A Curse Upon the World

Against his better judgment, Walid was forced on a walk in the garden while he was still organizing his thoughts. But his thoughts came to a halt as he laid his eyes on the garden in sight.

A charming scene of a wide garden paved with straight paths, adorned with pink flowers and carefully trimmed trees. A long water basin reflecting the clear sky, ending at the outer gate of the palace in the distance. In the rectangular space, there were gardeners tending to the garden, carrying various care tools, dressed in matching uniforms.

During Walid's walk through the garden, he couldn't ignore the sideways glances he kept receiving continuously from the various workers or passersby.

'So, Deon is hated?.. Typical!'

"Just ignore them. they are just curious." Vierenna, who walked beside Walid, their hands intertwined, said from the side.

"Let's go to the back garden, it used to be your favorite place?" Without waiting for his approval, she began to pull him through the garden in an elegant manner trying to draw no attention on them.

Walid, helpless before his supposed sister, began taking notes of every place they passed, storing the information in his mind in case he stayed for a while—which seemed to (will) be the case.

'At least I'll do something useful in the meantime.'

After a short trip through the towering palace that stood in the middle of the garden, Walid and Vierenna arrived at what she called the back garden. But in Walid's eyes, it was closer to a city park.

Unlike the front garden, the back garden was empty and shaded by the massive palace. giving it a calming feel.

After a brief pause, Vierenna began again to pull Walid deeper into the garden.

Surprisingly, she became eerily silent, contrasting her lively and talkative nature. Walid was tense from the silence, but he maintained his own and followed her.

Soon they arrived at a small shallow lake.

Scattered across the small lake's space, colorful stones rested in the depths of the clear waters. Each stone didn't differ much in size from its neighbor beside it, but the same couldn't be said about the strange colorful symbols on each stone.

Walid's previous tension increased at the scene that was supposed to be pleasant, yet he couldn't prevent the deep sense of wrongness from creeping to the edge of his consciousness.

The symbols were meaningless to him, but when looking at them as a whole, with the addition of the transparent lake, the arrangement of the stones, the colors of them, and the colors of the symbols on the stones. Walid couldn't ignore that something meaningful rested there.

'...what is it?!'

Walid focused more on the scene, and the more he focused, the blurrier his vision became.

Unknown to him, he had already fallen to his knees, his eyes wide open at the scene as if they were devouring all the light that entered through them.

A faint sound stirred the strings of his hearing, but Walid ignored it. The scene in front of him took all his focus. No, his focus and consciousness were taken away from him towards the scene before him.

Walid was losing himself in the scene, but he didn't notice.

Once again, the resonant sound entered his ears, Walid tried to ignore it, but a sharp pain hit the side of his face, sending him sideways.

Slap—

Walid's consciousness returned as did his senses. A sharp pain spread across his right cheek. He covered it with his hand, while his eyes rested on Vierenna who stood over him with a worried expression.

'Did she, slap me?!'

Walid looked at his position again, realizing the truth.

'Wait... why am I on my knees?!'

He turned his gaze back to Vierenna to ask, but the worried look on her expression told him what he needed to know.

'I did something again?.. I lost my consciousness..?'

Walid looked at the lake on the side. In parallel with his anticipation, he felt his consciousness slipping away.

He quickly turned his head away. Cold sweat moved across his back.

'what's this feeling?!'

Before he could delve into his thoughts, Vierenna knelt on one knee, her worried expression calming down. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it again. Instead, she patted Walid's head for a while before holding his hands and helping him stand again.

'Silence again?'

Walid was tense from the silence, especially Vierenna's silence, but he felt there was a deeper reason here. So again, he maintained his own, allowing her to pull him once more.

But to his surprise, they didn't go far.

Apparently, the small lake was the destination, or more specifically, the wooden bench facing it.

"Mother, said to bring you here after your awakening ritual. But—but you always refused. And to be fair, I didn't want to bring you here either."

