Chapter 3 - Rescue
Aaron immediately recognized the woman. She had long white hair with a shiny blue Hinkle bow in her hand. He stood up and bowed to her.
"Bow master Athena Pierce," he smiled politely, "A pleasure to meet you."
Athena ignored him and eyed each and everyone in the inn suspiciously, finally resting her sight on Lyra.
"Dark Lord's pupils are getting out of control now, what are the four of you up to?" Athena snarled, "and Lyra, tell me, where is Caden?"
"I don't know," her voice quivered, "Why? Did he do something?"
"He kidnapped my niece!" Athena roared, "Do you call that anything?"
Lyra's tears almost fell out, "There must be some kind of misunderstanding," she uttered.
"Misunderstanding? Simon, come in, tell them what you saw," Athena turned to the door and a boy around fifteen years of age stepped inside.
He wore blue Doros robe and held an old wooden staff. He looked at everyone nervously, and spoke with almost inaudible voice.
"Just this morning I saw three people sitting in a bar, two of them had the Alliance crest sewed onto their shirts. So I thought it might be nice to say hi since I'm a member of the alliance too. I went over and the assassin introduced them to me. He said his name was Caden, one of Dark Lord's pupils. Then he pointed to the girl sitting in the middle and said she was Selena. Oh boy, she was the prettiest girl I've ever seen. But she looked so sad, almost as if she was crying," Simon recalled.
"Enough of the useless details, tell them who was sitting on the right!" Athena shouted.
"Right, right. I couldn't believe it when Caden first introduced him to me, but he said that person's name is Bill Sun, and he's one of the Phantasy Seekers!" Simon spoke uneasily, "I ran out of the bar as soon as he said that, then I met the Bow master and told her what happened."
"Enough evidence?" Athena stared at Lyra intensely.
"Caden must've had too much to drink, he's drunk," Lyra tried to explain, "Please, he doesn't know what he's doing!"
"Well, since one of Dark Lord's pupils took my niece," said Athena, "Then I'll have to take one of you!"
She suddenly clutched Lyra's hands and started marching towards the door. Everyone stared at Athena, wanting to help Lyra but was powerless to do so. Moments before Athena stepped out; a girl around thirteen years old appeared in front of her.
"Are you the Bow master?" the girl asked politely.
"Yes, and you are?" Athena looked at the girl.
"I'm just here to let you know that Chun Ji's ceremony will be starting soon, and if you could please follow me to the magical library," said the girl, then she turned to Lyra's group and spoke again, "All of you must be Dark Lord's pupils, please follow me to the ceremony too."
Athena had no choice but to let Lyra go, there was no way she'd show up in Chun Ji's ceremony grabbing Lyra. The girl started walking outside, Athena and the four followed behind.
"What about those two?" the girl suddenly pointed to Alex and the fainted boy, "Are they one of you too?"
"Oh, no, no," Arman tried to explain, "It's okay, just leave them here, they're not one of us."
Alex sat on the table, "if Manji's gonna be there, I better follow them to this ceremony," he thought, "But I can't let them notice me."
The girl, Athena Pierce, and four of Dark Lord's pupils walked towards the magical library, Alex followed from a distant fretfully. They climbed a few ladders until reaching the top of Ellinia, where the magical library is located. This was where Chun Ji's ceremony was to be held. There were two wizards standing in front of the library as guest greeters. Alex lost sight of the six in the crowd of people who were entering the ceremony, but was sure they went inside. He gathered up his courage and walked inside too. There were hundreds of people sitting in the library when he entered, all having conversations and making noises. Alex looked around until he saw Lyra and the group sitting on a table at the left corner, but Athena wasn't with them. He then looked from table to table and his heart skipped a beat when he saw Drew sitting on a table near Lyra.
"This person is Manji's student, I have to watch out for him, maybe I'll be able to find dad," he felt excited and scared at the same time.
