The Fangclaw Inheritance: The Eye of Half Blood

XII

XII

                Roktu and Serastios’s looked as though Annabella’s story had more questions than answers. What happened after Ramnasia and Tirianna walked around Noldon with the younger Annabella, and why had it skipped to the memory at Terastos’s mansion? The narrator of the tale looked like she bore more questions herself, rising from the white ground. She knew sitting around wouldn’t provide the answers; the only way was to contact Vince Hughsworth Fangclaw, but her blood brother was hard to find, even in Noldon. She’s well aware he had a history of disappearing when he was needed most, which made him an unreliable person to ask for information.

                Secondly she was in Adlet Island. Roktu and Serastios were with her, and they needed to find a way to flee from Iaosos; they felt like sitting ducks. She looked around if Marlox was around, but he had vanished. Serastios told her Marlox scouted around the area, looking for safe spots, but noticing he’d been gone for a long time―something bad happened. Roktu grabbed her bow and quiver, placed on her back, while Serastios rose from the ground. They were waiting for their leader to commence the search, but she was too enamored by the white tree.

                “The Tree of Prayer, isn’t it?” Annabella’s gloved hand was on her chin. “There’s something mystical about this. It allowed me to see my deceased sister in a dimension I didn’t recognize.”

                “Same applied for when I met Luna,” Roktu said. “I don’t know what’s special about the ‘Tree of Prayer’, but I’m aware there are more like this around the world.”

                “It’s as though this mystical essence is the home for ‘United Destinies’.”

                “There’s always been a legend for Trees of Prayers in this world. According to legend, these Trees of Prayers were meant to be the gateway between the world of reality and the afterlife. Living beings could talk to their beloved who had departed from this world. The United Destinies is an essence that unites the living from the dead, as well as the Gods and Goddesses of Creation.”

                “What an ultimate being, this United Destinies is,” Serastios walked alongside Annabella, gazing at the white tree-shaped light. “I heard a myth that the human God of Creation, Methezek, bows to the essence. That means something, doesn’t it?”

                “The essence is not to be reckoned with,” Annabella sensed a presence behind her, crisply turning around. Serastios and Roktu followed her, to see Marlox walking towards them. Marlox’s expression was a calm one, but something in him told them to run; another step and two large steps echoed behind him.

                General Iaosos’s black blade was pointed against the elder Adlet’s back, two giant flame-coated wolves accompanying him. The general had that sinister smile, thinking of a way to get at Annabella when given the chance. Annabella prepared to draw her rapiers, but knew if she was to try anything, Iaosos would kill Marlox on sight. She gritted her teeth, disillusioned she was being threatened by a naïve, immature man.

                “We Iluminatia Vampires aren’t allowed in this holy ground, yet as soon as I got the hold of little Marlox here, we were allowed to enter! I should’ve done this years ago.”

                “Iaosos, if you think you can do what you will with the Tree of Prayer, you have another thing coming,” Annabella tried to remain calm, reminding herself throwing a tantrum wasn’t the wisest thing in this situation. “If you dare defile this place with your evil aura, one of the strongest links to the other world will fade entirely.”