Freedom: Eleftheria

The afternoon sun was still bright above me. The carriage rental was only a few blocks away from one of the smaller city gates. The business keeper was nice and fair, and had prepared for us an adequate vehicle pulled by two roan horses. Old Man Farseer was as silent as he was wise. Janmira, the ghost, was gladly keeping her head low under her hood, the color of which now changed into a darker, more neutral shade than the bright orange.

I thought about that color. When I think of orange, I see the fruit with the same name and weirdly, I thought of friendship. Sweet, a little bit acidic, maybe even bitter. But, nonetheless, still something you would want to savor.

Miss Hestia was my friend. And now, she's gone.

I kept hold of her letter since the day of my escape. I had read it enough times that I could somehow already memorize some lines. Due to my careful handling, the parchment was still intact, but it was obvious that the thin paper could easily rip apart due to my overuse.

"Are you ready, Eleftherion?" the ghost asked me in her quiet, eerie voice. She drifted past me as she loaded bag after bag into the carriage. "We need to hurry if we don't want to travel in darkness. Won't you help out your older sister?"

I flinched, dreading the fact that I had to act as the dead girl's sis... brother. I approached warily, extending a hand to steal a box of bottles from her hands. "I'll gladly help out, sister Janmira. This is a job fit for a boy, after all."

With that, my thoughts were blasted into a corner of my mind as I busied my hands with the menial work of carrying and placing, carrying and placing. I tried to forget the thin piece of paper stuck inside my shirt, burdening me with an irrational heaviness.

A while later, I was leaning by the carriage's side, wiping the sweat from my brows. I can almost feel the ugly stares from other people as I moved my bare hands across my forehead. I wondered if someone would shout at me to act properly. A girl should not be wiping at her face, especially with a gloveless hand! Oh, the very atrocity of a woman without a handkerchief during her travels!

But, no. I was a man right now. A boy, really. Eleftherion, child of a commoner's house without a name. A farmhand turned apprentice for the Old Man Farseer, a simple wine trader. No special documents were needed to be seen for a commoner child, especially under the tutelage of a wizened old man.

It was unbelievable how much help an aged and respectable man can do for a young child. I wondered how easily I could have escaped in my past life if only I had sought help from another person. In fact, it was so maddeningly simple that Miss Quisling's proposed plan in the past seemed utterly nonsensical.

I laughed a little, thinking about silly things.

"Come now, boy." The Old Man called down from his perch inside the carriage. "Better get up here, or we'll leave you behind."

I smiled widely, hurriedly getting up the carriage, finding it quite hard to get up on its raised steps. I glimpsed a hand held open in front of me. I accepted the offer, finding the hand surprisingly warm underneath mine.

"Thank you," I muttered at the ghost, my eyes not meeting hers. She only nodded silently.

Plopping down on the seat beside Farseer, I wondered how a ghost's hand could feel so alive. The carriage started to lurch forward as the horses moved, the reins controlled by a straw-made boyman. These were simply magically animated objects capable of doing simple tasks. Our boyman was acting as our carriage driver. These would usually break down into their original forms by the time it was done executing its conjurer's orders.

"You feeling alright, child?" Farseer asked me after our carriage had passed through the city gates.

I sighed, realizing my body was all tensed up. "I... Alright. It's just that this is the first time I had gone past the city gates without any trouble, and without my family knowing."

The old man nodded thoughtfully, humming shortly. "Then I suppose this is the child's first step as an adult."

I tilted my head, wondering what he meant. "I'm hardly six years old today, Farseer. I wouldn't count as an adult to anyone's eyes."

He chuckled softly. "Anyone's eyes but mine, child of Saule. I see more from your mind; things that a mere child cannot even bare to fathom. Although Janmira and I might be your guardians in others' eyes, I would say you see me more as an ally of yours rather than a teacher, yes?"

His words shook me down to my soul. After all, no one knew who I really was aside from my second brother. Even then, I had to tell him myself, rather than him finding it out. But, I forced myself to calm down, no matter how it seemed like his white eyes could creepily see through all of my thoughts.

'He must not know,' I thought. 'If he knows who I am and what happened to me, then..."

One could only imagine how greatly desirable the chance for a new life is. I would imagine entire wars would be started just to get a second chance like I have. Would this mysterious man be after that gift as well? But, I don't even know how I had been brought back in time. The only clue I had about this was the dream about the Music, and that barely made any sense at all.

After all, I had constantly wondered, 'Why me?'

Who was to say that all I had suffered through in my past life was worse than what other people had gone through? I could easily ask a commoner woman for her life story, and I could probably say that she had suffered worse atrocities. I was simply astounded by it all. I would forever be grateful, but also, I would always be confused as to why it was me who was given this chance...

"You seem to be deep in thought, child." I jumped as I heard his soft voice again. He was looking at me with curiosity under his wrinkled face. "Do not think too much. Now, spare the time to look outside."

Dumbfounded, I turned my head towards the pointed direction, and I found myself staring through the window. Outside our gently moving carriage was a wide, open field... and above, many ways above, was a floating island.

The sky was glowing pink and purple, and the humongous plot of land suspended in bare air made me feel a dizzying bout of disorientation. From my viewpoint, I could barely see the tiny silhouettes of high rising towers and swirling spires. Flags of a couple dozen colors floating all around in the cold altitude winds.

"The Soaring Isle of Malaya..." I muttered, blinking my eyes again and again.

I shouldn't be seeing this here...

Due to the continental wars, the flying nation was said to have been stuck afloat above the Neron Continent. It shouldn't be here at all!

"Close your mouth, child," Farseer patted my back gently. "Great change is coming in all of the great lands. Changes, perhaps, in a dozen realities. Whether these bring only turmoil and chaos, depends on the people who lead us. I believe your nanny, Lady Hestia, has bravely ensured you a life of freedom in these trying times."

The old man looked down at my hands. I belatedly realized that I had unknowingly taken out her letter from my robes once again. I opened it up, and simply stared at the elegant script of her initials at the very bottom.

"Princess Eleftheria," Farseer called out to me once more. "What will you do with this freedom?"

I stared at the patient gaze on the old man's face, and forced myself to stare into the dead girl's stoic expression. I looked in front of me, where a seat was empty. I imagined my nanny sitting there with her usual, eccentric smile and gloveless hands.

"Farseer," I said. "I would do the right thing."

Breathing in deeply, and staring outside the window again, looking at the vast world beyond me.

"I'll use this chance to make this world better. You said great changes will come to this world, and I agree. If it changes into something worse, I'll make sure to turn the tides. If it stubbornly wants to stay the same, I'll do everything I can to make things different." I looked back at the Old Man Farseer, and spoke out clearly. "I owe this much to the gods that granted me this life, and I owe this too to Miss Hestia... who has done everything she could do just so I could continue to live it."

I've never felt so serious about anything, and for once, my life wasn't simply about not dying. It didn't matter anymore if I was weak, or female, or a princess. What mattered was the fact that I was breathing with a life that wasn't solely mine anymore.

I had a mission. And I planned to make it happen up until my very last breath.

~~

End of Volume 1: Youthful Days

Followed by the Epilogue: The Nanny's Letter

Eleftheria i Thanatos - Greek Motto meaning "Liberty or Death"

Malaya - Filipino word for "Free"