"Are you sure that this is the portal?" Blaze asked for the nth time.
"yes." Kuroe hissed in annoyance. "this is the portal."
"But Master..." Daxton scowled as he complained. "Why are we in the sewer?" his nose scrunched up in disgust.
"That is because this sewer is the portal." Kuroe informed him.
Kuroe's companions almost cringed in horror.
"How is this sewer a portal?"
"How are we supposed to go to Verbana from here?"
Came the simultaneous questions.
"We just have to jump from here." Ignoring the disgusted looks of her companions, Kuroe opened the mid of the manhole. A strong stench from the murky waters greeted them.
Daxton covered his mouth as if trying to hold in his breakfast that was attempting to come out. The rest of them have equally revolting faces.
"you have to be kidding me." Conrad looked really sick as he watched the dirt infested water.
"Don't be picky." Innocia chastised them. "We could not use the reverse summon method you had used to come here. It is too risky and this is the only portal left that had not been bugged."
"Innocia, if you had known about this portal, then why is it that you did not attempt to go back home?" Aliester asked.
The girl shrugged. "Simply because I do not have any reason to go back home."
"You should have at least tried to get back home." The wizard incised.
"And I will have to use this portal so many times? Not on your life! Submerging in dirty waters just once should be enough." Innocia snapped.
The others kept quite at her retort, but the king broke the silence after a few moments. "So are we going to submerge in this murky water?" he made face as he motioned to the manhole.
"As if we have a choice." Then Innocia pinched her nose and jumped in.
Though reluctant, the others followed her.
Initially, they thought that they would be covered by grime. But when they jumped in they plunged through clear water. They slid down on rushing waters.
"Where is this taking us?" Daxton shouted.
"Somewhere in Verbana." Innocia replied.
"That is a very precise answer, Princess." Blaze sarcastically commented.
"Where exactly?" Conrad asked as he slid further down towards the girl. His feet almost hit Innocia's head.
"It is-" Innocia's answer was cut off as she spotted the end of the tunnel. "It's a waterfall!!!!"
They tried to stop the inevitable but failed.
Conrad's scream was cut off as he plunged into the cold basin. He tried to swim to the surface but several figures fell and dragged him down to the bottom.
When they resurfaced, Conrad found the duke, the knight and the wizard. The princess and their master were missing.
"Did they drown?" Daxton asked as he surveyed the area.
"What are you boys still doing down there?" Kuroe's voice filtered their ears.
Looking up, they saw her and the princess sitting on the bank. Although their clothes were wet, they did not look like they had swam to the bottom of the fall.
"How did you get up there?" Blaze asked in confusion.
"Through our amazing ninja skills." Innocia replied. "Hurry up and get over here. We are behind schedule."
***
“Are we there yet?” Innocia’s impatient tone made Aliester frown.
They had been walking for quite a few hours and they still have a few more minutes before they can reach the village.
Wiping the sweat trailing to his brow, the duke replied. “just a couple of kilometres more.
“I am hungry.” The girl’s complaint was accompanied by the growling of her stomach.
Sighing, Aliester took a card from his pocket. “Materialize.” The card turned into a few packets of crackers. He then gave one to the girl.
“Thanks!” Innocia happily took it. But as she grabbed one cracker from the packet Daxton hovered over her.
With huge puppy eyes, the knight said. “You are such a blessing to my stomach, my princess.”
“That is for the princess, you glutton.” Blaze snapped at the knight.
Daxton backed down sulking. As a result, the wizard produced a few crackers from his satchel and gave each member of the group a packet.
Before anyone could protest, Blaze sternly reminded. “We are not in Earth anymore. We are back in Verbena. Food is scarce. So please be contented with the ration.”
Nibbling on the cracker, they continued their trek.
“Are you sure that we aren’t lost? I could not recognize this part of Verbena.” The girl muttered as she let her eyes drank in the place.
The place has drastically changed. The pool and fall where they had emerged had long disappeared from their view. The luscious green forest that they had been trekking on had gradually thinned.
“We are on the right track.” Aliester reassured his younger cousin. “this is Verbena. I am pretty sure you will be able to recognize the village.”
Now that they are approaching one of the villages, they found themselves trudging a path which was a far cry from the little paradise that they had arrived in earlier.
“Is this really Verbena?” Innocia asked for the nth time.
It seemed that she still could not believe the severe changes that her homeland had undergone. The place was nothing like the abundant kingdom from her childhood. It was a desolated place devoid of life. The ground cracked due to the harsh heat. Though there were trees, only few had leaves and the rest were just a skeleton of their former selves.
“This is Verbena now, your highness.” The wizard answered her gloomily as they had reached the border of the village.
“No way. This is Hastata!” Innocia exclaimed as her eyes widened with incredulity.
The village was left with dilapidated houses. As they roam the village, they noticed that not a single soul was seen. Not even a single animal was around.
