hapter 0079

Light flooded the small closet, waking Tempest from her restless slumber.

The marks of Tempest’s previous struggle — a dislocated shoulder, bloody hands with torn fingernails and tears trails on Tempest’s face — was there for Sophia’s reincarnated form to see.

“I didn’t realize you had a fear of dark enclosed places or I wouldn’t have shoved you in here for the night.” The black hair beauty said in a somewhat apologetic tone.

“I don’t have claustrophobia.”

“Claustrophobia?”

“Claustrophobia, fear of dark enclosed spaces.”

“I see.”

“I don’t fear the dark. I had an epiphany and was railing against fate.”

“I see.”

Tempest got out of the closet and stretched her sore body. The aches and pains of the night were nothing compared to the jot down memory lane and the disturbing realization that karma has a way of biting people when they least expect it.

Once Tempest was done unkinking herself, the black hair beauty used a wet washcloth to wipe Tempest’s face, then her bloody hands. Afterwards, she popped Tempest’s shoulder back into place.

Tempest winced in pain and the black hair beauty winced alongside her, as if Tempest’s pain was her pain.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done. Pardon my manners, I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name is Tempest. What is yours?”

“Sophia.”

Tempest stiffen at the name. “Oh. Um. The name doesn’t match your appearances.” Tempest blurted out the first thing that comes to mind to cover her confusion, except it didn’t sound any better. Fate. Karma. Damn it.

Sophia continued as if she didn’t notice Tempest’s moment of awkwardness. “Sophia is a… stage name of sorts. It wasn’t the name I was born with, but it one which I am comfortable with.”

“You are right. Tempest isn’t the name I was born with either, but it is the name which embodies the current me. My mother named me after a wise person in our belief, hoping I was smarter than her and wouldn’t repeat the same mistake she made. Sadly, she got a child who has greater problems she had ever encountered, so she gave up. She sent me to a place where she thought would be better for me instead of under her care but it was bad. Very bad. I came worse than when she dropped me off. That’s why, when I had the chance, I change my name to Tempest. I want to erase the expectation of the past and live the life I want to live. I want to be my own person rather than the person everyone expects me to be.” Tempest knew she was rambling, but she couldn’t help herself.

This is Sophia. The outer shell looks different. The current Sophia is an Asian goddess come to life with her flawless white skin Tempest swears people can only get when they go through the Michael Jackson skin whitening procedure, deep black eyes and a pouty lip Tempest seen on Hollywood stars who had collagen injection.

At the core, Sophia remains Sophia. She is still the aloof deposed heiress suffering from catatonia. Ah wait, this current Sophia doesn’t suffer from catatonia, but she retains a regal air of aloofness, as if she is a goddess looking down upon the world.

Knock.

Knock.

Sophia put a finger on Tempest’s lips to silences her then maneuver her to a corner before she answered the door. Tempest was please by her care and concern.

Sophia never talks about her feelings. She always felt words were cheap and written on air. Actions speak louder than words. Therefore, Sophia always shows people her feelings rather than tell them what she feels. Sophia also hates the exaggerated expression of love. The romantic scene of the guy getting on one knee and professing his love, Sophia sneers at the actions and laughs at their foolishness. Instead, she expresses her feelings through small actions anyone not paying attention might miss.

Sophia keeps a pitcher of colder water at her bedside table during the summer when she is awake and herself. Tempest knows for a fact only she wakes up to drink water at night. Once Kaia sleeps, she sleeps. Sophia doesn’t pay attention to her body to notice thirst. The pitcher of water was for her.

Sophia cracked the door open, but it was immediately pushed back to allow a train fo female to enter the room.

“There are big movements in the building right next to us.” A certain corpse dealer announced as she pushed her way in before Sophia could close the door.

“The missing girls everyone was searching for were found in the cellar over there.” The redhead who tossed Tempest into the oven tacked on.

“Rumors has it the brothels has a hand in the kidnapping.” The plain girl added.

“Everything points to that two faced fox, Madam Vynn, being the mastermind behind the kidnapping.” A blond adds with glee. “Ah, you.”

The blond was the last to enter but the first to notice Tempest sort of hiding in the corner of the room.

Tempest sheepishly waved.

Sophia immediately closed the door to her room and tried to kick the blond, but the blond was used to Sophia’s actions so she moved away in time.

“Hi everyone. My name is Tempest. Thank you for taking care of me yesterday.” Tempest waved then bowed her head. She didn’t know the polite method of introducing herself to people in the Cardinal Realm. She could have learned from Ventus if she cared to but she didn’t have anyone she cared about so she ignored etiquette lessons. Now she was regretting her hastily made decision.

“It seems you have met everyone here at one time or another but haven’t had time for proper introductions. Let me remedy the fact.” Sophia stepped in to smooth the situation over. “The loud blond over there is Suzanna. The silly redhead is called Willow and the other red head with blood all over her is called Liv while the plain girl is called Kaia.”

“Damn fate. Why does her sister have the same name? Is it really like those transmigration novels where the heroine always transmigrate into the body of someone with similar names or something like that?” Tempest cursed in her heart.

Their names are almost identical to ones they had when Tempest knew them. Sophia, Kaia and Willow’s name is the same. Susanna’s name was change to Suzanna. One letter difference isn’t much. And Liv. Olivia. Take out the O and the IA at the end and you got Liv from Olivia.

Seeing the stiff Tempest, Suzanna couldn’t help but to pinch her cheeks, bring Tempest’s mind back to the present.

