Chapter One : Introduction

Glowing stars...

They are the only thing I can see, as I float gently in this never-ending darkness.

The small lights they radiate are the only thing that comforts me. Where am I even? What am I doing in this vast space?

As I ponder these questions... A bright light lightens up the whole place temporarily blinding me.

The pleasant warmth of the light instantly feels like a gentle hug from a mother. I feel safe being hugged by this light... Well until voices started emerging from nowhere.

"-- someone, help me!!" It was whispering something when it suddenly become a high-pitched scream.

"Save my dear child! I beg you!" another high-pitched scream echoes. I try to cover my ears but the fierce scream continues.

"Your highness!! Why did you abandon us?!" out of the corner of my eyes, black liquids start popping out of the ground.

"What did we do to deserve this cruel punishment?!" my heart thumps painfully inside my chest as the shrill cry of unbearable agony continues to flood the space.

The black liquid starts forming human-like hands and heads with white tears flowing sluggishly from their empty eye sockets.

I desperately tried running away from them when they start moving sluggishly toward me.

"Your highness... why did you forsake us like this?"

I screamed in shock as a black liquid hand grabs my shoulder from behind. Just what is happening?? What are all these things??

*Bathump! Bathump!*

I can feel my heart pounding loudly inside my ribcage as more hands formed practically surrounding me.

"N-no go away!! Let go of me!!" I frantically tried to forcibly remove them, but my hands got caught by the other liquid-like hands.

A shiver runs down my spine as the liquid rises from my knees to my stomach.

"N-no!!! H-help me!! Please!!" I scream for help as I can feel myself starting to panic.

No... I don't want to die yet! I still need to find my family! I still need answers! So please someone... Save me!

As if to answer my desperate prayer, a female figure covered with a light aura emerged from the liquid and floated in front of me.

From her long flowy hair to her bare feet, she's covered with light. She turns to face me just as my face was almost covered with black liquid. Touching my forehead, she whispers some words, and just like that the black liquid vanishes... leaving me kneeling on the ground?

A ground materialized out of nowhere, covered with green grass and colorful flowers. I turn to look at the 'light' lady when I caught her staring at me with sadness in her gentle eyes.

"You should be more careful... my little sister."

My eyes widen in genuine surprise, because of what I've heard. Then her body slowly starts vanishing.

"Wait! Wait! Don't leave! What do you mean by sister?!" I desperately ask while trying to hold her hand.

But she completely vanished before I had a chance to hold her.

.

.

.

I woke up with a jolt. My body shakes as I'm completely covered with cold sweat. Sitting around, I glanced around trying to identify where I am.

"I-i'm in my room?" I whisper while sighing in relief.

I can't believe I had such an intense dream... Although my memory of it is now blurry.

"I wonder... what kind of lucid dream is that? I feel like I almost found something important," caressing my throbbing forehead, I carefully remove my blanket.

"What a way to wake up on this Monday morning!" I sigh before taking a deep breath.

--

"Good morning Mom! Brother!" I greet my family as cheerful as I can, as I enter the dining room.

"Good morning sweetie! How's your sleep?" my mom, Lyndell, greets me back and tenderly kisses me on my cheeks. My father, Freed, is already at his private office typically working. Though, if I am being honest, up until now... I still don't know what kind of work he has. The only thing I know is that he always locks himself inside his office and only will come out to eat.

"Good morning sis! Woke up early today huh?" my ever so sweet in the morning brother, Hans Jake, greets me back. He is two years older than me. 

The only time both I and this bully brother of mine get along is during breakfast. It's because he is the only one who can drive between us. That is why I have no choice but to act nice to him. And he is also acting sweet because mom will take away his car key if he ever bullies me in front of her.

"It's fine mom... and yeah only for today, don't get used to it," I answer back to them as I sat down to eat breakfast. Since I usually woke up a bit later than this, my brother has to come and wake me up. 

Let me properly introduce myself. My name is Aimee Cassandra C. Dela Via. I'm only turning 17 this week. For my appearance, I have long, silky chestnut hair and almond shape light pink eyes... the same shade as rose quartz. Yes, it's quite a weird color. I've found out that no one here in our country has the same eye color as mine.

To be honest, others think it's pretty weird. I always heard them talking about my eyes and they often tease me as being a weirdo because of it. Despite that, I still like my eyes, they are quite pretty you know. Yet that doesn't mean I didn't get hurt by the insults they keep on saying about my eyes.

My current family adopted me. They adopted me when I was quite young, my real family got caught in a traffic accident. And I'm the only lucky one to miraculously survive.

My memory of it is pretty... blurry. I have no recollection of who are my parents or what they looked like. I tried to recall anything regarding them but... every time I do that my head will just pound painfully. The only thing I remember is my name, Aimee. My current mother added my second name Cassandra after they had adopted me.

"Come on slowpoke! Let's go!" I heard my brother say as he grabs his bag and turns to look at me.

It became a habit for us to always come to school together since you know, we are attending the school. 

"Coming! Bye, Mom! See you later!" I bid goodbye to my mom before grabbing my bag and running towards my brother who is already waiting outside.

We have a pretty decent modern house with a garage on the side, and a wide back garden full of flowers that my mom personally takes care of.

Once I reach our front gate, my brother has already started the car and just waited for me to enter.

The distance between our school and our home is a solid fifteen minutes in a car ride and somewhere between twenty to twenty-five minutes if you walk. The elite school we are currently attending is called Aorania Academy.

It's a private academy that only chooses its students thru different qualifying methods — is what I've heard but both Hans and I didn't do anything special when we enrolled. I have managed to pass their entrance exam test and get a pretty high score.