“This is like a ghost town.” Kuroe commented as she eyed the surroundings. “I could not sense any living presence.”
“What happened?” the princess asked as she looked through one of the houses whose door was broken. The place seemed to have been turned inside and out.
“Your step mother happened.” Aliester said with bitterness rolling in waves.
The girl just looked at him quizzically.
Sighing, the duke explained. “After she had usurped the throne and got the enclave under her command, everything crumbled. War ensued and people fled. After her curse had taken effect pestilence had overtaken the land and darkness shrouded the kingdom.”
“Not only in Verbena, the effects of her curse also spread to other kingdoms.” Conrad incised. “Nightshades and other monsters prowled the land and preyed on the living.”
Innocia stopped short. “Nightshades and monsters? “ then shrugging, she muttered. “typical Anise…so what happened to the villagers then?”
“The common folks were recruited by the kingdom to help in the war. Some may have fallen in the battle but the remaining survivors were taken to Vervain dungeon. “The knight butted in. “Without the knights and the men to protect the village, some who remainedwere hunted down by monsters. But there were others managed to escape and hide to other places.”
“So what will be our plan?” Kuroe asked.
“First things first…Rescue damsels in distress.” Innocia answered.
“You mean Kira?” Aliester perked up all of the sudden.
“If we can find her before we can free the prisoners, then she will come first.” Blaze beat Innocia in replying.
Scowling, the princess glared at the wizard. But before she could protest, he turned towards her and explained. “Your highness, I know that you want to rescue your friend first. But if it happens that she is in the position of the queen then we need all the help we can get. We cannot storm the castle with just the six of us.”
Though a bit hesitant and obviously displeased, Innocia was left with no choice but to comply. “Fine! Our first stop will be Vervain dungeon.”
But before they could make their move, Aliester dove and pulled the king and the princess to safety. “Watch out!”
As they rolled a few meters away, a huge claw landed where they had been standing on.
“Is that a Kleure?” the princess asked as she eyed the glowing crimson eyes of the big canine in front of them. Getting up, she produced a katana as she kept her eye on the monster. Instead of walking on all fours, the Kleure walked on its hind legs.
It swung its bear claws to hit the three but they managed to dodge the attack.
“That ‘s a kleure, all right.” The duke said as he got away from the huge claws. Arming himself with a long sword, he nicked at the kleure’s claw.
The monster roared and the heavy chains from around his body extended and attacked them. The group scampered to different directions to evade the attack.
“how come we were not able to sense its presence?” the knight asked as he threw several shuriken towards the creature. But his attack did not even made a dent on its thick hide.
“They could shapeshift and hide its presence.” The wizard answered while making use of the opportunity to counterattack. He hurled huge flames towards the beast and they had scorched the beast’s hide.
Bellowing in pain, The kleure unfold its batlike wings and took flight. From the air, it kept on assaulting the group.
“Blaze, is there any weak points on that monster?” Kuroe asked as she prepared to assault the huge mutt.
“Its wings must be destroyed. Or the head must be cut off.” The wizard answered while releasing a few tongues of fire.
“How are we going to do that? That thing is way up there!” Daxton exclaimed as he blocked a chain coming towards him.
“Innocia, you are the lightest one.” Kuroe hinted at her student.
Nodding Innocia signalled to the duke and the king to aid her. The two males took their position a few meters away from one of the lowest roofs.
Sprinting, the girl jumped and used the boys’ shoulders as leverage to hoist herself on the roof.
“Distract it.” Kuroe instructed the others.
While the others were fighting the monster from below, Innocia jumped from one roof to another until she came near the kleure.
As the beast was preoccupied, Innocia took the chance to jump on its back. The beast tried to throw her off but the girl managed to plunge her katana on its back and tore one of its wings off.
The huge beast howled and struggled. With the kleure losing altitude, the girl lost her grip and slipped off its back. Gripping tightly on the remaining batlike wing, the black haired girl struggled not to be thrown off.
"I can't hold on much longer!" she screamed as the wing got torn off from the kleure's back. Innocia fell dragging the huge wing with her.
“Innocia!” the king was quick to his feet and tried to catch her.
Though she was initially expecting to land hard on the ground, the girl was slightly surprised as a pair of arms broke her fall.
The beast would have pounced on the pair, but just in time, Blaze launched another fireball and hit it squarely on its snout.
Using that time, Kuroe jumped and using Blaze's shoulder as a springboard, she managed to land on the kleure's back. With a swing of her sword, she had severed its head off.
Without its head, the beast fell down hard on the ground.
“Hopefully, we only get to fight that one.” Daxton muttered. “I can’t believe, we have to fight a kleure after we return to this place.
“Thank you for catching me, but you can put me down now, your majesty.” Innocia reminded.
“Oh sorry.” The king then lowered her down to the ground.
“We have to go now...before any of those monsters find us.” As soon as those words left Aliester’s mouth, several roars resounding.
“Oh crap! Let’s go!”
Comments (0)
See all