Everywhere around Risa was cloudy. Or covered in thick mist would be the better word. But... What was she doing here, anyway? Wasn't she supposed to be outside of the Master Mage's house, training?
'Oh, right. I was done training and was about to rush back to have something to eat.' So... how did she end up here?
And where in the world was she, anyway?
It looked as if someone had thrown a big black blanket over everything, which made it look even darker outside. And there didn't seem to be anyone around either. She tried looking for some familiar face, but couldn't find any. Just the fog and the quietness.
Risa did recall feeling extremely weak and her consciousness fading away before she knew it. It was the last thing that she remembered happening before finding herself surrounded with this mist.
But she was sure of one thing. There wasn't anything foreboding about the area. And yet, it wasn't enough for her not to feel anxious. Jehan would be worried if she didn't find a way to get back to the house.
If she'd be able to find her way back, that is.
Suddenly, she heard an unfamiliar voice calling out from somewhere in front of her.
"Risa?"
She whipped her head up so fast she almost got whiplash, only to see a silhouette of a woman wearing a long dress. And then it hit her.
It almost looked like the statue of the woman in her dream that was wearing a Chinese hanfu. The only difference this time was... the figure was moving. It was alive... and now, it was calling her.
"Hello? Who are you?"
She took another step forward, and stopped in her tracks. The fog was getting thicker, but that wasn't the scariest part about the situation.
The fog was moving towards her, slowly at first, then gaining speed until it engulfed her completely. As much as Risa wanted to move away from the dense, suffocating cloud, she just couldn't do it. The closer she came to it, the harder it was becoming to breathe. Her body wouldn't respond, wouldn't obey her.
The sound of footsteps grew louder, until suddenly... it stopped. The fog disappeared and Risa found herself standing in a large open field surrounded by tall grass and trees.
'Wait a minute...' She was standing on the hill that she'd usually stop by whenever she would gather herbs for Jehan. The hill where she could see Angarth Castle standing majestically. 'But what am I doing here?'
She continued to look around, and soon noticed that there was something different around her. The trees... were relatively smaller compared to what she would see in the Hareskoven Forest. And while she knew there were lots more than trees around her, they weren't as close together like they used to be.
As if her mind needed any further confirmation, she spotted a woman walking through the field ahead of her. She was dressed in a dark green cloak with a hood covering her head.
Risa frowned but made no further movement. For some reason, she couldn't think of what to do once she was able to approach the woman.
When the woman stopped in front of the base of a large tree, she turned around and Risa froze as she realized it was the same woman who appeared in the dream from earlier. Except instead of the Chinese clothes she wore when she saw her in the forest, she was wearing... well, not really any clothing. She was dressed in...
Well, Risa couldn't even begin to guess the kind of dress it was. A robe, perhaps. A skirt or petticoat. Whatever it was, it was short enough that it reached the ground and was covered with flowers. And it hugged the curves of the woman's hips perfectly.
'Who is she?!'
Before she had time to question herself though, the woman turned around and stared at her. Risa couldn't believe her eyes! The woman... was actually staring right back at her. Even from where she was standing, Risa could feel her gaze burning into her soul.
The woman smiled at Risa and removed her hood, allowing her to see the stranger's face completely. Without a doubt, this was the woman on the statue wearing a hanfu in her dream.
'But does this mean...?'
"It's about to come, so please be prepared," the woman said and bowed to Risa. Before Risa could say anything, the woman vanished.
In her place was a man standing next to her. He was wearing robes similar to the woman in her dream. His hair was longer too. It was tied neatly behind his shoulder like hers. Though, his hairstyle made him look older. Maybe mid thirties.
The man now turned to her and faced her with a dignified and proud smile.
"You will be able to fulfill her last wish. He could help you with that. Never falter and stay brave, my dear," the man said which only made Risa more confused than she ever was.
It took a while before the man's words finally registered in her mind. 'He? What's he talking about?'
Just as Risa was going to speak, however, the clouds above them started to turn purple and pink. Suddenly, a deafening roar echoed all around her, making her cover her ears with both hands. The thunder that followed shortly after was deafening, and lightning streaked across the sky. She flinched at its intensity.
When she finally managed to open her eyes again, she was greeted with the sight of... a giant snake?! One so massive that it easily blocked out the sun and caused the whole ground to shake.
The giant snake screeched again and breathed black fire down onto whatever unlucky soul it was targeting. With each passing second, the air became hotter and mustier.
Risa looked up to see what was happening. But her eyes widened at the sight of the snake swallowing the moons in the night sky one by one.
"No! No! Stop it!" Risa didn't know why she screamed those words, but she knew she had to stop it.
'This can't be real! Please, get me out of here!' her mind screamed.
The snake let out another scream before opening its mouth wide. Then it opened it even wider, and a stream of white smoke shot out from it... and towards Risa!
