Until We Meet Again

Chapter 19: Unwanted Visitor

"...Elena?"

Awakened by a sweet voice, Elena blinked and opened her tired eyes. The restless night of their secret deed had ended with her finally passing out from exhaustion. Her body felt heavy and sore, yet she knew there was no room for her to complain. As it is set that they must depart the border of Kleotera, they must start their journey for today to reach Luton.

But something was eerie from the moment she opened her eyes. Johan who was sitting down on the opposite side of her brought his index finger to her lips, gesturing for her not to speak as he looked at her with deadly intent.

"... I can sense an unfamiliar presence, Princess."

Sensing that something was quietly approaching the carriage, his pale blue orbs glimmered with manancing aura. He reached for his sword that was resting on her side and kissed her forehead. The man took the rest of the clothes that remained on the floor and quickly handed it over to her.

"Cover yourself, Princess..."

His whispered words were a signal that something dangerous was lurking outside the carriage. As they were both occupied and immersed in their secret deed, it had slipped off of his attention that a faint sound of swords cutting through the hard flesh of something were present.

The sound of thunder struck louder as the presence of the mysterious being became fully known. The bright danger of lightning casted a shadow figure of the being standing with its two legs behind the curtain.

Frozen from the ominous presence, Elena felt a faint ache from her injured cheek.

"What's wrong?"

"Normally, these types of encounters would have been easily detected..." he said as he clicked his tongue.

Unbeknownst to the Captain of the Knights, the side effect of Aprohdisiac meant that the person's senses would become dull because the drug was stimulating one's sexual drive. One spoon full of the drug was enough to cause permanent damage to the normal person's senses.

In a confused and frightened state, Elena quickly followed the man's words, putting the oversized tunic that belonged to the gentleman over her head. It only took a few moments for her to realize what was occurring as she too became aware of the faint sound of sword fighting.

"W-what's happening...?"

"Stay here, Princess..."

Speechless, she watched him calmly open the carriage door. But, before he could step out, red eyes caught her. It was only a glimpse, but a faint smile was drawn on the monster's lips. Famous tales of these red-eyed beasts were known throughout the land of Kleotera. It's only a rare occasion that they would appear in front of humans since it was a known fact that they were not in friendly terms with human kind. In such rare sightings, their famously known features must have spread out of the South continent also. The beast's long raven hair glistened under the rising sun.

Why the hell is a Chedne here?

The sky had settled down. But, the land was just about to grumble and shake as the ominous feeling became more prominent.

"Apikaila." [1]

It was like a calmative spell-- Elena's vision slowly became blurred and finally became dark like his raven hair. All of a sudden, her vision was all pitch dark as if she just went blind. The last burning imprint on her mind was the image of the mysterious red-eyed beast standing from a distance, dressed in a foreign attire. She heard the door slamming in front of her as it was forcefully closed in an instant.

At the moment of her temporary blindness, the slamming sound suddenly became distant. Her left cheeks began to throb painfully and slowly her vision started coming back. Only then she realized she was alone, finding herself in the endless darkness.

Elena could not ignore the throbbing pain from her cheeks and touched it, noticing that blood had started dripping from her cheeks as if the scratch was opened once again. Her eyes widened in surprise and her fragile hands shook from the sight of the blood.

What is this?

Then appeared, a golden framed mirror stood in front of her, emitting her only source of light. She heard the word, "Apikaila" once again, faintly echoing through the endless darkness as if someone was calling for her attention.

The magnificent mirror came closer, showing a reflection of her. Her pale green eyes that were painted with great fear and her pink hair that glimmered from the glowing light slowly changed... a woman stood in front of her like she was her own reflection with crystal red eyes and raven black hair. On her left cheek was a faint scar-- clearly, Elena could see that it was her, yet she couldn't recognize her own reflection as the woman in the mirror smiled unfamiliarly

***

[1] Foreign name.