As far as dreams went, there were bad ones and then there were the good ones. There is a broad idea of what most people dream about; food, good times and bad times. Some have realistic dreams, some have unrealistic dreams, fantastic dreams, and dreams bordering on downright absurd.
But then there was this; April's dreams. They bordered on; you're an over imaginative person, to; there's no help left for you in this world.
In her defense, she was stuck in an environment that screamed "designed by a Chūnibyō!"
In this particular dream, nothing weird was happening—no! Like that would ever…!
She was just standing in a room with sky-high golden walls, golden floors and creeper plants scaling toward the ceiling.
Nothing weird about that.
In this room, she stood in the middle of a bustling crowd, everyone smiling, standing around, seemingly absorbed in conversation. They were lovely people, beautiful, all of them were youthful and they had those ears April wouldn't mention or simply didn't see the need to mention.
Soft orchestral music played in the background.
She squinted to herself, thinking, "There's something wrong with this picture." and then whipped her around to a woman who handed her a chalice of clear liquid.
"Enjoy yourself, milady." The words were directed to her as she stared at the blonde, green-eyed she-elf smiling warmly.
She watched her saunter away with a gaping mouth. This was not how her dreams usually went. They usually started with a weird environment, followed by a pop! and then a BANG! of some sort…
But come to think of it, she had never met any other elf apart from the Kraufford sons and their entourage. The only faces she could consider different were of the intimidating council of 'elders.' Unless they were the whole Elven population?
She caught a glimpse of herself, looked down and softly gasped at the silky, golden dress that flowed straight down her frame, decorated with tiny millions of pearly ornaments. It was beautiful and she definitely did not remember putting it on herself. So she used the silver chalice's reflective side to look at her face.
The eyes that met her weren't their usual emerald green, they were a pale gold, like the dress she wore. Her hair was still the same half raven black and half blonde, but longer than ever, flowing down her back like a waterfall and pooling on the floor.
She squinted.
"I'm a Rapunzel wannabe…"
No.
Something had to go wrong.
This was not normal!
She lowered her nose to the clear liquid in the chalice, wondering if it would have the solution to this bizarre scenario. She took a tentative sip, working her tongue on the liquid.
…And it sort of started?
Either way, a young woman stood up on a podium overlooking the hall and cleared her throat. She began to vocalize to an orchestral composition. Her voice rose and lowered in ways April could never dream of achieving physically. She hit the low notes and then went on an adventurous exploration of the high notes, the song apparently reaching its peak.
And then it happened.
Finally…
The woman opened her mouth wide to hit the last note…
…When a large white wolf tackled her off the podium…!
April stood still for a moment, her eyes wide and filled with amusement instead of shock.
"I definitely saw that coming," she mumbled with a wry smile.
The orchestral music resumed with those high notes and she just stood there and watched as people ran away in slow motion, screaming while a rabid four meters high wolf tore through them like they were chess pieces carefully set up for a puppy to knock over.
The chaos continued to unravel, and she looked away from it all, bringing the chalice to her mouth.
Then she swerved her head around again, her eyes wide, her ear picking up something weirdly familiar.
"What's that sound?" She asked.
"I said to stop standing around like a fool," a voice emphasized before someone pulled her chalice away, giving it to a passing lady with a tray.
April stared up at the white-haired young man with a blank expression, her mouth ajar.
"S-Saka? Y-you're in my—!"
He pressed a finger to her lips to shut her up, pulling her into his arms as the chaos in the surroundings faded and the slow music played. He held her small hand with his metallic left hand, and placed a firm hand on her waist. Then they began to waltz.
April, confused by the turn of events, fluttered her eyelashes endlessly. Usually, when the monsters attacked, she would wake up from the dream.
Unless…
"This is a dream," Saka interrupted her thoughts. "You've created it with your chaotic mind when you panicked and now it's ceaseless."
April craned her head back and gawked up at him. Why was he waltzing with her?
Dressed in a long, black and sleeveless robe that contrasted starkly with his skin, shining like jet, his white hair flowed down his frame and he looked… majestic?
