9.

The petals of Sun Blossoms flutter down from their trees, encasing the ground with their blue glory. The sky is clear and blue, having a calm effect to everything.

What makes Leona realize that this isn’t the real world is the sight of five moons up in the sky. The scenery before her is still the same.

She looks around, a frown on her face. She blinks owlishly when she sees a figure under a Blossom tree.

”Hello?” She calls out, walking slowly over to them.

The sound of humming reaches her ears when she reaches a close hearing proximity to them.

Leona halts with a gasp when she sees their face.

“Mother?” She whispers out, her eyes wide.

The figure looks up, and when they laid their eyes on Leona, they smiled.

“Hello, Leo Bear.”

It’s her. It’s really her.

“MOTHER!”

Leona starts running over to her, tears brimming in her eyes.

Adriane stands up, her arms wide open. Leona throws herself at her. Adriane wraps her arms around her daughter and starts spinning her with a hearty laugh. They come to a stop and Adriane grins down at her daughter.

“Hey there, Leo Bear. Long time no see.”

“Mom! Wha- what are you doing here?!” She stares at her mother in shock. “Wait, how are you here?” She squints at her. “In my dreams...” She trails off.

It takes a moment for Leona to get her bearings and separate herself from Adriane. She jumps and skids back, crouching in an attack and defense position.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my dream?”

“Whoa! Honey! It’s me.”

“Try again imposter.” Leona snarls out.

Leona imagines a scythe and it materializes into her hand. She twirls it, eyes set on the figure before her.

They have her mother’s look to perfection. From her rich neutral honey skin to her beautiful eyes. But that won’t make her drop her guard down.

“Leona! It’s me! Adriane Lexaera Redfyre!”

Leona takes a threatening step and Adriane gestures for her to calm down.

“And I can prove it!”

Leona squints at her, nodding her head for her to go on.

“When you were five, you had an incident. You suddenly had a fever and you were on the verge of dying. Luckily, you managed to break through after six days of pain filled cries. Also, I had a batch of Moon-Night Musk, and you and your sister made a promise to keep them safe.”

Leona eyes go sad at that.

“Also,” Adriane continues, “I know one thing only you and your siblings know.”

Adriane turns and her back is facing Leona. She parts her hair, giving way for her exposed back.

“The descendants of the four royal families of the Zodoren Empire have different birthmarks on our backs. The Amnigaranth bear a birthmark in the form of a green rose; the Gerowayuu an elegant wind tattoo in grey; the Polaerex a water whirlpool in blue; and the Renoxe, a crimson flame – mostly on our neck.”

She shows the birthmark to Leona, who lowers down the scythe.

“That is why we, the Renoxe, grow out our hair and ensure that it is thick and long; in order to hide the presence of the birth mark which takes part of our neck.”

Adriane turns back again, a smile on her face. “The tattoos of these families are surrounded with an infinity sign in the form of thorns. Said thorns vary in color. Ours is-.”

“Black.” Leona finishes.

Adriane smiles widens when she sees the recognition in her daughters eyes.

“Mother…”

“Hey, Leo Bear.”

The scythe in Leona’s hand disappear, fading into nothingness. The heiress runs over to her mother, once again glopping her into a tight hug. She breathes in shakenly, her face pressed to her mother’s bosoms.

“I’ve missed you, mother. I have missed you so much.” She says, her words muffled by her mother’s bosoms.

“And I you.”

“What are you doing here?” She asks when she raises up her head. She stares at her mother with a deep frown. “Aren’t you supposed to be in Helma’s Gardens?”

“I was, but, I missed my girls.” Adriane smiles sadly at Leona. “Even with the thousands of souls there, I kept getting lonely.”

“But, what about father? Can’t you go to Zaelri’s Realm and meet him?”

“Your father…” Adriane sighs. “Your father has been reincarnated.”

“I… I see…” Leona trails off. “Why… why haven’t you?”

“Well, someone has to watch over you lot, of course! You three are magnets for trouble.” She pinches Leona’s cheeks, making the girl to squawk in indignation and swat her fingers away. “Someone has to watch over your pretty behinds.” She chuckles. “Come.”

She leads Leona to the spot she sat not long ago; the Blossom tree providing a nice shed from the moons.

Mother and daughter gently sit on the mysteriously conjured pillows, making sure that their hair doesn’t obstruct them.

“So, mother…” Leona begins after a minute of silence. “How is Helma’s Garden?”

“It’s beautiful.” Adriane smiles. “For begin a part of Helma’s Realm, its peaceful and scream-free.”

