CHAPTER 4

Seers were hunted ever since the beginning, they were mostly killed or captured to be a noble's eye for the future, a great eye for wars when there used to be conflicts throughout the supernatural realm, far before the kingdoms were made and the light and dark beings are divided and became enemies for each other. They were used as weapons and great tacticians.

One might question their ability of being able to see the future but one can only fight a few soldiers before finally being tied up.

When the kingdoms were made, a relieved sigh were made by the seers who survived the countless wars, because finally, they're free from being in-slaved for their ability but that relief didn't last long for the dark seers because the dark king ordered an execution for all of them, leaving a few that remained at the kings side for him to be able to control his subjects. The light kingdom was more welcoming for the light seers but they were low in numbers, and after hearing the news of what the dark king is doing to the dark seers, the light king ordered his subjects to send their seers at the mountains where Razz, the strongest wizard in the light kingdom in his time, made a protective barrier for them, a safe place that no one can ever find unless someone from the inside invites you or if the magic recognizes something from Razz on the person that's seeking its location.

Aelfrun was supposed to be a safe place for the seers but that changed when the oldest seer foresaw a prophecy regarding their soon to be born princess. "She's going to unite the two kingdoms." She says. "She will end the long lasting war that has been going on between the light and dark beings. She'll make wonders and would be a great queen."

Her words were carried out by the night winds, reaching the ears of those who are still awake and were excited to share the news on the morning, the light creatures who have always wanted a peace with the dark beings can't wait to finally see the day of the two kingdom's union. Whether that union is through marriage or friendship, they really didn't mind as long as the two kingdoms will finally become one.

Everyone was happy for their princess, of the great journey she'll take once she's older but the prophecy didn't sit well with the light king's brother. He wants the two kingdoms, not to be joined as one but the light kingdom having a total control over the dark kingdom. He wants the power all to himself so when the queen was giving birth to the princess, the light king being distracted over the arrival of his daughter, his brother took the chance and killed him when everyone let their guard down, watching the king as he embraces his family.

Everyone who's inside the room died that night except for the princess who was transported to the human realm, saved by the queen who used her own life as a sacrifice to open the portal to the other world.

To mask his crime, the king's brother told their kingdom that the dark kingdom sent assassins to kill his family, waiting for the princess' birth as the perfect time for the murder because it is when the royals will be distracted and becomes an easy target.

His announcement made the light kingdom into frenzy. Seeing the anger that the light creatures are currently feeling, the late king's brother used it as a way to convince them for waging a war. But before that happens, he needs to do a clean-up and ordered his trusted men to kill those who are loyal to his brother, that includes the seers and Razz, who let it happen without a fight, he's lived for far too long, he said. He's fight ended when the king died. The seers saw the end of the war, but the new king didn't believe them so he ordered a total execution for the light seers, ending their existence, but a future is a future and so, just like what the seers told him, they lost the fight. Losing a lot of life, not only just the soldiers and civilians but the new king has also died at the war, ending his year-length reign over the light kingdom.

Right after the war between the dark and light kingdom, the light creatures losing and the dark beings, known as the Nebulas, took over the two kingdoms and a failed rebellion after years of being in-slaved, the rebels who survived fled to the mountains.

Gobias, the rebel's leader, who once visited Aelfrun when it used to be lived in by the seers and having the right to invite someone, lead his fellow survivors inside Aelfrun and it's there that they resided, waiting for their princess who they figured to be still alive to come back for her subjects while they make sure to strengthen their man-power and to increase their number to be able to protect their future queen.

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Zai wakes up with a gasp.

Her instincts are screaming at her to wake up and to put her guards up but with her injuries and the ice cold water where she and Hwayatt fell is giving her a frost bite.

There's a noise not far from them but she couldn't open her eyes out of fatigue. It felt so natural when her wings (as if she has them for that long and not just discovered that she has wings when she and Hwayatt fell from that cliff) flops at the direction of the noise, sending whoever is there to fly against a tree, she heard curses and some vines trying to sneak up to her but before those vines reach her, a black fire came out of nowhere and burned them.

She felt something coming towards them but she can't see anything when she opened her eyes. Her instincts tells her that there's something in the wind so with a weak attempt, she covered her and Hwayatt with her wings and she felt a sting in her wings but with the need to survive, she flops her wings again to push whatever is in front of her away but with that opening and the fact that she can't fight back in her current state, an arrow pierces her arms when she tried to shield her heart, where the arrow is originally going, she screams in pain and loses consciousness before she heard someone ordering everyone to let her live.

When she wakes up again, she's in a cave with people staring at her. Her first thought was to ignore them and check her wounds and look around for Hwayatt but she's not around and she's getting worried. She sits up hurriedly while clutching her stomach and was about to stand up but there are vines that suddenly grow from the ground to bind her back in a sitting position.

"We're not letting you escape in here, Nebula." A man says and she snarls at him. "Where's Hwayatt?" she asks that made the man snort. "She's none of your concern and keep that filthy mouth from mentioning our princess' name." he says with a great distaste.

Zai frowns at this and her dream when they entered the realm came back to her so she looks up with a gasp and stares at the man. "Gobias." She calls and that made the man angrier at her and slaps her causing her head to move in the right direction and she tasted blood. "You're not allowed to call our princess or me by name, Nebula." He grips her jaw and looks at her with a dark look, "Tell us what your king ordered you to do with the princess or how many of you are there to hunt her down."

