The Empress (TAGLISH)

Chapter 1: The Dream

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have begun our descent into the City of Lauren. Please turn off all the portable electronic devices..."

Ioan was woken up by the announcement for the landing. It was a 9 hour flight from Restarte to the City of Lauren. He was part of the team that was chosen to explore the ruins of the Anthos Kingdom 2000 years ago.

"Oh you're finally awake." A female voice spoke beside her. Bumaling siya sa kanyang kanan at bumungad sa kanya ang nakangiting mukha ng kanyang kasintahan na si Serena. Kabilang ang dalaga sa mga napili na pumunta sa Restarte. Kasama rin nila ang kanyang matalik na kaibigan na si Gin na nakaupo sa harapan.

Sinuklay niya ang kanyang buhok gamit ang kanyang kanang kamay bago tumanaw sa bintana ng eroplano."A dream." he told himself.

He started having those dreams five days prior to their departure from Restarte, and the weird part is he's been dreaming about a woman. Hindi niya makita ng malinaw ang mukha nito pero pakiramdam niya ay matagal na niya itong kilala. He always have this longing feeling for this woman every time na magising siya mula sa panaginip.

"Are you not feeling well?" Gin asked and tapped his shoulder habang palabas na sila sa airport. Naging kaklase niya ang binata noong nasa pangalawang taon sila ng kolehiyo at hindi nag tagal ay naging matalik na niya itong kaibigan. Nagtaka pa nga siya noon kung bakit ang anak ng kilalang Business Magnate ay kumuha ng kursong archeology.

Gin laughed when he asked why. Umiling-iling lang ito saka sinabing, "Ayokong tumanda ng maaga."

"Yeah. I'm having a terrible headache." Sagot niya dito. "Gin, I'm having a strange dreams these days and it's really bugging me." Ika niya dito habang pasakay na sila sa van na sumundo sa kanila.

"What kind of dreams?"

"I always dream about a certain woman. She seems like she's from ancient times who holds a high status." Sagot niya ng makaupo na sila sa loob ng van. "I just saw her earlier in my dream, She was standing by the lake wondering what tragedy will befall on her. I remember her asking me what I think if things would be better if she had never been born."

"What did you say to her then?"

"I asked her why does she keep on asking that. Then, I told her that I am glad that fate brought her on this world and happy that destiny allowed me to met her." He heard Gin laughed so glared at him to stop him.

"That's cheesey bro, I can't imagine you saying those words,"

"Tch. Shut up." Wika niya rito ng hindi parin ito tumigil sa pagtawa. "The strange part is I can't remember her face every time I woke up and I felt like I've known her for a long time."

"Eh? That's interesting, though are you sure that she's not your lover before? O baka naman may fetish ka sa mga role-play s*x na hindi mo magawa-gawa, kaya sa panaginip mo na lang isinasakatuparan?" Gin said sabay ngisi ng nakakaloko. "You know, it's some kind of wish fulfillment. If I'm not mistaken Freud used that term in his book Interpretation of Dreams."

"What the f**k are you saying!?" Inis na wika niya rito. He can feel the gazes of their collegue na kasama nila sa van. Mabuti na lang at sa kabilang van sumakay si Serena. Dahil sigurado siyang masasapak niya talaga ang lalaki dahil sa lakas ng boses nito.

"Shut up. Don't laugh." Mariing wika niya ng mapansing nagpipigil si Gin ng tawa.

"What if you're dreaming about your memories from your past life?" Gin blurted suddenly.

He sighed and turned his head to look at him with concern. "Are you okay? Hindi ka ba na untog sa eroplano kanina?"

Gin glared at him.

"Dude, are you telling me that I was reincarnated? Impossible. That's a crap."

"We can't rule out the possibility that reincarnation is true," Gin answered nonchalantly, "There's some stories that you can find in the internet about people who remembered their previous life."

"Nonsense. Hindi pa napapatunayan ng siyensiya ang bagay na yan."

"That's why there's a lot of theories about it. They're not yet proven but they give us an acceptable explanation about the phenomenon."

"So do you believe in reincarnation?" Nakataas ang kilay na tanong niya sa kaibigan.

"Maybe. However, I think that even if the chances of it happening is small. So small that it may seems so impossible I still can't rule out that tiny possibilities that it can happen."

