Bab 12: Awakening

"Mother!"

Trapped in a daze, Riuka calls for her mother yet again, her trepidation evidenced by drops of cold sweat running down her face, unto her thin sleeping clothes.

Partially concealed in large overlaying sheets of the lightest transparent white fabric, each shaped like flower petals, she looks like a tulip turned upside-down, except, with the transparency of her clothing, and the exposed portions of her smooth skin, you could easily trace the frame of her beautiful, youthful figure within.

These slightly dishevelled clothes, coupled with the soft glow of the dim lights, give her an alluring ethereal appearance.

Her caramel skin holds a golden glow under the elaborately decorated room's dim lighting and her lush pink lips look glazed as she gently bites into them, making for the perfect expression of quiet fear and shock.

Peeking out from underneath the cloudy whiteness of Ruika's clothes, her exposed right shoulder reveals a subtle display of birth markings; tiny dots that now look glazed, like transparent, yet shiny scales, shimmering under the light.

Circling from the front to the back of her shoulder, these dots form a crescent on each side completing an intricate circle; a unique birthmark pattern last seen over 200 years ago.

These were the birth markings that identified her from birth as "Seer"; "The Eye of the gods", in accordance with prophecy. And true to the prophecy, she had been bestowed of the gods with the powers of Seer.

She knew all. She saw all.

Well, the Diviners said she was supposed to know all and see all, but she didn't just as yet. Her supposed powers were yet to fully kick in. She was as normal as any other person, except... when she was asleep.

.....

When Princess Riuka slept, she saw things past, things present and things to come. Although these special dreams/visions weren't regular and came once in a blue moon, they were reality.

But she had no control whatsoever of these dreams, and could hardly interprete them.

In fact, through the 17 years of her life, she adjudged herself as having had only five truly useful dreams.

Honestly, she was being too hard on herself because those five dreams had saved her kingdom; the Great Kingdom of Havillah, and their allies from the utter destruction of enemy kingdoms on five different occasions.

It was the era of kings, of kingdoms and of conquest, and Havillah, rich in resources was like a gold mine, so they faced terrible wars. But with Riuka's powers, they surmounted their enemies time and again.

On three occasions, not even one of her people was lost to the battle, because with the information from her visions, the Havillian army would leave the Kingdom and intercept the enemy on the way, ambushing and slaughtering them at their camps before they even had the chance to lay siege on Havillah.

Her powers had been tested and had proved true to everyone, so she was revered as "Seer", not just in her Kingdom; the great Kingdom of Havillah, but also in all the Kingdoms in the West World, be they enemy or allied kingdoms, as the tales of Havillah's conquests and victories by "the Seer", had spread all around.

What's more, her birthmark gave her an ethereal look, so her people looked to her like she was some sort of a deity or an angel.

But to Riuka herself, it didn't matter what people thought. She adjudged her powers as grossly inadequate, and they left her in a constant state of confusion and worry.

She felt that the day will come when they will be too lacking to save anyone. And she was right. That day had come.

She didn't even know it yet, but right now, she felt an insurmountable amount of fear. Her instincts were screaming out to her, loud and clear:

"Danger: The End is Here! Run!"

The day had finally come, when even her powers were scared of the coming threat. What was coming was beyond her.

"Run!" Run? And leave her people behind?

In the vision she just had, she saw her people being massacred by monsters. The monsters attacked her too, and almost killed her.

Running would make sense, but No. She would not run. She couldn't. She couldn't let everyone die.

Her family, her friends, her people... No.

She would find a solution.

That vision... that dream seemed to be telling her what would happen if she failed to find the Enouka. She had to find the Enouka. She had to save everyone.

She doesn't know how she's alive right now, and whether or not all this is still within her dream.

This place looked a little like her room, but there were still dark shadows around. She could still be in danger. Those monsters could come out from the shadows at any moment!

Sitting at high alert, the fear she feels triggers her survival mode.

Still grasping the sheets beneath her, she begins to inspect the environment with her eyes, half-expecting to see something ominous lurking in the corner; mentally separating the real from the unreal.

Should something come at her, she would fight to defend herself until her mother comes.

Her safe place.

______

Princess?", wondering at what Ruika is searching for, the remaining attendant stops staring at Ruika's hair to scan the room but finds nothing.

"Are you alright? The queen will soon be here. In the meantime, how may I serve you?"

Her questions go unanswered, as Ruika doesn't seem to hear anything.

'Was it real?'

Still feeling a strain in her throat, Ruika compulsively takes a hand up to feel her neck again.

'It most definitely was real. So what saved me? How am I alive?'

....

What she didn't know was, when the fierce beast was pushing down hard on her neck, squeezing the last drops of oxygen out of her lungs and brain, she experienced an Awakening!

It preserved her life.

In those moments when she was sure to die, her powers had been triggered on instinct, like a reflex action. Suddenly activated, they forced their way out to save her.

Sadly, her torturous near-death experience was the necessary trigger to make it happen.

But the fact was right now, Riuka's powers were awakened. And from this moment on, everything in her life was bound to change drastically.