins. I stood next to Dad, holding his hand. He was forcing a smile, but I could tell he wasn't doing very well.
"Wait, what about Alva? Is she alone right now?" Lucille asked. "I told her to stay put while I looked for Dad. I hope she listens to me..."
They took away the crystal and bandaged Dad, who now was taking deep breaths a leaning back. "Is it any better?" Adeline asked. "Yes, much... Celesse, I think I should stay here with the Lowell family for a little bit. You should go home to Alva. Is it OK if the twins go with her?" Their parent nodded quickly, and the twins came and stood next to me.
"You're going to be OK, right?" He smiled weakly before nodding. I said bye to the adults before walking out with the twins.
"He's going to be fine, Celesse," Lucille said with a cheerful smile. "I sure hope so..."
"So, where did those guys end up going, anyway?" Adrian asked me. "I think they started heading toward Wothya... Wait, Wothya is the royal capital!"
"Yeah, so?" Lucille seemed confused. "That's where Balere is!"