Future's Ending

Snashi's POV

"They didn't find her there."

As expected, she managed to escape. I look at my brother who is staring at his spoon. He is not touching his food and I doubt it if he listened to our father.

"Nashin," I called and hold his shoulder, making him look at me. "It's fine, we'll find her in no time," I said and gave him a knowing look.

He is spacing out not because we didn't catch Fenanie's daughter, but more likely because he is guilty of betraying us for a girl.

After our dinner, I followed him to his room. I locked the doors and windows before taking a sit across him.

"Is she somewhere safe?"

He gave me a surprised look. He looks like he wanted to deny it but he ended up sighing.

"She is," he whispered. "How did you know?"

I smiled. "I'm your sister. I can read you like an open book."

He avoided my gaze. "She can never hurt Ashinaida, I swear."

I know he'll say that. "I'll trust you in that but I won't promise not to hurt her, if she'll try hurting Ashinaida."

My sister always comes first. I promised to protect my siblings and I'll keep that promise. I won't disappoint our mother.

He left to report to Quintessence so I head back to my room.

"Miss Snashi," Hura greeted. "I didn’t see Miss Chimsy. I go around Quintessence but I didn’t see her. I asked princess Ashinaida but she said Miss Chimsy left Quintessence."

She went out? But it is not summer time nor semestral break yet. Did she left Quintessence for good?

"What will you do now?"

"We'll look for her, Hura. My birthday is around the corner, and I want her to be there."

I heard some heavy footsteps outside so I decided to go out. I was greeted by a group of Guerrerian that is led by my friend.

"Eli, what's going on?"

She stopped upon seeing me. "Snashi.." she bowed a little. "We apologize for the noise we made. We must have disturbed your rest."

"Is something wrong?"

She looks back to her people and they leave us right away.

"We found her."

They found her.. Fenanie's daughter.

"Did you.. bring her here?"

She shakes her head. "We can't take her forcefully, well not in front of Gelarians after she talked about the laws and rights of the people of Epiliar."

She's smart.

"She's protected by a Kaumanian guy. I assigned someone to follow them."

I don't know what to feel. Supporting Guerreier means I am hurting my brother but doing the opposite means I am risking Ashinaida's life. What should I do?

"Don't worry, Snashi. We'll make sure she'll never do what we saw in the future. We won’t allow her to lay a finger on Ashinaida."

I thanked Eli and went back to my room when I heard little sobs. I saw Hura facing the mirror, looking so miserable.

"Hura.."

"Miss Snashi," she said, slowly turning around to see me. "My sister is alive," she whispered. It took me some time before I realized what she said.

"You mean Aru? She's alive?"

She nodded and weakly went on her knees. We both thought that her twin sister died. She said she parted ways with her sister after they were ambushed on their way to Guerreier.

"How did you know?"

"I saw her in my dream. She’s with Miss Chimsy."

I felt glad upon hearing that.

"We'll find the two of them, Hura. I promise."

.

ASHINAIDA’S POV

"Something wrong?"

I look around the field. The silence is.. deafening. Even the blow of the wind is unusual. As if something is gonna happen. Something that is unpleasant.

"We have a new student to guide today," Draceline said, totally ignoring my question. "The name is.. Tera Marie Whittle. Kauma. She must be related to Ember Whittle since they are both from Kauma."

Ember.. "I haven't seen Ember around," I mentioned. "Did she left Quintessence to go after Chimsy?"

"She wouldn't do that," Xyra inserted. "But I found something more interesting than Chimsy and Ember."

She placed a notebook in the table. I took it and flipped the pages. I was stunned to see the drawing in the page.

A woman is full of thorns, poisonous dark thorns. In front of her is a man who controls those thorns. They had no faces in this drawing but I can tell who they are because of their clothes and the crown they wore.

Those clothes.. the exact clothes my mom and dad wore on the day of mother's death.

I turned it to the next page and it shows a new born baby in the arms of a woman, beside her is a man.

The next page is another girl, wearing a coat. She's near a river and is facing a group of warriors. Guerrerian warriors.

Isn't she.. the Dauthinian who died? I heard she met the Guerrerian warriors and there is a very big chance that my people killed her.

I turned the next page and went back to the previous one. She's in Quintessence?

She faced our warriors and managed to make it to Quintessence. Am I wrong?

I flipped the pages back to the first one. The girl wore the same coat when she faced them, the same one she's wearing when she entered Quintessence.

I flipped it to the next page and there is a girl in her gown. She sits in the swing with a guy on the swing beside her.

"Is this a story book?"

Drace flipped the other pages before answering me.

"It looks like a sequence of events. But this is the only familiar event. Remember the battle among freshmen? Isn’t this what Philip wore.." she pointed at the faceless guy in the drawing. "And this is what Chimsy wore."