Helma’s Garden is the place where the souls of Helma’s worshippers go to. Well, the less guilty ones that is. If you look at it, Helma is just like Zaelri in terms of judging souls. Those who have done wrongs that reaches the scales of the Goddess as horrific, and died without any signs of remorse; or those souls who drabble into the dark arts and blacken or ruined their souls, are sent to various circles of their own punishment realm, depending on the weight of their sins.

As the Goddess of Hell, Helma oversees all – especially the sentencing of souls -, with the help of the Kings and Lords of Hell. Like those in Zaelri’s Sanctum, the souls of the righteous – and also the condemned after they have served their sentencing - can decide if they wanted to be reincarnated or not. Those who decide to finally rest are sent to the Abyss, never to be seen or awoken again. They become nothing and cease to exist.

“Did you meet the Kings and their Generals; as well as the Lords and their Dukes?” Leona asks excitedly.

“I sure did. I was even given permission by the King of the 10th Circle to visit you once in a while.”

“Daghishat?” Leona’s eyes widens. “You met Helma’s right hand? Hell’s second in command?” Her voice is laced with disbelief.

And who could blame her? Daghishat is said to be the Ruthless King of Hell, beloved by Helma. His words holds command over even demon in Hell, even the nine other Kings.

“Yep.” Adriane grins, popping the ‘P’. “And by Helma, he is as ruthless as stated in the Grimoire of Zubabel. And handsome too.” She winks.

“Ewww.” Leona grimaces. “I so do not want to hear about your fancies, mother. You been dead or not.”

Adriane chuckles. “I see Liliane’s bluntness has rubbed off on you.”

“More like Raemon’s.” Leona deadpans.

Adriane chuckles. “You might be right. That boy has a seriously sharp tongue.” She gives a short laugh. “How is your cousin, by the way?” Her brows furrows a little. “I couldn’t check on you three until now and I haven’t have the chance to see him or Liliane. And down there, we don’t get much news about what’s happening up here.”

“Raemon’s… Raemon’s fine.” Leona sighs.

“You hesitated.” Adriane states. “Why did you hesitate? Is something wrong with him?” She frowns.

With another sigh, she tells her mother the sad news.

Leona tells her that after the incident five years ago; the incident that no one remembers and the incident which brought down the numbers of the Vermillion household, Raemon lost the ability to hear, see or talk. For three years, he had to move around with the aid of his Assassin training. He toned himself the more to feel the magik around him and move with the help of the shadows. The magik that did the damage was so dark that it couldn’t be cleansed fully.

Leona tells Adriane happily that they managed to find a solution. Liliane’s Master, with the help of so many other Mithra Mages, managed to create a potion to heal his sight. But they couldn’t do anything about his voice or ears. The only thing they could come up with was a potion which allows Raemon to speak and hear for three hours. When the potion wears out, he has to wait for like an hour before taking another one. And with how expensive the potions were, he has to use them carefully. Raemon options to take the potions two times a day, three if he decides something was very important to handle. Sometimes, he just decides to not take them at all and communicates with her and Liliane through their own special sign language.

“That’s… that’s horrible.” Adriane brows are set in a heavy frown.

“We got used to it.” Leona shrugs. “Raemon isn’t bothered by it as he did four years ago. I think it even helped him to become the powerful and deadly Shadow Assassin he is today.

“Oh?” Adriane arches a brow. “He decided to follow in his mother footsteps, eh?”

“Thankfully.” Leona smirks. “And he’s good at it. Better than the royal family’s Assassin.”

“Caelem’s still breathing?”

“Sadly.”

“Hn. I thought the Zaelri loving bastard of an emperor will be dead by now.”

“Unfortunately, the annoying pig, along with his irritating insect of a son, are still alive.”

“Hmm. How unfortunate.”

A comfortable silence envelopes them, and mother and daughter stare at the moons. The smallest was pitch black, one was grey, the other was green, another was sea blue and the biggest of them all was red.

“Mother… why are you really here?”

A sudden breeze washes over them, ruffling their hair and clothes. For being a dream world, everything fells so realistic.

“Something is coming, Leona.” Adriane says in a solemn tone. “And you, your sister and cousin, along with three others, are smack in the middle of it.”

“What do you mean?” Leona turns her head to face her, her brows furrowing. “What’s coming mother? Is something bad going to happen to us?”

Adriane shakes her head, a sad smile on her lips. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you, my Leo.” She says. “I cannot temper with Destiny, even if it is to save you and your siblings. I am forbidden to utter the future to the living. The seal placed on my soul prevents it.”

“By who?”

“By the gods.”

Leona’s eyes went wide at that. If the gods personally placed a seal on her mother, then what ever was about to go down was huge. Or bad. Definitely bad.

