Descendants of the Gods

Chapter 23: Unraveled Mystery

RIVER ACKLEY'S Point of View

Nang humupa ang mga sigawan ay hindi na ako nakagalaw nang mas lalong magkagulo ang paligid.

Nakatulala lang ako sa harapan. I don't know what to think. There is suddenly a tangled ball of words in my mind that I can't unravel.

I have been into countless battles. Hindi ko na mabilang kung ilang beses na akong nakakita at natalsikan ng dugo. I barely bat an eye when someone's life is taken in front of me.

Pero iba ito, dahil hindi ko inaasahan.

I'm not in the middle of a war or a battlefield. Kaya bakit may biglang namatay?

The queen... The queen of the Amazons is dead.

How could this happen? Why did it end up like this?

No one saw this coming.

Finally, someone decides to move and process what just happened. Nakita kong tumakbo si Nephele at si Elresa patungo sa reyna. Wala siya kanina pero dahil sa mga sigawan, nagpunta siya rito.

"The queen!" Sigaw ng isang tagapagsilbi at nag-panic muli ang lahat.

I look at everyone. Lahat sila ay hindi malaman ang gagawin habang tumatakbo ang ilan paalis ng kwarto. Some are busy trying to aid those who ran to check on the queen and to call for help.

Most are angry, demanding who would dare to commit a crime in their lands. They turn to savages as they hunt down who killed their queen.

Hindi nagtagal ay bumalik na rin ako sa katinuan nang may tumapik sa balikat ko.

"River! Come on!" Sigaw sa akin ni Abigail nang sulyapan niya ako. She runs toward the queen kaya napasunod na rin ako.

London and Reinn follows. Agad naming narating ang trono kaya mas lalo kong nakita ang bangkay ng reyna nang malapitan.

I hear footsteps getting nearer behind us. Lahat sila ay busy sa pagtingin sa kalagayan ng reyna kaya ako lang ang napalingon sa likod.

Nakita ko si Kasdeya. She's looking at us with amusement in her eyes as she examine us and the corpse in front of the crowd.

Natigilan ako. Her eyes looks so hollow, even in situations like this. Despite having almost the brightest eyes I have ever seen, halos wala kang makitang buhay dito. Like a dead star.

Ganito ang ekspresyon niya kahit na may literal na bangkay sa harapan namin. Kinikilabutan ako sa kanya.

She tilts her head to the side. "Anong ginagawa ninyo?"

Nephele stops in her tracks before looking at her with a distrubed expression. "We're trying to check the queen's conditions. Hindi natin alam kung ano o paano ito nangyari... Kailangan nating tingnan ang nangyari sa katawan niya." Sagot nito.

The side of Kasdeya's lips twitches upward before she lets out a sneer. "If I were you, I'd stop."

"Huh?" Hindi ko na maiwasang mag-react. For some reason, there's this feeling of unease creeping into my chest. Nakakapagtaka ang kinikilos ni Kas.

She always acted weird to me. Siya yung tipong maraming nalalaman pero hindi siya kumikibo. Either she enjoys seeing our reactions or she doesn't want us to know anything.

Ngunit mas lumala ang pagiging weirdo niya nang makarating kami sa Themiscyra. Siguro ay napapansin rin niya ang faint bloodlust na nararamdaman ko.

I can sense it, but I've been shrugging it off dahil pati ang mga Amazons mismo ay hindi ito pinapansin. Does Kasdeya sense it too and that's why she's like this?