Chapter Nine: Togetherness

Ayra, Valda and Neslyn walked through the hallways of the palace in cold silence. The tension was high and thick in the air, but no one made a move to break it.

Neslyn and Valda were indulging in a small conversation with the guards but they would occasionally share worried glances at Ayra, but the latter did not pay any attention at all. She had her head bent and her shoulders slumped forward; as if something unbearably heavy had descended on them. Her eyes were unfocused but they were deep in thought.

Ayra knew her behaviour was strange to her two best friends. She wanted to reassure them that everything was fine. That she was fine. She wanted to tease Valda when she vocalised her desire to run through these very hallways in a glorious flowing gown. She wanted to choke out a carefree laugh along with Neslyn and the guards who were seemingly poking fun at a glowering Valda.

But she couldn't do any of that.

Ayra wanted to focus. To target the fire of her soul towards this mission and burn it to success. But instead, this very fire was burning her to bitter cinders of hopelessness and despair.

She had no control at all.

The nightmares had been mind and soul-consuming. A pandemonium of emotions circled inside her head and with every passing second, she was slowly losing her grasp on reality.

Ayra kept on replaying her nightmare over and over and over again. As if it demanded all of her undivided attention. As if it didn't want to let her live in peace at all.

She wanted to smile at herself after that thought. Peace? Ayra had forgotten that feeling.

Dreams were created on a baseless sea of untruth but Ayra found it hard to believe that. And this thought of hers immediately drowned in perilous thoughts. What if her nightmares were real? She would think. What if..what if her nightmares came true? 

Ayra's attention suddenly zeroed to both her legs. To the phantom pain, she felt as soon as she woke up.

Was that real too? If that is real, then her nightmare was rea---she shook her head.

No. It was her imagination. Just her imagination.

At least she hoped it was.

A flash of obsidian-coloured nails appeared before her eyes. Her heart rate spiked up. It was terrifying, to have seen herself in her nightmare in that way---robed and monstrous and menacing.

Like a demon.

But those nails...something about that scene of her nightmare etched deep into her memory. It tickled the deepest part of her mind as if cajoling a hidden, forgotten part of her recollection to come alive again.

Ayra tried and tried to recall where she had seen those wicked hands before but all she could come up with was a blank page.

Maybe it was all in her head.

Ayra took a deep breath through her nose and let her eyes wander for a bit. Rich, white walls plunged and extended into a sea of dark emerald-marbled floors. White veins rang along the smooth surface, illuminating beautifully under the sunlight pouring through the large, glass windows of the hallways. A line of golden chandeliers hovered in the air, suspended by a thin, vintage lavalier. It was green, white and gold everywhere.

If Ayra had been here for another mission, then her heart would have jumped a little with child-like excitement at being inside the palace. But her heart didn't flutter and her eyes didn't glitter. She felt numb...and tired. So, so tired.

A large entrance mightily opened at the end of the hallway. Her eyes couldn't decipher the room beyond but she made a solid guess that it was the throne room.

When they were halfway towards it, Valda and Neslyn stopped Ayra. She frowned when they asked the guards for a minute of privacy. The guards looked at each other but they gradually agreed to go ahead and wait by the entrance of the throne room for them.

When the guards disappeared, Ayra looked at Neslyn and Valda, who were both staring at her.

"Is something wrong?" Ayra questioned in a small voice, even though she knew what it was.

Valda flared her nose. "You know damn well what's wrong, Ayra."

Ayra, for some reason, turned her face away, suddenly wanting to hide from the looming confrontation.

But the confrontation never came. Whatever Neslyn told next, stunned her to silence.

"I'm sorry. We are sorry." Neslyn started with an apology.

She didn't understand why Neslyn was apologizing. She should have been the one to do that, considering how unfocused and weak she looked while walking towards such a life-threatening mission. But to hear Neslyn apologize like this, she was dumbfounded.

"Why are you--"

Neslyn raised a hand to stop her. And used that very hand to point towards the entrance of the throne room.

"Ayra, after we go inside, we may not have the time to speak to each other like this again." I don't know if I'll even get the chance to, she didn't say.

"So, I'll tell you everything that I've been meaning to tell you."

Neslyn raised her warm amethyst-coloured eyes to Ayra's icy blue ones.

"We know more than you think."

And just like that, Ayra's walls came rising up and up and up, forcefully pushing her behind them and protecting her from her friends.

She was closing herself again and Neslyn's face visibly crumbled at that.

"It's not what you think!"

When Ayra's face remained impassive, Neslyn struggled to explain.

"It's not what you think, Ayra. We don't know everything, but--" she faced away.

"We know about the locket."

Silence.

"We...we know that you have the letters R and C engraved onto the inside of the locket along with a small, worn-out picture of three children."

Ayra felt her throat close up. Her chest tightened and she fought the urge to clasp the lone locket sleeping at the base of her throat.

"How did --"

Neslyn smiled wryly. "We were curious." That was all she said.

Ayra frowned.

