Quiet and dark.

Silence was filling the empty black void in the world. Standing in the middle of all, was Cyrus. 

“Hellooo..?” They yelled out. Only to hear their own voice echo through the empty void. Not knowing where they are or what to do, instead of staying put, Cyrus decides to go walking around. 

Steps..

Steps..

and more loud steps that belonged to Cyrus. After walking for quite a while, they felt like they weren’t progressing.. A sense of deja vu came into mind. Once in a while through the silence, faint voices could be heard. A voice of someone trying to comfort someone, people yelling in pain and some even begging for something to stop. As suspicious as it was, Cyrus tried to shake it off and continue..

After a while the voices stopped. ..Suddenly there was a voice speaking in a gentle tone, what was said was inaudible but it felt like the voice was reassuring someone. That gave Cyrus a deep sense of comfort. They felt at ease.

Just as they were about to continue walking in the dark void. Their body suddenly felt ice cold and caused them to instantly fall asleep.

***

Eyes opened. A red roof with a golden chandelier greeted their eyes. And the feel of the soft and bouncy pillow underneath their head and blanket warming them up. The mint haired person slowly gets up from the bed.

“...?” They felt a sharp but faint pain on their arm. Looking at it Cyrus sees that their arm was covered in bandages with a little bit of blood coming out of it. Their clothes they wore earlier were gone too, and instead was wearing a plain white blouse and shorts. They feel their head with their hand and notice that there are bandages wrapped around it. Feeling no pain on it, they remove it. 

The room was big and looked luxurious with all of its shiny decor. Their eyes land on the large and tall door engraved with flowers and other symbols. They walked over to it with no trouble and put their hand on the golden door handle. They decide to pull the door open. Cyrus whimpers in despereation to get the door open. Then suddenly the door pulls itself open and causes Cyrus to fall on their face.

“Oww..” Cyrus silently cries in pain. Slowly lifting their head from the clear tiled floor, they see a pair of shiny black leather heeled boots. There was someone in front of them..!

The person squatted down and offered their hand. Cyrus looks up at the person offering their hand. The Silky white hair and their two colored eyes that met Cyrus’ eyes made their face flush for a moment. Cyrus grabs June’s hand and the two get up.

“I did not expect you to wake up so early.” June states. 

“Ahm.. um yeah.” Cyrus tries to collect their thoughts quickly, “May I ask how I got here..?” 

That question caught June totally off guard. 

Surprised, they ask, “Do.. you not remember what happened three days ago?”

‘Three days ago..?’ Cyrus thought about it for a while but they simply couldn’t remember what had happened a few days ago. Let alone they didn’t know what day it was so they couldn’t piece the puzzles together. Cyrus denies not remembering what had happened. 

June sighs, “Three days ago was the day of Eristal’s festival tournament in the Arena. In which you had participated.”

“Oh! Yes I remember now!” Cyrus pauses for a moment then with an unsure look on their face they say, “But.. I’m actually not really sure what happened during my turn. Did I lose?”

Hearing Cyrus themselves say that they did not remember the events that happened three days ago didn’t completely surprise June. Instead it confirmed even further June’s theory of Cyrus being possessed and having memory loss from trauma.

June hummed with a worried face as they crossed their hands, “Honestly, there was neither a loser nor a winner that day. That day; Specifically during your match, was officially listed as one of the most unexpected major incidents by Eristal’s government.”

Shock pierced through Cyrus’ face the news made them speechless, thus they stayed silent looking a bit gloomy. Noticing Cyrus’ mood changing, June also changed the subject. They clear their throat and say, ”Since you are awake now, I must follow the instructions given to me now.”

June gently takes Cyrus by their slender arm. June’s cold temperature and the feeling of their nicely defined hand holding theirs brought Cyrus to shivers and alarmed them.

”Do not worry, I’m only taking you to the doctor of this castle.” June quickly says to calm Cyrus.

As they started walking further and further away from the room where Cyrus was sleeping, something quickly hit Cyrus, ‘Castle..? What are they talking about..?’. Curiosity had filled their mind though, they decided to say nothing and let June lead the way. Walking down the hall, they passed countless shiny white walls until the scenery changed as they reached an open indoor garden filled with flowers, the white pillars surrounding the garden. The green wines, the multicolored flowers and ponds in the garden really made one feel like they were outside, but it was all sheltered underneath a glass ceiling. 

Cyrus' eyes widened upon seeing such a breathtaking view. It made them think that only a place like this would be inside a castle. June didn’t really show any emotion as they passed the colorful garden, maybe they’re used to seeing it..? Anyhow, they passed the garden and they kept walking. They had walked for so long without saying anything and boredom hit, making Cyrus feel like they had been walking for ages. To break the silence they finally decided to ask the one question they should’ve asked from the very beginning. 

“Say June.. Where is this?” 

June peeked at Cyrus’ face from the corner of their eyes in confusion,”..Did I not tell you earlier?”

Cyrus shook their head, saying no.

June’s sudden stop caused Cyrus to bump on their back, June then let out a deep sigh as they turned to face Cyrus, “My apologies Cyrus. You must have been startled by me suddenly taking you when I did not even explain to you where you were.”

June started talking about the place they were in and thoroughly explaining everything. The building they were in was indeed the castle June had mentioned once earlier. The castle was called ‘Eristal’s Castle’. It was the place where Eristal’s God Aria was known to reside in during the past but nowadays it became the headquarters for Eristal’s Knights. Cyrus kept nodding at everything June was saying very attentively. June let out a small smile and suggested that they start heading towards the infirmary room again. 