"Tch. Let's just forget about it." Wika niya. Maybe it's just some kind of coincidence that he happened to dream about it. Maybe because of his sleep deprivation kaya kung ano-anu na ang napapanaginipan niya.

"Dude."

"What?"

"I think you're going crazy. That's the most valid explanation sa sitwasyon mo." Gin said and laughed.

"Anong sinabi mo?!" Pikon na baling niya dito.

"Don't mind." Sagot nito sabay tapik sa balikat niya.

Isang oras pa ang magiging byahe nila mula sa airport bago nila marating ang ang kanilang destinasyon. From what he saw on the records, Laurell is the capital of the Anthos Kingdom during the Aros Era and later on they change it into what we've known now as the City of Lauren.

He was impressed on the City's beauty. It has a mixture of old and modern buildings. Most of the old buildings holds a unique architectural designs which gives a beautiful contrast to the modern designs of the new buildings.

Napapaligiran ng mga samot-saring bulaklak ang siyudad ng Lauren kaya hindi rin nakapagtataka ang maraming paru-paru sa paligid. Ito rin ang siyang nagsisilbing atraksyon sa mga tourista na mula pa sa iba't-ibang lugar at bansa. Iilan lamang sa mga bulaklak na ito ang nakikilala niya. Tulad na lang ng iba't-ibang kulay ng nakahilirang rosas na nakatanim sa sa gitna na siyang humahati ng highway na dinadaanan nila. Meron ding Morning Glory na nakapulupot sa mga haligi ng lumang building at Hydrangeas na nakatanim sa harapan ng isang coffee shop.

"Look at that bookstore." Gin said. "They got hyacinth and heather. They also put the violet and forget me not on the hanging pots along with the orchids." His voice is filled with amusement while looking at those flowers. "Did you know that flowers has a hidden meaning? They call it floriography or the language of the flowers."

"You seem to know a lot of it." Sagot niya sa kaibigan habang tinitignan niya ang mga tinuturo nitong mga bulaklak.

"Yeah. My sister really love flowers that she wanted to become a florist. She cried and ignored dad for a week when he didn't agree, so he built her a huge garden behind the house." Gin said and laughed.

Ioan shook his head on his friend's story. It's really different how the rich people spend their money. Well he came from a rich family too both of her parents are professor on a prestigious University and his family is also a major shareholder of two international Universities. But Gin's family is different they are what you call Elite and is included in the high society.

"Wait, you have a sister!? How come I didn't know that?" Gulat na tanong niya. Matagal na silang mag kaibigan ngunit ni minsan ay hindi pa niya ito nababangit.

"I thought I mentioned her before?" Kunot-noong tanong nito.

"No you didn't."

"Oh. But I did talk about Ellie before." Gin said with a confused look.

"Wait, Ellie is your sister? I thought she's your girl?"

"f**k no." Gin said and threw him a ridiculous look.

Well it's not his fault for not knowing hindi naman kasi niya ito nabangit na kapatid niya pala ito. He assumed that Ellie is his girl because sometimes Gin acts like a bothered boyfriend whenever he looks at his phone saying, "f**k, Ellie is angry on me" or "Who is this guy beside my Ellie?"

"Siscon." Ioan uttered quietly. When he remembered those lines from Gin.

"I heard that."

•••

Tumigil ang sinasakyan nilang van sa harapan ng malaking bahay kung saan sila pansamantalang titira habang isinasagawa nila ang kanilang pagsusuri dito sa siyudad ng Lauren. The house is old but it looks like it was well maintained.

"You know this was a brothel house before." Mario said standing beside him.

"What?" Kunot-noong tanong niya.

"I wonder if we're going to hear the ghosts moaning in pleasure as they reenact their previous lives inside this old brothel." Alvin said and walk in front of them while holding some of their things.

"Pumasok na nga kayo. Kung anu-ano nanaman ang lumalabas sa mga bunganga niyo!" Sabad ni Celine na may halong iritasyon ang boses.

The owner Mrs. Filan, lead them inside the house and the girls went ahead with her followed by Alvin and Mario. Habang ang ilan sakanila ay nagbababa pa ng kanilang mga gamit mula sa van.

"Ohh." Gin exclaimed ng makapasok na sila sa loob. "This house looks pretty good. So this is how a brothel house looks before."

