Aria's world

Hősök Tere City Park, Budapest,Hungary..maybe?
8:00

As I walked through the woods around the Vajdahunyad Castle and left the property, I started walking south toward where the Heroes' Square was supposed to be according to the real story, even though I wasn't quite sure if I would actually meet my father. The first time this party happened, I met my father during a break from the party to watch a soccer game at a nearby bar. Although I don't really like soccer, my father was the opposite and was extremely excited about the tournament final that night, maybe even more than Maria's party. The way to get there was quite easy and full of traffic, but that wasn't the case this time. Tonight, I was surrounded by a deeply frightening forest with leafless, lifeless trees and the darkness that deforms everything, creating ghostly figures from past pains, faces staring at enemies that weren't there, just the mind playing tricks, or maybe not.

But after walking just a little, I noticed a small source of light in the distance, so I started walking in that direction. As I approached, I began to see a familiar structure - the Millennium Memorial and its statues - among the trees of the strange forest. Amidst the remains of the square, now taken over by oblivion, a small campsite rose like a refuge from the looming evil. There was a car near the fire, a large military all-terrain vehicle; next to the car, the silhouette of someone searching for something among the crates. With some caution, so as not to be misunderstood, I began to make a little noise with my steps and greeted with a simple "Excuse me, sir.

"Oh, good morning, miss," the man instinctively replied.

After returning my greeting, he closed the box and I finally saw the face of the person who had been living in the campsite. An adult man, somewhere in his twenties or thirties, quite tall and healthy, with dark skin and the build of a warrior. Obviously someone who had seen combat, judging by the insignia on his jacket and his equipment. Without a doubt...

"Who the hell are you, sir?" I asked, for he certainly wasn't my father.

Unlike the man before me, my father was much less fortunate in life. With a hard start from a childhood of poverty and hardship, he spent his youth breaking his back doing farm work to ensure his family and siblings didn't starve. He ventured to the capital in search of a better job, recommended by a friend, where he started as a bellboy in a hotel. My father was someone who somehow had the gift of friendship and connections. If you think my mother had important friends, you obviously don't know my father, who actually taught her the value of true friendship. Rafael was the kind of person who could find a friend or acquaintance anywhere in the world, no matter how remote or forgotten the place, always able to find the right person for the right job. His only respite from the grip of poverty came when he married our mother, supposedly his sweetheart since high school, and had his first two children, me, Cesar, and my younger brother Leon. After that, the real test of his life began with the arrival of Maria and the relentless need for money, forcing him to make real sacrifices between fixing the house or putting food on the table. With few options and driven by necessity, he took a leap of faith into the risky job of a bodyguard when a friend suggested it. His appearance, on the other hand, was unremarkable-average height, though quite health conscious, not for exercise but for cycling until his work as a bodyguard began. His most striking feature over the years was his baldness, something the man in front of me clearly did not share at first glance.

"Sir? Are you really going to call me that after all this time?"
"After all we've been through?"
"Are you going to address your own father like that?"

"What the hell? Rafael?"
"Is it really you?"

"Yes, it's me, Rafael, your father."

"No, you're lying."
"It can't be you, first of all you're not ugly enough."

"Well, that's because while I was here doing important things, I decided to look cooler in front of others and your mother."
"And who says you have to be old and ugly after you die?"
"Anyway, I'm not the only one who's changed a bit, right? Miss White Fox girl?"
"Do I really have to call you Cesar with those two spheres in front of you?"

"You're not the first one to tell me the same thing, that's why I chose Elise as my name again."
"No wait, that's not the point! You being here! With me again!"
"In front of me!"

"Yes, here I am, I'm so sorry I left you too soon, son."

