Advent of War: Part 1

Lacia’s eyes fluttered open. She bolted up, exasperated, the sudden onset of a migraine forcing her back into the field of flowers where she lay. Cautiously, she opened one eye, vaguely aware of what had happened back in the forest clearing and of Omnis’ presence. She willed her body into a sitting position.

“I felt like I was going to die,” she mumbled, clutching her chest—it still ached. Looking around, she noticed the expansive field of orange amaryllis flowers that spanned farther than the horizon. “This place… This is Halysian, the realm of divinity, isn’t it?”

A dying breeze carried the murmurs of faint voices from somewhere farther away. From what she could tell, Mana was having an avid discussion about something, but the voices were still too faint to make much out. Unable to contain her curiosity, she crawled up the overgrown, flowery hillside. With each passing moment, her curiosity devolved into mindless panic as she began to recall the burning house and her encounter with someone, or something, that wasn’t Mana back in the clearing; it bothered her because she had no idea how she wound up in the middle of nowhere in the first place and why Mana was so panicked and bloodied. She picked up the pace, anxiety coursing through her veins just as fast, until she neared a full-on sprint. Breathing heavily, hands on her knees, she reached the top of the hill.

Before she could process what was happening, someone grabbed her legs, pulling her back down back into the floral overgrowth. She was so focused on the conversation Mana was having that she almost screamed.

One skinned knee later and she found herself staring straight into Licht and Hika’s eyes. They covered her mouth before she could squeal in glee, happy to finally reunite with two more of her friends.

Licht spoke first. “Let them finish talking, then we’ll fill you in.”

“Them?” she whispered. It took a moment for her brain to register that he was referring to Mana and the other woman in front of her.

“Lacia,” Mana called sweetly, “Why don’t you bring the other two over with you, since everyone’s here now?”

“How did she hear us?” Lacia whined.

“I wonder,” Licht replied sarcastically. “But it seems like the past and the present have melded together without us even knowing… Time to bring you up to speed, I guess.”

***

“So, we’re not fighting just the devils after all, then? That means the book was right and what we’re up against is something a lot scarier,” Lacia shivered. “How exactly are we approaching this, now?”

“It’s going to take a little time to adjust to this new role of Grandeur, but I think I already, mostly, have the hang of it,” Mana said, stretching. “This should put us on nearly equal footing with the devils. I think we can manage, so long as everyone pitches in. Speaking of…” she said curiously, “Brendan and Aria are currently taking Ahzef, but I hope that’s enough of a rundown for you, Lacia. We really need to get going.”

“She’s right, and there is still the matter of Millee and Kuria,” Hika chimed in. “If we can eliminate the first and fourth seats of the Reverse Royalty, we could be in position to even prevent Nertiia from reawakening.”

Lacia mulled over the trove of new information she’d just received. The one thing that bothered her was, truthfully, herself. She was the centerpiece of this new Rezertia and, so far, all that had come of it was a myriad of misery; regardless, she had no choice but to take up the proverbial torch. Still, something nagged at the back of her mind.

“There’s just one thing I want to know, and one person I want to see. First, what is my role in all of this? I still have this power that I can’t seem to get a handle on, and there’s still the issue of Millee—I have a theory I’d like to confirm.”

Ethera folded her arms in front of her chest before addressing Lacia. “You have a power that can only be obtained by someone deemed worthy of its tremendous potential, but this is also a power that can only be given by someone of status greater than Grandeur, unless…” She shook her head.

“Wait. So, it wasn’t you? Then, who gave me this power and… why me?”

“No, I did not grant you the power you currently wield, but—” Ethera abruptly reached out, catching a wispy-black spear mere inches from Mana’s face. “The answers you seek are closer than you realize, Lacia.” The spear crumbled to ash, broken down by vines of light, constricting the cloaked weapon. “We have an unwelcome guest,” she grumbled. “Lacia, Mana—you two will have to face Lucifero. Licht and Hika, may I ask that you stay?”

“But—” Mana looked to Lacia, her newly designated tag-team-battle partner.

“That is an order, Mana. I’m still your mother—now go. You two are more than capable of handling this by yourselves. You want revenge, don’t you, Lacia?”

