章 9: Episode 9

Eireen took a deep breath and slowly sat back down, feeling her anger dissipate slightly. "I hate to admit it, but you're right," she conceded. "What are you going to do then?"

"That's exactly why I called you here," Eigeel said, turning serious. "We will handle this situation as best we can, with or without Silver. And I think that it's time for you to take charge outside of the Castle walls, little sister."

"Me?"

Eireen was about to decline her brother's request when suddenly, panicked voices and the sound of running outside Eigeel's study interrupted her.

"What's going on?" Eigeel asked.

An urgent knock followed.

"Come in."

A gasping maid hurriedly entered, a panicked expression on her face. "The Queen-" she stammered. "The Queen... she-"

"What's wrong, Penny? What happened to the queen?"

"She's not in her room, my Lord, my Lady, We came to help her majesty get ready for the meeting, but when we arrive, she was no where to be found."

Eireen was about to question the maid even further, but Eigeel teleported himself to Scarlet's room before she could say anything more.

It was inappropriate to break palace rules, but a sense of dread had overcame his chest, and he was willing to disregard the rules, just this once, only to ensure the Queen's safety.

"Eigeel!" Knowing where her brother had gone, Eireen followed him immediately.

Eigeel arrived at the royal chambers first, and Eireen was right behind him. Then they searched the room, but Scarlet was nowhere to be found.

Eigeel's heart pounded with fear as he realized the gravity of the situation. "This is not good."

A shadow emerged behind Eigeel, and a man dressed in black with two swords crossed behind his back appeared. Sensing the man's presence, Eigeel didn't bother turning around and asked, "Where is she?"

The man in black was Scarlet's shadow guard, Talon, who was also a member of the Scarlet Order.

Talon felt the suppressed anger from Eigeel's posture, but he forced himself to stay calm amidst his fear and answered Eigeel's question.

"I have been searching for her Majesty when I felt her presence disappear. I regret to report that I still do not know her whereabouts."

"When did this happen?"

"A while ago."

Eigeel felt like breaking Talon's neck and shouted, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Talon went down on his knees and bowed his head to the floor. "I have no excuse for my mistake, Lord Eigeel. I have committed a grave sin. Please punish me on behalf of her Majesty."

Although Eigeel's eyes burned with rage, he didn't punish Talon. Only the Queen had the right to punish him, as he was her personal guard. Eigeel turned his head away in anger.

"The Queen just woke up from her sleep. Her powers have not recovered yet, and she cannot protect herself in her current state. We must find her as soon as possible. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"I will burn you at the stake if we lose her."

Talon didn't reply, but fear crept inside his chest at Eigeel's threatening words.

While the two were talking, Eireen performed her tracking spell and looked at her brother with concern. "I can't find her. She didn't bring any of my tracking beads with her."

Of course, Scarlet didn't bring them with her. She didn't plan to be away for long so she didn't consider bringing Eireen's tracking beads.

Eigeel cursed under his breath. Without his sister's tracking beads it will take them longer to find the queen.

"Let me try something." Eigeel said then waved his hand in the air, and golden dust came out of his hands, spreading throughout the room. He closed his eyes and concentrated. The dust started to move and slowly formed a silhouette of a girl standing in front of a portal. The golden silhouette was Scarlet, and it reenacted what had happened inside the room until the golden-dust-girl got sucked into the portal herself.

Watching the dust portray what happened, "No…" Eireen gasped. "Don't tell me she got transported into a different dimension?"

Hearing his sister's words, Eigeel's eyes snapped open, and the dust returned to his hands. The Scarlet Order didn't know about Scarlet's ability to summon a portal towards a Dimensional Storage Room. And seeing their queen walking into a portal scared them because they don't know where she went.

"I'm going after her," Eigeel declared. He didn't know where to start his search, but he knew that time was of the essence and the longer she remained missing, the worse the situation would become.

Eireen spoke up, her voice tinged with concern. "Wait, Brother, let me come with you."

Eigeel nodded, acknowledging her request. He then called out, "Katerina!"

