I feel like I'm a child again. Everything's happening too fast.

One moment, my mother had plunged a knife into my chest and then a second later I'm on a slide watching children run about enjoying life as they should. And my aunt, the only family I had left coming to view, limping towards where I sat.

Now, I was bare blossomed one instance and the next I'm dressed in luxuries sitting in between a royal family, a priest and heroes. Well, at least that's what they tell me. But who am I to doubt them?

A confused person. That's who.

But they won't take that as an answer. Instead I am the chosen one destined to bring them peace and freedom. My question is why me.

Their answer, it just is. I have stopped asking because they won't give me a straight answer. I'll just confuse myself more and I don't like being confused. But I'm still confused so I don't know why I'm trying to not make myself confused. Futile attempts. Stupid ones.

The dinner is silent, occasional looks shot my way but regardless the scratching of cutlery on the silver platter is all that could be heard. I don't know what I'm eating but I can feel that it is not fresh. It's been dead for a while. The meat is chewy. Bitter. Familiar.

I ate a dead sick pig when I was a kid. Aunt Amettie couldn't tell the difference. I got sick eating it but I couldn't stop chewing. Aunt Amettie was fine. She said she had to have a good stomach to survive so long. I remember her panicking a whole lot when I fell with a stomach bug. It was her fault for buying such poor quality meat. I don’t blame her. Maybe I do. Yeah I do.

I had diarrhoea the entire afternoon.

“Forgive me but I simply must know,” someone with a bright head of icy blue hair peeped.

“Quit it.” His mirror with a duller hue and a more ragged stature said through gritted teeth.

That’s what I told Aunt Amettie when she fell deep into that Spanish melodrama. I don’t understand why she likes that stuff. Anyway, don't leave me hanging. What is the thing that you simply must know? I now wish to simply know.

The brighter, retreats and sinks into his cushioned chair. Why didn't I get a cushioned chair? Mine is ice cold right now.

His eyes try to meet mine, and I welcome the stare as if the cat in him is clawing out for my attention. “I-Is it okay to ask?”

I mean you already are. So… No.

Well yeah.

Anything that'll swerve my focus from whatever meat I am consuming. So sure.

“Sir?” Oh shit I forgot to reply. Or did I? Maybe he’s just deaf like Aunt Amettie. Surely people in this world aren’t all magical and perfect. I did reply. I probably did not. Yeah I didn’t.

But what if I did?

“I told you to quit it.” Yeah that statement doesn’t really work with nosy people. Was never effective with me at least.

“Ask away. As long as it isn’t about my prized possessions. I’m not handing you my gold.” Gold? I don’t have any gold. And possessions? I don’t have a euro in my name what the fuck am I talking about.

“Your hair and your eyes… are they true to yourself or is this… a choice?” It’s just black hair. Like come on. You people are the ones with the weird hair colours. And my eyes? I don’t know how to change them. I can’t wear contacts even if they could save my life. Touching my eye is just hmmnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. No. I don’t like it.

“I've had them since I was born. I don’t think people typically let their kids dye their hair. On that note, I don’t think I’ve ever dyed my hair before. Would be nice to have a change.” I haven’t even thought about the colour. Maybe I should copy the golden-haired lady, but I don’t know if my hair will bleach. Do they even have bleach here? Do they dye their own hair?

“Were you born with that colour?” That was the worst way to phrase this question. Aunt Amettie would’ve wrung me upside down had she heard that.

“Ah! Yes. Our parents always joked that mother ran out of pigment as she birthed me, since my elder brother here Fern has a much richer colour than I do.” Richer? Is he blind? His head looks like an overgrown mangrove that overtook a swamp.

His shiny blue hair bodes better than his.

“I’d say that’s a good thing. At least you don’t have a swamp on your head.” Holy motherfucking shit. I didn't just say that out loud. Did I? I did. I DID.

I received the expected reaction. Silent and appalled. To be honest, I'd react like that too. But it's true though. It's not that unreasonable. He does have a swamp on his head. So I'm right.

