The brilliant purple eyes of Emilia fluttered open, looking up with a groggy demeanor, only to close again. Was it morning already? She rolled over to her side, not wanting to get up just yet. Besides, Subaru was the one who always woke her up! Her knight would never make a mistake. Upon rolling over she realized that the ground she was on was hard, like the brick paths of Lugunica. Had she fallen off her bed? That was new… As much as Emilia hated it, she had to get back on her bed. With a slight hum, she pushed herself up from the ground, shuffling over to where she thought the bed was. Emilia's eyes stayed closed, not wanting to open out of pure tiredness. Sadly this was a costly mistake.
Without as much as a warning, her perfect face collided with the wall causing her to yelp and fall to the ground, eyes shooting open. As she fell on her ass, her hands instinctively shot up to caress her face, rubbing it to try to make the pain go away. Once the tears left her eyes Emilia blinked a few times, trying to get used to the light level. It was really dark, though as her eyes adjusted she noticed a faint red glow that illuminated the room she was in.
"Subaru?"
A silver bell-like voice rang out, acoustics causing the noise to shoot to and from her a few times. Emilia stood up wobbly, looking around. Where was she? The walls, she noticed, were made out of grey rock. In curiosity, Emilia tapped on the wall right next to her. It both felt and sounded like she was tapping on rock, so Emilia had no doubt that she wasn't in the wooden confines of Roswaal's mansion. How did she even get here though?
"Ram? Garfiel?"
Emilia called out once more, hoping she wasn't alone. While she wasn't scared or even the least bit frightened, she still the problem for what it was. She was in an unknown location with no recollection of how she got there. The Witch of Glaciation began thinking to herself, her chin resting on her hand as she did so.
'Where am I? This place is reaaaaaally dark! Is this what Subaru called a pr-a-nk? Prank… Subaru that dunderhead!'
Without any other ideas of what was going on, she came to the quick assumption that Subaru was 'pranking' her, at least that was what he called it. She remembered him teaching her some funny words and traditions from his hometown, and one of them was pranking people. To her knowledge they were tricks friends did to each other to get a laugh.
"Su~baru you dunderhead, I know this is a prank! You can come out now!"
For a few moments, she waited, expecting her knight to pop out and say 'haha it was all a joke Emilia, you got me', but that never happened. During those moments a proud smile lay on her face, Emilia proud that she was able to catch one of Subaru's pranks. Subaru never came out. Emilia stood there, waiting and waiting till that smile fell.
"Subaru…?" There was still no response. "Subaru, where are you…? This… This isn't funny…"
With each second that passed, Emilia's sense of unease grew a little bit more. Maybe this wasn't a prank… Yeah, she was a heavy sleeper, but how could Subaru even get her into this place? Where was she even? With it becoming evident that Subaru wasn't coming, Emilia decided to continue based on the assumption that Subaru wasn't there. It was the only option she had, after all.
Looking around, her eyes would glide from corner to corner, wall to wall, before she noticed something; a table. It was right in the corner of the room and went across the entire grey wall. The more she looked around the more she noticed how small this place really was. Connected to the walls were cylindrical columns, continuing across all the walls horizontally. They cast dark shadows and were surrounded by the faint red glow of the red light. Oddly there weren't any mana stones causing the lights either, rather there were small circular balls on the sides of the room. There were at least a dozen on each wall. The color of the wall below her hips was slightly off-colored, featuring a dark grey paint job instead of the normal light grey of the rest of the wall. What she assumed to be reinforcement supported the long cylinders. Emilia didn't know what was the purpose of this room, but it definitely seemed oddly complex.
Above the table was a blue document, hung there by a bolt of some sort. With no other option, she glided over to it, crossing the small distance with just a few strides. On the blue document was a series of lines, paired with text that she didn't find familiar in the slightest. The half-elf's eyes glided over the document, trying to find anything useful. She noticed a few things, most notably a box at the center of the blue document, with an arrow pointing at it. Without a doubt that signified where she was, showing that she was looking at a map.
