Mass release: 2/17
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🎧 Runaway by Aurora
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As soon as he said that, well, as he growled that, like a cavernous beast, he vanished as if he had never been in the room at all, and again, didn't felt his presence, it was like he was with us then, but at the same time, somehow, wasn't. Then, White Dove told me not to keep messing with him like that because he was a different type of dangerous, and then she vanished too.
Cat brushed them both of, made me sit back on the bed, she checked all of my vitals and my body, then she told me that I was good enough now to go to my dorm. That was when se snapped her fingers and an autumn off white and dark orange dress, together with a clean cotton white matching underwear, a pair of white sock and light brown ankle high boots appeared in front of me, on the bed. Only then she left the room and gave me privacy to bath and get changed.
It was definitely not my style, but it fit me well, which is quite the fear, given how small my body is in the moment.
An hour later she came back with a tray full of food, then she made me sit down on the bed again, set the tray above my lap and made me eat the buffalo meat stew, the bean salad, the pasta with cheese and tomatoes, the bowl of boiled ice with eggs and seaweed, the bowl with smashed sweet potatoes and sliced chicken breast, with a fruit salad and a slice of lemon pie for dessert, having it all over two glasses of orange juice and three off cold water. And she watched me eat everything, which I did, because I was ravenously hungry like a starved savage beast.
Then she talked to me for more an hour, saying that I had to wait a bit to only get up after I digested it all, not to get a stomachache, and during that hour, she told me about an ancient take her parents used to tell her of a promised Princess kissed by the Primordial of Time and Fate, the mother of all Gods, who wrote in the stars that Princess Freya would save her son, the God of Death, from eternal loneliness, by mating them to one another. It was a very long story in my mind, and it made me sleepy, but I kept listening because my parents taught me better than to ignore the stories of elders.
It was a dumb story, either way, one that you tell your kids to make them sleep, and believe me, it works. I've never felt sleepy so fast, maybe it could be the fact that she told me after I ate, so I was already bound to get sleepy. She just quickened the process.
Only after she had somehow made sure I was done digesting that big dinner she made for me, did she allow me to leave. Well, she didn't just let me leave, as she guided me through the enormous castle of the WIA to take me to my dorm. And I can resume our long, long, long, long walk there in one specific word that is giving my legs an ache right now: Stairs.
Gods, there were so many stairs, stairs that move and stairs that do not move, diagonal stairs and spiral stairs, and stairs that divide themselves into two or three ways. In fact, I've never seen so many different types of stairs, magical and non-magical, in one place, as I did in my way to the big top-of-a-tower dorm they assigned me to.
But it was a nice surprise that the first person I saw in there, as I walked into the main living room that separates mine from Rose's, was none other than Gregory, who jumped on me, "Oh my fucking Gods, Davina," he cried, "you scared me to death. I was so fucking scared you were going to explode there and kill yourself, I cried and shook like a dog that was caught in a winter rain outside, alone. You freaked me out when you blew that whole coliseum to fucking stardust, you crazy reckless stupid girl."
Giggling, I hugged him back on the tip of my toes, "Rest assured, I will not die so easily, it was just a bug in the system."
"I have no idea what that means, but I'm glad you're okay."
"It means that it was a little mistake in her core," a familiar voice spoke behind him, and when my eyes met hers, and I saw her, looking a bit older and grown up, healthy and beautiful, in front of me, my knees felt weak instantly. "Hi, it's been a while," she said, shyly.
"Uh, surprise," Greg giggled, putting space between us but holding me still on my feet, "I'm shocked too, even after having learned it for some days, but my sister's alive." He turned to me, "Thanks to you."
"You stole my ring," I cried.
She blushed harder, "I stole your ring."
"You were locked in the human realm," I cried.
"I was locked in the human realm," she giggled softly.
"You're… alive," I covered my mouth with my hands.
"I'm alive," she opened her arms and I just ran to her arms, to hug her, "I'm sorry if you blamed yourself for believing I was dead," she said as she hugged me tightly but without hurting me. "I'm sorry for stealing your ring. And I'm thankful for how you saved Greg and protected him while I wasn't there, Davina, I'll forever owe you for that, and,"
"You're alive," I cried, hugging her tighter, feeling the reassurance. "I can't believe you're alive, Rose," I felt my voice breaking. "That you are here, that you went to the human realm, and that you came back, and that you got here before us, and that… you are alive, and healthy, and well, and," I swallowed, "you didn't died because of me."
"I guess you're in good hands now, little troublemaker," Cat said. "I'll leave you to them. I've already passed the memo to Rose, on what she should help out with, regarding you and your healthy, given how you seem to have some difficulty obeying orders. So, she'll keep an eye on you for me, and help making sure you will follow your diet."
