"There it is… Altera Island…"
Raven was on the main deck of the aircraft, examining Altera Island as if this was the first time he has taken notice of it. Rena was by his side, looking at the island. "I'm surprised this island is actually floating. Why is that?"
"That's something I'd like to know, also." Raven said, looking to Rena.
They were at the edge of the island, watching as the scouting party went onto the island to see if there were any signs of life. Elsword kept his sights forward while the rest of the soldiers watched the sides and back. The soldiers sounded very scared, but Elsword couldn't help but laugh. "Relax, you guys! It's not as if anything will come at us!"
Eventually, their search ended once they reached the other end of the island after 5 hours of endless walking. Elsword sent a soldier to go and report to Raven regarding the status of the island, but as soon as he turned to walk back, he felt a strange stinging pain at the back of his head and everything blacked out. He didn't see who knocked him out, but he knew for sure it wasn't one of the soldiers. The soldiers knew that if a person was going to attack either the captain or general, he was literally asking for a death wish.
"Ow… my head…" Elsword whined as he attempted to sit up and open his eyes. As he started to get his eyes to focus on what was around him more clearly, Elsword realized he wasn't on the island anymore. He was in an extremely large dome like room where there were transparent walkways circling what appeared to be a very large throne in the middle of the place. At the end of the walkways were strange machines that glowed a beautiful hue of colors that change once in a while from red, to yellow, to green, to blue, and so on. Elsword stood in awe of the area and attempted to look for his soldiers, but was unable to see anyone of his men.
"Ah, so the captain's finally awake." A woman's voice echoed in the room.
His eyes shot towards the supposed area the voice came from and he saw a woman with silver hair sitting on the throne and looking down on him with seriousness. Feeling threatened just by the look, Elsword reached for his blade only to realize it was missing.
A giggle came from behind the woman. "Are you looking for this?" A young lady with purple hair, sitting on a staff, and floating around the silver haired woman was clasping onto Elsword's blade and swinging it around playfully. "Little boys shouldn't be playing with sharp things. They can poke their eyes out!"
"Give that back!" Elsword demanded to the lady.
The lady stuck her tongue out playfully. "Oh? And what are you going to do about it? Cry?"
The silver haired woman looked to the purple haired lady and raised her hand. "Aisha, please. No more taunting our guest."
Aisha's cheeks puffed up in disbelief. "Eve, you're becoming too soft for your own good, I swear! At this rate, you won't be here for long…!"
Elsword started watching their interaction, wondering what in the world was going on. Aisha and Eve were talking among themselves, leaving Elsword out of the frey. It gave him a good enough opportunity to look for a way out, but his attention immediately went back to the two after hearing silence from them. His eyes gazed into the eyes of Eve and she looked back into his. Her serious demeanor answered Elsword's curious look.
"I am Eve. Welcome you to Altera Island, my domain…" Eve mentioned, watching as Aisha slowly inched her way to Elsword to give the sword back. Elsword glared at Aisha and swiftly took his sword back while Aisha gave off a glare of her own and sticking out her tongue back to him. He then turned his attention to Eve again, his tone of voice now in amazement. "Your domain, huh? You've come to rule over Altera?"
Aisha smirked. "How else is Altera able to float in the sky? You can thank Queen Eve for that!"
Eve turned her attention to Aisha. "Aisha, please. I wish to have a word with the captain. Why don't you go and check on his men?"
Hearing Eve, Elsword gasped and ran to the edge of the walkway he was standing on. Anger engulfed his very being. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY MEN?"
"Calm yourself, captain." Eve answered. "Your men are resting well. They are eating heartily as we speak."
Confusion eventually took him over and he just stared at Eve in disbelief. "…wha?"
Slowly, Eve stood up from her throne and floated down to Elsword. A hand signal answered his unnatural question. "Come." She merely said.
Aisha floated and smiled to Eve, snapping her fingers and teleporting away. "I shall be going on ahead."
Eve walked through the walkways and Elsword, being the more curious of where his men were, followed right behind her. She turned her head to glance back at the ever interested Elsword and a smile formed on her face. "All that you see here was crafted by my family."
"Really now?" Elsword asked.
Eve weakly chuckled. "Well… more like the royal court, but everyone had a hand in all this. Even I had a hand in it."
They continued through the walkways until they were greeted by a corridor to another part of the area. Elsword watched as the walkway glowed with a light blue hue, revealing a way through the halls they traveled through. During their walk, Eve continued explaining how the structure was built. "…with the technological advances my people had, we were able to build all this under Altera Island."
"Wait…" Elsword sounded, "We're UNDER Altera Island?"
"Of course. Where else would all this be?"
