(Aisha's POV)
Skimming lightly through the pages, again and again, I tried to absorb as much information as I could without getting noticed. Reading the book properly would jeopardize my current situation, despite that the learning process would be easier.
But still... not even the little sneek-peak in the library was enough to decipher the secrets of this book. There was an unusual padlock, three-fourths my way through the pages, but I still can't figure out how it functions, and more importantly, how it would be unlocked. Maybe some sort of seal..? A spell? Just an old-fashioned lock which I could pick out with my bobby pin? It made me want to tear my hair out in frustration, really, it did. Fantasizing about the mystery it holds, waiting for me to solve it in patience, but anticipation.
Hungry, eager to be read. It even had that aura and quality that conveyed some sort of veiled infinite knowledge and power. I can just feel it. It made me shake with excitement and anticipation. Yet... I have other things to worry about. Prioritizing is key, after all, if they find out, what would be the point? My plan would all go to waste.All because of a simple mistake.
That's all it took for my world as a mage to come crashing down beneath my feet, and Eve? She was the hindrance to my security. Eve seems to be a suspicious character at the moment. After all, she saw me sprawling around like a dying carp in the library, didn't she? Other than that, her intelligence is pretty mind-blowing, phenomenal even, I wouldn't be surprised if she found out my little secret without having to rely on physical evidence. It's everything she notices and observes. The way I act, the slight fidgeting of the toes, nervously twirling my hair, the slightly fake and a tad too sugary tone of my voice, she can detect it all.
And forgetting? Eve can't forget. She's a Nasod, basically, an advanced work of art that could record and protect valuable pieces of information within their systems, away from prying hands. But the real question was, why hasn't she tattled on me yet? Wouldn't it be satisfying to tell the others of my horrible scheme? I would if I was in her position. But no, for some reason, she's keeping a secret about it as well, but it's not like I'm in safe hands... yet. The cat's still in the bag and I sense that at this rate, the cat will fall out soon, eventually.
(Eve's POV)
Stopping abruptly, there was a fork in the almost non-existant road. It was faint from the tracks of animals and humans, in addition to the buffeting winds and sandstorms, however, it was positively still there. I observed as the others debated on our next course of action, when someone knocked into me. A purple haired mage clumsily walked right into me. Both of us flabbergasted, we fell flat on our faces towards the perhaps unsanitary, dusty, and rather uncomfortable ground. Brushing the misplaced hair out of my face, and straightening my now grimy and wrinkly clothing, I glared at Aisha, sharpening my eyes. She jolted up and fumbled around as a solid object clattered to the floor. Aisha reached out desperately for it, but I was too fast, and snatched it off of the ground.
"Oh, what is this?" I said, with mock surprise.
Wiping away the dust of the trail, and perhaps from the age of the book, I flipped it, front to back, my curiosity peaked. Although I had taken a glance at it, I never had really read the book. All the while of flipping the pages, absorbed into the book with newfound interest, Aisha outstretched her arms in a feeble attempt to get back what was "rightfully hers."
"Give it back!" She whined impatiently.
"No, I think I am good." My gaze never left the pages or even glancing up at her exasperated face.
She ran up to me, extending her arms to snatch the book away, but her efforts were wasted. I brough my right palm out towards her face and held her in place as she ran forward, screaming into my hand whereas I was leisurely reading, taking all the sweet time in the world. Aisha truly looked like a raging owl, reaching out to strangle me with her talons. I'm taking a prediction and guessing as this is Aisha's logic we are discussing, If she can't take the book away from me, then why not constrict me?" But she never got any closer than two feet away. Finally she groaned in defeat and gave up, yet I conveyed no sign of satisfactory. I snapped the book shut with one of my free hands and let go of Aisha, tossing the book to her. She made a wild attempt to catch it as if it were an expensive or valuable item, which it perhaps was, and cradled it in her arms protectively as if it were her own child, despite the fact that it was an inanimate object.
"Did you... read the whole thing in just a minute."
"Ah, yes. I had. It is a book of interest, very valuable indeed." I said, pushing my non-existant glasses up in a matter-of-factly voice.
"If you tell..!" She started.
"If I tell your little secret, what, what could you possibly do to threaten me. I couldn't imagine why you would do such a horrid thing." I quickly countered, looking straight into her eyes."
"Just, please, don't tell, I beg of you!" She trailed off, glancing to the side.
I sighed and rubbed my temples. "..Do not worry, I was not planning on letting the secret slip anyways. You have my word. Yet, do not come crying to me when your little secret has slipped, understand?"
She nodded slowly, even gulping.
Am I intimidating to her? Or is it just the fear of her secret being revealed?
"..Chung?"