“Hey.”

“Ah, these cheeks are so bouncy and white. It makes me want to pinch it.” Suzanna cooed.

Everyone, “You already are.”

“Oh yea.” Suzanna continued to pinch Tempest’s cheeks.

Tempest tolerated the weird display of affection. Tempest didn’t know what Susanna had to land her in a mental institution, but her symptoms might be a diagnosis as mild bipolar. One moment, Susanna is a cold aloof woman, then the next moment she acts like a child on a sugar high.

Being bipolar seems to be her natural personality since no one did anything to stop her. Everyone waited until Suzanna was done with her displays of affection.

Once it seems like Suzanna wasn’t going to stop any time soon, Sophia took the lead to explain the situation. “Tempest, this building is a brothel. No one in a brothel use their real names, even those doing business with a brothel chose to use a fake name. The name I said previous is the name they chose once they became associated with the brothel. Brothels might be somewhat accepted in the other domains, but in the Magus Alliances, brothels are barely tolerated and only near the borders. The flesh business is looked down upon in the Magus Alliance.”

“I see.” Tempest didn’t understand, but she wanted to use the words Sophia said previously to look sophisticated. She shouldn’t have bothered, though, because no matter how you look at it, there is no sophistication sitting on Suzanna’s lap and being cuddled like a baby.

“No you don’t.” Liv said. She sat down, snatched Tempest out of Suzanna’s embrace and began to give a sisterly noogie. “If you don’t understand anything, ask. Don’t pretend like a know it all.”

“Tyrant!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Olivia is indeed Liv, a damn tyrant. Tempest struggled out of the clutches of the annoying emperor. Olivia was too much of a big bully to be called a queen or empress back then and she still is a big bully even now.

“So you chose the name you have right now instead of it being given to you at birth by your parents.” Tempest reiterated while backing away from the tyrant emperor.

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

“Now that the introductions are finished, let get to the main point. How are we going to sneak her out of here while there is trouble brewing with the brothel?”

“Sneak me out? Aren’t you guys going to take the chance to escape too?” Tempest was troubled. She was the only one who escaped last time. She’d be damn if she survived alone again.

“We can’t. They marked our souls when we… became associated with the brothel. If we were going to escaped, they would activate the mark. If the mark doesn’t kill us right away, then the hunters will.” Willow explained in a casual manner, as if their lives were going to end anyways so why bother struggling. Damn stone druggie. It isn’t time to take the laissez faire attitude right now! Quit smoking the joint and think with the brain god has given you!

“Is there any way to remove it?” Like hell was Tempest going to allow others to hold the life of her sisters. She’d kill them all if she had to.

“If we were bought, then the organization might remove it.”

“I have money!” Tempest said, waving the hand with the space ring energetically. If all it takes is money then she can head into the forest and kill some high level beast for the reward. She would have more if the Chaotic Storm attack didn’t destroy the space bag the bandits had on the earlier.

“I said might. Unless you have another powerful organization as your backer, then I don’t recommend buying us. The Suther Soaring Spirits Alliance will just take your money and enslave you too.” Tempest immediately dropped her hand with a glum look. She didn’t doubt Kaia’s words. Kaia is a pessimist for a reason. When it comes to luck or misfortune, then Kaia is your woman. She’s the second Seina Yamada for a reason.

Pat.

Pat.

“There, there, we’re used to it already. No need to worry for us.” Willow consoled Tempest gently.

“Druggie, get your stone mind out of the cancer infested fog for a minute and think of a solution instead of going with the flow.” Tempest fell back on her favorite admonishment for Willow. She’d forgot how many times she said it in the past. Probably everytime Willow was smoking a joint and getting stoned.

Willow’s drug problem was an issue for Tempest. She saw the effects drugs had on the user as well as their family. She wanted nothing to do with drugs. Willow, on the other hand, smoked like a chimney. Alright, she didn’t smoke that much but she did use it a relaxant for her issues, something along the lines of panic attacks.

They fought about the medicinal use of marijuana, with Tempest opposing its legalization while Willow supports it. It wasn’t after Tempest had done some online research that she begrudgingly admits marijuana does have value.

Still, the admonishment had formed into a habit.

“Crazy, quit trying to kick up a storm everywhere you go.” The current Willow retorted, using the same saying the old Willow used on Athena back then.

“Not kicking up a storm. Trying to find a solution!”

“To the wrong issue.” Sophia gently cut in. “The current problem right now is how to get you out of here. We can’t leave, but you can.”

“But I want-”

“Don’t.” Suzanna stopped Tempest. “We can’t leave, but you can. At least one of us can be happy.”

“But-”

“Who knows.” Liv interrupted, “YOU might fight a powerful guild in the Magus Alliance and come back and free us.”

“Then it is settled. We have to get her out of here before the soldier surrounds the building.”

“They haven’t already?”

“Not yet, but soon. They are busy resettling the kidnapped girls to come to us.”

“Then how do we get her out of her?”

The sisters looked at each, then as one they turned towards Tempest with a gleam in their eyes.

Tempest proved she wasn’t unaware as she seems as she backed away from the group, “Do you dare do what you think you are doing!”

Ten minutes later, Tempest dressed as boy was tossed out the window with a half naked Sophia yelling, “If you don’t have the money, don’t come to a brothel!” She slammed the window closed in a hissy fit, leaving Tempest to receive the jeers of the crowd.

Tempest covered her crying face and ran away in humiliation before the crowd can get a good look at her.

“I will come back and free you guys, this I swear.”