10.30 a.m.
It feels…odd…
It may be the first thought. For some reason, everything feels so…empty and hollow. She looked around. Words could not describe what she was looking at exactly. There are…bubbles around her; for some reason, each bubble felt so…different. The bubbles even look different in their color. Some are blue, some are red, some are yellow…and some are… colorful, for lack of a better word. Mesmerized by the bright bubble, she slowly approached and raised her hand to touch it. However, when she felt it, the bubble instantly popped. Her head is constantly overflowing with thoughts, and her heart is flooded with emotions. Happiness, sadness, anger, joy, everything flowed in her head, but deep inside, she knew what it was.
"…This…"
"This is when I was rescued by the two of them, back in Whitefall…," she murmurs, finally making sense of the memory in her mind.
Gratitude.
That is what she is feeling right now.
"Does that mean…"
She looked around again, trying her best to comprehend her situation.
"…I guess Uncle Boyd's spell worked."
She observed the nearest bubble she could find but was careful enough not to pop it like the bubble before, over the fear of the unknown. As she peered into the bubble, she could translucently see some movement inside the bubble. The blue-red-coloured bubble remained there motionless as she looked deeper.
"This is when I was training with Mitchel. This…"
"This was the memory that peered into me before when Boyd told me about the nature of his work…"
However, her instincts are pulling her to another bubble…a very dark one, almost as if the bubble itself represents trauma. She touched it, and her mind instantly swelled into her.
It was a memory, a traumatic one. The memory that Flare could not fully comprehend back when she was captured and betrayed by her uncle before the guards attempted to rape her.
The dirt. Yes, she remembers the dirt splattering into her mouth when she was pushed down after taking a direct punch to the face. The scene of a man undoing his trousers…
However, she instantly snaps herself back out of the memory. Flare fully understands what happened, but for some reason – the memory itself…is still hazy. She tosses the bubble away and turns her back to it – filled with horror and disgust towards the man and perhaps herself.
Suddenly, her eyes fixated on a large double door near her position. Filled with curiosity and intrigue, she confidently approaches the door, sifting through the myriad of lustrous colored bubbles.
"…"
"Huge…"
At first, it looked so small, like the size of her finger. However, as she came closer, the incongruous door became larger, towering above Flare by 3 meters. She circled the door, but after doing it several times, she just accepted the oddness of the door, standing out of place in this crowd of bubbles. She knocked on it a few times to examine it.
"Concrete…"
"What is this…?"
Upon closer inspection, she noticed a few murals engraved on the concrete door. Her fingertips touched it, examining the engravings for her curiosity. The door has only one engraving, and it is a large circle, with several more circles orbiting the larger circle. There are also small writings engraved inside each circle. Still, Flare focuses on the writings on the larger circle, which covers almost half of the door.
"…Energy Manipulation?" she murmured to herself.
"Lightning," she adds, turning her head to the smaller circles.
"Wind."
"Earth…"
Then, she looked at the smallest circle next to the Earth circle. Her eyes squint closer to each other, trying to focus her vision to read the very miniature writing inside the tiny circle.
"…F-Fire?"
Suddenly, without the slightest warning, the floor under her shattered into pieces, creating a large hole she fell into. She quickly tried to grab the nearest object she could find, trying to grasp for her life, but the piece of wood she held was fragile and broke from the rest of the floor. Flare falls backward and spins uncontrollably. She tried to stabilize herself by spreading her arms wide, but it was futile. Although she managed to slow her spinning, she is still falling. She took a split second at her surroundings.
"…Grey…"
"Black…"
"What is this place?" she asked herself.
All she could see was an endless color of grey, with floating, charcoal-black islands floating around the constant, superfluous ellipsis of grey. She looked around in her wild motion and instantly noticed the nearest floating island. However, it was futile since she knew her momentum would indeed cause her a severe injury if she attempted to grab the solid structure.
Suddenly, she felt something grab her arm, and abruptly, she stopped spinning, but she was dangling there, just a few more steps from an endless void. She quickly looked up and instantly noticed the fully armored figure holding her arm.