Risa jumped to the side as fast as she could, desperately trying to avoid the stream of smoke, but it didn't slow down. In fact, it got faster and faster. Soon, the air around her felt heavy and suffocating, and Risa couldn't make her lungs work properly. She tried to breathe normally but it felt like she was gasping for breath. She closed her eyes, and braced for impact, ready to die...
xxxxxx
When Risa opened her eyes, she found herself lying on a bed in a familiar room. For a brief second, she panicked about finding herself there when she was supposed to be outside the house. What happened?
'Was it just a dream? But they felt so real... The woman. That man. And the giant snake attacking everything and everyone...'
What was wrong with her?
Risa looked at her hands and her eyes widened to see them shaking, for some reason. But she knew why. The dream... felt so real. Like... they've happened before. Or she was reliving something she'd seen before.
Something... strange was going on...
But she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Was something wrong? Hadn't she been fine before?
Her stomach churned uncomfortably. It was as if the events of that dream were playing itself out again and again inside her head. And she couldn't stop it anymore.
'No, no, no... I have to leave...! I have to tell this to Jehan... or to the dragons,' she thought.
However, she just couldn't make her legs move. She couldn't even calm her erratically beating heart. She took several deep breaths with her eyes closed before opening them again after a while.
"Risa? You're awake!" someone exclaimed and sat beside her bed, causing her eyes to widen in surprise. "I was really scared there for a moment."
She turned around to face Jehan. There were tears forming in her friend's beautiful brown eyes as she stared at her.
"Jehan..." She immediately pulled her friend into a tight hug.
"Hey, are you okay? You're shaking," he commented, but still hugged her back, nonetheless. "Were you having a nightmare? Did something happen?"
In those words, Risa remembered what happened a few hours ago. She remembered seeing that giant snake that was about to burn her down, how the surrounding felt so hot that it choked her and made it harder for her to breathe. Even with the presence of that familiar woman and that strange old man in her dream, it didn't make it any easier for her to deal with that nightmare.
It made it impossible for her to focus properly on what was going on around her. All she could hear and see was the pain of getting burned alive.
That must've been what her dream meant. It wasn't a memory, but a vivid dream. Something that happened before, or maybe something she did that led to that dream.
Could it be an old memory that she never knew? A memory of... the land itself? Or of the woman in her dream? She didn't know what else to think anymore.
She let go of Jehan and moved backwards to sit up straight against the bed headboard. "Yes... but it's fine now," she assured. "I'm okay..."
Jehan nodded, and moved a strand of hair behind her ear, looking worriedly down on her. "Are you sure?" he asked.
Before she could answer him, a voice spoke up. "It's nice to see you're alright, Risa! Are you feeling better now?"
Both Jehan and Risa turned their heads toward the direction of the voice to see that it belonged to Lady Enlari who was entering her room with a relieved smile on her face.
She nodded and returned the smile. "Even though I had no idea why I fainted, I'm feeling a little better now."
"It's still a question why you fainted, though," the Master Mage who had just entered the room had said. "You were only practicing basic magic with Jehan four hours ago. So what could've made you faint when you were about to rest?"
Even Risa didn't know how to answer that properly. But she was sure -- she was pulled into that dream. She was meant to see that vision. Her subconscious was sending her a message. But to do what? What was she meant to do?
Risa turned her attention back to Jehan and the two mages, who were both watching her curiously.
"Is something wrong? You seem a bit shaken up." Lady Enlari noticed how tense she was.
"Umm... It's nothing, really. It's just... something weird has been bothering me lately... And it doesn't make sense to me," she answered honestly.
She didn't want to lie to them. They both deserved to know everything. But she didn't want to cause any problems between the three of them. Especially after what had happened earlier in her dream.
If it was a message to her, then she had to figure out what it was.
"You can tell us about it later. But let me say that... we found you a teacher on swordsmanship," Lady Enlari announced.
Risa raised her head and faced the lady mage. "Really? You're allowing me to learn how to use swords?"
Lady Enlari smiled. "You were insistent about that. And we figured that you will need to learn how to fight in order to deal with people like those knights that tried to harass you before."
"I thought you would still be against it." Risa frowned slightly as she said those words. She understood where Lady Enlari was coming from, but she didn't like being treated like a child.
"Well, we don't always follow orders, but we're willing to listen to others. Plus, if you really wanted to learn how to fight, it is your choice, not our decision," the Master Mage explained and patted Risa's head.
As unbelievable as it was, it helped her calm down. "Thank you so much, Master Mage." Soon after, a question hit her. "By the way, may I know who would be teaching me swordsmanship?"
The lady mage smirked and glanced over at the master mage. "Why don't you tell her, Benlor? She'll definitely find out sooner or later anyway."
The master mage cleared his throat and walked up next to the frowning Risa. He placed both of his hands on Risa's shoulders and started speaking.
"Actually... we asked the Second Prince to be your teacher. And he accepted."
What in the world? "Y-you mean... the Second Prince of Revia? Are you talking about Prince Alathil?"
How did it even come to this? And the prince actually accepted? Why would the Second Prince do something like this?
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