How do you do?

Disclaimer: i do not own LoM... etc etc etc

Fonts in italic are for character's thought


Many months have passed since then, in the last few months, Angelique had met Larc and she had accidentally became bonded with Drakonis. Things never get better for her, after she had met Larc, he practically hunted her down to help him search for the Mana Stones. It was one fateful day that she had met him on the graveyard, I never knew why she even bothered to go there but what I knew that it's a big mistake for her to go there.

The atmosphere was very gloomy when she had approached the tombstone, and she wandered to the graveyard because people in Domina had asked her about a wisp roaming there. She just can't leave people in trouble so she went to the tombstone of Macabre where the so said wisp was rumored to linger.

"So this is the rumored haunted place. Well, sure is creepy." Angelique walked slowly to the tombstone slightly crept by the surrounding. When she had reached the tombstone, there's something popping out of nowhere. Shocked by this figure, she entered her battle stance but soon only darkness welcomes her. When she had woken up, all around her was fiery gorge, and it was hot in there almost scorching but she didn't broke a sweat. A voice alerted her and she rose to her feet looking at the person in front of her.

"Welcome to the Underworld…" the voice was gruff and deep, it took seconds for Angelique to realize what is going on. One. Two. Three...

"What….!? You can't be serious. Take me back. Take me back up! NOW!" She shouted as hard as she can so her demand was heard by the beast in front of her.

"I'm afraid… I can't do that. The only way to get back up is by talking to my master." He answered Angelique's demand with firmness on his voice.

"How can you not take me back up…! You brought me down here. So you must be able to take me up. And I REFUSE to talk to your master. If your master is the one that made me brought down here then I have no reason to go to his place. Why don't he learn some manners…" Angelique's raged voice echoed throughout the entrance of underwold.

"That is the reason why my master cannot grace you with his presence here. He is imprisoned. He deemed you worthy enough to be his bailer. That is why he asked me to bring you down here."

Hearing this just adding fuel to Angelique's anger, "As if by hearing that, I'll listen to your master demand. Ohhh…. If only, I asked Kain to go with me then this will be solved already…"

"If you do not want to do what I request then I will not force you. Feel free to walk around. You'll come to your senses soon enough that only my master can free you from the Underworld."

His statement made Angelique think. "He seemed confident enough that I will listen to his demands. And his words are true though, I know absolutely nothing about this Underworld and the only choice seemed to be by following him to his master. Being lost in the Underworld surely will be worse than hearing their demand."

"Fine…! I'll go with you and listen to whatever your lord proposes me too."

"Well, it's decided than. My name is Larc, Drakonis' dragoon. What is yours, fair lady?"

"Angelique." It was short and curt. Angelique had no more moods to talk although she kind of regret it when his answer was only nods. They walked in silence, not in sort of awkward one but the tense one. But as she reached new destinations, curiosity plagued her, she desperately wanted to know what's what in this area but she didn't want to start the conversation first. Her ego wouldn't let her do that, so she silently thanked Larc when he explained to her, some of things around here and thus made her able to continue the conversation. Larc apparently was a good tour guide, he answered all Angelique's question with details. When they were, at last, stuck, he explained what was needed to be done. What surprised Angelique the most was Baptism of Flame. How can you be baptized in flame? Wouldn't you get burned? But Larc explained it to her, that the Baptism of Flame was almost the same as the Baptism of Water only they are using flame instead of water and in fact the flame wouldn't hurt you at all. It was some sort of a pass to the lower depths of the Underworld. So when they almost reached their destination, Angelique kind of felt bad, when she gave Larc the cold shoulder but her guilt was wiped when he informed her that his master sent her a test as a proof for him that she was worthy enough to be his bailer. Well, guilt was washed away when there's a wisp coming out. Larc told her that size aside, it was very strong and it can control the Underworld's geography.

"Well, talk about geographic advantage. As if I don't have a disadvantage enough. Fighting alone in this godforsaken place as some kind of proof to a stranger."

She fumed as she entered her battle stance and was a bit surprised when Larc joined the battle with her.

"You said it's my test." Eyebrows quirked as she charged to the wisp.

"It is but I was not forbidden to help so I help you now. Besides, I felt obliged to help you for some strange reason." He replied while dodging the wisp attacks.

"Well , aren't you kind… and nice…. Helping a damsel in distress like me." Sarcasm dripped in her voice but she was thankful for his help, her sarcasm was directed to Larc's master even though she was speaking to Larc.

"It was the only way to compensate my forceful action to you and seeking forgiveness from you that I can think of." Larc reasoned while he slashed the wisp with precision and power.

The battle was intense and both of them was exhausted, the toll of battle was just adding up. Angelique's let her guard down for a sec then suddenly a beam of light fired to her. She squirmed, waiting for the beam to hit but the hit never came. When she opened her eyes, she saw Larc was shielding her from the blow.