"It seems like a story board of someone's life," Xyra said. She placed the notebook back to the first page. "This girl is killed," she pointed at the drawing. "The next page is a birth of someone and the following pages shows a girl who faced warriors and.. reached Quintessence. In this one, she's wearing a gown, possibly, this is during the acquaintance party. And in this page," she flipped it again. "She joined the battle, it means she managed to admit herself as a student in Quintessence."

"She could be Chimsy," Draceline said. But before it could convince me, Xyra shared her thoughts.

"Or Ember Whittle. They wore the same clothes on the day of the duel, and the same gown on the acquaintance."

It could be one or none of them. I don’t know what to think off first since my mind is still in the first page.

"Ashinaida, what do you think?"

Isn't it a book of predictions? Or a book of history? I'm not sure but I know one thing, the event drawn in here really happened or will happen.

I turned the pages and showed them the first one.

"This is.. my mom," I revealed. "That is the exact detail I saw when we found her dead.. in her room."

They both looked at me in shock. I never talked about mom’s death, actually. At first, I thought it was a natural death but when Nashin told me about it, I came to realize that someone killed her.

"So it was a man.. who killed her," I whispered. And.. it is my dad?

"No, Ashinaida. It could be wrong. We can’t tell if this is trustworthy-"

"We'll trust the drawing in this book," I said while staring at the book. I flipped it to the page that shows the battle of freshmen. "This happened already. It means the scenarios here will happen or happened already, including the one where the girl is facing the warrior, Guerrerian warriors."

She encountered our warriors. It is obviously in Lar river.. "It could be the Dauthinian that was killed in Gelare."

"But she made it to Quintessence," Draceline pointed out.

That's my question. How did she made it to Quintessence after meeting the warriors? It is nearly impossible for her to meet them by chance.

"There’s no other drawing? This is the last."

I scanned the pages and saw the blank pages. I thought the following pages will be blank but there is one more in the very last page. This one is different because the people are not faceless.

"This is.."

My hands tremble as I touch the drawing. Does this mean… they will end up like this?

Without second thoughts, I tore the page and made my way to the door, bringing the drawing with me.

"Ashinaida, wait!" Draceline shouted. "You need to calm down first."

"Not when I saw that they'll die-"

"They’re not dying. It is just.. a drawing. It may or may not happen."

"There is still a possibility-"

"And what will you do with that drawing? What will you do if it really happens? Do you think you could change it? Are you capable of saving them when it is already fated to happen?"

Xyra’s words make me reflect. If it is fated to happen.. no, it can’t be.

"We need to think calmly, Ashinaida."

They gave me a chair. I sit down as I stare at the drawing.

"It can't happen, can it?" I whispered.

I can’t accept it. I.. I won't let it happen.

I stood up. "I’m going home to Guerreier," I announced. "If I need to go between them to stop this from happening, then I'll be the villain."

I walked to the main entrance of Quintessence while Draceline and Xyra follow behind.

"Is there something between them?"

I can’t answer her question. I don't know. I'll be happy if there is something between them but upon seeing the drawing, I wish there's nothing going on between them. Because I don't want to see them die.

We are at the door of the admission room when it opened. A girl looked at us innocently with her moose brown eyes. She looks really familiar but I know that this is my first time seeing her.

"You’ll take me to the village?” She slightly tilted her head while looking up to me so I bended my knees until our eyes are at the same level.

"You must be new," I said, smiling. "I am Ashinaida Laurel of Guerreier," I introduced myself.

"I am Tera Marie Whittle of Kauma," she said. Xyra and Draceline introduced their selves as well as I look at the girl intently. She's really familiar.

"You’ll take me to my house?" She asked so I pointed Xyra.

"I have important things to attend to. Xyra and Draceline will guide you instead.”

I bid goodbye and walk pass her but she stopped me with her small hand.

"That drawing…” she pointed at the paper I am holding. "They’ll die?" She asked in fear. She stared directly at my eyes, waiting for an answer.

Why is she concerned? To think that this is only a drawing, why is she so scared?

“Do you know them?"

The emotions in her eyes disappeared in a second and her innocent gaze came back.

"Do I need to know them?"

I stared back at her and said nothing. She knows how to answer a question that she doesn't want to answer. She's speaking safely.

"We’ll take you to your assigned house, Tera," Draceline offered so the girl followed them. When they are far enough, I look down at the drawing in my hand.

They shared a warm hug, clothes are both torn and are covered by blood. Hair are in a complete mess, wounds are evident on their skin. Behind them is total chaos. It seems like a romantic scene amid the chaos not until you see the spear that is pierced through the both of them. They died... in each other's arms.

Why would they die? Why is it a mess? And chaotic? What happened to the blank pages that leads to this ending?

What did you do, Nashin?

...