That day was being very strange. First, it started raining heavily, even though it had never rained like that in that place. Second, you could hear wolves howling outside, even though such creatures were common in the western part of the kingdom. And finally, Kendra was awake, watching her friend tossing and turning as if having a nightmare.
"But how is this not considered normal?" you might wonder. The thing was, the roles were usually reversed. Kendra was the one who dreamed, and Mira was the one who stood by her side when she had her dreaded visions.
A thunderclap outside muffled the howls of the animals. Mira's mother, Alice Collins, hadn't returned. It was normal for her to leave before sunrise and come back when it was dawning, but it had already been at least an hour. Kendra was worried. Had something bad happened?
"Mira, what's going on?" she asked her friend in vain, knowing she wouldn't get an answer.
Meanwhile, Mira's dream showed her something very different from what was happening in reality:
A desperate woman ran through the forest, carrying a child in her arms. Her red hood covered her face.
The forest was vast, with tall green trees. It was bright, the morning sunlight embracing the leaves, giving them a gentle glow. Amidst the woods, there was a trail. That was where the hooded figure fled. If she were in the heart of the forest, she would have had no chance.
The girl in her arms squirmed, not knowing what was happening.
Men dressed in black were chasing them with creatures resembling dogs that hadn't eaten in days. The creatures were skin and bones, with silver teeth and red eyes, and they were tall; their height was almost half of the woman's.
They snarled and were almost catching up. She seemed desperate, kept telling the little girl that everything would be fine. Her voice was sweet and gentle, but she couldn't hide the fear. The monsters caught up with her and dragged her to the ground, tearing her dress skirt and causing her to drop the little girl. The girl cried.
"Run, Mira! Run!" the woman shouted.
The child ran. A flash of blue light enveloped her, and the scene changed.
Mira found herself in a forest, not the same one from the previous scene. It was dark, but not a sinister dark. It was a twilight kind of darkness. The wind blew gently, making sounds as if there was someone else in the area. But that idea was an illusion. There was only her there. The trees had pale leaves, as if something had drained all the color from them. Faint glimmers touched the woods, but they were weak. The dark and lifeless shades prevailed.
The girl walked through the area, passing by a trail like in the other forest. But in this one, there were colorful flowers on the ground, though dry and lifeless.
As she walked, a light appeared as if there was a tunnel, an exit. But there was no exit. The light wasn't from a tunnel; it was from a huge, crystalline lake with pink, green, yellow, blue, and purple lights touching it.
Suddenly, the lake started drying up. The trees withered, and their leaves turned to dust. Mira heard a shrill scream, as if the forest was in pain.
"Mira!" someone called her solemnly. The young girl searched for the source of the voice, but there was no one there. "Mira!" the voice called again. "We need you. We need you to awaken."
"Awaken? What do you mean?" Mira asked, perplexed.
The voice continued chanting her name.
"Mira, Mira, Miraa..."
"Mira! Mira!" Kendra was calling her urgently.
The brunette opened her honey-colored eyes and looked into Kendra's green ones.
"What's happening, Kedy?" she asked, alarmed.
That had been her friend's nickname since they were little. The brunette couldn't pronounce "Kendra," and all that came out of her mouth was something like Kedy. The name had stuck through the years.
The sun was already rising outside, as if the rain had never been there.
"Right when she woke up," Kendra thought.
The illumination seemed to fill the house. The girls' room was of medium size, as healers had a slightly higher rank than the villagers. The walls were a light yellow color. Alice Collins, Mira's mother, used to say that dark colors didn't bring good dreams.
The shorter girl's bed was neatly made, obviously, as Kendra was super organized. The plain white cover covered the mattress, with only a beige pillowcase as decoration.
Mira's bed was still messy. The brunette wasn't as organized as her friend, and she rarely bothered to make her bed properly. But this time, there was an excuse: she was still in it.
"First of all, happy 18th birthday!" Kendra exclaimed, hugging her friend.
"Thank you. Was that why you woke me up? I appreciate it either way. I was having a really weird dream."
"No, it wasn't because of that," Kendra affirmed, while picking up some coins from the large table with books and flowers in the room. "Miss Miths is looking for you. It seems your mother is gone, and they need a healer."
"How come? I'm not a healer yet," Mira replied, surprised.
"And the way things are going, I might never be," she thought.
Mira's dream was to become a healer like her mother. She wanted to help people with their ailments. However, there was a problem: the girl was very clumsy. Even though she knew the names of all the plants, she got distracted easily and became nervous, causing her to forget the steps she had learned. Because of that, she faced serious problems, embarrassing herself and probably disappointing Alice, even though the older woman always smiled at her, saying everything would be alright.
"Let's go, stop daydreaming and change your clothes. I'll go to the market to buy something for when Miss Alice comes back," Kendra informed her while counting coins and putting them in a small handbag.
"My mom hasn't come back yet?" Mira asked.
"No," Kendra replied, sounding worried.
"Let's wait a bit longer. Maybe someone asked for her help on the way, or maybe she's preparing something for my 17th birthday!" Mira exclaimed, hopeful.
"I'll be going. Later, I want to hear about that dream. Don't forget my present on the table," Kendra said.
When her friend left, Mira removed her light pink nightgown. Her tan skin was exposed, and her slim, graceful body was too. She put on a red dress with long sleeves. It wasn't made of the best fabric, but it wasn't the worst either.
She brushed her wavy brown hair, then put the brush on the small round table next to the larger one. She accidentally bumped into her friend's gift but didn't open it. She would finish getting ready first.
She braided her hair into three thin braids, then intertwined them and fastened them on the left side of her head with a silver clip she took from the jewelry box next to the books.
Finally, she put on brown shoes and looked at the gift.
Mira finally opened the small blue package her friend had given her. It was a delicate, thin necklace with a leaf pendant.
