The Last Whisperer

7 | Morning Gist~

It was morning and the sun was high. Roads were busy with people milling on the streets as the city came to life.

Shops opened up. Signs were flipped from CLOSED to WELCOME, CUSTOMER!. Merchants started rolling down their merchandise on the streets. Vendors offered their fresh fruits to whoever passed by. Gleaming red apples were stacked on each other, forming a pyramid. A mother carrying her babe picked up fruits and added them to her basket. She paid the vendor graciously and bid goodbye.

A girl and a boy who could not be older than six drew on the middle of the road with rocks. The road was polished cobblestone, so they were just adding damage to it by adding horrible stick figures of imaginary creatures. But not one single adult stopped them because they were just children being children. It looked like they were having fun based on the gigantic smiles on their faces. They were sweaty and dirt speckled. It did not look like they cared.

Seren swung her legs as she sat on top of the roof of the Koi House. She had been watching the city come to life since the break of dawn. She rather enjoyed it—it gave her time to think. It made her feel like she was a guardian that watched from above everything that unfolded.

They were in a city called Berrin—a place situated on the eastern side of the kingdom, or that was what Lazardo told her. Exactly two days have passed since she woke up from her slumber. Two days since she heard the words of her nightmares.

Seren, King Gavriel died two centuries ago.

Lazardo's words kept echoing in the back of her head. It became so bad that she hadn't eaten anything for two days, even refusing the tray of food they delivered her. It also did not help that they forbade her from leaving the house.

Tsk. Who do they think they are?

Absently, she played with the key on her neck.

It had been with her up to this day. She was grateful that she had not lost it, even after two-hundred years.

It was still bizarre to even say it in her head. It felt so unreal. But then she saw the city and was slightly convinced she was not dreaming at all. The last time she visited Iveneterra, it was just a large patch of land. There was even a thing called 'technology' now.

She rested the brass key on her palm and stared at it for a long time. A breeze swished her red hair to her face.

She was about to do something she was going to regret.

I just want to see, she told herself. I just want to see what it looks like.

She held the key with two fingers. Like a real key would, she inserted it into an imaginary lock and twisted.

A yellow spark ignited in front of her. Seren got on her feet as a portal widened in midair. Soon she was looking through an inter-dimensional window.

She passed through it until she was standing in a completely different realm.

"I'm home," she said as she looked at the broken Mahanzi.

She finally knew what a broken realm looked like. The sky was orange, and so was the underside. She was standing on a piece of land that floated in nothingness. There were no more waterfalls or great cliffs. No more mountains. What was left of Mahanzi were broken floating pieces of land. If she fell off the edge, she would keep falling forever.

It slowly started to resemble an abyss.

The sight was too unbearable. She crossed the portal and went back to the city of Berrin. She pulled the key from the air and closed the window. Why give me this key when there is nothing to go back to?