14

Thornhill,

Vankar Island

Northern Isle Region,

Kingdom of Ashtarium

October 29th 6414

5:05 am

I was back in the Great Hall of the Royal Palace, the rectangular room was just as wide, with windows on both sides of the long room. The high table was situated at the dais at the end of the hall. Father, his silver hair and electric indigo eyes on me, his usual smile directed at me. Besides me were my siblings. Eldest brother Elijah was by Father's side, the twins Quincy and Addam were as usual messing with each other. At the end of the table was Mother. Her golden mane of hair was in the particular braid style that she always kept. I moved...at least I tried to move to her but then a line of fire appeared, roaring out of thin air. It was the scene from my nightmare. I was frozen in fear as I watched my Family get burnt to ashes, the stakes in their chest burning alongside them. Father fell, the stake sticking out of his back. Behind him was my uncle, General Nehemiah, his fangs were out and he had on a devilish smirk as he plunged another silver stake at my father.

"Run Ella, Run!" My Father's last words as he desiccated into the true death of our kind.

"Stop it," I screamed. Rage, grief ...emotions sprung up, heightened to the point that I thought I might explode with it. I tried to fight them back. I didn't want to feel it..didn't want to know what it felt like... Nehemiah...Uncle, you bastard. How could you do this... My legs were still stuck as Uncle Nehemiah stalked gracefully towards me. His true face- veins bulging under his scarlet eyes, rows of fangs where his upper teeth were supposed to be, scarlet piercing eyes- more menacing than I remembered it, closer to my face and all I could do was close my eyes in fear. What could I do against him? My Uncle who killed my Father...The New King of Ashtarium and head of the Ashtarmel house. I was just recently awakened. I had no special skills or gifts like my Father or Lil. The only reason I was still alive was because of Sanders and Lily. I opened my eyes and he was gone. The scene had changed again and I was in a forest. Canopy of trees surrounded me, within the midnight sky was the pale moon, hanging in the corner of the sky...

"What are you doing..stop...Aarrgh!" The sound came from deep inside the forest. I headed towards it, not knowing what to expect, though a dead body on the ground wasn't what I thought to found There was a burnt hole on the body like it had been toasted like burnt bread. But what was strange about it was that the body was frozen. The smell was foul, vapor coming from where a heart was supposed to beat. Standing above the body, was a being made up of Shadows. I couldn't see the specter's face even though it was right in front of me. It's left hand was glowing bright white and then from behind it, four wings spanned out, each of those wings as ominous as it's face. And it was heading for me....

I opened my eyes from the nightmare, my hear beating so fast. I was sweating, my back stained with the wet spot. I tried to calm my breathing, tried to settle the fear that was within me. Nightmares wasn't an unusual thing for me. I've been having them for the past two years, unable to sleep because of them. But this time things had felt different. I bought my hand to my left chest where my heart was. I could feel my heart rising and falling. I should cultivate my soul. I opened the drawer close to my bed and pulled out my space ring. I took out some of the Mana cores I had gotten from the Dungeon and laid it before me. Then I got into a lotus position, closing my eyes as I took in a deep breath, and then I began to meditate, drawing the essence from the core and into my soul, to saturate it with Spirit essence. I meditated for almost an hour, siphoning the essence into my core. By the time I was done, I was sweating tons of bucket, my body's temperature had risen considerably. I checked my soul core to see if there was any changes but I was left with disappointment. The color of my Soul core was still in the light shade of yellow, a position it had been on for a long time. The rate at which I was refilling the Soul core with Spirit essence was very slow. Before I awakened, the speed of my cultivation had been astonishly fast. But now it's growth speed had diminished. It didn't help that the level of Mana core I was siphoning from was very low in Spirit essence. If I wanted to get stronger faster, I would have to absorb the Spirit essence of more powerful beings. Which means exploring deeper into the Dungeons. I squeezed my fist thinking about my nightmare.

"Ariella...Ariella!" My head snapped around the room, looking for who called me by my name. But there was no one in the room. Something was wrong.