"I don't know what you're saying." Zai answered that earns her another slap. "Answer me or you'll die." Gobias says angrily but she only smirks at him. "You won't do that." she says with a confidence that she doesn't know where it's coming from. "You're right. I won't but that doesn't mean we can't hurt you." And something hit her before a pain exploded inside her, burning her chest that she doesn't know how she's even surviving.

The torture went on for days. They'd ask her questions that she doesn't know the answer of, poison her if she mocks them or tells them that she doesn't know what they mean. They'd even hurt her if she tries to ask about Hwayatt and she starts to hate the term "Nebula." Because of the excessive amount of how they called her that, she told them that whatever that nebula is, she's not a nebula, that's even far from her name but no one listened to her, they ignore her and will only talk to her to ask questions or to say something nasty about her "kind" that she's not aware of but one night, she started to dream of something similar to what's happening to her currently, but this one was less painful compared to the dreams she have.

The dreams always start with her opening her eyes and seeing clouds around her but instead of the empty feelings she always has when she has this kind of dreams, these ones always gives her the feeling of dread.

She was the unlucky one that her kind, the seraphs, chose to be the subject of their experiments, casting spells upon spells on her, draws symbols on her skin that they learned from the sorcerers down at the supernatural realm, even asked some of the mythical beings to cast magics on her, she doesn't know why they're doing this, all she knows is that she's been the subject of their experiments ever since she was born. Seraphs doesn't have parents, they're born in the clouds, that's why no one has ever tried to help her out, seraphs are known to be emotionally not attached to almost anything. They're known to be ambitious and they might be powerful mythical creatures but they wanted more power, so they conducted an experiment to know the lengths of their lifespan and how strong the magics from the supernatural realms can affect them.

They want a total reign over both the mythical and supernatural realm but they need to know what great length their body can endure once they wage a war, especially when they go against their fellow mythical creatures. No one knows about their plan, only the higher ups of the seraphs knows this, the other seraphs might have turned a blind eye to the experiments conducted at Zai but the only thing that they were told was to know how far can their body go if different kind of magics will hit them, they believed their higher-ups, that's the time of wars so no one has ever doubted them.

Everything should have been great, the plan was going on smoothly not until an unexpected rune connected Zai to the moon, making her wings turn into black and grew a fangs and claws. The moment Zai gained her consciousness, the room was noisy and her head feels like exploding so she screamed in pain as she tries to cover her ears to mute her surroundings but failed because the voices are coming from everyone and they're loud inside her head, that's the time the seraphs realized that she can read their minds and they feared her because no one has ever read a mythical creature's mind but she can. They tried to sedate her but dark flames protected her from anyone who tried to approach her and they can't do anything not until she falls into unconsciousness.

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Everytime she wakes up, she always have a splitting headache that won't disappear for an hour.

She tries to deny what those dreams are but there's something that's always clawing her heart, a phantom pain that she always feel whenever she tries to deny it. She once tried to ignore and scratch the runes that appeared on her hips and the pain that she felt at that time was more painful than the poisons that they've been giving her. She loses her consciousness right after a few hours of feeling the pain throughout her body.

And when she wakes up again for the nth time in that cave, she already knows what she is or what Hwayatt is. She already knows that her friend is a royal and she's not supposed to be alive, Hwayatt too but her mother saved her and the two of them met at the human world for unknown reasons. She thought that it must be a coincidence for them to meet in the human world but she later realized when the poison seems to be not working on her already, that she's an aberration, not just for her kinds but also the flow of fate, and she doesn't know this yet but, she's drawn to two supernatural beings ever since she arrived to the human world.

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When the light creatures realized that the poison is not working on her anymore, that's when they realized that she's a dangerous one. Scared that she might escape and kill them all, the sylphs created an air barrier that was casted by the wizards to electrocute her if she tried crossing the barrier. She didn't try anything, she knows that she can escape if she tries to but she knows that it'll be a disaster if she does try to escape and look for Hwayatt so she instead sat all day long in patience and wait for her friend.

To kill some time, she tries practicing the last ability that she can remember in her dream. She focused hard each day, staring at the sylphs who are uncomfortable at her obvious staring, clearly not comfortable at the fact that someone who they didn't give their permission for them to be seen is staring directly at them.

She tried everything that she can, even applying the things she read back at the human world to be able to read the minds of everyone around her but to no avail. She sighs dejectedly everytime she fails at her attempt to read minds and after a few days of trying, she gave up and just accepted the fact that what she saw in her dream might be different than what she actually thought. Maybe she has another ability that made her first think of reading a mind but is actually different.

After what feels like years, while sitting at her so called bed and staring at the corner of the cave, a vision flashes in her mind and she knew that Hwayatt's already awake and is on her way to see her. Excitement rashes throughout her body but she remains impassive as she waits for her friend. She refuses to show any emotions from her captors.

"I'm sorry for not being able to protect you but I'm glad that you're still alive or else I'm going to jump in that cliff again." Hwayatt says as she embraces her tightly, giving her no space to breathe but she lets her and hugs her back, finally relaxing after weeks of being away from her friend.

She rests her forehead at Hwayatt's head while laughing softly. "I really like this height difference between us." She says and the subtle thrumming in her head that's been going on for days has finally stopped. Her breath has become more stable now and she finally feels all of the tension in her shoulder leaves her, her worries finally stopping and now that she has seen her friend alive and healthy, all of the stress and the energy that kept her alert for weeks vanished and as a result, she feel in her knees making Hwayatt hold her upright with a grunt. "You're heavy." She complains and Zai chuckles at this before finally losing consciousness.