MasukLUCIAN Elias had his head resting on the wall, eyes closed, and he was sweating profusely. "Are you okay?" I whispered, staring at chimed worriedly."I'm fine. How long does it take to finish a prayer?""Five hours because she was the Priestess, but we can go. I don't think I want to stay here any longer.""Why?" He opened one eye, squinting at me, "Is it because of the eerie words the people said?""Trouble? Sacrifice?" I scoffed, "I'd rather get my ass out of here before the old man sees me, "The Luna Goddess already sees me as trouble and wants me for sacrifice." I stood. Elias joined me, walking towards the door, and then he froze.I glanced back at him with my eyebrow raised, "Is something wrong?""The car," he replied, "We'll have to wait for the car to be driven back here. I had the guards take it away so it won't arouse suspicion if anyone comes across it.""Still, let's go. We can't be seen sta—""LUCIAN!!" The old man yelled from below, staring straight at me. "Come
LUCIAN "What now?" Elias asked loudly, "I still don't understand why we ar—"I clamped my hand over his mouth, stopping him mid sentence as a temple member glanced up at that moment, looking straight at us.The Temple member frowned turned to the next person beside him, "Did you hear that?""What?" The other person asked, "I didn't hear anything.""I heard something coming from there just now." The member argued, pointing at us."Seems like you are gradually going insane. No one ever goes there. That's like a forbidden place. Be my guest if you want to check it out, but once the old man catches you, you're done here."The member looked like her was going to argue but dropped it and shook his head.I turned to glare at Elias."What?" He said into my hand, frowning at me.I removed my hand nervously, feeling all warm inside. "Just stop talking. ""We might as well go down there and no one would dare come near you.""I'm okay here. Besides, this place reminds me of Reine, so I might a
LUCIAN The entire drive time to the temple was silent with the tension so thick that a knife could literally cut it.I glanced at Elias multiple times, wondering what was going through his head.At some point when I realized he wasn't going to say anything or even attempt at a small talk, I gave up trying to get him to look at me and stared out the window, gripping the necklace tightly like it would give me back Reine if I gripped harder."Elias..." I called,Why?I don't know, I just wanted to talk to him.Even though I was completely taken back by his attitude these past few days which weirdly feels like years ago and I was in a daze, I'd like him to show just a tiny effort, towards me, towards us."We're here," he announced and alighted the car.I sighed, maybe not.I took a second to collect my feelings and throw them to the deepest part of my mind, then made to open the door, when it came open with Elias standing directly behind it.I blanked for a second.Did he really.....?
LUCIANElias has been avoiding me, or maybe just leaving me alone. I couldn't say.I almost never see him except catch glimpses around.He's everywhere except his room, especially when I was awake.Like these past few days, I came back from a run, and instead of meeting an empty room like it always was, Elias was standing in the room, and his back was turned to me.My heart skipped a beat, I wasn't expecting him. I'd pretty much gotten used to the idea of being alone."Elias?" I called tentatively"We're leaving in a few hours," he turned, a slight frown on his face, "So pack whatever you need and get ready.""Leaving?" I matched his expression."Yes, leaving." He narrowed his eyes at me like he couldn't quite believe I'd be asking that."Well....." I pressed, "Where are we going to?""The temple." He said in a dismissive tone."The temple? Why are we going there? Are you now with them? Forcing me to do the ritual?""No, Lucian," he replied through gritted teeth, "Even though I wasn
*** The Kingdom of Kuragari****Elf Edyrm laid down in the middle of a flower garden, enjoying the icicles falling on his face when suddenly, his view was blocked.He frowned, squinting his eyes at Elf Vulwin, another Elf on King's council."Why are you here?" Elf Edyrm sat up, "Did you lose your way or something?""I've been frequenting your house these past few days, and each time I went, the lower elfs you have, tell me you've not been home. Where have you been?"Edyrm scoffed, eyeing Vulwin, "I don't think I have to tell you where I've been. It's a free kingdom, I can go wherever.""Edyrm," Vulwin said firmly, wriggling his brows, "You know you don't have to be like that around me."Edyrm rolled his eyes and sighed, "I was just catching some fun, that's all."Vulwin's ears perked up, and he scooted closer, dropping his voice down to a whisper, "What mischief have you been up to?"Edyrm shifted on his butt, staring at Vulwin warily. He wouldn't exactly call the both of them clos
LUCIAN I sat up, the world spinning, and my head banging with a terrible headache."Hey," Elias whispered, looking at me with worry, "Are you okay?"I frowned, very surprised at his newfound attitude. This was really happening, and it wasn't a from a dream I just woke up from now?I blinked, staring at him.I realized he was expecting an answer from me, but I couldn't bring myself to say a word. Aside from my closed up parched throat being a hindrance, this was weird..I wasn't thinking before, I lost all my thought processes, but this was weird.It's completely weird.I can't deal with Elias being gentle with and not looking at me like he's plotting my murder or different other ways to punish me.No, I couldn't do this. Whatever happened to me must have helped in resetting my head.Elias frowned, passing me a cup of water.I collected the water from him and drank greedily. How the hell did I even land myself in a hostel.The frown on Elias’s face deepened. He stood, looking a







