“Oh no no no no no no. What do I do?” Mary was pacing in circles as she waited for the trio to arrive.
“Hey, what are you freaking out about?” Ice suddenly appeared behind Mary as he emerged from the shadows.
“Eek!” Mary jumped in surprise, her shoulders tensing when she heard the familiar yet terrifying voice.
“H-hello.” Mary squeaked as she quickly backed away from Ice, kowtowing at a 90 degree angle as she ushered Ice to sit down.
“Hey, don’t I get special treatment too? I was the one who helped you.” A duo appeared, the shorter one pouting as she sat down.
“O-oh, h-hello….” Mary quickly kowtowed again, sweating as she avoided eye contact. Unfortunately, she caught a glimpse of the frozen pale blue eye.
“Eek!” Mary shuffled away farther, still kowtowing.
“Well, your decision?” Anne sat down, asking with her usual stone cold face and tone.
“W-well, forgive my impudence, my gri- dear patrons, but can I please have the antidote? I-I s-swear that I will do anything you want in return!!!” Mary squeaked just loud enough for them to her going fortepiano as she spoke this.
Mary was once again the victim of Anne’s eyes. “Well, I thought so-” Anne scoffed, “-but, no I won’t.”
Her voice rang crisp and clear, as clear as the piercing summer morning sun.
Mary choked and thought she heard wrong. “Pardon?”
“I said that I won’t give you the antidote. Please keep in mind that I am a very impatient person, I really don’t like repeating myself more than once.” Anne responded icily, her eyes weighing down on Mary, who already became a shivering chipmunk.
“Well, what big sis means is that she wants answers out of you. Then, after that, she will give you the antidote.” Ruby coughed, immediately correcting Anne.
“I-is that s-so?” Mary’s vision was starting to spin, not knowing what to do.
“Well, hurry up then, speak up.” Anne commanded.
“A-ah, o-ok.” Mary hurriedly brought out leaflets of -- leaves??
“What is this?” Ice questioned, scanning the leaflet with judging eyes.
“W-well, my life’s work.” Mary responded, hurrying to open the book to reveal the contents to the 2 dissatisfied people.
“Hmmm, you’re quite smart despite how you look, Mary.” Ice flipped through the leaflet as he replied.
“Mhmm, this is amazing!” Mary handed the leaflet to Anne who briefly flipped through it as well.
“Unexpectedly, you might be useful. You might just have the talent for information seeking.” Anne threw the leaflet back to Mary.
“W-well, thank you very much.” Mary blushing.
Apparently, a mad scientist named Theodore Zinon did human experiments to achieve his dream and successfully created the superior beings. When he did, one superior named Zenon, a snow tiger, aspired to be the king and overthrow Theodore, killing him with his claws, later eating him for the celebrity feast held a day later. And he became the first king of all time. And, soon after, it became a tradition that the royal heir, no matter the gender or species, had to kill the king in order to succeed the throne. Every year, games called Ludus Thronis were held to determine the heir, and whoever killed the king first, no matter how dirty the tactic is, will succeed to the throne.
Kolias had 4 seasons, summer, autumn, winter and spring but most of the time, it is cold as it is placed the fourth closest to the K-type dwarf star, which it orbits, so most of the superior beings could stand cold and some even can’t stand heat. And Kolias always kidnapped people from planets, most notably, Earth, which was the closest planet with organisms that were adaptable to various environments. Every year agents had to kidnap new lab subjects every year, the 20 gates were opened, and each of them went to 20 different planets to kidnap organisms, no matter what species, they kidnaped what they needed.
Why do they go kidnap yearly, you ask? Well, that is because an average of ten thousand lab subjects die every year so only 10% of the subjects are alive. Every year, they kidnap ten thousand people, and ten thousand other organisms.
How do they get away with it? Well, they kidnap periodically and do not do it all at once. Failed test subjects will be sent to create an alibi that they kidnap for whatever reason. They threaten the failed test subjects to torture them to death both phisically and mentally if they don’t comply.
As you all know, Kolias is a horrible planet and like any other organization, there exists people who wish to eliminate Kolias, specifically the superior beings. And there was an organization for all those who wish to do just that. It's called E.F.K..
“Okay, now that we’re done. I’ll give you the antidote. By the way, burn that notebook of yours or just hand it to one of us.” Anne handed Mary the notebook and waited for her response.
“Oh my god, thank you so much! I’ll make sure to do just that, I’ll hand it to you after this.” Mary kowtowed over and again.
After Mary finished, Anne opened her mouth once again. “Well, Mary. That antidote was fake so you don’t have to worry about dying or anything.”
“WAIT, WHAT??!!, uhum, is the antidote you gave us also fake?” Ice’s face was painted with shock, shouting suddenly. However, as soon as he saw Ruby putting her finger to her mouth, he whispered.
“Well, no.” Anne put out her hand towards Ice, as if asking for something.
When Ice realized what she was talking about, he handed the vial of poison she gave him and went to a nearby patch of grass and poured the whole bottle on the grass. Instantly, like magic, the patch of grass turned vantablack, and it wasn’t just a small patch either, it was at least the size of a house.
Mary, Ruby and Ice all gasped, gaping at the obscene sight.
“Well, you believe me now?” Proceeding to pouring another vial of clear dew-like liquid onto the grass. And, just like before, the patch of vantablack disappeared once again.
Mary stumbled, falling again. Ice just stood there, shell-shocked, Ruby starred at the scene, having a seemingly calm face. And amidst all that, Anne sat back down relaxed, taking out another vial of poison and handed it to Ruby.
“Big sis, you are so amazing! How did you make that happen!” Ruby exclaimed, breaking the ice among the four.
Anne and Ice suddenly stood up, breaking away from the daze, both Anne and Ice grabbed either maidens’ hands and brought them to a rock hidden behind a shadow.
“What’s-” Mary started but shut her mouth at Anne shaking her head, piercing her with her eye, daring her to utter another word.
After a while, they heard footsteps approaching them. The four stiffened, holding in their breaths. And among the four, one looked like she was going to faint.
As the footsteps drew near, mutterings could be heard. But oddly, when they reached the cave, they came to an abrupt stop. Silence continued for 5 full minutes and Mary felt cold sweat dripping down her spine, an ice-cold hand still covering her mouth. Mary didn’t dare to move an inch.
After a while, the voices began to clear and the four could make out what seemed to be 2 people conversing in Kolasi, the international language of Kolias.
All four of the childrens’ muscles tensed as the footsteps drew nearer and nearer. ‘TAK, TAK, CRUNCH, CRUNCH’ The heavy footsteps crunched the leaves below them, the world seemingly stopping for an eternity. Only footsteps could be heard.
And, finally, the people outside started to converse in English, which was also known by the majority of Kolian.
“Well, you said that you heard something here! I want to go back and sleep, you know!” A gruff voice whined.
“We just came back from vacation. And, I’m definitely sure I smelled something similar to a human’s scent nearby. Trust me!” Another voice replied to the whining person.
“Well, I can’t trust that nose of yours anyway! I’m going back!” the owner of the gruff voice, Asper, started to walk away.
“Wait, Asper! Let’s search around first!” The other voice nagged.
“Well, fine, But if you’re wrong, you’re treating me to some food for a whole month, yeah?”
“Fine...” The other voice grumbled.
As the four eavesdropped, Mary could feel her heart stop as she gulped.
