"NOTICE: In light of the recent incidents taking place across the city, the final exam for Third Year Students of the School of History, Code: VL178, has been rescheduled to the first of July. Furthermore, all classes are suspended till the first week of July. The safety of our students is our first priority and…"
This has to be a terrible joke.
Here I was, barely able to stand, with my heart pressing hard against my chest again and again, as if about to pop out at any moment. I was risking my life even standing here. Even at that very moment, that person could very well be right behind me, about to strike. I could have headed straight to my house, but instead I risked my life and chose to be here, and what I found was a closed door and a notice.
Damn it all! I cursed inside my head as my fists clenched tight.
No. I need to calm down.
I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath, letting the air fill my lungs, before exhaling it out through my mouth. Panic would be my worst enemy.
First, I needed to return home. Like before, I took the most crowded road I could think of, trying to remain as calm as I possibly could. Whether or not I appeared even remotely calm, I could not tell. I pushed through and eventually, I did reach my house.
'I'm home,' I said as I pushed open the door.
Strange, I thought. Usually, Lune would be there to greet Zoras whenever he returned, and considering that I didn't have breakfast before leaving, I half expected her to just be standing behind the door with perhaps a ladle or a frying pan in her hand, ready to beat me, but that was not the case.
'Hello?'
No response. Was she still sleeping? I wondered. The door to her room was open…was she that focused on whatever she was doing that she couldn't hear my voice? Lune was an avid reader, so it would make sense.
'Lune,' I called her name as I approached her room—
My eyes widened as a chill ran down my spine. Don't look back—every inch of me screamed. The moment I turned my head, it would fly off my body. The world around me turned and twisted as the ground beneath my feet slipped away. My legs were little more than soggy noodles, unable to hold the weight of my body as it fell onto the wooden floor below.
A tangible force pressed against my shoulders, bringing them down. I couldn't move a single limb. My breath hastened as my vision blurred and pulsated, my ears ringing a loud, high pitched sound. My head could explode at any moment now. I couldn't see; couldn't hear. Not a single thought registered in my mind. Not a hopeless "am I dead" or "is this the end?", nor a "who is this" filled with rage—my mind was an empty canvas, devoid of a single thought. My consciousness slipped away, slowly, held back by the flimsiest of threads that was the unbearable, throbbing pain in my temples.
'—othe—'
Through it all, I could hear a faint sound.
'—other!'
What did it say?
Perhaps they were calling me…
'Brother!'
In front of me was my sister, jolting my shoulders as I knelt on the floor.
'Huh…'
'Finally!'
I looked around, trying to grasp the situation. I was on the floor, Lune in front of me, with no one else around, at least as far as I could see. I turned around, where there was only a closed door and a shelf next to it for shoes, and a holder for umbrellas.
'What happened to you? You look so pale!'
She touched my forehead, perhaps checking if I had a fever.
'You seem fine. Did you not get enough sleep?'
That, I could not deny, but I was too tired to say anything and simply nodded.
She grabbed my arm, putting it around her shoulders as she lifted me to my feet.
'You need to rest,' she said as she dragged me to my room.
'Sorry about this,' I said, almost whispering.
She raised a brow. 'You need to rest,' she said, pausing, before she continued, 'You didn't eat anything in the morning, did you?'
I simply nodded, unable to say a word.
She sighed. 'Wait in your room, I'll make you something.'
'Thanks.'
Meanwhile, in a different corner of the world, far, far away, were two silhouettes, each wearing a hood to cover their faces, standing in a dark chamber illuminated only by a single crystal in the centre shining an amethyst hue.
'Was I unclear with my instructions? I thought I specifically asked you to observe from the shadows and not make your presence known.'
'I apologise, Your Grace, but he is no threat. I was simply testing him, It is my humble opinion that it would be quite pointless to waste any more time on the likes of him.'
'Did you forget that he is a descender.'
'He is, but the circumstances are quite different from the other descenders we've had so far. I stand firm in my judgement, Your Grace. He is not someone we need to concern ourselves with. He could barely even stand in my presence. Anymore and he would have surely died. What threat could someone like him possibly pose on us?'