Lacia rubbed her feet into the ground, twisting her heels into the dirt, ill-prepared to make such a decision. She didn’t want to be the devils’ ragdoll anymore, but she also knew she had a choice to make. She felt ill-prepared for the coming battles, but if she was granted a power, something greater than even a Grandeur could offer, as great as what she supposedly held, she would have to trust that she’d understand it when the time came.

“Ethera, I mean, your mother, is right, Mana. Lucifero is hell-bent on me, but you’re the one they’re going to target next if what we just talked about here gets out. Plus, you’re now the Grandeur—something even greater than myself. We’ll give Lucifero a dazzling display of strength this time.”

“Pardon the intrusion,” a devilish voice came, “but it seems I found you before my sister did. That’s good. We have some time.” It was Mikaun.

“You have some really big balls if you’re showing up here of all places,” Licht said crossing his arms. “There’s obviously something you want, otherwise you wouldn’t have come. How you got here, however, is another matter.”

“Very observant of you! There is indeed something I want. See, if I can prove to Ahzef that I’m more capable than my idiot of a sister, I’ll be the one who gets that promotion and I’m the only one who can get close enough to him to do it. He finds Lucifero incompetent, Azael he remains wary of, Kuria is currently engaged with the other princess, and my sister is still out searching for you and the rest of your group. Of course, getting as close as I’d like means bringing Ahzef your heads. No hard feelings, right?”

“Lacia, Mana,” Licht said, “it’s time for you to go. Hika and I can handle Mikaun—especially since your mother is kind enough to offer her support.”

Before Lacia knew it, she was grabbing Mana’s hand as she made a beeline for a shimmering red door that had now manifested itself behind Ethera. She knew better than to ignore her intuition; it hadn’t led her astray yet.

“The thought of facing Lucifero again… We have to win this fight… We have to eliminate Lucifero for good this time,” Lacia noted to herself. Flower petals were whisked into the wind, kicked up by her and Mana’s feet. The patter of their footsteps drowned the rest of the world out. All she could think about was the pounding in her chest and the rush of adrenaline through her veins as she crashed through the door with Mana in tow. She could feel her hand in hers, her heartbeat chambered in her wrist—the sadness of leaving her mother but the determination to end everyone’s suffering.

“We’ll join you when we finish with Mikan,” Licht shouted. “Follow what your hearts tell you, and don’t give up, no matter what happens or how impossible the fight may seem!”

Mana shouted back—it sounded like a thank you of some kind, but Lacia couldn’t make out the words; the erratic beating of her heart nullified her hearing. She stepped through the door and into her worst nightmare: she was standing in the same red dress, surrounded by the bitter cold of the winter’s night, under the same yellow lights—a sensation she had hoped to forget, intertwined with the same quiescence and burgeoning shadows. Lucifero would arrive shortly, but she had time.

Turning around to face the windows, she caught her full reflection as the wall became a one-way mirror. Behind her, a long table stood in the center of a large room, but a different gift awaited her atop its hardwood surface this time around: her revenge. Before she could adequately face Lucifero, however, there were a few things she needed to take care of: she twirled her hair into a braid, clipping what remained of her bangs back with a hair pin. The ceiling lights transformed her hair into a shimmering honey-blonde with hints of platinum as she allowed the braid to fall across her shoulder.

“Hair, check.”

Next, she ditched the uncomfortable party heels, pulling them off. She placed the glossy black pumps in a nearby open chair. She could move around just fine with them on, but her toes were already feeling the crunch, and she didn’t feel like taking her chances with a random or or heel breakage at the wrong time. A pair of low-heeled ankle boots would suffice. At the end of the table, a pair of black leather ankle boots suddenly cast their sheen in her direction.

“Shoes, uhh, check, I guess? Did I manifest those like I did the binoculars the last time I was here…?” She walked over, checking their size—a perfect match. “If only I could do this with money or jewelry or something,” she muttered.

The next order of business: a weapon, but what? What would work best for close combat, indoors? A sword would be too heavy and medieval; she needed something lighter, something she could use to make quick, lasting strikes. The sound of fluttering paper turned her attention to a gift box placed on the other end of the table; a crimson card was nestled against the side of the gift, the envelope flap open. She pulled a letter from inside, once again addressed to her:

Hi Lacia,

Dad here~ By the time you find this letter, you should be preparing for a coming war with the devils and, if you’re reading this, you likely still have questions about who you are and why your ‘gift’ is so special. We’ll make this quick since we know time will be of the essence. The letter trembled in her hands as she continued to read. Your ‘gift’ is a power known as an “Afterglow”: this power, referred to as an “Aria” in Chiipha, as you’ve likely discovered, is only bestowed upon those with the purest of hearts. Your mother and I spent much of our lives trying to unravel the mystery behind Afterglows, though we ultimately fell short in that quest.

