The sun draws a golden line along the horizon. The morning breeze filled their lungs as they prepared themselves for an unexpected journey. Since the queen didn't want them to return to the castle, Vivar suggested hiding in their secret tunnel just a few distance from the palace.Nemiah was still confused why the queen wanted to protect her, but she decided to go with them. Another thing that bothers them is their new companion — the strange white horse. It keeps on following Namir wherever it goes, making the tiger roar irritatedly."I guess it'll be fine if we let the horse come with us. The more the merrier?" Nemiah smiled as she walked towards it. She gently rubbed its neck and it seemed to like it. It even licked her face, making her giggle. "How do you want us to call you?" Nemiah asked, still playing her hands on its mane. "Name it anything you want." Caius muttered while fixing the saddle on his buckskin horse. He sighed when he finally got finished and he turned to Nemiah who
Five feet down, Nemiah could see the faint light coming from the torches. Her feet were starting to strain but she continued to descend. When she reached the edge of the ladder, Vivar helped her. “Welcome to our hideout, Milady,” he greeted.Nemiah turned around to have a wider perspective of the place. “A tunnel?” She asked. Disappointed. The tunnel looks just like the ordinary — molded bricks and a narrow dusty pavement that leads somewhere she doesn’t feel excited about. “We are not yet there,” Vivar mused, seeing Nemiah’s displeased reaction. He took one torch and headed forward. “Please be careful, there might be snakes or spiders on the way.” He warned her with a smile. Nemiah became anxious so she grabbed the back of his cloak. Vivar grinned knowing that the young lady was fidgeting behind him. “How about Caius?” Nemiah asked after a few minutes of walking. She thought that the prince would follow but it’s already been half an hour.“You miss him already?” Vivar teased her.
Amaris was just lurking behind the pillar when Dubheasa's spy reported what it just heard in the cave. He already knew that Nemiah was the girl in the prophecy but he didn’t have the urge to tell the queen about it. He felt like he had to protect Nemiah instead. So he went to follow the crow to stop it. Gili, who was also eavesdropping on the conversation, went to follow Amaris. He was worried that Amaris would capture Nemiah and bring her to the queen. He tagged along as Amaris flew from tree to tree, vigilantly following the crow. Meanwhile, Amaris found out that he was being tracked so he made a trap to capture whoever was following him. The wind blew in his direction. A sharp smell of wet grass wafts into his nostrils. He instantly recognized who it was — Gili. He wondered why he was following him. He suddenly gets a hunch that the queen ordered him to track Nemiah as well. “I know you’re there. Show yourself, Gili.” He called behind the broad trunk.Gili took a deep breath. He
Everything was pitch dark. But I could smell something roasted that made my stomach growl. Is it beef? Chicken? Whatever. It’s making me hungry. I tried to move my hands but was tied with something scraping my skin. I just remembered I was with Amaris before I lost my consciousness. I began to panic when I realized there was a jet-black cloth covering my face. That's why my vision was shady. I shook my head to remove it. As soon as it fell, Amaris’ face was already in front of me. I laid back in surprise. The chair where I was tied swayed back. I almost crashed with it. Gladly Amaris was able to stop it from falling. I wished I had just landed and crashed on the floor because his face was so close to mine now, making me nervous for no reason.“You snore so loud for a small lady,” he commented. His smile was hard to comprehend and somewhat insulting to me. He put back the chair into place and stood straight, looking down at me.“Are you planning to kill me here?” I asked him fearfully.
Caius and Amaris turned to me with a blazing glare. “We’re not!” They both exclaimed. I almost jumped in surprise at their sudden howl. Gili came closer with his arms crossed and examined their faces. I could see the irritation written in their eyes as Gili alternately looked at them.“Stop it, Gili. You look stupid,” Amaris annoyingly told him.“Hmmm... Nemiah is right. You look exactly alike,” he nodded.“We are not!” They yelled at him.“Why did you bring these people here?” Amaris growled at Gili. “I’m the one who’s supposed to ask you here? Why did you take my fiance?” Caius asked, raising his left brow.My eyes widened at that question. I stared confusedly at Caius, who didn’t seem to notice me. He was looking directly at Amaris, who chuckled at that question.“Now you’re claiming her as your fiance after treating her coldly?” Amaris talked back to him.“It’s not of your business, dude. Now give her back to me,” Caius tried to reach out my hand, but Amaris pulled me closer to hi
As soon as I heard what Dubheasa said to her shadow soldiers, I thought of stopping Caius from following me. When I turned to ride on Namir, I bumped into a large clay pot, and it broke loudly on the ground. “Who's there?” I heard Dubheasa’s voice inside. I was startled when the bricks blasted before me. And just like that, I met Dubheasa eye to eye. My heart almost shrunk in fear seeing her blazing eyes. She was a beautiful young woman, but her eyes were red as blood, and black veins covered her entire face. Her straight hair was white as snow and so long that it touched the floor. What scared me most was the dark shadows that looked like a distorted body of a human.I was confused when she stepped back like she was scared of something. I could see her hands shaking, and her face was troubled as she looked at me. “Get her!” She commanded the soldiers of dark shadows.I got on Namir at once, and we ran away as fast as we could. I looked back to see if the shadows were close, but they
“You can stay here as long as you want. It’s dangerous outside this cave.” Kuu woke me from my deep thoughts. I sighed heavily and ducked to pat his head.“Look. I won’t be staying here for long. I still need to do something; we will leave in a bit,” I told him. His brows furrowed to that message. “Why? You might get caught out there,” he fretted.“Someone is waiting for me. I promised to meet him,” I honestly responded. He gazed at me for a moment, sighed laboriously, and crossed his arms.“Who?” He raised his brows. “The prince,” I replied.“Oh. The jerk,” Kuu rolled his eyes.I burst into waves of laughter as soon as I heard him call Caius a ‘jerk.’ “Why do you call him that?” I tried to suppress my laugh. “Because he is.” He strongly stated.“I don’t like him too,” I whispered to him.“Then don’t go,” he asked, beseeching.I sighed and gave him a sincere smile. “There are things that we need to do. And I need his help to stop the witch queen from sabotaging the village anymore.
“W-Who are you? W-Why are you h-here?” I asked tremblingly. My body shook in fear as I tried to step away from him.“My name is Nikolas, and you are the precious Nemiah, right?” He talked casually. Seeing his pale skin, topaz eyes, and unusual fangs, he’s probably a vampire. I’ve always seen them in movies, but I couldn’t believe I would encounter one in this world. He was creepy in every way, especially how he looked at me.“W-What do you want from me?” I stuttered. He only gave me a freaking grin and stepped closer to me. I stepped back but ended up stuck with the wall behind me. He reached out his hand and touched my face with his ice-cold fingers. I wanted to push him away but couldn’t move my body. My breathing was shallow, and it was like I would collapse anytime now.“Dubheasa didn’t tell me you were this beautiful,” he whispered as his hands traveled down to my lips. I tilted my head to the side to get rid of his hands. I saw the sunlight on the ladder coming from the open p