"Marry me, Aria." Domestan knelt, his head bowed. "I vow my loyalty to you, and you'll be the only woman in my life. I foresee a future with you like a Dream Seer, and will love you every year."

  "Love is legwork, Domestan. If roses are red, your hair is a bungle of cornflowers."

  She stepped away and snubbed the proposal ring in the tiny box held by Domestan.

  "Hold on, I sense something wrong with the southern air. Blood," she gasped.

  She was about to fly to the Ice Tower when Domestan gripped her arm.

  "Aria, you must not go there on your own."

  A cavalry came toward him, injured, some missing body parts.

  "Forgive me, Ice Prince, we failed to protect the King!" The soldier with dark steel-blue hair cried and fell to his knees. "The attack was sudden, and dozens of Wolfmen equipped with pointed weapons were led by a brute Wolfman with a fire-elemental fruit that burned the walls and... and..."

  "The General. My family. Where are they?!"

  There was no answer. Only silence, and the groans of soldiers in pain.

  A red-orange glowing fire spread through the southern residences, inferno rummaging across the ice like leaping jaguars, looking for anything within reach to burn.

  The thick gray of the smoke covered the clouds, shading the whole of Glacia in an atmosphere of death and despair.

  And that land that almost extinguished the Glaciouso family became the outer village of Glacia in contemporary times.

  Young Felipe stood atop the tower, yelling: "We're not slaves! It's time for us Wolfmen to stand for ourselves and leave this oppressive kingdom!"

  Dozens of angry Wolfmen around the vicinity roared, their eyes flaring with renewed purpose.

  Aria angled her bow to the sky and pulled the string. She shot toward Felipe's head, and as soon as the arrow landed, it burned on his fur.

  He shot back an evil eye. He had noticed the heir of Glacia: inexperienced, naive, a boy masquerading as a man, only chasing fruitless joys. He leaped off the melting spire, and the whole structure collapsed into a burning mound.

  Domestan froze, eyes wide open, watching the burning pile that was his family. Aria avoided looking at him and focused on the ruined ice village.

  Domestan clenched his fists. "Speak up, soldier. Why are you alive, but not them?"

  "He chose not to kill us, and his reasoning was to leave some defense. He was assured that killing the king was enough, and the rest were caught by his deadly flames."

  Wolfmen surrounded the square and praised Felipe, acknowledging him as their new king as they marched away, each step like thunder shaking the ground.

  "Where are the damn archers?" Aria asked, words dropped like stone.

  "They're all dead. I'm so sorry," the soldier said in a low voice.

  Aria sighed. "We'll be needing a knight, a powerful guard to protect the palace. What's your name?" She asked the soldier.

  "Caron." He straightened his posture. "Caron Carleton."

  Aria mounted one of the soldiers' horses. "Follow me, and we'll gather all Glacians willing to serve the kingdom. We have no time for sentiments."

  She looked back at Domestan, who swallowed and rubbed his eyes. The soldiers stared at him, waiting for the heir's command which never came. They mounted their horses and went across the city.

  And from that point, Aria Windcore became the Archer Commander and the Ice Queen, and Caron Carleton the Ice Knight of Glacia. Aria's demeanor clearly hinted she found Domestan useless: grandiose, ineffective, and scatterbrained. She married him not out of love, but in order to rule this kingdom without a proper monarch.

  Despite being reserved and stoic, she acted so well at being a genuinely caring wife to Domestan, using her wits and charm to make the public believe their territory was stable again. She thought that by performing, the Glacians would recover quickly from the unpleasant incident, and Domestan would regain his energy to adapt to his Ice King role.

  Unfortunately, Aria wasn't immune to love, and within a few months she started to care for him genuinely after realizing the man beneath the boldness and fabrications. Beneath that shallow character Domestan wore was a cunning, ambitious man with a grand vision for his kingdom, who cared deeply, internally.

  Aria's responsibilities weren't enough to make her forget about her younger sister. It broke her when she discovered that Laura was Domestan's first love. And she was running away, suspected of something heavy.