“A swamp? My head was dipped in the Waters of the Wailing Scholars. I have accumulated more knowledge than you can even begin to intake. How dare you disrespect the waters of which the great Prince bathed!” Saying he's angry is an understatement. He keeps banging the table with every sentence. Such emphasis. I got the message swamp, you can give your hands a break. Or break them. Doesn’t matter to me, that's not my hand anyway. But it is much more ideal that you don't. I don't have cash to cover your medical bills.

I should apologise, that's the most appropriate response to offending a person.

“You dipped your head in bath water?” That was not a fucking apology. Dumb fuck.

His face puffs up smoke and he storms off like a child being grounded. 

“F-Fern! Wait. That's impol-”

“NEIL.” He screeched from the hall. The brighter shivers ever so slightly from the venom that dripped from his brother’s call.

“P-pardon us. We have had our fill.” He excused himself and the dinner resumed without another hitch.

The tension in the room somehow lessened when the two left but Blondie kept the energy, burning a hole into my forehead.

The day ended as quick as it started, I lay exhausted in bed but thank the softness of the mattress. Does more wonder to my back compared to that coffin that had death knocking on my door.

And like the devil has his ear in my thoughts a series of thumps catch mine.

“I know you're awake. The oak of your bed tells me so.”

The what said huh?

“Let me in.” Gruff yet kind. Despite how it sounds, I am not compelled to open the door. “Come on, I just want to get to know the guy who will help me and Arianne save Gemmas.”

Despite the inner turmoil of hearing some crazy shit again, I get up and allow entrance into my humbly temporary chambers. I don’t want to be rude.

“You're too easy to convince. That's going to bite back at you.” Huh. Well I’m sorry for being too trusting.

A person, that I recognise from dinner waltz in and plops themself down on the bed. Buzzed opal hair, their head is so shiny. “How's your stay In Flaris? They're a boring lot aren't they? We will journey to Rozen after Saint Rubaine’s Forthcoming. If your simple mind cannot comprehend what importance that day holds, it is when Saint Rubaine was retrieved. Celebrated every 4th week as the 26th day comes.”

…

“Nothing? You seem to have such wondrous insights for Ferdinan.”

Oh he was waiting for a reply.

“You didn’t really explain the part of why the Forthcoming or whatever is important.” Yes. That’s right. So why would I reply?

“I just said she was retrieved that day.”

“Yeah but from where?”

“Did no one bother to tell you of our history?” If I did, would I be asking? That’s snarky. I shouldn’t say that.

“Not really. I just got here.” I don’t know how but huzzah here I am.

“Do you at least know who Saint Rubaine is?”

“A saint?”

“Oh great Hadels of Wisdom. You’re clueless and yet you’re the great hero destined to save us all. Boy is Gemma doomed.” Huh? Well I’m sorry. That I don’t know a thing about your world. I just got here. If  I could I would leave. I would prefer to leave. How do I leave?

“I’m no scholar so I won’t give you anything useful at all, but I leave you with the knowledge that Saintess Rubaine Ember is the Greatest being to ever exist, wedded to Prince Loomen, before and after being abducted by a Crow she served Gemmas all her life. Engineering materials that will help the world recover from the Crow’s desolation. She is a life giver. Mothered the Hadels of Wisdom, famous philosophers Harriet and Delana. Who walked the same path as their mother in the pursuit of knowledge. She is also the sister and the namer of Anesthesia Ember, a warrior so young who fought tirelessly for Gemmas.” Those are the weirdest names that I’ve ever heard. Who names their child Anesthesia?

“You get the gist?”

…

“No.”

“Aw come on.”

“Why is she a Saint?”

“Because she was like God but did not like being worshipped as one because in her eyes it made her no different from the Crow that made everyone kneel and worship him.” A bird made people worship it?

“You have Gods here?”

“Used to. Now they’re just part of the soil and sky. So we worship the closest being to them. Saint Rubaine.”

