"No... No! This can't be right. You're... You're supposed to be-" Annie at first had taken several steps backwards, her legs becoming wobbly but the more she observed the features of the woman, the more she realized she couldn't be mistaking her for anyone else. She drawed a deep breath and released a gasp of horror.
Overcome by instinct more than anything, she moved closer to the woman. Closer and closer until she was able to touch her.
A flash of light overwhelmed her and the entire scenery was warped.
Annie found herself as a kid again, not older than six or seven. She sported a brilliant pink dress for princesses of the highest calibre as she blew the candles on her birthday cake, extinguishing the flames. The blonde woman, her mother stood by her, her father as well with all smiles.
"Happy Birthday, Princess!" They beamed, adorned in jewellery of noble quality. Of course, they were nobles. Even if they were only Low class ones, they made sure to express their love for their daughter and make her feel like the most important person in the world.
Annie grinned from ear to ear and it somehow grew even wider as she saw a person make their entrance into the room; a woman wearing a tophat. "Yes! Yes!! YES!!!" She cheered the female magician as she performed her magic tricks in all her grandeur. Making bunnies appear, pulling coins from behind her ear, connecting hoops together. You name it, she did it.
The little girl's heart fluttered and her body felt a tingling sensation. It was a testament to the joy she felt on her special day but all of that, like all things, came to an end.
"Huh..."
The magician vanished. In fact, the entire scenery faded away and was replaced with a more detestable, undesired one. She sobbed her heart away as her mother laid eyes closed on a framed single bed. While she shrieked in denial, the nurse shook her head as she conversed with Annie's devastated father, sharing with them that she had passed (if that wasn't obvious enough) while the Fire Mage was still so young.
"No! No!! NO!!! THiS cAn'T bE HAPPENING!!!" Annie belted out, throwing a grief fueled tantrum right there and then.
The locus transitioned further through time to the blonde haired girl peeking through a large door where her father supposedly had an important meeting with outsiders of the kingdom. She watched in heartbreak as he kneeled before shadowy figures in forfeiture. Peering closer, she identified their blue hair and crest with that of Sky's family, the House of Torrich. "Why....?!! Why my family...?!!!"
She bolted to her room with a lump in her throat, having heard enough to know that her family had lost and mismanaged too many resources, being dubbed unfit and were now being taken under the Torrich family. They had lost their freedom, no better than slaves and under their oppressive thumb.
The dark figures swirled and swarmed around around her, tormenting her like demons. They mocked and cackled at her and although she thought she had run dry from her mother's passing and funeral, she had somehow found a way to break into tears.
She clenched her heart in the real world. Unknown to her, she was under a trance placed by her mother. Except it wasn't her late mother. The figure had morphed into it's true form, a large nightmare creature. Annie had buckled to her knees the moment she had touched it's shoulder.
"No! NO!! NO!!! Why me? I'm supposed to be a pRiNcEsS." Annie laid on the floor, her head hugging her knees and covering her legs with her arms. The words she had managed to let out came out croaked, being tortured by a nightmare.
* *
Nalia's shrill could almost be heard for miles as she was carried away by the flying creature. She tried resisting, flailing her arms and legs in kicks ad punches but it was all futiles as all her attacks phased through it. "Come on, I gotta think." She gathered her bearings, reaching for the grappling hook dangling on her waist. Stretching her arms to the limit, she itched closer and closer until she succesfully grabbed it but in an unfortunate turn of events, the creature amped up it's speed, creating unforeseen turbulence that loosened her grip, causing the hook and rope to descend.
"No!!" She tried reaching for it but it was long gone. The Creature's flight came to it's railhead, landing in a large buildjng and dropping her there before swiftly leaving. Standing up from the ground, she dusted the dirt off herself as she inspected her surroundings. "Where did this thing take me? Don't tell me it's *another* tower."
"Huh?" She spotted a single ajar door that would lead out of the room, much to her surprise. The other end seemed to have had a bright light source as the luminescence reached the room she was in. "Someone there?" She said, inching closer to the door with caution more than anything else before her hand was touched by another, being pulled into an embrace by a figure. She found her body naturally melting into the figure's warmth and scent that she was incredibly familiar with.
"No, it can't be... Big Sis?" She was pulled into the same illusion as the fire magician. The image unfolded with her and who she recognized as her father waving her older sister, clad in battle armor off as she departed to join the Heart. At the time, Nalia was twelve. She embraced her dad, their presence strengthening the other's heart as they watched her leave.
A blade in her.
Nalia kneeled next to her sister lying in a pool of her own blood, a dagger in her chest. All of a sudden, everywhere went silent. The sky dripped a crimson liquid bit by bit before it had transformed fully into a blood-colored canvas. The illusion was clearly intensifying the scene, adding features to worsen her grief as she looked at her dead sister's corpse while the blood rain stained her clothes and hair.
She was the kind of person that when someone close to hsr died, instead of belting out her emotions completely, she went dead silent. Like an empty vessel, unable to express any sort of emotion other than a soulless frown. However, she pounded the ground beneath her, getting up.
"No!" She raised her head. "I've gotten stronger than this! I couldn't be a soldier but I can help--no, I do help. All the soldiers, I make sure they have a better chance at survival. I'm Nalia Zedrich and my sister passed doing what she loved the most..."
"Protecting people." With a bellow, she broke free from the Nightmare Creature and it dispersed in the air. Soon after, she buckled to her knees, gasping in exhaustion before doing so in relief.
"Whoa! That was... impressive."
"Raten?!" She had recognized the voice right away, rushing to him with the intention of hugging him but quickly stopped herself, embarrassed as she knew he wasn't that kind of person. The young man broke a smile before apologizing for failing to come on time.
"But I think I've realized something weird and it should be the source of these nightmares." She expressed her confusion at his words. He moved closer to her, pulling his sword out and holding it flat, revealing the glimmering, white blade.
* *
"No!" Raldin shouted, a large nightmare creature clutched Ace by his forearm.
"No!!! Not this again!! Not again, never again!" Ace saw himself as how he was almost three years prior, when he was thirteen. He was in the castle in front of his Father as he demonstrated his newly awakened Power.
"Is this some kind of joke?!"
"N-No, dad. I don't know. I think it's... Energy," Ace replied timidly as he noticed his father's mood swing from excited that he had finally awakened to disgusted at the Power he had unlocked. "What's wrong, Father?"
"This even after your other revelation," his father mumbled to himself.
"Dad…?"
"Don't call me that! Royals and Nobles either have Magic, Taikon or nothing! Your mother and I do not have that horrid Power you're showing so there's no chance in hell that I'm your father! You're not my son!"
Ace's hands trembled, a lump building in his throat and he found himself almost unable to breathe. His father had kicked him out of the castle, leaving him alone in the rain, hungry and depressed. The lowest he had ever been and something a child should never have to experience.
However...
"No, that's not all! You're lying to me, trying to trick me." He was quick to realize it was a trick being played on him by the Creature.
The illusion shifted to his will, depiciting a man approaching his late thirties but still as vibrant as ever, sporting golden hair and matching eyes. The grandiose man smiled at him. "Captain Avery, he was there for me." Ace broke free.