Five: Rise of Malevolence

Chapter 5: The Light That Hides Within

Cordelia's POV:
"Are you okay?!" I yell as I gaze at the two girls who were in a daze from their fall.
"Y-yeah sorry about that we were...
"In a hurry!" The girls both say.
"You two look familiar, have we met before." I try to not directly say that these two are suspicious, fearing what they might do.
    "We just arrived in town, so no, unless you're one of the guards at the gates on the borders of the town." The girl with a wand and tome on her hips says while her eyes danced around nervously.
    "I wonder where that dancing assassin is!"
    "I heard that she murdered a group of people by Vallhelm Manor."
    "Did you hear? Apparently the Dark Surrogates have been spotted in the town!" The people around us gossip and spread the news like a wildfire.
    "You girls looked like you were in a hurry, I'd be happy to accommodate a room for you in the tavern." I say as I try to learn more about these two strangely dressed individuals.
    "Really? That would be quite nice of you." The girl with the shining staff states as she searches her bag pockets for something. "We don't have much, but-
    "No, no, no, what I was thinking was something a bit more up my alley." I say as I take my fans from their holders on the sides of my dress. Desera is a city of multiple ears a lot of people, means a lot of information to watch put for.
    "I think I saw two girls  who fit the pictures of the ones on the wanted list!"  A young boy says to a Desert Order guard.
    "Where did you see those terrible fiends!" The Desert Order guard demands.
"I passed them not so long ago!" The little boy ran off. The girls with the strange attire went pale.
"Hey so, can we go on in I'm feeling pretty tired." The wand wielding girl states in a very skittish and nervous way.
I knew it these two are on the run, I just need to confirm their names and then it will be perfectly clear.
"Okay, follow me." I lead them into the tavern. The tavern was always packed with suspicious individuals, or people who just want to go off the radar, basically it's a perfect place for these two girls who scream the word, "odd" and "suspicious", and for me, since I'm now a murderer.
    "May I help you with anything, miss?" The bartender says as he eyes my attire and body. "Well, if it isn't the Shimmering Star herself and with two others, new recruits I presume?"
"No, but I do need the special order, My life is on the line." I whisper in the bartender's ear. His eyes widen as he slides me a key deftly and with haste.
"Marcus! Take these girls to the room." Marcus, a person who looks like he should be half-giant approaches with a stern look.
"Follow." Marcus says in a stoic voice. I look to the tables being served, many familiar faces, and attire, there are guards among the crowd, I tug onto the cloaks of the two girls to stand close, they listen, but I sense that they too can see somethings off. Marcus leads us further into the building, soon we encounter a hidden door in the ground that Marcus swiftly unlocks.
"Here, you live, continue further down, there what you seek." Marcus' voice wavered, though it was strangely put I understood the gist of it.
"Thank you, Shimmering Star." The girl with the staff says.
"O-oh, just call me Cordelia, Shimmering Star is one of my names on stage." The two look hesitant to speak about themselves so we descend down the hole the doorway revealed.
"Well this is unexpected." I say as I analyze the surroundings.
"It looks to be a garden? It's also really bright!" The girl brought her tome out and flipped to a page. "It seems that this place is using Illusionary Forces to mask whatever's inside, pretty clever use of magic."
"Yeah Melissa it truly is." Melissa put her hands over her mouth almost instantaneously after uttering those words.
"Ah-ha, so I was right! You two are what caused The Dark Beginnings!" I yell with realization.
"No, no, no! We aren't, well actually...
"It's hard to explain!" Marissa cut Melissa off mid-speech. I am next to the most feared mages in the world at the moment and I feel like I should've just left them to be brought in to the authorities for their due punishment.
"We caused it, but not knowingly or willingly for that matter." Melissa explains while gripping her wand intensely.
    "You see we were chosen for The Purification Ceremony, its a very important tradition that we used to do every year." Marissa adds on to Melissa's explanation. "But, that vile demon of a woman Charlotte McRallen decimated, The Divine City of Freewind, along with everyone minus her lackeys." Marissa exudes an aura of light from her body.
"What's this?!" I stare at her arms and chest which seem to be glowing with a powerful light.
"She is the surrogate for the Seraph Mia." Melissa explains to me. "All of her magic and abilities come from Mia, but Marissa only recently became receptive to this light aura."
"So why should I believe you? I'm sorry, but all of this just sounds-
"Odd? Strange? Yeah, but even if you are thinking about running out of here and reporting us to the Desert Order, it won't work out for you." Melissa's eyes were glowing with an intense gold. "You did murder a group of people near Vallhelm Manor, did you not?"
Oh no, so they do know about that, which means that everyone in the city probably knows about it, this is going to be a long and crazy talk when I speak to Lord Vallhelm.
    "Rest assured it's only on the minor notices, we are the top priority, also you won't be talking to Lord Vallhelm anytime soon or in fact ever again." Melissa    smiled and winked at me.
    "How did you know-
    "I can read your mind Cordelia, I've studied all types of magic and Divining seems to be one of my stronger suits, after the Freewind Tragedy." Melissa replies while handing me a pillow that appeared from thin air.
    "How about we talk about this tonight? That's when we will look for the Desert Relic, the real reason we are here." Melissa gestures to Marissa.
    "Oh yeah, so you are coming with us, right?" Marissa says with an innocent tone.
Well I mean, we are both in the same boat, and they haven't killed me yet, so maybe everything about them was lies, maybe they didn't revive such an evil or cause such a tragedy willingly or with malicious intent.
    "Glad you could agree, welcome aboard Cordelia!" Melissa says in a excited tone.
    "Oh yeah, that mind reading ability, I'm going to have to deal with that, from now on." I say as I lay down and rest on the pillow...