"No, that's not what I meant."
"But that you are personally in front of me."
"In front of me, finally."
"....."
"Bastard! Now you're going to pay me the money or I'll knock your teeth out with nail clippers!" Before he had time to run, I managed to grab his arm so he couldn't escape, and punched him in the stomach to remind him what it was like to feel pain again.
"And that's for betting my private island against that stupid Urakaze Hotel."
"And be grateful, because if I hit you again, I'll send you back to the angels."

"Stop! Wait, wait, wait!"
"Don't hit me again, I beg you! That new face cost me a fortune!"
"Besides, there's work to be done! We'll be late if we don't hurry!"
"The plan was to get you from here to the mission area quickly by car, we still have to go through the city."
"We don't have much time."
"Here, take these clothes, change in the tent and get in the car," my father said as he tossed me a bag.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"Change of clothes? Mission? Short on time?"
"The clocks aren't even working, I don't know where I am, what's going on?"

"Look, there's really little time, change now."
"I'll explain everything on the road, but first we have to leave like yesterday!"
"If we're late and screw this up, we'll screw it up big time, believe me."

Seeing the worried look on my father's face, I decided to listen to him and went into the tent to change my clothes. What a surprise to see nothing but maid's clothes - black dresses with a white apron. Instead of explaining clearly what this was all about, my father started an old car behind the modern SUV, an old and modest Rolls Royce Silver Ghost in perfect condition.

"My expectations for this were low, but holy fuck."
"What the hell is the context for why I have to drive this thing?"
"Are you kidding me? I'm sure you'll find it quite amusing to sleep without any teeth tonight."

"You'll understand when we get there, but there's no time!"
"Get in already!"

Resigned to such madness, I decided to just carry on and obey my father in whatever was going on. The maid's outfit was of quite high quality; just by touching the thick material and seeing the embroidery, it was truly a work uniform, not pretty, but definitely functional. It covered my entire body, including my tail. Though a bit uncomfortable without room to let it out and move freely, it was enough to keep it unnoticed. The uniform also had nice gloves, a matching apron with several pockets, and a white cap that allowed me to hide my ears perfectly.

After changing and getting into the car, my father wasted no time. He stood in front of the car and turned the crank like crazy until the whole vehicle came to life. Then he hurried back to the driver's seat, turned a knob under the steering wheel to accelerate, and finally took off down the road. Disregarding safety concerns, Rafael began to drive with road rage down the old, rough dirt road under the faint glow of the car lamps. After a while, the road gave way to another paved road where it was easier not to kill oneself.

Then my father reached behind the seat and pulled out a duffel bag, pulled out a Mauser C96 pistol and handed it to me along with 5 clips of 10 rounds. The pistol was a true relic; I only knew it from video games, but one in such working condition must cost a fortune, which few would consider paying.

"Be careful with that gun, they're not so easy to find anymore, they're collector's items now."
"Besides, it's already loaded and ready for action."
"You know how one of these works, right?"

"Loaded from the top with a clip of bullets."
"Yes, I know how it works, at least I've seen it in video games."
"I'd rather know exactly why I need one of those."

"Um... for prevention... against... things..."
"It's complicated to explain, you wouldn't understand."

"I don't understand right now, what difference could it make now?"

"All right, look, right now there are a couple of... people... who need to be saved."
"If they're not saved, much worse things will happen later, things that will hurt you and your mother later."
"THE BOSS, on the other hand, sent the Alecto team here to investigate a possible... bad organization by a leader."
"He sent me here for a small project I had on my hands, so I decided to give you and the Angels a little boost by organizing this little operation with you."
"Think of it as a little favor I'm doing for THE BOSS."
"After all, it was he who gave the green light and even helped me a little to convince the Angels to turn a blind eye, pretending that he specifically wanted you to do the rescue."
"The maid's outfit, a disguise, the gun, in case the disguise doesn't work."
"You can play along, right?"

