This is the first chapter in a series called, “Denouement” which the Buchhof Bulletin will publish in installments throughout the year.

By Red B. and Dora F., Grade 8

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Run. Nishida remembered her sister saying. Take him and run.

Nishida ran through the halls of the compound, as fast as her injured legs could take her. But it was no use. The walls felt like they were caving in. Damn it, a dead end.

She turned around to find the shadow standing behind her. Clutching onto her cousin, Nishida braced for the shadow’s next attack, only it never came.

In front of Nishida, knelt a woman in a cloak.

“Run!” she screamed. “Get out of here, my little dreamlily. Save him and get out of here.”

Nishida fumbled around with her satchel and grabbed her home crystal. As she held it to the light, she watched her sister slump to the ground. A tear slipped from her eye as she leaped away.

I’m sorry…

Chapter 1

Miss Kimura, would you pay attention please?”

Lady Karina spoke, jolting Nishida out of her thoughts. The dark haired elf looked at her alchemy mentor apologetically. The platinum blonde elf merely sighed.

“Pay better attention. You passed the midterms, but I cannot guarantee you will pass your final exams.”

“I’m sorry Lady Karina,” Nishida said, before returning to taking notes.

Nishida was the second youngest daughter of the Kimura family and although the family had four kids, Nishida was determined to prove prejudice wrong. With her older sister, Hoshiko in the elite level and her other sister Habiki having all 95% and above, Nishida had a lot to live up to. Especially with a twin.

Nishida and Michi, the youngest in the Kimura family, were, unfortunately, twins. Twins in the Lost Cities were uncommon, especially when you had two older siblings. But the Kimura family was known for its children being unnaturally powerful. With four kids, people expected at least two of them to be Talentless, but one of the  twins ended up being a Flasher and the other a Conjurer. To say people were shocked would be an understatement.

As alchemy wrapped up for the day, Nishida tugged on the sleeve of her dress. Today was the anniversary of her father’s death. Her family’s reputation kept going up and down. Having four kids, all being powerful, her father dying, her mother still being a strong woman, the list goes on. Especially with the so-called ‘unearthing’ of the fact that her mother supposedly dated a girl whilst in school. After the whole Sophie Foster, Black Swan and Neverseen business, teasing for being different had gone down. But it never really stopped.

“Nishida!” A voice called out from behind.

The elf in question turned around, only to find her best friend calling out to her. Yasmina was the daughter of the retired Councilor Ramira. She, like her mother, was a Vanisher, so Nishida watched as her friend flickered as she ran to the dark haired elf. The two shared a quick hug.

“Hey Yazzy,” Nishida said, as the two pulled away.

The shorter one smiled at Nishida. She wore a new hairpiece, decorated in small diamonds.

“That’s a nice hairpiece you got there.”

Yasmina held a hand up to the item in question, before giving a small curtsy.

“Why, thank you! I should really get going though. My mom is coming back from a mission and dad wants me to help make dinner. See you tomorrow!”

Nishida watched as Yasmina ran off before she walked outside the building.

Nishida held her home crystal up to the light and leapt back home.

The Songbird Estate was the home of the Kimura family. The rainbow blossom trees littered the estate. Sweetshades and dreamlilies decorated the grounds. Nishida walked down the path, which the family had dubbed ‘The Blooming Path’.

Roses and hydrangeas lined the path and seemed to always be blooming.

A five-story house, completed with tourettes and towers lay at the end of the path. The roofs of the house were a gorgeous midnight blue and the walls a beautiful lilac. The windows almost glistened in the afternoon sun and the windowsills shined. From one of the open windows on the second floor, Nishida could see her mother getting ready to go to her fathers Wanderling.

As Nishida approached the porch, she heard a shout from the inside. Opening it, she saw her two older sisters running around the dinning table in their gowns, chasing a jackalope.

Hoshiko, the oldest yet smallest sister, wore her dark hair in a loose braid. The pink near the end of the hair shone in the light of the chandelier. Her gown was simple. A sleeveless, hunter green gown made of silk flowed around her like a waterfall of fabric. Her cape was a deep purple covered in sparkles. The clasp shined and Hoshiko’s makeup was effortless.

“Mom! Janice took my pin again!” Habiki hollered.

She was the second oldest sister. Her hair was curled, despite being to her shoulders. Her gown poofed ever so slightly. The dress was slightly lighter than Hoshiko’s, being a fern green. Habiki didn’t wear a circlet, her hair instead being decorated with small pins made of emerald. She wore no makeup, instead opted to decorate the edge of her eyes in glitter.

“Well then? Place it somewhere she can’t reach next time,” Janice said.

Nishida turned to look at her mother, who was walking down the stairs. Her hands, which were decorated in various different rings, were grasping onto her mint gown. The gown matched that of a dress she wore in a picture that was hanging above the fireplace. Her wedding dress. Akane, their mother, finished the look with an emerald green cape that loosely hung around her shoulders. Her heels were obsidian black, although decorated with small jades.

“Also, why don’t you say hello to your younger sister, instead of fooling around,” her mother said. “You have other pins you know.”

Mrs. Kimura, Nishida’s mother, was a very proper woman. Although she could be very sweet when she wanted to be, the lady of the household had remained very stoic since her husband’s death.

“I know but that’s the one dad…” Habiki trailed off, staring at the crest that their jackalope had taken up the stairs.

Their mother sighed.

“Go and get ready Nishida. Don’t take too long now.”

