“... okay, now!”After agonizing for a long time, Shadow finally had given her response. The timing seemed perfect. It had been 30 minutes. By now, they had already finished their given tasks.Shadow was confident about that.In the air, Nathan looked around him. Even if he didn’t know the size of the affected area, he still trusted Shadow. With an inaudible muttering, he recited the spell.Shing! The papers hardened. Briefly shook. Swiftly, the circles on the paper brightened. The blue-ish emerged from the papers. The color became clearer before it pointed to the sky and bent slightly and rushed at Nathan.One, two, three, and other blueish colors rushed toward Nathan. The papers hardened and responded to the reciting spell. The colors surrounded Nathan. Nathan moved his finger slightly and steered the colors on his whim.The saturated blue slowly expanded as the color thinner before creating a massive semi-burble, covering the whole affected stream. Including the factories around
Shadow’s lips curled up. The conversations between the kings were so cute and funny at the same time.“Ugh!”The heat started to get to her. Her immunity was at risk due to the excessive production of the toxins.‘Fuck! This hurts like hell. Make it quick, make it quick, make it quick.’The conversations between the kings made everything bearable. ‘Fuckkkkkkkkkkk! Faster! Faster! Faster!’The purification took time. It was because the river had already been contaminated for a long time. The thick toxins traveled in the air, clogging her airway. Her chest fell and rose heavily with heaves. Even if she was an expert in tolerating the pain, she still couldn’t handle this amount of toxins. The poison in her blood was wilding, kicking off the unwanted toxins inside her body, at the same time, her lungs were desperate for quality air.She did not attempt to move from her very position because she was in the middle of training. Tolerating the poison and toxins, increasing tolerance, and
“Uggh!”A wince escaped her lips.“What the…”She woke up. Her body was throbbing, screaming for help.“Hisss…” She winced when she lifted her right arm. “Where am I…”She flinched. Her mouth felt heavy and her throat felt like it was blocked by the enormous rock. Her eyes roamed everything around her. The place she was sitting looked… familiar.“What the!!!” A realization dawned on her. “This is…”She was inside the classroom-size space. The white wall, the grey ceiling, and the cement floor. Every area was covered with red spots. Everywhere. Anywhere. “This is…”She raised her bruised hand, inspecting it. It was so painful but still manageable. Not only her hands were covered with bruises, but also covered with a long cut, and a few needles stabbed. “Am I… back?” She still couldn’t understand it. She wasn’t alone in this space. From the very beginning, she felt the hot stare at her back. Again, she chose to ignore it. Her eyes fell to the ground.The pool of fresh blood covered f
“... we will increase… speed up– what is going on?”Juviana raised her head from the agenda paper and arched her brow. The loud muffled outside the meeting room attracted her intention.Lumia, who was also in the room, shuffled to the door without seeking Juviana’s approval.Amusing things were, they didn’t feel the threat, yet, the fiasco outside the room sounded alarming. Therefore, all eyes were anticipating while waiting for the door to be opened.Twisting the doorknob, Lumia peeked his head outside the chamber. He met with a shocking discovery. Promptly, he pushed the door even wider and bowed his head humbly.“I greet His Highness Ali.”“Your Highness!” Juviana was amused. “... oh, does she want to meet me?” The smile faltered, and her pupils shook.“If you know…” Ali straight away turned around after completing his task.Juviana shot up as if she was sitting in the fire. “Adjourned!” She ended the meeting and left the meeting chamber.Meanwhile, Shadow was sitting on the grass,
“Should we really interrogate them?” Ibrahim wasn’t sure about it. Ali and Nathan eagerly nodded their heads, sharing a similar thought. As if their single brain cell was rotating among them. “Why not?” Her voice resonated inside the narrow path. They were already halfway inside the dungeon path. On the way to the torture cell where a few of them were held in. All of them were reluctant to insert themselves in this kind of situation. It would be fine if Shadow excluded this small expenditure. As the lords of their own kingdoms, they knew how sensitive the torture dungeon was to them. Each torture dungeon was designed for their own personal taste, including the conduction of the torture. Therefore, by exposing the elves' method, they stripped the elves bare. Shadow made it happen. If possible, they didn’t want to dive much into this unknown territory afraid it might backfire on them. And they were talking as the lords of the kingdoms. Their lives were so precious. Ali peered at
“Forgive me.” Juviana ran up to the front and guided them yet again. “Has your problem been resolved?” Juviana recalled her statement a while ago. “Do not forget. They are the benefactors that deserve our respect. While our close friends abandoned us, they came here to protect what is left. They asked for nothing but our cooperation. Please don’t ruin this pure relationship.” “We still must be aware of them, my queen.” “Unlike The Holiness, we can’t blindly trust them.” “My queen, how do you know that they are being truthful?” The guards were anxious. Their questions were also valid. They had been betrayed by their own kin. If they couldn’t trust their own, who should they trust? “I understand your worry. I acknowledge your anxiety, but we must be open. They are our benefactors.” “What if they use that against us later?” “Then, we’ll fight,” Juviana said sternly. “Even if they are our benefactors?” “Does that even matter? We kick out our own kins when they misbehave.” The
“Good grief.” She shook her head, sighing annoyingly. The glint of her red eyes changed and sparkled beautifully. “Oh well… who we got here…”The exhausted traitor sitting in the electric chair slowly lifted his head.The room was full of torture room and had already been covered with blood. The environment was so dark, befitting her malicious intent. “You… The Holiness…” The pointed ears perked up upon seeing her covered face.Wordlessly, she dragged the empty chair and sat right in front of him. Placed her knuckle under her chin, toppled her legs, and tilted her head.The elf tilted his head, his bloodshot eyes studying Shadow outright. His nose pointed at Shadow. “We– weird…” He slurred. The blood escaped his mouth. “I can tell you are The Unknown’s dog.”Shadow arched her brow, amused.‘So, it’s true. They can tell who is who merely smelled them. Weird… why does she not even distinguish the traitor that way?’“But, why do you smell… like that…?” Shadow waited for him to continue
One hour and a half later, Shadow left the underground torture chamber with distaste in her mouth. Every traitor was so cooperative to the point she didn’t know what to do. The extreme game that she wanted to play couldn’t be played because of that.“This is annoying. A bunch of cowards.”She huffed as was greeted by the other four kings.“Baby.”“Beloved niece.”“Master.”“Lord Holiness.”Ibrahim, Ali, Nathan, and Juviana smiled sheepishly at her.‘What the… why do they look so tired when I did all the work?’Her lips lifted under the mask. “What are you doing here?” She said diplomatically.“We are waiting for you,” Ibrahim answered for everyone.“Ugh!” She rolled her eyes and trudged toward the main palace where Juviana’s room was. “Let me rest for a while.”Nathan watched Shadow closely and nudged Ibrahim with his elbow.Automatically, Ibrahim carried her princess style without saying anything.Shadow reflexly wrapped her arms around Ibrahim’s neck and plopped her head on his shou