Notice:[1]
As winter drew near, the fog grew thick within the mountains of Kabylia.
Just like the animals that they sheltered, the mountains seemed drawn by the comfort of the clouds' silence, retreating from the world's noise.
Just like Eva who was hiding within the covers of her bed.
The sky was gray that day, as gray as the young woman's dark circles.
At eleven a.m the alarm of her phone rang and with one click on "Stop" her body responded, before burying herself again within the warm covers.
Still, now that her eyes are awake, now that day light had met her sight, she instinctively turned around and stared at the gray cloudy sky from her bed, through her balcony's window.
The silence of this view tugged her in, like a gentle memory from the past, but also made her feel protected by the covers from it is cold. That warmth and sensation of peace made her slowly but surely fall into the depth of her counsiousness.
And in that quiet descent, after seven long years of dreamless nights, a blond-haired woman with green-blue eyes chose to meet her once more.
As she opened her eyes again, the black headed young lady, woke up immeditaly from her bed after noticing the darkness of the night sky, annoyed about the amount of sleep she had, she decided to get up from her bed and leave her room, weirdly she saw that the door was open, but she didn't think anything of it, she just left her room before noticing a woman's silhouette within the empty room of her brother. Without any fear she came in before being stunned by what she just encountered.
Right there in the middle of the room, a woman with long blond hair was cutting long strips of a green silky fabric, where smoke would come off.
Unexplainably, Eva went to her and began to cry uncontrollably, saying, "I don't want to forget about her," as she fell into the woman's arms.
"You will never forget about her" she reassured her as she was whipping her tears.
In the middle of her cries the young woman heard a southing singing voice that came from the garden, as she followed the sound, she found herself on the green side of her grandparent's garden, fresh herbs dancing by the rhythm of the wind that came from that one white silky headed woman that wasn't even touching the ground. Mesmerized, she stood still, not even noticing the fall of the first snow.
A sudden ache rose in her chest, words slipping out before she could stop them."You should have never been the one to leave," the twenty-three-year-old murmured.
As those words faded, the warmth of the dream dissolved into cold silence.
That same day, with that same gray sky, in another world, a kingdom was grieving.
"A princess is dead" A dark headed man, with narrow eyes yet delicately shaped announced as he came into his colleagues' studies.
"I had a feeling that she did" a silver headed man replied as he was starring from his window, contemplating the fall of the first snow of the year.
"My condolences", Rayane offered.
"I am not the one to whom you should show condolences" he replied, still starring at the first falling snow of winter. "How artistic of you" he whispered smiling.
"I think her brother knows", the news bearer said.
"I wasn't talking about him", he responded as he turned back at him.
"Soon, her sister will be aware of the situation soon", the soldier looking like messenger added.
"I somehow think that our dear Cinthia already told her", Arnold responded as he pushed his glasses up onto his forehead, letting his shinning green eyes speak for himself.
"I am sure she was way too subtill about it for her to understand" he replied, with a more relaxed tone.
"Rayane, don't wait until her soul dies before you intervene, you know better than me that..." "Exactly", Rayane cut in, "I know better than you, as the protector of one of the royals of this kingdom" His gaze fixed on him, sharp and unflinching, like the edge of a blade.
"And as an ex-protector of two fallen heart's souls, it is obvious that with your experience you know better than me", Arnold replied with such a dry and emotionless answer that the silence that had fallen was strong enough to be translated into farewells.
As cold as the corridors of the castle, Rayane didn't seem enraged or upset, just stoic and cold headed as always. As soon as he left the silver headed man's office, a familiar voice echoed in addition of the sound of the two big doors that closed behind them.
"Did he annoy you? "Another silver headed young man asked Rayane as he was just walking out of the office.
"Between you and the silver headed man behind those doors, you are the most annoying one Jacob" he answered as he kept walking.
"Well short headed guys are always the most annoying ones"
"Only when they are short headed like you, silver boy" Rayane responded
"Well charisma comes at a price" golden eyes boy answered
"And your annoyance is the price I presume"
"What a smart protector you are" he hironically answered
"Tell me did Cinthia tried to enter in contact with you?" Rayane's gaze sharpened
"No, I even searched within the realm of souls, and she wasn't there" he quietly answered; his easy humor gave way to a sad straightness.
"Well, it means that she definitely left, good for her" the protector said with almost not any emotion showed.
"Don't you think it is time to wake her sister up? This kingdom needs a monarch, and you perfectly know that no one within the people would accept anyone else but someone from the Tagliditse family"
"Worry not, the last source of the Tagliditse family will come back, but I will ask you not to rush things, for her own sake first" he answered with a threathening gaze
"You know I won't, we all worry about her as much as you do, our group is not the same as it was without her", the short-headed replied
"Good, now if you'll excuse me, I have to prevent the last source of our Kingdome to fall from her Terras" Rayane said before leaving Jacob standing in shock.
[1] For a better and more immersive experience, when you get to the dream part of the chapter, listen to this ausio compilation from Yuki Kajiura : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJHeVKv_W5Q&list=RDYJHeVKv_W5Q&start_radio=1&t=1564s&ab_channel=SoupforYourSoul