Family(3)

Efinchil, a few years ago.

"Jasmine! Breakfast is ready."

Dahlia pounded her small fists against the door of her sister's room. When the latter didn't respond immediately, she formed a funnel using her hands and placed her mouth between them. "Jasmineeee!"

"You're so noisy. I'm coming, alright?" Jasmine opened the door, her ears almost hurting from her sister's early-morning yells.

"Jasmine, Jasmine!" Dahlia exaggeratedly called, knowing that it would irritate her sister, then ran away towards the staircase.

"You naughty thing. I'll keep away all your toys." Jasmine threatened with a laugh as she ran after the naughty little girl.

"Why would you do that? She likes calling your name because she loves you so much." Sophie laughed from the door of the dining room as she watched her daughters run down the staircase one after another.

"Is there a way to tone down the love, please?" Jasmine was helpless.

Sophie laughed and waved them over to the dining room. "Come here, my darlings. I made you pancakes. Mixed berry pancakes for my beautiful Jasmine and Chocolate Pancakes for my cute Dahlia." She gave them a bite each to taste.

"Thank you mother." Jasmine felt her mood brighten when she had a taste of the sweetness, while Dahlia was too busy gobbling up her pancake.

"I cooked too! Why am I not being hugged and thanked?" Her father, Harry, complained sulkily.

"You can cook?" Jasmine burst into laughter at the thought of it.

"Of course! Why can't I?" The man demanded hugs from his daughters, but they only reeled back while laughing their hearts out.

He looked to his wife for help, but she merely joined their daughters. "Don't listen to him. The only time he cooked was the morning after our wedding, when he got flour all over himself while trying to flaunt his nonexistent culinary skills. He looked as though he had taken a dive into the jar of flour!" She exposed her husband, laughing so hard that tears almost gushed out.

"You meanies! Don't bully papa." Dahlia stood and rushed to help Harry onto the head seat of the dining table, before sitting beside him and patting his hand to comfort him in a gentle tone as though she was coaxing a child. "Don't worry, papa. I'll enjoy all the pancakes you make—even if they are full of flour as heap topping."

The whole family burst into laughter.

_____

Dairon returned to the library after seeing Bardumond off. Jasmine was sitting by the window and reading a book which he recognized as one about rocks.

She didn't strike him as the type to be interested in nature.

"Good read, right?" He sat next to her on a wooden chair.

She nodded, pointing at a round rock drawn on the page she was looking at, but it was only a sketch because it was an ancient book. "Fautignis. Such a unique type of rock. Aside from all the information about it in the books, Vivian has a take for it—I'm starting to think she has a tale for everything in the world."

"Let's hear it." He laughed, pretending not to detect her tone when she mentioned her friend again. It seemed like she strongly believed that her friend was alive, and was gaining his trust so he would help her find the latter. He didn't mind it so he listened to whatever she had to say.

Jasmine closed the book but kept her fair finger between the pages she was reading, using it as a temporary bookmark. "She said that Fautignis rocks can ignite a fire large enough to burn down an entire town."

"Anything else?" He asked, noting that she sounded uncertain about the information she must believe to be exaggerated.

Did that mean it was true? Jasmine wondered, and wanted to confirm everything she had heard about it. "She also said that they are the rarest types of rocks, and there is only one of them in the entire world, which was created by witches."

He raised an eyebrow. "That's where she got it wrong. I haven't seen the rock myself but I heard a different tale."

"What?" She leaned over curiously.

"It was accidentally created by Cataleah." He explained, making her curiosity intensify.

"Who is Cataleah?" She asked. She was certain that she had never heard this name before, but it made her feel a tremor in her heart. Whoever it was must be a scary person, she thought to herself.

"There are many other rocks you can learn about, some of which have yet to be written about in books. They are in the sea. Do you want to have a look sometime?" He offered out of the blue.

Perhaps Cataleah was indeed scary, or it was forbidden to talk about her, so Jasmine didn't insist on wanting to know about it. "I'd love to. I want to know about water rocks… and everything about the sea while at it."

"Including any possible escape routes?" He leaned close to her ear to ask.

"No!" She shook her head immediately in denial.

A smirk formed on his lips, and he lifted his hand to curl a lock of her hair around his index finger. "Maybe not. But just so you know, even when you are strong enough, you cannot leave without my permission."

His words shattered the little ray of hope that was starting to form in her heart. Her hands clenched into fists and she had to take deep breaths to calm down and stop herself from uttering curses at this man who was intending to trap her here, where she least wanted to be.

He didn't seem to be easy to convince, but she was not ready to give up yet.

"Where did Bardumond go?" She asked when she thought of a different way out.

"Do you want him to check up on you later?" He asked a question of his own instead of answering her, and she nodded. "He will. As soon as I call him over, he will be here. But if you are starting to hope that he will help you out of here, that's where you got it wrong, my beautiful flower. He is only loyal to me."

Her heart dimmed as her newly found hope was extinguished before she could even put the plan into action.

"Think about it from the bright side." He chimed beside her. "Being with me guarantees you protection for the rest of your life. I will protect everything and everyone you care about as well. I can do anything you ask for—just don't ask me to let you go." He added, which got her thinking.

"Anything I ask?" She was quick to pull out of her gloomy thoughts and grab onto this golden chance.

"Yes, everything." He repeated his words, looking into her eyes to express just how serious he was about what he had promised.

She sunk into thought and averted her gaze from him. Would he really do anything she asked? She so badly wanted to know how her parents and sister were doing…

However, would her parents appreciate the thought that their daughter was being held captive by a demigod? They might just try to force him to bring her back to them, and that might provoke him to hurt them.

"Are you hungry? I'll make you breakfast." He called for her attention. It wasn't hard to guess what she was thinking but they could talk about it when she was no longer conflicted.

"It's alright." She was not hungry, but he didn't pay heed to her words and cooked breakfast anyway. When he took her downstairs to the dining room, she held back the urge to scold him. However, she remembered that she would be stronger if she ate so she sat down and decided to take a few bites.

He uncovered a round food tray to reveal delicious-looking pancakes with a beautiful mixture of strawberries and blueberries as toppings.

"I didn't know what you like so I made a guess. Would you like to try them out?" He offered her a piece on a fork.

She leaned forward to take the bite, without realizing that she had just let him feed her.

He gazed at her and fed her another piece. She seemed to enjoy the taste, which made him smile about finally finding out something she likes.

"I can eat on my own." She protested when he tried to feed her a fourth time, and he could only chuckle and let her eat on her own.

She cut up a piece and felt as though her heart dropped with each inch her hand moved. Why did this situation feel so familiar? Moreover, why was she suddenly feeling sad?

__

*AN

I will be using five of these (_) as a transition between different realms and time lines because the book takes place in different places which aren't all in the same realm and didn't happen at the same time.

To avoid confusion, I will use one _ as a transition between scenes in the same realm/timeline.