章 28: 5.4 Back Down

"I thought you were in the service of one of the Primzahl?" another piped in, hammer in her hands as she looked at me confused. "And where's little Lise?"

I glanced to my side towards Lise. With a nod, she joined me by my side, her sword still at the ready.

"Blood.." the man noticed, probably having seen the stain on my shirt. "What happened?"

Great. What do I tell them? That I killed a member of the Primzahl Dreizehn somehow? That was laughably-

"We killed Dame Aria, the Blutmond."

What...

*Clang!*

A resounding echo reverberated through my chest as the hammer that the woman was holding hit the metallic ground below. Beside her, the man looked at us with wary, his eyes judging us as if we were speaking a lie.

"We killed Dame Aria, the Blutmond!" Beside me, Lise repeated her statement as if it were fact. "We escaped from the Emperor's Dezimals above, and now we're here."

I was taken aback by the sudden stares that added to the two in front of me, my sister's exclamation gathering a small crowd from the upper levels of the Furnace. Woah there, Lise. When did she get this much charisma?

"Is this true?" the woman asked as she slowly walked near us, her modesty thrown to the wind as tears started to form in her eyes. "Is Aria dead?"

"Yes," I said as I fought to keep the bittersweet smile from forming on my face. "I killed her."

It might've been a cathartic experience, but she still murdered my father in cold blood, even laughing maniacally as she did the deed. I didn't know why she offered herself to me, but I won't take a gift horse in the mouth.

I had killed one of my parents' killers.

"Oh! Thank you!" the woman burst into tears, crying as she hugged me with all of her strength. "Thank you!"

"Your... welcome?"

I didn't know what I did to garner this much affection, but I'll take it nonetheless. I returned her hug, rubbing her sweaty back covered in dirt and grime as she cried on my shoulders. Beside me, Lise looked at me with the same look that she flashed me whenever I taught her something new, her smile as radiant as it was just over a year ago in this very place.

Still, this wasn't the time to feel happy and content. We were still being hunted by the Dezimals above.

"Where are the elders?" I asked the man that was in front of us.

"They're still at the same place," he responded, thumbing towards the heart of the Furnace. "Whatever it was you did to kill the bvtch, you can tell us later."

"Thank you."

The built man flashed us a knowing smirk. "I know you have something in mind. If the rumors about you are true, then I just hope that we get an in on it, okay?"

I tried to keep the uncertainty that I was feeling from showing up in my face as I blankly nodded towards the man. I still didn't know what to do beyond trying to ride out the storm above and trying to escape again, but if there was one thing that could be expected here in the Furnace, it's that we Nenners always looked out for each other. The elders, in particular, were awfully fond of who they considered newbies such as ourselves.

"Rouge, was it?" the woman asked, tears still staining her cheeks as she finally let go of me. "I'll be forever in your debt."

"I still don't know why, but-"

To my surprise, the woman suddenly gave me a peck on my cheek.

"Whu- whu-"

"Name's Emeraud," the woman smiled at me with the same kind of radiant energy of a typical energetic gal. "If you want something made, I'll do everything in my power to make it work."

"O-O-Okay..." I stuttered in true teenaged fashion. "Th-Thanks, Emeraud.." The hormones, oh god. Stop ravaging my body!

I shakily looked towards Lise to make sure that she was still behind me, noticing that she sported a small pout on her lips for but a brief second before shifting back to her usual pure smile. My sister stood at the ready, waiting for my next move.

"Let's go, Lise."

And with that, we made our way towards where the elders were supposed to be. All the while, my mind whirred as to what in the world we were supposed to do to get out of this place. I glanced back down to my katana, noting its distinct lack of sharpness and lower-than-my-average quality. I was like this sword; so much potential, but languishing in mediocrity for so long that I took pride in it...

No, focus... We still needed to get to our shvt together enough to survive. I just hope the elders would accommodate someone with as much heat on their heads as us two.

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As we moved deeper and deeper into the center of the Furnace, the heat intensified to the point of almost smothering the air around us. Behind me, Lise panted as the heat made it unbearable to even breathe. As for me...

I found it strangely comforting.

Don't get me wrong, I was still sweating bullets, but the fires of the Furnace offered a weird sense of familiarity; the warmth diffusing into my very core for some reason. A strange development since I've hated the disgusting warmth of the summer season for as long as I could remember.

"Brother..." Lise breathed out as she trailed behind me. "Are we there yet?"

Straining my eyes, the only thing I managed to see beyond the squiggly vapors of the heat were the blurry images of metal, kilns, and a whole lot of bright orange.

"I think we're almost there," I said as I the scenery around us failed to ring any bells in my memory. "Just hold on, okay?"

"O...kay..."

I wiped the non-existent sweat off my brow as we moved in deeper, crossing another chasm filled with molten metal as I spotted some sort of cool spot amongst the sea of hot orange. How in the world were these elders able to live here, much less even greet us when we first got here in the Furnace ages ago?

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