“The sun must have risen.” Kameron told them. “That is why the spell cut off. She’s alright, though, and she’s in a world I know of.”
“Can we take the bowl back to our hostel?” Marine asked, slightly stuttering. The sight of Elora had been a deep, deep impact to her. “We need to make sure the heat doesn’t evaporate the water, if she tries to contact again.”
“It is our only source to talk with Elora,” Bram also pleaded. “Please, we’ll pay you for the bowl.”
“You don’t need to use a bowl. Just buy empty-snow-globes and fill the water in, and use that to contact Elora. Next time she chats, tell her to save the water inside of a transparent seal-tight container so she can contact whenever she wishes.” Kameron said, tilting his head. “You can use that as a communication device, but it will only work at nights and when Elora is near the water. The world she is in is not exactly fun, she won’t be near, or alone, anytime soon. And don’t worry about the bowl, I can take care of it.”
The smile that Marine had on her face was really, really blinding for a while, but the gratitude was passed. The two friends had their only source of communication with Elora, and she wasn’t going to let it go!
Back with Elora, she wiped her tears. She was not expecting to be so emotional that she was about to break down by just looking at her friends. No matter how long had it been, she shouldn’t have broken down like that. She was the defeater of Gargoyles! She shouldn’t be breaking down! And looking at that way, she had a lot of things to learn from this new world.
Looking at her key, she took it up and pressed it to her lips, wondering if the armor was still inside or not. Of course it was, it was magical, only she could use and wield it right? So that meant that the armor had chosen her to wield it, chosen her for some reason.
Chosen me for what though? Elora exclaimed in her head, as she laid down in her bed, lost in her own thoughts. She had no idea, at all, as to what was going on with her and the strangeness of this world.
* * *
Italus’s morning was, different from the most. The things that he had learned didn’t do anything to curb his mood and he knew that some rounds of interrogating a few of the prisoners in the dungeons were going to be needed. And what better way to release his stress and worries when he could convert the traitor that there was there into his little love-slave and worship him forever? It was, after all, the best honor that anyone could get. If only the entire world was like that, Italus’s life would be perfect.
The two soldiers beside the dungeon door bowed as he approached and he nodded. Traitors and commoners were left to be his playthings. Soldiers, he respected them. As long as they understood who their lord and master was, he would not do much to them. But at times the usual torture would only make them stronger. Nothing felt better than making a grown up man scream out in utter agony, especially a fully trained man.
“Leave us,” he ordered all four soldiers as he entered the dungeons. All four soldiers nodded and quickly scurried off. They didn’t want to exactly go up against their head right now, when he was in such a mood. The door was closed behind him as Italus walked up to the two that were chained on the ground. Both of them had a cloth sack around their faces, and their hands and head was changed up to the top of the ceiling.
Italus removed the cloth sacks to reveal the traitors that there were inside, a woman with scarlet hair, and the man with the dark hair and eyes. He had a small, subtle beard as well. Both of them were caught trying to make their way out of the kingdom to warn the rebels, and he loved these kinds of people the most. He could do whatever he wanted with them and no one would stop him from doing so.
“Well...” The prince smiled deviously. Both of the prisoners were fit and filthy, and would squeal as loud as they came once he was done with them. Both of them would enjoy everything once he made them beg for more, and both of them would sing like canaries when he had them enslaved to his will. And the girl with the red hair looked defiant, harder to break. So perhaps it was the man that he would deal with first. Tracing a finger down his chin, the Prince’s grin turned downright lethal. “It is such a shame that someone as beautiful as you decided to betray our kingdom. And that betrayal upsets your king.”
The man had a lot of spite in him, as he spat out. “You are not our KING!”
Prince Italus’s fury rose, begging to be brought out, begging to come out but he would control himself. He smiled grotesquely, and slapped the man harshly across his face.