While Alex was in his thoughts, the library became quiet as two people each carrying a wizard on their back rushed inside the library and climbed upstairs.
Everyone was discussing quietly about what had just happened, "Did you see the two wizards?" "Whoa, they were seriously injured, are they dead?" "They're probably dead…"
While people were whispering, a mage walked down from upstairs towards Lyra's table and looked at Aaron.
"Aaron? Grendel wants to see you, please follow me upstairs," said the wizard with heated expression.
"Sure thing," Aaron replied.
They climbed upstairs to a cozy room, Aaron saw six different colored chairs in the middle, two was empty, and in the other four sat Athena Pierce, Manji, Chun Ji, and Grendel. Aaron bowed to each and everyone of them, but when it was Grendel's turn, Grendel stood up and shouted, "WHERE IS CADEN?" It was so loud that even the guests downstairs heard it. Lyra couldn't help but worry about Caden.
Aaron was stunned for at least a minute before he could answer. "Caden, he said he was going for a drink yesterday, we never saw him again, but he should be coming here soon though," he said.
"You think he has the courage to show up? Does he even consider himself a member of the alliance anymore? He was together with Bill Sun! A Phantasy Seeker!" Grendel said with enraged look.
"I'm… I'm sure he had some unspeakable reason," Aaron stuttered.
"Bull –"Grendel stopped before shouting out that word, "Non-sense! Mike tell them how you got injured, and see if he still thinks Caden doesn't know what he was doing"
The two injured wizards who were carried in a while ago were lying on the floor, one of them apparently dead and the other badly injured. Mike, the injured wizard, spoke softly, "This morning we saw little Simon and he told us that someone from the Alliance was with a Phantasy Seeker in a casino, and we decided to go check it out," He coughed and went on, "When we arrived there, we saw an assassin full of blood, but he showed no signs of pain and he was smiling and joking with someone who wore clothes very much like a Phantasy Seeker. Bow master's niece was there too, she seemed to be forced into this. The assassin said to the Phantasy Seeker, 'Hey, you say you're famous because of your skill, Haste, but word of advise, no matter how fast your haste is, as long as you got the 'bad luck forever', you'll never be able to flee from battles.' So David and I," he pointed to the dead body on the floor, "quickly took out our wands, but we had to be sure before doing anything reckless, then we saw the dagger on that guy's waist, and the Phantasy Emblem on his arm. We knew for sure that he is a foe so we went up and challenged him, but unfortunately David died in the battle," Mike sighed, "And the assassin, who's obviously Caden, just sat there, not helping out at all. Instead, he kicked me in the chest during the battle."
Suddenly, a girl climbed upstairs; she stood aside and waited for her turn to speak.
"Yes? Diana, what'd you find out?" Grendel turned to her.
"We didn't find Caden, but we did find someone who's been killed by him," Diana replied.
"Who?"
She turned to Manji and spoke, "I'm sorry Master Manji, but it's your student Seth."
"Seth?" gasped Manji, "What.."
Manji was interrupted before he could finish. A girl teleported into the library, and she carried a dead body in her hands. The body belonged to Seth, his throat had been struck by a Kumbi throwing star with the initial C.K written in the middle.
"Caden, I see," Manji muttered to himself.
At that moment, a tender and clear voice came from downstairs, "Aunt Athena, I'm back."
Everyone looked towards the stairs, wanting to see the girl who publicly went out with a Phantasy Seeker. She quietly walked inside the room, approximately fifteen years old. She had dimples and was prettier than an angel. She dashed towards Athena, threw herself in her arms, and cried uncontrollably.
"Selena, you're back," said Athena in a relieved tone.
Manji only took a glimpse of her and turned back to study the Kumbi throwing star. He suddenly stood up, rushed towards Aaron and grabbed a star from his pocket. He gazed at the initial A.R in the middle of it.
"Do all of Dark Lord's pupils put their initials on their throwing stars?" Manji glared at Aaron.
