The very next day, Queen Feu immediately sent Blaze and a few guardias to come and fetch Ignis and me at Hailec's house.
"The Queen is worried about Princess Fhyra's safety, since your home is quite near in the Kabisera. I hope the punong baylan won't take it negatively if we ask the Princess and her muranda to come back to the palace?" Blaze respectfully told Hailec who was seated on the couch on the receiving area of his house.
It's a good thing that his house was huge. We were quite startled to see Blaze and the guardias early this morning.
Seeing Cool here would be a little understandable but seeing a mundane like Sassy here?
So we needed to mask her presence in case the others would notice and Hailec hid her somewhere inside the house.
Ignis, on the other hand finally gained consciousness this morning as well and Hailec assured me that she was fine.
So here we are, facing Blaze and the five guardias sent by Queen Feu.
"It's not that I held it against the Queen, since I do understand her worries. But it would still depend on the Princess' decision, whether she would go back or stay here for a little longer. I promise that I can guarantee her safety." Hailec said with a face devoid of any expression.
Blaze nodded and turned his head towards me, as if asking for my final decision.
"Please do tell the Queen that I'll be staying here for a few more days. I would be safe here around the punong baylan." I told him, sounding a little less hostile than I did before.
Cool said, Blaze is an ally. I better start treating him a little better. As long as he stops making his moves on me, we can be friends.
"Well then, I'll send your messages to the queen. We'll be taking our leave now. Thank you for giving us your grace, Punong Baylan, your Highness." Blaze said as he performed a curt bow among the guardias behind him.
The guardias were the first ones to turn around and left through the door while Blaze's stares lingered on me for a while.
"He's here?" he asked after all the guardias got out.
"He is," I answered, pertaining to Cool who was watching us in the conference-like room by the hologram-like device courtesy of Hailec's power.
"Great." He said and shifted his gaze on Hailec who was keenly observing him.
"Please, help the commandant in keeping the Princess safe."
"You don't need to ask. It's our duty as her guardians." Hailec answered confidently.
Blaze nodded on agreement.
"Have you found the last guardian? I've been looking everywhere but got no news about him." Hailec's eyes dilated upon hearing Blaze mention the last guardian.
"The guardian would appear at the right time. You don't need to search for him." Hailec played along.
Ignis and I exchanged meaningful looks as we silently watched the men staring at each other in front of us.
"Count, we have to go." Their stare-off was interrupted with one of the guardias.
"I shall take my leave, then." Blaze said without taking his eyes on Hailec who does the same.
When Blaze finally left his house, Hailec immediately locked down all the doors and other possible ways to come in and out.
Cool went down from upstairs and gave me a meaningful look.
"What's wrong?" he asked the baylan.
"Do you trust the count?" Hailec asked back instead.
I stared at them confused.
"Why?" Cool asked, confusion written all over his face.
"I repeat, do you trust the count?" Cool stared at him for a while before he shook his head.
His answer stunned me. I thought he trusted him?
'I thought you trust him?!'
'When did I told you that I trust him?' he answered calmly.
I looked at him incredulously.
'You're unbelievable!'
"Good, because he was effortlessly replicated," Hailec said and all of our eyes widened.
"What do you mean?" I asked, bothered by his words.
"That wasn't the Count. That was a darkess imitating him." I was so startled, I almost lost my balance. Good thing that Ignis was beside me, she helped me regain myself again.
"That's why I've been asking you if you trust the Count. Because if you do, it might cause trouble for us in the future. He was easily replicated. Even I almost missed it." Hailec said and started to walk upstairs.
We followed him inside his conference room.
"How did you know he was a darkess?" Ignis asked with curiosity.
"He made a mistake of saying he was looking for the last guardian."
"What's wrong with that?" I asked in confusion.
"Guardians were raised as an independent individual. We were taught not to depend on the other guardians in protecting you. Damn! I didn't notice that." Cool responded with an enlightened expression.
"That's right. If he was truly the count, he wouldn't search for the other guardians. He must only think of how he can protect you."
"Wow. You are really smart." I said, giving him a thumbs up in my mind.
"Where's Sassy anyway? Where did you hide her?" I asked when I realized that she's still not around.
Hailec evaded my eyes and told me she's asleep in her room. But I don't buy that. I checked her room earlier before I followed him and Ignis in facing Blaze and the guardias.
I didn't probe any longer since I knew he wouldn't do anything to harm my friend.
I can at least see that he cares about Sassy even though he keeps on saying otherwise. He just wouldn't accept it to himself that he cares about Sassy more than he does on everyone.
"Ignis, you rest a little more, so that you can fully recover and you," Hailec said and pointed at me with his last word.
"You start training with Cool. We need you to be able to control that energy-consuming ability of yours." He instructed and gave Cool a nod before he left the room.
Ignis bowed down a little and excused herself as well.
"Now what?" I asked Cool when we were left alone in the room.
"Let's head to the training room." He said and led the way out of the room.
I didn't how long it had been, but numerous bodies of fantasians from all tribes were scattered on the floor. Some were filled with blood but some were not. I even lost count as to how many darkess I had killed.This was indeed a bloody war.I stopped to stare at the battleground after finishing off another dark shadow from the darkess.My eyes immediately met Lord Dorchadas' green eyes."You really wanted to see this bloody war? Dear, you should've just surrendered, then all of this wouldn't be happening." He said with a calm smile on his face."If you didn't want to destroy Narte Fantasia, this won't be happening either," I answered boldly."You're a feisty one, huh. Just like your mother." My eyes widened when I heard him mentioned my mom."Oh? Nobody told you why I wanted to destroy your tribes?" He said as he crawled around me.I was following his every move while taking into consideration that Princess Umbra was just inches away from us."I wanted your mother. I always did. But s
We've been battling non-stop for straight three days and Lord Dorchadas haven't ceased in any of his attacks.We were all tired, deprived of sleep, and absolutely famished.But what we were so worried about was Hailec. He was the one who was replenishing our energies and personas again and again. And now, it's taking a toll on him."Just rest for a while, will you?!" Sassy scolded him when he insisted to help us again after fighting with another packs of wolves and Pillies."Sassy's right, Hailec. Rest for a while, we can still manage." Cool said as he started to heal the injured guardias.I wanted to help so bad since I had already mastered this healing technique, however, if I do that, Lord Dorchadas would realized that I had the ability of a glacia as well.And I can't afford that for now. That was my trumpcard so far. So all I can do is sit beside Hailec and try to let him absorb some of my energy.He was panting so hard, and bullets of sweats crowded his face. He was already tired
I was panting hard after I finished off another set of pillies sent by Lord Dorchadas.'How 'bout now? Do you think you're near enough?' I asked Cool.'I don't think so. We're in the middle of something that looks like a forest.' He answered which caused my shoulder to sagged in disappointment. I exasperatedly sighed and continued walking, mentally cursing the Darkess for this tiring situation we're in.Seriously? Just how far are we from each other?'Don't you think they had fooled you? Maybe they didn't bring you back here.''If that was the case we can't communicate like this.' I answered.I groaned loudly when I saw another set of pillies approaching but as they came closer I realized they were not common pillies like what I have been battling for hours now. These creatures were atleast three times bigger than the normal ones and they have sharper and longer teeth and claws."Son of a bitch. You've got to be kidding me." I muttered in a low breath as I stared at the five huge creat
"Take off the laso." Lord Dorchadas ordered to no one in particular while his eyes remained on me.Suddenly, two dark moving shadows came towards me from the darkness to remove the laso around my wrists and my feet. After finally being free, I stood up and gently massaged my wrist.I'll take care of this later.It looks like the darkess had no idea that I had a persona of a glacia too. Well, not like anyone knew about it, except Cool of course."I'm interested as to how you want to play this so-called game of yours, Princess," I smirked at his remark as I cockily tilted my head to the side to show him one of my confident smiles."You wanted to see my abilities? Right? Then, I'll show you.""How?" He asked, his green eyes slowly turning to slits once again because of curiosity."Take me back to my group," I said nonchalantly and I saw how surprise and wickedness danced along on his face."And why would I do that?" He asked, challenging me.I rested my back on the wall and crossed my arm
"Fhyra!" I heard Cool and the others shouted in panic.I thought it was just because I was using too much power but no.It wasn't.I realized that when I felt a black smoke engulfed me whole."No... No... No! Fhyra!"'Fhyra, fight back. Please.' My eyes flew open when I heard Cool's voice inside my mind.I tried to fight back but I can't move my whole body.I feel so drained.'I c-can't.' I answered.And I felt a gushing wind under my feet before darkness finally consumed my consciousness.I woke up in a very dark place. My hands and feet were all tied tightly.I felt so weak.I think this has something to do with me using too much of my ability earlier. Altough my persona was strong, it still have it's own limitations. And that was my first time emitting fire from my mouth and my body was on full blaze.Of course, it would drained me.I tried moving my hands behind but I immediately felt a stinging pain against my wrist."Shit! Please. Please, don't let it be a laso." I muttered under
"Please take care." Granny said for the nth time as she was sending us off."We will, Granny.""Please, return safe and sound." She said worriedly to everyone.Everyone nodded and gave their farewell bows and hugs to Granny and their families.We would be going out of the palace today. We made sure first that the defense of this place was strong enough to keep everyone safe before we decided to go.Granny faced Cool after exchanging goodbyes with the others."I know you would do this even without me asking but please. Please take care of my granddaughter and come back safely." She said as she sweeps off some hair strands away from Cool's face.I smiled with how intimate Granny and Cool is. I heard Granny was the one who raised him, that explains their familiarity and intimacy."Go on. We won't be delaying you anymore. Please keep safe and get back with our people safe and sound." Granny said as she waved her last goodbye.We turned our backs from the people and face the gigantic ice ga