Chapter 9: The Night
"Blood of who?" Allura mutters. Suddenly, everyone in the room stops moving. Allura looks at them one by one. She starts with the king who has a look of someone who knows despair. The queen, who is sitting quietly beside him purses her lips. Giving a look the same as the king, one that knows despair.
She then looks at Shkan who is sitting at the far end of the table, who is wearing his usual unreadable expression. She shifts her attention to Briaphela, who is biting her nails. Probably a nervous habit of hers. Lastly, she looks at the elder who is calmly sitting on his seat at the table.
She's turns around to exit the room. Taking one slow step at a time.
"The blood of Apollo," the elder's voice suddenly resonates. She turns around almost immediately and sees that everyone is still in their place, except for the elder who is standing from his seat.
"Elder?" she says.
"is the kingdom's-" he stops.
"No, it is the royal Highnesses and our secret." He corrects himself.
"Blood of Apollo? Secret? What is going on here elder? And wait, isn't this a memory? How are you talking to me?" Allura asks, obviously confused by everything that is happening right now.
"The fact that I am able to communicate with you now is a matter of Briaphela's abilities. This, the blood of Apollo, is what Briaphela had almost told you earlier. You are the key to our salvation." He says. Allura can't help but continue staring at him with utter confusion.
"Princess, it is not only saving Faistran. it is saving all the existing kingdoms of this land." The elder adds, extending his arms emphasizing the place they are in. This makes Allura even more confused.
"What is this blood of Apollo?" she asks the elder. She's no idea if what she hears from her voice is anger or confusion, maybe it's both.
"I am well aware that we have not told you everything you need to know about us. We would like to take precaution, princess. We are still unsure of your decision but-"
"Oh, so that's it?" Allura yells. The elder stands there stunned by Allura's sudden fit of rage.
"We apologize, princess. It is also for the safety of both our kingdom and you." The elder explains.
"Oh so now you mention my safety?" Allura replies in such an angry tone.
"Everything started when Shkan took me that day! If Shkan hadn't approached me-"
"If I hadn't approached you, you would have been dead by now princess." Shkan suddenly speaks. Now he's the one able to move. His voice, not in a harsh, irritated tone but his usual calm and composed one.
Allura stops talking. She had already realized that time that if it weren't for Shkan, those shadows, those monsters would have killed her already.
"She wouldn't have been dead Shkan. He would have taken her there. He wants her alive more than anything." Briaphela joins the conversation. The only people frozen in their place now are the king and queen.
"Yes, that is true Briaphela." The elder agrees.
"Regardless if whether we approached you that day, sooner or later they would still take you to our world." The elder adds.
"What do they want with me then? The blood thing you just talked about? Why is it so important?! Allura asks impatiently. She knows she's heard of that name before. Anyone could have heard of that name before but she's too frustrated to think about it now.
"The blood of Apollo is something that only happens once in a hundred years. The child that born with the blood of Apollo is someone special. They are born with special gifts, those who have inherited the blood of Apollo played a significant role in our history." The elder explains. Allura looks at him, tears of anger pooling in her eyes.
"Then why me?! If it's so important, why am I the one with this blood?!" she asks, her voice quivering.
"Inheriting his blood is not something one chooses. We believe that God Apollo is the one who chooses who is worthy of carrying his blood in their veins. We believe that he specifically chose you for a reason." The elder answers calmly, trying to get Allura to feel the same.
A soft what is all Allura could say in return.
"God? Apollo?" she asks.
"That is something that we must discuss for another time, princess. We understand that you are utterly confused but you have a significant role in our world." Briaphela says. She's standing next to the elder, Shkan approaches them as well.
In one quick swift the three of them are kneeling on the ground. Like what they had done earlier when the king and queen entered the room. Allura looks at them, confused.
"We ask you once again, princess. We need you. Please come with us." The elder says in a pleading tone. Allura couldn't help but somehow feel sorry for them, despite the fact that they've kept so many things from her the moment they had met.
"Please stand up," she says. The three of them look up before doing so.
"I know that you are running out of time but please give me until tomorrow noon to think for my decision." She asks them, she looks directly at the elder who's expression gives nothing away of what he's thinking.
"Are you sure that is enough time for you princess?" the elder asks her. She nods in approval.
"Knowing that you only have little time remaining, tomorrow noon is enough for me to think this through" Allura says reassuringly. The three of them look at each other and then nod back at her.
"Okay, princess" the elder says. With that the memory disappears and they're back in the living room.
