Dawn- An age of Darkness

"Where\'s the geezer?"

"Ohar thever," she said, stuffing her face with a large slice of chiffon cake.

The cake piece was too big to go through her mouth, so most of it ended up stuck to her cheeks and nose. It gave her a unique look of different colors. She really likes cake, huh?

I held back my immense urge to hug her tight. After all, who wouldn\'t love to hug a bunny girl stuffed with cake on her face?

I went toward the direction she pointed in and without a doubt found the old man. However, unlike his claim, he wasn\'t shoving down pudding; instead, he was chugging down booze. 

Damn geezer.

"I thought you were going to eat pudding?"

"They ran out," he said.

His tone was sad and he looked grim.

"Oh!" 

You mean you finished all of them?

I didn\'t know whether to be surprised or amazed. Either way, he was something.

"Don\'t drink, too much and I- well spoke to the prince- or rather he spoke to me."

"What\'d he say?" That piqued his interest. His eyes sharpened up.

I didn\'t know which prince he thought I was talking about but I figured he knew. "He didn\'t mean to belittle your lineage- or so he claimed," I said.

"Huh! Too late," With a heavy tone, he said, chugging down an entire mug of ale. That guy was something else, drinking around in broad daylight. Then again, everyone in the party was doing the same. "I wasted ten good years of my life for this crap. The least I could do is making them go broke for alcohol."

Should I be sad or mad?

Maybe both?

"Huff*puff* there – you *huff* are. Found you," a Jowy lookalike said. He was panting a bit too much.

"Catch your breath first," I said.

"Th-They need you at the center." 

His voice sounds like Jowy\'s. Could it be…?

"You\'re not Jowy are you?" I was still skeptical of the whole situation.

"Who else would I be?"

Okay, it wasn\'t a Jowy lookalike, rather it was Lord Jowy himself.

"Guess I\'ll go." They were probably going to pull another political ploy. As much as I hated to be used like this, I didn\'t really have too many problems with it either. "Later old man."

I walked with Jowy. 

The old man raised his voice and said, "Good luck!"

Luck wasn\'t my forte. 

What am I going to need luck for?

"So, what is it?"

We talked as we moved ever so close to the center.

"What do you mean? You\'re the guest of honor." Jowy was speaking like everything was obvious. But unfortunately, it wasn\'t.

"I know that much but why do I have to go to the center?"

"To dance of course," he said.

Huh? But I can\'t dance! I like watching it but I\'ve never danced! Don\'t tell me, I brought this on myself! 

Saying I couldn\'t dance would have been misleading. It was more like I didn\'t have the capacity. Whenever I tried, I always ended up tripping or stepping on toes. Neither of which was forgivable on such a stage.

"Is it bad, that I can\'t dance?"

"For reals?" Jowy couldn\'t believe that. He was so shocked that his accent went all weird.

"Yes, for reals"

"It\'s not that bad, people are only going to laugh at you, nothing more," he said looking away. Now I was seriously starting to doubt whether this guy was Jowy or not. I mean, was Jowy always pessimistic?

How\'s that not bad?

I went into the center and a girl dressed in light pink waited for me. However, unlike before, she didn\'t wear any masks. This was the first time, I\'d seen her face; and yet I probably wouldn\'t forget this face for as long as I\'d live. She was not just beautiful but breathtakingly so. I couldn\'t even look away. Jowy, Araan, and all the rest were lower priorities now. The person in front of me had stolen every bit of my gaze and I just couldn\'t look away. I went on stage, with my eyes fixed on hers.

I couldn\'t dance? Didn\'t matter.

"Is something wrong? You look so dazed," she said.

"You\'re just too beautiful that I couldn\'t look away," I said peeking deep in her crimson eyes. She was probably the most beautiful girl I\'d ever seen- at least that\'s what my eyes were telling me. 

"Is that so?" Her cheeks widened and a red glow flashed. 

"Yup, exactly so," I said.

She giggled.

"I\'ll be honest with you, I can\'t dance." I spread my arms towards her.

"Don\'t worry; I\'ll walk you through every step." She grabbed my hand. They weren\'t cold anymore.

She wasn\'t some unknown girl but rather she was the one who rescued me time and time again; it was Lianne.

"I know," I mumbled.

We began when a different tone began to play. It was a beautiful melody. My body moved on its own: and almost crumbled more than a dozen times. She led me with every step. 

"Now take a step back," she whispered.

I followed her whispers and we danced. It was slow and I almost stepped on her feet a dozen times but she didn\'t lose patience and I thanked the heavens or rather Terortra. Trerortra was the only God I prayed to.

Lianne was close and I could hear, feel, and appreciate her. She was my savior and she was also the most beautiful girl to me. And boy did she smell good. This is when I realized, I might actually have feelings for her.

In time, I picked up pace and we moved elegantly on the shiny crystal floor- or rather she did. I on the other hand mostly lagged behind. Turned out, dancing was a rhythm game after all: a game I sucked pretty badly at. The only thing I needed to look out for was that I didn\'t step on her feet and yet, why was it so damn hard?

All eyes were on us. But we didn\'t care. We only had eyes for each other. I also had eyes for her feet but oh well.

She was a patient one indeed. We span together. Time slowed down and the lights became contrails. It was like time had stopped entirely as I couldn\'t get out from her endless gaze. Honestly, I wouldn\'t have minded that.

Our dance came to a fin and we bowed to the crowd; it was tradition. A round of applause followed and along with a different tune, everybody started to dance. I took a break as I was drenched with sweat. Lianne took me to the veranda and we caught our breaths there. 

For the first time I felt that life might not have been all that bad. I was probably mistaken but as I was glad to enjoy my time with her. 

It wasn\'t that bad after all.