Chapter 1: Prologue: death
"Would you go back?" A soft voice laced with so much sadness suddenly interrupts Shaianah's serene thoughts. Shaianah glances at her sister, Christine, who was perhaps pertaining to the life they once had before the unwanted death that occurred.
"There is peace in accepting death." Shaianah responded a rather meaningful sentence that doesn't exactly answer her sister's question. She knew that it was an impending death and that they had no power to change a fate that's already been decided.
At this moment, she would have already handled two heart-wrenching deaths that drastically changed her life. The first was the demise of their father when she was merely eleven years old; and her siblings were only nine and one. They weren't exactly living a wealthy life, so their mother had to work day and night in order to provide for their needs.
"Why do you seem okay with losing our mother?" Christine asked through a tight-lipped smile. She couldn't accept it. She didn't want to know what life would be like without their mother, but now she's being forced to live in it. It even irritates her more that her sister looked okay with everything.
Before Shaianah could even utter a single word, their conversation was interrupted by Gio.
"We are leaving." Gio announced. He was dressed in a white formal long-sleeve and a dark denim pants which was such an unusual sight to the two girls who were used to see him in plain shirts and cargo shorts. In fact, all of them were dressed formally today.
"Have you bid your good byes?"
"Can't we stay?" Christine whimpered, not wanting to leave her mother's grave nor to leave the town in general. Gio flashed a sad smile that made her heave a sigh. It was going to happen whether she likes it or not.
They needed to move to Cassiopeia, their mother's hometown, as it was her last wish before her death.
"You guys would love it there, I promise. That place is magical." Gio said when they've all reached the car. The twins, Joseph and Jillian, were already at the backseat and were both sound asleep.
Christine lets out a small laugh after hearing the word Gio used to describe the town of Cassiopeia. "Seriously? Magical? Where are we going? Disney Land?"
"It's far more magical than Disney Land, I tell you." The two girls just looked at each other and shrugged, not really minding the context behind Gio's words.
Cassiopeia.
It was just last week when the siblings found out about their mother's hometown. It was already weird enough for them that they've never heard of it once nor did their mother tell them that they still had close relatives. And it became weirder when they found out that Gio, their parents' most loyal friend, once lived there too. Also adding the fact that Cassiopeia is a place literally no one else has heard before. It was as though it was purposely kept hidden.
"Shaianah," a soft voice calls out in the middle of darkness. It called her out a few more times until Shaianah finally stood on her feet to follow where it was coming from. She couldn't recognize whose voice it was but it felt as though her heart could. "I am here, my princess."
Suddenly, trees started to appear everywhere but were soon devoured by a huge fire that turned everything into ashes. When Shaianah turned her gaze towards the sky, an overwhelming fear started to rain on her. The sky, like the ashes, were gray and lifeless. Black birds were flying across it as though they were running away from something.
"Shaianah!" A scream echoed through Shaianah's ears, making her grunt in pain. The scene had already changed into that of a war. There were dead bodies everywhere while some still continued to fight. The images of the people Shaianah loved flashed before her eyes, and some from those who were unfamiliar to her. They all called out her name until Shaianah finally faced her own reflection.
"Impending but unwanted death." Her reflection spoke to her and she trembles in fear, stepping back as her shoulders still shudders. Everything else happened fast. A bright blue light suddenly came rushing to her direction—
Flinch.
"Hey, is there something wrong?" Gio worriedly asks.
"I had a bad dream." Shaianah said, still a bit dazed of her dream. It actually felt more like a vision to her than a mere product of her unconsciousness. "How long have we been traveling?"
"Three hours." Christine answered.
"I'm hungry! When do we get to eat?" Joseph complained from the backseat, earning a soft laughter from his twin sister, Jillian, who immediately teased him for being such a baby.
"But you just ate."
"I want real food or else I'm going to die!"
"Don't worry, kids, we're close to Cassiopeia. Your grandparents must have prepared a lot of food for you there." Gio says, making the kids throw their hands on the air in excitement. Shaianah, though, had her brows furrow in confusion.
