Ch:67 – A glimpse of my past

"How do you know my name?" She got me confused. My weird dreams always seemed to bring out something peculiar.

"Have you lost your memories? No. It seems you are the one, but also someone else."

"Why are you kneeling?"

"I have to. You're most exalted. The one who'll save our empire." Her voice then came a little distorted as if it came from a radio. "Empire?"

A moment of pause as if she was thinking about something. "I beg of you. Please allow this lowly one to see your memories."

"I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"I am a miko. One of many priestesses who served the empress. Your mother."

"My mother?" Surely, this woman got something wrong. My mother was once a noble, a duchess. My current mother, Rosaline, is a serf.

Her head rose slightly above the ground, and then both of her hands aimed at me. I found a single eerie eye on both.

How she bent like that and still held her hands at me in such a manner was beyond anything I had ever seen. But to be fair, I had a lot of such things happening throughout the course of my life.

"Forgive me." 

I noticed right after her words, a grey wave approaching me.

Notice: Soul-bond has reacted. 

Warning: A dangerous entity has woken up.

In front of me, however, a white-haired girl appeared out of thin air, and a thick aura of darkness surrounded the incoming ability.

"You!" The miko shouted. "You're not meant to meddle with fate! You're disobeying the empress!"

I took two steps to the right to catch a better view of what was happening.

I saw the grey aura being absorbed by the darkness. The white-haired girl's eyes were no longer closed.

They were terrifying.

My body shook, fear gnawing at my skin. 

Now I understand Aurora's words. 

Now I understand why my sister wanted her to remain asleep.

Now I understand that they were two different entities.

"Upon the ancient rite which the empress forced upon my younger self, I was to obediently serve her till my last day."

The priestess raised her head, tears flowing from her eyes.

"Yes. Iris' mother, the empress, and all of its citizens were conquered by the hero twenty thousand years ago."

"You fiend! You were ordered to protect us!"

Aura's wicked laughter shook the whole space.

"Aurora, come forth." 

My eyes lowered as I noticed a dark creature rising from my shadow next to my feet.

"So you've found a new master."

Aurora nodded, following with her share of words. "Now is not the time for you to awaken."

Aura smile curled like smoke over broken glass, slow, delicate, yet impossible to look away from. Shadows pooled at the corners of her lips, as if the darkness itself had learned to grin. The teeth, pale and sharp, gleamed with secrets no one alive should know, and the eyes above them glittered. There was not a single glimpse of warmth, but a quiet amusement that awaited patiently for the world to break. I could tell she laughed, but not out of joy. The happiness in her had been drained from her heart long ago and replaced with the cold delight of malice.

"It's pleasant to know you didn't forget your place." 

At those words, Aurora bowed, perhaps out of respect, perhaps out of fear. Her past was an enigma.

Aura's gaze returned to the priestess.

"Any further attempt to dishonor the one who'll save us all will be met with absolute annihilation."

A tremendous pressure followed, pushing the priestess' body to the floor, creating cracks underneath her.

"Don't hurt her!" I shouted, causing the aura to cease.

Aura's gaze pierced me, but I didn't flinch.

"As you wish, empress daughter." Her Aura ceased, and her eyes closed.

Aurora placed her hand atop my shoulder. "Esruc."

In front of us, my grimoire appeared, it opened itself and grew in size, then it ate Aura and vanished.

"Aura no longer serves your mother, but rest assured." Her grip on my shoulder got tighter. "She can't kill you because of our soul-bond. Her soul was previously connected with mine. Thus, the three of us are forever connected."

"Was that why you did it? To protect me?"

"Yes. Because you saved me from the Sage's trap that would have killed me otherwise."

"Thank you, Aurora."

"Good luck, sister." She pressed her index finger on my nose before vanishing back into my shadow.

The dream realm, if we could call it that, became stable once more.

I took a few steps closer to the lying kitsune, assisting her to get up. "Are you alright?"

"Yes. Thank you for helping me, and I'm sorry."

"I forgive you. There must be a lot at stake. Most of it, I have no clue about."

"It is as you say. The world viewed us in a beautiful way until the day the God of light and his kingdom decided to conquer the world."

"And, I suppose, my mom, this empress you mentioned, was their enemy?"

"That is so."

"Did she have a name?"

"We all do, but it's not something to be given lightly. Those who know our names can control us."

"Then, it is a good thing, I have been reincarnated as a human."

"So that's what happened. The wheel of reincarnation spun for you."

"Twice at that. That I know of." I added. Twenty thousand years had passed. There were no memories of such a life anymore, but my soul seemed to feel some nostalgia for that time. I must've been delighted.

"Most fortunate that the god of light didn't manage to destroy your soul."

"Yes. I'm surprisingly satisfied with my current life, family, and friends."

"Yet, you remain unhappy."

I opened my mouth; however, no words followed.

"The fact you found your way here tells me that."

"Is that so?" I crossed my arms while walking away from her, even showing my back. "Well, the world I'm currently in also has a lot of struggles and gods."

I heard the familiar bells ringing as I heard her fixing her clothes.

"Gods and their vile games."

I smiled at her words. Surely, my life was not a mere game. Even though to such almighty existences, I was potentially just a piece on the board.

"Now that the empress is dead. You will inherit her will, won't you?"

I glanced at her sideways, my chin above my left shoulder. "Do I have to?"

"It'll allow you to achieve her long-lasting wish."

I turned my body to her, then looked at the temple.

"This mother of mine. Did she live in that temple?"

"In a much bigger one."

I smiled at that. 'She had been the empress, after all.' I shook my ignorant self aside.

"What will you have me do?"

"Become the empress of the kitsune."