Before Aaron could answer, Selena opened her mouth and spoke, "Yea, that's what Caden-Bro said."
"What did you call him?!" Athena almost shouted at Selena, "Caden-Bro?"
"Yea," Lyra looked at Athena innocently, 'What's wrong?"
Athena knew something was odd, so she inquired to Selena, "Tell us what happened after we were separated yesterday. Skip the unnecessary details."
"Bill Sun is a bad man, he.." Selena spoke uneasily.
"Yes, you don't have to tell us that. I will kill Caden and Bill," Athena responded.
"Caden-Bro? He.. he," tears suddenly burst out of Selena's eyes, "He's already dead!"
Everyone in the room was surprised to hear about Caden's death, Grendel's anger suddenly disappeared and asked, "He died? How?"
"This bad man killed him!" Selena pointed to Seth's body.
Manji felt proud inside his heart, "So Seth was able to take Caden one on one after all, my best student's not any worse than the Dark Lord's," he thought.
"Start from the beginning and tell us what happened," Grendel said kindly.
"Sure. Yesterday, when I was on my way to Ellinia, it started raining. I found a cave nearby and I hid in it," Selena said clearly, "But as soon as I went in, I felt someone beside me. I turned around and saw a boy; he was around eighteen years old. I asked him what he was doing here, and he said the most inappropriate thing, 'you're so cute, let's go get a room.'"
Everyone was appalled by the girl's innocence and Bill's insanity.
"And he said that he wanted to kiss me," Selena went on, "Of course I didn't agree to go out with him, and I even warned him that my aunt is the Bow master of Henesys. But he didn't listen to me and said, 'Who cares about your aunt, she's too old to be my type, I just want you.'"
"I said skip the unnecessary details!" Athena barked.
Almost everyone in the room had a smile on their face now, wanting to laugh but couldn't.
"Yes, I asked what he meant by not his type --" Selena was disrupted before she could finish.
"What did I just say?!" Athena shouted.
"Oh, sorry," Selena smiled like a child, "We talked for a bit, he kept on saying how pretty and cute I was. Then he leaned forward and tried to kiss me. But out of nowhere, laughter came from outside the cave. Bill turned around and screamed, 'Who is it?' That guy laughed again, 'hahaha, hahaha,'" Selena tried to imitate but sounded ridiculous, "Bill threatened him and said, 'If you ruin my mood, then you're as good as dead!' But that guy just kept on laughing. It was really funny after a while, so I started laughing too."
Athena stared at Selena in amazement, "Stupid girl, your life was in danger, why would you laugh?"
Selena blushed and spoke embarrassedly, "Well, it was really funny," she paused, "Bill stood at the opening of the cave and waited for that guy to laugh again so he can find his location. But that guy seemed to notice it, he suddenly stopped laughing. I was scared that he might laugh again so I yelled, 'Be careful, he's going to catch you.' He replied and said, 'Thanks, but he can't catch me, he's not fast enough.'"
Everyone knew that Bill Sun was famous for his haste; there was no doubt he said that to anger bill.
"Bill got really mad and jumped out of the cave, he screamed, 'Okay, you say I'm not fast enough, then let's compare.'" Selena said vividly, "But he was tricked, that guy jumped inside the cave as Bill went out. He looked at me and asked if I was okay. I didn't know what he meant, why wouldn't I be okay. He answered saying, 'Do you know who that guy is? He's a very evil person, and if you're seen with him, people will think you're bad too. And we're all members of the alliance, so it's only natural to help you out,'"
"He's a member of the alliance?" Athena inquired.
"Yea, of course" Selena stared at Athena in awe, "He's Caden-Bro."
Everyone gasped at the mention of Caden's name.
