As soon as she fell asleep in hell, the hot air and the smell of sand hit her face hard. Shia opened her eyes. There was a bit of haze, but somehow, she could still see things clearly.
Suddenly, something nasty regurgitated from the pit of her stomach. She popped her head towards the open air of the moving caravan and threw out what she had for lunch.
A smooth hand pressed over her back. “Shia, are you alright?”
She looked back at her. She cannot believe it. It was the face she had missed all these months!
“Mother!” She hugged the woman back very tightly. Her mother had coughed twice before she let her go.
“Are you alright, dear? Does your stomach feel bad?”
“I’m al-” she had meant to say that she was alright, but she had caught another nauseating smell, and she had to throw up again.
“Did you eat something bad?” Her mother frowned.
Her mother... wasn’t she dead?
Shia shook her thoughts away violentl
Stabbed in the neck – did she hear Khailis correctly? Langrion had been stabbed in the neck? Could it be?... Could it be that she had ended up stabbing him for real? “Let me see him...” Shia couldn’t stop the tears that fell down from her eyes like rainwater. “I need to see him, Khailis... Please...” “Sure, sure... I’ll arrange for that, but not now. You must rest. Your body is still too weak...” The worried look on Khailis’ face worsened when she saw her cry. “No, I must see him now... I need to see him, please...” Khailis bit her lips. She seemed to understand her struggle perfectly, but then again, she could see how Shia couldn’t even manage to sit herself straight. How would see react if she saw Langrey’s condition? “Alright, wait here... I’m calling them. Wait for me here.” Khailis got up from her side and exited the room. Shia slumped back into bed, her breathing far too laborious. How can Langrion suffer a wound
Shia knew that everything she had seen thus far after being placed by Galahad at her own bed were all a dream, including now as she looked at Sirion sitting at the royal throne room of Gascone. “You’ll never win, Sirion,” she hissed at him. Despite knowing that these were all a figment of her imagination in the land of sleep, Shia still hated him to the core. He rose from his seat and walked towards her. “But I already have, deary... My plans had already been set into motion long before you had been aware of them. Did you not see my wedding gift for you in hell?” Shia’s heart stopped. Did Sirion know that she and Langrion had made the journey to the underworld? “Of course, deary! And now, I’ll be claiming your wedding night too...” As soon as she heard him speak those words, she gasped and opened her eyes. It was too dark for her to see anything, but she knew she was now in her room back in Teotroly. She heaved a sigh of relief. Howeve
A few minutes before the attack, Gavil and Khailis’ lamp lights were still ablaze, and Khailis was pacing franctically around the bedroom floor. She bit her nails in alarm, and looked at Gavil who was also slightly anxious at the turn of events. The two of them asked leave from Queen Argylla to stay at the Temple of the Gods after Langrion and Shia’s wedding. Actually, it was Khailis who had asked of it. Although she knew she was growing Pauca eggs inside of her, she couldn’t stand the thoughts of her friends battling away for their dear lives at the temple while she was resting comfortably back at Gavil’s home. She wanted to be there when they wake up. They had been there for almost a week, and Khailis had almost had no time for rest that it became Gavil’s job to remind her to take naps and set aside some time to energize the eggs. Almost always, however, she was too tired to do it, and stories about her ‘neglectful actions’ have reached the ears of the Goddess of C
In the Temple of The Gods, Templar shot one arrow after another, but the number of people surrounding him seemed infinite. How can they pour in more and more like this towards him? What sort of magic had Sirion acquired to be able to create this army? After what seemed like an eternity of battling with the possessed bodies of temple servants, Templar was finally able to break through another door, or another wall, to be exact. He didn’t mean it, but in his haste to get away, he desperately blew a wall with his flame power. He hadn’t used this power for centuries now, and so the strength of it came as a surprise even to him. Thankfully though, he was able to create an opening from it. Now, he could escape the endless swarm of possessed army that was pursuing him. However, he didn’t know he was just about to enter another war. As soon as he stepped into the other side of the wall, he saw Prince Rahul and Goddess Eily looking at a dark figure by
Shia wanted to touch their sleeping figures, but she could see a thick film of grayish light hovering around them, and she knew it spelled something bad. She wanted to curse Sirion. “What are you doing to them? Remove that barrier!” “Dearest, sorry to disapoint you like this, but you aren’t the commander here,” he said softly towards her. Side by side with Khailis was another woman whom Shia had never seen before. She was dressed in a tunic similar to those worn at the temple, so she knew she was someone from Teotroly too. As soon as the woman heard her cries against Sirion, she stirred and immediately cursed when her eyes fell on them. “Sirion, what the -!” “Glad to see you too, Eily. I see your tongue is still as sharp as ever.” Shia gasped. Eily was the Goddess of Childbirth. Why did he bring her here too? Eily looked around her, and when she saw Khailis lying next to her, her eyes widened. “Damn you, this lad