"Uncle Boyd?" she called out.
However, the man remained silent as he slowly pulled her upward towards him until her feet touched the solid ground. Once Boyd releases her arm from his grasp, Flare kneels on the floor on all fours, relieved that she is finally on solid ground despite the oddness of the black, floating island she is on. From the looks of it, the structure is crumbling into pieces as fragments float around the void. Boyd extends his hand, offering to lift her, and Flare obliges him. Once she stands up, Boyd is instructed to follow him to the small island's center.
"Uncle Boyd, what is this place?" she asks.
"Hmm…Mmm…"
"Ah, forgive me, I was…absorbed in thought," Boyd suddenly apologized.
"Well, we are now inside your memory, Your Highness, but I am sure you figured that out."
"Yes, I…popped a bubble when I was-."
"That's it!"
"Huh?"
"When I was up there, everything was so… colorful and pearly, but this…"
She looks around.
"This place creeps me out. This darkness…is unsettling, to say the least," she states.
"Hmm…Mmm…"
"The top part is The Above. And this part is The Below."
"The Above is, well, as you say, filled with portals, or you called it bubbles, of your memories. All of them. Sadness, Happiness, Anger, Disgust, Fear, Surprise. Combining those emotions and how you reacted during the situation created those bubbles."
"…Anything else?" she asked, slightly interested in the topic despite her situation.
"The rest is still blurry. You could say that we are in a metaphysical plain."
"A metaphysical plain?"
"Yes."
"What about this one? The Below, wasn't it?"
"Well, this plain is only inside those affected by the Memory Wall spell. The leading theory is that spell forces the creation of another plain inside the subject's head and seals it from the reach of The Above."
Upon hearing this, Flare grew slightly intrigued. To her, it seemed that Boyd knew too much about it.
"You seem to know a lot about this spell, Uncle Boyd," she murmurs.
"Ah, here it is!" Boyd states, entirely oblivious to Flare's words.
Flare stopped and looked. Around her was a giant, black, cube-like structure made entirely of metal; despite its basic shape, for some reason, it marveled Flare because it looked so…out of place from anything she had seen. She had already figured out it was a vault with a warded lock at the front. But the most bizarre thing about the vault is the round-shaped door. It looked very futuristic and complex for her comprehension. Only once did she find a secret room inside the king's chambers that her father had built, but it was nothing as tricky as this.
"I bet that room is dusty now. Father never told anyone about that room's existence," Flare mumbles.
While she was busy admiring the architecture of the vault, Boyd was circling the vault as if to check for something.
"Good, no cracks or forced entries. Your memories will not jumble randomly," Boyd declares.
"What do you mean?"
"A crack or a dent on the safe means that someone tried to pry the memory open. As I said before, they can cause severe trauma if they are released so suddenly."
"What's the difference between if I wilfully enter the memory and if someone cracks it free?"
"…Well, according to my friend's theory, it…well, the chances of it happening are…I think," Boyd tries to answer her question despite not understanding it himself.
"You seem to know a lot about it, Uncle Boyd."
However, Boyd remained silent this time as he heard that clear remark.
"Hmm…Mmm…"
"Mmm…Mmm…"
"Well, now I guess we have to wait for the third entry to unlock this damned thing," Boyd chuckles as he looks around, searching for something.
"Third entry?" Flare mumbles.
"Wha-?"
Before Flare could even finish her sentence, suddenly, she saw a silhouette not far from her, approaching from the very edge of the floating island. The black silhouette grew more extensive and came closer and closer until Flare could see the outlines. Then, bit by bit, she managed to ascertain. Finally, when the shadow came closer and revealed itself as the faded light shone on it, Flare turned silent. All her questions just...vanished from her mind.
