"Koran! Where have you gone to this time! Koran!" Shelar steps through the palace silently, annoyance flickering across her face. "This is stupid." She stops, placing her hands on her hips, her white robes lightly falling down her slim figure. With a slight movement, she tosses the ponytail of brown hair off of her shoulder. She sighs and continues on, looking for the priest who's studying under her.
"Look." The young man holds his hands out in front of him, concentrating on the light spell, causing it to change colors before the princess's eyes.
"Wow!" Shon Lin whispers, watching the many beautiful colors in the light. "How did you do that?"
He laughs before he tells her his usual answer with some of the tricks he learned to do with the simpler of the spells he knows. "That's a secret, Shon Lin." He gently kisses her forehead.
"Come on! You can tell me! I won't tell anyone! I promise!" She stops. "I know why you won't tell me! Shelar doesn't like your experiments, does she?"
Koran then leans back against the wall. He looks up at the roof, which is part of the staircase above them. He then looks back to the princess. "Maybe... Maybe not. Who knows." He laughs then shrugs. "How are your notes in the journal we gave you going?"
"They're fine. I just don't understand a lot of things. I can't see why I have to do this..." The princess pulls out a simple, black, leather bound book from her bag. It bears strange inscriptions across the front of it, decorated with gold leafing, as well as the pages being gold themselves.
"We're not supposed to understand everything, Shon Lin." Koran reminds her softly. "We can't even comprehend everything that the Mother knows. I know that, and you know that." He sits back, straightening his white robes, then brushes his black bangs from his face. "Trust me, your highness."
The princess sits back silently, and thinks to herself. "Why do you keep trying to learn more about magic then? If we're not supposed to understand everything given to us... Then couldn't that mean that there are powers that we don't understand and thus, should not touch...?"
Koran stops suddenly, at the child's words. He looks away from her as he begins to speak softly. "Though there are times when we are forced to learn new things on our own." He remains silent after he's said what needs to be said.
Shon Lin remains silent as well, then closes her eyes.
That silence, though, is interrupted by a slam then an angry voice.
"So here you are, Koran!" Shelar stands at the door she just slammed open. "Where have you been? The high priest has been wanting to talk to us both!"
"He has?" Koran looks up at the higher ranked Priestess. You can tell this, by the fact that unlike his robes which only has gold trim on them, her's happen to have an extra stripe of gold around the sleeves, over the trim.
"Don't you remember? Today, you have to prepare for the festival coming up!"
Koran stops, then he suddenly looks at her shock on his face. "You're kidding me! I didn't realize that..."
Before he can finish Shelar glares at him. "What do you mean you didn't realize?! He has been telling us repeatedly for several days now!"
"I'm sorry, I just lost track of time, okay?"
"Sorry nothing! You have to stay on your toes. The master won't like this irresponsibility at all."
"Excuse me..." Shon Lin speaks up between the two fighting priests.
Does it get her anywhere though?
"Irresponsibility? Take that back! I..."
No, it didn't.
Shon Lin sighs, realizing that that didn't get her anywhere. She finds a place to sit down and thumb through the book she was given by the High Priest. Looking over her notes she's written in it, then looks at the two priests. They're still arguing. The princess finally stands up and pulls on Koran's robes. "Ummm... Koran... Please... Stop fighting..."
The dream is suddenly torn to shreds.
Shon Lin looks around, seeing herself as she is now, standing in the burning palace. She remembers this day to be the first attack on the Barunos palace just after the War had started. She turns around, fear flashing across her face to se Shelar and Koran fighting side by side, defending her younger self. A strange wolf-like creature is walking across the courtyard towards the trio, silently.
Shelar steps forward suddenly, bringing her sword out in front of her, glaring at the being before her. "Back off! I demand you to do so!"
The Mazoku looks down to her, then stabs its large sword into the ground, watching the priestess. Suddenly it waves a hand and the girl is thrown back into the princess. It turns to Koran who holds his staff out against it.
Koran!
She hears her younger self screaming out the priest's name.
Leave Koran alone!
The being looks over to Shon Lin, watching her silently. Then it begins to walk over to Koran, the image of the winged wolf fading away, revealing that of a beautiful woman with long, curly hair falling down her back. She wears a white dress that seems to barely cling to her figure, and many gold bangles on her wrists and ankles.
Quietly walking up to the Priest who stands there silently, she takes his staff into one hand and gently pulls it, prying it easily from his hands. She then pulls out a dagger from nowhere, and slashes it across his chest seconds before stabbing it into him.
Without another word, Koran collapses to the ground at her feet.
Once again, the dream is shattered... This time from a different cause.
Shon Lin sits up suddenly, crying as she does so. The servant is sitting beside her, silently trying to comfort her.
"Highness... Are you okay?" He speaks softly to her.
Shon Lin doesn't answer as she leans forward, reaching for something to hold, to bury her face in, and to hide herself from the world so she can cry.
"Princess..." He speaks softly to her. "You just had a nightmare... A nightmare isn't always bad either, child... It just takes understanding to figure out why you had it..."
Understanding.
"It may just be a voice calling out to you. Bringing your attention to something."
We're not meant to understand all things.
"It may just be nothing though."
Shon Lin looks at the strange servant who's continuous smile has faded... Suddenly she throws herself onto him, breaking down and crying loudly. Realization of what has happened to her in the past day finally beginning to sink in.
Loss.
Realization of what this could mean.
Destruction.
The realization that she's not a princess in a fairy tale. The realization that she's in the middle of a war of gods and demons, in the center of what could possibly bring about the end of the world.
The servant sits there silently... He then begins to run a hand through her hair, whispering to her. "The world is cruel, Shon Lin, and so are many of those out there." He slides his hand onto her forehead and slides her bangs back, looking at the marks on her forehead silently. "You have so much that's important to you. There are people who will kill you for it, but there are people who will protect you as well. I promise you, princess... I will protect you always, just as I have in the past." He kisses her forehead.
Nothing happened for the next few minutes. No one spoke nor moved.
"Shelar and I will always protect you, your Highness. It's our duty to the Mother."
Shon Lin remembers those words from her friend, hanging onto them tightly, and drifting back to sleep in his arms.