"He grabbed me and we ran outside the cave, but Bill had already come back, so we hid into the bush near us. Bill went inside and found me missing, and then he started to swear a lot of words that I didn't even understand. After a while, he ran out of the cave and started swinging his dagger randomly at the bushes, a few times it almost hit me, but I was too scared to move. I suddenly felt blood dripped onto my face, and I noticed it was Caden-Bro's. I wondered if he was injured, but of course he was, because he put his arms over me the whole time to protect me. He shushed me when I tried to talk, then when Bill went away away; he let go and said, 'the injury's not that bad.' I felt more blood on my face now and knew that he was lying. I tried to get up but Caden-bro told me that Bill's going to be back again. After a while, Bill came back shouting like Caden predicted, 'Aha, found you!' I almost cried when Bill shouted that and the only thing that came to my mind was to run."
"No! He was just trying to trick you, if he saw you then he would've just went over and stabbed Caden, what was the point in yelling, apparently Caden is not that smart neither," Athena shook her head.
"No, Caden-Bro knew that he was lying, he stopped me just when I was about to stand up and put his hand over my mouth again to stop me from making noise. Bill kept on yelling, but he stopped after a while and went away. Caden-Bro whispered into my ears, 'I can't move around much,' I wanted to ask why, but suddenly remembered that his injuries were too deep. He went on and said, 'Bill's going to come back again, this time I think he might find us. So best thing to do now is take a risk and hide in the cave.'"
At the end of that sentence, almost everyone in the room gasped.
"Amazing! What courage and what cleverness!" praised Grendel.
"Just when we settled ourselves in the cave, Bill came running back again. Caden-Bro held my hands and we hid behind a rock at the back of the cave. The cave was pitching dark, I was a bit scared at first but Caden put his arms around me to comfort me. Bill suddenly jumped inside the cave and laughed, 'Found you,' and he put out his hands to grab me, but Caden threw a star at his face and Bill quickly leapt back. He threw a few more stars at Bill and he backed to the edge of the cave, then everything was silent, I can only hear their breaths and I felt extremely nervous," Selena spoke restlessly, "A moment later, Bill spoke, he said, 'So, you're an assassin, probably one of Dark Lord's pupils, you've got good skills.' Caden ignored him, turned to me and said, 'Get outta here, run to Ellinia!' But I couldn't just leave him here, so I insisted on staying and suggested that we might win if we fought together, but I think he got irritated at me and said, 'There's no way we can win against him. Hurry up and go to Ellinia, all of our allies are there, I don't think this guy will follow you.' But I didn't want to leave him so I told him I'm staying. He suddenly seemed really annoyed and said, 'If you don't go now I'm going to say bad things about you and your aunt!'" Selena suddenly stopped talking and looked at Athena.
"It's fine, go on," Athena said.
"No matter what he said, I just didn't want to leave. If he can risk his life saving mine, then I don't see why I can't do the same. But he suddenly started to yell, 'Oh I swear to god, I can't use my super assassin moves with you here, stop being an idiot and leave!' So I started to wonder if I should just go, maybe I really am distracting him. So I turned around to say bye. But he started yelling again, "Holy honey, GO! So the saying was true after all, 'after seeing an archer, it's bad luck forever!''"
Athena was infuriated; she stood up and yelled, "What non-sense! It's a good thing you left!"
"About Caden-Bro's death, does it have anything to do with seeing me? You know, about 'after seeing an archer, it's bad luck forever?'" asked Selena innocently.
"Absolutely not! That's non-sense. If it's true then everyone here today will have bad luck forever!" Athena shouted.
Many people in the room couldn't hold their laughter any longer and burst out laughing, but stopped right after seeing Athena's devilish glare.
"I ran towards Ellinia for help. After two hours or so, I suddenly saw Bill running behind me again; I almost fell to the floor. He said he just wanted to grab a drink with me and took me to a bar. I tried to refuse but he was too overpowering, so I had no choice but to do things his way," Selena said wearily, "Before we could settle ourselves in the bar and get comfortable, someone walked inside. He was full of blood, and he sat down on the chair beside me. He looked at Bill and both of them burst out laughing. From his voice I can tell that he was Caden-Bro!"