He shrugged his shoulders and Eve just merely smiled as they continued on walking. Eventually, they started hearing the sounds of happy gorging from Elsword's men eating food. Along with the men were small androids that had four legs and were running around with trays on top of their heads. Elsword was amazed with what was happening in front of his eyes, then turned to Eve. "You made all this food for my men?"
She looked to Elsword, not appearing even slightly surprised by his reaction. "Of course. We have been expecting visitors for the longest while. When we found out that there were people arriving onto the island, the androids here were more than happy to create food."
"Androids, huh?" His eyes widened and then turned to Eve. "Then… you and your kind must be the long forgotten Nasod race!"
Eve frowned, hearing those words from Elsword. He gasped and shook his head, trying to comfort her in anyway possible. "I-I-I didn't mean it that way! For the longest time, there haven't been any traces of awaked Nasod for a long time, and-"
"Don't worry. I understand, Captain." Eve said. "After all, I'm one of the last 'living' Nasods. All the others were officially made by me."
Elsword smiled. "I'm very impressed, your highness! You must have knowledge that even surpasses human intellect!"
"Honestly, I still have a lot to learn. So really, I don't have a lot of knowledge to hold onto."
Aisha came out of nowhere, holding onto a plate and holding it out to Elsword. A playful smile was on her face. "A way of saying sorry for taking your weapon. No hard feelings, yeah?"
Elsword stared at Aisha with disbelief for a few seconds, then took the plate with him and ate the food. He was impressed with the quality of food created. "It's good enough, I guess. Better than all the food rations we've been eating back on the battlefield…"
"Really? What kind of crazy chef did you guys have?" Aisha asked.
He just smiled. "Well, he's not really a chef…"
As Aisha and Elsword spoke, Eve started pondering about something. Then, she turned to Elsword. "Forgive me for interrupting your conversation, but if I may ask you a question? Why are you and your men here on the island in the first place?"
"Ah… we were originally going to establish a base here on Altera Island and use it to go back to while we go and conquer Fluone."
Immediately, a cold look formed on Eve's face. Elsword noticed this and backed off, his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Conquer? Fluone? I'm sorry, but if you truly desire to take over Fluone, you will have to go through me."
Her hand lifted up in the air and behind her was a set of five highly advanced technological spears pointing towards Elsword. When they noticed Eve's fighting stance, Elsword's men quickly drew up their weapons and were ready to fight. Elsword stared at Eve, thinking about what has been going on throughout this whole time. "…You don't want to fight here. If we fought, you'll be losing all the androids you've worked hard on."
"And how can I trust your words?" Eve said, her hand lowering down and the spears slowly closing in on Elsword. He didn't budge, but a weak smile budged on his mouth. "Because I don't want to lose my men at all."
She looked to the soldiers that were served and the androids that were roaming around the floor with platters on their heads. A sigh answered Elsword, then the spears disappeared in thin air. The androids went back to serving and the soldiers went back to eating. He was shocked to find out Eve actually listened to his words for the first time. Aisha was just as shocked as Elsword.
"What are you thinking?" Both Elsword and Aisha asked in unison, then looking towards each other after realizing they spoke at the same time.
Eve's eyes stared to the ground, shaking her head and she frowned. "I… want to prevent anymore loss in my life. And I strongly don't want to lose Fluone."
"Forgive me for asking, your highness… but… why?"
Eve looked to Elsword, her eyes starting to tear up a bit. "I…That continent is where I lost everyone and everything I once held dear."
"Well, I understand how that feels, but if you ask me… I think it would be best if you forget and move on."
"But… I can't." Eve mentioned. Elsword looked concerned not because of the story he is hearing, but because this sounded very familiar. Where has he heard these words from before?
She quickly took a platter from an android and held it out to Elsword. He stared at the food, then looked to Eve. "Please, I ask of you… Captain… will you please respect my wishes and not conquer Fluone? Well… for the time being…"
"When do you think Fluone can be conquered?" Elsword asked Eve.
"Ah…" Eve said, then looking away. Aisha went in Eve's place and took Elsword along with his men and teleported them out of the place. Eve wanted to see Elsword and answer his question, only to find out they were gone. She couldn't help but tear up inside a bit and fall to her knees. "…It… can't… be conquered…"
Two small droids- one white and one black- appeared before Eve and started comforting her. "Moby… Remy… I'm scared. I don't want to deal with this loneliness anymore…"
Meanwhile, Aisha and everyone else appeared on the surface of Altera Island. Elsword looked around and then looked to Aisha. "Hey…"
"NEVER ask Eve if you can go and conquer Fluone! It'll only break her little heart…" Aisha angrily said, already giving off a death glare to Elsword.
He gave off the same glare back to her, but it was interrupted when a soldier cried out, "CAPTAIN! There's the aircraft!"