  It was a catastrophic day. The endless gray beyond roared with thunderstorms, and the heavy rain stomped on the mud. There weren't any wooden homes yet, only dead trunks. Laura's clothes were drenched by the rain, her dark wavy curls drooping over her shoulders.

  Guards surrounded the damp field, with the Ice King looming in front of her.

  Aria was inside the carriage, watching and listening. It hurt my eyes seeing her like this, miserable, a freezing cold aching in her heart.

  "You betrayed us, hideous snake." Domestan unsheathed his sword, dull and wet. "Where is the Weather Clock?!"

  "I had nothing to do with the massacre! Just exile me already and leave me alone!"

  "Stop lying. You are the only remaining confidant, other than me and Aria. Now, tell me, who tasked you to steal it?"

  "I... I never knew this would happen."

  "Cut the crap out of self-pity. It was that bastard, Felipe, wasn't it?"

  Laura shivered and kept her mouth shut. Aria just looked at her with a furrowed brow. She held her chest, the apprehension of confirming the truth too much to handle.

  "It really was him." Domestan started pacing around her. "What was going on in your mind, Laura? Did you really think that animal genuinely loved you?"

  "He loved me! Unlike you who discarded me after knowing that I'm an inner magic user!"

  "He never did!" Domestan's voice dropped in a high tone, followed by the thunder's groan. "My values are personal, as I'm not comfortable with my lover possessing magic, and we were never going to work out because I would have found out about it sooner or later. Nothing can be hidden forever. And you went as far as fabricating lies about me, stealing other people's heirlooms and turning them into a rumor machine to destroy my image. You went way too far, Laura."

  "And now," she barked, "you're onto my sister? You know we're siblings, and she could have magic too. The only difference is that she's better at hiding it."

  Aria's expression went bitter. I could sympathize with her feeling that she had failed as a sister.

  "How come you'd lie about me to protect yourself?" Aria muttered.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  All the time and money spent wasn't enough to call it family.

  "Aria, come down here. Let's end this tangle of lies together."

  She hopped off the carriage and stepped just behind Domestan, whispering: "You know me more deeply than anyone else, and I vowed to not see my sister ever again."

  "Pardon me! Is my sister really here, all this time?" Laura bellowed over the roar.

  "I don't lie, Aria," Domestan stated.

  Aria sighed and took steps forward, enough for her sister to see her. "I'm listening. And it hurts so much."

  "Let me explain this, Aria. If only I knew he would set the tower in flames—"

  Aria cut her off. "I never taught you to be this irrational. I've always reminded you that the wilderness is not to be trusted, and only Callum and I should have been. You're gone from my life ever since you trusted the Wolfman. I'm grieving what you could have been."

  She turned her back on her and took steps furthering them apart.

  "Aria!" she yelled over the nonstop cries of the sky. "Please, believe in me. We're siblings!"

  Aria had closed the carriage door already, but still waited for her husband despite her need to be away from Laura.

  The Ice King stood, watching her meticulously to ensure she was successfully kicked out of his territory.

  The guards started to pull the chain attached to the handcuffs that locked Laura's hands behind her, leading her far from Glacia. She attempted to stop the pulling force by pushing forward, but it was futile and caused her to slip in the wet mud, staining her clothing.

  "Think first before you exile me, Domestan! You need me for the Weather Clock!" She yelled in a hoarse voice.

  "That's why I'm not executing you. You have to repay your debt in this world. Bring it back, and I might forgive you."

  "Just kill me already!"

  She was pulled again, preventing her from retaliating. The guards didn't care that she was down in the mud nor showed sympathy for Laura. They were simply obeying their king.

  One of the guards was Domestan's younger brother, Dicester Glaciouso.

  He felt pity for the Ice Queen's sister, and at the same time, resentment toward her.

  When the guards had left, he hesitated for a while to follow the leaving squad.

  "Hey, hey, hey! Don't leave me alone. DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE OR ELSE—"

  A comrade pulled his hand to leave.

