Standing under the heavy snow, a silver-haired woman wearing a long fur coat decorated with snowflakes, after touching the dead flower on the terrace, said,
"It's time to wake up... my sleeping beauty."
And the dead rose came back to life when she was about to turn her head; a sudden, painful whistling sound echoed in his mind, and Ash was forced back to reality.
After the crystal lotus opened, Ash's vision and hearing started clearing as the whistling sound stopped; he finally heard what she was saying.
"This is your Lotus."
"My Lotus?" He quickly asked, full of confusion, "I didn't hear what she was saying, but that woman appeared again in daylight ... she absolutely has something to do with her."
Serenity kept playing with the lotus's petals while explaining.
"As you already know, a lotus is considered a symbol of rich spiritual energy, no....it's more fitting to say calming energy."
She fetched the lotus from the water and moved toward Ash while it was still dripping water; she grabbed his right hand and told him, "Remove your gloves."
Although not understanding, his body moved faster than his brain produced, and he removed it. Looking at his hands, his mind started wandering again, 'Why did I remove my gloves?...It almost felt natural, as if it's within my instinct to just obey her every word.'
He rubbed his eyes, feeling lost. "I am going insane."
Serenity pulled his hand away from his eyes and placed the lotus in his palm; a cold refreshing sensation rushed through his body like nothing he ever felt before. He looked at her in disbelief.
"What did you do?!"
Serenity placed her palm over the lotus that separates their palms from touching each other. Serenity looked at Ash with a completely serious expression.
"Don't move your hand at any cost."
Her strict tone was enough to know something bad might happen if he refused; he felt nervous, swallowing his breath, and he gave a slight nod and a simple reply, "Um."
The crystal butterfly flew from the back of her hand. Staying in place, it kept waving its wings, and Serenity kept pushing her weight over the lotus in Ash's hand, causing his hand to burn into heat.
'What in the world is she doing?...If she kept doing this, my hand might end up crippled.' The lotus was made of crystal, and she kept breaking through it till it was completely flattened in between their hands.
The scene was nothing but broken glass soaked in blood, but before even the first drop of blood touched the ground, a white glow emitted from the broken glass. The next second it all disappeared; only then did she remove her hand.
"It's okay now."
Ash stared at his hand in disbelief; the sharp glass he felt piercing through his skin a second ago didn't leave a single injury on his hand. 'Don't tell me she...'
He had a bad feeling, so he quickly grabbed Serenity's hand, and sure enough, her wounds were all open. Unlike him, all his wounds were gone; even the scars from sword practice were gone. He looked at her, full of anger.
"What did you do?"
He stood up and made her sit in his chair; taking his dimensional sack out, he said, "I think I might have a healing potion suitable for you. Wait obediently till I find it, okay?"
Seeing Ash searching his magical sac for a healing potion made her heart flutter; she smiled slightly seeing him all worried about her; she tried to stand, but he held her down again.
"Be good and stop moving around."
She flicked his forehead and softly said,
"Healing potions don't work on me; just bandage it, and I will be fine after a while of proper rest."
He froze in place, shocked but more helpless. Serenity patted his head and handed him gauze and cotton she was carrying in her pocket, telling him politely, "Help me bandage my wounds."
Ash started covering her wounds just like a professional, but
"Does it hurt?" He asked in concern over her well-being.
She replied, "It doesn't. Why is it every time I'm hurt you ask the same question? Don't you get tired?"
Ash pauses for a second before going back to normal, asking her, "Did I often help you bandage your wounds before?"
"Who else... When I use my true magic, my main body will be the one to get hurt, and as you can see, healing is a big hassle."
"Why don't potions work on you?" Ash finished bandaging her and looked at her eyes, asking, "If potions don't work on you, how did you heal at the school before?"
"That's because I am in my human form and..." Serenity used her already injured hand to raise his chin, drawing a wicked smile over her face, "Did you really investigate me?"
"I did not; you forgot your brother works for me, so it's sometimes unavoidable, and I happen to hear a thing or two."
"My brother, you say..."
He gently removed her hand and rested it over her lap, trying to change the subject, "With a body like yours, you better be careful from future injuries."
She stared at her injured hand blankly. "I have had even worse injuries back in the day, but I stopped worrying about them long ago."
"Why?!!"
