Bab 38: Incongruity of Dove and Crow
On a beautifully star lit night, one would find themselves mesmerized by the trillions of stars that painted the night sky above. They made what was nothing more than a jet black canvas come to life with only small specks of light that seemed, from afar, to be no bigger than flies. The scene was so delightful that it'd be difficult to not just lie down then and there and bask in the calming sensation of nature's beauty, and it just so happened that one young lady did just that, as she stood alone atop the balcony of her mansion.
With hair and eyes as white as snow and a face that seemed to be perfectly sculpted by the gods and goddesses themselves, this woman seemed to be an angel descended from heaven. She had magnificently flawless skin that seemed as soft as cotton and possessed an air of nobility that would make almost anyone in her company want to kneel before her. And even as she stood there doing completely nothing, one would be hard pressed to not be enraptured by the young girl's breathtaking elegance. This young maiden was a picture perfect representation of what every girl her age should aspire to be, and her beauty could even be compared to that of the midnight sky above. In fact, said sky could only serve as a backdrop for the young woman and accentuate her own beauty even further.
As the young lady continued to stand atop the balcony with her palm pressed under her chin with a bored expression on her face, a slightly older looking woman appeared from the door behind her.
The woman shared in the young beauty's hair and eye color and didn't lose out to her in looks either. In fact, instead of being less beautiful than the young girl before her, she possessed her own alluring charm that would have men like Tom completely forget about the so called 'loves of their lives' in chase of the seductress here right now.
The woman was dressed in an attire that seemed to be a mix between a maid and a bartender's outfit. The dress she wore reached all the way down to her thighs and only showed off a tiny bit of the snow white skin beside her ankles and wrists which helped heighten the aura of purity that seemed to radiate from her. Said dress also had a collar with tiny black buttons that reached from her collar and all the way down to her stomach with what seemed to resemble a black spaghetti strapped vest on top to add a touch of darkness to the otherwise mostly white attire. And finally, to finish off her unique look was a medium sized black ribbon that wrapped around her waist seemingly tempting any who saw to unwrap the gift hidden behind.
The woman could truly be considered a gift to any man that got the chance to lay eyes upon her. Though her outfit left little exposed, any man to witness such a site would immediately try to unwrap the black and white present in front of them if given the chance.
Of course, this was only possible if the beauty deemed it so. After all, every rose possessed thorns.
"Mia, you should come back inside. I'd hate for you to catch a cold out here due to you throwing a tantrum," the beautiful woman spoke.
Mia, the younger beauty, turned towards the woman behind here with a neutral look on her face. It seemed she hardly reacted to her 'maid's' teasing as she stared at her with empty eyes and a slightly less bored expression. However, the 'maid' could tell Mia was actually quite ticked off at her earlier remark judging by the young woman's current expression.
If anyone else were to look at Mia, they probably wouldn't notice any difference and just assume she ignored the comments, but the young beauty's following actions would have made them second guess what happened next.
The young woman uttered an indiscernible incantation under her breath which caused the maid's eyebrow to raise ever so slightly.
Mia immediately disappeared from where she stood with only small orbs of white mana being left behind as she appeared right next to the maid who'd teased her earlier. As she did so, she leaped just high enough into the hair to deliver a jumping roundhouse kick to the side of the woman's face. Surprisingly though, the woman hadn't moved a single muscle aside from her raising her eyebrows earlier.
In the next moment, the woman let out a breath and spoke an incantation of her own as well.
"...Ha...Holy Barrier."
Right as Mia's kick was about to reach the woman's face a perfectly square and white barrier manifested to the side of the woman's face where the kick was going to land. Right after the spell manifested, the front of Mia's foot connected with the barrier but not even a ripple of air reached the maid as Mia landed back on her feet with her beautiful white gown dropping just as swiftly as to not allow any of what beneath to be revealed.
"Tch."
"Are you done now? If so, please come back inside. You know I'll have to be the one to nurse you back to health if you catch a cold, so do your big sister a favor and come inside peacefully okay?"
The woman spoke as if she were asking a question but with her eyes closed and the smile not even reaching her ears, one would be a fool if they thought this was a request rather than a command.
"Some big sis you are Skyler," Mia scoffed at her sister's clearly authoritative tone. "What kind of older sister bullies her own family?"
To this, Skyler replied just as quickly, and her previous tone of voice vanished completely and was replaced with that of a hurt older sister.
"And what kind of younger sister tries to take their sister's head off after only inquiring about her younger sister to come inside so she doesn't catch a cold?"
Mia was used to her sister's coy behavior. Even though it was her who came outside and provoked Mia by saying she threw a tantrum like some petulant child, Mia couldn't be bothered to play word games with Skyler. She knew that she wouldn't win a war of words against this cunning woman, so she cut her losses short and entered inside without speaking another word.
Meanwhile, Skyler didn't immediately follow her sister in and instead took a look at the spell she casted earlier to defend herself from Mia's previous attack. As she observed the spell, she noticed the tiniest of cracks appear in its foundation and to this, she could only shake her head.
The world was truly unfair. What kind of monster would her sister be once she became a ranker as well?
'Her speed of speaking incantations has become nearly flawless and had I not been paying attention she may have caught me off guard.'
This didn't even include those other brats from the other notable noble families who were equally on par with her younger sister and were experts in other aspects of mage arts. She started to wonder just how long it would take for this generation of mages to catch up, or even surpass herself. Though, she needn't worry too much, seeing as though she wasn't that old yet either. After all, she only was separated from Mia by seven years of age, so she had plenty of room left to grow as well.
'Still, these kids possess so much raw talent and potential. I guess I better stop slacking off so much or I'll be left behind.'
If Mia could hear her sister's thoughts maybe even her aloof and silent expression would vanish and be replaced by one of shock and confusion. Only she truly knew just how much her sister trained and how hard she worked to attain the power she currently had. If she called that slacking off, then what would that make her other lazy and slightly more talented family members. Wouldn't their training not even be considered a warm up for Skyler?
Skyler's thoughts began to drift further and further away as she suddenly also started to feel sorry for the poor man that would have this demoness of a sister as a wife. She decided to speak a silent prayer for the unlucky man before finally heading inside to follow her sister.
***
Back in a place that was far less peaceful and jovial, a boy was running for his life as he was chased by a group of men wanting nothing more than to rip him limb from limb.
The boy's robes were burned in some places and now revealed his entire right arm, as the part of the robe that covered that portion of his body was now entirely burned off. Including the burned up portion of the robe, his right arm was also slightly singed in some places and the injury seemed to be blistering in some areas with the skin being deep red in color as to illustrate just how severe the burns actually were.
The boy running for his life with such serious injuries was of course Marcus, and he was quickly starting to grow tired due to all the accumulated injuries and fatigue.
It was only a matter of time before his pursuers caught up to him, and forced him into combat, and with his condition, that wasn't an option. The best he could hope for was that the bounty hunters decided to fight each other for his head but by that time he'd already be dead and not able to capitalize on such a situation.
As he continued to run forward, he took a glance at the stars above. It was unknown to him whether or not said stars would be the last thing he saw since he didn't see any way out of the predicament he currently found himself in.
Just maybe, the grey world he now found himself in would be the final sight he'd ever lay eyes upon.
It would truly be a shame if the last sight he was allowed to see was only a world of grey.
Hadiah
-- Hadiah diterima Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone