Chapter 24

"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 like a kid who just got out to see the world for the first time.

"You want to stroll around?" Cool asked when we were left alone.

"That would be nice," I said and took the hand he was offering.

I already saw how the Kabisera looks when I had a glimpse of my parent's past and while we were on our way to Hailec's house for the first time. But seeing it tonight, it was livelier than what the book made me see.

Fantasians are all-over the place. Fooleys, sweeps, baylans, glacias, flamias, and other creatures I can't name yet are busy walking and buying stuffs in the side alleys.

"This is amazing," I whispered with pure amusement.

"You want to eat something?" Cool asked after slightly tightening his hold on my hand to get my attention.

"Hmmm," I answered absentmindedly, still in awe in everything I see.

"How 'bout Haba?" my forehead crease upon hearing an unfamiliar word.

"Haba? What's that?" I asked, my curiosity entirely shifted on him.

"Remember what your parents ate? That's a haba. It was food for commoners, so they don't serve it in the palace." He explained while we're walking towards a store stall.

"We'll take two haba!" he called out. The seller which looks like a person suddenly turned around and then my eyes widened when I saw a colorful horse trail behind him.

I faced Cool with a bewildered expression. He softly chuckled and rubbed the top of my head with his hand, messing with my hair.

'That's a Unison.'

'Their tails look so much like that of a unicorn.'

He smirked at my remark and accepted the food he ordered with his left hand since he was holding mine on his right.

The haba looks like a flattened gray cotton candy with ketchup on top of it. I already accepted the fact that the foods here differ from the usual food we eat in the mundane world.

"How do I eat this?" I asked him after he passed a gold coin towards the unison as payment for our food.

"You pull this sides up, and you stretch it a little and use it to bury down the garnish inside." He instructed as he does it on his food after letting go of my hand.

I imitated his actions but was sure that I was failing miserably. I looked up to face him when I heard him chuckled. He took my right hand and place the haba he made in there and took the one I made.

"Eat that, instead," he said and was still chuckling as he ate the distorted haba.

I just glared at his teasing voice and started to eat the one he gave me as well. He took my other hand once again when we started walking.

"How 'bout that? What was that?" I asked, pertaining to a hanging hair.

"That was human hair." I almost choked on my food when I heard his answer.

"What? Why would they sell that?!" I asked, starting to freak out.

I immediately scanned the crowd, trying to search for Sassy.

I heard the man beside me barked with laughter.

"Calm down. Sassy's safe with the baylan," he said and we almost stop walking because of his endless laughter.

"Wait!" he said and finally stopped walking and pulled me towards a bench made of twigs nearby to seat.

"What the!" I shrieked when the twigs immediately hugged my body when I sat on it.

My reaction caused another set of laughter for Cool, who was comfortably seated in between the twigs.

"That's a grunger for you, Princess." he introduced while still laughing because of my miserable facial expressions.

While staring at his laughing face, I started to laugh as well.

This expression of his was very far from the cold and distant expressions he shows back when I was still in the mundane world.

'It's good seeing you smile and laugh.' I told him in his mind.

His laughter died down, he was just staring back at me.

I wanted to look away because of embarrassment but I found myself being drowned with his eyes.

We immediately turned our gaze away from each other when we heard someone clear her throat.

I swallowed hard to relax the butterflies on my stomach before I look up and saw Sassy, Hailec, and Ignis staring at us.

Sassy had this silly grin plastered on her lips, while Ignis just smiled at me and Hailec stared at us with one of his brows raised.

"We've been looking for you. Let's have dinner?" Hailec asked while Cool helped me get out of the grunger.

"We're so sorry to ruin your lovely date but Ignis and I are already starving. Don't tell me you're not hungry Fhyra! You haven't eaten anything since this morning!" Sassy said in a high-pitch voice, garnering some attention from the crowd.

"Can you low down your voice?!" Hailec scolded in a whisper-shout way.

"Oops! Sorry!" she apologized and even made a peace sign with her fingers, Hailec just stared at her, looking problematic.

"Where are we eating?" I asked them.

"Haya's," Hailec answered shortly and went back to scolding my best friend again.

After having our dinner, we decided to stroll for a while before we head back to the baylan's house.

We were preoccupied talking when I  noticed Ignis' eyes went wide with fear.

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked worriedly as I looked at her scared face.

Hailec and Sassy stopped on their tracks and turned around to look back when they heard me.

Cool also stared at me and then to Ignis.

"What's wrong?" Cool asked her.

Ignis pointed at something ahead of us.

Before I can even see what she pointed at, Cool immediately pulled me somewhere to hide.

I also saw Hailec running with Sassy and Ignis was already out of sight.

The whole Kabisera was in chaos as dark smokes invade the place.

"What was that?! How about Ignis?!" I asked Cool, panicking and worried at the same time.

"Ignis is safe. Don't worry about her," he said while peeking beside the wall where we were hiding.

"What's happening?" I asked and tried to take a look as well but Cool immediately pinned me on the wall and put his index finger on his lips, gesturing for me to keep quiet.

I looked around and saw a black smoke passed by.

'The Darkess are here.' He spoke on my mind that caused my eyes to widen.