X No Sekai

o8; Empty Promises

† 

“Where are you taking us?” Oz asked them for the millionth time. He, along with the ALICEs, was tied up and was sent in the dungeon of the palace Oz hadn’t knew about it. The ALICEs themselves had lost their own self and had been acting restlessly and tensed. Wherever they are, it must be bothering the ALICEs a lot.

As he was asking, he tried to break free of his hand and searched for the lock. It had no lock. It was a never-ending chain that wrapped around them tightly in one bind. The Right and Left Guardian were facing Hell girl, who was guarding their cage.

“Mistress wants to meet the kid,” the Right Guardian said at Hell girl. The Left Guardian added, “Get out of the way.”

She didn’t budge. Hell girl remained to where she was standing.

“I said get out,” the Left Guardian said, his voice rising. He was willing to shove her out of their way impatiently if she still wouldn’t move.

“I caught them first. So they are my slaves.” Hell girl said, making a block of her scythe away from them. The Right Guardian reached out but Hell girl pushed her hand away, making it break that Oz thought he had a sick feeling.

Oz almost felt his wrist broke in a sympathetic way. “Ohh,” he sighed, starting to feel a throb on his wrist. While the Guardians and the Hell girl continued to quarrel about who caught them first, the 1st ALICE tried to move her right hand to move it to the front to use her powers. When she did, she pointed and a small stream of water appeared. Then it wrapped the chains around and turned into a sharp icicle. With a swift movement of clutching the 1st ALICE’s fist together, the chains broke, making a loud noise that the Guardians and Hell girl turned at their direction.

Quickly, the 2nd ALICE stood up and pushed the gates in front of them with a streak of lightning. The Guardians backed away from being startled and the Hell girl coughed and sputtered from the smoke and dust. It was the only way Oz and the ALICEs had the chance to escape. Without hesitating, the 4th ALICE grabbed Oz’s wrist and pulled him as the ALICEs almost floated from running fast.

The dungeon seemed to never-end. Jail by jail. Cage by cage. They pass by so quickly. And only few prisoners were locked. Mostly shadow-like creatures that moaned and growled for help as they pass by. Oz thought he just saw the Acrobat girl he met earlier back in the forest called Dark Woods as he saw a streak of dark violet suit and green, scruffy hair.

Like a flash, Oz felt the 4th ALICE’s grip was losing his wrist. Finally, he was running on his own now, without the ALICEs. He stopped and looked around. It was only jail by jail and cage by cage. There was no sign of any ALICEs. He heard creaking of chains and looked behind him. There were charcoal-black chains that attacked after him. Oz quickly jumped at his right as the chains crashed on the floor, breaking it into pieces.

Something glowed around Oz and saw that it was already forming into a cage. He quickly ran straight ahead from jail to jail and cage to cage. It seemed he was running forever away from something he couldn’t see. He started to feel scared and uncomfortable now. Oz had also noticed that the deeper he went into the dungeon, the deeper it became dark and the disgusting smell of blood and old-age had been annoying him.

Thoughts leaped inside his head. Where are the ALICEs? Who was after me? Why are they after us? Were the thoughts that leaped and cross his mind. The only sound was the loud and fast thudding of his sneakers on the dark-red carpet echoed eerily throughout the endless, rotting dungeon.

“You can’t escape.” Those words leapt out of nowhere, making Oz stop briskly. He looked from both sideways and at the front and back. At the back, he saw the Left Guardian. At the front, he saw the Right Guardian. Later he knew that he was already tracked and was trapped like a cage. The Right Guardian’s menacing violet eyes seemed to be glaring back at Oz’s eyes, as if making him see the future. He was about to turn when the Left Guardian stopped him in his tracks as he lunged forward.