*Drip…drip…drip…*
Selena, Stella, Cedric and two unknown people, a girl and a guy were teleported to an underwater passage. Stella gained a human appearance except having a pair of black buck hair and a short fluff of tail, making her a demi.
"Stella…? Stell— huh?!" the unknown girl muttered as she woke up, shocked by her appearance before turning to look around the others. The guy and Cedric looked awfully alike, as if they were twins except Cedric can be recognized by his elven ears.
"Wait…my body… how?"
Bearing similar eye colour to Selena except having dark brown hair, her figure is that of an average girl, well built and trained at around one-seventy centimeters and equipped with plain leather adventure attire.
Selena awoken beside her shortly after, confused and worried.
"Is that you…?" she glanced, recognizing the girl as she promptly embraced her.
"Cyrus!" Selena cried in tears of joy.
"Sister…Aurelia?" said the girl muttered.
"I missed you so much!"
"Sorry that I have made you waited for centuries. Though, my memories are all over the places but seeing you right now is a blessing that I will never forget," said Cyrus as Selena releases her.
"Anyway, Stella, that girl on my right is burned out and also those two." She pointed, only then the white-haired maiden noticed, recognizing Eldred almost instantly.
"But how… what happened in the past?" Selena asked, studying the rune behind Stella's back.
"I am… not entirely sure what happened before we ended up on them," Cyrus stated.
"Intriguing…" said Selena as she examined Stella.
"I could feel remnants of your magic in her as well as something original to her, same goes to that boy beside Eldred," Selena noted.
"What do you think happened to us?" Cyrus wondered.
"I'm curious as well but for now, let's put that aside."
"Where are we?" asked Cyrus.
"Underground chamber of Trinity Institute of Magic…" she replied, recognizing the passage between them.
Smooth stone walls with gravel pavement with small candle-like lantern illuminates in blue light decorated along the walls. Miniature water droplets drip from the roof every few distance in the passage.
"Are those underground water…?" said Cyrus as she kept hearing water drips echoed down the passage.
Selena shook her head and responded. "No, the underground chamber of the institute is built under water. No one is permitted to enter the underground chamber except those who has access to the ancient codex. If a tresspaser is caught, the corridor will be flooded to prevent people from getting to the Arcana Archive."
"That demon must've used that magic that transport us to the past, worst is that we do not know how far into the past," Selena added.
"What does it actually do?" Cyrus asked.
"Send someone into the past and have them relive everything till the day that person was sent," Selena explained while helping her sister to her feet. "Only then, the effect will end."
"Some sort of torture?"
"It was practised by the Ixailn and is considered the lightest punishment you will ever receive since they refrain themselves from taking the lives of other. Instead, they make someone live through their past once again and have them repent, taking it as a form of retribution. During their time in the past, they'll be treated as ghosts, unable to interact with anyone or even changing the history. Though, most will die before their sentence ends due to mental strain."
"We're stuck then?"
"Luckily, it can be broken but other two that ended up elsewhere will be trapped unless we found them. For now, we're stuck," said Selena in an annoyed tone. However, she is more than happy to finally reunite with one of her siblings.
"We should head to the Arcana Archive and treat these two first," she suggested, lifting Cedric over her shoulder.
"Is it really okay…?"
"Don't worry. The room is accessible to all Grethmors—"
"No. What I mean is… everywhere we go, we bring misfortune."
"Well…" she said in a bitter tone. "It truly is selfish of us, all of us, to drag our problems to every place we go. The innocent lives that have lost, cities destroyed, and worst of all, to hide something that could shook the world in hopes that no one could retrieve… you knew that it has been stolen, don't you?" Selena walked down the passage with nothing but everlasting candles glowing dimly, barely enough for them to see their footing.
Cyrus followed behind her whilst carrying Stella.
"We intended to return to our world once we retrieve the sword. Though, these kids have already become a singularity," Selena explained.
"That means they will retain their memories after we erase our presence from theirs?"
"Depends on them. It's their decision to forget everything that had happened till now and continue their life as per-usual or retain their memories. Truth be told, if I didn't flee to their world and stayed in Zeocleotis, nothing like this would have happened in the first place."
"But you have no choice… they were hunting us. We, Grethmors posed a serious threat to their plan—"
"There's always a choice and that is one of worst one I've ever made!" Selena stopped and yelled out of anger before continue walking, startled her younger sister slightly but she knew her personality very well. Wise and knowledgeable, a person who knows what is best for everyone, yet clumsy at her own decisions sometimes that resulted many unfortunate events.
"What if you were hunted down, will you end up like us? Brother Eldred was in that elf boy you're carrying. Tyrlion is still missing or killed, the twins are on Zenith's side; Naria's conscious trapped within Naurhin and Ereth lock himself in the Rune Realm. The situation is already bad, and it would be worst if you're gone," Cyrus reasoned, trying to knock some senses into her older sister.
"Father chosen you to inherit his throne because you are capable of bringing fortune into the kingdom back in our old world. The world that we lived in before Zeocleotis is equally harsh. Blizzard that will last a year and long draught season," she added, feeling a smile from her sister back as she thanked her for reminding who she is.
It took a while before they stumbled upon a heavily fortified door, equipped with numerous locking mechanism that can only be undone in a certain pattern using magic. Selena carefully rest Cedric on the ground as she placed her hand before the door, prompting a magic dial to appear as she began unlocking. Each movement she made caused the internal parts to move, making a click in every successful attempt.
The door unlocked, slowly swinging inward as they swiftly make way without it being fully opened. Once they entered the room, the door sealed and locked behind them.
"Let's continue inside," Selena welcomed, lifting the unconscious elf around her shoulder as they entered the room while the door slowly closing before them.
Note: Sorry about the delay! I'm getting less motivated due to university and stuff. I may probably drop this story and moved on but I promised that I will finish this story however I might rush the story a little bit.
P.S: Aplogize for any grammatical mistakes.