"Announcing Lady Isolde, the matriarch of House Valdrin."
"Presenting Lord Roye of House Valdrin."
"Introducing Lady Ashe of the noble House Valdrin."
Every eye in the room turned towards us the moment our arrival was announced.
"Here we go." Ashe mumbled as a group of noble lords and ladies began approaching us with faces covered in big smiles.
"Behave." Mother instructed us once again and started walking towards the first wave of vultures.
Ashe and I stood quietly several steps behind her, occasionally dealing with some strays who were too intimated to approach Mother.
Dealing with them was easy enough; no matter how much our parents disliked our reluctance to stay away from the political crowd, they have trained Ashe and I to appropriately deal with these kinds of situations.
It wasn't that difficult once you get used to it.
For the lower-level nobles, you just had to greet them with the same greeting they had used when approaching you. You just had to smile while they talked, and in case they wanted a favor from you, which they usually did, subtly refer them to their mother or father. After that, you could excuse yourself and leave.
It was a bit more delicate dealing with the upper echelon of the alliance, but the basic formulae were the same. This time, you just had to laugh at a couple of their jokes and be a little more present in the conversation.
It was still a chore, though; thankfully, I was saved in time by my best friends.
"Zylan, Kaelix. Please excuse me, my lord, but I must go greet my friends." I excused myself and walked towards the two boys approaching me.
Zylan was the first son of House Vexil, a vessel house of House Valdrin, and thus had their classic dark green hair.
Kaelix on the other hand was a bastard of House Morith, another vessel House of House Valdrin. Perhaps it was his resemblance to his father because despite being a bastard he was rumored to be highly favored by his father and was assumed to be the next lord of House Morith.
"Is this a good time to chat, my lord, or should we look for some other time." Zylan teased with his usual smirk.
"Shut up, just help me get out of here," I spoke, and the three of us walked to the other side of the hall and began talking.
"I talked to Mother last night; she has agreed on me taking a trip out in the expanse." Kaelix began with his chest held high.
"Ha, that's nothing. I visited the scattered sea with Father only last week." Kaelix bragged, shocking both of us.
"You went to the scattered sea? Why didn't you tell us?" I asked.
"Maybe I personally wanted to see both of your reactions." Kaelix grinned.
"How was it? Tell us." Zylan urged.
As if waiting for someone to ask, Kaelix began telling us about how his father had taken him to another hunting trip out into the expanse, going into details about the horrors of expanse and how they had almost been attacked by a giant squid like beast.
Me and Zylan were carefully listening to his every detail, when suddenly I noticed a figure walking amongst the guest on the other side of the room.
Normally, I would have simply ignored such a thing. This was a social event, after all, but there was something familiar about this person, familiar enough for me to take another glance.
On the other side of the room stood a figure dressed in leather armor with a face identical to mine, only several years older. When he saw that I had noticed him, he gave me a small smile.
It was as if the world had frozen, all conversation around me stopped as my fists clenched and heart began to beat faster.
"You, what hav-"
--
"My lord, please stop laughing and pay attention." My instructor tapped on the board with his marker, snapping me out of my thoughts.
Was I thinking about something?
"These are your ancestors, some of the greatest people to be born in the Valdrin household, not to mention in the entire human alliance. Please show them appropriate respect." The instructor continued with his sharp eyes pointing at me.
"I am paying attention." I urged and sat up straight. Seeing that my entire focus was on the board, he continued.
"As I was saying, you might already know about this, so we'll try to keep it brief. Seven years ago, the night of Moongatherings witnessed the darkest moment in the history of the Valdrin household and the entire human alliance when some mysterious assailants managed to assassinate almost all members of the Valdrin household, other than your father and the current patriarch and his brother."
"Even your grandfather, the great Rylan Valdrin, wasn't spared."
I knew that, obviously, perhaps in much more detail than he ever could. Of course, I couldn't say it, or he might fly off the rails once again.
"My lord, please stop laughing." He clasped his eyebrows and spoke again.
"I am not laughing." I defended myself again. Was this guy going crazy?
"Ha Ha Ha." A sudden chuckle made me pause my thoughts.
