The Ring Master | Jellal Fernandes [1] ON HOLD

33 | Where It All Began

Halay peeled open her tired, teal eyes and found herself in the void. The void of nothing. The void of blackness. The abyss of loneliness. It seemed like the darkness greeted the brunette like an old friend, her rings being the only source of light in this cold, undead area.

She was falling, that much she knew. But where? Her brown hair tangled together to create unbreakable knots as she tumbled through the nothingness. Her body span as wind rushed past her, no sound could be hear. It was deathly silent, her breath was the only thing that reminded her she was alive. Was she alive? She couldn't tell.

"Not deathly," a voice rang out, a familiar one at that. Halay furrowed her brows, that was Keeri's voice, but where did it come from. She searched hopelessly for the sound but everywhere she looked, there was black. "Relive their worst memory."

"Which one?" Another voice joined, Rose. God, she knew Rose's voice in a heartbeat. She argued with her enough that she could probably do a good imitation of her. She fell quicker as it became harder to hear.

"She could be reliving her whole life."

That's when she saw something. A speck of light, a light brown floor. Dirt. She would be happy if she wasn't occupied by the increase in speed. If she kept going at this speed then she'd be mush on the floor, a bug on a window shield. It came closer. She closed her eyes as she waited for impact. She expected to hit the floor but didn't.

She opened her eyes and found herself staring at a small woodland area. It was bright, the trees were full of life and a quiet tweeting of the bird made it seem so real. A butterfly fluttered in front of her face, landing on her nose which made the young girl go cross eyes. It was a vibrant blue, small red dots that made the insect seem beautiful and unique. She wished she could be like that.

Halay sneezed, making the butterfly float away in panic, it's graceful wings carrying it on the wind. The brunette looked down, she recognised what she was wearing. She wore it nine years ago, why did she even remember that? What shocked her was the prominent Blue Pegasus guild mark on her shoulder.

"You coming baby human?" A voice called out to her, cutting her out of her thoughts. Halay turned in surprised but her face was over come with joy when she saw who it was. The ginger girl beckoned her best friend over as she carried on walking down the dirt path and to the village they were requested to go to. 

"For the last time Christina, I'm only a year younger then you." Halay reminded her in her baby tone, her short brown hair bobbing as she skipped happily, a pure smile on her face. Christina couldn't help but laugh at the brunette.

"A year is a year. Besides, I'm fourteen and you're thirteen." The ginger teased, ruffling her friend's hair which caused a large blush to form of Halay's cheeks. She spotted the purple Blue Pegasus guild mark on her hand. "What's the job request say?" Christina questioned as she moved her face very close to Halay's almost teasing her. Halay shook her head, she knew Christina didn't like her the way she like Christina. That much was obvious, she had a crush on Hibiki - she talked about him all the time.

"Take down a group of bandits." Halay read as she nervously shoved the paper into her friend's hands and walked in front of her quickly leaving Christina to giggle at her. "It'll be easy especially with your Fire Make magic. We could burn them."

"Sometimes I worry about your health." Christina admitted as she read over the job, picking up on small things Halay probably wouldn't have noticed. "Maybe we should have brought Hibiki along."

Halay jaw clenched in jealousy as she heard the boy's name. She hated Hibiki with a burning passion. "What's he going to do? Bore them to death as he tries and fails to use Archive."