Emilia rested her fingers on the map, looking at the room at the center. According to it, there was a line connecting the room to the rest of the lines. It was odd—all the lines were sort of interconnected, feeling into each other. What's more, there was an occasional white dot on the side of each line. What that meant wasn't clear. Perhaps an entrance to another room? Exits? She'd have to see. At the top corner of the document was a label, in a language she didn't understand; Ingen. The label didn't mean much to her, so she moved on.
Removing her hand from the paper, she'd place it on the walls, and would then begin walking with her hands dragging along on the walls.
'If there's an exit, I can find it this way.'
Emilia mumbled to herself. There must be a door or at least something. According to the map, something was connected to the room, and a map would never lie! Admittedly she couldn't see well in the dark, so this was the only solution she could think of.
Her hand bumped into something—a nob—after a few seconds. That was easy! Emilia blindly turned it, hoping for the best. Lady Luck seemed to be feeling nice today, as the door opened to the sight of tunnels—halls even. A smile struck Emilia's face. She might've found an escape route! Stepping into the tunnels, she closed the door behind her. Leaving it open would be rude, after all.
Immediately upon stepping into the tunnels, a strong musty odor hit her nose, causing it to scrunch up. The tunnels were significantly more bright than the room, though the tunnels were basked still in an eerie red light. While it was slightly dim, it was nowhere near as dim as the room. Like the room, cylindrical… things… were connected to the wall. Towards the bottom of the wall on the left there were two horizontal rows of bigger ones, and on the roof of the tunnels were many rows of thin yet just as long ones. Emilia had little clue where they led to, as some abruptly ended in the walls. As interesting as they were she doubted they would help her escape, so she began walking through the tunnels.
She had no aim in mind, just wanting to keep walking till she found some form of escape. To put it bluntly, she was roaming aimlessly for the time being. Emilia's beautiful face remained overall expressionless as she walked, deep in thought. A question still irked her; how'd she get here? Emilia had no memories of coming here and just remembers falling asleep last night. It was weird and quite uncomfortable at that. Nevertheless, she still felt safe. If someone wanted to hurt her they would've done so already, and she hasn't even heard a single person or animal since she has awoken. If anything, that admittedly did add to the eerieness.
Unexpectedly, Emilia's head jolted up in surprise, her eyes widening for a moment. What was that? Her ears perked up as if they were trying to listen.
"Hello?!"
She could've sworn she heard something. Emilia hadn't the slightest clue what she heard, but she knew she heard something. A feeling of unease would plant itself into the half-elf's mind. If she wasn't alone down here, then what was here with her? In the darkness, she already had poor visibility, and this difficulty paired with an unknown being existing down here only made a spell for disaster.
A hopeful thought hit Emilia—Maybe it was Subaru? Perhaps she had been mistaken, and this really was a 'prank'. If so, Subaru was going too far!
"S- Subaru you d- dunderhead, this isn't funny!"
Nothing. The silence was uncomfortable. Did she really even hear anything, or was her mind playing tricks on her? During her time alone in the frozen wastes of Elior, there were many points when Emila could've sworn she heard something—but in the end, nothing was there. Was it loneliness perhaps? Or possibly she really was seeing something, briefly. Maybe it was related to one of those things. Or~ her mind was just playing tricks on her… Yeah! Yeah. Yeah…
Pushing her fears and unease at least partially aside, Emilia pushed on. The straight tunnel eventually began branching off, taking many different routes to many different places. To the side of each entrance, there was a sign. Not like Emilia could read the signs. Nothing in these tunnels seemed to be in the normal language… Each one appeared to have little symbols on it, looking like chicken scratch. While she could tell that these symbols were supposed to be some sort of foreign language, that thought barely helped. Hell, she wasn't even aware foreign languages were still used in Lugunica. Vollachia maybe, but not Luguica. What did help is that the signs had visual representations of where each tunnel led to.