"Hm?~"
"Be honest with me, I would hate it if you were to lie, this has nothing to do with anything, I assure you. Am I.. harsh? Not to be trusted and have faith in? Am I a liar?"
He stopped walking and turned around, staring at me so intently it made my skin heat up, I started to squirm. Then it gradually morphed into a thoughtful look. I exhaled with relief, yet I had no idea why I was holding my breath.
"Well, sometimes, you can be. But, I know you have good intentions, whatever you do. Being a ruler over thousands surely has given you a lot of patients, and I respect that. I'm sure others will too, and of course your friends. Don't think too hard about things. Nobody is without mistakes, not even Nasods, but don't think negatively about yourself. Besides, I have faith in you! But what about that I'm a liar thing, where did that come from? If you are, I know that it's probably for a good reason... so... what is it?" He beamed at me.
I blushed a deep scarlet. Such a sweet boy... But why did he have to sugar-coat it?! "So, If I were to say that, someone had a certain secret, and I told you it, would you keep it?"
He paused, then nodded slowly. I took in a deep breath. I'm only going to say this once. Besides, Aisha has no right to be angry towards me, and I kept the secret for so long, isn't that generous enough? In addition, I trust Chung, I love him after all, If we can't trust him, nobody can.
So, If I were to say: Aishahasdonesomethingthatcouldpossiblycostherlifea ndours,butIassureyouitisfinebecausesheneedsitonlyt oprotectandhelpusandshe'san intelligentgirlsoIamsureshewillnotdoanythingfoolis hwhenbecomingaDarkMagician, Wow that was extremely choppy and terrible. take a breath.* Then you will not tell? My face lit up with hope.
He blinked, as if, life threatening situation? Is she cray? Of course I'm going to tell! But to my surprise, he answered with, "If you won't tell, neither will I. Promise."
Aisha happened to overhear us and sprinted up, glaring angrily. "What did I just say, Eve?! Are you some sort of liar?! I entrust you with a secret, well you already knew, and told me you wouldn't tell, but now all of a sudden you explain our situation to Ch-"
"Chung can be trusted. He gave me, us, our word. He s a loyal friend of ours and I wouldn't see as to why not. I have the right to do what I want. My actions speak for itself. You are lucky that I even kept the secret mostly hidden. I could have just blurted it out and watch your downfall, but no. I didn't because I know you are doing the right thing."
"Alright. Was the only thing that escaped her lips.
Case closed.
Strangely, nobody else had noticed our little mishap, and we were both grateful for it. Suddenly, my mouth twisted into a wry smile, the corners of my lips turning. I looked knowingly at Aisha and Chung and they looked back at me with the same amount of trusting. We understood each other and what had to be done. I now knew that her secret was safe with us, and she did too. Soon, we arrived at the first dungeon, the Dragon Road. With most of us at our second job classes, it was extremely easy to take out each monster, and the dungeon runs flew by almost instantly. Soon, we had already reached the Dragon Nest, and it was getting increasingly difficult to complete a dungeon without a scratch. I leapt over a flaming geyser and summoned a laser in midair, shooting a Lizardman to the ground, then kept running to catch up to the others. A cave bat, vicious and blood thirsty leapt out at me under a crevice, and I swatted it away with an electrocuting fingertip, it shuddered, plummeting to the floor, dead. Strange, they're usually peaceful, yet after the outbreak of dark El and the El disappearing, I'm not surprised that even the most peaceful species has started to act agitated.
"Particle Ray."
A beam of particles emitted from my fingers, blasting the monsters away to a more comfortable distance to hone in on. Beads of seat started to roll down my cheek, and I grimaced, heat is not compatible with machines. The poorly lit and damp, yet warm cave made it very sticky and hot. Darkness provided a perfect camouflage for those bothersome bats, and at any given time, a Lizardmen could brain me from behind and cause a concussion. We now had to be light on our toes and quick so that we wouldn't get killed from monsters or pass out from heat exhaustion, then get kill, of course. The monsters began to rally up again, gathering in a nice cluster for me to obliterate, when I summoned a Photon Flare, blinding and killing a few enemies from the white, bright light. They screamed in agony as if effected by the radiance, and dissolved into thin air, others hiding away under the cracks in rocks, tending to their wounds.
I snapped my fingers and let out a fast and furious Giga Stream, but the monsters just kept on popping up in the most surprising places. A Lizardmen charged behind me, deciding to be more wise than the rest and aimed towards my cranium, jabbing the stone spearhead dangerously nearing my skull. Not missing a beat to get away from the possibly fatal blow, I created a body of plasma with electricity, retreated harmlessly backwards through its body, and watched as it got electrocuted head to toe, its eyeballs bulging out of its sockets in pain. Its insides seemed to dissolve, not being able to bear the electricity, leaving only the durable flesh and bone behind. I grabbed its skull and threw it at a nearby line of monsters, smashing one in the head. Retreating, a magic missile came from one of those dastardly Lizardmen magician, and I raced away. Monsters, a Fire Komodo and Flame Scorpion took the chance to lunge at me, the person with rotten luck.
