It was the sixty-second day of their journey.
With the Domain of Noble Blood Zaitan now behind them, crossed just the evening before, they chose to rest at the entrance of the next Domain, letting their bodies and minds adjust to its new, weird feeling.
They had entered the Domain of Blood Rouge, and if before anyone doubted the road ahead, now the land itself confird it. The soil was a deep, almost bloody red.
The grass at their feet grew in a darker shade of green, and the trees, when they passed one, wore bark black as coal, with leaves so dark they were nearly stripped of green altogether.
But the heat… the heat was worse than all of it.
They had known heat before, Blanc in the Jaguar Path, Velakia, Lendros, and Tahreni in their own sun-scorched lands. And even with the Raw Vita within them, shielding their bodies from the worst of it, this heat still clung to their skin like a second, unwelco layer.
Far away, barely visible even to Blanc’s eyes, four volcanoes of different sizes, each taller than the last, lood over the horizon. They were the Four Dragon Manors of Blood Seraph.
The smoke billowing from their peaks blocked out most of the sun in the neighboring Domains, including Blood Rouge’s.
They were close now.
And inside one of the tents, the largest among them, two people lay together on the bed.
“Blanc?” Velakia muttered, her head on his naked chest.
“Hm?” Blanc replied, his voice light, his gray eyes on the tent around them, “What is it?”
Velakia raised her head, placing her chin deep into his chest as she looked at him; her pink-colored eye looked into his.
“You look sad,” she said, “Did you… not enjoy it?”
A sad smile appeared on his face as he raised his head slightly, pulling her face towards him, and locking lips with her.
“It’s not what you think, my dear,” he said, letting his head fall back on the pillow, “It’s just… *sigh* we are getting close, and I cannot help but worry.”
“Too late to worry now, no?” Velakia giggled, dragging herself upward, placing her head on the pillow next to him, “You are overthinking again, stop it before it affects your decisions.”
“You’re right,” Blanc’s smile turned slightly upward, “But I worry about my sister.”
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“Sera was it, right?” Velakia asked.
“Sera, First Daughter of Blood Denegis,” Blanc replied, his eyes looking at the mories that passed through his mind, “My beautiful and annoying older sister.”
“Isn’t that what older sisters are for?” Velakia grinned, “To annoy their younger brothers? I made sure to annoy mine.”
“No wonder you were able to get on my nerves,” Blanc replied, surprised. “Did not know you had younger brothers.”
“Bastard,” she slapped his shoulder, “But I have two. One is seventeen now, six years younger than , probably at the academy, while the other should be thirteen now, still at ho with my parents.”
“Wait, are you twenty-three years old?” Blanc muttered, not believing his ears, “I would’ve said you are barely twenty.”
“What? You hate older won now?” Velakia stared at him, her eyes narrowing.
Blanc shook his head, grinning, “Celine and Miyanna are both twenty; so you have nothing to worry, I prefer older won.”
Velakia couldn’t help but sigh, “Enough about that, tell a story about your sister.”
“My sister? Why?” Blanc chuckled, turning to the side to look at Velakia.
“Because,” Velakia mimicked him, their noses now touching, “I want to know more about you and your family.”
“So,” Blanc muttered, “A story about my sister from my childhood?”
“Mhm,” Velakia nodded.
I almost died once because of my sister.
It was over a decade ago, back ho, in the Golden Forest near our ho.
It was a sunny sumr day, and I was no more than six at that ti, with my birth mother and sister there for a picnic near one of the lakes.
Sera was bored, not wanting to be there, but ca all the sa at my mother’s wish of a family mont. But in that boredom of hers, she decided, as an eight-year-old, to be the most fit to teach to swim.
Even to this day, I do not understand what got into my mother to accept such a request.
Perhaps she found it cute, perhaps she was too lazy to do it herself, perhaps she did not want to show her Marks to her own kids, but she accepted Sera’s request nonetheless. But I didn’t want to.
Sera was scary at that age.
Stronger, taller, and aner than I could ever be. Still, because she could, she removed most of my clothes, leaving with only a pair of shorts I liked to wear at the ti, and pushed inside the water.
Despite it being sumr, the water was cold and neck-deep even at the shore. But my sister was not satisfied with that. She jumped into the water, clothes still on, and pushed deeper.
The mud below gave way, and I lost my footing.
Now, in deeper water, with nothing below my feet to hold above, I began panicking, flaring both legs and arms as hard as I could to remain afloat.
“Swim Blanc, swim!” was all that my sister said, as she laughed at the sight of panicking. Even my mother found it funny. But I didn’t.
Regardless of how much I pushed, trying to move back to the shore, I was stuck in place, barely above the water. It was as if sothing was holding in place. But all that was holding was my fear.
And it was winning as I soon began to get tired, with water getting in my mouth.
“He- help,” I tried speaking.
“Not until you swim all the way to ,” Sera giggled as she replied.
But I couldn’t, no matter how much I tried. And slowly, my body began sinking.
The water was over my nose, making look towards the sky in an attempt to breathe.
But after a minute, no matter what I tried, I sank, my body falling under the surface of the water.
I was drowning.
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