When the time comes, they will call for you.
These sentence lingered in Reni's mind for days. Since she turned fourteen, Reni experienced the same strange dream -- a dream of an unknown woman. Her white flowy dress hugged her slender body, her long hair as dark as the night sky moves around like a gentle wind. Her face concealed within a translucent veil. The lady walked in the dark, eerie forest with vibrant flowers and plants grew from each steps she took.
The lady moved in a graceful pace, her voice was hauntingly soft, speaking a seemingly unknown ancient language, repeating the same sentence over and over again. Somehow, Reni who tried to follow the lady from behind seems to understand it. All she heard from her is: "When the time comes, they will call for you."
It is impossible for Reni to catch up with her. Each time she gets closer to the mysterious lady, Reni sense a heavy feeling of dread fell on her shoulder, making her movement slow and weak. Who is this lady? She was mysterious, yet something told Reni that this lady is a no stranger to her. Her soft voice echoed in Reni's mind, filling her with nothing but confusion. What was the lady tried to tell her? It seems so crucial that it has stuck in Reni's mind for days.
What could this mean? Reni thought to herself, trying to process the meaning behind the dreams. It could mean something good, or bad. As she lost in her thoughts, a blade swing towards her. Reni immediately snapped out from her deep thoughts and with a quick reflexes, she blocked the attack with her dagger. Reni used her strength to push the blade with the base of her dagger, gritting her teeth as her opponent used this moment to take a peek at her.
"Less thinking, more concetrating!" He said.
Reni pushed him away with her blade, making her opponent fell back to the ground before eventually getting up to lunge at her. Their blades repeatly clashed agaisnt each other, blocking and deflecting the attack, both searching for an opening to give an immediate blow for the sparring session.
"What's on your mind, Reni? You seemed a bit tired," her opponent asked they clashed blades again. Reni was catching her breath, putting some pressure on her dagger before shaking her head.
"None of your business," she muttered, trying to shove down her thoughts and shift her full focus in the fight. But she had to admit, this particular dream has been bothering her quite a lot. Reni then kicked him in the stomach as he fell back to the ground again, as the sword released from his grip. Reni immediately kicked his sword far away before pointing her own dagger towards him. Her breathing was puffy, trying to grasp some bits of air. "No talking during sparring sessions," she added, her right visible dark blue eyes peered out from her bang that hid the other, staring coldly at him.
After the training was over, Reni was sitting on the bench cleaning her dagger before the guy she sparred with stood in front of her.
"Alright, spill it, Reni," he said.
"None of your business, Finn." Reni replied without looking up at him.
"You're my sister. I deserve to know what's bothering you," he added. Reni put her weapon aside and finally move her gaze towards her older brother in a bits of annoyance in her eyes. "I'm having this strange dream," she told him. "The same dream repeated over and over again..."
"It's just a dream. You will get over it," said Finn.
"You don't get it FInn. When the same dream is repeated several times, it's a sign that its trying to tell me something."
"And you can't let it disturb your training and your daily basis. Dream is a dream, it's not going to come true in real life."
Before Finn could say another word, a tall figure wearing a windcloak and a mask approached them. "What kind of dream were you having, Reni?" he asked her with a calm and gentle tone. Finn was startled a bit by his presences as his sister immediately stood up from the bench. Both of them slightly bow down to show their beloved mentor a respect. "Starosta Catto," said Finn, followed by Reni. "Starosta," she said. He was called Catto, a respected man in the Zelenikovo, famous for his great wisdom in mystical thing and wilderness. He was also a mentor that taught young children in this village the way of the forest and self defense. Reni and her brother is among his students, with Reni herself being the gifted one in this village.
Catto nodded at them. "We should talk about what's troubling you at the hut."
Reni told everything to her mentor back at the hut, everything about her strange dream of a woman in a white walking in the dark forest. The mentor's hut was filled with the calm earthy scent from the burning wood, which Reni loved to smell whenever she visited her mentor's hut to join his lesson. The fire crackled and danced around as it illuminate the room with warm glow. Catto listened to her attentively, grasping at every detail from her description as he tried to decipher what's the dream was telling to Reni.