"Ariella... Ariella....Ariella" There was a flow of static noise that followed, the noise reaching a crescendo that felt like it could pop my eardrum. 

"Ariella!...Ariella!...Please...Help me." The voice came again. And then a splitting echo that pushed a tinge of fear up my spine. I jumped out of my bed, looking around my room, as the whisper of my name echoed in the air. In a split second, I could have sworn a image of someone appeared, and then it was gone. I could still hear tiny echoes of my name but after a while, the voice was gone. I could vaguely remember something like this happening, the day before we went to the dungeon. Did I come across a ghost or something....I couldn't hold on to the memory as the fleeting images burled away into nothing. I shook my head trying to clear it. Now was not the time to be distracted. We weren't going to be in Thornhill for long. Whatever plan Sanders was getting ready, I needed to use this opportunity to strengthen myself. I...I do not want to be a burden to anyone ever again. I had to get back into the Dungeon.

****

It seems Thornhill actually took Remembrance Day seriously. I thought as the gang and I pass through the town's Main square where the Celebration was at an all time high. We were in Ben's car which he had used to pick up Lil and I from the Mansion and now we were heading to the Dungeon in the woods. Normally I would be excited to get into it, but my focus was on raiding, so I barely focus on the entertainment stores that had been set up. Across from the Main square, a couple of kilometer was the fighting arena where Warriors of all kinds could go and test themselves in a duel. Over the past few days, Lil had been going over there, dueling with Jennifer Mcclough. I always attended it, anticipating the day when Lil would finally win one over the human girl. But nothing of the sorts ever happened. Only instead, Lil would leave the arena, sulking and mad. Seeing this would always light a fire within me, as I was desperate to get as strong as Lil. But as time passed, I realized something else. I didn't like the way Lil was spending so much time with this human girl. I was not familiar with the concept of jealousy so it took me a long time to realize my feelings but until then, whenever I saw Jennifer, I couldn't help but get this odd ripping sensation in my guts. 

"So your not going to the arena today," I asked Lil. She shook her head, the earpiece of the cassette that she was listening to playing at full blast. And yet she could still hear me.

"Jen's busy with raiding, so there's no point going there," Lil said with a yawn. I didn't like how familiar her name came from Lil's mouth. When we got close to the woods, Ben parked his car alongside other cars that were also there. We got out of the car, and began trekking through the woods to get to the clearing where the Dungeon's entrance was. The Enoch's Plaza was also filled with so many people and stalls that for a moment I was tempted to get right on the celebration mood that was going on. 

"If you want, we can check some of them out," Lil said, watching how tempted I was. She knew how much I loved Remembrance day, the celebration that came with it, and how for the past two years, my mood for celebrating had been really low.

"I don't know..." I said. "We came here to raid the Dungeon...Maybe we should focus on that..."

"Having a little bit of fun doesn't hurt," Lil said. "Why don't we try some of the games they've got set up in the carnival,' Lil pointed over to an area where a Celebration was going on. I had never been to a carnival before, never thought much of going to one so I was amazed at the one in the plaza. There were amusement rides, food, and merchandise vendor, synthblood store, and game of chance and skill. It was an exciting moment, seeing all the clown aesthetics that the carnival had been decorated in. There were townsfolk who had nothing to do with Dungeon raiding also enjoying the carnival. We first stopped by a food vendor where we got cotton candy, a blue fluffy sweet confection spun around a stick. While Neil began telling me about the history of the carnival, my thought went to my family. Every Remembrance after their death, I would always dream of what would have been if they had not died. What would we be doing right now in the Palace? It was a childish dream, one meant to give me the strength to go through the day without breaking down. I stopped to let a bunch of kids pass by me, before continuing to follow the others. I wondered what my cousin Delilah was doing right now. Did she think me dead? Did she mourn for me or was she complicit like the rest of her family? I didn't like thinking of Delilah like that. But I had no idea what to think...my body froze...Memories of what had happened in the Great hall sunk into my head. I could remember every little detail of what had happened. The fight between my father and uncle Nehemiah had been frighteningly beautiful for a mortal girl like me. I had been unable to keep up with the fight. The artificial moonlight had spilled into the hall from the window, and all I could do was stare at the burnt corpse of my brothers. Sparks of light were flying through the hall at great speed, colliding and the resulting spark had fallen on one of the window's curtains which led to the fire. The fire burnt through, moving like a fiery serpent that devoured everything in its way. If I continued to stay, if I hadn't left, the fire would have gotten to me. But I couldn't move...I couldn't leave my father behind...but the fear...a sinking, encroaching feeling within the depths of my guts glued me on the spot.

