The Great

My eyes were swept into another dream. I could see a beautiful room with mahogany walls and elegant violet, gold, and red filigree upon the walls. There was an ivory fireplace with a dazzling blue flame and a long black marble table that had two people sitting at the ends of it. I saw a handsome looking man with slightly long and curly hair–pure white and gold in color. He had a cream colored complexion and several beautiful rings of gold and amethyst on his hands. He had long flowing robes of white and gold that seemed too vibrant for the color of this world. His gold colored eyes pierced the room with an imposing stare. He gave an inviting smile to the women on the other end. She was by all means beautiful. Her long wavy black hair flowed down her back as her olive colored skin glowed subtly in the light. Her turquoise dress matched her deep jade eyes, and her several emerald arm bands did as well. However, she looked troubled.

I heard the man speak. “So…..you look kinda ruffled there miss”. He spoke with a carefree and slightly teasing attitude. I recognized that voice……

“I know you know the reason for that”, the woman’s face harbored a combination of annoyance and controlled anger. Her emerald green eyes pierced into the air, but none of it seemed to reach the man as he simply smiled.

“Yeah, I think I have a clue…..is it because of money?…What? You’re gonna hold a couple sets of gold in the way of our friendship?”. He had the same sarcastic attitude in his voice and the woman clenched her fists in anger.

Her voice took on an angry tone as she began to speak. “You gave your blessing to a boy…a peasant boy from the common ground that you don’t even know! These traditions and rights are not a joke especially to someone like you, and like everything else you do it can not be done on a whim! It is sacred and to give it away like this instead of to one of your clan members is an insult to our people!”. She seethed at him in anger, but he just scoffed.

“Insult to our people? Please, half of the children in our clan will never see my blessing. I mean…they’re pretty hopeless to begin with…no potential. But this peasant boy…now he’s someone that I can work with”. He held up his palms and a gold cube came out of it. He started to twirl his fingers and the cube smoothly flowed into different shapes. First to a horse, then a bear, and then an eagle. He seemed to fidget with it while talking.

“I want to try something new, Feyna. Humans have recently gotten the attention of us again after that ruler….what’s his name..Vanny? Varen? No…Varun! Yes, Varun, and that interesting criminal Teras have seemed to go beyond normal human capabilities”.

“All I’m saying is that they may be the key…and I want to see it for myself”. He got up and I immediately recognized him. He wore very noticeable purple pants that didn’t match his beautiful robes at all. They were the same purple pants that I had seen the man in my previous dream wear. The woman was the other person that he was talking to in my dream—now that I thought about it, it seemed obvious.

“And I trust you to keep this between us, yes?”. The whole room turned to ice as the fire wavered slightly and the atmosphere grew denser. The woman nodded with a reluctant look of understanding and the man smiled again. “Well, let’s see how he turns out”. I felt my vision slip away and I got the last glimpse of this strange room and world as I was swept away back to reality.

Aurora Maple: “YOU ALMOST SLEPT TOGE—” Lila cut me off and put her hand to my mouth as I frantically shouted to her. We had just got up and had been getting dressed when she told me about what had happened between her and Geon.

My eyes were wide with shock and disbelief as my heart pounded and wandered. Lila looked at me with embarrassment and panic. “No! I didn’t almost sleep with him! Stop saying that so loudly!” She whispered in a frantic voice as she looked me in the eyes with a panicked look.

I looked at her and spoke. “So you didn’t almost sleep with him but you guys were on the couch together, laughing, enjoying each other's company, talking about the future, and kind of kissing?” Lila looked like she wanted to disagree but looked down in defeat.

“We almost kissed but we didn’t do anything more.” She put her finger to her mouth and looked up and smiled in an almost hypnotic way. “But I mean……I kind of wis—“ I hit her on the arm and she giggled a little. “Sorry…”

I sighed and got up. “Well….I don’t see how this is a problem. Just as long as you guys aren’t all lovey on the battlefield and you guys keep it down in the middle of the night—“.

“Hey! It’s not like that!” Lila looked at me with an exasperated look. I smirked.

“Sure…..totally” She sighed in defeat and went out the door with me. “Hey, where are those two today?”

“Oh they said they were going to skip natural sciences today. Apparently Evay is really good at Natural Sciences so he doesn’t really need to go class and well Geon….is Geon.” I laughed and smiled softly. I remembered on our trip back home he had told me about some of the flowers and trees that would grow here on the campus. He seemed to know a lot about nature so that made sense.

Lila looked at me and smiled manically. “So I heard you and Evay were alone together for the whole night and morning….What were you guys doing?” I looked at her and my face went red.

“NOTHING. Uh…well….he gave me some kiwis and we ate them for breakfast together but it’s not like that!” Lila smiled even more and walked on.

“Well….I’ve never seen you be interested in love ever, but it looks like the princess has found her Prince”, I gave her an annoyed look and she laughed and skipped down the sidewalk.

I wonder what they’re doing right now…….

Evay Maver: “You see, I don’t know how it really works but I think it’s something I can probably control.” Geon looked over at me and nodded.

“Well if you can go into your final form again that would be really convenient…..I feel like our team would be set if that was the case.” I nodded and stood up.

“It really only came to me when I really needed it. It’s like a safety measure….it only activates when I’m in danger.” Geon threw a stick at me and it bounced harmlessly off my shield.

“No, not that kind. I mean the kind where I’m getting absolutely demolished.” Geon smiled and got ready.

“WOAH, hey! I didn’t mean it like that!” He laughed loudly and got back to thinking.

“Well maybe you just need to feel that way don’t you think? If you think that you’re in danger maybe you’ll get the benefits from your blueprint”.