"Are you alright?" Larc's voice broke her surprise, she nodded and got up quickly to rush to the wisp which was at Larc's back. She put all her strength to perform Aerial reaver. As she danced in the air gracefully, the wisp was sliced and then faded to nothing. Angelique rushed back to Larc to give him first aid. After she had administered her healing salve that she always carried at Kain's insistence. Larc rose and led her to his master. That's how Angelique become bonded with Drakonis and had built a slow friendship with Larc.

--

If Angelique was entangled in a mumbo jumbo conquest then Kain was entangled in a strange love feud of Matilda, and he had problems to solve. It wasn't any easier since love was never a simple problem, if it was they will never say that love is blind and lovers can't see in light. Gato was always a peaceful unless there was trouble, or bickering that was rarely occurring here. Although, from the past few weeks, Gato's temple of healing was more often full with noises than not. It was because of Daena and Escad, they quarreled over who was more right, which way was better, justice or love.

Today, I walked to Gato again. Matilda had invited me so I came. I met Matilda not long after I had recovered from the shock of failing to protect Rubens. Well, at first, I was shocked because she looked so old and withered because they say the abbess was only 20 years old. How come she looked so aged. When I wanted to inquire her about this matter, I found myself stopping because I know it's quite rude to ask someone especially a lady about how she looks. I stood in silence waiting for the chance of conversation to come. When she inclined her head and smiled, I knew her soul is not withered yet. Only her body, her soul is still young and longed to be free. "You must be sir Kain…"

The dragging of her voice shocked me, her voice was soft, serene, and had some mystical allure in it.

"Yes, I am. Abbess, I must ask you on why do you summon me here?" I replied, a bit stiff and unsure of how to act around her. Then I heard her giggle, it was girlish.

"Let us dispense the formality. Call me Matilda. And May I call you Kain…?"

"Yes, yes, of course." I'm relieved that at least the awkwardness had gone.

"As for the reason I'm calling you here. It's because I wanted to talk you."

"On what subject?" Now I feel like a fish lured by a tasty bait.

"You know of spirit, yes?" The way she said it, made her words more like statement than a question.

"Yes, I'm quite knowledgeable about them. So what of it?" Now, I'm finding myself close to the bait and finding it quite tasty.

"Then you must know that I am of the priest lineage in Gato." I nod at this.

"We, as the head priestess or priest in Gato, I possessed the ability to talk and summon spirit at will. This is one of our most recognizable traits, the ability to communicate to spirit." I nod again but this time continued to reply.

"And…?"

"My ability was robbed from me by my friend, Irwin."

I was stunned by her statement, how could a mere human take away an abbess power. One can rob one's power if one is stronger or had the means to make the deal. Matilda seemed to be able to recognize my confusion. She continued her story.

"My friend, Irwin, is not a human. He is a demon."

"Ah… I see. That made sense. I was quite taken back when you said your friend could take your power. So what is it that you want from me?" Now, I, remembering myself to be very close to the bait that Matilda had cast.

"I want you to find him. Not to kill him but save him."

Her reason was the thing that made me able to accept and got hooked to her bait. I found myself intrigued on why she wanted me not to kill him but to save him instead.

"But how do you propose me to do it? He is a full-fledged demon, is he not? The only way a demon can be saved is by killing him."

Matilda seemed to be thinking for a while. The silence was welcome though. And for the first time, I observed the room. The murals was nice, it had clouds as white and pristine as silk. There are flammies in the sky, the great beast soared in the sky freely, and the azure sky seemed to be endless. Dreamweaving room, I'm quite amused by it's name. My silent reverie was broken when Matilda is calling my name.

"Ermm… I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention. What were you saying again?"

Matilda chuckled, I knew I'm blushing right now and I'm so embarrassed to be caught daydreaming when I'm supposed to pay attention.

"It's quite alright. Are you observing the room?" I nodded at her query.

"It's beautiful, isn't it. This room was supposed to be our confinement. The term 'dreamweaving' means when we have come of age, we will be confined to this room and only come out when the need had come. In this room, my ancestors were prophesying the future and pass on the will of the spirit or the Wisdom to the temple. I guess, it was kind of true, this room was my confinement now only I'm not doing anything to the temple."

From my point of view, what she said was kind of not true. The magic in this place was quite strong and I didn't think that anyone can do that.

"But Matilda, the magic in this place, who maintain it then?" I asked hoping to place some kind of comfort for Matilda.

"It was not me, who maintain the magic in this place. The nuns did. It takes some of them to did this but they managed to cast 'Sanctuary's Blessing'."

"What….?! Sanctuary's Blessing… But isn't that spell only for someone of privileged lineage. Also to be able to cast that spell you have to be able chant arias of magic, then the ancient language from the grimoire have to be memorized and articulated perfectly then you have to do lots of preparation to cast that spell and to be able to maintain it." I was astounded by the fact that she can ask some nun to cast Sanctuary's Blessing. I know that spell because I happened to stumble on it when I'm browsing some ancient manuscript in Geo's library. That spell usually cast by a person, usually someone of high caliber since it required high concentration, it wasn't suggested to chant the spell with someone else unless you have known that other person and able to synchronize with them. I tried to cast it but I can't do it.