The person standing before her has short, spiky, scruffy, golden-colored hair. He is wearing the Royal Knight's light armor. It is mostly the same as the standard Royal Knight heavy armor; the only difference is that the attire is mostly leather, attached with chainmail for maneuverability, instead of gold-colored steel. There is also the same steel chest plate with the Whitefall coat of arms emblazoned attached to the front; this one is lighter than the heavily armored version. He also has steel wrist gauntlets wrapped around both of his wrists. He also wears a belt tied to his waist, which is attached to a pouch on his left side. Another belt is draped from his right shoulder to his left hip, where the pouch is attached. The second belt is attached to the sheath of a Zweihander, with the giant sword sheathed inside it.
Then, without a doubt, the golden-haired person put his hand on Flare's shoulder and gave her a light pack.
"Yo…"
"What's wrong? To shocked to see me."
"Go on, then greet and take a knee."
"Hey, that rhymes!" the person cheered himself while smiling.
"That smile…" Flare thought.
"Hello, Earth to Flare. Earth to Flare…"
"The high spirit…"
"Seriously though, it's good to see you, little sis," the man pats again, awaiting a response.
"…The annoying rhyming attitude," Flare clicks her tongue.
"…"
"Huhu…she's leaving me hanging," he sulks and mopes.
"…"
"…"
Suddenly, without saying a word, Flare replies to the man's greeting with a punch to the gut. Unprepared, the man squirms and wiggles in pain, supporting himself by grabbing Flare's shoulder.
"Why?!" Flare yells while crying.
"Why did you leave me alone in Whitefall?!"
"Why didn't you come to save me?"
"Do you know what I went through because you did that?"
"Those nobles coming in every day look at me like I am some sort of pleasure toy with no respect!"
"It irks me to no end like I am just supposed to look pretty and nothing else!"
"Mom wouldn't even help me at all!"
"That Ragnar treated me nothing more like a decoration!"
"So why?!"
Suddenly, Flare just broke down and stopped. Her entire body shivers in grief as she grumbles in anger and sorrow. Slowly, she looked back up to face him, unable to control the tears flowing out of her eyes as she clenched her fists tightly.
"…I just wanted to live peacefully and to have friends," she adds.
"I wanted people to accept me or at least not hate me…"
"So I…I trained hard for as long as I could!"
"I acted and read every day!"
"Then, I met Weiss, Boyd, and Uncle Talbot!"
"Uncle Talbot betrayed me!"
"…But I understood his reasons and forgave him."
"I was happy because they made me stronger."
"…And just when things looking up, then I had to fight people, including Weiss!"
"So, then I have to train even HARDER than before!" she yells.
"I got stronger and managed to settle things with him!"
"Then, suddenly, I hear things about this memory thing!"
"And I am confused to this much information…and-."
She suddenly scratches her head vigorously. The turn of events had been happening for nearly a year, and she had just seen Mitchel directly now. Upon visiting, all that pent-up anger and confusion just exploded as she complained to him. On the inside, she was happy. She is joyful because she meets her brother after a very long time. Mitchel had left her ever since her father, King Edwen, died on his deathbed.
However, instead of being angry, Mitchel smiles and comforts her. Meanwhile, Boyd is just standing there, awkwardly watching the conversation.
"Flare, how old are you?" Mitchel asks.
"…-2...-25," Flare answers, sobbingly.
"I see, 25 already."
"…"
"I'm sorry, Flare, I am," Mitchel apologizes while consoling her.
"…But, I suppose it's just a little consolation that I apologize now."
"I've put you to all that difficulty…"
"…And all this journey to ensure you are safe," he adds.
Flare shook her head after wiping off her tears despite her eyes turning puffy.
"It's…It is okay…"
"You're not at fault…"
"I am the daughter of King Edwen, I'll deal…" Flare states.
Mitchel smiles, but Flare notices that he is a bit…sad behind that smile.
"Since you asked, I am still hunting down that stubborn oaf we call brother. Of course, while doing deeds as I go," Mitchel answers Flare's question.
"I reckon I would charter an expedition to Xiablawux by now," he adds.
"Wait, what? You would? Xiawablux?" Flare asks, puzzled.
"Oh, I suppose you didn't know."
"This…this body you are seeing is just an apparition. An image of me when I transferred some of my circuits to accompany you in this memory," he explains.
