The silence, usually so loud. The darkness, usually so blinding. The stillness, usually so violent. The emptiness, usually so suffocating. Only Sarah wasn't suffocating at all. She felt still and encompassed by something, only it felt calm and soothing. Her eyes were shut closed, yet she could see perfectly fine. The sound of water carrying her across the seas was quiet and peaceful.
Then again… perhaps this wasn't silence at all. Perhaps this was peace. Funny thing about peace, though, the mind never truly wants it.
As Sarah drifted in the bottomless sea, memories of the past floated in. Her birth. Joy and warmth surrounded her fragile form. Her first birthday. Her parents were walking with a giant cake—her cake. Friends and family gathered around her, handing her presents like she was a princess.
And so it went, year after year. The same celebration, the same love, the same sparkling eyes. Eight birthdays, each one a reminder: she was a princess. Royalty — just like her father had always said.
Her and Malrik's first encounter. How empty the boy looked. Sarah, drifting in the water, flinched as the sounds of gunshots repeated over and over again. Malrik's face was full of rage and pain, staring at the man who killed his parents with no mercy or hesitation. Then he had changed, sleeping in their car. His face was now full of ignorance and innocence, a stark contrast to his previous self. That day, she had gained a new addition to her family—a brother.
Her complete family was happy. Everyone sitting at the dinner table, all different yet so similar. Malrik and I were listening in anticipation to our father's new adventure stories, while our mother served us carefully made food with pride. All of us had smiles at the peace we had.
Then it was ruined.
The image of her father cheating flashed in her mind as Sarah snapped her eyes open. Whatever held her from drowning disappeared. Panic made itself known and grew like a plant. Another image of Nova Lira's death struck like lightning. Sarah started thrashing about, desperate to get out of whatever nightmare she was in. The light penetrating from above grew further and further as she started sinking.
Suddenly, there was complete darkness and no air. The water compressed around her, threatening to flatten her. However, the image of Lira, smiling, before dropping into the creature's mouth stung her more than the violent waters. Now her role model could no longer be there to help guide her every step like she once did.
The thought that the peace that held her family like a fortress could no longer be there violated her mind. How could the man she once thought of as a king betray his family like that? Was she still even a princess? Or was that just another lie planted by a desperate man trying to mask his flaws with fairy tales?
Where did that leave her? She wasn't a princess. Just a pathetic girl too blind to see the cracks in her own family's crown.
The light above grew distant, and she sank—not into death, but into something far deeper. Herself.
― Stadium ―
Malrik's face switched to shock as he watched his mother thrown into the far distance, no chance of recovery in sight. The white-haired girl clenched her fists. She quickly turned to Dain, who was struggling in the shockwaves created by the Hollow Echo.
"Okay! We've got to help your father out of those shockwaves. If he gets taken out too, we are as good as dead." She turned to Malrik, who was struggling to focus. "Malrik, you have to somehow distract that Demon, while I help your—"
The voice of Dain's hurt cry echoed throughout the stadium. The two kids instantly shifted in his direction, widening their eyes to see the second demon in front of him, with its large sword plunged into his stomach. The champion looked up at it in surprise.
'How did—how did it move so fast!?'
The Hollow Echo smirked triumphantly at his partner's work. With its shockwaves preventing the man from teleporting, he couldn't escape the Nightmare Vesper's attack.
"Dad!" Malrik shouted before rushing over to his father. The girl called out for him to stop; however, the Hollow Echo had already appeared before him, sending a vicious uppercut to the boy's torso, sending him flying into the air. The demon jumped after the boy to follow up with a downward hammer fist.
However, suddenly, the white-haired girl appeared between them. She stretched her arms out, letting the Demon's fist smash into the small white barrier surrounding her and Malrik. The ground rippled as they connected. The Demon didn't let up, though. It descended down and crashed into the barrier. Then, the demon let out a barrage of powerful punches with its ten elongated legs.