"Yes, I will," Rose exclaimed.
"Thank you, Cat," I turned to her, then went for a hug and she gave me one back, the type of hug I've been missing for years, a motherly warm hug, the type that makes me want to cry, and I'm not a crier in any means. "I'll try collaborating, I promise I'll try."
"Alright, I'll trust that you will try. Just," she ended the hug and all but held my face kindly, "please, don't provoke that crazy bastard like that. I know you say you don't believe in that, but he is dangerous."
Not to me, I'm immortal, I get a free pass for being reckless. "Aye, I won't promise that, because I have word and I don't break my promises, especially not when he pisses me off so much, and it's genuinely enjoyable getting on his nerves. But I can tell you I'll do my best."
Sigh, "I'll take that. At least you're honest."
"As honest as I can be," I winked.
"Hah, oh, Gods have mercy on me, you are trouble," she petted my hair and took a step back. "Take care of this one, she's precious, and very much a troublemaker, but we need her."
"We will!" The siblings exclaimed.
"Now, I'll go. I'll send you your breakfast tomorrow," she told me, and just like that, she vanished.
I blinked, "Did she really made me come all the way here on those miserable stairs, when she could have just teleported us both in here?" I gasped in dismay and they laughed. "That was evil," I gasped dramatically.
"Wintergrave Imperial Academy ain't for the weak," Rose winked.
"Now, that we are alone," Gregory began, bringing me down to the couch in our dorm's living room, "tell us. What the hell was that? Were you in the human realm before you met us? Did you make a deal with a demon?"
"I was, yes, in the human realm before. The ring took me there in the very day of the usurpation," sigh. "But like Rose may know, it takes the ring 7 years to recharge enough magic to be used again, in the human realm, given how they have barely no magic at all, which was why I was only able to cross back here at 14. My life that was great, more than great, actually, so I have nothing to complain, though it hurt leaving, I had to. And that was when I went to the orphanage and met you."
"I knew it," she clapped her hands. "I've been dying to meet you again to talk to you about this. For better or worse, you saved my life, I'd have died in there had I not stolen your ring when I noticed it was a spatial tool. I just had no idea it was a spatial tool for another dimension, but my life that was amazing too, no complaints. I had faith you would both come to WIA in this year's Choosing, that's why I was okay with being adopted by a good noble family and being sent here."
"They want to adopt me too," Greg beamed, "can you believe it?"
I clapped my hands, "That's amazing, Greg. Now you will have a good place to stay in vacation, and you will be together. I'm really happy for you both, from the bottom of my heart, truly."
"You could also," Rose started.
"I'm alright. I don't want to get attached to a third family to lose them later on," sigh. "I take that you told him about the upcoming w They told me you know about it, but I don't think you kept a secret from him."
"He took a blood oath not to tell anyone," she nodded. "So, yes."
"I heard about how they're after Princess Ravenna," Greg breathed.
"They told me lots of things," I said instead, trying to avoid that.
"Now, now," Rose exclaimed, standing up and bringing Greg up, "it is time for you to go to your dorm and go to sleep. You slept nothing last night and you have an important introducing practical class tomorrow at 9, and it's almost midnight. The bell will ring soon for the dorms to close, and you have to be in yours. So, go, we'll meet each other for breakfast in the morning, okay?"
He pouted, "Ugh, okay. I'm sorry for not being able to stay longer, Davina, they have a ring for night time, can you believe that? So annoying."
I giggled softly, "You both can call me Vina, by the way."
"Oh, finally a nickname," Greg clapped his hands and kissed my forehead. "Now, I'll go, you stay here and rest. I heard you will only go to classes in a month, because you gotta get back in shape first, if we don't want you to destroy the castle. So, rest and get healthy, okay?"
"Okay, okay, I will, I promise."
"Night, night," he exclaimed, already at the door.
"Night, night," we chanted back.
Then he left, closing the door behind him. Rose stood up and went to the door, the locked it. But instead of coming back to the couch, she went to a mini fridge at the left corner of the living room, got two bottles of vodka and came back to the couch, sitting way closer to me. She then opened the bottles with her teeth and handed me one, which I took it.
"Oh? Thanks. Never had alcohol before," I chuckled.
Winking, she took a sip from it, "I lied."
"Lied?" I blinked, taking a sip from it, feeling my throat burn with the cold liquid as it went down. "Oh, this is strong. Lied to whom?"
"I lied to them," she rolled her shoulders.
What? "Lied about what?"
"I have your ring," she told me, "Your Imperial Highness."
My heart fucking stopped.