Chapter 10: Reveal

Alecia continues to walk while looking ahead, with a few people walking in front of her. Ahead of them are two pathways, the one on the left leads onto a small garden of grass and flowers of many colors. On the right side, the road leads towards the fireworks in the distance.

Alecia walks within the garden, where she's surrounded by a ray of different flowers of bright colors of white, red, orange, and yellow. Each kind has a unique look to them. The white blooms the tallest of the lot while the orange being the shortest. Near the flowers, stands a sign which reads 'Do not touch.'

Alecia continues to slowly walk through while staring them with an intrigued look in her eyes.

A woman, dressed in with a full basket of blue flowers is seen standing near a small building.

"Hello miss, do you want a flower to accompany-" The one woman said to a young woman who quickly brushes her aside and carries on walking, only for the young girl to walk towards Alecia and passes her.

The woman with flowers turns her attention towards Alecia.

"Hello miss, do you want a flower to accompany your hair?" The woman said smiling while gesturing a blue flower to her. Alecia smiles and takes the flower. She brings it to her nose and smells it with her eyes gently closed. She opens her eyes and smiles gently at the woman.

"Here..." the woman said taking the flower from her, and brings it closer to Alecia's head.

"May I?"

"Yes." Alecia said with a nodful-smile, and closes her eyes while the woman places the flower in her hair.

"How do I look?" Alecia said, opening her eyes.

"You look..." the woman said with a pause, with her one arm crossed and one of her hands on her face with a frown.

"You look complete." She smiles and picks up the basket beside her.

Alecia raises her hand near her hair and adjusts the flower with a smile.

"Thank you." She said with a cheerful tone in her voice.

"Excuse me." She continues forward and exits tbe garden, only to follow the road leading towards the fireworks.

"There she is, Booker!" Renata called out from the crowd which urges Alecia to turn around and spots Elerah, Renata, and Booker standing amongst the crowd passing by.

They walk towards her, with Renata skipping ahead of them both.

"We thought we lost you." Booker said, standing near her.

"I just went to check out at something." Alecia said with a smile.

"Everything here seems so enticing, you know?"

"You said it!" Ranata said with a cheerful tone while having her hands behind her back, and stands on her toes for a moment.

"I don't even know what to explore first."

"Not without your mother, you will." Elerah said folding her arms with a stern look on her face.

"You can easily get lost in a place like this." She scans her eyes across the crowd of people, and looks at Renata once more.

"We have to all stick together."

"Good point." Booker said, looking at the fireworks as it starts to cease.

"Where is the empress, do you think?" He looks at Alecia with a curious gaze only for his eyes to flick up at the flower in her hair.

"The palace should be in the middle of this ship." Alecia said, looking at him.

"But I'm sure it will be a long time before she shows herself."

"Do you think we should keep ourselves busy, while we wait until then?" Booker said, and flickers his eyes amongst them.

"Not like we have a choice." Alecia said with a quiet chuckle and continues walking in the same direction as the fireworks.

A few hours go by...

The day has gone into the evening with the sun shining orange rays of light across the enormous ship, as well as the city below.

Alecia, Renata, Booker, and Elerah is seen walking towards a great wall which is a few feet high. It's entrance is blocked by two armored gaurds. Each individual gets scanned from head to toe before going in. Alecia stops, only to stand in the queue.

"What do you think the empress is celebrating?" Booker whispered from behind her.

"Not sure." Alecia said, and takes a step forward with the line of people.

"The year is nearly over with its third quarter, so maybe she might announce something important for the year ahead."

"We'll find out eventually." Booker said.

"The only thing we can do is wonder." He turns his gaze to his right, only to see a blue sphere-shaped drone, slowly hovering towards where the guards are.

Elerah, whom is standing next to Booker, has a downcast look.

"Didn't the invitation have information about the celebration?" She said, turning to him.

"Anything that might give us an idea of what the empress is planning?"

"I already checked the invitation." Booker said.

"It said nothing about the empress' plans."

"Shhh." Alecia hissed, with a stern look on her face as she continues to stare ahead at the person standing in front of her.

"Alright, you're next." The guard with scanner said to the man in front of Alecia.

"Stand still, please."

He raises the scanner above his head and scans across his body until his shoes.

"Alright, you're clear. Move along." The man walks through the entrance and continues forward.

"Okay, miss." The guard said calmly.

"Let me scan you."