"Wait! Was that all I need to see? How did you get the king and queen to agree with your proposal?" Allura asks in a rush.
The elder looks at Briaphela before looking back to Allura.
"That is for another time princess. We would like to give you the time to think about it now." The elder says as he leaves the room.
"Wait-" Allura says but Briaphela stops her.
"Please princess. We would like to give you all the remaining time to think about your decision regarding this matter." She says calmly. Allura couldn't help but give in to her request and backs away.
"Okay but I would like to do it in private. In my room." She says as she looks at Briaphela and Shkan who both nods in approval.
Allura starts walking away from them and continues to her room. She closes the door and proceeds to her bed. As she sits down, she finally releases a long and deep breath. She's never felt like this all her life. The combination of fear, nausea, nervousness all piling up in her head but she wouldn't deny the fact that a part of her feels excited about all this.
She's never thought about it thoroughly before. Now that she's finally alone and has dedicated her thoughts solely on her decision she's realized that maybe she does want to go to Faistran. Allura's been alone all her life, years spend living in the orphanage not getting adopted by a single family.
Now that she's thought about it, she doesn't have anyone to leave in this city. She has no friends in school, she has no family, she has no attachments. Her disappearance wouldn't cause an alarm to anyone. No one would even find her.
"That's kind of depressing now that I think about it." She says to herself. Even though it's the truth, she couldn't help but feel sad for herself. She stares at the window, the sun is just about to set.
'How long have we been inside that memory?' she asks herself. It's like they've been there for minutes but it seems that time flows differently in that memory and in the real world.
She lays down on her bed facing the window. A few birds have already flown by. When she's gone, everything would stay the same. Nobody needs her here, at least in Faistran she would seem important. People would need her, people actually do need her now. She slowly closes her eyes, about to drift on to a light slumber when someone lightly knocks on the door.
"Princess, I'm here to bring you your food." The voice most probably belongs to Shkan.
"Oh," she stands up to open the door for Shkan. He enters the room with a tray of food, a plate of stew, bread and a glass of juice.
"Where did you get all these?" she asks as she takes the tray from him. He takes the tray from her bedside table, studies the untouched contents and sighs.
"I often go back to the city during my patrol outside to get some supplies" he explains as he starts to walk to exit the room.
"Is that so?" she says not knowing what more to say.
"Yes, I will take my leave now princess. We promised to give you time to think about your decision." Shkan opens the door and leaves Allura alone once again.
She sighs and goes to her table to eat what Shkan gave her.
"It's settled then" she tells herself as she continues to devour her food.
After finishing all her food, Allura couldn't help but feel tired from what she'd discovered that day. By the time she's finished eating, the sun has long set and the stars are appearing one by one.
She lays back down, still facing the window, and slowly falls asleep.
- -
"Shkan," Briaphela, who is sitting on the dining room chair calls the attention of the swordsman who is looking outside to check for any intruders.
"What?" he asks. He looks back to Briaphela who is now approaching him.
"Scan the area. I've been using my magic frequently these past few days that I didn't notice that my magical energy is almost depleted. I've sensed the presence of dark beings enter the magic barrier." She says grimly. Shkan returns the gesture and nods.
It's almost midnight and the moon is at its peak. It wouldn't be a surprise if one or maybe two stray shadows have found their way in the area. Especially if Briaphela's magic have weakened.
"I'll do it Shkan," the elder appears from the hallway just before Shkan could make a move to leave.
"Elder?" Briaphela says, shocked.
"I'll summon my light creatures to scout the area. Shkan instead of scouting outside you guard the princess." The elder orders Shkan who immediately makes a move to watch over Allura.
He opens the door to her room to check if she's safe. Shkan enters her room to check if she's actually the one sleeping soundly on her bed. After confirming so, he leaves the room and stands by to guard it.
By the time he closes the door, the elder starts doing his stance on summoning his light creatures. He plants his staff on the floor in one loud thump, a magic circle suddenly appears on the floor. As the magic circle lights up, it slowly makes a cracking sound and the magic circle slowly loses its light.
In one final burst of light, five magical creatures suddenly appear in front of the elder. Two white owls, with some silver feathers come flying to the shoulders of the elder. Three white wolves with silver locks kneel in front of the elder.
"Scout the area, look for intruders, you know what to do after." The elder commands the five light creatures. The wolves growl and the owls hoot in response and they flee the room.