"My lord, what we are discussing here is no laughing matter; I must urge you to take this seriously."
"But I am, I am not-"
"Ha Ha Ha."
I turned around to see where the noise was coming from, only to see a figure with my face, dressed in leather armor, sitting on the desk behind me, laughing his eyes out while looking at me.
My mind was instantly filled with rage, not giving a damn about the teacher. I stood up from my seat and rushed towards him.
"Stop toying with m-."
Once again, the world descended into darkness.
--
"WAIT, STOP RUNNING!" I screamed while trying my best to chase after the running shadow.
I didn't know how much time it had been since I had started running after the thing. Days, months, years, maybe. The journey hadn't been easy, to chase after him under the blistering heat with a severely malnourished body. Slowly but surely, I somehow managed to shorten the distance between us.
Until today, where I had finally gotten closer enough to catch him. The shadow, a figure in leather armor ran down one of the sandy dunes, giving me the perfect opportunity.
With every last bit of power I could muster, I jumped down the dune, landing on the figure's back and crashing both of us into the ground.
A heavy crack split the air as both of us rolled over on the sandy ground. Seeing me collapse in the sand, the figure tried to get up and make a break for it once again, but I didn't let him.
Ignoring my screaming body, I tackled the figure and pinned him onto the ground before forcefully removing the scarf covering his face.
The scarf came down, and I came face to face with a familiar face. A face I hadn't seen in a long time. I remembered this face, and I remembered him, the figure sprawling in the desert under me, grinning at me like a vicious beast.
"Why have you brought me here? What is this place?" I shouted, but the figure didn't answer. Instead, it rolled around and pushed me away from the top of him, laughing the same way as he had previously.
That was it. I was done with all of this chasing and running away. I immediately got into a hand-to-hand combat stance.
Looking at my figure, the reflection grinned and got into a similar stance as well.
I was the first one to make a move, hurriedly rushing towards him
Watching me approach, his eyes slightly narrowed; it was like he already knew how I was going to attack; he moved in a flash and seized my wrist, twisting it with a brutal force that sent a hot bolt of pain up my arm. I stumbled back, only to be met with his foot driving into my side, knocking the air from my lungs and sending me to the ground, gasping.
I tried to move to my side, but he was already there, smiling at me once more. He kicked me in the stomach, sending me flying, crashing into the sand.
I looked up, vision blurred, and saw him walking towards me, unmoved, almost bored.
"Did you think I wouldn't notice how you tremble?" The reflection spoke for the first time, his voice identical to my own.
I didn't answer. Instead, I tried to rise, but he was faster, grabbing my collar and pulling me close, his knuckles driving into my stomach in one final, crushing blow. I hit the ground hard, pain drowning out everything else.
--
I found myself standing in front of a desk; my father, a middle-aged man with sharp eyes and obsidian black hair, sat behind it on his chair.
It was like waking up from a dream. I couldn't tell this before, but I could now. The accursed thing had been going through my memories as if they were his own playthings.
Looking at the memory, I immediately wanted to resist, close my eyes, and run away, but I couldn't; it was as if my body had been frozen where it stood.
I remember what it was; it was one of my memories as Roye. I was only eight years old back then. We had returned from my tutoring session, where I had heard my sister making some plans with her friends.
"Father, you have to stop her." I cried out, my body moving on its own, tears streaming through my eyes. "Ashe, she is planning to go into the dungeons all by herself to kill a goblin on her own. Please save her, she… she might get hurt."
Father didn't speak for a while, only looking at me with a somber expression. Eventually, he let out a deep sigh and stood up from his seat.
"Return to your room." He commanded me and stepped out of his office, leaving me behind.
As soon as he left, I collapsed on my knees, my heart threatening to leap out of my chest.
I recognized this pain, it was the same way I had felt when Duskwraith had gotten injured. Whatever that thing was doing, it was weakening my soul.
Suddenly, the office door behind me opened. Checking to see what it was, I turned around only to see an identical eight-year-old version of myself walking towards me.
"You remember this incident quite well." The reflection spoke, the second sentence it had ever said to me.