Alecia steps forward while keeping her eyes on him.

The guard raises the scanner above her head and scans across her body.

"Alright, you're clear. Move along."

Alecia walks through the entrance, only to be greeted with wide stairs leading up, on the sides of it, a row of long, black lamps, stand with three globes emitting light at fhe highpoint.

Alecia turns around, and waits for Booker to be scanned, followed by Renata, and Elerah.

"Now then. Let's get going." Alecia said, turning around and walks up the stairs with them.

A few moments go by...

Alecia reaches the top, only to see and recognize a great gray statue of non-other than Angelica herself. The statue stands in a similar stance as the one she use to gaze upon everyday at the temple.

Booker, Renata and Elerah, reach the top with her.

Booker looks up at Angelica's face, with her head lowered and her eyes peacefully closed.

"That's a surprise." Booker said with a narrowed look in his eyes. Which urges Alecia to have her eyes turned to the one side until she locks her eyes on him as he passes her.

"I never figured the Empress to be the religious type."

Alecia turns her gaze towards the statue.

"Isn't it obvious." She said calmly.

"If you haven't noticed, the guards' armor has wings carved into it, which is a symbol of Angelica herself."

She takes a step forward, only to hear the giggling of two kids. She turns her gaze to the source to see a small boy chasing after a girl.

"I hope they won't get lost." Elerah said with a concerned tone in her voice, while locking her eyes on them

"That's Angelica, isn't it?" Renata said walking past Alecia while looking up at the statue with an intrigued look in her eyes.

"An interpretation of her, yes." Alecia said with a calm tone and starts walking.

"Let's go."

She turns into the left pathway, which the statue separates from the other.

Booker and the others follow her as she continues to walk ever closer to the fire works in the distance.

A few moments later...

On the center of the ship, where tbe fireworks are going, a large building looms, where people are gathered around it.

They all cheer at the dazzling fireworks as the different colors of lights luminate on them.

"Come on." The one woman with her hair dyed purple, with clothes that match, said, with a cheerful tone to the other who is walking in front of her. while she is seen walking backwards.

"Just go ahead and ask her." She turns with her and walks front.

"Don't pressure me, please." The woman with the hair having pink highlights said, while walking next to her cheerful friend.

"You know how shy I am."

Her friend sighs.

"Alright." She said with a giggle as they both walk past a small crowd of people.

The one almost bumps into Alecia, and Booker.

"Oops, sorry!" The girl with the purple hair said, and walks past them, which urges Alecia to look over her shoulder with her gaze drawn to her.

The one with the pink streaks stares at Alecia for a moment with an intrigued look in her eyes. Alecia turns her gaze to the one standing in front of her, only to see her look away with her cheeks turning red.

"Sky, come on!" Her friend called from behind her. She snaps out of her gaze only to look around Alecia.

"You don't want to miss the best seats do you!"

"Okay, I'm coming!" She said, looking at Alecia once more.

"Excuse me." She walks past Alecia with her blushful smile and continues on to meet up with her friend, followed by faint giggling coming from them as the one with the pink streaks looks in the direction of Alecia and Booker. Alecia looks ahead of herself and forms a gentle smile.

"They seem to be having a good time." Booker said, looking ahead of himself and stares at the fireworks going off above.

"Yes." Alecia said, with a chuckle and turns her gaze at the large cream-colored building in front of the crowd in the distance.

The height of the building, a large round balcony is seen bulging out from the building.

She narrows her eyes as she sees two individuals on the balcony standing beside each other.

"Here you go." Renata's voice is heard near Alecia, which urges her to look to her right to see Renata gesturing a thing bottle with red liquid inside which has the label as 'Scarlet Essence'.

She takes the bottle from her.

"Thank you." Alecia said with a smile, and looks at the bottle within her hand.

"It's really good, apparently." Booker said and takes the other bottle from Reneta.

"It's going to be first time I'm having it." He raises the bottle slightly in a gesturing manner.

"It will be nice to try something new together, don't you think?"

Alecia smiles slightly, and raises her own bottle near his.

"Why not." She said,gently clinking her bottle with his.

"Alright." Elerah said, standing with them.

"Let's go find ourselves a seat."

The three nod and walks around the crowd of people.

A few moments later...

"Those fireworks were really something hey." The one man said to the woman who is seated at his table.

"It was amazing wasn't it. " the woman said, taking a sip from her drink.