"And she told me, 'when the time comes, they will call for you'," Reni told him, taking a sip of a floral tea made by Catto. A slightly sweet and flowery taste of the tea hits her tastebud, with a aftertaste of bitterness hits her throat but somehow made her tense shoulder feel more relaxed from the warm tea she's having.
"I see...," said Catto nodding thoughtfully. "Seems like it was trying to give you a sign, Reni."
"What kind of sign?" she asked. She fingers gently spinned the wooden cup that perfectly sat on her other palm.
"Every dream has its own purpose. One of them is giving an individual a sign of an unforeseen future. It could be a good sign, or a bad sign."
"So...Does my dream indicate a good sign or a bad sign?" Reni asked, sounding rather puzzled by her mentor's explanation.
"It is up to you to interpret which one." Catto told her. "But if you asked me for my opinion, dear Reni. I have a feeling the dream told you that it is a sign for you to leave your nest and see the outside world, just like you always wanted."
"Do you think she's ready to go out for an adventure?" Finn asked, sounding a bit skeptical. Reni has always wanted to leave the forest to travel to new places, hoping to find new experiences and learn new things from each kingdoms she visited. But since the world is still recovering from the war, no one in South Solidarian kingdom are willing to go out. They were afraid, afraid of the unknown dangers lurking around after the post-war phase occured. Whenever Reni expressed her desire to venture out, her brother would say no to her, thinking it is not worth risking to go outside their village and it is better to stay and protect their home.
"...This is it. This is the sign," she said looking at her brother. "I want to go and explore the outside world. This is my destiny."
"How can you said that this is your destiny? You are too young to go out. You just turned fourteen," said her brother sounding stern. "I can't risk letting my sister go out while the outside world is still dangerous."
"Dangerous from what? The war has already over for like...How many years now? This is ridiculous, you are being ridiculous, Finn." she replied to her brother, a hint of frustration in her voice can be sensed by Finn and Catto.
"Ever heard of the Withering? The answer is no, Reni."
Reni went silent. She abruptly placed down the cup and stood up, leaving the hut in a angry manner. Reni could feel her face is heating up. Her heart is slowly fueled with anger, but she doesn't know how to fully express it. She hates how her brother was being overprotective with her, she couldn't understand why everyone is too afraid to go outside.
She quickly head back to her family hut. As soon as she arrived at the center of the village, she saw bunch of crowded people talking to each other. They were looking at something, or someone. Reni curiously approached them, squeezing herself through the crowd to see what's the fuss is all about. In front of her was a Hive Kingdom soldier aka the Guerrier riding the Beequine as he just arrived into the Zelenikovo village. Reni started to get curious. It's been awhile since they have visitor coming by, especially from the Guerrier. The soldier tried to control his horse from moving around as it flips its translucent wings, and Reni could see he was holding something like a scroll on his hand. The Guerrier flips down the scroll revealing the messages written by the Queen of Hive Kingdom. He cleared his throat before reading out the content from the scroll.
"This is a message from her Majesty, Queen Enya of the Hive Kingdom," said the Guerrier. "Attention to the people of Zelenikovo village. I hereby wrote this message in a search of a girl who may be able to help out solve a current crisis that is not only happened in my kingdom, but around the whole land of Elysium. I would not disclose anything regarding the problem to avoid further chaos and speculation, but I believe this girl could be the answer to this whole ordeal."
"I would like to invite Serenity Amberleaf, to travel down to the Hive Kingdom for further discussion." he said before looking at the crowd. "Is there anyone here named Serenity Amberleaf?" the Guerrier asked as he scanned around.
The crowd began to talk and whispers as their attention shifted to Reni herself who is infront of the Guerrier. He looks down at Reni and raised his eyebrow. Short auburn hair with a green headband that matches with her short vest paired with white shirt and dark brown pants, dark blue eyes with small body stature and fits perfectly according to the Queen's description. "Are you Serenity Amberleaf?" he asked curiously.
"...Yes I am," Reni replied.
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