“Extracting energy? What do you mean by it? What kind of process is it?” “Why... Why are you doing this?” Goddess Eily asked the boy. “I understand your master, but how about you? You’re human. Don’t you know what Sirion is planning to do? He is planning the annihilation of the human race!” Shia gasped internally. Sirion was planning to end the human race? That was his grand goal? She regretted what she had said earlier to him about going though with his plan as long as he leaves her and Langrion out of it. How insane has Sirion been to even dream of such an abomination? The gray-haired Gilyan looked back at Eily with calm eyes that it was a little frightening. “Humans are troublesome things. They sell each other out and kill each other. Master only wants to purify human souls.” Eily gasped. “Purify? You mean kill everyone?” “Not everyone. Only those who displease the master will go.” Shi
At that exact moment, the door of the room burst open, and Gavil, Templar, and Galahad walked in. “Did you find any other survivors,” Langrion asked, and Templar gravely shook his head. “We couldn’t find the commander back at the place you said.” “He could have returned to the Ancient Evil’s side. How about the void opening, did you find it?” “I have found traces of it. It has been sealed,” Galahad replied. Right after he had received the power of the silver-haired god he and Shia met at the underworld, Langrion rose from the depth of the sea, but when he returned to the edge of the cliff where he had last encountered Shia and the Ancient Evil, they were no longer there. The only thing that remained was an open void in the middle of the sky, shining fiercely at the dead of the night. Langrion tried to fly to it as he had done so earlier, but this time, he used the silver-haired god’s power. He was sure that the Ancient Evil had taken t
Hours after coming back to the temple, everyone was in a morose state, especially Gavil, who had reluctantly witnessed his wife being taken away in his very eyes. “We must come there now and rescue them! My Khailis’ life is in peril,” he reasoned with Templar. “But we don’t even know where they are. How can we rescue them and charge blindly up ahead,” Galahad explained. “Prince Rahul, calm down. Eily and my sister are with her. I’m sure they will take care of Lady Khailis,” Templar seconded. “How could I stay calm? We all know why he had taken Khailis! He must be thinking of extracting energy! I can’t stay still!” The anguish in Gavil’s voice was so strong that it felt like he could cut a knife through the air with just the ferocity in his voice. Langrion knew exactly how he felt. He has been keeping his emotions at bay too so that he could form a sound strategy, but it does not seem that things are going the way he really wanted. The
“Ugh, I absolutely hate boys,” Khailis said in disgust as she threw her sweaty gauntlet onto the floor.Shortly after, Khalis heard a shriek. She gasped as she realized who it was she had just injured.“Gavil, Gavil, I’m so sorry! Were you hurt?”A black furry cat sat by the floor, rubbing his bum with his tail due to the accident she had just caused.Khalis has often gone home in sulky moods before, but this was the first time he was ever hit by him, and as a result, his feelings were deeply hurt.Khalis picked him up like a baby and put him at her lap, stroking his sleek, black fur and patting his behind apologetically. “Was my Gavil hurt? Were you injured?”Gavil whimpered some more, not because he was hurt but because he was sad and lonely. Even before Khailis went out today, Gavil had stayed in this spot because it was the most comforting place in her room. Every day, Khailis went
“Are you coming tonight?”Danterion placed his arms around my waist as I tied the last few knots of my dress. He repeated his words when I did not speak.“Are you coming again tonight, Fina?”I did not answer because I didn’t know what to tell him. This was the third night that I had come here on my own and sought him. I had been feeling rather sad and empty lately, but Langrey came back in town today, and I agreed to meet him at the same, old place. True, I had been deliberating in my mind if today would be a good time to call everything off between us, but how could I possibly know how things will turn out? How would I know if I needed solace and comfort again after I break up with my childhood sweetheart and his own twin brother today?I shook the thought away from my head. I am a bad, bad person, I know; I had been seeing Danterion for half a year now behind his brother’s back. Although Langrey and I had a long hist
Silver roses bloom only for a week once every five years – their life spans are too short and too far apart but also far too sweet to be fully ignored. These flowers are like one’s childhood love – a memory that came too soon but rarely leaves. Tristal Mariana Andry, the Grand Duchess of the Noble House of Andry, sighed deeply. At age sixty and mostly bedridden, she had become more and more prone to melancholic spells, especially when it came to remembering her past. Today, she had been in reverie once more as she faced a seemingly daunting task. It was the first time she had been out of her room and in a party. It was also the first time in decades that she had chosen to speak to Caldwell again – the present king of Gaulane and her past lover. The details of her last communication with Cal, as she would lovingly call him ages ago, had already slipped away from her mind, but the memories of their first encounter loomed as fresh as yesterday for her. It all started fr