Her expression softened along with her smiling eyes. She faced him as she said, "Don't I still have you?"
A hot flush spread from his neck to his temples; he averted his gaze. Serenity stared at him, full of surprise.
"No way ... you still get shy this easy, but then again teasing you has always been this easy. Sometimes I wonder if you're always like this around others."
"Ugh," seeing her enjoy teasing him, he had to put an end to the situation before anyone came and saw him like that. "I am not...I am equally surprised this is actually happening to me; the problem is not me but you, lady."
Ash shyly covered his rosy shaded face and tried to change the subject, "So where did the Lotus disappear anyway?!"
"Changing the topic, huh...he never changes; he always repeats the same trick to divert my attention. Forget it, I won't expose him." Serenity's face straightened again, asking, "How do you feel?"
"What is the question exactly?"
"Doesn't your head whistle anymore?"
Ash suddenly remembered, "Ever since that Lotus opened, my head was completely clear." He rested his index and middle fingers over his forehead, feeling his magic. To discover a shocking truth, the crystal Lotus that was in his hand is now in his inner magical realm. He looked at Serenity, full of confusion; his face showed he had more questions than he already had. He uttered just one word, "How?!"
Understanding what he meant to ask, she started explaining, "The crystal figures I make have the ability to absorb pain and negative emotions and clear the mind by consuming spiritual power from the air, so it's self-charging. When it absorbs enough, the petals wither just like you already saw."
Serenity put her legs one over the other and engaged her hands together. "You see the one that withered just now? It absorbed from this entire city so it withered fast, but I merged the lotus directly with your blood to make it more self-centered. In the future, the usual headaches you suffered from will be no more."
"I see," Ash leaned his back over the table using his hand to support his weight. "But won't it eventually wither? Above all, it's still inside me."
"Don't be quick to judge."
She signaled to him to get closer using her index.
"What?!"
After he leaned closer, Serenity touched his neck using her middle finger and slid down till her hand reached the middle of his chest. She closed her fist as if holding something, a silver chain wrapped around his neck all the way to her fist. Only when she loosened her grip and let go did he see the transparent crystal with a crystal lotus emitting a soft sky blue glow.
"Here you go; it's no longer inside you."
Ash held the silver chain; it was attached to him. He couldn't see the beginning, but the crystal at the end was as clear as the sky. He lifted it up, staring at the lotus inside, then turned at Serenity. "You actually gave me a lotus?"
"What's wrong? Don't you like it?!"
"No, you said you are a lotus, yet you give me one." He leaned on her chair, his face almost kissing hers. He asked her, "Does that mean you are my Lotus? "
Waiting for an answer only to be met by Serenity's soft smile and dead words,
"Time's up."
"What?!!" She caught him off guard saying those words, looking at the watch in his hand. Four minutes passed since they started talking. "Your one minute is a bit questionable."
She answered, full of confidence, "Oh, is that so?....I will be careful next time, I promise."
'Being shameless is one thing, but...where did her confidence come from?' Dumbfounded by the answer, he was at a loss for words. Helpless, he looked up, saying, 'I admire you.'
She answered him with a big smile full of spirit, "Thanks for the compliment."
Seeing her shameless smile, he couldn't help but shake his head, 'If she turned out to be my girlfriend in the end, I am completely convinced—wait...'
"Lady Serenity, I want to ask you about something very important for me, but I really need to know the answer."
Hearing how serious his tone was, her face frowned, saying, "I thought we had a deal?!"
Ash pulled a chair and sat right beside her, saying, "Don't worry; since I made a deal, naturally I will carry on till the end, but...the deal was regarding the past, and I want the present."
"The present?...Wait, why do you think I can answer about something that is happening to you right now?" Serenity tilted her head in confusion. "Let me tell you, I didn't investigate you."
"Really?" He gave her a doubtful stare, questioning the audacity of her words.
She slapped his shoulder using her already injured hand, causing the blood to rush out again.
-slam-
"Ugh...if I did it, it would be unethical, let alone if I really wanted to dig deeper. Either I'm going to ask you or gain your permission to search myself. Got it?"
The pain was clearly visible on her face; Ash felt guilty and pulled her hand. He opened her palm and blew on it.
"...Can't you talk with your mouth instead of your hands? Your wounds opened up again."