The Nightmare Vesper tried thrusting his sword deeper into Dain's torso. Golden aura rolled off the man's hand as he held the sword in place, preventing any movement. He quickly sent a kick to the Demon, making it stumble off its sword, then disappeared in a golden flash and reappeared next to the Hollow Echo, who was occupied with the children.
Enhanced with magic, the man kicked the demon away. He pulled the sword out of his torso as the kids sighed with relief.
"Don't worry, guys. Help is on the way. Just protect Sarah—" Malrik screamed his dad's name as the Nightmare Vesper appeared behind Dain from the ground and delivered a backhanded strike to his head, sending him spiralling out of the stadium.
Enraged, Malrik moved to act, but the girl grabbed him and teleported to Sarah, still lying on the ground.
"What are you doing?" Malrik screamed, enraged at the girl for stopping him.
"I stopped you from getting yourself killed," the girl answered with a shrug. "And don't tell me you were about to take it out. That thing just sent two seasoned warriors flying like they were mere ants. We can't afford to start attacking recklessly."
Malrik grumbled; he clenched his fists to quench the anger boiling within. A few days ago, he was starting to connect with his family, and now he didn't know if they would all make it out alive. The two kids stared at the beasts in front of them. Their purple glowing eyes peered deep into their souls, while their mouths leaked and let out grins, taunting their helplessness.
"I know you're mad, but your sister can't move a muscle, otherwise she will die for sure. Our main priority is staying alive until your parents come back."
The girl quickly readied herself, noticing the Hollow Echo preparing a shockwave. She stretched her hands out, forming another barrier as the Demon fired.
"Be prepared. I think that the other Demon can teleport. That is probably how he got your father. It might be able to appear inside the barrier, so we need to be ready to counterattack if it happens."
Malrik stared at the girl's back, impressed. He was sure this person could easily teleport herself away and escape, yet she was here, fighting for his family.
"Hey."
"What?"
"What's your name?" The girl turned around, a little surprised at the question. She thought about it for a bit before turning back around.
"It's Eira."
― With Dain ―
Near the edge of the city, Eve and her party jumped down in front of a building surrounded by smoke. The smoke disappeared to reveal Dain, embedded in the wall. Eve gave Dain a hand to help him stand up. The man shook his head, rubbing it in pain.
"The kids—they are still there. I've got to go back and help them."
Eve looked at the bleeding wound on Dain's torso and placed her hand on it.
"I don't think that is a good idea." The blood drenched her hand in its crimson colour as she moved closer to him. "You have lost a lot of blood. You won't be able to use your magic efficiently."
"If I use my Pressure Overflow, I'll be on a time limit."
"And you will be on an even shorter time limit if you let the blood continue running out of you like that."
Dain clenched his hands. The pain from his wound was doing nothing to distract him from his worries.
"Look, I've already sent a team to attack. Your kids will be fine."
"Fine. Quickly heal me."
Eve smiled, stepped back before Dain grabbed her hand. "Make it quick."
Elara only smiled at this. She affectionately placed a hand on Dain's cheek and kissed him.
― With Sarah―
Tears flowed upwards as the girl dropped lower and lower. She could barely feel any air in her lungs. She couldn't breathe, but no water was entering. The panic was growing, festering in every sane thought.
Suddenly, a voice penetrated through the panic. '"Honestly, I never think about the fans."'
Sarah froze, stopping her frantic movements. Her body floated still like a starfish. The bright light, up above, appeared once again like a thread trying to guide her home
'"I am here right now for myself, to have fun doing the thing I love to do."' Every other memory haunting her thoughts disappeared as her brain dwelled on her idol's words. '"Confidence isn't something you're born with, you know. It's stitched together, out of fear, pain and performance."'
Lira's voice was soft and angelic, her voice reminding her of what she had lost. All those years trying to be like her, to shine brightly, to make her parents proud. Memories of her father's affair began to slip in again.
'I hate you! I have to stop Dad before he destroys our family. Maybe destroying him is the only way!'
lub-DUB!
Her hand moved over her heart—was that her heartbeat returning?
Stitched together. She was nothing like Lira… and yet, maybe she could be something too.
