Enclave Quarters, Forest of Silence…
“Finally, I have it in my hands. I can finally acquire the thing I desired the most.” Anise said as she let the golden key hover on her hand.
She then entered a dimly lit chamber. With a snap of her fingers, the chamber lighted up and six captives being housed inside stirred.
“You failed, my lord.” Anise whispered to the man who was held by chains. He was placed at the middlemost pedestal while the others were chained a few meters from either on his sides.
He tried to struggle but the chains were tough to break. “Damn you Anise!”
“I have the last key.” She cackled as she placed the key at the empty pedestal.
Then she began singing that spell. The room glowed bright and a huge pentagram form. The captives groaned as if in pain.
Different colored lights representing their marks and countries glowed from the captives chest. Each of the marks made a key materialize.
The witch smiled as she saw that most of the keys had finally emerged except for the King of Verbana.
Mana level began to surge to the maximum. If it reached the peak the tomb will open. However, instead of reaching its full potential, the light wavered and the spell broke.
“What?!” the witch shriek. “Why won’t the doors open?”
The king chuckled at the woman’s failure. “You will not be able to complete the ritual. I do not have the key.”
Her lips thinned as she realized that she had been deceived. “I really hate you, my husband!” she seethed as she gave him a slap.
***
Tokyo, Japan…
After their bath, they changed into the clothes Innocia left for them. Aliester wore a pair of white pants. He then donned a white robe-like top which was held together by a belt. The others were given clothes that were similar in style only in different colors.
“These are comfortable.” He muttered as he adjusted his clothes.
When they came out of the bathroom, they looked for his younger cousin.
Aliester stomach grumbled when he caught a whiff of the food that was being prepared.
Innocia let them take a sit on the floor around a coffee table and served them tea.
“You may talk.” She muttered as she went back to the kitchen to finish her task.
“Innocia, you are cooking?”
The girl nodded.
“Which reminds me, don’t you have servants?” incised the wizard. “when did you learn how to cook?”
“We don’t have servants. We cannot afford to hire any. I have to learn to do things on my own when I got here. Kuroe made sure that I know how to cook.” She said as she sautéed the onions and garlic.
“You may start talking. I’ll listen. I can multitask.” She added.
“Multitask?” The word is foreign to them.
“That is doing a couple of things at the same time.” She explained as she stirred in the meat. “I have picked up a lot of habits from this realm and I can’t seem to shake them off.”
The men just nodded as they sipped on their tea.
“You may give me details about what happened to the kingdom.” She added as she put in the vegetables and the noodles.
“Honestly, we do not know how it happened.” Blaze began. “But it was too sudden. All we know was Thyme was the last kingdom to fall and Aliester was the last of the heirs to get captured.”
“You are making me confused.” Innocia commented as she prepared the cooked dishes.
“Do you remember your stepmother-Anise?”
“Yes. She married my father six years ago.”
“She suddenly acted strange a couple of years after you were banished, but she did not make her move. Not until a few years ago. She seemed to put an enchantment on your father. He was the head of the Enclave during that time and the rest of the kings would ask for his counsel.”
Blaze stopped short as Innocia began setting the table.
Then Blaze continued. “During the summit at the Enclave, she was able to put curse of the rest of the kings save for Thyme. Since the kings were cursed, they could do nothing. The kingdoms began to fall. Though the heirs are there to prevent the catastrophe, they were not strong enough to oppose the witch.”
She began serving the food.
“The heirs tried to ran away so that they will be able to save their kingdoms when the time is right, but they got captured as well. We were only able to escape because Conrad became the king upon the death of his father.”
“What does Anise want?” Innocia asked as she settled on the floor with them.
“She wanted the keys. In order to gain more power, she wanted to gain the sealed pentacle.” The wizard answered.
“If she managed to capture all the kings, they she already have all the keys.” Innocia said almost in a whisper.
“She doesn’t have all the keys.” Aliester incised. “The key from Verbana is missing.”
Putting two and two together, Innocia’s eyes widened. “You think I have it.”
They nodded.
“Let us assume that I have it… which I doubt. What are your plans then?” Innocia asked.
“Ahhhh…”
No answered. The only thing that gave a loud sound was Aliester’s grumbling stomach.
Innocia sighed. “I knew it. Let’s just eat and think about your plans later.”
“Innocia, where is the fork?” Aliester asked as he eyed the utensils. They don’t have a fork, not even a spoon or a knife. The only things on the table are the food, five plates and five pairs of sticks.
“I forgot.” Innocia facepalmed. She took the sticks and showed them how to use it. “These are chopsticks and they are used to pick the food, like we do with the fork.”
She watched them tried their hands with the chopsticks and tried to hide her snickers. Finally when she had enough having fun at their expense, she went to the kitchen and found a couple of spoons, forks and knives.
“I am really sorry. I can't help but test you. Here.” She gave them to the men who gratefully accepted the utensils.
When they eventually tasted the food, Innocia observed their reactions.
“These are good!” Aliester complimented as he sipped the soup. “A bit salty but very flavorful.”
“I haven’t anything that taste like this in our realm.” Conrad added as he took a spoonful of noodles.
“This is ramen. I am glad you like it.” She said as she ate her own food.
After finishing their meal, Innocia asked. “I was wondering… Why don’t you change jobs?”
“Huh?” they all stared blankly at her.
“Quit being nobles and knights and become a shadow like me. You may use the skill to overthrow Anise.”
They looked at each other with doubt.
Innocia continued. “You guys already had skills in fighting to begin with, so it will be easy. We only need to work on few areas.. stealth, agility and tricks.”
“I think it is worth a shot.” Blaze encouraged. “Plus, it will give us time to plan and recuperate for the mission to help the Enclave.”
“Why don’t you watch it so that you can learn more about this realm-technology, fighting styles and strategies?”
“Watch?”
The girl led them to the living room and turned the television on. As soon as the television was on and the people appeared, Blaze went near it and inspected the device.
“Innocia what is this contraption? How did that person go into this box?” he asked.
“This is a television. People in this realm use this for entertainment. We can watch shows from different parts of the world and from different genres.” She explained as she popped in a DVD which contained a historical movie about ninjas.
“So this is the products of technology from this realm. “ Blaze muttered to himself. “And they don’t need to use magic at all. I am beginning to fall in love with this realm.”
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