'I'll trust you,' the Duke finally said, 'but know this, if he does become a thorn in the path, the one responsible to rid him will be you.'
'As you command, your Grace,' the man bowed.
'You may leave now.'
The silhouette faded into the darkness, leaving only the Duke alone in his chambers. He lifted his hood, revealing his skin as pale as snow. His long, blond hair dragged behind him, reaching his waist; straight, and as smooth as silk; his almond eyes with a gentle warmth to them fixed to the crystal in front of him. A scar traced over his right eye, a scar he received a long time ago. He touched that very scar.
'To think a descender would appear now, of all times,' he said, his voice echoing throughout the chamber. He remembered vividly what happened the last time, and he was not going to repeat the same mistake. No matter the circumstances, this person was a descender.
'Five hundred years,' he said, clenching his fists. 'Five hundred years, I have waited. I am not going to let the likes to them ruin it again.'
He stepped forward, reaching out his hand, gently caressing the crystal. His fingers trembled as his vision blurred, tears falling from his eyes as the hand he placed on the crystal trembled.
'I promise,' he said, his lips curling ever so slightly. 'I promise, this time, we will reunite.'
Outside the chamber, in a forest so dense that even in the afternoon, when the sun shone right above, barely any light managed to slip into the forest bed. Flora and fauna from ages ago, long thought to have gone extinct, populated this very forest with their presence. For them, this was their home.
Somewhere in that forest, sitting on a log of wood home to several algae and creepers, was a young boy.
'You worry too much, your Grace,' he thought to himself, resting his hands on the log.
Perhaps most would try to stay away from this place, from all the algae and creepers, but not him. For this young child, much like the lost flora and fauna that you could only find in these woods, this place was his home.
'Fancy seeing you here,' he said without turning around. 'How did it go?'
'It went fine,' said the man from before, now standing behind him with his arms tucked in his sleeves and a hood still covering his face. 'His Grace is quite worried about that child.'
'Would be stranger if he wasn't,' the child said, smiling as he lifted himself up.
'I suppose,' said the man.
'I do agree with His Grace, my friend,' said the Child. 'He is still a descender.'
'I do not wish for unnecessary deaths. That is all.'
And all the while, I slept in the comfort of Zoras' room. By the time I woke up, a good few hours had already passed by. On my desk was a bowl of soup, still warm, with a spoon right next to it. The aroma was familiar, more pleasant, in fact, than my memories suggested. Lune was a wonderful cook, that much I already knew, but to be able to have a taste was an honour I was glad to have.
Before I could have a sip though, my eyes drifted to an unassuming piece of paper lying on the floor, next to the table. Curious, I picked it up.
It was a letter, but no ordinary letter. No, it was that very letter that would mark the beginning of this tale of mine: my journey back to my old world. The very moment my eyes laid on the words written on that paper, I knew that the journey back would not be a pleasant one. Of course, that only made sense, but nonetheless, it was infuriating.
I clenched that sheet of paper, my frustration digging into it, piercing through it with my nails.
I had no intention of being the protagonist of whatever story was brewing in this world, but it was now quite clear to me that I was certain to get dragged into it somehow. Still, the less involved I could be, the better.
'I won't keep you waiting,' I said out loud, partly as a reassurance for myself.
I looked at the letter. Most of it, I could not read. It was not that the handwriting was incomprehensible, or that there was a language barrier—none of that. Instead, it was more as if there was something in the way, preventing me from comprehending the words. There was definitely something written there, but I couldn't make out what it was. It was something I was familiar with from my time reading so many web novels, and from that, I knew that whatever was written here, I wasn't ready for that information yet.
This was censorship, at least that was the term I knew. As for the term used by the people of this world, if there even was one, I didn't know.
There were a few words that I could make out though, and the one that struck me the most was a single name towards the end of the letter, a single name that I was quite familiar with. In fact, I had met them just a few hours ago.
Douglas.