章 72: Other Elders

Elder Eudo and his group decisively cut through the streets, hopping from alley to alley, until they eventually came to the edge of the cavern. As he followed them, Emile admired the wall of ice that towered up over him.

This was the furthest Emile's been in Rising Tide, the outer ring. Looking around, Emile could tell that it was used for storage.

Gigantic square buildings all sat neatly next to each other, each one an identical replica of the building next to it. Elder Eudo walked into one of the alleyways between storage facilities and knocked four times on a heavy stone door.

Suddenly, a hatch in the door slid open and a pair of eyes looked over Eudo.

"Glory and gore—" the pair of eyes said.

"Go hand in hand." Eudo finished.

Immediately the latch slammed shut and different clicks rang out as the door was unlocked. Then, Elder Eudo and his group entered the building and the door closed once more.

'What are they doing in there?'

'Are the other Elders in there?'

'I need to get closer'

Emile hugged the walls of buildings as he made his way towards the storage facility. He stopped just outside of the reinforced door and pushed his ear against it.

"You truly do disgust me!" A woman's venomous tongue spat.

"Oh please—you just wish you could be chained up like this!" Emile recognized Elder Eudo's voice.

"We've been here barely two days and you've given away how many of our people? Seven? Eight? We need to be sticking together right now!" The woman raised her voice.

"Given away?" Eudo replied, "I did not give away anyone. I sold them for the sake of our people! It was to get on their good side! Soften them up!" Eudo argued.

"I am sick of your lying!" The woman roared, "Even before we came here, girls under you randomly disappeared! You are a scourge to our people!"

"Tch—" Eudo snapped his tongue, "So you knew about that?"

An awkward silence permeated in the room for a couple seconds causing Emile to grow tense, but Eudo finally continued:

"Who cares if you knew! I'm free to do whatever to my people! I earned this seat as Elder! It's about damn time you respected me as one!" Eudo fired back.

"Earned?!" Emile could hear this mysterious woman's blood pressure rise every time she spoke, "You despicable, puny, vile, insignificant—"

"Willow." A deep voice instantly penetrated the palpable tension, ending the woman's verbal attack in the making.

"How can you defend him?!" The woman, presumably Willow, asked in outrage.

"I am not defending his actions, I am merely stopping your uncouth tongue." When the deep voice spoke it was like the world listened, every other noise Emile could hear prior vanished and the man's voice was all he could focus on.

"Now Elder Eudo—would you please inform us of your recent activities?" The deep voice asked.

Although Emile could not see into the room, he could picture a snicker escaping from Eudo's lips as he prepared to speak.

"Of course, Elder Zegris. On our journey here—" Elder Eudo started to recite his plan.

"If you move you die." A girl's voice whispered behind Emile's ear.

Emile opened his mouth to say something, but the instant he moved a muscle he felt something cold push against his neck.

"You caught me! Okay! Okay!" Emile sped through calming words one after another until he felt the pressure on his neck subside.

"Open the door! Elder Eudo was tailed!" The girl yelled.

The hatch slid open revealing the familiar pair of eyes Emile saw earlier. After seeing Emile, blade to his throat, knees bent and leaned back in an uncomfortable position, and the girl holding the blade, the pair of eyes slid the hatch closed and opened the door.

The girl aggressively shoved Emile into the storage facility and then kicked the back of his knees, folding his body like a napkin until he fell to the floor.

Just in front of him, three people turned their heads and stared at their unwelcome guest. Besides Elder Eudo, there was also a mountain of a woman and a gray haired, tall man.

The woman, Willow, looked at Emile with calm and curious eyes. A certain glint in them communicated with Emile that she was much more interested in his sudden appearance than disturbed by it.

She had fiery red hair with an endless sea of freckles that soaked her fair skin. Dressed in a tight red dress, she towered over Eudo; her muscles alone were the size of Eudo's head.

Across from her, sat down on a pallet of boxes, was the older man. He had long gray hair that was straightened past his shoulders and a black soul patch rested beneath his lip.

He too threw an odd gaze at Emile: surprise, curiosity, excitement, it seemed more like the older man was just happy something entertaining was about to happen.

And lastly there was of course Eudo who stared at Emile so intensely one could believe his Gift had something to do with his vision. Between his long wavy hair and perfectly tidy appearance, he was most certainly the most bothered by Emile's presence.

"Why were you following Elder Eudo?" Elder Willow was the first to address him.

'I'm dead'

'This is it'

'What do I even say?!'

"Speak child!" Elder Willow demanded.

"I was lost!" Emile decided to gamble his luck and try to find a way out.

"That's a lie." A fourth, unknown male voice immediately retorted from behind Emile.

The moment Emile heard those words he simultaneously watched Willow's face twist into disgust.

"Lying will get you nowhere here child! Now why were you following this man!" She pointed to Eudo who was still clenching his fists in anger, or perhaps shame, Emile had no idea.

Emile knew he was running out of time and with a lie detector present in the room, any and all hope of success had already died and was buried in Emile's chest.

Reluctantly, he looked Willow in the eyes and told her the truth:

"I'm here to kill him."

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