Legend of Niyonika

Outer Sect Disciple (Ch.10)

~Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes~

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

'A devastating beauty, a beauty that could cause the fall of nations, a beauty with silver hair...who else was there that fit this description other than Niyonika of 2099?!... Just how did I time travel in my own body?! And where exactly is this Seyr Empire?! What exactly is going on here?!'

And the most important question on Niyonika's mind, the very question that filled Niyonika with dread.

'Why do I no longer feel my system's presence?' Niyonika wondered, as much as she would have liked to believe in the delusion that her system was ignoring her, Niyonika knew deep within herself that somehow, her system was...gone.

"Junior sister...?" The leader of the group called drawing Niyonika out of her thoughts.

"Oh...yes, it would seem so." Niyonika responded uncertainly, her mind was in a state of disorientation. Try as she might, she could not figure out what exactly was going on.

"Which of our heavenly sage pavilion's master sage does junior sister study under? I will immediately escort you back to your master's pavilion." The leader of the group offered. Niyonika remained silent.

'Heavenly sage pavilion? Master sage? What language are you speaking? Don't ask me questions I don't have answers to, I already have enough of my own problems to deal with.' Niyonika thought in annoyance, she was barely preventing herself from falling into full-blown panic, she did not need all these questioning right now.

"Senior brother. Junior sister's clothing lacks the ranking band, this means junior sister is an outer disciple yet to be assigned to a master sage." Another of the disciples observed.

"Yes senior brother, today is the ranking test of the outer disciples, I heard it was taking place in the astral mountain peak." Another agreed.

"If it is the ranking test, then it begins in two hours, what is junior sister doing here at such a crucial time?!" The leader of the group exclaimed, Niyonika frowned, not completely grasping the situation, they were spilling out too much information at once.

However Niyonika knew she could not ask much without looking suspicious hence she decided to focus on the matter at hand. If she indeed was a disciple of this 'heavenly sage pavilion' and there was a competition going on, then it was obvious she would have to participate.

Niyonika pushed away all her panic and confusion and instead focused on the situation at hand. All her panic eased away and Niyonika completely relaxed even in the face of events she could not understand, after 999 times of finding herself in befuddling situations, the transition came extremely naturally to her.

Rising to her feet, Niyonika dusted off the grains of sand that stuck to her before looking up at the group of five.

"First, would it be possible for me to know your names?" Niyonika asked politely.

"Oh... right, how silly of us. We brothers should have made our introductions by now. I am Nor, a middle disciple of the heavenly sage pavilion, my major element is water, I am under the tutelage of the water master sage. My brother disciples are Jun, Tron, Ren and Lorn...they are all water elementals and we study under the same master sage." The leader of the group introduced, pointing one after the other as he called their names.

"Senior brother Nor, could you please explain this ranking contest to me and are there other elementals in the heavenly sage pavilion? Or just water elementals?" Niyonika quickly followed up with another question before they could ask for her name, she was not certain yet if she wanted to use her real name.

"I know these are things I am supposed to know but I cannot seem to recall anything, not even the basic knowledge? Can you believe it?, I don't know what happened to me but I must have had a great fall, my head hurts so much, I don't want to think of it too much." Niyonika explained quickly when she noticed the baffled looks on their faces at her question, on hearing her answer, their gazes changed to one of understanding and sympathy.

"It's no wonder you did not recall the Elemental god continent and the Seyr Empire at first, I feared it was something else." Lorn spoke up, chuckling sheepishly. Lorn had been the young male who had screamed when Niyonika awoke.

"Junior sister need not stress yourself, it will naturally come to you in time. For now we brothers will explain the ranking contest and everything else to you to the best of our ability." Nor assured her, Niyonika smiled gratefully.

____________

Niyonika arrived at the outer disciples quarters.

"Junior Sister should quickly change and we will escort you to where the contest is taking place. Junior sister should still have a little time to spare." Nor said, Niyonika nodded, although she did not particularly know which room was hers in the vast quarters reserved for the outer disciples or if she even had any considering she had just appeared in this continent, Niyonika already found it baffling that she seemed to have a back story, already belonging to a sect and all that.

"Niyo!" A voice yelled. Niyonika and the group of five looked up to see a petite doe eyed female rushing towards her.

Niyonika was stumped even as the female barrelled into her.

'How had this female known to call her by her true name?'

"What did you just call me?" Niyonika asked hesitantly, moving away from the female's tight embrace. The female gave her a puzzled look.

"Niyo... Niyonika, that's big sister's name. Big sister...are you okay?" The petite female asked in concern, Niyonika sucked in a deep breath.

'Not only do I have a back story in this strange timeline, I even bear my original name for some reason. What exactly is going on?' Niyonika wondered.

"Your big sister fell off a cliff at the astral mountain range and hurt her head, we found her washed up on the shores of the astral sea, she presently cannot remember most of her memories." Nor explained on Niyonika's behalf when she failed to respond for a while.

The petite female's hands lifted up to her mouth in shock and her large doe eyes glistened with tears. Niyonika was extremely baffled to see the petite female crying over just hearing she had fallen off a cliff.

Niyonika herself who had supposedly fallen off the cliff was yet to shed tears but the petite female already beat her to it.

'Ah... ancient females.' Niyonika thought to herself with a sigh.

"Junior sister disciple need not cry, Junior sister Niyo is fine now and only needs to be taken care of." Lorn quickly comforted the crying female, the other males nodded their agreement.

"But first junior sister Niyo must prepare to quickly head over to the ranking contest grounds...ah, this junior sister, you should also be an outer disciple, why are you not at the ranking contest and still in your quarters?" Nor asked puzzled, the petite female's large doe eyes widened even more and a hint of terror flashed across them.

"Ah... I decided not to participate this time." The petite female stuttered out however Niyonika clearly picked out the trace of fear in the petite female's tone.

"So it's like this... I guess junior sister does not have the confidence yet, no matter... junior sister can still participate in the next ranking contest." Nor said in understanding.

"Ah, but senior brother, the ranking contest takes place once every three years! This junior sister will have to wait another three years for a chance to participate, shouldn't this junior sister just take a bold step and try it out this time, one can never know the outcome." Lorn interjected, Niyonika also felt Lorn's words were right.

"Lorn, it is not our decision to make." Nor reminded his brother disciple, Lorn quickly shut his mouth at the reprimand from his senior disciple.

"I thank senior brothers for your help so far, Niyo doesn't dare impose any further, my junior sister will look after me from here on out. Niyo will definitely go to look for senior brothers to properly express my gratitude at a later date." Niyonika said gratefully, bowing slightly.

Nor looked torn for a moment but realizing Niyonika probably wished to be alone, he nodded.

"Then I will be seeing junior sister Niyo around, I wish you good luck in the ranking contest." Nor said, returning Niyonika's bow. The other four disciples replicated Nor's gesture before the brothers took their leave, leaving Niyonika and the petite female.

"What is your name?" Niyonika asked carefully, the female's eyes widened at Niyonika's question.

"Big sister cannot recall my name also? Big sister must have hit your head really badly...it is all my fault." The petite female lamented guilty, a fresh wave of tears streaming down her cheeks.

Niyonika wondered if there was anything she would say that would not cause this female to shed tears.

"My name is Raila." The petite female finally replied after getting her tears under control.

"Raila...a pretty name, would you please show me to my room?" Niyonika asked, wincing as more tears streamed down the female's cheeks.

"Did I say something wrong?" Niyonika asked after a while of helplessly watching the female cry.

"Ah...no, not at all, it's just that big sister had also said the same thing the first time we met a month ago, that my name was pretty." Raila replied between sobs, Niyonika blinked.

"I had?" Niyonika asked aloud.

"Yes, those exact words. I am being silly, big sister please follow me, I shall lead you to your room." Raila quickly organized herself and lead the way to Niyonika's room.

Raila pushed open the doors and Niyonika stepped in, taking a look around, she nodded in approval.

Even for an outer disciple who were the least disciples in the sect, the living conditions were quite decent.

'As is to be expected of the sect ranked at four among the five major sects in this Seyr Empire.' Niyonika thought in approval, thinking back to the detailed explanation the five brother disciples had given her on all she needed to know.