The clock reset, and she was finally five.
Her bedroom, brightly lit amidst the shadows of midnight, was brightened not with candescent crystals but with the merriment that exuded from the bunch that filled the place.
However, she, the celebrant, didn't share the sentiment.
The moment she realized what they were there for, she couldn't dare face them, so her gaze fell to her clasped hands. One glance at the cake her parents held was enough.
Happy 5th birthday!
She was speechless— not in awe. Her breath shook. It was her fifth birthday. Right. She had already reached that age.
"Cythe?" She heard her mother's call and her eyes stung as tears formed and threatened to fall. Her pair of beautiful amethyst eyes, usually bright, yet now dimmed with obvious dismay. That soothing voice… When was she going to hear that voice again?
She loved birthdays, especially hers and her dear ones'. Those were days that would always be worth a celebration, but not this one. Not her fifth birthday. No, not when it also marked the last day she would always be with her beloved parents.
She bit down a sob that tried to escape her cute, red lips. She remembered the dream she just had last night— just now, before she was awoken for this occasion.
It was a dream about a girl with jet black hair and black eyes who was the same age as her. Camdyn, she believed, was the little girl's name. Camdyn was a bright, young girl who would also be having her fifth birthday tomorrow— or now, rather. She was so excited to celebrate it with her family and her friends. So different from Cytheria who dreaded the day.
The group of people noticed the girl's unusual reaction. They watched as the birthday girl's head hung low, eyes down, her red lips pouted, and her hands fidgety. It was then that they started to worry whether something was wrong. One call from her mother triggered a fall of tears. Would it make her a brat if she purposely didn't respond so that her mother would call her again and again?
"Cytheria?" Her mother and father set the cake down on her bed and walked closer to each of her sides. Her father reached out to her and held her on his lap. She didn't want them to see her sad at this moment, especially when she knew that they expected her to be happy on her birthday, hence she buried her face on her palms and stuck close to her father's chest.
She tried to stop her sobs, but ultimately, they escaped her lips anyway.
"Cytheria, dear?" Her father's voice was low and soft as his breath brushed through her hair. The way he called her warmed her heart that she couldn't help but cry out, "Papa!"
There was a warm hand placed on her thigh and she knew it was her mother's, who was also trying to soothe her. "Cythe— I don't want! Mama, Papa! Please... Cythe doesn't want to go. Cythe doesn't want to leave Papa and Mama!"
The servants quieted down, understanding the problem, and as a form of respect to the family they served, they all exited the room, feeling both disappointed and worried.
"Shhh..." Marchioness Elestren Ambergris whispered. Cytheria noticed how her mother's voice began to shake as well. "Cytheria, my dear... Mama also doesn't want Cythe to go, and Papa too." A sharp inhale as she tried not to cry in front of her daughter who needed her comfort. "But Baby Cythe must." She tried to make her voice sound firm and unwavering. "To be a Magi Imperatoria, Baby Cythe must."
The marchioness must be tough. She was a mother. For the sake of her crying daughter, who would have to live far away from her from this day on. For her beloved Cytheria, who would have to grow up far from her parents, forced to take the responsibility she had to bear the moment she was born. For her child who she wouldn't get to raise. She must be tough. So that when her child thought back about their memories together, her little one would remember her as a strong mother who loved her deeply.
"Cythe doesn't want to be a Magi Imperatoria!" The girl cried and shook her head violently against her father's chest. Right there was where she wanted to stay. In the arms of her father and mother.
"Yes, Mama knows..." The marchioness sobbed and bit her lip, reaching out to her daughter to embrace her, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, my baby!" Slowly, she felt her husband's warmth enveloping the two of them in a hug that he could only give to comfort them.
The marquess's heart was breaking. Hearing the cries of the most precious girls in his life was too much to bear, but he must. He must be strong for his wife and his child, even as he recalled the moment when his beloved gave birth to their one and only daughter exactly five years ago. He remembered how the two of them stared with horror at the insignia on their child's back, giving out a celestial glow they never wanted to see on their child's skin. Right below her nape was a silver mark shaped like the leaf of The Great Ire Tree. A few minutes later and the door burst open, revealing the father of his wife, Magi Imperatoria Daire Diamondess, who felt the birth of his Successor. He could only sigh at the memory, his eyes shrouded with sadness.
When tomorrow came and it was time for the young Cytheria Ambergris to leave for the Kreindarth Duchy, the child felt her chest tightening. Although she loved her parents, she couldn't help but feel upset that they didn't even try to stop her from leaving. It was exactly because she did that she felt so.