“So… why is she a Saint that’s more God than saint?”

“You’re a slow one aren’t ya?” Rude. “She’s a god because she creates, makes life, gives life, shares blessings and so much more. She is an impartial testament to our existence. She gives us hope, justice and purpose.” AH. LIKE JESUS DOES! Or maybe not… Catholicism is the only religion I’ve practised. Not a big fan. “Like she did for you, she chose you and sent you here to be… our saviour. Some view it less ideal than others but it is not the worst thing to happen.”

“People trying to kill me for things I cannot control is…. Wonderful.”

“You’re funny.” they said, rolling their eyes. “Do you have any more questions?”

“Why is it celebrated on that day?”

“Ah. a score and 8 is the age the Saint Rubaine was successfully retrieved after being abducted by the Crow. 4 represents the 4 attempts to get to that point.”

“How long was she taken for?”

“15 Sol cycles.”

“15 what?”

“Years. One of the God’s in the Sky tends to shed its skin and it lasts quite a while. We call each shift a cycle.”

“Are they literal Gods?”

“No. Just a testament of the light in the sky.” Oh. So like the sun on earth. Got it. “Legend says it's where all life came from and that Saint Rubaine was blessed by Sol. Because she is life itself.” So really like the sun from earth. Got it. “She could or she could not be who knows? She was just an ordinary girl before she turned 9. All of the sudden she’s got herself a lab and done so many things up until the day she was taken. And after she returned she was at it again.”

A lab? “Lab? Like from earth where they do experiments?”

“Oh yes. She is a Mana Engineer. She takes mana and creates devices that work with it. Mana is essentially the spirit of energy. If you’ve seen what we can do, we use mana with it. We all have mana. Even this bed of yours had mana embedded into it, to keep it together. Manual binding is an old method. You can only find work like that in the South.” So I take it that this bed is not held up by nails. “We can communicate through mana if I get in touch with any, which is how I found out you’re still awake. The previous spirits of this tree had remaining mana aside from the ones used to bind it for a frame.”

“So… telepathically? No phones? Radios? Walkie-Talkies?” Do they even know what walkie-talkies are?

“And those are?”

“Communication devices?” That’s what they're called right?

“Huh. Strange. We have Lustrous Julias. Saint Rubaine’s mana and the rest of the Ember bloodline runs Lustrous Julias, as long as they are alive it keeps running as decreed by Saint Rubaine. And we can reach people through it, so long as we keep them in our logs. If not then we’d have to manually send letters or worse find the person.”

“Woah. So it is telepathic but we still have to have a contact list.” I can’t just call anybody. And nobody can just call me. Neat! At least I won’t get a prank call in my time here. I still remember the assholes that kept up with the same joke that my refrigerator was running,

Assholes. Day was always ruined the minute I got that call. Pissed me off so much that Aunt Amettie started answering the landline for me. But lo and behold we both had a temper. It got so bad that Aunt Amettie had our landline disconnected. So then we couldn’t change the channel plan anymore for our cable. Good thing she fell in love with those cheesy melodramas because that’s all the good channels showed.

“Got everything you need?”

“I guess so.”

“Don’t be satisfied with what I gave you. Adrianne is going to give you a full history on Gemma Flaris and I’m telling you right now, you’re going to be bored out of your mind. Personally, I’d rather give you a history lesson on Rozen, it’s more fun there but hey this ain’t my kingdom.” They stand up and give me a pat on the back. Their touch sent a stinging pain on me, their hand was so heavy that I felt like they smacked me rather than lightly touched. As I staggered back only then did I realise that I was still standing. And upon realising that, I realise that my feet hurt and my back is now aching.

“May a bird not chirp in your slumber.” What? “Word of advice hero, don’t trust anyone in Flaris. They’re egoistic fools that will do anything for glory. Take Princess Adrianne for example, always trying to one up her sister with every instance.” They give me a playful grin and gently let the door close on itself.