CHAPTER 47 -THE OPPOSITE- (1)

 

   CHARLOTTE BAMFORD 

 

   Upon many fierce battles and decisions, the day that we all awaited was finally here. The day that we would all travel to another dimension and save the general of this continent, times where we had to sweat blood and let out tears just to get to this moment. 

 

   My grandfather–or should I say Captain Dale–had told us to take the day off, to rest before the big day. However, the only problem was that I didn’t know what to do. Back then when someone would tell me to take a day off I would normally spend it like any other, training or practicing my magical powers. But now it was a mystery for me to even think of a way to do so. 

 

   During the day of the anomaly in the dungeon, I received reports that the monsters had been acting weird since our encounter with them in the lower floors. We didn’t make it to the goal we wanted to make it to but we achieved something greater, communication and strategies for our upcoming battles in an alien dimension. 

 

   Though, I normally would want no battles against these so called higher-beings, I’m sure there would be a problem if there wasn’t. 

 

   I clenched my fist of excitement, thinking about my understanding of Spirit magic, something that took me years to even get a single hour to use with lower-ranked spirits and now, I could use it with middle-ranked spirits. Along with many other restrictions that it has, such as I can’t use the power from the living but only the dead, any higher than middle-rank would take more stress on my body than anything else right now. 

 

   Now all there was to do was to master my affinities with my Spirit magic, combining those two equations means a bigger problem risk of doing. Yet, I didn’t care about the cost of doing it. No, all I cared about was the time set that I needed to master it and in an efficient way. 

 

   I shaked my head left and right, making those plans put on queue, because right now I needed to focus on the search party. Hard but lightly slapping both sides of my face till it stung, it hurt. However, now all my attention is all on the mission and nothing more like it should be. 

 

   Turning the corner of the hallway, deep down in the castle, there was the dark corridor that still brought me chills. The lone torches that barely lit up the walk path, the sole wooden door at the end, everything was just scary. 

 

   There was a reason why I was here. Earlier when I had left the dungeon, there was a soldier looking for me through the castle grounds where I’d stay for treatment. It was no ordinary guard, the soldier’s armor resembled that of the new prototypes that Layla had constructed to only those who were powerful enough to handle the weight of the armor. Which meant there were indigo ring wearers, Vassals. 

 

   Vassals, beings that were made to surpass the Espions in every way there is. Magical power, mana, attributes, knowledge, experience, ect. The human and demi-human monarchs had decided that there needed to be another form of power to their command; they thought that the Espions loyalty had been pledged to Alter. 

 

   They have been announced to the public just 3 days ago, only four have been officially demonstrated to the public. One of each kingdom, all of different ages and personalities. I wonder how the Espions reacted to this sudden event, I thought, already being two feet away from the wooden door that contained the creator of the mana rings. 

 

   As I resolved myself to knock, an unlocked sound came from the other side to be opened later by a tall and fit man. The black royalty clothes that lay on his fit physique, his black hair comb backwards while complementing his black eyes. No, no, no. Charlotte what are you thinking, stop at this moment. I pushed those thoughts to the side and in the second I felt something coming from him that was different from any other person with a mana ring. This person was not in the Espions league but in a different league himself, with that mana and aura oozing from him make me believe that he could be far beyond Alter as well. 

 

   “Remember Layla, time is ticking.”  He said in a threatening manner that when he sensed me, his face betrayed him. The astonished expression that was carved in his face along with his slightly widened eyes. Did you really not sense me earlier? Even when I was just a couple of centimeters away from the door?

 

   He stood there, frozen in place like his mind was processing my presence here. A slight bow, before leaving quickly. His footsteps echoed down the corridor with him. 

 

   That was odd…? 

 

   Was there a reason as to why he should’ve left like that? Wait, why was he here in the first place? The one who called me from the demi-human kingdom. 

 

   Hmm… It's quite confusing if you ask me. 