At long last after walking a few more steps, they had arrived. Both June and Cyrus entered the room. The room was quite spacious with a lot of shelves filled to the brim with books. Probably for medical reasons. In contrast to the rest of the bright interior of the castle, this room was a bit dark themed. 

In the middle of the room was a worktable and a chair with someone sitting on it. A young lady with curly brown hair with little flowers in it. Upon seeing the two come in, the lady swiftly gets up from the chain, making her multilayered but thin dress bounce a bit.

“Miss Raya” June bowed to Raya, “I have brought Cyrus.”

Raya had bowed back with a friendly smile but upon laying her eyes onto Cyrus her face turned rather quickly dark. Cyrus noticed her looking at them with a rather malintent look which made Cyrus uncomfortable and started having thoughts that something bad was going to happen.. Like a kidnapping! 

No. 

Anyways, she then quickly averted her eyes away. Though Raya had a dark expression on her face when she spoke, her tone was gentle and melodious. Like someone talking along with a rhythm. Raya clears her throat, “I.. am not the actual doctor of this castle but as they’re now on a trip I am temporarily substituting for him.” She takes a deep breath, “Uhm.. So now I’ve been tasked with checking your basic body health and magical core, so I am hoping that you will cooperate with me.”

Cyrus was a bit hesitant but ultimately decided to just go with it since it couldn’t be that bad. They quietly nod to Raya as a response. Since Cyrus was properly behaving, June felt at ease and backed up into the corner of the room’s corner that had a cushioned chair and a bunch of books scattered around it.

Cyrus’ shirt quickly was taken off to check their vitals. Their body was still full of scars but thanks to Azrael treating some of them way back, they had healed. Since the wounds were already healed and there were surprisingly no other new wounds or injuries, Raya moved on to check other things. 

Heartbeat, normal. 

Eyesight, normal.

balance, normal. 

Everything seemed to be fine with Cyrus, now all that was left was to check their magical core.

To check one’s magical core, you need to be a magic user yourself. Regardless of knowledge or skill, every magic user is able to cast a spell that is the ‘origins’ of all. That spell is called  “The all seeing eye”, for it would let the caster see life and magic that flows on people, plants or whatever life and magic would be found on. 

Facing Cyrus, Raya closes her eyes and focuses. Cyrus looks at the concentrated Raya with a relaxed smile. 

“Weren’t you the flowery girl who participated in that tournament..?” Cyrus asked Raya with a whisper. 

Cyrus’ sudden question broke off Raya’s concentration and she glared at them annoyingly. She looks away with anger. “I don’t understand how you’re acting all carefree like that.”

‘????’ Cyrus got confused and nervous, they didn’t know that they would further annoy her. Maybe asking about the tournament hit a weak spot, since she had lost at the very beginning. 

“I- Uh-”

All of a sudden Raya gets up from the chair, staring at Cyrus with a menacing look. She raised her gentle voice as she spoke up, “You hurt all of these people.. You hurt my wife Evelynn! And now you’re acting all happy and naïve like nothing happened??”

“I..” Cyrus didn’t know what to say. They were left speechless. They didn’t know what had happened and no-one talked about what had happened in detail. There were too many holes in their memories..

Cyrus looked down not saying anything, feeling guilt over something they had no memory of. Raya clearly looked annoyed at their silence. June, who was standing in the corner, saw things heating up and they quickly walked over to calm the situation. 

“Please, I know you’re worried, but please calm down. This will all be settled soon..”

Raya’s eyes opened bewildered, “I know this will all be settled by Lord Aria, but I can’t handle them getting this special treatment in the meantime!” 

“..Well yes.. But alas, none of this is by my choice. If you want to complain, I will send them forward to Master Aria.”

The two then started going back and forth with their small argument and Cyrus was just silently stuck in between. But there was one thing that Raya said that stuck in Cyrus’ mind. What did she mean by ‘This will all be settled by Lord Aria?’ Were they about to get executed or done something bad to them for their past bad deeds that they could remember nothing of? The stress began to rise inside of their mind. 

Raya sighs, “Just.. Let me finish this final check up with their Magical core and then we can be on our way.”

June nods and Raya gets ready again to check Cyrus’ magical core. She focused her mind as her eyes were closed. A minute later she carefully opens them and starts inspecting Cyrus’ chest with her eyes. 

Quiet.

Her calm face soon turned stunned. She saw something she could not comprehend and without any warning she put her hand on Cyrus’ chest as if she was searching for something. Raya’s sudden touch got Cyrus’ skin feeling goosebumps.

Noticing the awfully close skinship that she started, Raya flusteredly backed off. 

“I.. Excuse me, but I think there is something wrong..”

Both Cyrus and June’s face turned somewhat worrisome upon hearing Raya’s tone change. 

“I am not sure if this is possible.. But you.. Cyrus, have no magical core..”

June’s eyes widened, “How.. is that? That is something unheard of and that should not be possible since we all also saw them use magic the other day..”

Both of them fell into deep thinking meanwhile Cyurs didn’t really know what was happening.

“Excuse me.. Is having a magical core really that bad?” 

That question left the both of them dumbfounded. June tiredly sighs, “I think It would be best to head to The Great Hall and discuss it better there.”

Raya nods and Cyrus.. well also nods despite not knowing where The Great Hall was. And so the trio leaves the infirmary to head to The Great Hall.