“Hmph. You are right. I am not the King. But when I will be, where will you run?” Prince Italus said, going around the man and undoing all of his clothing, revealing his royal glory to the woman who could see it. She gasped when the Prince pulled the prisoners clothes upwards, and pulled him close to her. “Still acting strong, aren’t you? Oh I like that, only those with a strong will break the hardest.”
“Please, Prince Italus, please, don’t do it. Please spare him!” The girl started to beg. “Please stop.”
But Italus ignored it. He ignored the girl so he could just do what he wanted to do with this man. The said man shivered as he felt the Prince’s hand went over his entire body. The Girl screamed loudly when the prince pulled him by the hair.
“Now you better be ready so you can feel…what a real king feels like!” Italus said, licking the man’s earlobe, as he shoved his mouth with the same cloth. The man’s scream was muffled as unbearable pain suddenly took over his backside as Prince Italus started his torture. It felt as if it was pure lava that was pouring into him from somewhere it wasn’t supposed to be, thrusting into him harshly and breaking apart the barrier of his skin. The scream of his sister was even louder in his ears as he felt the King’s hand slap him harshly on the back, and multiple times on his body, dragging his nailed hands all over his back and leaving marks of pure agony on him. He could feel the King thrusting into him now, and the glory of the great Prince’s manhood, and he knew there was no stopping now.
“Yes…” The king writhed in pleasure as the girl screamed, and the man shivered. He basked in their pain and their agony, he basked in the feeling of power he held over the two of them. He would have loved to break both of them together, and then use his little toys on her to break them all over again, but this was much better for now. He first needed to prepare them for what was to come actually before he completely broke them. “More! Scream for me! Show me your obedience! SCREAM!!!!”
And as the prince then took it entirely to a completely different level, the man that was on the receiving end screamed. He could feel the utter agony that the prince now had on him, and he could feel the utter pain that he had. He could feel everything that the Prince wanted him to feel and he could feel his sister’s sobs all over his body. His eyes teared up as they fell down from his eyelids and onto the ground, along with the puddle that was slowly forming on the ground, a result of his own bodily and inner fluids, and the Prince’s own ones as well. Finally, after endless torture of what felt like days but was actually minutes ended, did he get some relief. But he didn’t. He felt the prince pull him up by the hair and look directly into his eyes, holding only sick pleasure at what he had done to the poor, innocent man.
“Who is the king again?” The prince asked. The man didn’t speak, and the prince slapped him hard on the face. “Tell me, who is the king?!”
The man didn’t speak. The king kneed him hard in his groin, very hard, hard enough for the prisoner to cry out in agony all over again.
“Come on now, you know you want to tell me, who…is the...king?!” With every single world, Italus would punch or slap the prisoner until his face was swollen and bloody, and finally, finally he broke, sobbing out and crying harshly as his pain stopped.
“P-Prince Italus,” the man replied in a broken, hollow tone, which was ethereal music to Italus’s ears. Italus dropped the prisoners head down and stepped back, grabbing his clothes.
“Now that is a good boy. When I get back from breakfast, you better tell me al
l you know about the betrayal that you dared to do on me, or your companion here will scream louder, much louder than you did.” Prince Italus said, as he clothed himself up. He didn’t even look back at the mess he left behind, as he passed on one of his men. “Clean the mess up and give them some breakfast. I want them to sing like canaries later.”
The soldier bowed, and Italus walked back upwards towards the main hall, his purple themed royal robes flittering behind him as he walked towards the main room. At the grand table, his mother and father sat down, doting towards the eldest daughter who preened at the attention. And he hated them. He hated all of them. They were naive, and only saw what was affecting them. They were foolish and only wanted what was the best for them. But Italus knew that the only way that this country, his country and kingdom would be the best is when he became the ruler and the lord of Claw Worth. He wanted all of them to disappear, his family meant nothing to him, not even his sister, but they had their uses. A sudden death would undoubtedly cause blame to be put on him and not even he would escape that, and until his sister Lia Sandra wasn’t married to his friend Prince Sebu, he couldn’t harm any of them. So he just sat down and looked at them with disgust as they talked amongst themselves like simpletons. Oh how he hated them, oh how he hated all of them.
