Elaxi Dice

She looks up to find the same knight who escorted her to the Duke. Luckily when she was first summoned, at that time her heart dropped knowing how heavily guarded around places that are a part of the Duke’s daily routine, she saw only a single kitchen staff standing in the dining room.

 

The knight introduced himself by the name Marcos. Unfortunately, she isn't good with new names. And the name Marcos isn't going to stick in her head anytime soon.

 

'Looks like I need to silently chant his name until I get the name right and memorized.'

 

Oh, how she wishes at least to have Sandra by her side. She bit her lips holding the coming grief that’s swallowing her up.

 

"You fool! What were you thinking talking to those fools without me?!"

 

Arianna guilty looks down, averting her eyes feeling the tinge of her younger sister's glare. Sandra grits her teeth and then after a few seconds sighs in defeat. She gazes at her with a complicated expression before it hardens as she walks out of the room.

 

"Just don't get involved with politics without me again. Understood?"

 

Arianna's eyes soften at the memory as she gets up and follows Marcos to the destination that the Duke instructed. She watches him as he raises his hand and peels off his left leather glove.

 

He unsheath his sword and slices the strange mark on the back of his hand. A gushy dark blood slowly seeped from his hand and placed it against a boulder near the brick wall of what appears to look like a hut. The stinging and horrible stench that came from the blood made her wince, covering her nose.

 

The door lightens to another door as it slowly discloses its existence. Ariana stares at it in wonder. She never saw such a thing as a door that would disappear in a blink of an eye, without a trace.

 

How magical.

 

She snaps out of her daze as Marcos steps inside. She glances at him gesturing to her to follow which she doesn't hesitate to go.

 

What appeared as she entered was a set of stairs below. She widens her eyes in surprise. The structure of the place is truly unique. It didn’t surprise her since it is disguised as a hut rather than a tower. An eerie and dark aura flows around which she didn’t feel from outside until they were in making her frown.

 

Out of a sudden, she notices a gleam shone against Marcos’s back realizing it's from her eyes, quickly shutting them. She took a deep breath and exhaled. After feeling her emotions calmed down, she opens her eyes to find Marcos staring at her in suspiciousness.

 

‘This is not good…’

 

She places her hand onto her chest, feeling her heart which had been racing in excitement, slow down. Emotions are one of the reasons their eyes reveal their colors, their ego. She stares back and tilts her head, oblivious.

 

“Um, Sir. Is this the place?”

 

Marcos stares at her then turns back to the front, continuing his walk down the stairs.

 

“You were instructed along with your blood to take care of that thing every three months, so this one isn’t any different.”

 

Her eyes shook. Wait. She thought only a month and half had passed according to Aria’s memory. Did she miscalculate her days since her possession? Isn’t this half too soon?

 

They finally set foot onto solid ground. Thankfully this body had high stamina. If it wasn't for that, her legs would’ve gone weak from the long stairs she didn’t know when it would end.

 

The air around here is so thin that she needs to take slow breaths or she would be out of it. Clinking sound was heard as she looked up to find Marcos in front of a sealed metal set door. He turned to her and threw the set of keys to her.

 

She quickly catches it and glances at him in confusion.

 

“I will be waiting outside.”

 

She feels her throat go dry, nodding obediently. She needs to lower her pride even in this situation. Just like when she was a runaway before she reclaimed her land becoming worthwhile after going through so much.

 

She cautiously walks towards the door and fumbles with the keys before finding the right ones and unlocking all three key holes. She clumsily pulls her right sleeve up and stares at her frail lower arm. There was the same mark drawn like Marcos had on his hand, a circle with a strange 

 

She scratches the mark with her longest nails, making blood drip from her arm. She reaches out her arm near the blank lock and rubs her stained arm against the lock.

 

The door’s color, which is made of metal, fades away into a blank one. Unlike the previous door, this one slowly fades away starting from the left side to the right, revealing what was inside.

 

Arianna stares into the room, surprised. A child laid on the cold ground, locked up like an animal with the chains not only on holding onto their wrists and ankles, but also the forearms, thighs, and neck.

 

A metal ring held onto the left calf of the child’s leg. She looked behind her to find Marcos staring at her fixedly, not looking at the child in this locked up place.

 

“Can you do it?”

 

Arianna bit her lips nervously. She doubted what was there to calm down, but she couldn’t ignore the noise and stressful aura that was intensely flowing around that child…

 

She hesitates. She couldn’t move her feet from the ground. She couldn’t walk up to the child and be done with what she's instructed. She clenches her hands into a fist in frustration before she strengthens her resolve.

 

This is just a part of the mission.

 

Don’t bother yourself with this human.

 

You just need to finish this up and go find your siblings.

 

She kneels down to the child and examines her from head to toe. The child appears to be a female…

 

A girl…

 

The child shook and raised her head. She can feel her gaze but due to her long-disheveled hair, it was hard to know what expression she's wearing.

 

But what stood out to her…

 

“An Elaxian…”

 

…were her glimmering eyes that revealed some unknown power.