Syzygy Aces

Chapter 15

I flinched away and prepared my sword. The surroundings were still covered by darkness. Jaxmi's light was quite far away to reach me. They couldn't see me at all from their location, I was alone and pretty sure that I was in danger. I didn't know who this man was and I could only saw his silhouette and his dark grey eyes.

"Easy there, lady. I don't think it is wise to do what you intend to be doing." His tone has a mixture of amusement and absolute warning. There was something in his voice that made me stayed motionless and tensed. It told me not to do a thing. Maybe it was a kind of magic?

My purplish aura glowed and became visible. It surrounded my whole body. I didn't know how I could control this glowing aura of mine, my mind was in panic and disoriented with hidden fear even though I knew that it didn't show in my face.

"Don't scare the child, Ronin....It is better that you'll control that aura of yours child. Someone will definitely see u as a threat." A sweet feminine voice came from nowhere and another silhouette of a woman became visible.

Child? Me? Ronin? The name... was so familiar... Oh Shit!

My mind began to alarm and I found myself kneeling down. "I'm sorry Ace Ronin! I didn't intend to draw a sword on you. Forgive me." My voice was shaking and I knew that I was so stupid not to know him at once. Well, I never seen him personally before but his name was so popular for us, fighters as well as mages. He was the Ace of all the aces! He was the leader of the group which we were dying to join in. He was incredibly skillful and no one ever beaten him before as rumors said. I stayed low, bowing my head waiting for him to punish me or even killed me but instead he lifted my chin up and stared into my eyes as if he was looking for something. After a few seconds of gazing at me, he released my chin as if he has just found what he was looking for.

"I believe that you came from the cave." He sounded casually.

"Yes, I am. I'm one of participants of the tournament, Ace Ronin. Please spare me and I don't intend to hinder your mission." My voice was low and pleading, begging for mercy.

"I don't have the intention to kill you and I believe I had found my mission. Where are your companions? I believe you are travelling with your team and ......will you stand up now!" He seemed so annoyed staring at me while I was still bowing down.

"You don't have to shout at her." The sweet voice lingered in the air once again as well the tiny lights that spread around us like fireflies. Then I saw a fair-skinned girl with long black waist-length braided hair with ecru long sleeve fitted blouse and olive green skimpy skirt. Her teasing narrow eyes looked at me with interest. She was younger than me but her presence was so intimidating. I believed that she was one of the aces as well and she just called me a child lately! She lends me a hand to help me stand on my knees. Well, she was nice to me and that was not bad at all.

On the other hand, Glenieze and my other mates noticed the lights around us in the other side as well as the two individuals that were interrogating me. They were alarmed and I could hear them asking me if I was okay from a far. I glanced at them and saw that Glenieze was fast approaching.

"Who are you people and why are you keeping my mage from crossing over the river?" Glenieze's voice was sharp and demanding. I looked at her, signing her to shut up but she still continued. "I demand you two to release her at once." My mouth dropped as I heard what she just said.

"Oh, how loyal is your spirit to you, Child." The young girl let out a giggle but raised her hand towards Glenieze which made the latter stood still and speechless. "I'm not a spirit but I could harm yours if she continues to annoy me." She glanced over to Glenieze who was helpless at the moment so I decided to rubbed my ring to make her disappeared.

"I'm sorry for my spirit's actions, Aces. She's just so protective of me." I warily explained.

"I know." She smiled sweetly. "I just want her to keep her mouth shut. By the way, I'm Chinitah. Since Ace Ronin already found his purpose, then we could come back now." I was puzzled by her words. They looked as if they were on their way back to the camp or to their guild house near the Royal's Castle.

"Come!" Chinita grabbed my hands and she quickly jumped over the cliff! I closed my eyes and shouted at the top of my lungs behind her not knowing what to do as we continued to descend but not long enough that I felt that we were suddenly ascending towards the other side. "Be still Child! You're quite heavy for me."

"For the last time, don't call me a child. I'm older than you!" I can't help myself but to yell at her. The momentum of our movement caused me to panic and talked to her rudely. We landed in front of my team. They moved defensively as they saw the unfamiliar lady with me. "Relax guys! She's an Ace." I told them immediately so that they would not do anything stupid like Glenieze and put themselves in an awkward situation.

"Oh!" They exclaimed in unison with awe. They conducted themselves properly. It was not often that we could encounter these aces. Chinita eyed them one by one and her look became serious unlike what she showed me previously. She was weird in some way. After a few minutes, Ronin appeared behind me.

"I believe that you should travel with your team now." He said. "Wear this with you in all times." He handed me a necklace with a black gem. Before I could ask him what was the necklace for, he was totally gone.

"See you soon Child!" Chinita also ran ahead and disappeared in mere seconds. We were left wondering what had just happened.

"Do you know that man, Krish? We were worried about you and how come you arrived with an ace!" Reyn asked me excitedly and meaningfully stared at me.

"He's Ace Ronin and I don't know why he left this to me. I just met him." I scrutinized that necklace at my hand. There was no particularly special in its design, only the pea size black gem in the pendant. Instead of wearing it, I kept in inside my pocket along with the tracker stone given by Glenieze and the golden dust. I didn't know exactly what it was for anyway and it was also strange that I barely knew him to give me such valuable things. Ace Ronin! Of all people!

The group was so quiet as we continued our journey back to the tournament site after they bombarded me with questions which I only gave them a shrug as an answer since I really didn't know what to say. They left me at last with my own thoughts. They were also star-struck to see face to face the leader of the Aces. They found him handsome and a total hunk but I found him absolutely insolent in some ways. He talked rudely and gave me a necklace which he hadn't explained why and why me? In spite of this, I looked highly in his ability as well as his deadly presence. He could teleport which was a rare ability in all the Syzygy. Well, I couldn't deny that he was really a good looking guy.

We were the third team to arrive at tournament arena. Master Rami was already there at the podium, waiting for the other teams to arrive. The arena was also filled with the chaotic audiences ready to see which team that survived the quest. Team Seven was standing proudly at the center of the ground since they are the first to arrive but I couldn't stop myself as well as my team mates to feel annoyed at them especially to the prince who couldn't even look at me in the eye.

The sunrise already devoured the surroundings and an echoing sound of the gong gave us all the hint that time was up for the quest. Out of thirteen teams, only four teams made it to the next level of the tournament. We were proud to be with our team and after the quest, we know that we were stronger together.