“I, the new sun of Gascone, swear to dedicate my life into the service of my people. I swear this oath in the name of my father and my forefathers before me and in the name of the holy gods and goddesses of Teotroly!” Everybody cheered as the new king took his oath. They gazed at his ocean blue eyes, and they were taken aback by the honesty of his words and his demeanor. They welcomed him and his new queen with open arms. Shia looked back at the dignified man’s jet-black hair and mesmerizing blue-eyes with awe. She was proud and happy at what he had accomplished so far. It had been four months since the battle between them and Sirion has ended, and in those four months, he had been able to recover by and by. During the battle that left half of the castle in ruins, the last clear vision in Shia’s mind was that of Sirion plunging a sword in Danterion’s body – the body that hosted him – just after claiming that his death will fulfil what he had lon
As soon as Shia cut through the kraken’s tentacle, she found herself falling helplessly down. She screamed. She had forgotten the fact that she could not fly. She was really a useless goddess. Thankfully, the feeling of falling suddenly stopped, and Shia was turned upright by an invisible force. When she craned her neck to see who it was that helped her, she spotted a familiar face. It was Marmie, and she was staying some distance away, manipulating her fall. Almost instantaneously, a cry emerged from up above her, and she saw two flying entities swoop down into the center of the kraken’s head where Sirion was. Finally they came! Gilyan and the Commander were perched at Chibi’s back, and a black winged puma, who could only be Gavil, went into the courtyard to help them. “Sirion,” Shia shouted. “Let Danterion go! It’s over! You are outnumbered!” Sirion simply laughed at her, seemingly unfazed. “Do you think you and your puny friends could kill
Darkness covered the sky as birds from all direction converge towards the courtyard where Gavil, Chibi, and Marmie had seen Langrion go earlier. “Come on, let’s go and help Shia now. She had been taken away by some monster, but I think she’s nearby,” Khailis remarked as she tried to stand, but Gavil held her tightly by the shoulder. “Wife, you stay here with Goddess Eily. The rest of us will go.” “Wait, no! How can I stay here? There’s no action here! Plus, I’m fine, don’t worry too much,” Khailis said, beaming with energy. “You’re not fine. We might lose our babies, and I don’t want to lose you too... Ever!” Khalis looked back at Gavil’s glistening eyes. For the first time since he had met him, he saw him shed tears... Ah, she had almost forgotten! The blood of knighthood runs so strongly in her veins, but first and foremost, she was a mother now and a wife to someone who deemed her precious... She couldn’t possibly be as bold and car
“Just a little bit more, my lady... Please...” Gilyan have not begged anyone saved the God of Darkness for years. He didn’t have to before this. He became a free man because of His Darkness, but now, he found himself in a predicament where he would kneel down and kiss the earth if he could just get his wish. He didn’t know how many hours they had been buried down there. He tried his best since earlier to get help from above. However, he could not sense any living being, or was it perhaps because his magic was weak and limited? Earlier, the goddess who was with them revealed something about him that he felt had some semblance of truth. “All who can wield powers have the imprints of divinity in them, and you, in particular, given that strong sense of power, I’d say you must be a candidate for a god.” He had believed those words. After all, he had seen how his powers had gotten out of bounds even without the God of Darkness’ permission.
Langrion could not believe it! His wife almost died. If he was just a second late, she would have perished! She surely wouldn’t have survived! A heart beat ago, he swopped as fast as he could towards the open fire burning at the castle’s courtyard. He had seen it countless of times before, looking like a candle far-away in his own tower. He heard the pleas of the cursed ones like him, begging, screaming for help, but his uncle never did give his mercy at any of those times. As such, Langrion feared those flames for a long time. He felt like they were the cause of his torment. He should have died with those people accused of being cursed a long time ago. He should have been the first to burn, but because he was a prince, he survived. He lived until his present age of twenty one years old... That’s right. Today is his twenty first birthday, and today, he just turned curseless. The mask on his face fell as he snatched Shia away from the burning flames th
Langrion and Gavil, together with Chibi and Marmie, wasted no time travelling to the place they needed to go: the capital city of Gascone – Gaulane. “I can take us there easily, Prince Langrion,” Marmie said during the dead of the night a few second before they ascended in the air. Marmie was on Chibi’s back while Gavil had already transformed himself into his beast form – an enormous, black feline with wings like an eagle. “How,” Langrion asked. The last time he checked, Marmie’s powers involved controlling things with her mind. Can she also create voids like Galahad? “With this,” Marmie said, pulling away her sleeve from her left hand. There was a tattoo that looked like an eye with feathers reaching on both sides. “This was installed by the Ancient Evil when he controlled me... when he controlled us. We were supposed to use it once we have fulfilled our mission. Although I was not conscious at the time he was controlling my thoughts, I remembered it well i