[Elsword] - Masked Renegade

22 - remeDIEs

...

Everything was supposed to be as clear as the skies, but it wasn't. Rather, it was still a hazy blur. As she began to regain consciousness, Ara felt sick. Her head started to hurt, it was incredibly hot, and even to her usual sense of obliviousness, she could tell she was running a high fever of some sort. After the hallucination into Ava's recollections, her physical condition had drastically worsened. Her muscles ached; her entire body was sore. She began to sweat, chills began to approach. It was a disaster to take in all at once.

'Nnghh... What.. is this..?' she thought. 'Add... Surely, you are not suffering like I am, right?'

Rena could only watch, a pained and regretful expression was plastered over her delicate face as the girl writhed around in agony. What the Elf had done was a great impediment, one that she had been forced to commit. The Sakra Devanam didn't even have the strength to sit up.

"I'm incredibly sorry, Mistress." the Grand Archer bowed her head. "I will inform you of the truth immediately, however, it would be more convenient if the others were gathered here, so I do not have to repeat myself."

"Rena... this was something you did, right?" Ara weakly queried, unable to meet the gaze of the Archer due to her laying position. "That's what Ava mentioned..."

The Elf hesitated. "Yes. I am sorry."

~

The door was busted open, with a certain albino rushing into the scene. He furrowed his eyebrows as he noticed Ara unwell, with the emotionless Nasod Queen trailing after him, poking her head inside.

"Ara! Hey, you. What did you do?" he glared at Rena, stepping forwards fiercely.

"I sincerely apologize. I have an explanation to this, so if the two demons would return so I can elucidate all at once, it would be much appreciated..." she responded, her voice quivering with sadness.

The Diabolic Esper stopped in his tracks, sighing. "Fine."

As Lu and Ciel entered the room, the gang circled around Ara's bed, as Rena told her tale. Her story regarding her interactions with Aisha, the magician of witchcraft.

"Firstly, I would like to say that I'm extremely sorry for deceiving you guys." she started. "Though, it is sort-of your fault for kidnapping me..." the Archer added in a much quieter, whispered tone.

"Ah, yes. Now, to the reason why I had done it. It was never my intention to harm you, I swear! The Aisha that you know has taken hostage my beloved husband, Raven, and if I didn't follow her commands, she would have killed him...! He can be very reckless, which is why I'm especially worried, you see...! My task was to pollute Ara during the ritual to send her into Ava Haan's stream of memories, so she would wake up like this. Regular forces of nature cannot heal her, and only Aisha has a specially-prepared antidote to cure the condition. It may seem like an ordinary human sickness, but it will grow into something worse, if not treated! I can assure you that, but I'm truly sorry for doing this...!" she sobbed, bowing down in a manner of utmost respect and apology.

What Rena had spoken of justified Ava's words about what Aisha's true nature was like. Ara was terrified, and the peaceful image that she held of the Void Princess began to crumble, bit by bit. The fact that she was the one who sought to contaminate her ill was unnerving. It wasn't long before she started to speculate that she caused Elesis' death.

"Haaa.... it's okay, Rena... you have your reasons..." Ara softly said, hoping to hide her new-found bitterness to the mage.

"Uuuu! To think that I didn't see this coming--! That witch!" Lu growled. "Tell me! What can we do for Ara until we get on hands on the antidote, then?!"

"You can handle her current symptoms normally, it would appear that she has a high fever at the moment... Treat it regularly, because I honestly don't think that anything else can be done until the proper medicine from Aisha has been acquired." Rena responded, an obvious tone of concern in her voice. "She also told me to deliver the message that she would be willing to negotiate for the remedy, if you came to chat about it..."

"I see. I suppose we have no choice, Lu. I'll begin baking the peace-offering cookies at once." Ciel noted, nodding.

Luciela huffed. "Alright! Then, bring us there! Robot, you stay here with Add, to take care of Ara. Got it?" she ordered, pointing and gesturing directions.

Eve briefly gave her a nod of approval, as did Add.

"Lead us there. Surely, we'll be able to resolve this." the Noblesse muttered.

"Ah, yes..." the Elf nodded in agreement.

...