The bells in Walid's head rang dangerously. He felt there was something deeper in the situation as a whole. So he was compelled to ask.

"Why? Why didn't you want to bring me here? And was I here after my awakening?" He knew his questions might expose him, but his logical thinking was already out of reach. His raw emotions took the lead.

Vierenna's eyes widened, the feelings of injustice she felt were evident on her expression. "I didn't want to bring you because I cared about you, I know how much you cared about our mother. And it's not that I didn't try to get you out of your room, it just so happened that it was today."

"....."

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Vierenna asked as she looked at Walid's face, which couldn't hide his shock.

'Why today exactly?..'

'...a coincidence?..'

'Could it be? She said Deon refused to leave his room, it's not that she didn't try!'

Despite Walid's optimistic, or delusional thoughts. The part that remained logical in his mind said otherwise.

'It can't be a coincidence?'

'I am missing a lot of important information.'

Walid looked at Vierenna, whose frown deepened.

"I'm sorry. For being... difficult.— But, what did mother say to you?"

Vierenna sighed in turn, her facial expressions relaxing.

"You are indeed difficult, but these are the ups and downs of being a big Sis…"

She sat on the wooden bench and gestured for Walid to do the same.

"I am also sorry, for yelling at you."

He did, but he sat in a sideways position not facing the lake.

"Storytime!.." She clap her hand. enthusiasm returning to decorate her already beautiful features. "Mother asked me to take you from time to time to this lake. That's all."

"Aeh—!" A strange sound came out of Walid's mouth.

'A very short story.'

If one looked at his expression now, as Vierenna did, they would scream as she did.

"What're you doing with your face?! Fix it now! no, i don't want this in my mind."

Walid bowed his head and adjusted his posture.

Vierenna, in turn, breathed a sigh of relief while she began to scold him. "Are you crazy, what did I do to you to punish me this way... one would say... hm.. hmm.. hmmm…"

Walid knew she would never stop talking if he left her to speak, so he closed her mouth with his hand. He began to miss the eerie silence Vierenna had adopted the moment they entered the garden.

Walid, knowing that his method of silencing wouldn't work for long, began to ask the questions he found illogical regarding her answers. "Why did she ask you to take me to the lake only after I awakened and not before? And why did she insist that you bring me and not that I go by myself?"

Walid posed his two most important questions, letting his hand drop to allow the girl to speak.

Vierenna looked at him seriously for a moment, before her expression turned to sorrow. "You already know that mother built this garden for us when we were children. So it makes sense she would want us to come here, together, to remember her."

'That answers the second question.'

Vierenna's silence continued for a moment before she continued. "Why after your awakening!.. I don't see why that's important. I myself think it's just a matter of good expression... you know, that you become an adult after your awakening ritual."

That's a very good excuse... Walid would have believed it, but unfortunately for Vierenna, he didn't. It was painfully obvious she was trying to hide something. He would have pressed for the truth, but he stopped himself. If he did, it would certainly expose that he wasn't her brother Deon.

So he settled on asking something else. "Did mother say anything else... about the lake?"

Vierenna smiled widely and nodded vigorously. "She did indeed."

Walid swallowed hard as he listened intently.

"She said the lake would be mine in the light and yours in the dark." She began pointing to her white hair and his black. "Got it... light and dark."

Walid nodded, but for a different reason than Vierenna's excited one beside him on the bench.

'What is supposed to be the hidden meaning?.. That I come here at night?'

Despite the absurdity of the idea, Walid would try. Especially now after finding meaning for himself. Remembering his mental breakdown in the changing room, Walid felt a self-guilt...

"Since you are now in my lake in the light, what will you pay to allow you to be in my domain?" Vierenna interrupted, which was probably for the best.

Walid looked at her expression that made her seem comically superior, and he couldn't help but smile.

"I say it's only fair that I have you at night. It would be a great honor."

He needed to be sure, and he couldn't do that without her help.