"It's beautiful. As expected from you, Kedy," she whispered to herself.
With the necklace around her neck, the girl with honey-colored eyes hurried down the stairs.
Downstairs, she saw a chubby woman, around 40 years old, with light brown hair tied up in a veil. She was wearing a simple dark green dress with brown details and seemed irritated, as she compulsively tapped her right foot on the ground.
"Good morning, Miss Miths."
"Good morning, Mira. Is your mother around?" the kind woman inquired.
The younger girl looked at her apprehensively and answered, "No, it seems she's gone. What do you need?"
She felt uncomfortable. It was very strange for her mother to leave without saying anything.
"My son is sick, and I need a healer. Can you attend to him in her place?"
"What?" Mira asked, coming out of her thoughts. "Me? I'm not qualified yet, Miss."
"I know you're knowledgeable. Your mother always praises you."
"Because she's my mother," Mira thought.
"Alright, I can take a look at him."
Mira followed the older woman to her house. The village was as tranquil as ever. She headed to the eastern area where the residences were located. Miss Miths' home wasn't much different from the others in the village, made of bricks and wood, small but cozy. There was a wooden sign on the door with the family's name.
"Excuse me," she said upon entering.
The red-haired boy was lying in bed, sweating and burning with fever. His skin was red with small black spots. It was Pritine, a very common disease in children. After rechecking the patient's condition, Mira reassured the worried mother:
"Don't worry, ma'am. Everything will be fine. I just need to get some herbs, and I'll be right back."
The young healer-to-be rushed to her house's garden and picked the required plants: arelva, primrose, and dragonweed. She mixed them in a container and mashed the mixture. She wondered if the recipe was correct. What if she was mistaken and ended up doing something harmful to the boy? Well, there wasn't time for that now.
The girl quickly returned to Miss Miths' house.
"Do you think it will work?" the mother asked.
"Yes," the girl replied, not entirely sure.
"I hope it works," Mira thought apprehensively.
Seconds later, the black spots began to disappear.
Relieved that the remedy had worked, the young healer instructed the woman on how to administer the medicine to her son.
"Give him this mixture twice a day, and he'll be better soon."
"Thank y..." the lady tried to thank, but she was interrupted by someone's screams.
Miss Miths opened the door and saw chaos outside. People were running around in panic amidst an unusual fire. Different from anything Mira had seen before.
"Mira! Mira!" Kendra's voice called her.
"What? What's happening?" Mira said, opening the door and stepping outside.
Kendra stopped next to her, out of breath.
"There's something in front of the house," she said.
Mira rushed out quickly and impulsively, her hair flying as she headed toward the western area, where the market was. She absentmindedly passed through the flames, not feeling any burn. They were cold like ice.
When they got close to their house, Kendra said, "Mira, look!" and pointed to the door.
Above the doorknob was a beige paper that looked old. In ornate letters, something was written in a strange language that the brunette didn't understand. The only decipherable word was her mother's name: "Alice."
"We better go inside," Mira said, worried. "It's dangerous to stay here."
"Why is my mother's name on that paper? Did they do something to her?" She thought tensely.
Upon entering, Kendra seemed pensive. She sat down on the kitchen table's chair. Everything was neatly arranged, as dishes were on the shelves, and utensils like pans, knives, spoons, forks, skewers, and spatulas hung above the stone fireplace used for cooking.
The only thing out of place was a knife, probably the one Mira used to prepare the boy's medicine and left hastily to clean and put away.
"Get me ink and a parchment, please," Kendra requested.
"How?" the confused girl asked.
"I think I can translate this," Kendra said hastily. "Get what I asked for, please."
Mira hurried upstairs. Everything was so confusing. She thought again about why her mother's name was on that note. Moreover, what was that strange fire from before? Her heart started to tighten.
She passed by her room, where the bed was neatly made with a red cover and a white pillow, the wardrobe was closed, and the desk had the extinguished candle and a piece of parchment with an inkwell beside it. Everything was normal, as if Alice could come back at any moment.
She continued to the third room in the house. She took what was asked from the desk drawer, leaving behind the shelves filled with books, parchment, ink, and feathers; the desk cluttered with open books that were always neatly kept; and the light blue walls with peeling paint in the middle.
When she reached the ground floor, she handed over what was requested and asked her friend, "Can you really read this?"
"My mother taught me this language when I was little," Kendra replied, with a distant expression.
Mira knew that her friend was reminiscing about her parents, who had passed away some time ago.
Kendra started working swiftly. She sat on the wooden chair and placed the items on the table. Her brows were furrowed, her eyes focused on the paper, and her fingers of her right hand tapped the wood, as she often did when she wanted to concentrate. She began translating the note hurriedly.
Mira, already bored, took the opportunity to look out the window and noticed that the fire had extinguished. The situation couldn't be stranger.
"Here!" Kendra exclaimed loudly, pulling her out of her reverie. She read the translated text aloud, "'Dear Mira, happy 17th birthday. I've come here to take your mother Alice, as a gift for the long time we've been apart. I hope you're pleased with the flames left in your peaceful village. We'll see each other soon, after all, family should always be together, don't you think? Don't worry, your dear mother is in the hands of the best person possible: mine.'"
Exasperated and confused, the taller girl blurted out, "What? Who is this? I don't know any Emperor. And the only family I have is my mother. Who's this lunatic, Kendra?"
She sat down on a chair, her hands trembling.
"What's going on? Why did they take my mother?"
Mira wanted to scream and cry, but she knew it wouldn't help. Still, her hand continued shaking as she clenched her fingers.
Kendra looked at her and held her hand, responding to the previous question
, "I don't know, Mi. We could call the guards."
"The guards won't be very useful in this case," a cold voice said behind them.