Flame Academy

/24/

The clangs of chains woke me up. I immediately felt a throbbing pain all over my body as I slowly opened my eyes.

When my eyes totally adjusted to the light of the place wherever I am, I immediately saw my friends looking at me. Bahagyang kumunot ang noo ko nang makita ang mga kadena sa kamay nila, preventing their hands to be opened.

It was tied in the ceiling and when I looked up, I also saw my hands chained upwards. Hindi na ako nagtaka nang maramdaman ang pananakit ng buong katawan ko, especially my arms. Nakatayo kasi kami habang pataas na nakakadena ang mga kamay namin.

"You okay?"

I looked at Jillian when she asked that and I nodded. Napansin ko namang walang sugat ang mga katawan nila at maging ang katawan ko.

"We have a hunch that what happened in that maze was only an illusion," Main Titan said and I felt relieved to also see him okay.

I frowned. "I-illusion? Black magic?"

Tunango sila at mukhang pare-pareho kami ng iniisip. That means, we are in the right house and that sorceress played with us.

But why?

"Paano pala tayo tatakas dito?" tanong ni Neo at wala namang nakasagot sa amin.

I looked around and realized that we are in a dirty room. I got confused when I saw that the walls are made of cement and not of wood. And that's when I realized that the wooden house we entered was only an illusion.

Aside from the door, I saw no windows or any holes that can be used to escape. Not unless we burn down these walls.

Napatingin ako sa mga kadenang nasa kamay ko. I don't know if my flames will work even if my hands are closed. But I think it will because our flames can also be released from different parts of our body aside from the hands.

"Don't."

Tumingin ako kaagad kay Ace nang sabihin niya iyon. He shook his head while looking at me.

"We also tried to use our flames to escape while you're unconscious. But it seems like the whole room is under a spell," he said.

Napabuntong hininga na lang ako at tumango. I still want to try to use mine but I need to get enough strength first. We got no wounds from that illusion, yes. But the pain and exhaustion feel so real.

Nagkatinginan naman kami nang makarinig ng mga yapak na papalapit sa pinto. And I think that we are all thinking that it was her. Liana Fay Gandler, the sorceress.

The door swung open and we immediately saw a woman in a black and purple outfit. Nakumpirma na ang hinila namin nang makita ang mukha niya. Kumurba naman sa isang ngisi ang labi niya nang makita kami.

"The rats are awake, huh?" she asked and looked at us one by one. "It's been a long time ever since I had unwanted visitors in my territory."

"Pakawalan mo kami," sabi ni Bea at napansin ko ang panginginig ng mga tuhod niya.

She shook her head. "You came here yourselves. Deal with the consequence."

"We didn't want to come here. We just needed to," sabi ni Ace and she narrowed her eyes while looking at us.

"Then who sent you? Cassandra? Austin? Laxus? Or maybe, Lara?"

I frowned a bit when she uttered two names that I don't know. Pero hindi na ako nagtanong dahil mukhang ako lang naman ang nagtaka. But those names sound familiar though. I think I saw it before in the book Sir Laxus' gave me.

"That's not important. We just need to bring you there," sabi ulit ni Ace habang nanatili kaming tahimik.

"Why?"