Kapitel 4: Chapter 4

As 24 started to go down the path she discovered. The personnels from the institute is starting to travel towards the island where they sent the subjects. The other children did not notice that 24 has been missing for almost 4 hours. They all thought that she will be back later and started to sleep.

Back in the dark stone hallway, 24 followed the straight path while the green torches that hangs on either side of the hallway which serves as her only light.

"It's creepy out here. The light barely lit the hallway because of its color. The pathway is also moldy from what I can smell, the floor is slippery and everything else feels like a haunted house except it feels like a dirty secret lair of some sort of trash and shady people would get", said 24 while looking around the hallway.

After minutes of walking, she started to think that there must be something in the hallway. 'Is there no end to this hallway?', she thought as she continue her seemingly endless walking. She then stopped walking and sat on the left side of stone floor. Scanning the barely lit hallway, noticed that she is back from where she came down the stairs before walking into the stone hallway. Then she saw an eye carved from the stone brick opposite from her position.

The stone wall is made up of 10 stone bricks stack up together vertically. There in the stone bricks an eye was carved on the very bottom of the bricks. She tried to push the brick that has the carved eye. But nothing happened except the brick that she pushed never came back from its original position. Sighing, she continued to walk hoping to find an eye. And she was not disappointed. She found another one but it was positioned on the second brick. She pushed the brick with carved eye but this time it went back to its original position. Confused on what happened, she tried to push it again and like the first brick, it went inside.

'What if each carved eye on each brick stone has designated numbers to be pushed? And maybe I can get out of this smelly place', she thought. 24 continued her search for the third stone bricks. After encountering the third brick and did what she theorized, she smiled and continued to search for the remaining bricks hoping to get out of this smelly, dark stone hallway.

After many hours of searching, pushing and walking, she is at last pushed the final 10th stone brick. As she pushed the brick for the 10th time, her surroundings lit up a flashing light and she fell unconscious.

She woke up from her unconscious state and felt a headache. Groaning from the pain, she heard a voice coming from her left side. "She is awake! Get the doctor right away!", she decided to open her eyes only to see a blonde-haired man on his twenties wearing a sophisticated suit belonging from some noble household. Confused on her situation, she sat from her king-size bed only to be scolded by the blonde man.

"Your majesty must not sit. You must take a rest, it will help your recovery. The doctor is on the way", said the blonde man.

"May I ask who are you?", 24 said but the blonde man seemed that he did not hear any of her statement, and frantically calling for the doctor. "Umm.. hello can you not hear me? Are you deaf?", 24 said to the blonde man, only to be ignored again.

Suddenly, a doctor in his forties came inside the room and went beside 24 to check her up. After checking that she is alright, the doctor then faced the blond man.

"She is alright. There are no signs of poison in her body anymore. It will take 4-5 days of rest for her to recover her lost strength", the doctor said and leave some medications on the bedside table before leaving the room.

'Wow I got poisoned, I never knew about that. I am a healer yet I got poisoned. I swear I'll kill the bastard who did it', 24 thought while scanning her environment. The room is larger than the cafeteria in the institute. Looking around, 24 could tell that she is inside a majestic room and based on what this man said she is some sort of queen of some unknown kingdom. Then on her left, she saw a red flag with yellow outline. In the center of the flag was a lion and snakes head facing each other in a gold color. The lion is standing up and roaring towards the vertically standing snake, with mouth wide open and somehow hissing towards the lion. At the back of the lion and snake, a two swords can be seen intersected with a shield above the swords. 'I haven't seen that flag anywhere history books in the library', 24 said thinking that it was one of the kingdoms who fall long before Grisaia was established.

Then the blonde man sat on the side of the bed and faced 24. She may be currently a child right now but she is also a female who know how to appreciate appearance especially of opposite sex. The blonde man is strikingly handsome with his jewel-like blue eyes, square jaw, slick back blonde hair, pink lips and smooth white skin. Suddenly, the blonde man smiled and a dimple on his left cheek appeared. 'I wish I had one', 24 said with envy in her eyes and started touching her cheeks.

"Your majesty, I was really worried when you got poisoned during the banquet. Please don't do something like this again your majesty", said the blonde man. His worried voice and sad eyes could be seen from his handsome face.

Then a knock rang out of the door and opened. A man in green suit could be seen entering the room with his cane acting as a support. He is wearing glasses and a small curved mustache on his faced. His hair is a little mess from running towards her majesty's room to check on her condition. "I heard from the maids that her majesty is already awake. How is her condition?", ask the man.