"…I…I don't get it."
"Well…uh…"
"Let's just say that I am here but not here. I'm here, but I am not here."
"W-What? What do you mean?"
"Hey, that rhymes too!" Mitchel runs off-topic.
"Mitchel!" Flare yells, popping him out of his bubble.
"Oh, right. Sorry about that."
"When I contacted Mr. Cadman about this…journey, I let him extract a bit of my energy and embed it in this sealing spell to make sure you don't get lost, of course," Mitchel briefly explains to walk Flare through the process.
"...?"
"Initially, it was going to be Father, but…"
"…"
"…"
"Yeah…"
"Wait, Father?" Flare mumbles.
"Then, you are not the one who asked to seal this memory you speak of?" she questions.
"Huh? No, it was not me."
"I don't even know what the memory is, but…"
For a second, he turned silent, looking at the endless void with this sad expression.
"…Father told me that it is about what happened before you were brought into the palace," he summarizes while trying his best to cover up his previous expression.
"That…that does not make any sense," Flare murmurs.
"What? What does not make sense?" Mitchel asks.
"Of course I remember that. I lived with Mom in the countryside before the…"
Flare suddenly stops, puzzled.
"The…"
"We…we were in the countryside…"
This time, Mitchel turned serious and reminded his sister to remain calm.
"Stay calm…"
"…Think about it, Flare. How did you wind up at the palace?" he asks.
"Do you remember where this countryside is actually?"
Flare looks around, trying to remember what Mitchel told him to remember. She pressed her head and tried to remember again and again, but…
"…"
"…Why is it so hard to remember?" she asked herself.
"It's like trying to remember the details of a dream after waking up, isn't it?" Mitchel asks.
"W-What does that supposed to mean?"
"Ahem…Hmm…"
The sound of someone trying to clear his throat somehow snapped them out of their conversation as they instinctively, until they realized that Boyd was watching them…observantly, while entirely silent.
"Mr. Cadman…"
"How long have you been standing there?" he asks, trying to break the embarrassment.
"…You've been talking for…15 minutes, I think," Boyd whispers back.
"…And I go by Boyd now, Mitch."
"W-Why are you whispering?" Flare stutters.
"…I'm mastering the ability so persistently still that I become invisible…" Boyd answers her while whispering.
"…"
"…"
The two of them just stood there, silently without even flinching.
"It doesn't matter to me. I'm not that discourteous to interrupt family members meeting each other, unless of course…" Boyd states before suddenly turning silent.
He glances at the two of them as if to ensure something.
"Well, let's just put that aside for now."
"I hate to break this little cycle of love here, but can we get down to business now?" Boyd suggests.
"All right."
"Okay."
"Now, I've got my key. I would ask the two of you to bring out yours," Boyd shows them his key.
Mitchel nods and opens his pouch before pulling out his key. The key Mitchel holds has a different notch pattern than Boyd's, but Boyd nods and accepts it. Then, they turned to her as if they were waiting for something. This dumbfounded FFlare until she finally picked up on why.
"I…I don't recall having a key to a complex structure," Flare utters, answering their gaze.
"Then, what is that hanging around your neck?" Mitchel points at her neck.
"Heh?"
Flare instantly puts her hand and rubs her neck. Then, she noticed that there was something around her neck. It felt like a string or a necklace. She quickly pulls it upwards and holds it in her hand.
"…It's…a key?" she mumbles, puzzled.
"But, there was nothing here before?"
"Of course. Remember when I said that this here is a metaphysical plain inside your mind," Boyd answers it for her to avoid further confusion.
"The key only exists here inside this plain. Once anyone enters it, those who erected the spell will hold the keys," he adds.
"Which are me, you…and King Edwen."
"…But…why is Mitchel here, instead of…you know, Dad?" Flare asks.
The instant she asked that, again, the two of them turned silent for a while. Flare couldn't see Boyd's expression, but she noticed Mitchel's—the same expression of guilt and sorrow.