One of the signs had something she was at least vaguely familiar with; a boat. Emilia remembered reading about them while studying Priestella. Was that where she was? A Priestella tunnel system? Emilia's mouth hung open as her eyebrow raised, trying to think. Not once had she read about a Priestella tunnel system, and Emilia was confident in what she had learned so far.
"...Where else would use boats enough to warrant a sign? Silly me…"
Emilia would say, poking fun at herself to try to raise her mood. It seemed like there were a few gaps in her knowledge, so she'd definitely have to talk to Ram when she got back to the mansion. Emilia nodded to herself, proud of her deduction, and began walking down the tunnel branch.
As she walked down the dimly lit tunnel, she began to dwell on what brought her here. Not literally what brought her into these tunnels, but rather what allowed her to reach the future.
'Six whole months…,' Emilia thought to herself, tilting her head up as she rested her chin on her hand. 'It's six months since Sanctuary… And almost two years since I've started running for king…' Thoughts of the frozen elves in Elior flooded her head. The ones SHE froze, the Witch of Glaciation. 'I need to do this, to get out, for them!' Emilia was determined, and she'd be damned if she were to let any tunnel stop her! A grin spread across her face, as she looked back toward the direction she was walking. Momentarily she'd stop, pointing her finger forwards as if the tunnel was a person itself.
"I, EMILIA OF ELIOR FOREST, WILL SURMOUNT YOU!"
Her grin became a bit of an adorably smug one as she made her declaration to the tunnels. If anything it was a bit childish of her. This witch would not be stopped! If Emilia was able to overcome Echidna, then there wasn't any doubt in her mind that she could overcome some Priestella tunnels. At least, that was her belief until she heard something.
Emilia's pointed ears stood on end, hearing a guttural bellow emerge from the darkness. It was almost as if a beast was yelling back at her, challenging the witch. For a moment her determination faltered, fear trying to claw its way into her. She wouldn't let it though! Emilia strengthened her resolve.
'Far… That beast sounds far, and mean also! It appears like I was right the first time.'
Whatever made that sound was far, she could tell. It sounded somewhat faint. Emilia likely only heard it because of the tunnel system's acoustics. Still, it came from the direction she was heading. What's more, it likely knew she was here. The half-elf began walking down the tunnels again, picking up her pace a bit. There was an air of confidence to her. Even as she stepped in the occasional puddle she pushed on, not caring for something so trivial. Nothing was going to stop Emilia! Subaru and her camp were waiting at home for her, and she'd be damned if some meanie stopped her from getting back. Speaking of, what was with that mean-sounding creature? Emilia pursed her lips as she thought of this, looking up as she began walking absentmindedly. As bad as a decision that was, she doubted that there was anything near.
'That sounded big, reaaaaaaally big! I shouldn't have been so loud, it knows I'm here. I'm such a nincompoop!'
Emilia shook her head at herself, snapping back to reality. She'd have to be quieter from now on, lest she alerts the beast. When she… If she encounters it, they might have to fight. That was a bit worrying, as there wasn't much room in these tunnels. It'd probably be hard to use her Ice Brand Arts effectively, or most spells actually. Emilia just hoped it wouldn't come to that.
Another thought popped up into her head. Just how long had it known about her? Whatever she heard when she first started walking was real, so it probably knew she was there the entire time. That was a bit of a frightening thought, but she pushed it aside. Thinking about that was pretty meaningless at this point. Now all that was left to do was to find an exit and get out of there! Sadly that was about to become MUCH harder.
After a few minutes of walking there was an issue. In front of Emilia stood a junction, where the tunnel split off into two more tunnels. Both were lit up with the same dim red lights, so luckily she wouldn't have to worry about sight, but now Emilia was confused about which tunnel she should choose. For a second she stood there, perplexed with an eyebrow raised. Then she began workshopping ideas in her head to help decide on which tunnel to use. At first, Emilia thought that maybe she could try to smell a difference. Smelling wasn't exactly her thing, it was Garfiel's, but it didn't hurt to try! Sadly as Emilia walked between both tunnels, she'd realize that they smelled the exact safe—musty and moist. A pretty bad combination, especially when paired with failure.