"She is fine Marquis El. The doctor said the poison in her body is not that dangerous because of the fast action taken during the incident in the banquet. It will take 4-5 days until her full recovery", the the blonde man. His expression changed from mellow and worry to stern. 24 could tell that the blonde man is tense and wary from Marquis El. "I see", said the Marquis with a hint of disappointment from his voice.

"Is there anything you need from her majesty?", ask the blonde man.

"Nothing. I will see you next time your majesty", said Marquis El before leaving the room. When the blonde man turn around to face her, the flash consumed her, changing her surroundings.

After the flash died down, she saw herself in a room filled with cloaked people who are chanting. 24 turned her head only to see that she is already in the middle of some sort of ritual. Her hands and feet were tied with a rope and was seated down in the middle of the circle. The circle started to glow while a series of chain came out from the ground tying her down. She felt that her strength is decreasing along with her mana. She then realized that the chain is absorbing it leading to a small red glowing orb in front of her.

"Well, well, your majesty is finally awake. I thought I couldn't get you from the hands of Marquis El. Who would knew that he is the one who is secretly protecting you while making himself look like your enemy all this time. I am impressed of his loyalty. But you know, everything is not going according to his will", said the blonde man.

This shocked 24. Because the man earlier look like he wouldn't be able to plot something like this. He is caring and it seems that he love whoever his majesty is. Then all of the sudden she will learn that the true enemy is the one that looks innocent. Talk about deceiving looks.

"Seriously, what the hell is going on?", 24 said as she started to wiggle her way out of the circle but couldn't because of the chains tying her down.

"Look here man, I am just a poor soul dragged in this and has nothing to do with your so called 'majesty' so would be so kind to let out of this. I still have the 3-day surviving training going in this island and I have to go back", 24 said while looking at the blonde man standing outside the circle looking like some sort of leader of the cult. "I guess I am ignored again", 24 said as the blonde man continues his monologue.

"Well he can't do anything now. You thought he poisoned you whilst it is me all this time. All the assassination attempts were done by me. You were foolish enough to believe in me and everything I said. You maybe the Goddess of all supreme beings, But you are weak as fuck when it comes to your people. I, the First Prince of this kingdom, was always seen as a minor and good-for-nothing entity. I was always ignored and treated as a trash that keeps following you around and kissing your sorry ass. I am tired of all of this shit! It is time for me to reign the beings and the light that I am possessing will be brighter because of your sacrifice and power. After I absorb everything I will destroy what you have built and kill the remaining loyalist of your empire. Goodbye Your majesty", the blonde man said. He then said something towards the cloaked guys, and they hasten their movements to activate the ritual.

The glowing circle started to shine brighter and all of my power was absorb to the orb. 24's body started to crumble apart into dust. Before my head turns into dust, all of the cloaked people brought their hoods down for me to see who are these traitors. 'Although I don't even know a single cloaked persons in the front, I could tell that these people were ones serving whoever the majesty is', 24 thought to herself while trying to remember each faces of those people who took off their hoods. Then My sight blurred and turned black.

Suddenly I was again transported into a stone room. But this time, the room was clean and the designs were more of ancient type. Then I saw a big red sphere in the center. Underneath the sphere were circles that I have seen from earlier except it is not glowing anymore and cracks could be seen on the circle. The only thought that came from my mind was "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK DID JUST HAPPEN?!", I screamed in confusion. 'Does the things that I have seen earlier are memories of some sort of person who belong to godly descent? From what I heard from the handsome blonde man, he is a God of Light and the woman that he is talking to which me in other person's body is a Goddess of all those crazy beings?', so many questions kept rising from 24's brain.

Suddenly a voice could be heard from across the room 24 is in.

"Child, all of the things that you have seen, are all my memories. Although I am considered physically dead, my spiritual is not", said the archaic voice. 24 looked towards the big red glowing sphere where the voice came from.

"And who are you?", ask 24.

"I am something you all humans call a 'God' or some sort. I am not just your typical God but the one who reigns over the other gods and goddesses", said the voice.

"So you are like a Supreme being I suppose. What am I doing here? And where am I?", asked 24 towards the sphere.

"You are in one of the sacred place of my ones standing kingdom. I was once turned into a human to take a break from you know being a God for once. Building my kingdom, and ruling over it makes it more satisfying than my godly job. My kingdom was once called Nichmize, the lost kingdom you people are currently searching for. The name of my kingdom is something that I created on a whim so don't mind it. As for what you are doing here? You are the first person to ever got in here and talk to me. I am planning to give you the mission to collect my powers that was scattered unto the 4 kingdoms: Grisaia, Normeka, Ishtain and Briyanka. Of course if you accepted the mission that I gave you, I will grant you 5 wishes of any choices you want. And also give you everything my lost kingdom has to offer", said God.