"Okay, so it's a kidnapping ransom, how simple..."
"..."
"I'm being sarcastic, in case you haven't noticed."
"Right now I have no idea if I'm in his dream or if this is real, and now my father is handing me a gun and telling me to go kill someone."
"It's definitely easy to accept at first."
"..."
"The only thing that surprises me more is that somehow this isn't the craziest thing I've done to you."
"If Adelis finds out what happened when we got lost in Soley Port, it'll be worse than what we're doing now."

"Yes, I know, that's why I'm still working to erase the evidence."
"But what happened in Soley Port stays in Soley Port, right?"

My father said with a nervous look directly into my eyes, sweating coldly. It was identical to mine, for a gentleman's agreement had been made that day and had been kept like gentlemen until now, and for our mutual benefit it would remain so for eternity.

As they traveled along the forest road, stranger things began to appear. The strange shapes among the trees did not diminish. The creatures lurking in the woods ceased to be illusions and became realities as I saw huge wolves standing on two legs for less than two seconds. The screams of two womans in the background, pleading for help that would never come. The illusionary creatures became more real with each passing moment, and as they seemed to lurk around the car in the distance, the cursed forest had more in common with a region plagued by monsters and death, like Atlantis, than with Earth.

"Dad, there's something trying following the car, it's not human."

"Yeah, I know, we don't have time to stop and check anyway."
"That's why I'm driving a car that's known to be a damn tank. Just don't stick your hands out of the car or they'll be torn off."
"Whatever comes at us, well, it'll stay on the front bumper as intended."

"What the hell is this place? Why the hell are demonic creatures in the woods considered normal?"

"Unofficially, the Angels call this place the World of Aria."
"Under the control of the goddess among mortals, Nediadis, a place where every conceivable sin takes place."
"It is said that one day Nediadis decided to reveal one of the many secrets of immortality to selected humans, people who had her favor in high society and nobility."
"From what I have heard, such a ritual requires parents to eat their children in a ceremony honoring the crimson ancestral blood."
"This place is completely fucked, according to Marco, they mentioned that a group of trumpeters have already marked the place for Doomsday in about 10 years."
"But let's be honest, the place is so damn corrupt that it probably won't even last that long."

"What the hell? How can it get any more screwed up?"

"Can you see the sky? Do you notice that there isn't a single star, no matter how hard you look? Apart from the moon, which Tamamo is making shine as brightly as possible tonight, there is no other source of light that isn't artificial."
"This is because the magicians from the Celestial Court of the Palace of Love Gardens have come to harvest them to increase their power."
"One by one, the stars of this tiny galaxy have been stolen for the personal benefit of a few, including the sun itself, which was stolen some fifty years ago."
"Arwen of Ravenspire, head of Nediadis' personal sacred guard, who was given the title of Sun-Slayer for this dishonorable deed."
"A nobleman, the last just one to try to solve the problem, but was branded a traitor and rebel. They used the guillotine in the square in front of an audience, the very people he tried to save from the darkness were the ones who betrayed him."
"The elites of this twisted place don't care about the problem because they think it's not their problem, but rather a problem for grandchildren who will never come."
"The inhabitants below, on the other hand, are too busy in a rat race against time, trying to please their masters in order to obtain the secret to prolonging their lives, to complain about how much they've been trampled."
"Everyone is too busy trying to become immortal to save themselves from the death and destruction that will follow.
"And the few sane ones left... end up like her."

My father said as he pointed to the courtyard of a house with a garden at the entrance, where what appeared to be a scarecrow revealed its macabre origins by moving and screaming in pain. A maid had been impaled on a spear and left out in the cold open, with a sign indicating that she had hidden her daughter from the clutches of her mistress, who wanted to consume her for her immortality ritual.

*** gulps **

"And still you're taking me to a house where something like that could happen to me?" I asked scared

"That's what the gun is for"

The place where my father was taking me in a hurry was still quite far, but I was already beginning to see in the distance several buildings with lights, we were heading towards a city unknown to me, but there was still a while to get there, for which It seemed to be a mission that the he are asking me to do.