 

   Not thinking much about the current situation, I remembered why I was here in the first place. Turning my body to the already opened door only to find the multi-colored eye girl there leaning against the door frame looking at me with tired eyes, “Well princess, you sure took your time haven’t you? Now let's head inside, we have a couple of things to talk about.” Waving her hand towards me. 

 

   When entering the room, I noticed a couple of things that had changed since the last time we met. It seemed more hectic than usual, a lot more tools layed around the room that made it hard not to fall on. “Messy,” I muttered, looking at every possible thing that would make me fall if I didn’t pay attention where I stepped on.

 

   Layla gave me a scary look, that even her sarcasm sounded horrifying. 

 

   “Well my bad, I know this place isn’t suited for a princess unlike me.” 

 

   Crap, I angered her. 

 

   I tried calming her down, “Layla, I didn’t mean it like that, you know this.” 

 

   Her pink her that fell on her shoulders levitated, then she pinched my cheeks while pulling them outwards. It hurt. Layla pinched so hard that my cheeks were dirty when she stopped, I took a moment before speaking. Rubbing my swollen cheeks I thought of many things that had happened these past days, something that felt so unreal like a fantasy that you would read from novels or books… or like the book that I picked up from here. 

 

   During the days I stayed at the castle for treatment, boredom was the only thing keeping me from getting distracted from the rest of the world. Yet, it was getting old, the feeling I mean. Hours and hours spent on nothing but thinking of the possibilities of the future that hold beyond that portal to the other dimension. 

 

   I needed something to sway my mind from those thoughts, I felt like I had something to do at that moment. The feeling of the book when I took it out of my spatial magic I developed, I remember it well. The feeling of curiosity and excitement of what was ahead of the book, the pages. 

 

   When I turned the first page, it was blank. Nothing was written in it, white color was the only thing that was there. 

 

   Strange, I thought. 

 

   I turned to the next page, this time there were words there. Filling the whole page, top and bottom. I began to read, word by word, phrase by phrase, sentence by sentence. Sometimes there would be times where I would reread the whole page just to understand the meaning behind it, sometimes I would get it in one go. 

 

   But I didn’t get to finish the book, I was only a couple of pages in. Three hours had passed without me noticing it, when I came to a pause the Vassal was already in front of me, waiting for my attention.

 

   The decision was made, I would read it when I would have breaks during the mission in the other dimension.

 

   Turning to Layla I said, “Hey Layla, is there a reason for a Vassal to come and visit you at this time?”

 

   Judging by his words I couldn’t find a single answer for that, ‘time is ticking’, Huh? What could this mean to him or Layla. 

 

   No, Layla already knows what that means just by looking at her uneasiness. The way she grabbed her tools with a shaky hand, the sweat that dripped down from her face when she didn’t even work. There must be something that is happening in this kingdom that I might not know. 

 

   “That is not the reason why I called you here, though for a Vassal being here was uncalled for.” She was right, in the first place I came here to listen to whatever she had to say but the appearance of a Vassal here has made me unrail from the fact she had.

 

   Quickly agreeing with her, I waited for the next words she would release from her mouth. Nothing came from her mouth, no words but only the sound of the tools doing their thing resonated. 

 

   Curious, I tried to peek at what she was working on but failed to grasp what it was. A white light enveloped whatever she was working on that when I tried to look it blinded me for a moment. Rubbing my eyes with the pain it came with, feeling Laya’s eyes looking at me with disappointment even though I didn’t directly see her.

 

   I heard a sigh being let out while I still rubbed my eyes, feeling a little bit better, I stopped from touching my eyes any further. “So what do you think about the book?” Layla asked, still holding her eyes on the table with the lighten tools. 

 

   How does she—, I stopped. Of course she would know, which I find it a little creepy at the same time. 

 

   Before I answered, I stared at a picture that was refrained from anyone or anything from the room. Hidden deep in a corner where only Layla is allowed but with my eyes it wasn’t hard to find. Posted on the wall—probably not even big enough to see from ten feet away—showed an environment totally different from ours; from the continent of Afreon. 