Mrs. Filan said and laughed. "Actually we remodeled some parts of this house to remove the brothel look of it." Wika nito. "Although most of our guest are lovers and some of them are having affairs."

They laughed at what she said. Maybe this house was destined for it.

"Is this still works?" Tanong ni Pauline ng makita ang gramophone na nakapatong sa isang antique na lamesa na nasa tapat ng malaking painting.

"Yes." Mrs. Filan said and Pauline whistled. "If you want you can play a record, you can choose anything you like over there." She said while pointing the bunch of vinyls inside the wooden cabinet. "My husband likes to collect those."

"Thank you Mrs. Filan." She said as she started to look at the vinyls.

Ioan sighed. He wanted to go to his room and rest. Hindi parin na aalis ang sakit ng ulo niya mag mula ng magising siya kanina sa eroplano. Serena seems to notice it kaya naglakad ito patungo sa tabi niya.

"Babe are you okay?" She asked while looking at him with a worried face.

"Yeah, just a headache." Sagot niya sala tipid na ngumiti.

"You need to take some meds." Serena said. "I think I got something here." She search the inside of her handbag and after a few seconds she pulled out a bottle and gave it to him.

"Thank you." Ioan said and kissed her temple. "I'm going to put these on the room." Wika niya sabay buhat sa isang malaking duffel bag at cases kung saan nakalagay ang ilan sa mga camera at laptop na gagamitin nila.

Serena nodded and he headed upstairs kung saan naroon ang kwarto na naka assign sa kanya.

Ioan took the key from his pocket and opened the door to his room. Agad niya inilapag ng maayos ang kanyang mga dala sa sahig ng makapasok siya sa kanyang kwarto saka siya nahiga saglit sa kama bago niya napag disesyonang maligo.

After washing himself, Ioan dipped his body on the bathtub filled with warm water.

"Ah." He uttured as he comfortably leaned his back on the tub and closed her eyes. He can feel his body starting to relax. Ilang oras din kasi siyang nakaupo at pakiramdam niya ay sumakit ang mga kalamnan niya.

Ilang sandali ang lumipas hanggang sa hindi niya namalayan ang pagtangay sa kanya ng antok.

***

"Ivantie, Ivantie." He heard a soft female voice waking him up. He didn't notice that he fell asleep while listening to the sound of the zither, while he's taking a shelter under the old wisteria tree. He slowly opened his eyes and was welcomed by the sight of the princess standing in front of him.

"Princess!" Gulat na sambit niya.Agad siyang tumayo at bahagyang yumuko upang magbigay ng galang dito.

"I apologize for waking you up, Ivantie." Wika nito na may bahid ng pag-aalala.

Ivantie let a small smile at the Princess assuring her that it was fine.

He can't help but to feel surprised, it was the first time she talk to her and he doesn't know why he felt a hint of happiness deep inside him.

Princess Illyria Aspodel Kantakouzene.

The youngest among the ten children of the King. She was the daughter of the late concubine Ylena Wyverngrain who gained a lot of favour from His Majesty.

She's tall despite her young age. She's wearing a fairy pink tulle long dress with butterfly sleeves that compliments her soft skin. Her hair was a flowing, lustrous midnight-black hair that reached down to her waist. Half of her face was covered with a thin veil that hides her eyes.

She's always been a quiet one and distant to others except for the second and fourth prince.

"Have you seen my brother? Do you know where he is?" She asked. "I've been looking for him and I can't find him anywhere in the Mansion."

Ivantie remembered that the third Prince received a summon from the Emperor while they are talking inside the Mansion's library.

"The Prince went to see His Majesty in the Palace, Princess." He answered.

"Oh." She uttered with disappoinment. "He promised on letting me ride a horse after I finished learning the zither. He's probably going to be busy again." Princess Illyra said and looked down.

"So the princess is the one playing the zither earlier." He thought. Ivantie observed every little move that she made. "She was like a porcelain doll."

Suddenly a servant came running towards them. "Princess! Princess!" She shouted while running. "The Prince has arrived."

Ivantie saw how her lips form into a smile after hearing the news. Princess Illyra started to walk away from him and after a few steps, she suddenly stopped and turned to him.

"Thank you Ivantie." She said and without any warning a strong wind suddenly blew between them taking her veil away, revealing the eyes that he has never seen anywhere before.