"Can I call you God? By the way are you a man or a woman?"

"I am neither both. And yes you can call me however you want", said God.

"So base on the rewards you are willing to give me, I assume it is hard to gather all of it. So the memories that I have experienced earlier is your memory when you were a human am I correct?", 24 asked.

"Precisely. The 2nd ruler, the first prince, my son killed me in hopes of getting some sort of power from me upon learning that I am not entirely a human. He thought I am some sort of half fairy race which is a very rare and secluded race in this world. He is also blinded by the greed of owning and ruling the kingdom that I have built, so he ended up overthrowing me and brainwashing my people leading into their demise and was struck calamity. My secretary Marquis El, the one you saw from my memories, was the one who cursed the royal family and my people after killing me", God explained to 24.

24 contemplates on whether to take it or not. She still have a lot of planning to do to escape the institute together with her comrades who are inside the temple somewhere resting. Also, by taking the mission God is giving her, means she needs to travel and gather those powers which is harder and dangerous than getting out of the institute. So 24 is torn between taking the mission or not.

"I am not sure whether to take it or not God", says 24.

"Why not? Are you worried for your teammates outside?" asked God.

"Well, we've been together for how long I don't know so I value them and obviously wanted to escape the clutches of those people. Taking this mission means me and the people I care about will be in danger", said 24 in a serious tone.

"I understand. I am not going to push myself to you my child. I only ask for you to think about this once more", said God in a calm tone. God is worried for he/she already wasted many million of years waiting to be set free from her prison made by her son. Of course God is not worried of her leaving some of the jobs towards his/her secretary when it comes to universe management but God is betting bored of doing nothing.

"Is there another route me and my comrades can take to get away from this island?", asked 24.

"Huh? Ah! Yes my dear child. If you want I can give you the instructions and the location of where you can safely escape from this island including your pursuers", said God. He/she also felt pity for the dear child standing in front of him/her. Even though God is trapped, it does not lessen her abilities to see ones own life. God could see that the child is desperate to get out of this place and start a new life after shutting the institute down. Such compassionate and determination he/she could see from the child so young to be used as subjects for war.

"If what you said is true, then I will take the mission", said 24 full of determination and resolve.

God was pleased from 24's answer and the red glowing sphere started to light and covered 24's body. 24 could tell that she is getting stronger and her mana pool reserves is also getting larger. After a while, the light died down and the red glowing sphere already lost its color indicating that the power it holds where now transferred to the 24.

"I already enhanced your mana foundation and knowledge that you need to know after getting out of this mess. I suggest that you find a new body to dwell and house your soul to prevent your already weak body from breaking. I would say 2 weeks from now before your body breaks down. Also I already implanted the location and direction of the route you are going to take to escape from this island in your brain. I will use the remaining power I have left to give you kids the time to escape. Goodluck on your journey my child", said God and the door of the room opens leading outside.

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Kapitel 5: Chapter 5

Back at the temple, 24 goes out of the door and found her comrades in a room while sleeping. She immediately went and look outside the window to check if everything is fine. When she saw that it is still in a peace order, she heaved a sigh and sat down the unoccupied chair beside her.

"Whew, I thought I heard some engine noises back there", 24 said. Then the door burst open and roared loudly waking up the sleeping children.

"Wha-WHAT HAPPENED?!", shouted 30 who jumped up from the sofa and is already in a battle stance. 6, clearly who was still not fully awake, used his water slasher towards the being in front of the doorway. 7 and 18 just sat on the bed feeling sleepy and yawning.

"Stop!", 24 shouted and went in front of the doorway carrying a lantern to see who roared the roots of them.

She then saw a 2-meter-tall stone golem standing by the door. Its piercing green eyes looked at her like it know who she is and its purpose. With a deep voice, the stone golem kneeled in front of her as a sign of respecting the guest.

"Master told me to escort you all out of here", said the golem.

"Why the haste?", asked 24.

"Because people in armored suit went inside the temple's premises as soon as the barrier is down. They are currently being pushed back by the beast and status outside to give you all more time to escape", said the golem in a hurried voice.

After hearing what the stone golem had said, the five children all stood up and prepare themselves to run for escape. "Lead the way then", said 24 gaining a nod from the stone golem and they started to run towards the escape route.

