12 hours has passed since I brought Zenith’s egg inside my room. Once it was all warmed up for about that long, the egg cracked and a soothing and gentle aura unravels beneath the cracks of the egg. The aura keeps on getting bigger as it continues to come out of the egg. Once the egg has been dried out of this mysterious aura, the aura formed itself together to recreate the bodily structure of a human. Zenith was then seen lying on the bed. The same place where I put down the egg. What happened to the eggshell? It softens itself and turned into a blanket. I sat down right next to her and tried to wake her up.

“Hey…Wake up.”

She didn’t budge at all. I tried calling her again.

“Come on, Zen. Get up.”

No response. I tried shaking her.

“It’s almost time, Zen. Come on.”

Finally, she made a respond. But it was just her snoring…

“Jeez.” I dropped out of the bed and sat down on the floor next to the bed. I placed down both of my arm over the bed as I continued to try and wake her up.

This has been the fifth time I have taken care of this little bird but I’m still not getting used to waking her up. It feels a little awkward whenever I tried to wake her up. It’s not like she’s dead or anything. Her lungs are breathing and her heart beats. It’s just the awkwardness of a boy bringing in a girl into a boys dormitory. But then again, this dorm is not really a boy’s dorm anymore. Yumiko and some other girls also stay over this area. Probably having the same reason as Yumiko as well.

I gave a loud sigh as I gave up trying to wake her up. I put down my head onto the bedsheets as I looked at the face of little ‘Snow White’ that was still sleeping peacefully. Her pristine silver hair shines brightly as the curtain of my room moved a bit, giving the sunlight to shine down my room. I noticed that her hair was a bit messy. I tried to properly straighten it up with my right hand. As I keep straightening her hair, I accidentally went a little bit overboard by it. I accidentally touched her soft cheeks. It was warm. I fidgeted at first but then I noticed her bangs were covering her eyes. I moved her front bangs away to the side as I ended up unintentionally caressed her cheeks.

She then suddenly opened her eyes.

“Um…” It got awkward for me.

Her cheeks started to get even warmer than before. Her face slowly turned bright red. The same thing probably happened to my face. As soon as she realises what was happening, she turned herself away from me and showed her back to me. Covering away her embarrassment. I also quickly pulled my hand away and turned my back from her.

After a long pause, I finally spoke to her.

“Good morning…” It wasn’t really morning at the time. It was more of a…before dawn.

It took her about 10 seconds of silence until she finally answers me back.

“White…?”

I turned back to her who was still lying down on the bed looking away from me.

“Are you alright? You need something?”

“Can you…bring me something to drink?”

I smiled and say, “I’ll get you something hot then.”

I got up and made a cup of milk for her. I brought the cup to her.

“Zen, here…”

She turned her back and got up from the bed and sat on it. She grabbed the cup and sips on it.

“Milk?”

“It’s good for you.”

She then pouted, “I’m not a little girl…I’m the same age as you are.”

“Hey, even I still drink milk right now. It’s a healthy drink. It’s good for your body and bones. Helps you grow strong and tall.”

Zenith then grumbles like a little kid not wanting to finish their vegetables.

I sighed and sat next to her and then I told her, “Didn't you said that you’re supposed to be my Guardian. You have to be strong. Strong enough to protect me. If you don’t finish the milk then I’m the one who’s going to be your Guardian…” I said that and turned my head to her.

She was eyeing me for the whole time I was talking about that Guardian thing. Her face turned even redder as I finished my last sentence. She immediately gulps down her milk. I try not to embarrass myself but my face was turning red as well. But I forced my way out of that embarrassment and laughed on my own.

“Don’t drink it too fast. You might choke yourself.”

I gave her some time to finish up her drink. The sun begins to wake up as she finishes her milk.

“It’s already dawn. You should head back to your room before anyone notice you’re missing.”

“They won’t miss me.” Zenith covers herself with the blanket she has been using.

“What are you talking about? Of course they’ll miss you. It’s your room mates.” It was then I realised, “Hold on just a sec. You haven’t interacted with them yet have you?”