"Thank you." Elsword said, turning back to glare at Aisha again. Sadly, he didn't see her because it appeared as if she left without a trace. What he experience within the underground of Altera made him question if they should or should not conquer Fluone. However, it felt as if such an appeal was very effective for persuasion. He had to be careful in how to approach Raven and mention what their next move should be.
Raven and Rena opened up the aircraft, letting the soldiers board in along with Elsword slowly trailing behind. Raven saw Elsword and what appeared to be an empty platter. "Captain, what's that you're holding?"
"Huh?" Elsword sounded, looking to the empty tray he was now holding. His glance swiftly went to the soldiers who were hiding the food away from the rest of the army. He sighed and then turned back to Raven. "Don't worry about it."
Raven nodded. "Well then, what do you have to report?"
Recalling all that he has heard and seen, Elsword started to contemplate on whether or not they should or should not move out with their plan. "…General. I found out a queen lives within the bowels of the island that has complete dominion over the continent of Fluone. She has no king residing with her, so I believe I have a special course of action. Not only will it save us time, but it will save us the trouble of having to go into Fluone and taking it. A disappointment, I know, but if we can go through this plan I made up, then it should be no problem."
"…What is your plan?" Raven mentioned.
"Because the queen has no king, I suggest we go back to King Wally and request a special arranged marriage between them. If this is successful, then the king will be able to take completely rule of Elios."
The plan made Raven very concerned because he knew for a fact that Wally was already old in years, though Elsword mentioned that this was a Queen. Was it possible that she was beyond her years as well? "Captain, I require the route you and your men took to find the Queen. I wish to speak to her, myself."
Elsword smiled, but then his face became blank. "Ah… I… don't have a route."
"What do you mean?"
"You see, General… before we could even figure out where we were, I was knocked out. The next thing I knew it, I was in the presence of the Queen."
"How did you all get back, then?"
"Her advisor accompanied us and brought us back." Elsword responded.
Raven nodded. "Thank you, Captain. The information given to me is more than enough." Elsword nodded and went to his men, talking to them and fighting over the food they acquired recently.
"Alright, men." Raven said, turning to five individuals. "You have been chosen out of the numerous men to come and accompany me. Originally, the plan was to go and claim the land in the name of King Wally, but circumstances have changed. Our mission now is to go find the Queen and take her back to speak with King Wally."
The five men saluted and walked out of the carrier, already spreading out and searching the land. Before Raven got out, Rena pulled him back in and she looked at him with concern. "When do you think you'll be back?"
Raven shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, but I'm hoping we get back as soon as possible."
Rena whined under her breath. "Take me with you."
"I prefer that you stay here with Captain Elsword and guard the aircraft along with everyone in it. If anything happens and I don't come back, then you will have to take the aircraft back and report to the King what happened." Raven insisted.
He pulled her into a quick hug that felt like forever for them. Rena cuddled him. "Please be careful."
"Of course I will be."
With that, Raven left the safety of the ship and headed out onto Altera Island. Hours passed and nighttime fell upon the land. The moon was full and high in the middle of the sky and Raven felt as if he was lost. There was no path and there was no source of any sign of life other than the wildlife he was familiar with. "How was Elsword able to find his way around here?" Raven asked himself.
Before long, he heard the sound of slow moving water. It wasn't fast enough to be a very strong current, but it wasn't slow enough to be still water. His throat felt dry and it made him regret not bringing a source of water with him, but now that he found some water, he can replenish himself and continue searching. All the while he traversed through the land and trying to find the stream, he noticed numerous bushes starting to get in the way. Pushing them to the side, he continued venturing deeper and deeper into the island…
…until his eyes caught a wondrous sight.
There was a figure dressed in white, kneeling near the stream he was hearing earlier. This figure happened to be a woman- and a beautiful one at that. She had a beautiful figure and draping along each inch was a lock of long, silver hair. Her hand simply touched the water and a small sigh escaped from her lips. Raven waited to see what was going to happen next, but then the unimaginable happened in front of his eyes.
The woman took off the white clothing she dressed in and her beautiful body was brightened up within the moon's bright beams. Sadly, her back was turned towards him, so he couldn't tell what her face looked like. Already ready to move further down the stream, Raven stepped on a twig that snapped loudly. His eyes quickly turned to see the figure staring in his direction. Her eyes were that of a glorious goldenrod color and on her forehead was what appeared to be a large, blue rounded jewel. Her hands immediately clasped onto the clothing and she covered herself.
"Reveal yourself!" She demanded.
Raven took in a few good deep breaths, trying to stay as quiet as possible. A snap of her fingers and immediately… Remy and Moby appeared.
"Remy. Moby. Seek out the one stealing a look at me!" Eve commanded.