Seeing him all worried, her expression softened; she slightly touched his forehead using the back of her injured hand.
"Don't you dare doubt me again."
Ash touched her forehead using his index and middle finger, and then he gently pushed her head once, asking,
"You are so bad at distinguishing between jokes and serious talk; if you weren't, you would have realized I was messing with you earlier."
"Oh...sorry about that."
Realizing her mistake, Ash kept holding her hand, leaning his back over his chair, saying in a calm, deep voice,
"And let me tell you this beautiful lady, I never doubted you, and something inside tells me I never will... Right now all I have is just some unanswered questions, and they might take some time, but I am not in a hurry."
The misunderstanding between both of them was finally cleared, and Serenity's expression softened; she calmly asked,
"I am telling you my answer will depend on the question; it might not be as clear as you expect. I also have my own restrictions...So what exactly do you want to ask?"
Ash looked at the ground; his expression turned all serious. "So you see, last time when I lost consciousness at the restaurant, I had that strange vision of an elf with long silver hair, and it repeated again a few minutes ago."
Serenity's eyes widened while her lips opened slightly; she was about to say something but retreated at the last second. Ash, who was facing the ground, didn't notice anything unusual and kept talking.
"I saw the same woman, but this time I heard her voice, but before she turned her head, mine was about to explode. Looking back, both times you were present."
Serenity tried to maintain her calm, asking, "Straight to the point, what is this all about?"
Ash said, "What if I tell you that except for those two times I have always dreamt about the same woman for the last twenty years ever since I awakened my bloodline ability, but she never talked and absolutely never moved, always sitting on the same chair for as long as I remember?"
Ash looked at Serenity, examining her expression, seeing how much of a shock was on her face. He felt relieved. 'I knew it; she knows...'
Ash finally said what was on his mind, "What I want to ask is, do you happen to know anything about her?"
Serenity didn't make a sound for a while, but when she finally spoke, she couldn't hide her worries.
"You say twenty years; twenty years ago I wasn't even born, so how exactly did you connect this to me?"
"Because it happened yesterday and today, and I am telling you I never dreamed about her while being all conscious; it never happened till I met you, so it's becoming easy to connect the dots." His mind wandered with a strange idea out of nothing: 'I am really starting to wonder if that woman is really you.'
"I see." Serenity looked at the man in front of her, feeling defeated. "Since it's you, I expected something like that, but for you to crack it to me just less than two days, this is creepy, but can I even argue?"
Serenity scratched her face lightly, saying, "Your train of thought is a bit unexpected, but as long as you're on the right path, then no worries."
"?!?!"
She pulled her hand from his and tightly squeezed them together; with an all-serious expression, she said, "You are right; that woman really is connected to me in more ways than you expect, but..." She relaxed her hands and looked directly in his eyes. "The truth about that woman, about me and you, is all things that are related to the past. I can't forcibly tell you everything since your body gets agitated with the slightest mention of the past."
His eyes widened as she mentioned her reasons; he couldn't believe that someone was actually thinking about his well-being to such an extent. "So this is actually why you made that one minute demand; it was to protect me."
Serenity looked ahead and explained, "Exactly, the slightest mention of the past triggers a memory flow. I realized it the first time you lost consciousness at the restaurant. Upon seeing this, I decided it's best to take it the long way."
She turned at him, full of worries, and brushed her hair away from her glasses, giving her a clear view of him. He asked her in a soft yet sad voice, "Do you actually want me to remember or do you not?"
She slowly reached out to his face, holding it with trembling hands between her arms. "You have no idea...how I wish you could..."
She let go of his face and slowly retreated her hands, her expression full of regret and endless sorrow, 'But the end might be me witnessing your death again, and I can't take it, not again...'
"I am sorry... please bear with me a little longer."
Her tone of voice was so sad he felt his heart was stabbed with hundreds of knives. It's his first time experiencing something like that. He gently held her hand, "Let's have it your way, then I will be waiting for you."
Serenity felt comfort in his words; she nodded slightly, but the sweet atmosphere between them was broken by a loud crash.
-bang-
"Ugh!?"
"Shit!"
"Get over me, you heavy bastard."
They quickly turned around to see what was going on exactly and were actually shocked by what they saw.
Serenity asked in confusion, "What are you doing here?"