No! He looked like a statue carved out of her nightmares—!
He brought her thoughts back with a flick on her forehead.
"Don't get distracted. You need to stop this stupid dream." Saka crowed, an embittered tone in his voice.
"How long has it been going on?" April asked as she tried not to focus on his hand on her waist.
"Two hours."
April nodded, taking the news in. She looked up at him again.
"Wait, why are you here? Stuck?"
Saka frowned.
"It's the most pathetic mind I have ever traversed. She pulled me in here. Now you have to find a way to stop her, to break this nightmare." He said through gritted teeth.
April squinted.
"Who?"
Saka pinched April's chin with his normal hand, April shivering from the contact, and pulled her face to the opposite direction.
"Her," he repeated.
April focused on the specific spot when her eyes went wide.
"What the heck, Saka?"
She squinted and her reflection followed suit. A mirror that was about several inches taller than Saka stood to his right, and the both of them fit in it. They watched the peculiar object with measured curiosity, not aware that the ballroom was as of now empty.
April blinked at her reflection.
It poked its tongue out at her.
She gasped and almost jumped back but Saka, who's reflection was mimicking his actions as they were, tightened his hold on her arms.
"I hope it bites you," he growled.
She stood still and watched as her reflection did all sorts of random poses; Lady Liberty; first man on the moon; a zombie walking; a mime trapped in an invisible box.
Saka stared blankly at the whole event.
"I hate this damn place." He muttered.
* * * *
"I find it hard to believe she has no Aura. Her presence alone not only disturbed Coa's magic, but it also triggered her defenses."
The rest of the council members inhaled deeply and leaned back after Council elder Rodias spoke. The air became stiff with tension.
"The last time something stirred the Castle of Ancients' internal defenses was more than three centuries ago," Councilwoman Shariah started, her blue eyes glinting ominously. "It's likely just a coincidence due to her sudden appearance."
"Don't tell me she's another entity," Rodias scoffed bitterly.
The other six women maintained their strong gazes on the elf, their silence echoing volumes. But the only one with a different expression; a look of challenge as the silver collar rested around her neck and flowed down her chest in pearls, was Zera.
She raised her chin.
"I advise ruling against coincidence at this point. Do not forget she is of a different dimension—Acugamathura. Not much is known about it."
"Or so she claims," Councilwoman Sefina interjected.
The other Council elders focused on Zera again and silence swept over the cool marble floors of the courtroom while the eight youthful figureheads sat up on the pedestals, their jury table solid stone. Then they shared a moment of silence before Councilwoman Corvalis broke it.
"Overlooking her origins for a moment or so, what of her strange form and… that sand?"
Councilman Zera narrowed her crimson eyes. "We shall get to that any moment now."
And while the other Council member elders awaited an explanation for her partially asserting words, the courtroom's fairy wing doors folded apart, opening and in walked a blue-haired she-elf dressed in white, smart robes, followed by a blonde and raven-haired, dressed similarly to her.
The blonde and the raven-head carried together a large hourglass the size of a twenty litre water bucket. It was filled with glowing golden grains of sand, and they were holding the hourglass in a way that the sand settled on one side; at the bottom. Loys, the woman with sapphire blue hair, bowed to the council elves that were seated twenty meters high up. Then, raising her hand, she quietly commanded a marble table to rise up out of the marble floor. The other two women set the hourglass on the table, the sand at the top, and while the object started depositing the golden grains from one side to the other, the fairy wing doors flew apart again.
Eref and Irstte marched in, followed by Safatore in a blue robe who looked as if he would rather be literally anywhere else. As if he had been pulled out of his me-time and dragged along against his will.
"I do not appreciate these sudden and particularly aggressive summons, Lady Zera," he exhaled, looking up at the jury table.
Eref and Irstte stood guard behind him.
Councilwoman Zera leaned forward, looking down at his tall form which seemed pliant and miniature from twenty meters high up.
"Oh, but you will love why you're here today, young Kraufford."