Nishida nodded, before hurrying up the stairs two flights. Hers Michi’s rooms were on the third floor of the house. Nishida opened the door to her room and stepped inside.

Compared to some of her sister’s rooms, her room was… well it wasn’t plain, it just wasn’t as detailed as her sisters’ spaces. Nishida’s room was a part of the third tower. Yes, the third tower. The walls were an off-white and the carpet was an umber color. Her bed was somewhat small for elven standards, but she made up for it with a sage hammock in one of the corners of her octagonal room. Her covers were a lighter grey, which matched the furniture nicely.

Nishida’s walls were decorated in paintings of forests and of the creatures in the Lost Cities. Pictures of herself and her family had been placed on a coffee table near the middle of the room.

The dark-haired elf stared into her spectral mirror that sat near the hammock. Veronica, the girl in her mirror, watched her closely.

“What is your hair today?” the small being asked her.

“As if you change your hair, Veronica!” Nishida replied.

The tiny girl made a noise of disagreement. The elf giggled, before turning and walking to her wardrobe. She pulled out a forest green v-neck and turned back to the mirror.

“What about something like this?”

Veronica eyed the dress. She gave a curt nod.

“Wear the gloves with it. Also that comb that your sister gave you.”

Nishida quickly changed and brushed out her hair. She waved at Veronica as she left.

She saw Michi about to go down the stairs in her shamrock dress. The dress was a column dress, one that Nishida recognized as the one that Michi got for their 14th birthday.

Nishida tugged at her sister’s glove.

“Hurry up slowpoke!” she said, rushing down the stairs.

Michi followed behind, as they ran down the marble stairs. Their heels clacked against the stone.

The family gathered underneath the Leapmaster in the entryway. Habiki had retrieved her pin and Akane had added a silver circlet to her outfit.

“Are we all ready?”

The siblings gave their mother a nod and she returned them with a weak smile.

“Well then, come along girls.”

The Wanderling Woods always gave Nishida quite the shock.  Unlike the Songbird Estate, where the birds sang all day, in the Wanderling Woods, there was no sound. Not even a breeze. The family of five walked through the gate, and quietly made their way over to their fathers tree. Even if the tree was technically Nishida’s father, Nishida could never get over how similar they were, even if she only knew him briefly.

The leaves were amethyst and the flowers a cerulean color. The trunk had markings all over it, making the terracotta trunk seem older than it was.

Akane walked over to the tree and placed a bouquet of white carnations near the base of the tree. She then covered her mouth and Nishida watched as the first tears started to fall.

Hoshiko and Habiki walked up to the tree and each put down a singular flower. Hoshiko a Lobelia and Habiki a Lily. Nishida and Michi each held their own flower. Nishida had picked out a Tatarian Aster whilst Michi had picked a Blanket Flower. The twins walked toward the tree together, holding hands. Both twins lay their flowers at the base of the tree, smiling sadly.

“Hi Dad,” Nishida thought. “I wish I got to know you better…”

She felt her eyes start to water and squeezed Michi’s hand.

“I hope you’re watching from up there. We’re doing ok, but mom still cries sometimes. I wish you were still here. I wish you could see Hoshiko graduate. I wish you could see us all graduate. I wish we had more time with you.”

The tears started to fall now, landing on the flowers the family had given to their fathers grave.

Nishida felt a fluffy object touch her shoulder. She opened her eyes to see her stuffed animal, Banshee, in front of her. She looked over to her sister who was squeezing her Wyvern. Nishida looked at her older sisters to find them burying their faces in their animals. Akane had wiped her tears now, but she looked like she would fall apart at any moment.

“Why did you leave us? Why did you have to leave us alone? I don’t know what to do without you. Mom doesn’t know what to do without you.”

Nishida sighed as the family started to walk back outside of the woods. She looked back only once, to find the tree waving in the non-existent wind. Almost as if her father was waving goodbye.

That evening, when everyone got back, Nishida was playing with the wolves. She had changed into pants and a tunic. Fenrir and Lupa were mates and Lupa was halfway through her pregnancy. Both wolves were white and stood up so that their head was at Nishida’s shoulder.

“Fetch!” Nishida called, throwing a ball toward a patch of lilies.

Fenrir ran after it, jumped and caught it in the air. He trotted back over to the willow that Nishida and Lupa lay under. The leaves had been modified to fit the environment, instead of green the leaves were a bright gold.

“Hey Lupa!” Nishida called out to the wolf that had been leaning on a tree.

She gave Lupa some umberleaves and then walked over to a little shed behind the willow tree. Nishida whistled for Fenrir and then saddled him up. She climbed onto the wolf and they began trotting towards the forest. She gave a whistle and Fenrir started to run as they were engulfed by the trees.

When Nishida was five human years old, the family had a tradition of going into a special clearing near the end of winter. It was the same day every year. The family would bring a picnic, games and spend hours enjoying each others company. In the end, they had stopped going when things became more difficult.

Nishida returned every year, whenever possible. She wanted to remember everything. Hoshiko would be graduating soon, Habiki would be going onto the elite levels. Nishida and Michi were the last members of their family to go to Foxfire, the most prestigious school in the lost cities. Nishida just wanted to remember a time where things were easier.

She walked to the center of the clearing with Fenrir and closed her eyes. She remembered all the laughter, the jokes from their time in the clearing.

She was laying down in the clearing with Fenrir next to her, when she heard a sound. Sitting up, she and Fenrir stared into the direction of the sound. Standing up quickly and mounting the wolf, the two headed in the direction, further from the house and closer to the sound.

But what was it?