 

   With the alien environment, there were four different silhouettes. I focused my eyes even more that I tried to even inject mana into them to make a sense of the picture. Two boys and two girls, no older than six years old were in the picture. Then I realized who one of the girls was, it was none other than Layla.

 

   I was in amusement that the person who I was childhood friends with had a picture with other kids who I don’t know other than with me, I was baffled. 

 

   “Are you going to answer my question?” 

 

   Question what question—, suddenly remembering the question Layla asked me earlier.

 

   “Ah, you mean about the book? What about it?” I said, trying to sound like I didn’t know what book it was. 

 

   The pink haired girl only looked at me with disbelief. Layla was smart but I know I could fool her if I wanted too, I thought to myself.

 

   Layla then opened a drawer, picked up something rather small and showed it to me with a malice smile. “Oh, then that means you don’t want your mana ring back?” 

 

   As soon as my eyes landed on the mana ring I felt extremely nervous and excited about it, the color for my ring has changed! 

 

   But to get it back I had to put down the facade I was going with. A defeated sigh left my mouth as I told Layla what my progress was on the book. 

 

   I told her that I didn’t even finish the sixth page much less even start it, yet I didn’t even read it to satisfy my curiosity about the book in the first place; I read it to decipher the words she said when I first tried to read it. 

 

   “But I think that the boy has suffered enough for what his life is going through. If I could ever meet that boy, I would tell him that he was doing a good job and to never give up.” That's what I truly felt, even so I only read through a couple of pages, even if I read all the pages I would still think and feel the same. 

 

   If that same boy were to live—if there was a possibility of me meeting him—I would set him in the right path, if he were to go down the wrong one, if I had to pay with my life, I would. 

 

   That’s how I truly felt. 

 

   Keeping those feelings away inside of me made me feel like I was cheating somehow, it felt like I was only looking at a part of the picture instead of the whole thing. 

 

   The multi-colored eye girl took a moment to swallow the words that hold the truth, I tried studying her feelings, her face. Many emotions that I wasn’t really familiar with bloomed out of her, but there was one emotion I knew. Relief. 

 

   She held her hand out, awaiting mine as a response to the thing she wanted to give me. Curiously, I obliged, what fell on the palm of my hand made me unveil the excitement and joy that I was feeling earlier. 

 

   It was my mana ring.

 

   Though it was colorless, I knew it was mine. The texture and feeling of the ring told me otherwise, that this was my ring. 

 

   “Are you worshiping a ring?” Layla said with a hint of sarcasm, she was creeped out by it. “Put it on now and try to use your affinities here.” 

 

   With the mana ring on my right hand, over my middle finger, I hesitated. With it came the negative thoughts that I thought that could become true. However, I didn’t need to worry about those thoughts becoming real, if they did then I would cross the bridge when it came to it.

 

   Not wanting to waste anymore time, I adjusted the r magical ring into my finger. Waiting like something phenomenal was going to happen, the multi-colored eye girl conjured a dome shaped shield around me. Was she trying to lessen the damage to the castle or was she trying to save her lab? 

 

   That thought had me feeling a little bit of pain but whatever the reason is I will find out later. 

 

   In the same moment, I felt a cooling sensation that ran down into my hand, chest and which ended up in my veins. This feeling was otherworldly, something that I haven’t experienced before, it was kind of addictive if I had to be honest.

 

   The view around me changed, it became brighter like colors had been added to my eyes. Even the darkest corners that were here in the lab are more visible than before. It was amazing.

 

   I tried clenching my fist to verify if my vision was the only thing that improved but I was wrong, clenching both of my hands I realized the power that came with it. 

 

   Was this the power that the Espions feel all the time? 

 

   That is when I started to realize the color of my ring. I wasn’t the only one who noticed it too, I turned to face Layla to see if the ring had malfunctioned but what her face expression said otherwise.