"I still can't believe we've been here the whole day." He said.

"Time flies." She said with a chuckle.

"It sure does." He said.

The table behind them, Alecia, Booker, Elerah and Renata are seated.

Alecia stares at the couple ahead of her for a moment with a calm look on her face.

"I wonder when the Empress will show?" Renata said, leaning over the table.

"I don't think it will be long now." Elerah said, moving her hand on her daughter's arm with a smile, which urges Renata to smile back.

Alecia turns to Elerah and Renata and flickers her eyes between them. Only to look at the main building once more.

The one individual on the balcony steps forward to stand behind the wall, which makes their appearance more visible to show that it's a woman with black hair that lengthens near her shoulders, with herself wearing a chrome armor that's only over her torso with similar carvings as that of the guards, except her arms are bare, while wearing thin red fabric that hangs down on the side of her one leg where the shins are covered by chrome armor as well.

The woman raises her hand to her ear where an earpiece is and presses it, only for it to light up.

"Good evening everyone." She said, with her voice echoing around the place where everyone could hear.

"We know how long you've been here, and we only hope that you were entertained during your visit here. While you were being distracted by our sites that were presented to you, we have been preparing." She pauses while scanning her green eyes across the crowd.

"We are now done. Ruth, the Empress, will be with you now." She presses her earpiece and steps back into the balcony. The crowd applauses soon after.

Alecia narrows her eyes.

"I know her." She said in a quiet tone.

"What did you say?" Booker said, looking at her.

"No, nothing." Alecia said, shaking her head slightly and continues to stare at the balcony.

Another individual, a woman is seen walking to the end of the balcony. She is seen wearing a thing button top, where her forearms are clothed in the same color as her top as well as the four fabrics around her waist which hangs down past her legs, over her head is a blue hood, which does little to cover her long rosė color hair that flows down from her neck to the left side of her chest, as well as her back.

She smiles gently, her hands leans on the wall of the balcony. Her grayish-blue eyes scan the crowds before her.

"Greetings everyone." She said in gentle tone.

Alecia's eyes widen as her lips part, only for her breathes to become more frequent.

"I'm really happy to see that all of you attended the ceremony. It has been a while since I last visited Senteria, and I thought, since it is time, I should give a special announcement about the future our order." She steps aside while looking into the building.

"My daughter. Lumina." She reaches her hand for the door as the crowd applauds once more. A young girl, the a bit older than Renata. She slowly walks out into view, with a blue dress on, with no sleeves, a pendent hangs around her neck, with her hair color being dark brown.

She looks at the crowd below with a nervous look on her face.

"What?" Alecia said with a wide-eyed look and starts coughing again, only for her to lose control and continue to cough while facing away from Booker and them. While Ruth, the empress is doing a smsll speech.

Booker stands from his seat and leans his hand on her back.

"Cough out!" He said loudly while hitting her back.

"She will be the one to take my place." The empress said, gazing down at the crowd.

"Just as my mother bef-" just then, Lumina interrupts by tapping her, which draws her attention.

"Is she okay?" Lumina said, pointing in the direction of Alecia, who's still coughing.

"Who?" Ruth said leaning in to hear.

"That girl with the white hair, over there." She said, flicking her hand.

Ruth narrows her gaze only to fix her eyes on the white haired woman.

She looks below to see a guard standing near the building.

"You there, guard." She called out, which urges the guard to look up at her.

"That white haired woman over there, she seems distressed, bring her in."

"Yes, Empress" The guard said, and runs towards Alecia. He places her hands over her upper arms and stands her up.

"Come with me miss." He said, turning her away from Booker and the others as she is now coughing silently.

"What are you doing?" Booker said, standing up with a puzzled look on his face.

"The Empress requested me to bring her inside, sir." The guard said, turning away from Booker.

"Then I'm coming with." Booker said, taking a step forward.

The guard stops him with a hand signal.

"The Empress only requested for her." The guard turns away and continues to walk with her while the crowd of heads turn in their direction as they both walk towards the building.

"Will she be okay?" Renata said with a worrisome look on her face.

"I hope so." Booker said with a blank stare.

"I'm sure they'll help her, Booker." Elerah said, looking at her daughter.

Booker looks over his shoulder at his mother and forms a slight smile that can't hide his concern, he looks ahead of himself and watches as the guard walk inside the building with Alecia.