“What was that?” Kevin couldn’t turn his eyes away from the sky.

“Scout golems,” said Queen Qirien. “Terrible creations of that malicious GingerStar.”

She too kept glaring at the sky as intense hatred swelling from the inside. She focused on her breathing, calming herself down.

“Those soulless creatures roaming in this world killing without a shred of conscious,” her clench fists were shaking as the quelled anger came rising back.

“If it wasn’t for him and his creation, we…” her words fell short as she looked down gazing upon the earth.

Kevin saw for himself a queen restraining her anger from blowing up. It made sense for her to resented such creatures. They were the perfect soldiers for world domination. He could imagine the devastation wasted by these golems, like AI robots in the far future. Rather than happening in his original world, the robot apocalypse came attacking a fantasy-laden world.

“GingerStar’s golems are not something to be trifle with, even the Rattleflower Serpent pales in comparison,” said Queen Qirien. “They have come to close to Edelstein, never have they reached this close. I fear that malicious man will soon discover our whereabouts.”

It’s my fault.

A heavy burden rested upon Kevin’s shoulder. He knew those things came for him. He was a liability, a risk to the people under Qirien’s reign. Not until he reached his full potential, he wouldn’t be of use to Qirien and the Vindtra. But his lips were heavy, as he didn’t have the guts to utter those words. Words that would leave him stranded on his own without the aid of these elves-like people.

Fuck!

He cursed at himself for being too useless. The thought of him being aroused towards the queen only made him felt more pathetic. A boner during a crisis, yet he wasn’t man enough to go against these golems or the serpent.

Queen Qirien approached Kevin as she took off her dark green cloak. Her hands moved swiftly wrapping the cloak over Kevin’s shoulder. Kevin’s unfocused gaze was shifting side to side, bewildered about Qirien’s action. 

Queen Qirien tied a nice knot near Kevin’s jugular notch. She gazed upon the face of this man, the last hope of her people and the denizen of Dunia. Her gentle fingers caressed the side of Kevin’s face. She didn’t know why she did it but her intuition pushed her so.

“Shroud yourself with the cloak and utter these words, Os Lig,” said Queen Qirien. “It will shroud you from the eyes of others, make haste, and return to Edelstein.”

He couldn’t believe what he just heard. A Queen self-sacrifice for a stranger not of her own. It didn’t make any sense, no royalty that he knew off would dare do such a thing.

“What about you?” he asked as he even forgot to address her formally.

“The scout drones are too near. I will act as bait and lure them away,” said Queen Qirien.

“But you’re the Queen,” he said as he still felt it was ridiculous. “We could go back together and apply a quarantine for the whole city, they won’t even know we exist.”

Kevin didn’t even notice, but he was already grasping tight over Qirien’s arm. He had no intention of letting her go. 

“No, a Queen’s purpose is to protect the people. It is my duty to be responsible for my title,” said Queen Qirien. “And a sly bastard like GingerStar is a patient man. With those golems in his hands, waiting is a trivial matter.”

“Go now, Kevin,” her strength outmatched Kevin’s meager strength. Her arms easily slipped away from his grasps as she shoved him to moved along.

“Go,” she said. Queen Qirien turned around and fled, leaving behind Kevin as he stared at her back.

He looked down as his fists trembled. His knowledge was full of advantages for him, but everything was useless if it wasn’t practical. He turned around and fled in the opposite direction, heading back to Edelstein.

“Os lig,” he said as he shrouded himself with the cloak disappearing from sight. He ran and ran, perspiring for his breath as his mind clouded by the thought of the Queen.

This is the best.

He thought.

I’m just following orders.

He tried to make sense of it.

I’m the hope of those alvas.

Denial of his own thought and feeling.

But Queen Qirien…

Eventually, his pace slowed down as the thought grew heavier by the step that he took. His body was aching out of nervousness of being caught, yet his heart ached more, thinking about the selfless Queen. Soon, he stopped. He stared down at the earth beneath his feet. He ground his teeth, knowing what he was doing was wrong. A cowardly move no matter how he saw it, but it was logical to go back and return with an adequate strength to fight back. But at what cost? He asked himself.

No, I can’t do this. 

His head kept shaking as his mind was in constant battle. Weighing in the right and the wrong was hard and difficult. In the end, it was all about a single choice. A path that he needed to take.

I can’t let her go. She can’t go on her own.

Kevin knew she was strong to protect herself, and he knew he was merely extra baggage to the lady of the royalty, but he couldn’t run away. The what-if kind of question kept popping inside his head, and it scared him. Scared that he would be the cause of the demise of such a Queen.

For some reason, he knew that if he ran away at this junction of his life, he knew he would do it again in the near future. He bit his lip as he bled, as the pain brought a sense of clarity in him as he decided. He steeled himself as he turned back. Under the guise of the cloak, he ran. Running towards the Queen of the Vindtra.

Deep within Verdeskew Forest, a maiden was running and leaping over bushes as she glided through the forest floor. It wasn’t time for her to attract the attention of those scout drones as she counted the distance between her and Edelstein. Her face was stoic as usual, but her eyes kept shifting the area searching for any unknown lurkers. Her feet were light as she didn’t even break a branch on the ground. 

Then she stopped as she decided it was time. She looked around for a while as her visage showed she was calm, yet her heart was beating wildly as she too couldn’t help but feared being captured by GingerStar. She heard something despicable about that man. A man that was looking for elves. It was all for the sake of quenching his lust and desire over the beauty that these alvas possessed. No woman would like to be such a thing, possession of a man used only for a single purpose. She shook her head at that thought, as no matter what, she valued her own freedom. She took a final gulp of her saliva as she tilted her head to the sky. Taking a deep breath, she then opened her mouth wide as she shouted.

“Ahhh!” she focused her loud voice into a funnel in the air. Her class as the Cherubic Vocalist shone within this moment.

The loud shout echoed within the distance traveling until it reached one-third of the whole forest. Strength beyond the norm as even a normal vocalist couldn’t attempt such a thing. She stood there waiting as she could hear her beating heart knocking over her ribcage as she couldn’t get any anxious than this. Her ears twitched as she heard it from a distance. There was a reason why their ears were pointy, and one of them was their good sense of hearing.

“They are coming.”

Queen Qirien fled as she crossed over the border of Verdeskew Forest. Her olive-green bliaut fluttered by the wind as she raced over the ground of Middlefell Plains. There were no tall trees to hid her beautiful figure as only the swaying tall ferns brushed over her hasty pace.

The running Queen felt a slight curiosity as she glanced towards her back. Above the sky of Verdeskew Forest, she saw a few objects flying towards her. She turned her head back to the front as her distraction worked, and now she needed to lured them away. 

But a hidden force suddenly tackled her catching her off guard. That brief second of letting her guard down made her fell on the ferns. She was flustered and was about to retaliate, but a hand covered her lips.

She glanced at the person daring to tackle her and putting their dirty hands on her precious lips. She stopped her fist from punching as her eyes grew wide.

“Kevin?” a muffled voice underneath Kevin’s hand.

“Shh,” he said as Kevin's hands shrouded the both of them with the dark green cloak.

The scout golems flew above Middlefell Plains as they grouped in four, searching for their lost target. Both of them stood up and ran from the golems, fleeing further into the plains. They ran in silence, heading towards the woods. Yet they stopped as both of them heard the loud snapping noises of broken trees at the distance.

Kevin saw the canopy of the woods moving and swaying as he saw what emerged from it. A hulking entity as tall as the trees. He then heard Qirien’s trembling voice.

“It cannot be. He sent the Devastator.”