"Dad bequeathed to me this key before he died. He told me I will know what to do about it when the time comes-."
"That is the only direction he gave me before I left in search of Alex," Mitchel explains to her.
Flare knew it was weird to see them in that manner suddenly, but she decided to shove it off for now.
"Here."
Flare tosses the key to Boyd, and he catches it. He immediately approached the safe and began unlocking the vault. He inserted the first key into the lock. Flare could hear a loud 'CLICK' sound as Boyd twisted the key, but the vault was still shut. As Boyd unlocks the rest, she decides to talk to Mitchel about it.
"What happened before I came to the palace?" she asks Mitchel.
Mitchel remains silent. He is somewhat hesitant to answer that straightforward inquiry that has puzzled Flare's thoughts since she heard about this second objective.
"…It's not my place to answer that, Flare," Mitchel answers, avoiding the question.
"…B-b-but what am I supposed to do when I know about this memory? I mean, look at me!"
"I-I'm not strong. I'm not a great ruler. And how does someone like me supposed to…!" Flare retorts.
CLICK!
Before she could even finish complaining, suddenly, she felt a hand touching her head. She instantly stopped and saw Mitchel just standing there, smiling and gently rubbing her head at the same time.
"…It's all right."
"You can do it. I know it," Mitchel comforts his sister with a gentle tone.
His calm demeanor calmed her down, and slowly, her panic subsided.
CLICK!
"There, done it!" Boyd announced as he held the vault handle.
At first, Flare thought it was a bit heavy, even for Boyd, so she approached him to lend a hand. Mitchel just chuckled at her for some reason, which puzzled her. Then, Flare realized her help was unnecessary since Boyd single-handedly pulled the metal vault door himself. As the vault door opened, she managed to get a peek at the structure of the vault itself. With a glance, she instantly realized, after theorizing about the vault, that this structure was not from her time. She noticed that the steel vault had these weird… mechanisms in between the 6-inch wall of steel. The mechanisms consist of rods and panels molded with…concrete. It's just a complex structure that Flare deduces that it may be one of Boyd's designs during his drunken stupors.
However, once the vault door opens, Flare stands there, stunned. Everything in her surroundings is just black and empty, like a void. What stunned her was the scenery inside the vault. What greeted her was that it almost looked like a glass. A glass between the Below and the memories she had lost. What puzzled Flare even more was that the scenery on the other side was similar to the keep she had just come from. She recognized it by the setting sun, which she could see from the opened window, the same large windows Flare saw before she entered this state. She also noticed the similarities in the structure and the design of the room, the same room at the top level of the keep she just came from. However, the one she sees now looks a bit…cleaner. She deduced by herself that it might be when the keep was still functioning and was used. The pillars of the keep on the other side were grey, and the floor shone. It looked like it was rigorously cleaned and polished, so shiny that the reflection of the ceiling was reflected there, which impressed her.
Then, she felt a hand patting her shoulder.
"For the record, I am really against this, but it is what Dad would've wanted," Mitchel states.
"Only a few people connected to this ritual had seen the memory locked behind this vault. Me, you, Edwen, Mitchel, and, believe it or not, your eldest brother, Alex," Boyd adds.
Flare nodded and tried to advance into the memory, but she was stopped. The gentle hand that held her before suddenly gripped her tightly, but not tight enough that she was hurt. It is as if Mitchel does not Want to know about this particular memory.
"MITCH!" Boyd suddenly shouts at him from the top of his lungs.
At that instant, Mitchel snaps out of his dilemma and looks at Boyd.
"Believe in her. Edwen was a foolish king and dad who died a wise man."
"He believed that Flare has the right to know rather than to let her remain ignorant about it," Boyd reminds Mitchel.
"Believe in her, as Edwen did."
"Come on, Cadman. Even you don't believe in that!" Mitchel suddenly raised his voice and yelled at Boyd.
"You know what's behind that thing. You know what would happen to her!"
"So, why?! Why is it so important to know?" Mitchel asks.
For some reason, Flare could feel the guilt in his voice.