"Ariella" Father appeared out of the light, his face full of concern for me. And then uncle ran at him...

"Ariella" a voice whispered in my ear. I blinked and turned around to see Lilith staring at me, concern for me in her eyes. I was back in the carnival in the woods and Lilith was squeezing my hand gently. She had seen my memories, she had felt my fear and anxiety and she said nothing. She said nothing but pulled me forward. My fears, the memories which haunted me slid to the back of my subconsciousness were more nightmares were waiting for me.

"Is she ok," Neil asked.

"She's fine," Lil said. "Right Anna,"

"Yeah. I'm good" I responded quickly trying to act as normal as I could.

"You sure," Ben said with a raised eyebrow. I nodded as Lil and I got to where the boys stopped at. They were in front of a shop where people bought game tickets. There was a tall machine with a puck attached to it, and one of the gamers had a hammer and was striking it. The puck flew halfway up before going back down, measuring the physical strength of the kid.

"I wasn't expecting to see you guys here," A familiar voice called out. Walking over with a gentle grace was Jennifer Mcclough, dressed in a white frilly dress, and a brown hat with a white ribbon attached to it. I couldn't deny how pretty she looked.

"Neither was I," Lil said. Her eyebrows were ticking like she was annoyed to see the girl but I took it as a sign that she was nervous. I knew Lil more than she knew herself and I knew that when she felt nervous about things, Lil covered it up by acting aloof. She had done it to me growing up for the first couple of weeks she had lived with me. She waved at Neil and Ben who still couldn't believe that Jennifer Mcclough was speaking to Lil. She turned to me, a smile on her face. I could see her checking me out, her eyes judging me from head to toe. She was pretty...no beautiful was the word. She was of the same size as me, but her skin was fairer than mine.

"I thought it might be good to see what the fuss was all about," Lil said. Lil was staring at the girl, her eyes studying the human. "Strength testing without Mana usage. Seriously, how's that fair against the humans,"

"Life was never meant to be fair," Jen said. "So are you going to the Dungeon later,"

"Yes, after a little bit of sightseeing," Lil said.

"Can I join your group," Jen said. Instead of asking Lil, she turned the question to the rest of us. While Neil was left shocked that Jen wanted to raid with them, Ben cleared his throat to get rid of his admiration.

"Of course," Ben said. Jen smiled and looked at me. I felt like I was put on the spot as soon as her emerald eyes landed on me.

"Huh, sure. Why not?" I said with a nervous laugh. Jen smiled. "Uh, In fact we were just about to go straight to the dungeon,"

"We were," Neil said. I jammed my elbow at his ribs to shut him up. "Oh! Yes, Yes, It's time for us to enter the Dungeon. We don't have all the time in the world to mess around," Ben and Lil shot Neil a dirty look which shut him up. I sighed and then just naturally took the lead to the Dungeon's entrance which was a bluish white portal within two pillars. By the time we reached the gate, we were all donning our combat outfit. Mine was a silver gray lithe armor that allowed for smooth movement and flexibility. A shortsword rested on the belt around my waist while my bow was slung over my shoulder. Lith was dressed in a black armor jacket that provided even less protection than hers. That was how confident Lil was of her strength even without cultivation. Neil was dressed in his Mage outfit, a green robe that allowed for decent movement, a long staff in his hand that served as a medium for his magic. Ben also wore an armor jacket like Lil but his was ash colored and then there was Jennifer. The beautiful human was encased in a white colored titanium armor that made her look even deadly.

"Shall we," Lil said. I nodded alongside the others and we all took a step inside the portal.