She stared at the letter, pausing to think for a moment. “The names are kind of synonymous with each other, so I guess that makes sense in some regard, but why me? I still don’t know why I was chosen… Saying that my heart is pure doesn’t tell me anything…” She read on.

However, what we did find was that it can be activated through a very simple process and one you’ve likely already done without your knowledge, but I’ll save that part for your mother.

She took a seat, preparing herself for whatever the remainder of the letter contained. Crossing her legs, she leaned back in one of the many white plastic chairs placed at the table. She had a theory about Arias and Afterglows, though she understood they were the same thing, but her theory was laid within the names themselves. Since both terms were synonymous with the word “light”, her mind immediately conjured an image of Ethera but that wasn’t quite right. She shook her head, twirling her braid around her pointer finger.

“I wonder… Since the princesses are chosen by a power other than Ethera, aka the Grandeur, could that be where Aria and Afterglow come from? Some plane that can’t be accessed by humans? But if that’s the case, then why would that other power not intervene to stop the Rezertia and Nertiia centuries ago?” She looked up at the ceiling, barely able to make out the concave outline of the light fixtures, squinting. “Could it be?” she whispered to herself. “The Amalon Empire worshipped multiple gods, that much I remember, but what if those gods were real? If they were too weak to fight Nertiia, that means she had been cast out from wherever those gods reside, hence why it took generations of other mages and princesses to stop each subsequent Rezertia.”

Her theory went against everything she believed, heaven or hell, gods and devils, but if the devils and Nertiia themselves were real… She thought about Hika for a moment, how she told her she’d been watching over her, always there. More pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fall into place, but they weren’t all there, not yet. It sounded more like a fairytale than it did real life, yet everything else was lining up, beginning to unravel the innerworkings of the world she’d never given a second thought to.

“So, maybe our world is overseen by gods and other beings, with more nefarious creatures lurking somewhere beneath all of that.” She sighed. “There are way too many missing pieces for this girly to make work by herself. Maybe Mom’s part of the letter will help explain a little more…” She read on:

Hi, Honey. I think your father did a great job, setting the rest of this letter up, so I’ll be finishing it. You’re a smart girl, and I’m sure you took time to think about the power you’ve been given before reading this. Let me make things a little clearer for you: you are currently living in one dimension, but there are several other timelines, other dimensions, where things play out a little differently. You’ve noticed and have been told about various memory fragments, correct? Those are fragments of memories from this timeline, but your dreams are connected to other timelines, as well. They are a piece of you in another life. Your Afterglow, well, I can’t tell you exactly what that is because each Afterglow is different for each person who wields it.

Lacia gasped. “So, that’s the connection between all of these other worlds or dimensions! When Hika found me in that one, with the tower of sand… I didn’t think about it then, but I guess we’ve all died in some way.” Her eyes grew wide. “I did die in this world! That happened! But did a version of myself from another dimension bring me back? Some part of me that already knew all of this but had failed to stop Ahzef and Nertiia and gave me her life?” She returned to the final part of the letter.

There isn’t much left for us to tell you, but if you reach inside the box you found this card against, you will find the final thing you’re searching for. Combined with the bracelet we gave you, you will have everything you need to ensure this world does not also fall into ruin.” Tears formed in her eyes as she read the final lines. “Remember, we love you, and you will always be our little girl, Lacia. Now, make us proud and embrace the young woman you’ve become. You are beautiful and strong. Never forget the hardships you’ve overcome and the path you’ve walked, for they are what make you who you are.

We love you, Lacia,

~Love, Mom and Dad

“Of course, they’d make me cry before I have to fight that stupid devil again,” she sniffled, wiping away tears. “Ugh. There’s no time for this. They said look inside the box, so.” She lifted the lid, placing the ornate, golden bow it had been topped with to the side. “This… What is this…?”