No mp and I was stuck in a small space, unable to glide wherever I please. Just fantastic, this sure is making this task easier. The Komodo tackled me to the ground, headbutting me in the stomach. I coughed, my breath was taken away with my lungs crippling and I doubled over to the ground. The scorpion stabbed at me mercilessly, dishing out a few hits, each one was flaming, causing me to burn slowly. Wow this would be an idiotic way to get injured. By a large reptile and a naive insect. A flamethrower was heading towards me when an enormous cannon blocked away the searingly painful flames. Chung? Yep.
"Rumble Shot."
The disgusting creatures were pushed back by a pulsing blue cannonball, then died from the object being driven into them seven times.
"You okay? Be more careful, I would hate for my princess' pretty braid to go undone. Let's work as a team. Kay?" He chuckled.
I fumed. "I am a Queen." I replied lightly, although grateful that my prince in shining armour "came to the rescue."
He shot out another series of heavy artillery and bullets, streamlining and killing the monsters from the sheer force of pressure crushing down on them. Bullets rained down on them as he shot another few rounds and ducked behind a nearby boulder. He glanced every so often behind his shoulder and whipped around, firing off a few quick but deadly shots, before returning back to his shelter and pressing his body and gun against the rock acting as some sort of deadly sniper. Shooting a Mega Electron Ball towards his direction, the Saurus didn't come unnoticed. It teetered behind him and he spun around in surprise and bewilderment, but it stayed standing and swung at him, causing a small bruise, yet the Destroyer absorbed most of the shock. He shot it directly in the head and it screeched as blood, its own blood, dribbled down its crude club, before collapsing to the ground.
"You must have caution as well.~ Teammate." I remarked.
We grinned and began battling as a team, an effective one at that. The monsters began diminishing as we worked together, dying two times as fast as before. I charged a bullet with electricity while he fired them off, they crackled dangerously and in some cases exploded, making us a very potent enemy to be reckoned with. In addition with his cannon balls, I converted them into Mega Electron Cannon Balls making monsters die instantly on contact, and only one was needed for us to be a destroying machine. Experimenting with our new abilities had definitely brought a new level of power and combination moves. I wonder how Aisha's Dark Magician will provide aid for us. The book had stated that dark magic was a insanely powerful practice after all, danger comes at a heavy, but worth the risk price.
Relishing in the idea of unlocked possibilities. I glanced over at Aisha who was firing off fireballs, but they seemed almost purple now. The process was already beginning to take place, but the others didn't seem to notice. Elsword and Aisha were a fierce combination, leaving flames flickering in their wake. Their weird antics of fire versus fire was interesting, yet effective. I nodded with approval. Raven and Rena were yet another stunning team.
They were both excellent when it came to aerial attacks. Rena jumped into the air, firing off explosive twig and nature arrows, restricting enemy mobility, if a monster slipped by, Raven would summon javelins and brute force with his improved, bone crushing arm, slamming down from the sky, or brining them up with spikes. traps and spears brought a whole world of pain indeed. Everyone seems to be faring well.
"Hello?! Is this thing on?! Oh, good, you're listening, Eve. There's been a report of Wally in Richie's Mine. Skip right to it immediately, forget about Dragon's Nest for now. It can be done at your own time. Your new top priority is to chase him down and destroy him. Wally might already be fleeing from the scene. We've pinpointed Wally's location, and right now my soldiers are battling it out, but we need backup. ASAP."
"Understood." I calmly replied.
The built-in record settings of my systems shut off, and I addressed our new strategy.
"We have a slight change in plans. Retreat immediately to Richie's Mine. Wally has been detected, and we must destroy him at once."
"Understood."
We rushed out of the cursed cave at last, leaving Kayak, the boss we were supposed to defeat, in the dust. His facial expression filled with confusion.
I will settle this, Wally. Once and for all, you sickening excuse for a Nasod.
Me: Done! Thank you for waiting oh so patiently for this chapter for coming out guys! It's quite a bit longer than the last, actually one of my longest being about three-thousand words. So I hope you enjoy it! Thank you so much for all the favorites, follows, support, and sticking with me all the way up till chapter twenty-one. Really:D I am genuinely grateful. I have a lot more things in store for this story. Much still has to be done, so stay and read it all until the end! I'm sure it will be worth it. Soda, out.~