Cytheria gave a last glance at the Ambergris House's main door, where her parents were still crying their hearts out, especially her mother, and felt her fists clenching tightly that they hurt. Another tear glistened as it fell through her cheek and when she wiped the last tear she shed that day, Cytheria Artemesia Ambergris, the only daughter of Marquess and Marchioness Ambergris, disappeared from the world.
And there came forth Cytheria Artemesia Diamondess, a Magi Imperatoria Successor that dominated an authority equal to that of an imperial offspring.
That night, in an inn they had stopped over for sleep, she dreamed about a familiar dark-haired little girl who just had her fifth birthday. Unlike Cytheria, her smile never left her face and the bright look on her eyes never darkened. Although she was filled with envy, no tears left her grim eyes.
A few years had passed, seasons changed, and so did the young Cytheria. She was now of the Diamondess Family and she had finally learned to accept her fate. She was born with the mark of The Great Ire Tree and was born with an extremely huge amount of mana, which meant she was chosen by the magical tree as the Successor of Magi Imperatoria Daire Diamondess, who was her mother's father. She was to train hard to control her overwhelming mana, improve her abilities, and grow into a powerful Magi Imperatoria that had the responsibility of protecting the empire and its people.
"Cytheria!" Her cousin, the daughter of Duchess Esclarmonde Diamondess, called for her. Cytheria almost jumped in surprise when the door of her chamber suddenly burst open and in came a brunette dressed in a long-sleeved yellow dress with marigold floral pattern.
"Evora!" She gasped in surprise, her eyes wide and her body a bit tensed in shock, before relaxing again, "Would you please finally learn how to knock?"
Evora, a girl younger than her by just three years, rolled her eyes, "I didn't come here to be reprimanded by a cousin!" The little girl, who was at the height of Cytheria's chin, ran past her and jumped high to her spacious, bouncy bed.
"I came here to talk about my dream..." Evora sighed dreamily and clasped her hands together, "Oh, God!"
Cytheria's eyebrow perked up when she heard the word dream. Then she was reminded of her own. Last night, she had dreamed about the dark-haired Camdyn, who was awakened by her mother early in the morning to prepare for school. The girl went to school by a car, which was a vehicle Cytheria wouldn't have known existed if she didn't dream about it. Or maybe it actually only existed in her dreams, where the young girl named Camdyn would often ride it together with her parents.
She frowned, feeling bitter with envy. She wished she could ride on one with her parents... Or maybe it didn't have to be in a car, but she certainly wanted to be with her parents again. Besides, when she asked her aunt and the servants about wanting to ride such a thing, they were completely clueless about it.
She sighed through her lips. She missed her parents. The marquess and marchioness visited her a month ago when she turned ten, and since they left three days after their arrival, she had been counting the days until the day of their promised visit to come again.
She understood things better after five years of studying with her grandfather about her responsibilities as a Magi Imperatoria's Successor and why it could be no one else but her who could inherit her grandfather's position.
The mark she once bore on her back when she was born and shall once again bear in the future meant she was chosen by The Great Ire Tree itself to be the protector of the empire where it stood erect on. If she was acknowledged by such a legendary existence, then it must be for a reason.
And for abandoning this position equated to disrespecting all her predecessors, who had lived and died for the sake of the Iremonde Empire, it was considered as a major offense and even an act of treason. Of course, such would result to penalties as grave as death— or even worse.
"Prince Cairo was so handsome even in my dreams." Her cousin sighed dramatically— also acting too dramatically— as she recalled the events in her dream, "And flowers were falling from the skies, which was clear and blue as if to acknowledge such good day! His Highness personally arrived here in the duchy, in this very mansion of our great Diamondess Family— oh, my! Cytheria, he came to personally tell me that he has fallen for my beauty and to give me a proposal to marry him and be his wife! The empress consort!"
Cytheria's eyes widened and then after a second, she burst out laughing her heart out, "What?! That's too good to be true, Evora!" But the fact that she knew how her cousin had always admired Prince Cairo— or maybe just his position and his gorgeousness— had lessened the surprise she felt. The Magi Imperatoria Successor also tried to ignore one particular detail: there was no guarantee that Prince Cairo would be the emperor. Sure, he was the firstborn son of another firstborn. But there was no law that stated only firstborn sons could succeed the throne.
"Shut up!" Evora's eyes turned sharp and she flipped her long, brown hair, "I'm going to have His Highness propose to me to be his crown princess! Remember that, cousin, 'cause when that time comes, I'll be laughing at your lousy position as a Magi Imperatoria!"
Evora had always been a child who never liked her bubbles popped. She loved her ambitious delusions too much.