Meanwhile outside the temple, a fight broke out as soon as the translucent barrier went down. Magical beast keep pouring in, stopping them from advancing towards the temple. Many knights were killed and some of the lucky ones were immobilized preventing them from walking. Uncle is furious of their situation.

At first they only want to explore the said island after its discovery. Knowing that this is a part of the lost kingdom, they have sent in the test subjects for two purposes: First, is to let them train in the said island and to get them stronger for their further experiments before the said time of delivery towards the Crown Prince. Second, is to explore the island by using the drones under the pretext of monitoring the subjects for further investigation of the hidden treasures of the lost kingdom as well as to assess the beasts in the island before the approval of expedition on the discovered island. Everything is going in their way. Until the subjects went inside the collapsed temple.

Frustrated from his attempts from invading the temple, he swung his sword and threw his daggers towards the beasts killing them instantly. Being a warrior mage helped him enhance his muscles and increase each pressure from his slashes from the tortoise beast in front of him killing it. It maybe an easy task on him but not on his troops. Monsters in this island was not only smart but also strong with the level 3 being the lowest stage of monster present to 6 stage level beasts. In addition, the reinforcements will be in the island in t-minus 5 minutes because of the distance. So he and his troops were in a disadvantage in the current situation.

"Collins!", yelled Uncle.

"Yes Boss!"

"Track the subjects' tracker right now!!!", Uncle roared his orders from the noisy battlefield.

"Yes sir!", said Collins and retreated from the front lines to the back to access the tracker in the subjects bodies. While Uncle ordered the knights and mages to form a defensive line while defending their positions. "Boss, we got a problem!", yelled Collins.

"What is it? Have you tracked them already?", asked Uncle.

"Yes sir. They seem to be in the center point of the temple just in front of the entrance doors!", shouted Collins.

"Well fuck that! How the hell are we going in there?"

"Sir! the reinforcements have arrived!", yelled one of the knights. Then a huge explosion came from the back lines of the beasts, scattering their formation of blocking the intruders from entering the temple. The knights in the front run towards the temple's doors. Right now they need to secure the subjects before they can escape. After all, it is hard to find talented ones among the subjects they've kidnapped. Also, the wrath of the Crown Prince is something they cannot afford.

'I will send them to 'vacation' after I got them back!', thought Uncle as he run fast forward in the lead. As they neared the temple's doors the children was already in the underground passage of the temple. The tunnel leads to the waterways through the ocean. Everyone's thoughts were filled with happiness as the hope of escaping the institute's clutches will set them free. As the children runs towards the said location, the stone golem suddenly stopped from its tracks.

"Run straight, then go upstairs. From there you will find a gray key hanging in one of the hangers. Press the blue circle in it to deactivate the invisible cover of the submarine. After that, get inside of the submarine and insert the key located at the side of the steering wheel. Then, insert this drive in the center of the wheel and enter the codes '7768'. It will activate the auto drive and get you out from here. I will stay behind to give you more time and delay the intruders from catching you again", said the golem. The children nodded on the golem's statement and went ahead. Before 24 can go, the golem hold her right hand and gave her a red box with the logo of the Nichmize in the center.

"Master said to give this to you. It contains all the assets of Nichmize Empire except from the lands", explained the golem.

"The lands?",asked 24.

"Yes. Because the entire Nichmize Empire is currently submerged from the waters deep down below. Master said that after you gather the powers, come back here to restore the once lost great Nichmize Empire. And the master also said that, if you want to communicate with him/her you must go inside of the temples which human have built. Any temple or church. Master will always listen. Now go! My job is to delay them until you all go out of here", said the golem. 24 nodded and went to catch on to her comrades who are currently going upstairs to find the gray key. While the golem started to run back from where they went from and destroyed the pillars that supported the bridge that links from the waterways where the children are and the passage they took to get there. After ensuring that the path was blocked, the golem went ahead to delay the intruders who are currently inside of the temple's halls.

While the children are finding the keys, Uncle and his army is already inside of the temple where the tracker points the subject's location is. But to his disappointment, There are no presence of the subjects. The ones who welcomed them are the angry statues of different saints and sculptures inside the temple. Collins then saw the small black circle blinking dot trackers in the middle of the hall that separates the army and the statues. "Sir the trackers were removed from the subjects", yelled Collins as soon as he saw the dot trackers.

"They sure know how to get on my nerves", said the Uncle in a deathly tone. "Attention idiots! obliterate this stone freaks and find the subjects at once! I want them dead or alive", ordered Uncle. Then the knights went ahead to the front while the mages supported them.

