Chapter 35: Mask (Part 1)

On a train to an unknown place, Sona was sitting while looking bored. A middle-aged woman sitting next to her looked at her as she sighed.

Sona: "What?"

She gets annoyed by the sighing and asks.

Woman: "Nothing, you just look like you are bored."

Sona: "That's cuz I am."

The woman sighed again.

Woman: "Look, I know you don't want to go but this is important."

Sona: "If you say so."

Sona's expression doesn't change at all. Seeing that, the woman sighed again.

Woman: "I give up."

She said as she turned her attention from Sona to a magazine. Sona, seeing that, had no reaction. Why would she? After all, this kind of conversation was normal for her. That's how she and her mother had always been.

She stares out the window as she thinks of the days about to come.

"It's going to be a pain," she thinks.

Until the day before, the place her family would go for the vacations had not been told to her, so she was fairly excited for it. But after hearing where it is, all her excitement died down.

"Of all the places in the world, it had to her hometown," she complained to herself in her mind knowing that saying anything out loud will only lead to arguments with her mother that she will need to concede in at the end.

The eight-year-old girl looked out the window of the train with a bored expression. She could see the rocky landscapes of her mother's hometown coming into sight.

"Great, now I have to deal with all the idiotic rambling," she thought only to end up depressing herself more.

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Sona's grandmother: "Wow, look at how big you have gotten."

Sona looked at her grandmother with a bored expression and sighed. Her grandmother though, much to her annoyance, didn't mind at all and continued cuddling the girl.

Sona's mother: "Will you cheer up, girl?"

Sona: "Why should I cheer up?"

She immediately replied. Both of them had gotten used to those exchanges and knew nothing good would ever come out of them. And then,

Villager: "Hey, have you heard? They found the body of a man on the mountains."

A villager passing by said so to her grandmother.

Sona's grandmother: "Hey, don't say stuff like that in front of the child."

Villager: "Oh, uh, s-sorry! Didn't see you there, Sona."

"Then go get your eyes checked," she said in her mind.

Villager: "But anyway, come with me for a second."

Her grandmother nodded and left after giving Sona some more unappreciated cuddling.

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After about an hour of arriving, Sona had gone to a room that she always used whenever they would visit their grandparent's house and unpacked her bags.

As she looked outside the window, she saw the town with muddy roads and old houses where the breeze kept blowing from time-to-time.

Sona: "The place isn't half-bad to be honest. If only the people were not so dumb, this would actually be a welcome vacation."

She said as she stared at the setting sun. She raised her right hand in a way that her palm was facing upwards.

Sona: "Vessel of mercy, bless the world with your light."

She said as a bright flash of light occurred in her hand. Following that, a spirit in the form of a sparrow appeared.

Sona: "So a sparrow again, huh?"

She says while looking at the spirit.

Sona: "Guess there's a connection there I don't know about."

Every time Sona had summoned a spirit when in this village, it had always appeared in the form of a bird. There could be a geographical or climatic factor that causes it, but she didn't know what it was.

The spirit looked at her with a curious gaze. Seeing that, the girl smiled.

Sona: "Don't worry, just talking to myself."

She said to the spirit with that smile. Sona had never been the type to try to get things done by lying. She hated putting up masks and she hated acting like she cared when she didn't. So when she smiled seeing the spirit, it knew that she genuinely means everything she said. This is why, the next moment caused the spirit to panic.

CRASH!

A loud noise came and the spirit started panicking.

Sona: "What was that noise? And what's up with you?"

She knew the answer to both questions would most likely be the same.

Sona: "Do you know what that noise meant?"

The spirit nodded while continuing to panic.

Sona: "What is it?"

Instead of an answer, what Sona got was a message to run. She felt it in her head as if that's what the spirit was trying to tell her.

Sona: "Why … do I need to run?"

She asked not knowing the urgency of the situation. The spirit however continued to ask her to run without giving a proper answer.

???: "It's fortunate that you didn't listen to it right away."

A voice came from behind. But just as Sona turned around to see where the voice came from, she saw a mask hanging in the air moving as if it's worn by someone.

Sona: "W-what!?"

Mask: "Don't be so surprised. All I want is to help you."

She tried to step back only to find she was already on the farthest part of the room.

Mask: "Be careful now, we don't want you falling down from the window, do we?"

Sona: "W-who are you!?"

Mask: "Getting to business already? Well, I guess time is of essence here."

She could see the spirit she had summoned being afraid of the mask and backing away.

Sona: "W-wait!"

As Sona extended a hand to stop the spirit from falling off the window, it disappeared. The spirit went back to where it was summoned from.

Sona turned to the mask in shock and horror. The mask, however, continued as if nothing had happened.

Mask: "Okay then, let me explain what's going on here."

Sona, left with no choice, listened to the mask.

Mask: "Your village, right now, is under attack by a dragon."

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Dragon: "What is it that makes you people so feisty?"

The dragon said as he looked at the tiny creatures known as humans.

Dragon: "I really can't understand you."

He said as he looked at those humans trying to kill him; trying their utmost and using whatever means they have to try to hurt him.

Dragon: "Do you really think you can defeat me?"

Shouts of 'MONSTER' could be heard as they threw objects of all kinds at him. Mindless shouting could be heard as they tried to cut his skin with any sharp object they could get their hands on.

Dragon: "It's pathetic."

He said.

Dragon: "And I don't mean to disrespect you."

He said as the cries of the tiny creatures at his foot continued on without listening to him.

Dragon: "Neither do I mean to praise you."

He said as the village burned and its residents panicked.

Dragon: "I just think that you are-"

He said as the chaos continued to spread and the creatures that were the reason for it ignored it completely.

Dragon: "Utterly pathetic."

He said as his voice got drowned by the cries of the villagers.

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Sona: "D-dragon?"

There were a million questions in her head at that moment. Who is this mask? Who is the dragon?

Mask: "That's right."

What made that noise? Why was her spirit panicking? What's going on outside?

Mask: "But don't worry about it too much."

Where is her mother? Where is her grandmother? Where are the rest of the villagers?

Mask: "All you need to get out of this situation safely is to do as I say."

How did the mask suddenly appear there? Is someone controlling it?

Mask: "Are you listening?"

Is this a dream? Is it reality? Or a mix of both?

Mask: "Haaaa! I guess you aren't."

A sighing voice comes at her. His words kept flowing in and out of her ears as the questions in her mind blared at her with full force.

Mask: "No matter."

Regardless, neither was there any anxiety nor fear in the mask's voice.

Mask: "You will do as I say soon enough anyway."

All there was in his voice was calmness.

Mask: "After all,"

He said.

Mask: "It's not like you have any choice in the matter."

He said as the girl covered her ears.

Mask: "Your destiny was decided since the day you were born."

He said as she put her head in her lap.

Mask: "And no one can ever escape their destiny."

He said as she tried to call her spirits.

Mask: "Your life never really belonged to you after all."

He said as she failed at calling her spirits.

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