Chapter 94~~ Conscience ~~Gasp!Ian sprung up on his bed with a sharp gasp. He squeezed his blanket tightly as he heaved heavily for breath. His upper body was bare and dripping with sweat.It took almost a minute for his racing heart to regain normalcy and he finally caught his breath. He rested his back with a grunt and wiped his face.‘One night in this place and I’m already having nightmares. I have to leave as soon as possible.’He let go of his blanket to have a look at his palms.Glitch!Cut scenes from his nightmare began to replay in his head in no specific order. One moment he could see the whole of Dhemistaria in ruins, next he saw himself having a casual dinner party with Kurt and Karen, then the next scene was a bloody massacre of everyone he knew in Dhemistaria. He could see Karen and Kurt creeping towards him with torn limbs and cracked skulls.“Why didn’t you warn us? Why didn’t you save us?”“You killed him! You don’t belong here!”He could hear their screams and cr
Chapter 95~~ Loose thorn ~~Prime city, Dhemistaria…“How nostalgic,” Ian watched as students trooped out of the high school he had graduated from. Though he was within the premises of Annabelle's school, he still had a good angle to watch from.‘It feels like it was just yesterday when we argued before going to search for Etnum, which by the way, Kurt never got to use. Though he did say he had it with him during the fight, but Gilgamesh wasn’t the kind of opponent worthy of his trump card. We risked our lives for nothing.’Ian took his eyes off the students as he heard the marching footsteps and subsequent chattering behind him. His eyes fell on the little children trooping out of the school building like a scattered colony of ants. He gazed further, looking past the many pupils till he spotted the blue haired Annabelle walking alongside a red haired boy.His eyelids dropped a bit as he whispered to himself, “That must be him.”Annabelle and the boy held hands as they conversed in
Chapter 96~~ Turmoil ~~She danced elegantly to the tunes emanating from the orchestrated keys. Her legs reeled her from left to right, then back and forth, in fine rhythm. Her deep scarlet gown swayed above her knees as she moved. Her smooth olive skin could be clearly seen since her short gown was sleeveless and the chest side was a wide U, revealing a little cleavage. Her silk long hair was akin to the color of her gown.Click! Clack!Her heels touched the tiles as she came to a stop. She was in the mini-ball room of the castle. Its walls were matted with gold paint. The windows were overlaid with fine sewn linen, allowing just the comfortable amount of sunlight to peer in. Even though several hanging light bulbs illuminated the room, the golden disco-like light of the big chandelier at the epicenter of the room was inevitable to be seen.She stopped to look at the classy, black piano across the hall with her steel blue eyes. Behind the grand piano was the silver haired Khelian. H
Chapter 97~~ Hidden truths ~~Twelve palace guards marched into the mini-hall with stern faces. They had heard the little commotion from the hall alongside some yelling, and since the princess was here, they didn’t hesitate to rush into the scene. But what they saw as they entered, put them to a halt.Derek was laying dormant with his face to the floor, probably knocked out cold. Princess Amelia was also on the floor with some bruises on her face. Lastly, was the silver haired Dhemistarian — the only person standing amid the fallen nobles. It could only mean one thing…“What did you do to them!?” this palace guard had a purple cape, signifying his status as captain.Ian raised his hands in submission, “I didn’t do anything--”“Detain him!” the captain ordered without waiting for an explanation.With a nod, four of his men approached Ian while drawing out their batons.Amelia pulled herself up, “Stand down. At least hear what he has to say first.”The captain looked at her from the co
Chapter 98~~ Telling ~~King Dhamon paced around the red square rug at the center of his chambers with his hands behind him.His eyes were steel blue like Amelia’s, his hair long and dark. He had a very chiseled face and perfect jawline that made him look way younger than his age. Someone meeting him for the first time would probably think of him to be in his early 40s. He was clad in a wine royal robe that caressed the floor as he walked back and forth.‘There’s no way… It doesn’t make any sense! That tattoo… Only Ghordon has them and I killed him and anyone of family to him. There’s no way he’d have had an offspring in the afterlife.‘I probably didn’t see it well and mistook it for something else, because there is just no way for such a thing to still exist. But then, the lad kept spewing and enormous amount of energy once I got close to him. The energy signature felt familiar, yet repulsive, like it didn’t want me to go near the him.’He came to a halt and faced the wide window
Chapter 99~~ Infiltration ~~“How do you expect us to do this? They aren’t just going to let us go down there and come out,” Kurt pointed out as he combed his hair with his fingers.“I can’t do this alone. I’ll distract the guards and keep watch while you guys enter and get him out,” Amelia said almost out of plea.Karen scoffed, “Are we really going to risk our lives for some liar who doesn’t belong here?”Amelia turned to her with a slight frown, “Don’t say that. He’s our friend and has helped us in one way or the other. It’s now our turn to get him out of this mess.”“Tch,” Karen shook her head.Kurt rubbed his chin as he processed some scenarios, “Okay, what if… What IF we are able to get him out, what’s next? Where do we go from there? Sure we’d sneak pass the guards with him and get away from the palace, but they won’t stop looking for us. You can’t expect us to keep running from them for the rest of our lives.”Amelia wanted to interject but she had no reasonable words to say.
Chapter 100~~ Interception ~~“Old man Zephyr!” Ian gestured for Kurt to let go of him as he could now feel his limbs. Kurt obliged and Ian staggered a few before getting his balance.Zephyr noticed the perplexed gazes on him from all of them. He simply smiled, “Yes, it’s me, your school janitor.”“W-What are you doing here? You were also Old Frank all along?” Ian blurted out the thoughts that puzzled him.Zephyr felt an intense stir in the wind, his eyes darted around the woods with caution, “I'll tell you all you need to know later. First, we have to get you our of here.”“To where exactly?” Kurt asked with folded arms.“We have to get to the edge of Dhemistaria at the west,” Ian folded his hands as the billowing wind blew past his bare upper body, giving him goosebumps.“What is at the edge?” Karen looked back at him.Old man Zephyr soon understood and clicked his tongue, “The Rift!”Ian nodded, “We can use that to get out of Dhemistaria.”“Wait, wait, wait. You want to completely
Chapter 101~ The Rift ~The western edge, Dhemistaria…Warp!A small spatial spurt occurred and Ian and the others appeared simultaneously.They were standing betwixt a land with reddish-brown soil, a land that spanned for thousands of kilometers at all sides. No matter where they turned to, they couldn’t see the end to the vast land. The sky was blood red and crackled with lightning.Right in front of them, or rather, many kilometers before them was a wall of cataclysmic clouds. The wall was so tall and stretched so far, they couldn’t see its top nor its end. The clouds were in a constant state of collision, birthing new clouds and cloud typhoons. Thunder crackled vehemently within the turmoil, lightning streaks ran erratically.From a normal perspective, one would think the chasm before them as just a continuous rampaging of colored clouds, but Ian could tell, they all could tell that those weren’t clouds. It was an influx of primordial energies. Ian could specifically tell that mu