From the shadows, a maid appeared, kneeling solemnly on the floor. Katerina bowed respectfully to the members of the order present in the room.

"You called for me, My Lord?" she inquired.

"Yes. Bring the others here. Tell them the Queen is missing," Eigeel commanded.

"Understood," Katerina replied, and then disappeared as quickly as she had appeared before them.

Eigeel turned to face Talon, who was still kneeling on the ground, awaiting his punishment. The anger inside Eigeel had not dissipated, but he knew that the priority was to find the queen. "After we save her Majesty, your punishment will follow," he declared sternly.

***

The power surge emanating from the mysterious caves that Scarlet caused had reached other realms, causing an uproar among their leaders and powerful beings who sensed it. Though faint and almost undetectable, it was a one-in-a-million occurrence that signaled the awakening of an unbelievably strong entity, one with malicious intent.

The evil nature of the power surge was clear to all who felt it, and it was palpable that something big was on the horizon.

No one knew when or where this monstrous being would emerge, but one thing was certain - its arrival would bring nothing but chaos and destruction to the realms.

***

"Why isn't this working anymore." Scarlet groaned as she repeatedly slashed the air with the magical dagger. She didn't know how long she's been slashing the air like a mad child trying to replicate what she had done inside the Dimensional Storage Room, but it's been a while now.

What's more, her magic wouldn't come out no matter how hard she tried, and without it, she couldn't activate the dagger, cut through space and time, and return to Gehenna.

"Can I only use my magic when I'm inside the Dimensional Storage Room? Or is this like, a one time deal only? I don't get it." She pouted her small, pink lips, muttering under her breath.

After accidentally freeing the devilishly handsome man from his chains, Scarlet waited for him to awaken, but he remained in a deep sleep even after half an hour. Yes, she counted. Scarlet tried to cast the spell that brought her to the mysterious cave too, but her attempts had failed more than she could count.

With a final frustrated growl, Scarlet abandoned her attempts to leave the cave using the magic dagger. It seemed that she had lost her magic, and there was no point in forcing it to work, so she gave up.

She made her way back to the altar, where the man lay sleeping. Climbing up beside him, she sat down and studied the walls of the cave. Without her magic, there was little else to do.

"You know, I used to sleep a lot too," Scarlet suddenly said, suddenly opening a conversation with the unconscious man. "It lasted almost for 500 years— Well, it wasn't really me. It was this body that slept for 500 years."

"To be honest, I'm not from here," she continued, speaking more to herself than to the man. "I had a life once, you know, in a different world. It wasn't fulfilling, but at least I wasn't homeless or hungry."

"I didn't finish school either. I stopped after high school. I didn't see the point in continuing my studies when I was the only one providing for myself. No parents, no siblings. Typical backstory for an orphan like me."

Scarlet laughed to herself. "Why am I telling you this, anyway?" She asked, sighing. She wasn't really talking to anybody else, just herself.

"Honestly, I don't know the answer to that..." she said, "Maybe because you're asleep," she laughed, shaking her head. "Yeah, I think that's the reason. You won't remember any of this when you wake up, so maybe that's why I'm telling you some of my secrets."

Scarlet chuckled to herself, still uncertain why she was talking to a sleeping man. She sighed, "Well, it feels better to talk to someone than being alone..."

The cave remained quiet, and the deafening silence began to make her feel drowsy. She yawned, feeling exhausted after all the commotion she had caused while trying to activate the dagger. Using her magic must have drained her. Now, all she wanted was to lie down and fall asleep.

Suddenly, her stomach growled.

Right, she hadn't eaten anything yet. She should have grabbed a bite at the palace before venturing into the Dimensional Storage Room.

Would Eigeel and Eireen be able to find her in this place? They didn't know where she had gone, so they must be struggling to locate her.

Scarlet slowly lay down beside the unconscious man, her eyelids heavy as she fought to stay awake.

Moments later, Scarlet finally succumbed to the warm embrace of sleep. Unaware, she failed to notice a glowing red string of magic extending from the hand of the unconscious man, snaking toward her wrist. Acting on its own, the red string wrapped around her arm before vanishing, leaving no trace of its presence.