  Laura struggled with rage, muttering angry curses along with the thunderstorms, her distant voice still screeching up to the sky, reaching even the Great Glacia Ocean. "I swear in Megaverse I'll ruin your lives! I swear!"

  Suddenly, she started to chuckle, which slowly built into hysterical laughter, merging with the thunder that rummaged above the world.

  ***

  My past self, which I'll just call Celestia, heard the cries of the baby inside the white four walls of the sterile bedchamber, where Aerol opened his big sky-blue eyes for the first time.

  "Queen Aria, I'm here to deliver you a prophecy," my previous self said, hair covering my left eye, shadowing my face.

  "I'm done with all the lies, fake seers wanting to steal my money. You may go home now if that's all you've got."

  "I have a vision, my queen. I'm Celestia Collfumes, a Dream Seer. I'm aware that you're distrustful of anyone else, that you breakfast on death threats every day, and you want advanced information to stay on top of traitors and misfortunes." I handed her a scroll. "I hope you find it beneficial, Ice Queen."

  "Everything checks on the list." She unrolled the scroll I gave. "One last thing to confirm, lady. Do you know the gender of my next child?"

  "It is a girl, my queen. Certainly, she'll be next in line to be the Ice Queen."

  Looking back, those words held another secret, another truth, in a twisted way.

  And I became the Dream Seer of Glacia for basically handing her the politics cheat sheet: a list of individuals to dismantle from their positions and the people who wanted to replace Aria's position. I spent time within the inner world of Glacian royalty, meeting General Dicester, keeper of the royal testaments, witnessing young Aerol grow up, and I enjoyed the times I had with Aria. She really was an enigma. Caron even confided in me that he had feelings for Aria, but he respected her relationship with Domestan and he was a good man with a strong moral compass, so he stayed in the zone, obediently fulfilling his duty as the royal knight of Glacia.

  There was always this pull from each of her subjects, to always obey her command, as though she possessed some phantom power. She was a Class 4 wind-elemental fruit master after years of hard work.

  Fast forward to a dozen years later. Aerol was twelve and Arie was only ten.

  The mother and daughter were in the living room.

  "Mother, I want to go with Aerol and play with the boys," Arie said, her large sky-blue eyes looking up at her guardian.

  "I'm not letting you until you have finished your food."

  "Would I really be able to play with them after? My brother's waiting for me, but they always start without me."

  "Then they can have all their fun and silliness. There's always another day for that, and never for mastering a skill. You don't have to rely on anyone, Arie." She spooned a minuscule amount of soup. "Open your mouth."

  Arie obeyed and looked at her mother with wonder. "No one relies on me either. I don't have a Magical Fruit yet."

  "It's deeper than that, my dear. No amount of power can outweigh a virtuous person. And that's the person I want you to become before you gain any power."

  She kept silent for a moment.

  "I understand, Mother."

  It was quiet until Aice Grandiluxe, son of Lord Aalto, slammed the door open.

  "Ice Queen, our Dream Seer has been drugged!"

  Oh no. This shit caused complications with my dreams and messed up my foresight ability forever. I could still remember how horrible and sick I felt, almost dying.

  "Who did it?"

  "The chef, but they fled the palace already. I would have killed them with a fork if I'd reached them in time. Physicians are already taking care of her."

  Aria turned back to her daughter and looked at Aice. "Don't leave Arie at all costs."

  The beautiful lad nodded, and Aria ran at high speed, her white hair flowing through the wind. Her mind was buzzing with thoughts, eyes filled with paranoia.

  "Caron!" She called out to the man standing beside the throne room's door.

  "I'm asking you for a favor. A really important one. Keep this confidential between us."

  The knight's eyes widened with surprise. "What is it, my queen?"

  "You'll have to kill my daughter." Aria stated, her icy blue eyes staring deeply at Caron.

  "Pardon me, did I hear correctly that I should kill your daughter, my queen?"

  "You must do it right away. She's in her room."

  "What about violating the law?"

  "We'll manage that later. I'm commanding you an order, Ice Knight."

  Caron swallowed and straightened his body, which had trembled unconsciously. "Got it, Ice Queen."

  He bolted away, and Aria was left alone in front of the massive door.

  The surroundings suddenly became all white, with Aria being the only one here. A streak of terror came over her face, and tremor.

  "No, no, no, no, no, NOT AGAIN!" She held her hands over her temples, eyes wide open. "What happened to them?! I must know what happened!"

  I wished this were some dream caused by my thirst on Nocturne. Aria hates being unanswered. The answer to my visions was far worse than my assumptions. What she had done, something disturbing in the century, made sense given it was Laura's doing, pulling the strings as though Aria were her toy. It was as bad as the massacre. Only if everyone knew about the truth.

  "Aria, notice me! This is Celestia!" I called out over her mental fog.

  She turned slightly and stood up from the empty space. "I've never seen this before. What kind of trick are you of Laura's?"

  "I'm not part of this. I came here to free you."

  Aria squinted her eyes. I looked down at my hands, horribly white and pale, with dark veins pulsing beneath and sharp long nails.

  "You're a vampire," she stated. "I don't know who you are."

  "No, uhm..." My vision blurred, seeing a distorted version of Aria, and went back to clarity. "I'm your Dream Seer."

  Aria stood up and walked close to me. "Oh my, Celestia, is that really you?"

  "Lots of things happened out there. Aria, you're locked up here. This isn't real."

  "I know, I know. How long has it been?"

  "It's been five years."

  "Seriously, I really thought this had been a century. What happened out there?"

  I suddenly hugged her, catching her off guard.

  "Don't stress about it. I've missed you a lot, Aria."

  I'm afraid. I'm so afraid. That I'll be the one to ask her a favor, like how she did to Caron.

  And for the first time in a while, Aria burst into tears, and I felt them drip on my shoulder.

  I patted her back, and we savored this very special moment.

  "You're a villain in their eyes, Aria."

  A voice came out of nowhere.

  "You killed your daughter, and Glacia is now in shambles. It was the catalyst for the downfall of the world. You also disowned your own sister. How cruel! Well, maybe you weren't thinking straight the whole time? Let's repeat again, to see where you went wrong," Laura stated sharply in a sinister tone.

  Aria looked pale and distrustful of herself for a moment, then turned to me. "We're running out of time. Where's the escape?"

  "Hang tight." I tucked her in my arms and flew through the empty space.

  Up and up, and there, a portal had opened. We erupted from a crate. The sky was green, bluish. Eagles and parrots flew above the canopies, held by the massive trunks that stood in the flourishing mud, branches thick and lively with colorful leaves that bore edible fruits.

  "Nyfera," Aria stated, rising up from the ground.

  My vision blurred again, and I started drooling. The trees around us twisted, and Aria... I couldn't recognize her anymore.

  "Celestia? Oh no..."

  "Arie's still alive," I stated, my voice hoarse. "I never wanted all of this to happen. It's not your fault, Aria."

  "What's going on?" she asked.

  "That stupid crawling vampire." I blurted out. "I don't want to be like that. I don't want to, I don't want to be a slave of this cursed infection!"

  And I don't want Aria to be murdered in her fresh escape.

  I fled and went deep into the jungle, bursting through the thick vines and driving away the innocent animals that resided there.

  "Celestia! Let me help, come back!" Aria's voice screamed far behind.

  I heard her presence growing closer. She can't come any closer to me.

  A blur of purple and teal came into my sight, with a strange odor. This must be it. I pulled it off using my clawed hands and swallowed what I felt: the roots, then the leaves.

  Bitter and stabbing. Right, it's poisonous.

  I'd rather die sane than die insane. I'll miss you a lot, Claudius, my night owl.

  "Celestia! Celestia!" I still heard Aria's voice, and her sobs. I was unable to move. All I could do was shed a tear.

  It was such a crazy life.