Looking outside of the window, he licked his lips, his lust rising as he looked at his kingdom, and the world beyond. He wanted to rule everything, everything that the world had to offer, and one day he was going to do so. He was going to take over Tariforma and change it to his very name, and show his dominance and power on the world. One day, he would do so.
No one will deny me, Italus thought, his thinking turning away from his siblings and their stupidity, and instead towards his seer, Sinara. Where did she go again? To Nokidora I believe. Something about the spells around the place being not enough, and she was worried about them. What exactly was this strange shift again? I don’t even know half of magic, but I don’t need to. Sinara can deal with that. Right now, I only need to endure...this...nonsense before I can return back down.
Licking his lips again at the thought of breaking more people, he ignored his family and their chattering, instead concentrated only on his own thoughts.
* * *
Meanwhile, though, Elora was volunteering to help get some supplies with Chaiya and Emily, as they walked towards the much bigger woody forest. They needed supplies, and she was going to get them. It would do well to help around.
“You need to change.” Emily told to Elora, as she handed him a much local outfit that she could wear. It wasn’t like her clothes, it was just like what Emily was wearing, a ragged looking dress of sorts. “And avoid the eyes of everyone. You don’t want to get caught because you don’t belong here, trust us.”
Elora nodded, and changed her clothes to the ragged looking cover-up. She felt as if she was wronging her entire blood as she did, but she didn’t want to harm anyone or bring harm to anyone, or fall in more trouble. And then the three girls set out to gather some supplies. The men would hunt for meats, but they would collect the rest of the things. And the mighty winds the night before had only helped out in thrown the fruit down out of the trees and onto the ground, giving them endless supplies.
As Elora and Chaiya got onto gathering the fruit, Emily started to gather the wood that was on the ground. And as she was doing, she went eerily close to the tall wooden gates that were sealed shut with something that she didn’t even know existed. She didn’t even know that she was near the gates of Nokidora, and she didn’t find out, not until the voice unfamiliar to her spoke.
“Girl! What are you doing?!” The voice was regal, yet angry. “Do you have any idea where you are? Why are you so close to the gates of Nokidora?! Do you want to be eaten alive?!”
Emily froze as she saw the gates, the tales of the ravagers of Nokidora running high in her mind. But first, she had to see who the woman was that had just spoke, and she turned around to see the beautiful visage of the one woman she didn’t want to cross in her corset blue dress. Lady Sinara, high witch of Prince Italus. Emily paled sheet white, as she stuttered until finally a meek voice came out of her mouth.
“S-Sorry My lady. I d-didn’t have any idea that I was so close to Nokidora.” Emily stuttered. “I wa-was just gathering supplies, I never knew that I was this close. I am sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
Chaiya, who had heard the entire commotion, quickly hid behind a tree and aimed the bow that Blayne had given her, right at Chaiya. But Elora raised a hand, telling her to stand down. Elora realized until now that Magic didn’t work on her, so it was better if she was the one that faced a magic user as she stood a better chance. That and this woman was one of the most dangerous ones in the entire world of magical users. So she took a deep breath to calm herself and get onto the act.
“There you are, you stupid girl!” Elora shouted as she jogged on over to where Emily was. Emily looked surprised and relieved but was confused as Elora marched over towards her, and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her harshly. Emily yelped in pain and at the strong pull, and wondered what Elora was doing. “Sorry about that, My Lady. My younger sister has an annoying habit to run off, and is a bit slow in the head. Please forgive us.”
Lady Sinara wasn’t convinced. She knew that something had to be wrong here and a little peek in the head wouldn’t help. She used her powers to read the older girl’s mind, but it was surprisingly protected. She couldn’t read anything. At first she thought that this girl was a witch like herself, but then she remembered where she was.
Perhaps it is the wards around Nokidora that are really messing with my powers. The high witch of Prince Italus thought. Yes, that has to be it. Now, I need to go.