"That is not for us to decide. That is for the mercy of Flare's prejudice!" Boyd defends his view.
"NO! She doesn't have to know!" Mitchel defends his view before he grabs her hand and tries to pull her away.
Flare tries to pull her hand away, but this time, Mitchel grips her so tight that it begins to hurt her risk.
"Stop! Stop it, Mitchel! You're hurting me!" Flare yells as she struggles to pull her hand away.
"It's for your good…"
Then, Flare noticed something…odd. Beneath all that anger, sorrow, and guilt, for the first time, she sees Mitchel with a desperate expression, and he is…
"…"
"Mitchel…"
"Are you all right?" she asks.
"W-…This is not about me," Mitchel answers, and he notices that his cheeks are wet.
"…If it is not…then don't cry," she spoke gently.
When Mitchel tried to run away with Flare, Flare glanced at him and noticed that Boyd twitched, prepared to give chase. She could see his hands tense up, but now…he stands there, not doing anything.
The second Flare said that Mitchel stopped running, and his grip loosened.
However, instead of pulling her hand away, Flare gently grabs his hand and slowly turns it around. Mitchel wipes the tears from his eyes with his leather wrist, but they keep rolling out of his eyes without stopping. His body begins to shake, unable to hold himself. He stands there, unable to even look at his sister in the eyes to tell her what exactly happened. Without ever saying a word, Flare gently comforts her brother by patting his back, trying her best to cheer him up.
"…Don't worry."
"You don't have to cry anymore, Mitchel," Flare comforts him.
"…"
"I've always noticed it from all of you since I came to the palace…"
"…Your guilty expression. No matter how hard you try to cover it up, I always catch glimpses of it when we trained, ate together, shared stories."
"I even saw it on Alex, despite how a major jerk he is," Flare sasses her brother.
This sass made Mitchel chuckle a bit.
"I could see it. Deep down, I always knew it was something…but I…"
She turned and looked at the safe, where Boyd was still standing there, observantly.
"Even though I never expected to be like this, not on this scale…"
"No matter what happens, please know…that I forgive you, but…"
She started to approach the vault, leaving Mitchel behind.
"…This is something I must do…"
"Don't worry anymore…"
"I'm no longer the timid crybaby little sister of Alex Edwen and Mitchel Edwen…"
"…Nor am I a princess who's the rightful ruler of Whitefall…"
Before she finished her words, she turned and faced Mitchel, who managed to hold back his tears for now. His calm, cheerful attitude turned upside down at this point, and he turned into an overprotective, bold person.
"…I am Flare Edwen, daughter of King Edwen!" Flare declares confidently.
Seeing this, Mitchel stood up as if Flare's confidence burst into him and made him regain his regular composure. At that moment, he realized…that she was no longer a 'little' sister.
"Hah hah…"
"…I can't tell who's more grown up anymore," he chuckled as he approached the vault.
"It feels like I have seen the future of Whitefall…"
Mitchel finally looked up, and the first thing he saw was the back of his once naïve, crybaby little sister, now walking confidently into an uncertain future without even the slightest doubt in her movement.
And all he could do was smile proudly.
In a room, far away from the islands of the Knights' Mausoleum, located in Moonlight Harbour in the capital city of Erythyl, Mitchel's natural body is sitting there, looking at the wooden floor of his room. He is just smiling there, not saying a word. There are charts and books inside his room, all regarding Xiawablux, the mysterious Dragon-kin continent that no one seems to locate. The continuous moonlight shines his face radiantly from the closed window, revealing his tears. The same tears flow out of his eyes as he receives everything his silhouette sees inside the spell. He slowly opens his eyes and accepts it all, even though he is still slightly worried about her.
"The only time I walked in that memory, I came in a cheerful man and came out…angry, with that. I was furious at him."
"Though I think you will be angry when you know it…"
"But you…"
"You will come out stronger."
The smile is still there, etched on his face as the feeling of pride seeps into his bones.
"There's nothing to worry about now…" Mitchel relieves himself.
"You've become strong, Flare Edwen…"