"You seem to know a lot about Sanctuary's Blessing, Kain. But why don't you believe me? I have no spirit power left." Matilda silently retorted, I knew that in her condition it was quite not possible. Although something suddenly clicked in my mind, then I come to some strange but possible answer to her retort.

"But Matilda, you only lost your spirit power, not your magic power. If you manage to cast the spell, then maintaining it wouldn't be hard since you barely move from the spot and to maintain the spell one only need to feel secure and relaxed. Sanctuary's Blessing effect is as thus making you feel protected and at ease. So it is possible, Matilda that you are the caster of this spell."

As if my answer were some crude joke to her ears, she chuckled and giggled for a while until I find myself very embarrassed to come up with some silly conclusion like that. Of course when she lost her spirit power…

"Well, you're certainly attentive to trivial things aren't you, Kain. You're right. I managed to cast this spell when my power was just taken by Irwin so I still had the power to cast this spell. Just like you said, maintaining this spell was not hard, I only need to feel secure and at ease. With Daena, I felt protected and the spell itself was comforting. I certainly knew that even if Irwin abducted me he wouldn't kill me so I would always be at ease feeling quite secured. The only way for the spell to be broken was if I leave Gato. Only then the spell will be broken."
"So… I was right…." I trailed off a bit since I was pretty much unsure of my conclusion and when Matilda suddenly corrected my conclusion. I was taken back and just couldn't gain my composure yet. My answer was her nod and at this I knew that I had to help her. Matilda was someone I had to help.

"Well… if you need my help then just call me. I'll try to get here as fast as I can and I'll try to help you as often as I can when I'm free." That's the only thing that I can promise and offered to her. Matilda gave me a slow genuine smile. For me she was a rare beauty, you can find her pretty in lots of strange ways. Even though she looked like a granny, she seemed to be able to project a beautiful and youthful aura around herself. I helped Matilda when I find nothing to do with my spare time. Researching about demon, magic, spirit, and things that were related to her demon friend and herself. Sometimes, I helped Daena to calm Escad down when he was on rampage. I met Daena after my first meeting with Matilda, and I soon became friend with the feline girl because I found her devotion to Matilda endearing. I found her to be very loyal to Matilda and I must confess myself that I also like Matilda too. Not in the lover sort of way but the sort of brother sister thing or friends like. I didn't know how to describe my feeling to her but I'm affectionate to her. It was after Matilda's abduction that I know that Matilda was like a sister to Daena and she just couldn't bear to see Matilda like that. While my first impression of Escad was a very straightforward, expressive person and very fond of Matilda. Sometimes, I wondered, just when did I become one of Matilda's groupies. Although, Escad was aggressive and certainly a bit blunt but he was honest and upright. A justice holder person, who would not let any streak of evil hindered him from reaching his goal. I found him to be very short fused sometimes, and he let his emotions clouded his better judgments but I could say that almost all human did have moments like that. We always let our emotion affected us very much, but I guessed that's what made us the way we were. The way we did things wouldn't be the same if we did things robotically. There wouldn't be much color in that kind of life. Emotion and reason, two things that couldn't be even balanced together, sometimes it leaned more towards one than the other. Well, Escad was nice, he just need to work on suppressing his emotion sometimes. After his return from the Underworld because of his battle with Irwin some years ago, he stayed in Gato so that he can protect Matilda better or so he claimed. I didn't know whether it was true or not. I didn't have any say in it since I'm pretty much a third party here at this strange love feud. So far, I've done pretty much nothing since the progress was very little if there's any at all. Well, as they say love takes time, and from my opinion, love feud takes a longer time to resolve.

--

Time passed by, sometimes Kain and Angelique switched places when things just get out of hand like when Larc was visiting when Angelique was dead tired since she just had a fight with Elazul again because of Pearl. Kain offered to replace her place but was refused by Larc because it had nothing to do with him. Insisting and negotiating was Kain's domain be it gently or by force, he set up a barrier after he said that Angelique could not be bothered for the next few days when Larc had insisted that he will come in and dragged her out. In the stead of Kain, Angelique had helped the quarrels of Daena and Escad. Love was not his forte so he sent Angelique to go forth and make some peace between them. They had done this for the past few months alternately but that was not their only problem.

One day, Bud got sick and the entire house got chaotic. Angelique and Lisa went to Gaeus then to Rosiotti's jungle when they learned that Selkie might know the cure. They went to Geo when they knew that Brownie just got sick and cured. They finally go to SS Buccaneer when they knew that David got the cure and to learn that Lil' Cactus already had the cure. When they got home, Kain had told them that he already gave Bud the potion and told them to get some rest and he will watch over Bud. As Angelique and Lisa went to sleep, Kain continued to watch over Bud till he fell asleep on the chair thinking that, Perhaps life just never within our control. But then fate is a cruel mistress. Her action can never be explained well or thoroughly enough to my liking. If things would go nice and smooth…Everybody would want that kind of life surely.

R.E.V.I.E.W... Review! Review! :D (You know, I'm bored just by typing 'review' word) :D
Thanks for reading guys and gals