"I know what you're thinking about but it's nothing like that at all." I immediately defended when I saw the teasing smile on her face.
But her smile just widened even more after I said that.
"What was I thinking anyway?" She asked, still in a teasing tone.
"He's just my guardian." After saying that Sassy's smile disappeared and was replaced with a frown.
"What? Is he your relative or something? Eww! Incest!" She said and even acted like she was shivering in disgust.
I looked up in frustration and stopped myself from slapping my forehead with her reaction.
Yeah, this is Sassy.
I silently grunted before deciding to talk to her again.
"No. It's not like that! Not at all!" I said too full of conviction to my liking.
Sassy stared back at me the same teasing eyes are back on her face once again.
"Oh come'n, this is part of the story and mind you. You are also a guardian of mine." I said just to wipe that smug smile on her face which I think I succeeded doing since her face was now full of another set of confused expressions.
"Yes, you are. Now can you please keep it down and let me continue?" It's my turn to hold a smug face now, she scowled at me for a while before she finally nodded.
"Good." I complimented and continued discussing about our situation.
"You mean to say that, I am part of that so-called prophecy?" Sassy asked, her eyes are so wide and full of disbelief.
"Yes, that's what you get when you have that mark," I answered while pointing my finger at her shoulder.
"But I don't have any powers like you guys have! How can I be one of your guardians?" she asked her voice full of disappointment and mischief.
"That's exactly what we were thinking. Another thing is that we can't take a mundane here, Sass. So please behave and follow Hailec's orders for now, or else..." I purposely trailed off my words so that she can fully hear the warning on it.
"You mean I can cause unbearable consequences to that perverted creep?" she asked in an innocent tone, contradicting her choice of words in addressing the baylan.
"Yeah," I answered while chuckling.
I heard her sighed heavily, so I gave her a comforting smile and a slight pat on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry for dragging you in this mess." I apologized sincerely.
She immediately shook her head repeatedly.
"No. You don't have to apologize. It's not like you wanted this to happen and it's not you who put this animated tattoo on my back!"
"It's not a tattoo, Sassy." I corrected.
"But it looks like one!" she insisted stubbornly.
"My mom's gonna kill me if she saw this!" she added with a horrified face as she tilted her head while trying to look at the mark on her back.
After hearing her talking about Tita Sally, I suddenly remembered my mom, too.
My silence didn't escaped Sassy's attention. I saw her lifted her gaze from her back to my face.
"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.
I shook my head a little and tried to blink away the tears that were starting to blur my vision.
"I just missed my parents. I don't know if I can ever meet them again." I blurted out.
Sassy stood up and enveloped me in a bear hug.
I immediately felt a little comfortable than earlier.
"We are going to get through this Fhyra. Together." She said comfortingly as she tightened her embrace around me.
"I'm still figuring out how I could mask her around the other fantasians. She can trick other flamias, glacias, and baylans but she can't hide her smell to other beings here, especially to creatures like the fooleys." Hailec said as we resumed our "meeting".
"Hey! I don't smell, you perverted creep!" Sassy yelled at him.
'You're friend is really something, Princess.' Cool teased in my mind as we watched the two bickered in front of us.
'Shut up.'
'But I never saw the Punong Baylan ever riled up like that.'
I shifted my gaze to him, who was seated in front of me.
'You're starting to talk too much now, Commandant.' I pointed out while raising my right eyebrow and the corner of lips lifted into a smirk.
He rolled his eyes on me and just resumed watching the drama in front of us.
"Aren't you guys done arguing yet?" he asked a little while after we realized that we're being sidetracked away from the main problem already.
Hailec came back to his senses and apologized as he sent glares on Sassy's direction.
"It wasn't me who started it!" Sassy interjected, her eyes are slightly bulging due to frustration from the still on-going bickering between them.
"Nobody says you did, idiot. Now sit down properly and keep your mouth shut will you?" Hailec retorted.
A smile creeps into my lips when I saw my stubborn friend took her seat unwillingly with a scowl on her face.
So there's someone who can tame this tigress.
"Going back. We need to mask her 'scent' for these creatures." He said while putting much emphasis on the word "scent" as he glances sideways towards Sassy.
"Why? They seem friendly to other fantasians." I asked, remembering how Jada, a fooleys living in the palace treats me.
Fooleys are large creatures, can be passed being called a giant, with red skin and a horn between their forehead. Their sharp fangs were showing and their ears are like that of an elephant.
Yeah, they look a little scary, I was actually terrified at Jada at first, but she was actually pretty nice.
She works as a receiving clerk in the Queen's quarters.
"Fooleys are also known as mundane eaters---"
"What?!" Sassy and I exclaimed at the same time.
I gasped, a picture of Jada devouring my friend creep into my mind. I shivered instantly with that thought. I saw Cool shifted his eyes when he saw me shivering.
'What's wrong?' he asked with his brows furrowed, I just shook my head trying to make the image go away and to assure him at the time.
"Well, don't take it literally," Hailec interjected that caught back our attention.
"Fooleys don't literally gobbled up mundanes. As I've said before, we must mask Sassy's scent because these creatures feed up with mundane souls. We, Fantasians have a different scent from the mundane in a Fooleys' perspective." he explained but Sassy and I just stared at him in confusion.
"Take it this way." Our gaze shifted from Hailec to Cool who spoke before rising from his seat and went in front beside Hailec.
"Imagine Fooleys as humans, they think of fantasians like us are just like them, but of different nationality or ethnicity. However, mundane, to them are like shellfish, they disregard the shells which is the body but they do eat what's inside the shell, souls. When a mundane soul was eaten by a Fooleys, the mundane won't die, at least not physically but they will lose their will to live, to survive, and later on, they would take their own lives." Cool explained.