Darkness once again slipped in. The words of the brother she hadn't known made themselves known.
'"10 times. 10 times, you shot my mother."' The pistol was pointed so terrifyingly in his hands, like it didn't belong there. '"Let go of my hate? Shut the hell up, you know nothing about me. Hate is all I have!"'
Something was wrong, though. The words were all the same, but the voice. It didn't match. It sounded like her, but she had never said that before. Those words – Hate. It sounded familiar. Another voice made its way known to remind her.
'"Look, Sarah, I know you don't like this, but this is a boy who has watched his mother murdered by that very man he desperately tried to take revenge on. He is a boy who has been exposed to murder and evil organisations at a very young age, with hatred at the back of his very mind. Hatred is all he's ever known. I don't know what horrors he's seen or done—and I don't need to. What matters is, now he has a chance to let it go. To start fresh, without all those memories poisoning him. Because if hate takes root too deep, it will destroy him."'
'Who is this? No, not my dad. Get out, you traitor!' Sarah breathed out heavily as it returned at a fast pace. She hated him. 'I hate you. You're not a king, and I am not a princess.'
'"Sometimes you have to let go of your hate to bloom brighter."' Sarah paused as the voice of her mother resonated within. '"You don't need anyone to be able to shine; sometimes, you have to take your own journey."'
Bloom?
lub-DUB!
Sarah wanted to bloom into a princess. She wanted it so bad.
'I-i don't hate my dad'
lub-DUB!
Suddenly, the water around her started steaming up. She could feel no heat, yet the water around her began evaporating into steam. As this was happening, Sarah's vision started to blur.
'I am not a princess.'
lub-DUB! Sarah's sight gradually started to darken.
'But I will bloom into one.'
Darkness covered her sight, as orange-coloured words appeared above. Royal Bloom
lub-DUB! lub-DUB! lub-DUB! lub-DUB!
― Stadium ―
Things were looking gloomy for the kids. The Nightmare Vesper hadn't moved and the Hollow Echo's screech was beginning to pierce through Eira's barrier.
Cracks started to form around the barrier, as the girl tried her best to contain it.
"We're not going to last very long." Malrik looked at his sister, who was no longer encapsulated by the yellow cloak. He pushed away the scary thoughts that she was dead and focused on the monsters in front of him.
"I might have to teleport us out of here. I sense the reinforcements outside, but I also sense more magical creatures blocking them." The barrier began to move them backwards, forming more and more cracks as it did. "Alright, on my signal, get to your sister and hold onto a part of her body. Try not to get flown away before I reach you."
Malrik nodded, trying his best not to fear the worst. "Okay. 1, 2, 3… GO!"
Malrik dashed to the other side of the barrier and grabbed onto his sister's leg. "Got it!" he called out.
"Alright!" Eira took a deep breath. She squinted her eyes before vanishing in grey smoke and reappearing right in front of the siblings. Malrik and Eira reached out to each other. Eira smiled before suddenly, Malrik grabbed her hand and pulled her to his sister to launch himself forward into a brutal punch.
Eira, acting on instinct, quickly placed her hand on Sarah's leg and teleported away to the far-left end of the stadium. She looked back to see the Nightmare Vesper standing over where they had just been. The girl widened her eyes. She looked over to the smoke where Malrik had landed.
'That punch. It was meant for me.'
That thought, however, was quickly forgotten when she felt a hand grab her.
Malrik fell to his knees, coughing out blood. He closed his eyes to hold back the tears and bit his lip to forget the pain currently coursing through his body. When he opened his eyes, he met the terrifying Demon face to face. It had its sword hung in the air, ready to end his life.
As the Demon prepared its attack, a voice was suddenly heard.
"You want to kill my brother?"
The two didn't even have time to register the voice as yellow glowing leaves embedded themselves in the Demon's back, making it wince in pain. A girl walked calmly past it like royalty. She bent down to hug the dumbfounded Malrik, squeezing him tight as the next words rang out.
"Bloom."
The flower petals began to glow brighter and brighter until—
Boom! Boom! Boom!