"How did they know we were coming?" But instead of giving a proper answer, Gio just smiled and shrugged. Shaianah decided to let it off thinking that Gio must have informed their grandparents ahead of time.
"It's beautiful." Christine muttered, seemingly lost in the moment as she gazes at an arc where the words 'Welcome to Cassiopeia' was written. It was laced in vines and colourful flowers. The sides of the road were also full of plants and trees. There were no big establishments and the place was less polluted compared to Manila. The people seem kind, greeting them as their car passes by near the sidewalks.
"Welcome to your new home." Gio caught everyone's attention, turning their heads to a ten-foot tall steel gate that automatically opened as soon as they arrived. That wasn't the only thing that made their jaws drop to the floor, though. Up ahead stood a modern castle, one that must have been conjured from a fairy tale book they've read in their childhood.
The massive old-styled door opened, revealing an unfamiliar lady in yellow who had a warm smile plastered on her face. "My grandchildren!" She pulls Shaianah and her siblings into a welcoming hug.
Memories soon flashed through Shaianah's eyes, but the odd thing about it is how vivid they were even though they weren't exactly hers. Warmth. Affection. Endearing smile. It was someone she seemed to know, someone close to her, even though they haven't even actually met.
The lady in her vision was a brunette who had flowers all over her hair and a baby in her arms she was humming a soft tone to. Both her and the baby looked so serene, like sea waves crashing to the shorelines breathing tranquility to a beach.
"Shaianah," Christine nudges her sister who was obviously dazed.
"I have heard of your mother's death. I didn't even have a chance to see her one last time before she passed away. I didn't know she was ill."
"Mammy, she left a letter for you." Gio said, handing the old lady a letter the siblings knew nothing about. "She knew this day would come."
Impending. They all knew this moment ought come when a mother is to leave her children. It was inevitable because of the cancer cells that had already spread through her body. There was no way out and she had to secure the children's future without her, most especially Shaianah's who was believed to be a prodigy.
Their parents had loved them all equally, but it was Shaianah whom they've always looked after. The girl had an exceptional talent and a sharp memory even when she was just seven years old. This made her different from the others, creating distance between her and the real world. She did not have many friends and would always prefer to read a book by the window than to play outside.
Christine had always envied Shaianah, but they were sisters and they were taught to love and care for each other.
After a short conversation, Mammy led them to the receiving area of their castle-like home. A grand marble stone staircase welcomes them, accents of gold scattered all over. The place was a beaut, with soft pink and gold patterned tapestries hanging by the walls.
The dining hall was also huge, having a hard maple long table filled with so much food. "I hope we've prepared enough." An old man pops his head from the kitchen, smiling warmly to welcome the visitors. It was their grandfather.
"These are way too many." Christine says unknowingly, almost drooling from the sight of the foods in front of them. But it bothered Shaianah. It bothered her that their family was actually wealthy yet their mother had to work twice as hard when their father died.
"I hope you treat this place as your home now."
"Why have we never heard of Cassiopeia before?" Shaianah finally asks. "I mean, it's just weird that we couldn't even find it in the internet and it seemed as though our parents have kept it hidden from us."
All had gone quiet of Shaianah's question. Christine began to wonder while the twins, as innocent as they are, couldn't grasp anything from the conversation.
"Shaianah, can I have a moment?" Mammy asks, leading them both outside the dining hall. "There are questions I can't answer, but you can. You just have to find where the answer lies."
"What does that mean?" Shaianah was even more confused as Mammy handed her a small blue box.
"This was your mother's. Genevieve's. She left it with me and told me to give it to you if you come back."
"Come back? But I haven't even been in this place." And then it struck her—how familiar everything was even when it was her first time to set foot at such a place. The lady that was humming in her vision, the unfamiliar people she saw in her dreams. Were they real? Were they people Shaianah knew before? Did she have another life before the current one? What was going on?
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