She shakes her head and said, “I only respond to their questions. I never join them in anything else.”

I sighed, “Then you should join them. It’s good for you.”

“Are you sure? I can do that? You won’t get angry?”

“Why would I be angry? Wait…No, you’re not The Snow Dragon or The Snow Phoenix. You are Zenith. Totally different. Can’t you seem to realise that by now?”

“I don’t comprehend by what you are saying…White.”

This girl really has a big problem. There must be a reason behind all of this. But I already know what it might be. I’ve discussed it with Hosuke when I was waiting for Zenith to wake up. Our conversation goes like this,

“What’s up, Hosuke.”

“Yo. How are thing at the academy?”

“She…uh…died again.”

Hosuke quickly sighed and replied back, “You’re not sharing what’s happening I believe?”

“I can take care of this, Hosuke.”

“Well anyway…we’ve gathered some interesting information about Zenith thanks to Airi’s connections.”

“Airi, huh? He’s always having his information from outside sources. I wonder what he does for these days.”

“Well he told me he just happened to hung around with the right people.”

“I see.”

“Anyway, we’ve discussed this for a whole day and we have come to a conclusion that Zenith is in big trouble.”

“Big trouble?”

“Yes. We believe that she is still under the influence of The Snow Phoenix.”

“But I thought we already released the phoenix spirit back then.”

“We didn’t. We only unlocked something that was not supposed to be unlocked.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know how that snowy place she lived used to be warm and nice? It became snowy because The Snow Phoenix was locked down over there. Whoever locked the phoenix however, we can’t tell. But it’s probably as strong as the one that cursed our Ice Dragon into a Phoenix and erased its dragon memory. Either that, or its something entirely different.”

“Do you think it could be one of those Champions of Chaos like Escher?”

“Possibly. But it is most likely not the same person who cursed her. She was originally cursed and erased off her memory so that she can become a distraction for the curser’s enemy.”

“Pretty scummy don’t you think. No one will ever remember you when you have a different face. To make matters worse, even the memory was erased. What a sad life this Ice Dragon had…”

I can hear Hosuke was searching through his notes, “Indeed. But now that I have explained to you the origin. I can tell you exactly why little Zenith is in trouble.”

“Go on.”

“Once she ate the Infinitum crystal that she found near her house. The Ice Dragon inside of her was still in fact, cursed. And in time, the memory of The Snow Phoenix took over the memory of The Ice Dragon and Zenith’s body.”

“So who am I keeping here?”

“She’s half aware of herself. The Snow Phoenix was smart enough to take over the important part of her and The Ice Dragon. And currently, Zenith’s own brain is being forced to juggle between three different personalities. Herself, The Snow Phoenix and The Ice Dragon. It is not a rare case that a dragon could take over its host body. Unlike both of us, we were able to hold on to the extreme amount of Infinitum that was supplied inside the crystal we ate.”

“So you’re saying even The Ice Dragon is trying to take over her body?”

“Yes.”

“Well this just makes thing complicated. Is she like…having three different personalities at times?”

“What do you think? Has she been weird around you?”

I thought a little and said, “Not really. She’s only been the same since we met back then. Emotionless.”

“You remember how she used to be a happy girl in the early part of the story book that we’ve read?”

“Oh yeah. Then she got emotionless thanks to her family conditions.”

“Now she is emotionless because her brain couldn’t tell which emotion to feel because three different personalities are fighting with each other. You have to keep an eye on her.”

“Don’t worry. I will...”

“Just don’t do anything stupid, White. She’s…fragile from the number of deaths she had.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll give her some milk to at least make her strong.”

“You should be the one to drink milk, White.”

I looked at my phone in disbelief and said to Hosuke, “F you.” I hung up the phone.

In any case…That’s the thing that’s happening right now with Zenith. Looks like I’ll be the one to actually be her Guardian. I hope the dragon inside of me isn’t pissed about this…

TO BE CONTINUED