Chronicles of the Red Sovereign

Freya gasped and tried to catch her breath. She found herself inside her room, but she did not have any recollection on how she got there in the first place. But it was a familiar situation to her. She took a few breaths and scanned her room. A minute later, her breathing finally returned to normal. She immediately ran to the full body mirror at a corner of her room and noticed that her clothes were somewhat dirty and unruly.

-That girl. Did she get me into trouble again?

She ran to her wardrobe and pulled another set of uniform. If she could guess it right, it was still lunch break and she still had two classes in the afternoon. She washed herself in a hurry and afterwards put on the new uniform. She used her wind magic to dry her hair and sat on her bed combing it.

A bird suddenly landed on her balcony. Of course, it looked familiar to her; the pigeon was one of her family’s messenger birds. On its beak was a letter.

“Thanks.” she said to the bird and fed it a treat. Once she had her hands on the letter, she returned inside the room, and gave it a read. The letter was from her father, Marquise Berialis.

[I have already received the results of the quarterly exams. Freya von Berialis! Should I still call you as my daughter? How can you end up in second rank? How can you end up behind an unknown brat from the countryside? I am utterly disappointed! Your older brothers did much better in their years in the Imperial Academy! Even your younger siblings are doing better at their studies! You better focus on your studies and be stronger! Do not tarnish the Berialis House!]

After reading it Freya felt like crying. Her hand crumpled the letter and she could feel her heart race. She shook her head and took a deep breath, trying to regain control of her breathing and mind.

She opened her eyes and saw three sets of feet. Freya looked up and saw three faces identical to hers, only with subtle differences.

The one on her left had messy hair and her face was filled with anxiety. Meanwhile, the one on her right looked unruly and rebellious. And lastly, the one in the center looked prim and proper with her hair in a high ponytail.

“Is it a letter from the old man again?” asked the one on her right. “Let me guess, he’s disappointed at your performance during the first quarterly exams.”

“Stop it Fina. You’re not helping.” retorted the one in the middle.

“You stop it. You’re babying her too much. That’s why she’s weak.”

“I’m warning you.”

“Stop it guys!” interrupted the one on the left. She kept biting her fingernails and one hand was on her hair, messing it up even more. “Fina, Fiona. Stop fighting. If you fight even more, ‘she’ will come.”

“Tch.”

“We know Faye, so calm down.” said the one in the middle.

“Fina, did you get into trouble again?” asked Freya, remembering the situation she was in when she found herself inside her room.

“No. It was just a little scuffle. Little Faye here got into trouble with some seniors. I had to do something.”

“You didn’t… go overboard, did you?”

“Who do you think I am?” but the three just stared at her skeptically. “I didn’t go overboard. I just taught them a lesson. Chill girls.”

“Don’t worry Freya, I already handled it.” said the one called Fiona.

“Hey Freya, what are you going to with that Luna?” asked Fina.

“I’ll do something about it.” Freya eyed them. “And by that I mean only me. Stop meddling into my business. Now get out.”

“Freya you-“

“Get. Out!”

Freya found herself alone, in the real world. She took a deep breath and fixed her hair. A drawing on her study table caught her attention.

“Right. Professor Tresde gave us such an assignment.” she mumbled. She grabbed the drawing and headed out.

***

Kayla Tresde stretched her limbs inside her office. Although it was quite a small space, she liked the place because she had privacy. Something she gave importance to even back when she was still working for the empire as a magus knight. She released a sigh afterwards.

-I’m really not cut out to be a teacher. Should I return to the frontlines?

The door to her office suddenly opened and Freya entered.

“Good afternoon professor. I hope I did not disturb you.”

“No Freya, you didn’t. What can I do for you?”

“I’m here to submit my assignment.”

“Your assignment?” Kayla wondered, but then something clicked in her mind. “Right, the essay I had you make yesterday?”

“No, I meant the drawing.” Freya handed a piece of paper with a drawing of a tall tree in a luscious green landscape under a grey sky. “I didn’t miss the deadline, right?”

Kayla only laughed nervously. “The drawing! Right. I remember now. My apologies for that. I have a lot of things in my mind right now. Don’t worry, you didn’t miss the deadline! You’re quite early actually. The deadline was tonight at six.”

“That’s good then. Less assignments for me to work on.”

“Yes. By the way Freya, why did you draw a tree?”