A frown sat on Emilia's face. They looked the same, smelt the safe, and had no signs to show any difference. That meant there was only one thing left to do, and that caused a bit of a childish smile to spread across her face.
'Eenie, meenie, miney…"
Her arm was out, quickly switching between pointing at the left tunnel and the right tunnel. Since there was no other option, this seemed like the best idea to go with.
'Moe!'
Emilia's finger fell onto the left tunnel, and with that simple game, her fate was chosen. She began walking down the continuation of the tunnels, minding her own steps so she could stay quiet. She hoped to Laguna that the creature wasn't in this tunnel. There was a feeling in her though, that caused her to feel like she picked the wrong tunnel. It was too late regardless, and it wasn't like she'd ever be sure until she saw it herself. Emilia shrugged and continued on.
After over half an hour of walking, Emilia was getting a bit anxious. Why was it taking her so long to get through these tunnels? Did she even take the right path? All these questions were flying through her mind as she took each step. While she had never been in a tunnel before this, she didn't think they'd be this long. Emilia figured they'd be short! She sighed, losing hope.
Luckily for the half-elf, she had an idea. Why didn't she just bust through the walls? The royal knights might be a tinyyyy bit mad at her for that, but they'd probably understand. She was trapped after all. Emilia stopped walking, putting her hands on her hips as she looked around at the walls. They were of solid rock, but she was sure that she could shatter through them with her fists. As a half-elf of Elior Forest, she possessed an inhuman amount of strength. She was able to even lift Subaru up with one hand! Though he always did get embarrassed… She chuckled at the thought.
Oddly, Emilia began tapping on the walls. She wanted to see if they were hollow, but that hope was quickly crushed. They were as dense as a rock, and there was no chance walking outside of these walls would lead to outside. They were underground, probably. That left only one choice… Emilia looked up at the ceiling of the tunnels, balling her fists. If she busted out of the roof, there was a chance she could try to dig straight up. There'd at the very least be less space between the tunnels and outside if she was going from the top, so it was worth a shot.
At first, she tried to hop onto the large cylinders, but strangely she could only hop a few feet off the ground at most. A look of confusion spread across Emilia's face. She didn't feel that tired… Perhaps the walking gave her muscle fatigue? Without another option, she began climbing her way up the roof. As the half-elf did so she felt her breath quickening, and her heart beating hard. It was almost as if she was getting tired! But she couldn't be, right? After a bit of a struggle, she'd reach the roof. Reeling her fist back, she'd allow it to slam forward with all her might. For a moment there was a glint of hope in her eyes. Emilia really believed this was her ticket out of there. When her fist collided with the ceiling, she blanked out for whatever reason. Then a sound that would've alerted the entire tunnel system erupted from her mouth.
"aaaaaAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Emilia started screaming bloody hell as she fell from the cylinder, falling onto the right side of her body and earning a few cuts on her beautiful skin. She began gripping her wrist as she looked at her fist. It was broken in so many damn places. How could this even happen? Disbelief and pain painted her face. Her hand attempted to open, but a cracking sound only responded as the fractures began getting worse. Tears flowed down Emilia's cheeks. This pain was like nothing she had ever encountered before… Why hadn't her strength worked? Were the walls magically enhanced?
Wobbly, the half-elf stood up. Her right arm hung limply at her side while she used her left to pull herself up. Unfortunately, her right leg seemed to be injured also. Perhaps she pulled something. It was hard to even walk without disturbing her shattered fist bones, let alone with her messed up leg. Emilia's rationale was falling, her mind being too preoccupied with the pain. She raised her left arm, muttering two words.