They only asked me a few questions, for the interview part and that's it. Although, my brother went through a different interview than mine. His private interview lasted for more than three hours, which is the only odd thing that can be called a special method. I think it's because he applied in the advanced classes and I have applied in the normal classes?

Well, my brother became part of the advanced classes located on the other side of the academy. They have a different campus for the advanced classes and normal classes. Whenever I asked him what kind of private interview he did back then, he only smiles at me before ruffling my hair.

Aside from that, it's pretty much a normal academy like the rest of the private schools here. There are different groups of students here. Of course, the most popular ones are the three girls who are just the same age as me.

But unlike me, the trio earns a LOT, and I mean a lot of mutual respect from other students. They are probably from rich families thus the special attention they are naturally receiving. You know how it is in high school, the richer you are the more popular you are.

I won't lie, I'm also interested in getting to know them, despite the difference in our positions in this school. Their group is pretty interesting compared to the other groups here in the school. 

The main leader of their group is Brenia. She has slightly curly, black hair, which reached just above her waist. She also has a medium, but sharp, brown eyes. You can easily approach her at a certain time, yet there are times when I witness her strictly lecturing other students. and there are times when I once saw her punching a senior in the face.

For me, she is... pretty intimidating. Though I can't really judge her when I haven't tried talking to her.

Next up is Dania, she has wavy blonde hair which reached past her waist. Her fierce eyes are sky blue which is almost the same color as the sky.

Whenever we are free to dress differently other than our school uniform, I often see her wearing dresses. It fits her perfectly since it compliments her slim figure. Unlike Brenia, who doesn't show many emotions. She, on the other hand, can be a bit... hyper? And clingy? I mean that's how I see her.

And last but not the least, who is the one I want to meet the most is Airel.

She has silky, scarlet hair with short bangs that slightly hang above her left eye. Speaking of eyes, her eyes is the sweetest, and most innocent lavender eyes I've ever seen. She also has this calming air around her, that even if you just brush past her you can instantly feel calm.

It's pretty obvious who I'm most biased among them, isn't it?

"Hey, earth to slowpoke! We're here!" I jolt in surprise when someone gently pokes me in my forehead.

I brush away my brother's hand and frown at him.

"Why?" I ask annoyed.

"We're here! Aren't you going to attend classes? What are you thinking anyway?" he asks while raising an eyebrow.

I gently open the car door and hop out, and my brother also did the same thing.

"Nothing... just daydreaming. Anyways, see you later my dear brother~," I wave at him as I start walking away.

"Not so fast clumsy!" I halt instantly on my steps when he grabs me by the uniform collar.

"What?! Let go! My uniform will get wrinkles on it!" I yell at him as I try removing his grip.

The uniform we have here is pretty much the same as other school uniforms... with a white blouse and skirt. The only difference is the school emblem, which is a lavender heather wreath. While the color theme of the uniform is a mix of pastel pink and grey. 

He only grins at me and uses my head to prop himself up. The nerve of this guy! So just because she is taller than me he always leans on me like this!

"Eh, so what? Anyways, call me up if anything happens alright? I can easily run across the yard from my classroom to yours. Alright?" He said as he let go of me only to gently pinch me in my cheeks.

I glare at him but nod anyway, he always does this every morning ever since we transfer here. He is like this since he is the only one who knows I don't have a single friend here. Honestly, I am thankful for him despite all the bullying he has done.

The school bell rang as I enter my classroom. I quickly walk towards my seat at the very back of the class next to the window. I sat here during the first day since it's much more relaxing in this part. 

If any of you is wondering, where is the trio? Well, they are in different classes than mine. They didn't accept the invitation to be part of the advanced class, which no one knows why. They were instead assigned to the top class of the normal section of this academy.

How about me? I'm a class away from them. This is fine to me since the top class is very competitive. And competition isn't my forte.

--

The bell rang for the fourth time today, which means it's finally lunchtime.

Finally! One of my favorite times of the day!

I'm fixing my bag when someone bumps into me causing my bag to drop to the floor. I don't even know why can they still bump into me when I am literally sitting on the very last seat and I am next to the window.

"Hey!" I exclaim as the girl who bumps into me just continues walking without even batting an eye. 

"What?" the brown-haired girl raises her eyebrow. One of her friends pokes her and pointed at me after I stare at them.

"You bump into me," I explain as I pick up my bag from the floor. Like seriously, you can just walk to a different path but these girls deliberately walk to where I am.

"So?" She asks and just stares at me, while her group of friends glares at me.

"Nothing... you can go," I mutter, fixing the contents of my bag. Never mind, I don't need to use my energy for them.

She just rolls her eyes and muttered something causing her friends to laugh triumphantly while looking at me.

I just ignore them and left. Well, this is one of the reasons why I don't have a friend. Because for some reason they don't like me. I did try to befriend everyone during my first month here but... it only ended up me getting isolated from this class. Even from the different classes... actually, no I feel like the whole school has isolated me.

I reached the cafeteria and as usual, it was full of students. I fall in line and wait for my turn then paid for my lunch.

Unfortunately, even the lunch lady dislikes me, 'cause she gave me too little food than the other students and she always scowls when she's serving me, while she's always smiling when she's serving the others.

Gosh, I don't even interact with her that much.

I don't know what I did to them to deserve such treatment. I never told my brother about this kind of treatment, since I know he will come here and will have a 'word' with the lunch lady. Which will only cause me more trouble than help.

I walked away from the cafeteria with my lunch and headed straight towards the greenhouse of the academy. This place is always empty, save for the gardener every morning, so this is the perfect spot to eat lunch quietly. And besides, the flowers here are really pretty to look at.

Once I finish eating, I throw away my trash in the trash can and stare at the beautiful view of the greenhouse.

There are times I wonder if... if my situation is different and I'm not part of my current family what will happen to me?