“Very well. Don’t stay here any longer and leave.” Lady Sinara commanded. Both the girls bowed and turned around, instantly leaving. She watched on as the older girl smacked the younger one above the head and told her to collect all the fruit. She didn’t know why, but that girl made her get a strange feeling in her stomach, the feeling that she got around the girl. She didn’t know what it was, but she did. She dismissed it for the time as the feeling of the wards, as they were proper and stronger than ever, and besides, the undead weren’t the only creatures inside. There were some far more dangerous than that, and that is what worried Sinara.
This will be enough, Lady Sinara thought as she walked back towards the carriage. Her guard and rider opened the door for her to step inside. “Take me home, as fast as you can.”
As they rode off, Elora let Emily go, and looked at her, apology wide in her eyes.
“I am so sorry for being so harsh Emily, I just needed for it to look believable. She could have hurt you, badly,” Elora said, hoping that neither she nor Chaiya would burst on her for such acting and treachery. But Chaiya’s grin gave her all the answers?
“Believable? That completely fooled me and fooled her, and that was amazing!” Chaiya exclaimed. Emily nodded widely, glad that Elora had come to help her out. She didn’t know what she would do if Sinara put a spell on her or something. “You are really good in acting out, it would seem.”
“When I was younger, I took classes for drama.” Elora blushed as she basked in the praise. Emily and Chaiya looked on at her blankly, and Elora sighed and shook her head. “Right, sorry, you have no idea what I’m talking about. Well never mind, we have enough supplies, time to head back to camp.”
Chaiya and Emily shrugged as they grabbed their baskets and turned around so they could go back to the camp. It didn’t take them long to return. Even if they had filled baskets, they needed to do something’s first. And as they did return, their attention instantly went to a couple that been taken to camp. The first was a woman with red hair, and a man with dark hair who looked ready to collapse. They saw Kieran there and instantly ran over to where they were.
“Here, drink some water,” Kieran said, concerned as he bent down near the man. The Man looked up, but couldn’t look at Kieran properly. His eyesig
ht was hazy, and couldn’t see him. But he did accept the water, entire gulps of it as he needed it badly.
The girl started to cry and sob, as she revealed her feet. One of her feet was missing her pinkie, and the other was missing a toe. Chaiya gasped, and Elora quickly sat down to try and help her out.
“Someone get me a clean rag and some alcohol to clean this wound!” Elora said, as she got up again and went to her tent to bring in her pack. Chaiya took on the job of distracting the girl and keeping her normal, safe and make her stop crying, which was harder than it looked. Elora quickly came back and shoved Chaiya off to the side so she could get to disinfecting the wound, and start wrapping it up.
The girl screamed as the alcohol hit where her toe had been, and Elora winced at the loud noise.
“I am so sorry for hurting you, but I promise you that the pain will go away soon,” Elora said, her voice sweet and soft. The girl nodded, tears still pouring out of her eyes as she cried. Chaiya watched as Elora quickly got onto healing the girl’s toe, removing a strange sort of a metal pipe. “My name is Elora? What is your name?”
“R Ren. I am Ren.” The girl introduced herself. Elora smiled, relieved that the girl wasn’t in shock. She had to properly fuse the toe and pinkie wounds or things would be bad for her, very bad.
“Good! Now, why don’t you bite on this apple? I am sorry but this is going to hurt, but I need to stop your wound from bleeding,” Elora said. Ren looked shocked and unsure, but nodded and bit on the apple, not biting fully. Elora had put the metal rod in the fire beside her, and brought it out. She sighed and took a deep, deep breath, before touching the rod directly onto Ren’s skin. By now, all attention was on them as they wondered what Elora was doing, but they could see from the bite on the apple that it pained her, a lot. It was beyond anything Ren had expected, and Elora, before Ren could scream out and take the apple away from her, did the same for where the pinkie was, and fused the skin together. Finally, she was done with the fusing. “Good! Very Good! It’s done! You’re alright now! It’s over.”
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