Cytheria chuckled at her cousin's ambitious personality, "The prince is only of the same rank as me now, Evora, and even when you've become his crown—" a roll of her gleaming amethyst eyes, "— princess, you'd still be ranked below us."
"I'm talking about when I become the empress!" the girl snapped, and a soft and dramatic sigh escaped her pink lips, "Her Majesty, Empress Evora Iremonde!"
Cytheria instantly frowned when she heard her cousin's bold declaration, "Be careful with your words, young lady." What her cousin just said was something disrespectful to the position of the empress, even if it was just a casual remark out of a young girl's ambition.
"Whatever!"
Cytheria sighed heavily when she heard her response. Her cousin was too bratty and spoiled for her own good. She should learn to keep her fantasies in her mind, and refrain herself from being too audacious and bold. Cytheria always left her audacity in check to make sure that it never got out of hand, and would always point out when Evora's words got below the belt. She loved her cousin and would never let Evora's childish aggressiveness be her downfall.
However, this one time, Cytheria just smiled and continued their conversation without further scolding, "So then, I guess the next dream would be your marriage?" A chuckle escaped Cytheria's lips when she imagined her little cousin being wed to the Prince Cairo, who was older than them by several years, for she couldn't imagine how the two would look like in the far future.
"Heh, I wish..." Evora's lips puckered a bit as she frowned, "If only dreams are a series."
Cytheria stopped and blinked. And then again and again. She swallowed a lump on her throat as she was reminded that her dreams alone were peculiar. Unlike other dreams that came at random, hers were likened to a series of theatrical acts, just as Evora wished for her own.
Evora left and even after a day, Cytheria was still thinking about why she kept dreaming about Camdyn's life in a world so different from what she knew of. She didn't— couldn't— remember when she started dreaming about the girl's life. It had been appearing in her dreams for as long as she could remember. She knew none of it. And she was confused because of it, especially because of the sense of familiarity she felt whenever she saw the girl's memories through her dreams. Still, no answer came to her even after the years passed.
Before Cytheria noticed it, she adapted Camdyn's personality. It was like the two of them were merging inside her body. Even Camdyn's love for writing stories rubbed off on her. She had started writing stories when she was at the age of twelve— the same age Camdyn's interest was piqued by fiction.
Cytheria had been immersed with studying about the empire and being a responsible Successor of a Magi Imperatoria, practicing her control over her mana, and writing stories— too immersed that she had failed to notice that her official debut to the society came near.
Writing novels had become a huge part of her life and she was thankful for having to dream about Camdyn's life because it probably was because of Camdyn's interest in it that she also found the hobby fascinating.
"I want to try something different." Camdyn had said to her best friend, who she had been calling Ailee. A half-Chinese girl with the same jolly personality as the former.
"Like what?"
"Like something imperial and stuff. Like how an empire rose or something."
"You mean like the-rise-of an-empire stuff?"
"Ooh, nice one, Ailee! Maybe I'll have that in the title!"
"What? Wait, Camdyn! What do you even know about empires and politics and such?"
"Exactly! That's why I'm going to have to read a lot of related stuff right now! Bye!"
That time, the girl put her heart to creating this certain novel she had decided to write for a change. She loved her imaginations, more so when they became her own literary works. In her uneventful life, her imaginations were her passion. She was not poetic and she was not eloquent with her words. It was alright for what she sought wasn't a perfect work, but the satisfaction from doing something she loved.
Days passed and she finished researching empires and wars and magic. As she read through the information she got from the internet and through the books she found, she already had fragments of events taking form inside her mind.
And as the concepts and systems for the story were further developed, there was a growing familiarity within Cytheria. This feeling grew as more of the plot formed in Camdyn's creative mind, and though she was still denying it, she had recognized almost everything. Sometimes, her increasing heart rate would cause her mana to rage inside her and cause an outburst, leading to high fevers.
"Ugh... I'm still contemplating whether to use a male protagonist or a female one."
Thump!
"Male— Nah! Besides, these fantasies are due to my uneventful, boring life. Of course, it's imperative to have a girl like me as a protagonist!"
Thump!
"So? What's the name?"
The young lady, even in her sleep, heard her racing heart. Her dream continued to play out inside her head, more like a distant memory.
The teenager browsed anything she could, hoping to find a name for her little wizard protagonist. And then there it was: "Cytheria."
A long pause. A pause very frustrating that she felt like going mad. Then a release, and it felt as if every second of her life came flooding inside her mind as the young writer declared…
"Cytheria Artemesia Diamondess Ambergris, an imperial wizard destined for an uprise just as the empire she serves. Ortus Imperium!"