“Okay….”. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I tried to remember everything…all the helpless moments….all the family struggles…..all of the times when I had felt so weak and defenseless. All the times I was beaten, all the times I was thrown away, all the times when no one could do anything about our situation, all the times when my people were treated nothing like people…..The memories of Wyren, of Ren, of royal soldier, member, every land issue, and every single thing that those officers did to us. To me….to Amie…My fear turned into anger, my anger turned into sorrow, and my sorrow turned to helplessness. If only I was strong…if only I wasn’t so weak….Then maybe I could do something about this world. This system we live in…

Maybe I could do something to get back what we lost.To take back what we lost. I opened my eyes and I felt a familiar feeling wash over me. I looked down at my gold robes and saw in the reflection my clear creamy skin and my bright white hair—as well as my golden eyes. I smiled wickedly and Geon had a big grin on his face.

“You’re looking…..new.” I looked over at Geon and smiled,

“What do I call it?”

“Hm…I think….I don’t know. It’s really not good to name your attacks or say them out loud since that kind of defeats the purpose of not letting your opponents know what you’re going to do. That’s why I never name them, not a lot of people name them either.” I let myself think for a moment before I got an idea.

“Maybe….golden cloak form? No, that’s too long….maybe”. Geon looked at me as his eyes lit up.

“Call it Gold’s Veil.”

“Not bad”, we both smiled at each other and sat down to drink some water. “So did you and Lila do something together because you guys seem a little silly around each other.” Geon spat out his water and stared at me with surprised eyes.

“You can’t just start a conversation like that!” I laughed and Geon got more frantic.

“So I was right! What? Did you guys kiss or something?” Geon looked at me with a sigh and laughed a little.

“Well……almost. It was worth a shot. I don’t think she hated it so you know…let’s hope she doesn’t ditch me.” I smiled and threw his coat back to him. We started walking back to campus and wondered to ourselves–what are those two doing right now?

Lila Fairheart: I felt a little too flustered for the rest of the day. Classes were hopeless but I was good at not showing it. Everything felt too off…..I couldn’t focus and I couldn’t think straight. I walked around with a bright red face, and I constantly stared downwards with a soft expression. I had never felt like this before…..it wasn’t something people normally felt. I was normally so confident in these matters. I had boys come up to me and I had dated in the past but this feeling was new to me….I got back to the dorm and I rested on the couch—thinking of everything that had happened. Now that our group checked off the tournament qualification box, we had to struggle with academic and teenage romance problems instead. Honestly, I don’t know which one was worse. I looked over and I saw Geon standing in the corner smiling. I jumped a little in surprise and he flew towards me. He floated up and he sat crisscrossed in the air. He held out his hand and smiled invitingly. “Stressed out?” I laughed a little and nodded.

“Well, what I like to do when I’m stressed out is to take a flight.” I giggled a little and he held out his hands. I nodded and I stepped closer to him. He stood back on the ground and I took his hand in mine. His fingers and palms engulfed my hands as I melted into him. I looked up at his tall figure and saw his pretty silver hair and eyes. I felt my breathing quicken, and my heart started to beat faster as well. He gently held me in his arms and I felt myself float up in the air. He smiled down at me and we smoothly flew out the door. The vast and richly dark sky peered over us like a painting on an open canvas. The speckled stars appeared as dots over a vast backdrop of night and the cool summer night air rushed across my skin.

We started to fly higher, and higher, and higher until the buildings below us appeared as a tiny collection of toy sculptures in a vast sea of earth. He gently held me in his arms as we floated along the navy blue skyline. The bright white stars brightly shone amongst the dark blue expanse, and I could see the lights of our empire beautifully lit in the soft summer evening. The roar of the wind was not there and the chills of the freezing air didn’t hit my skin as Geon redirected the harsh winds away from us. His warmth pressed against my skin as the quiet night sky pressed around me. I felt myself glide along the clouds like a bird and I felt my eyes go wide like a little child as I saw the tall and handsome mountain tops come into view. The sea of green towering forest trees were visible below and the oceans seemed to mirror the appearance of the sky. I reached my hands out and felt the wet and delicate touch of the clouds as I passed my hands through miles of wondrous sky-cotton. There was nothing to bother us here. There were no people, no warriors, no rules, no wars, no hate, and no enemies. The problems we faced on the ground just didn’t apply to us up here.

“I always wanted to be like a bird,” I giggled softly, “they were so….free.”

Geon looked at me with a curious smile. “Freedom, huh.”

We began to fly slower and cruised along the sky. “I want that too. The freedom to just live…to not fight, to not have to pick sides or be with certain people. The freedom to just not be caught up in the problems of these massive empires.” I looked at Geon and felt my face go a little red. I looked slightly away from him and tried my hardest not to look shy.

“The freedom to love people.” Geon looked at me with an understanding expression and he flew upwards. We came to a halt as we floated in the night sky.

He began to speak. “The only thing I have ever done in my entire life is fight people. I never wanted to be like a butcher, but it turns out it was kind of all I was good for. My talents weren’t something I loved, they were something that I used to survive. I fought for myself…and I did it all to try and get the world to leave me alone.”He gently let me go and I felt a current of air lift me up and support me. He looked at me with his stormy gray eyes and I stared back into them with all of my attention.

“But I just ended up getting sucked into it all….My strength was something the world wanted, and not feared. So all my work was for nothing, but it did result in me meeting people like you.” He flew a little closer to me and grabbed my hands. “I guess I’m just trying to find people I like–like you,” I felt my heart beat faster and faster but my body began to relax and melt into the arms of Geon. He laughed softly. “I always used to fly around the skies when I was bored, but it got lonely up here. I’m glad that I can finally bring someone here with me.” I laughed and put my head to his chest.

“I’m glad I can be with you too.”