A pair of small, ruby-encrusted spears rested between wads of red and white tissue paper. Lifting them out, she examined their design, the tips glinting dangerously in the light. Without warning, a small tag dropped from each of the spears, explaining their use and benefit to her:

Left spear: good for quick, precise movements. Spearpoint can be extended with hidden shaft for longer range.

Right spear: good for parrying. Spearpoints on each end are flatter, designed for slashing. Can be thrown, retrieved by attaching a mana tag.

“Looks like I have my weapon,” she said, extending the shaft of the spear now in her left hand. “It’s light but feels strong. The rubies in it, though… No, not rubies— These are made from the same thing as my bracelet! I think Licht called them Elucidation Stones?” She imbued the stones with a small trace of mana, waiting.

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but an entire transformation of the weapon was definitely pretty low on the list. The spear erupted into a dazzling array of royal crimson and regal lilac, majestic colors dancing through the room like vivid phantoms. What had been a spear was now relegated to her left wrist, a colorful composite, a second bracelet. Holding her wrist up, she realized the first bracelet had disappeared from her right.

“So, if I do the same thing with the right spear…” As she thought, the spear in her right hand became the original bracelet, the polished stones just as red as the ones that had been encrusted into the weapon. “That’s way too convenient, but I can’t wait to see what else these things can do…”

A sudden chill etched itself into her bones, sending a shiver through her body like electricity. Her teeth clattered as she furiously rubbed her arms for warmth. Her legs shook, struck by the tremors in her body, but not from the cold—she was giddy with excitement and a mad rush of adrenaline. She replayed a line from the letter over in her head:

“Never forget the hardships you’ve overcome and the path you’ve walked because they make me who I am,” she finished aloud. “I’m the girl who was chosen as this world’s catalyst alongside every other version of myself that has ever existed. I’m not just me— I’m all of me, and the hardships I’ve faced have led me here, to this place where I say goodbye to the swamp of doubt that’s attached itself to me like a shadow.”

She took a deep breath, allowing the chilly air to rejuvenate her mind, heightening the perception of her senses: the spectacle of her new weapons and naked shadows that snaked across the floor; the sound of her beating heart that crescendoed in her chest; the pumping blood that pulsed through her veins like ocean currents; the sudden aroma of her vanilla and peppermint-infused perfume; and the delectably irresistible victory that waited to wet her tongue and insatiable appetite.

“I hope you’re ready, because I’ve waited two years for my revenge,” she said coldly, addressing the new presence in the room. “I’m going to finish what I started, and if it costs me my life again,” she gave a hearty laugh, “you’ll wish that it hadn’t because I’ll haunt you, even in death so long as some part of you still exists. Be warned,” she threatened, “I’m not the same scared, little girl I used to be, and this time,” she tipped her hand, “we’re going to put an end to all of this. Isn’t that right, Miss Grandeur?”

“Perhaps you should face your foe before you threaten them with such daring words, lest you forget how disheveled I left you the first time,” Lucifero growled, sitting atop a table near the entryway. He was dressed in a white suit and dark slacks, red eyes the color of the dying rose pinned to the breast pocket of his suit jacket. “You’re all alone, with no one to fight for you this time. The Grandeur you speak of, your fabled Omnis, has grown too weak to aid you, and the Miruna girl is tied up with my boss. What can you possibly hope to achieve alone, girl?”

The steady click of a pair of high heels resonated with the emergence of Mana’s voice and presence. “She’s not alone, and she can achieve things she’s never even dreamed of.” A moment later, she appeared in the entryway, dressed in a lavender and black knee-length dress, encrusted emeralds glinting from the faux, white leather heels; sheer, black pantyhose exuded elegance… and a warning. “I’ve seen her timeline, just as I’ve seen yours, Lucifero, and only one ends successfully,” she said softly, smiling. To Lucifero, her words were like poison. “I’ll even give you a handicap since you seem so confident. I’ll keep my heels on which means I won’t have the same mobility as Lacia. This time, it’s a fair fight.”

Lucifero’s devilish voice boomed through the building. “Found the courage to fight, did you? Well then,” he said, sliding off the table, the tap from his dress shoes reverberating through the open room, “let us push past the overture and into the climax of this grand narrative!”

(Next chapter is the finale of Part 2 of "Aria-Cherishment")