"E- El Huma…"
But nothing happened. No icicles popped out, no walls began breaking. Her magic wasn't working. The tears only got worse when she realized how useless she was in this situation, and how weak she was. Her powers weren't here to aid her, her knight wasn't here to save her, and even one of her damn hands wasn't even usable! All hope would've seemed lost to the normal person… but not to Emilia. She wiped off her tears and strengthened her resolve, as weak as it was. Only one more sniffle escaped her nose. She was going to escape, no matter what it took! That determination was plastered across her face, her eyes hardened. Subaru wouldn't give up, and neither would Mother Fortuna or Geuse. She had to do this!
Before Emilia could even start walking she heard something behind her. It was the echos of a guttural bellow, the same one she had heard before. The difference this time is that it sounded closer. For a moment Emilia felt the color draining from her face. She was defenseless, and only had her legs and one hand. This was no longer just an escape for freedom, it was now an escape for her life. Not even bothering to look back, she started running.
With every step, she took there was a sharp pain that came from her wrist and leg. As much as she wanted to go fast, Emilia could only manage a cross between a limp and a jog. Her body was damaged, and there was no water magic to heal it. With every step she took she gritted her teeth, trying to silence the pain. Something was following her, she knew that now.
Behind her, she heard the splash of a puddle. It was perhaps only a few hundred feet behind Emilia. It was getting close. Too close. Emilia was an injured mouse running from a cat in a maze, its heart beating for survival. She was running out of energy from her fast limping, and fast at that. Her breath was ragged and her heart was beating like crazy. Emilia could just feel her muscles screaming at her to slow down, especially with their damaged state. Every part of her body wanted her to just give up, but her mind stayed strong. Emilia was determined, and that determination would pay off.
Up ahead there was a bend. There was no sign that it'd lead anywhere new, but it was enough for Emilia. For once there was something to change the homogeneity of the tunnels, which had been present for over half an hour now. Behind her, she could hear a dull thudding sound growing closer. It was unmistakably the sound of something's feet slamming into the ground, and it belonged to something big. It was gaining on her, and fast. A hissing sound erupted from the maw of whatever was chasing Emilia, leaving her with no choice.
It hurt like all hell, but Emilia had to push herself. With her jacked-up leg, she began running faster, trying to ignore the pain and limp. If her leg was broken the damage would surely be expanding from her usage of it. Emilia was treating her injury as if she didn't exist. Thank god there'd be healing magic when she got out… Whatever was following her earlier was now running. It was trying to get to Emilia.
Turning around the bend, Emilia saw something. Tears would start flowing out of her eyes, tears of not fear or pain, but joy. On one of the walls ahead she saw a ladder, leading upwards from the tunnels. For a second she wanted to stop and yelp for joy, but Emilia knew she was still being followed. No, not followed… Chased.
The thudding of massive footsteps grew close and was soon to turn the corner. Emilia so badly wanted to turn around and see what had been chasing her, but she knew better. Without care for her own well-being, she ran into the ladder, hurriedly hopping onto it and beginning to climb. Every step up it hurt. Her muscles screamed at her, in pain from pulling her body up a ladder with only one arm. Emilia heard the crash of something ramming into the stone wall and losing its footing, sparing her a few more seconds. Sweat beads dripping from her forehead, she'd reach the top. Before her stood one last obstacle… A hatch.
A massive grin spread across her face and hope filled her very being to the brim. Her arm reached up and turned the latch, before pushing it open. Light poured into the tunnels, blinding her for a second due to the sudden brightness change. Emilia couldn't wait to see everyone again! Subaru, Ram, Garfiel, Otto, Petra, and even Roswaal! This had been utterly terrifying, she was so scared. Without another thought, Emilia reached her arm up to pull herself up, and… felt the searing pain of teeth in her calf.
"H- Huh-?"
Not even getting a second to process what just happened, she felt herself yanked off the ladder by her leg and slammed into the ground. The sound of cracking resonated within the tunnels as she slammed into the ground. For a second she blacked out, but quickly she regained consciousness. Emilia began screaming bloody murder. Everything hurt—Her arms, her head, her legs. She slammed so hard into the ground that even the floor cracked… The floor… As Emilia's eyes opened from unconsciousness, her entire body was laying on the ground, giving her the briefest of seconds to see the floor. The perfectly intact, uncracked floor.