“Does this have to do with my impending marriage with Aeron Blackwater?”

Adriane snaps her neck to face Leona, eyes wide.

“What?” She whispers. “Blackwater?”

“You… you didn’t know?”

Adriane shakes her head. “Just like many other souls, I am forbidden to gaze upon the living world, until I am reborn. Souls can interact with the mortal world only if permission is given by the gods or their highest subordinates.”

“And you were granted that permission by Daghishat. Very recently, I take it.”

Adriane nods. “Yes.” She replies.

“He gave you permission just like that?” Leona asks, brows furrow. “Why?”

“Constant nagging and another factor which he couldn’t ignore.”

“What other factor?”

“That I can’t say, darling.” Adriane smiles at her.

“Then what can you say?” Leona asks, frustration laced in her voice.

“Only a warning.” Adriane replies. She turns to face the sky, which is slowly turning red. Leona’s head whips upwards once she caught sight of the change.

“Beware of the shadow of the past, sweetheart. It doesn’t mix well with flame of the present.”

“What?” Leona whispers with a frown, her eyes still trained on the sky. “What is going on?” She abruptly stands up, high at alert. “Wait! What do you mean?” She swivels around. “Mother-”

The sight of her mother makes her pause.

Adriane is in flames. Literally. Her hair is afloat, crimson red, and her bottle green eyes are orange. She is surrounded by ten floating fireballs and her clothes are different, also in flames.

Adriane smiles coldly, eyes empty of emotion.

Suddenly, she is standing before Leona, who tries to jerk back, but is stopped by Adriane’s hands grabbing hold of her face.

“I apologize, Leo, but it’s your turn now.” Adriane says with a distorted voice, before her hand, which holds Leona’s face, ignites.

Leona wakes up with a gasp, her back arching from the bed. She breaths heavily, her mouth sucking in deep breathes. Her nightgown is soaked with sweat, and the hair on top of her hair is wet and her hair clings to her face.

She sits up straight, placing a hand on her chest. Her mind is running through a million questions that she doesn’t hear the knocks on the door or her name being called out. She doesn’t even hear Liliane coming in, still calling out for her.

“Lena?” Liliane calls out again, a frown on her face. “I’ve been calling your name for a while now.”

She steps inside, squinting her eyes to adjust to the dark room. “Lena-”

Liliane pauses when she sees her sister looking terrified and breathing erratically.

“Leona!”

The young woman hurriedly closes the door and hurries over to her. “What’s wrong?!”

Liliane doesn’t hesitate to jump on the bed, taking her sister into her arms.

“Dear Zalrar!” She hisses, letting go of the teen as if burnt. “You are burning up!”

Liliane hurriedly stands up and walks over to the potion cabinet not far from Leona’s bed. She grabs a vial of the new Fever Reducer and runs over back to her sister, who is breathing normally and calmly. “Here, open your mouth.”

Leona does as told. Liliane pops the cock of the vial and gently pours its content down her sister’s throat.

Leona swallows the potion with a grimace, eyes closed and face scrunch in disgust. Helma’s bosom, how she hates the awful taste of medicine.

Leona sighs internally in bliss as her temperature goes down. “Thank you.” She croaks out.

“Are you okay?” Liliane asks, her face still squeezed with worry. Leona answers with a nod.

To make sure that she isn’t lying, Liliane places the back of her palm on her forehead and feels her temperature.

“Lily, it’s okay.” Leona gently removes her hand. “I’m okay.”

“For now.” Liliane snaps, making Leona flinch a bit. She heaves a sigh, pinching her nose. “Leona…” She lets go of her nose before looking at the teen with a worried look. “Your fevers are getting worse. They come so suddenly, and instead of once in a week, they now come twice or trice. It’s getting Raemon and I really worried.”

“I know.” Leona sighs. “And I apologize.”

Liliane heaves a tired sigh. “It’s not your fault.” She pats Leona’s head, grimacing when she feels the wetness of it. “Come on, go take a bath.”

She gets off the bed, outstretching her hand to Leona. She helps her out of the bed, flicking her forehead.

Leona playfully swats her hand away, a pout on her lips. Liliane gives a chuckle, eyes alit with amusement.

“Go.” Liliane jerks her head at the bathroom door. Her sister gives an exasperated eye roll before walking over to the bathroom.

Liliane makes her way to the door, pausing and turning back to face Leona, who was about to close the bathroom door.

“See you downstairs.” Liliane says. “Don’t take too long.” She gives the teen a pointed look.

“I won’t.” Leona replies before closing the door.

Liliane heaves another sigh before walking out, heading back to her room to bath and get ready for the day.