Chapter 6 Drift, Faustina

"Sustaining the king's life?" Faustina asks in sheer bewilderment. Her jaw gaped in surprise as silence followed through. Faustina held her breath as she stared in shock. How was she supposed to react to the sudden weight of the words that the knight has said?

Everything felt like a blur. Her master's dying words and the king's purpose. They interconnected like threads. But they were too weak for Faustina to simply succumb and believe to. There were too much questions that outweighed the presented answers.

Perhaps because of the pain and puzzlement, nothing seemed to satisfy her questions. Her thirst for a rebuttal was nowhere near fulfillment. Her desire for answers were not quenched. She felt parched and dry in her throat, possibly because everything was now taking its toll.

Slowly Faustina could only hear words without understanding what they meant.

"...Lady?"

And then a ghost-quiet silence followed, the moonlight was now dim and her eye were doors creeping to close. Later before she realized, she already drifted into a stupor of void, empty dreams.

**

Faustina reminisced quite often. She realized that although most of her years were spent in studying and hiding, there were several times she actually went to the 'outside world' as she liked to call it.

The world is divided into two large continents; the Zuerst and Zweite continent. The country Feuersturm lies in the middle of the Zuerst continent—which is branched into seven countries, or more specifically, "The Seven Seas."

Faustina barely remembers anything about her childhood. It was like her life started at the age of nine, where she had met Eula. Only snippets and fragments remain in her mind; days of running away from the traders, living in the slums and the experience of extreme starvation, were her earliest memory.

As far as she can recall, there were days where she would put on a cloak and tie her hair back in order to conceal her race. These were the days when Eula was strong and healthy. Eula used to take her to town, just beyond a small village located in the mountainside. Nothing near like the main city of Feuersturm, the Feuer Capital. The city where Faustina dreams to go to.

"If you were to pick a place where we could celebrate your eighteenth birthday, where would it be, Faustina?" Eula asks while crushing the leaves of gingko. Its seeds were in a container, containing toxin. Small Faustina stared attentively as Eula boiled some of its leaves to the cauldron, and did processes that she still has not demonstrated.

"Hmm." Faustina tilted her head, "survive first..."

Eula stopped and let the pestle rest against the mortar. She ruffled Faustina's hair, and grinned. "I asked the place, dummy. Did you read the books I gave you? Were you interested in going to even one of those places? If you are, then you should tell me so we can plan."

Faustina paused for a very long time and had to recollect her thoughts. Eula gave her several books she bought from a merchant few days ago. Books that were of various genres. Faustina remembered a very enticing description of a history book about Feuersturm. Its capital—Feuer Capital—known as the heart of the Zuerst continent. It was described as a lively city where everybody of different origins meet up. It depicts a 'beaming city with flickering lights at night,' and a very popular phrase saying it is 'the smiling city of Zuerst.'

"Feuer Capital!" Faustina immediately says. "I want to go to Feuer Capital."

Eula blinked, as if she was not expecting such answer. But quickly retaliated with a grin.

"The capital, eh? Youngsters sure dream high!"

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"You're not that old, master."

"Sureee." Eula says in monotone, as if she heard a very sarcastic remark. Afterwards she dumped the crushed leaves into a clear vial. When she finished, she stared at Faustina intently.

"But in all seriousness, we'll need lots of funds for that. I'll make sure we'd go to the capital at the day of your adulthood."

Faustina's eyes widened in surprise. "We're really going?"

"You don't wanna?" Eula asks, pouting. "I want you to at least experience being outside, plus your first time being an adult have to be special. And then we'd prove to everyone that women can be medics!"

Eula grinned, and Faustina cracked a smile too. "You dream big, Master."

"Aye. In this world, we have to dream, and just dream. That way we can escape the harshness of reality. We can envision. And do you know what's the greatest part you can acquire from dreaming?"

Faustina tilted her head.

"It's when you push yourself to make your dreams come true."

Faustina hazily opened her eyes. She reached her hand to the front of her face, as if examining if she was still dreaming. A dark ceiling welcomed her eyes, as she reached her hand up front to the nothingness.

Was she still half-asleep?

Her body felt sore, and her throat clutched dry. How did she become this weak? She tried to remember what happened, how, and when. Her mind drifted into a static silence and she wondered why she cannot remember a thing.

Is she dreaming?

"You are drifting." says a voice, as if it heard her question.

"Drifting?"

"It is the ability to submit one's mind into a sorcerer. Telepathy."

"Who are you?"

"I am no one," says the voice. "but one who shall answer."

"Answer what?"

"Confusion."

"About what?"

"Eula."

Her named made Faustina's mind to explode with scenes of battle, mourning and tons of questions. Everything sank in very quickly that she stood frozen wanting to scream. Nothing came out but ragged gasps and convulsing spasms as she hyperventilated.

Eula. That's right. How did she forget? How can she forget?

"Give me answers. Please. Please!" She pleaded, almost desperately. "Why? Why did that guy take Eula? What was she telling me—w-what can I do? What is the task she left me? How come I don't understand any of this—I was supposed to be her apprentice and yet..."

"Do you know the disease 'Nightmare'?"

Faustina frowned.

"The disease Nightmare plagues a very unfortunate offspring of the royal family at the Zuerst continent. It is an illness that is present in only in every royal family of the seven countries. When Nightmare appears... and what it does the person possessing the disease..."

Faustina waited.

But nothing but silence came.

"...no one really knows but the royal family." Another voice continued. "This is why for centuries we search for a cure. For centuries we did not know if we failed or we succeeded."

Faustina waited.

"A theory," says the first voice, "a theory we developed for a long time."

The other voice continued, "to sustain the life of the one inhabited with this unfortunate disease."

"A Heilen blood."

"A ritual."

"Binding of souls."

"Tying the lifespan to the other."

"A command,"

"An order."

"Eula knew." another silent voice—only too different from the others—says in such a distinctive tone.

"You are destined for this, Faustina."