Not getting another second to comprehend what cracked, she felt the searing pain of her calf come back. Emilia began screaming once more. She wanted the pain to stop, she wanted someone to save her. Almost subconsciously she tried to get up, only to be stopped by a force shoving her to the ground. A claw dug into her back as it pinned her, pressing her spine and effectively paralyzing her. The claw was ripped out of her flesh, causing her to scream even hard. Emilia was bleeding in so many places. Where was Subaru? Where was the one that promised to protect her? Emilia's thought was stopped by the sensation of part of her leg getting brutally ripped off. She could feel it—-everything below her calf was gone. She thought her fist hurt bad? Hah, what a joke.
After that Emilia stopped screaming. There wasn't enough energy or air in her body to do it. Almost tauntingly she felt the warmth of the sun beating on her face from up above, so close yet so unattainable. That warmth was snatched away. Every drop of blood in her rushed away out through her leg, causing her to feel cold. Never before then had she felt cold, but now she truly understood why people hated it. It was a disgusting feeling.
Emilia heard the crunch of something before the sun's warm rays were blocked. Something was looming over her, something big. There wasn't an ounce of energy left in her body though, she couldn't turn to see what it was even if she tried. The pain she felt in her head only intensified. Emilia felt teeth dig into her skull, but she could only let out a whimper in response. She felt her entire body lift above the ground, the beast holding her up by the head.
For a brief moment, she was able to see below her, back toward the ground. On the rock floor, she saw a bloody puddle, in which she could see a reflection. Emilia saw her missing leg, her shattered wrist, and her bloodied body. Worst of all, she saw her head and what held it. Emilia's head was painted a crimson shade of red, hiding the beautiful colors of her silver hair… Or at least was remained of her hair. Above her eye, she saw something terrifying—her skull. The milky white color was an almost beautiful contrast from the deep reds of the rest of her body. Cracks ran through her skull like streams through a forest. It seems Emilia found out what made that cracking sound. All that now looked at her from the reflection was a broken and emotionless face.
'Please… Let it end…'
In the reflection, she saw what was holding her by her head. It was a beast the likes of which she had never seen or read of before. It had a long thin maw, covered in dark blue scales. In its jaws were dozens of bloodied teeth. Each one ranged in size, but the one thing each tooth did share in common was the dagger-like qualities. The creature stood on two hind legs with the posture of a ground dragon. It had two large arms, decked with three claws on each hand. Both of the hands had a claw bigger than the other two, and one of those claws was covered in blood. They were killing claws, the ones used to paralyze Emilia and rip open her back.
For a second the sound of cracking had filled Emilia's ears, then nothing. The beast had slammed its jaws together, pulverizing her skull. It seemed like the story of Emilia was over. A royal candidate ripped apart and crushed by an unknown beast. She had suffered one of the worst deaths imaginable, and now she was gone.
The brilliant purple eyes of Emilia fluttered open, looking up with a groggy demeanor, only to close again. Was it morning already? She rolled over to her side, not wanting to get up just yet. Besides, Subaru was the one who always w- what.
The body of Emilia shot up, coming to reality. She was in the same exact room she started in.
Yup, it's me. I'm back, if anyone even remembers me. I went on a little (long) break from writing and took that time to both think about my writing and improve upon my skills. I don't really think Bonds of Wisdom and Wrath, Re:Jurassic, or Colliding Worlds were that good, so... I'm starting a new story! I'm using this as a chance to make a remake of Re:Jurassic, but like, better. An original storyline rather than it taking place during Fallen Kingdom. Where I want to go with this story is heavily in workshop, so feel free to comment any ideas you have (deaths, plotlines, characters, etc). I'd like to hear any thoughts and comments y'all have also, so go crazy. Anyways, that's all I want to say, so until we meet again, cya!