A sound of cry erupted through the arena as the world was suddenly engulfed in darkness.
Julie watched, her hands digging through her skirts as the darkness took over the entire city suddenly like the appearance of a solar eclipse.
Then suddenly there was the sound of the whistling wind.
She felt something touch her cheek and she rubbed it to find sand on her hands. Which was impossible seeing that this was just a vision.
Sand blew faster through the open stadium and people panicked running towards the exit. Cries of fear and terror echoed through the stadium and Julie watched as the guests of honor and the Royal family was being led away quickly.
The Dragon remained rooted in his spot and he was looking curiously at something at the center of the stadium.
Julie's eyes traced his line of vision and she found a girl dressed in performer's clothes looking back at the dragon.
Princess Nele.
She was right in the middle of the stadium when it happened.
Julie tried to recall this scene ever occuring in the original novel and failed to remember. She made a quick mental note to ask Canien about it later and moved towards where the princess was standing. She was shouting something to the dragon and it was far away for Julie to hear over the sound of the wind. She quickly moved through the arena, the sandstorm getting stronger by minute.
"-Escalem Mait'Re enole!", She princess was shouting in ancient language.
"𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨"
"Who sent you?", The dragon shouted back in ancient, his blond hair splattering over his face with the wind.
"The one with the power of Sand", she shouted, her yellow eyes suddenly glowing in the darkness. "He wants his flame back"
"Did you help him out of the prison?", He asked her taking a few steps forward and she raised her hands and increased the intensity of the storm surrounding her.
Julie moved a few feet closer standing somewhere in the middle of where the Princess and the dragon were talking.
"He does not need any help. He only rules and commands. And now he is searching for his fire"
"What if we refuse?", he challenged.
Julie wanted to throw the dragon over a cliff. Was the dragon blind? Was he not seeing the random sandstorm and night sky halting a ceremony going on for centuries??
"It's too late", she said her yellow dress billowing in the wind. "He has already made his first kill"
The wind was hitting her face like shards and Julie wobbled wondering what her words meant. Was she not the one unleashing the storm? Who was the other person she kept mentioning about?
She tried to look at the Princess carefully for any signs of runes and magic when someone passed through her spirit body towards the sand storm covering the princess.
Julie heard the sound of a blade unsheathing and caught a glimpse of golden green eyes through the storm.
The Crown Prince.
His blade was pointed at the princess's neck and he yelled balancing his blade against the wind storm. "What did you do to the Noble families??"
Ah....The nobles. That mean that future Julie must have already turned into bones by now. Even though they were escorted outside first, it looks like the villain directly went for them first.
It was a message. That war was coming. And by killing the nobles first the enemy had brought down the Empire's finest defence line by a big notch.
Julie looked back at the dragon to find it looking directly at her. As if his red eyes could see through her apparition.
"It's time for you to leave now", he said looking directly at her.
A gust of wind blew over her face, the sand suddenly getting into her eyes.
"Huh?"
Julie blinked her eyes once more.
She was back in the temple again. Sir Warrel was on the ground clutching his head.
The vision was over.
**************************************
After Sir Warrel had calmed his head down, he yelled at her for disappearing in the vision.
"I could not find you for 20 whole minutes. Do you even know what happens if your soul gets separated from your body?"
"You saw it right??! You saw the destruction about to happen during the ceremony ", she said pacing around the room.
Warrel's face went white. "I did"
Julie narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you going to do?"
"I should talk to the elders about this. And then maybe inform the Emperor."
Julie went around the circle and looked Warrel in the eye. "There's no maybe, priest. We need to alert the emperor about this now. The Nobles cannot attend the Annual Ceremony nor conduct it-
"Whoa whoa slow down", The priest said hitting her on the head. "Let me confirm this with the Elders first. Then we'll send a letter to Reirs and Saule after the king's audience."
Julie blinked. It took a moment for Julie to understand that Reirs was the dragon's name and Saule was the witch. Of course, getting them involved would make this a whole lot easier.
"How do we contact them?", Julie asked boldly.
Lord Warrel looked at her like she had a stinkeye.
"Out. Now"
**************************************
Julie found Canien waiting along with Lily outside Lord Warrel's chamber. Sir Reynolds from before was also with him and he and Canien seemed to be in the middle of an intense argument . Hopefully Canien had filled him in with their situation. Reynolds knew the story well, maybe even better than they did seeing that it was the plot to his drama. It would help them that he was a knight too.
They both turned around at the same time when Lily breathed out 'Julianna'.
Julie smiled at the two of three of them. She felt like she could finally breathe properly after arriving in this world. She wasn't alone now and no matter what happened next, she would have her two friends with her.
Sir Reynolds immediately hugged Julie in a breathtaking fold with his arms much more muscular than how he was back home. She ignored Lily's surprised giggle and Canien's glare and held Reynolds at arm's length and inspected.
"I see that you're finally the knight you wanted to be", she joked.
Reynolds gave her a mocking salute. It put a smile on her face for some reason and Julie found herself smiling broadly.
"How did the reading go?", Canien asked.
Julie's mind and face went all business mode.
Rex groaned loudly. "You just had to bring that up and destroy her smile again"
"It was horrible", Julie said visibly shuddering.
She needed to make Lily believe her acting. "Something terrible is going to happen during the Annual Ceremony. The noble families all six of them would be harmed by someone unknown with great power"
Of course she didn't want to make it sound too bloody or want to explain to her that a war was coming.People would end up being too scared to control then. But the root of the problem had been planted and Lily would make it work with her mouth.
"Sir Warrel can confirm this?", She asked still wary.
"Whether he decides to tell his majesty or not, this is something we Nobles have to take care of our own right? We can't let ourselves be killed in the act of revenge of someone having a grudge against our emperor", Canien said effectively twisting his words.
A smile almost returned back to her face. Canien was too good at this.
"We'll have an audience with the Crown Prince tomorrow at the Emore Manor.", Julie said. I expect you to talk it out with your families today. Tell them to write an official letter of rejection."
"Isn't that a bit harsh?",Lily asked, but the two boys nodded.
"Done deal. My folks only have me as their heir so they'll listen to whatever it is that I decide. And it's somewhat the same in your case I guess", Reynolds muttered eyeing the twins.
"We self rule so we have no problems", Canien declared raising his hand.
Reluctantly Lily raised her hand too.
"I'll try to slowly spread a rumour amoung my circle. But it won't happen tomorrow. Rumours take time till they find their momentum, you know?"
"So it's decided", Julie said our aloud. "We'll deal with this tomorrow"
"Yeah.... tomorrow",Lily murmured with less enthusiasm.
Julie couldn't blame her. She probably must be feeling really really confused with whatever that was happening. Even Julie herself couldn't help but admit that things were progressing rather fastly. It felt like all she was doing was run non-stop after arriving here.
"Lady Julianna, a word?"
Julie turned around to look at Sir Warrel standing in front of his chamber.
She couldn't help but notice that he looked rather nervous.
"Umm the Bishop would like to see you"
Julie straightened her back. "When?"
"Right now to be exact"