While the fight broke out between the army, the children found the key and pressed them to see the black colored submarine. The submarine is 560 feet long, with fine blue lights flowing in the outline of the ship. The top of the submarine opened that woke up the children from their trance of awe and climb the submarine. 30 who was the first to go inside the submarine felt amaze because of the interior of the ship. 7 slapped his back and get the key and the drive from his hands and went ahead to find the control room.

In the control room 7 sat on the driver's seat and insert the key to its position and the drive. Suddenly the control room lit up and the assessment starts scanning its entire body from any abnormalities. After the scan was done, the front of the submarine opened to reveal a transparent see-through glass for the crews to see. After all of them is inside of the ship and sat from their respective seats, the submarine started to submerge itself to the water. Moving downwards, they all could see that there is a pathway that lit up and the submarine started to move forward as if it is launching towards the exit at a fast pace. The children all grabbed at their armrest on their seats and gritted their teeth.

A few moments later they were already out of the tunnel and the submarine went on its destination. The passengers inside celebrated from escaping the island and the institute who wants to get them back. For once in their lifetime, the freedom that they wanted so much was already given to them. Now the next problem would be surviving and earning in the community to achieve true freedom. 24 opened the box and wore the golden ring with a piece of jewel in the center in her middle finger. She puts some of her mana inside the ring only to find out that the ring was not an ordinary ones, but a storage ring with unlimited space and mountains of mountains of resources inside. From money to artifacts to clothes. Surely God provided some funds for her journey to complete her mission. Upon seeing what's inside, 24 smiled and look in front of her enjoying the beautiful view of the ocean setting aside all of her worries and the mission for the moment to indulge in the satisfaction of being free from the institutes' hands.

Back in the temple, all the statues were destroyed while the troops is on the search for the missing subjects that already escaped from their grasp. The stone golem that guided the children earlier were on the floor with its body and head destroyed and scattered in pieces. It's glowing green eyes were now turned black. The search squad that was assigned to go and find the subjects came back empty handed after 5 hours of searching and tracking their tracks. The only place the found with their tracks left behind was the second floor third room of the temple where the subjects used to rest. After that, there was nothing they could find.

Because of this, Uncle went on a rampage for an hour before calming himself down. The troops that was sent in the island went back to the institute together with Uncle, Collins and others involve in the incident. After that a meeting was called in the conference hall where five elders wearing a heavy black and dark violet cloak was seated in each designated throne-like seats. Facing the elders were the Uncle, Collins and other 6 members with them that is responsible for looking after the escaped subjects. They all kneeled in front of the elders who are not happy.

"All of you have failed to contain the subjects no. 6, 7,18, 24 and 30. Did you know how angry the Crown Prince is?", angrily said First Elder.

"Those subjects were heavily invested by the institute, aristocrat faction and the Crown Prince himself! Now what are we going to say if this incident were to reach their ears huh?! Do you even know what are they going to do after learning this? You imbeciles! You all good-for-nothing insects!", shouted elder 4.

"Now now, calm down Fourth Elder. There's nothing we could do but to find new subjects to replace them. We have no choice but to accept the wrath incurred from the nobles and that puny prince", said Third Elder.

"Easy for you to say Third Elder. It will be hard to find the replacements ever since the banning of slavery was lifted. Our employees were having a hard time finding and importing slaves that meets the criteria for the elite squad which that puny prince requested us", said the Second Elder staring at Third Elder.

"Since our movements have been reduced the funds was wasted into nothing. I think a punishment sounds pleasing for this event. What do you think Fifth Elder?", ask Second Elder facing the said elder. While the rest of the council elder members stared towards the organization's boss.

"I think these lower shits must replace them don't you think?"said the grinning First Elder. The people in front of the elders who are in a kneeling position shudder from the mere thought of them going to same thing that their subjects went.

"Leave Professor Uncle behind. His brain still have a use, while the rest will be going for the reprograming and replace the lost. Put someone in charge of the operations while put Uncle in second in command. Don't you dare bring us another failure Uncle", said Fifth Elder after threatening Uncle who just lowered his head and said, "Yes Elder, I will assure you all of this not ever happening again", said Uncle. Collins and the rest lost the color of their faces after the said orders.

Then the soldiers went inside of the hall cuffing and dragging the seven people who are begging for their lives out of the hall, while Uncle is still kneeling. He gritted his teeth and clenching his fist because of anger towards the escaped children and his first failure since entering the institute.

"You may stand and go your way Professor. Remember another failure and your head will be displayed in the plaza got it?", said the First Elder.

"Yes sir!", said Uncle before going out of the hall with clear rage in his eyes.