Kayla watched as her student pause, obviously in deep thought. “Hmm… I guess because a tree is strong and can stand tall. Just like how I wanted to be the best.”

“And the background?”

“That’s just my mood, I guess.”

“I see. Thank you then. Do remind your classmates from the magic arts department to submit their assignments if they don’t want a zero for this activity.”

“Yes professor.”

Freya bid her goodbye and exited the office. Meanwhile Kayla sighed, once again. She pulled out a drawer and brought out a brown folder. She opened it and stared at four other drawings of different kinds of trees with different backgrounds. Her gaze landed on the newest drawing on her hand.

“There’s obviously something going on with her.” she mumbled. “But this is beyond my capabilities.”

Kayla was a teacher, but she felt like she was lacking. She could teach her students how to fight and understand a piece of literature, but she knew being a teacher was more than just that.

“I suppose I should pay her a visit.”

Kayla could not believe it herself but she found herself in front of the gate of a manor she never thought she would ever visit again; The Celestine Manor. She presented a badge to the guard stationed outside and she was allowed to go inside. Even though she had not stepped inside the place for quite some time, fifteen years give or take, she knew her way around. She made a beeline to the second floor and stopped in front of a door. A door to a certain someone’s office whom she knew would be there that time of the day.

She took a deep breath and steeled herself. She knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

Kayla eyed the golden haired young woman sitting leisurely on a sofa with a document on her hand.

“Greetings milady.” she greeted and dropped to one knee.

“Kayla? Aren’t you supposed to be at the academy? Don’t tell me my brats made some sort of trouble?”

“By brats you mean Torii Chrishni and Luna Hysi, right?” Kayla asked.

“And by extension, Thomas Wolfsbane. He’s Steve’s son.”

Archduchess Zaira sat properly and crossed her legs. She put down the document she was reading and offered Kayla to sit at the open chair at the end of the sofa she was sitting on just a while ago. Kayla accepted the offer. The person who offered it was not exactly someone anyone would want to piss off.

“Your ‘brats’ as you put it, are doing fine. They had a few scuffle, but it’s something they and the school can handle. I’m here for another matter.”

“Oh? What is it?”

“I need your advice on something.” the archduchess just eyed her and motioned for her to go on. “I met with a problem out of the scope of my expertise but happened to fall into your specialty. I need your advice about it.”

“What kind of specialty? I have quite a lot.”

“Remember twenty years ago? When Chad got possessed by two spirits at the same time, and he and those spirits were always fighting over control of his body?”

“Hmm… I do remember. It was quite messy. But then again, Chad was a spirit vessel. His body is very compatible to be hijacked by wandering spirits. So, what of it?”

“It was possession because every time one of the spirits takes over, the magic signature inside his body changes.”

“Yes. It’s because the spirits had their own magic signature.”

Kayla swallowed a non-existent lump on her throat. “What if, I met a student whose mood and attitude can change in a heartbeat.”

“You mean that student got possessed?” asked the archduchess.

“No. I mean… I don’t know.”

“Excuse me? Elaborate then.”

Kayla handed her the folder she carried for her visit. Inside it was the five drawings Freya submitted to her.

“One student made those five drawings. And she submitted them without remembering she had submitted one already before that.”

“Okay. Go on. I’m listening.” the archduchess laid the five drawings on her table.

“Ever since I met her, she has incredible mood swings but at first I thought it was because she was a teenager. But when I asked the class to draw something that represents themselves, I started noticing it. But even though I’m pretty sure different people with the same face gave me the drawings, there was no change in her magic signature.”

“Interesting. By the way, what did Luna draw for hers?”

“A fox. But as good and powerful mage as she is she can’t draw.”

“I know. It’s one of her downsides.” the archduchess commented. “Anyway, you visited the right person. From your description it’s really not possession.”

“So it really isn’t?”

“Yes. I can’t be a hundred percent sure since I can't make a right diagnoses without seeing her myself, but I think this student of yours has D.I.D.”

“D.I.D.? What’s that?”

“Dissociative Identity Disorder. Or so to say, Multiple Personality Disorder.” Kaye just stared at the archduchess, who was once her mentor a long, long time ago. “It’s not a curse or anything caused by magic or the supernatural. There’s just something wrong with her head.”

“Is she a loon then?”

“No. Not yet anyway.”

Kayla sighed and slumped on her seat.