She wore a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Today we find out what sort of monster you took in."
And while Safatore eyed the hourglass with cautious skepticism, the councilwoman continued to say:
"Her Aura Assessment was an absolute failure as the creature didn't possess an amygdala—however that was made possible—but here in this hourglass, provided by your uncle from his collection, we will find out what she truly is."
Safatore sharply turned his gaze up to the woman, a faint smile on his face. "And if you do? What becomes of her?"
"She becomes a part of the system or she gets expelled by the system, depending on what she is." Rodias plowed through dryly.
"I thought you had given her the three options?"
"The options still stand, young Kraufford."
Safatore nodded thoughtfully, turning away.
Loys bowed to Safatore. "Your Grace, if I may have you know; this sand is kept in this hourglass to keep us safe from its peculiar attractive properties."
Safatore's eyebrows shot up. "Attractive?"
Loys nodded. "I mean that as a form of a luring mechanism—a biological attractant of some sort—a predatory lure, if you will."
"Predatory?" A random person asked up the jury table.
Loys explained. "Though we were exposed to it during the time it was excreted, it only took effect when we first started studying it. We… my sister physicians and I felt the unbearable urge… to eat it."
"Eat it?" Someone scoffed.
Safatore blinked but his thoughts were filled with memories of not-so-long-past events. Before Loys continued.
"After half a quarter of an hour or so of consuming this sand, when nothing happened, we suddenly snapped out of it and continued studying it. We exposed it to a dozen plant species and a few field mice that were scurrying around ate it as well but they… in the end… got sick to the point of near death. We suppose we were immune due to our Heliomorphosis."
Everyone huffed at that conclusion but the blue haired she-elf lowered her gaze for a moment before turning back to Safatore.
"This sand is the girl's natural lure. And it's also toxic."
"So she's a predator, ey?" Rodias chuckled bitterly and the whole council turned to face Safatore who lowered his gaze, thinking pensively.
"But!" Loys exclaimed and attracted everyone's attention. "We again gave the sand to the poisoned plants and sick mice and they were both revived a few minutes later."
"Dual contradictory properties?!" Zera spat and there was a clamoring of voices from the high jury table, the eight youthful figureheads rumbling incoherently.
"It poisons what is well and heals what is unwell." Loys spoke through the clamoring.
Safatore crossed his arms and silently pondered.
After a moment, Councilwoman Zera raised a hand and the rest of the elven council calmed down, silencing and staring down at the six figures on the floor below.
"So she has predatory traits and healing traits as well. What else?"
Loys glanced back at the other physician elves and sighed. "We did find out what species she is." She turned to Safatore who stared down at her with a face that bordered between curious and worried. "Well, at least a part of what she is."
"Well?" Rodias asked.
Still looking at Safatore, Loys smiled and replied, "After rummaging through caches of ancient texts, we found an old tome book focusing on the biology of elves. April Commerce of Acugamathura is obviously a hybrid, just like Prince Sakature. But she is a dark elf."
The council of elders remained silent for a moment. And just as quickly as they'd fallen silent, they barked out harsh laughter.
"A dark elf!" Rodias facepalmed. "What nonsense."
They laughed some more.
"Didn't our ancestors wipe their signature from our genes a millennia ago?" Safatore mumbled to Loys under the uncivilized laughter of the council.
"Your Grace, she is not of this dimension." Loys answered.
"Ah." Safatore nodded, not aware some of the council members were starting to compose themselves and paying attention to him. "And what of her second heart?"
His question echoed throughout the courtroom. Everyone waited for the answer.
Loys withstood the gazes. "It's… just a second heart… I think."
Everyone remained silent.
"A dark elf hybrid cast into this dimension, huh?" Councilwoman Zera mused. "Perhaps we shall make her a permanent citizen then. She could be of more use than a warrior after all."
"But dark elves were an unsuitably strong part of our genes, bred like rabbits." Safatore pointed out.
The council of elders stared down at him silently, their expressions blank. He paused, gasped and stared back at them in realization, his face bloodless.