"You mean, some suicides from our world is actually because they have been eaten?" Sassy asked.
"Not some, all of such cases in your world are caused by them. Fooleys are the only fantasians who were legally allowed to come to the mundane world every now and then, since their food source is in there." He added.
"Wow. You just let me see my world in a different light now." Sassy blurted out.
"Are you sure you're gonna be fine here?" I asked her worriedly."Of course, and besides that perverted creep is a jerk but he's nice. Well, kinda." Sassy said grimacing with her last sentence.I chuckled at her words and gently patted her head.
I woke up feeling an overwhelming pain all over my body. I felt like I was beaten so badly.A groan escaped my lips when I tried to get out of the bed."You're awake." I turned my head towards the door of my room and saw that Blaze just entered the room.
es"I went to Glaciers to check for Cool and wasn't there," Hailec said, a week after Cool disappeared."I know that. I just wanted to be sure.""So what's your plan now?" He asked while looking at me reading a book in the library."It's either I look for him or he shows up," I answered nonchalantly."You're not worried about him?" He was confused with the disinterest I was showing.I snap my fingers and small flames formed a message in the table between us.'Someone's outside.'His head turned towards the closed door of the library before it returned to face me."He left me here, alone. He promised me that he wouldn't, that he would stay beside me all the time. But he left. Without a word." I said using a pained voice but with a smirk plastered on my face."But you asked me to look for him?" he asked with a taunting smile."That was a foolish move. I just realized how stupid I was believing his promises." I replied.And then we stopped talking, we were just waiting for someone to make
I didn't know how to react.Seeing him show up at this very moment I wanted to run towards him and complain to him how much I feel wronged and how much I was hurting.I was just standing there staring at him staring back at me.He gave me a weak smile when I felt Blaze's presence approaching.My forehead creased when I saw Cool walk away.'Don't worry. I'm just around you. All the time.'I figured that he was hiding from Blaze or probably from the whole Flamis. I didn't know his reason but I somehow trust him. No, I completely trust him. I know he has a good reason why he's into hiding."Princess—""Didn't I told you to stay away from me?" I said without sparing him a glance and just continued walking."But I just want to explain my side." He reasoned out, frustrated with how uninterested I am to hear his story."Are you done?" I inquired a few moments later."You just really don't care about me, do you?" he asked in a bitter tone.I turned around to face him this time, my left brow ri
"Sassy this is Ignis, Ignis this is Sassy. The friend I was talking about." I introduced them to each other after arriving in Hailec's place."Hi! It's nice to meet you Ignis!" Sassy greeted cheerfully."Hi, it's nice meeting you too, Señorita," Ignis responded shyly."Woah there! I'm no royalty, okay? Sassy is fine." Sassy corrected."Okay, Sassy," Ignis said still a little awkward with Sassy's enthusiasm."I've prepared your rooms," Hailec said after appearing all of the sudden."Kimean!" Sassy called out as he followed Hailec inside the house."I thought his name was Hailec?" I asked Ignis after realizing that Sassy was talking about the baylan."Only a few one's knew that the real name of the Punong Baylan is Kimean Hailec Ledesma. And very few are given the privilege to call him with that name. I think your friend holds a special spot in his life now." She said and gestured me to follow the two first."Sassy," Hailec's warning tone welcomed us, as we enter his living room."But I
"Before your arrival here in Narte Fantasia, Blaze already had a hunch that there's a mole within the Royalties and he was right. The moment you came, the suspected mole acted more suspicious." Cool stabilized my position on his lap and he rounded his arms around the small of my back to my waist before he continued."Remember Duchness Ardor?" He asked and looked at me questioningly.I tried to recall who he was referring to but nothing came into mind, so I just shook my head to tell him that I don't."Remember the lady who suggested to send me back to the glaciers? You burned her clothes." He said and it was with his last sentence that I remember the middle-aged lady who screamed like a banshee after having her dress set on fire."Oh, yeah. I remember. Wait. Don't tell me she was the mole?" I inquired in which he responded with a nod."Yeah. She is.""Wow! The darkess did a great job sending an idiot as a mole." I said both a little disappointed and amused."After being taken by the Gu
"Wow!" I heard Sassy gasped as soon as we step foot on the opening of the Kabisera."Don't go too far away from us." Hailec reminded her."Yes, sir," Sassy answered together with a playful salute."Ignis, are you okay? Are you comfortable?" I asked her when I realized how quiet she is."Yeah. Don't worry. I just missed walking around here." She answered with a smile."Why? You haven't been here for a while?" I asked, my forehead creasing from curiosity."As soon as I entered the palace, it was too hard to go outside. It was a rule made by the queen since she found out that an insider helped Princess Blare escaped before." I wanted to feel pity for her, being unable to go to places she used to go to, but I knew that's the last thing she wanted right now."That's fine with me though. Don't worry." She said with a smile."I'll just look around for a while," she said and started to blend in with the crowd."Sassy!" we heard Hailec called out and immediately followed my friend who looks lik
I can still hear the screams and shrieks of the fantasians behind the wall where we are currently hiding.'Would the others be alright?' I worriedly asked him with my mind.He tilted his head to face me.'Don't worry. They'll be fine.' He said and gave me an assuring smile before peeking once again on whatever was happening behind the wall.I was pinned against the wall, Cool's body against mine, I can feel his hands on my waist.I didn't know how long it takes before the disturbing screams of terror started to die down until there was nothing left but silence.A dreading and eerie silence.'Stay here.' He ordered as he tried to check the area before he came back to get me.I felt my stomach turned upside-down, I instantly felt the urge to vomit.The lively and crowded Kabisera was now filled with dead fantasians on the ground. The disgusting scent of blood lingers on the air.I immediately thought of my friends and hurriedly scanned the place for any sign of life.My eyes glowed when