The five creatures then take separate routes in scouting the area. The two owls soar higher to observe every street and corner of the abandoned area. The three wolves start to sniff out unnatural scents that they can detect within the perimeter.
One of the wolves then finds a strange scent, it starts to howl to signify that it found what it was looking for. The other wolves then howl in return and one of the owls then flies to its location. The wolf then follows the source of the unfamiliar scent with the owl hovering above it.
The wolf stops between two large buildings and surely, there are shadows waiting to attack. The wolf shifts posture ready to attack. The shadows, who now notice the wolf's presence, prepare to attack the unwelcomed visitor. The wolf cries one final howl before starting to attack the shadows.
The wolf finishes off one, two shadows before it suffers its untimely death in the hands of such creatures. The unnoticed owl leaves the area to report to the elder what they had found within the area.
The owl arrives back to the building where the elder and the others are staying and it reports what it found.
"Ah, I found them. It seems that our shadow friends had found us here." The elder says. Briaphela tries to remain calm while mentally preparing herself for the worst. Shkan remains on guard, checking Allura inside the room from time to time.
"Briaphela, prepare the transportation magic. It seems we'll be returning to Faistran a little earlier than what we had planned." The elder regards Briaphela for a moment before shifting his attention back to his owl.
"Thank you, continue scouting the area for more signs of foes little one." The owl starts flying out the window to continue scouting the area.
Briaphela starts to draw the magic circle, the same one that appeared in the memory that she has shown Allura the previous night.
After completing the magic circle, she sits in the middle of it to concentrate. Gathering what little left of her magic energy she has left to call the reserve magical energy needed for the transportation magic. Doing such thing causes the floor to make a little rumble, hopefully not strong enough to wake Allura up.
Shkan enters Allura's room once again and sees her just hurriedly stands up from her bed.
- -
The sound of wolves growling and owls hooting causes Allura to wake up. She blinks a few times before deciding to try and go back to sleep.
A few moments later she hears the flapping of wings. She blinks a few times once again before completely waking up. A low rumble then comes that makes her stand up.
Shkan then enters the room. He looks at her worriedly, while she looks at him terrified.
"Princess!" Shkan says first.
"What's happening?!" she asks him, terrified.
"It seems that our enemies have found us princess," he reports as calmly as he could.
"What?" she exits the room to go where the elder and Briaphela are doing their spells.
"What's happening?" she asks the same question to the other two. Briaphela who appears busy remains quiet inside the magic circle that seems familiar to Allura. All the adrenaline causes her not to recall where she saw such thing and immediately shifts her gaze to the elder.
"The shadows have found us, princess. It seems that we have nowhere left to hide, we must flee this area before it's too late." The elder tells her. Just when Allura is about to say something, a wolf's growling just from the outside.
"Is that them?" Allura asks as she stands stunned next to Shkan.
"Don't worry princess. They are my light creatures here to scout the area. It seems that it has guided one of the trespassers here in our location. Shkan," the elder looks at Shkan who immediately knows what the elder means.
"Princess, stay beside the elder. I must go out to see what the elder's wolf has found." Shkan then exits the room in full gear.
"What's Briaphela doing?" Allura looks back to Briaphela who is still busy concentrating on what she's doing.
"She is summoning the magic energy needed to perform the transportation magic. We must leave this place before our enemies find us" the elder looks at Briaphela.
"Where to?" Allura asks.
"That is…" the elder stops. He looks at Allura with worried eyes. Allura knows exactly what the elder is worried about. She stands her ground.
"Let's go to Faistran," she says making her voice clear. The elder looks at her shocked, Briaphela who is busy opens one of her eyes and immediately closes it back again.
"Is that your decision princess? Or are you pressured because of what is happening at the moment?" the elder asks her. She shakes her head to say no.
"This is my decision elder. You said it yourself, you need me." She says bravely. The elder nods and shifts his attention to Briaphela.
"It seems that Briaphela is still not done with the preparations. All we can do now is wait and hope that our enemies will not find us until then," the elder says. Allura nods and looks at Briaphela.
"Elder," Shkan enters the room with a loud thud. Allura and the elder looks at the door where Shkan is standing. Allura looks at him, worried that he must have gained some injury to cause such a loud thud on the floor. Instead, she is then greeted with a person panting on the floor.
"A human?" the elder asks. For the first time since they met, he seems shocked.
"Wait, he seems familiar" Allura says. She slowly walks towards the body on the floor.
"Thaer?" she yells.
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