When she glanced at Valda, she slowly nodded her head, confirming that she knew too.

"We've always wanted to ask you, Ayra. About those two kids smiling beside you in the picture. You talk about them sometimes, Ayra. You only told us that they were your friends from the orphanage. We knew that you wouldn't tell us the whole thing. You never do. You always renounce the details of what exactly happened to them and we never pushed you to tell us." She grasped her shoulders, "But we see you, Ayra."

Ayra opened her mouth but she couldn't form any words. 

"We also know about your nightmares."

Silence engulfed them again. Dead, undiluted silence.

"Since when." Her voice was sharp and she felt her walls caging up and all around her. Ayra didn't want Neslyn or Valda to know any of this; about her nightmares, about her past, about anything.

Especially not about how pathetic and weak she was.

Neslyn smiled sadly, clearly understanding all the emotions that flickered on Ayra's face.

"You thought we wouldn't know?" She huffed out a small, strained laugh. "Of course. Of course, you would think that. Who am I kidding? I was stupid enough to not see what you were going through too."

"I...I thought we were giving you time, Ayra. Time to open up and tell everything to us. But I didn't realise that we were driving you to a corner, leaving you all alone to face everything. I just realised that today." Neslyn lowered her head in shame.

"We are not forcing you to rip your heart open to us." She tilted her head and flashed a small, shaky smile. "We will wait for you to do that. But we will not stand by the sidelines and watch you silently crumble."

Neslyn slipped her warm hand inside Ayra's and held it tight.

"We are here for you, Ayra. Now and always."

Ayra eyes glazed with unshed tears and her hands started shaking. A storm of emotions raged inside her and her walls--her walls were crumbling. They were never strong, she realised. Never against these two warriors in front of her.

Neslyn jabbed her elbow against Valda's side, whisper yelling at her to say something.

Valda's cheek turned rosy and she turned her eyes away.

"....whatever Neslyn said." She mumbled softly.

Neslyn shot a glare towards Valda, who was staring intently at a spot on a wall.

Ayra suddenly burst out laughing, the warm feeling inside her chest intensifying at their little jab. It felt like she was suddenly pulled back into the present and the swiftness of it all released an overwhelming feeling all over.

Neslyn and Valda gawked at Ayra, a small grin stretching on their relieved faces.

We are here for you, Ayra. Now and always. Neslyn had said these words. Words that she thought she'd never need. But now, at this very moment, right before the dark storm that lay ahead of them, Ayra wanted to embrace these words and hold them precious forever.

A hand clasped her arm and she raised her head to look at Valda.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat this, Ayra. I'm not going to tell you that everything will be alright because fuck, I don't know that myself. It's going to be dangerous and--" her emerald eyes gleamed.

"This mission can even cost us our lives."

Ayra didn't flinch.

"I know it is difficult for you, Ayra. I know damn well that it is fucking difficult okay?"

"But this time, you won't be fighting alone. You will have us by your side. Even if we fucking die, we'll make sure to drag those motherfuckers down with us."

When a smile stretched on Valda's usually cold-blooded face, Ayra was amazed.

Her heart felt light and her shoulders straightened a bit as if the heavy weight on them was slowly being lifted away from her by the two amazing beings in front of her.

Ayra didn't speak, even though she wanted to tell a lot of things. Ayra didn't cry, even though the happiness blooming inside her chest was encouraging her to do that. Instead, she opened her arms and fell forward, gathering Neslyn and Valda in them.

Neslyn immediately wrapped her arms around Ayra and though Valda protested a little, a soft demand from Ayra made her release herself and hug Ayra back.

When they straightened back, Neslyn was gleaming and Valda was smirking. Ayra felt so much calmer than she did when they started from the academy.

Ayra softly clasped their hands and with a loud, "let's go", she tugged them towards the entrance of the throne room.

Ayra didn't thank them for standing with her. She didn't apologize for being such an undeserving friend. She didn't say anything else. Ayra just smiled at them and when they smiled back, everything suddenly seemed alright.

Everything suddenly seemed okay.

ווו×

It was a long walk to the throne room but when they finally arrived, she was stunned once again. White marble floors spread splendidly under her feet and her combat boots squeaked happily against the clear floor. Ayra gazed at the clear marble floor and swore she could see her reflection looking back at her. Wide, silver curtains parted away to reveal floor-to-ceiling crystal walls that proudly rose to the sky and arched into a resplendent white stoned dome above their heads.

Ayra gazed out of the crystal glass walls and was greeted by the thriving city of Marvena.

It was truly a sight to behold.

"Wow." Neslyn breathed next to her.

Wow, indeed.

Ayra looked around and noticed a few guards flanking the entrance and the throne on the high-raised floor at the tip of the room. The royal seats were currently empty but four powering figures stood below the dias.

Ayra knew who they were.

Four out of the Seven Guardians stood before them, grinning and smirking.

And Ayra, for some reason, realised that this was the beginning of whatever game destiny and fate had orchestrated for them.