Amelie (ON HOLD)

XXI

  Blazing, red fire. I was surrounded by it. Screams from every corner of the city, petrified in the scorching heat of burning flames and buildings of stone crumbling down to ash.

Everywhere I looked there was a person screaming, mother's running with children in their arms, father's trying to saddle up horse and carriages. Belongings were being thrown out of windows for people down below to catch and keep safe.

I followed the flames, trying to catch where it all started until it led me to an ancient temple with tall, menacing flames flickering fiercely from the centre. Outside on the steps lied a girl with flaming red hair, her body remained unconscious, limp to the point it was debateable if her heart was still beating. However, the one thing I found strange was that even though the flames consumed and destroyed everything in its path, her body remained utterly untouched.

Carefully, I stepped closer, feeling the hot dirt behind the bare soles of my feet and soon I noticed a necklace hanging around her neck, the stone in it sparkling a calescent scarlet-amber that blazed in the boiling sunlight.

Forcing my body to step closer, I squinted at the brightness of the stone beaming rays as it caught the reflection of the sunlight and the flickering flames of the deadly.

Closer and closer I stepped, holding my breath through the smoke. I reached out, my fingertips inches away from her face until I looked over to see a shadowy figure approach and a piercing scream echo through the amber.

"Liana!"

I jolted awake, cold sweat trickling down my back and temples, the hair at the back of my neck drenched. My hands were freezing but as I touched my chest, it was burning. What was happening to me?

It was the same as the last dream. The same city yet this time burning to smithereens. One of the same girls yet this time lifelessly limp. Liana. And I had the same reaction to it, constantly jolting awake, sweating what could essentially be a bucket of ice.

I didn't want to think about it, but the dream lingered in my mind as another fear rose to surface. It all felt so real.

Pulling my knees up to my chest, I ran a hand through my hair and glanced beyond to look out the window. Shit, it was already night time.

The last thing I remembered what Vincenzo asking me to meet him in the music room tomorrow night. However, as I looked at the stale breakfast at my table, I suddenly came to the realisation that it was tomorrow night. What the hell? How could I possibly sleep for that long?!

Rushing to my closet, I threw off my dress from yesterday, leaving me in only a corset and petticoat, and decided to tie a long and cream, silk dressing gown around me.

I had no clue what time it was but it was way past midnight by the calm darkness looming outside that proved all was still in the world, and as I walked through the castle halls, everyone around seemed to be asleep.

I remembered Aziel showing me the music room in one of his tours within the first few weeks of my arrival. It was a smaller version of the ballroom with one wall being entirely made up of windows leading onto a small balcony. Instruments ranging from brass to wood were neatly arranged in a way that made the room seem more spacious but the main attraction, however, was the grand piano in the middle, dazzling in the quaint moonlight.

Cautiously, I stepped inside, closing the double, glass doors behind me and set my eyes across the room. It was stunning. Eery yet part of it seemed to sing a sort of serenity, and the way the light hit all the instruments made them irresistible to even the worst untrained eye.