As a way of apologizing for taking so long to update the fanfic, I'm publishing this chapter right away!
Hope you enjoy it!
I don't own Elsword nor its characters blablabla.
Her heart was throbbing wildly inside her chest, the walls around them seemingly imitating the anxious movements of her contained euphoria. A soft waltz was still playing in the distance, bringing its delicate sound to her from the salon on the first floor, the wooden floor creaking under every step. The whole castle was trembling along with her body, as if it also felt the emotion of the anticipation, anxiety for the secrets that were about to be unfolded inside of it. She felt a slight hint of nostalgia for the abruptly interrupted ball, its trace vaguely following with an unsettling sensation. She watched the man in front of her, the tall figure that moved so securely to lead her towards the long awaited event. His silvery hair swung side to side on his back as he walked, following his movements softly.
As Add introduced the key on the key lock, she thought about the recent events. The irruption of her old friend, how she threatened them both, how she charged towards them; how his eyes had suddenly turned a dangerous red when he stopped Elesis from aiming against her, the inhuman strength he had displayed. She thought about the demons too, about her family and her friends. She thought about her brother. In the couple of seconds it took him to unlock the door open for them hundreds of images invaded her mind, filling her with a strange feeling that constricted her chest. It felt like a resolution.
Inside the small room, the big tome emitted a dim, lilac light from its center, invading it with its magical aura. Her heartbeats accelerated, the old pages called for her silently, attracting her towards the book that contained her desired knowledge. She took a couple of steps closer and ran her fingers delicately over the yellowy pages, tracing its marks like in a trance, letting herself be enveloped by that mystical aura, bathing her skin with the light. Turning her head slowly she glanced at him, seeking for the approval to go on. He nodded just slightly, and it was enough.
After exhaling largely, she concentrated her attention on the words that were hand-written with ink over the old paper. She took a moment to recognize the words, to organize them inside her head, to let them sink inside. Then, her voice started to give life to the ancient manuscript, making the words dance in the air as she read on that strange language that she had worked so hard on learning. Savoring every letter that slipped through her lips she continued page after page, secretly hoping for her words to take the shape of a magical vision, to surround them with light. The anticipation sank inside the pit of her stomach minute after minute, making a knot inside of her that became tighter each second as she got near the end of the chapter. And nothing was happening, but the expression on her face slowly started to change; the feelings that flooded her insides started to turn little by little into a skeptical astonishment.
The last word slipped out through her tongue, and she could feel the world turning upside down in a matter of seconds. She turned around quickly to catch a glimpse at Add, who was laying his back against the wall next to the door. Arms folded over his chest, his head slightly bent, gaze rooted to the floor, hair covering his face, shadowing it. She knew he was now refusing to look back.
How? How could he not say something so important? After she had sworn he wasn't involved in the demon invasion?
She thought about the impression the castle had made on her the first time she stood in front of it, and that it still made. How it felt so enchanting, so magic, so full of something mysterious and supernatural. Now it made sense. Of course it felt magical, because it was. The ground in which it was built was enough. But how? She wanted to look out the windows, see the gardens, have her eyes be the first witnesses of what she had just learnt. Hurrying to the nearest balcony, she opened the door brusquely, supporting both of her hands on the railing and pressing her upper body against it to glance outside. It was pitch black, but the contours of the backyard filled with tall trees were still distinguishable thanks to the generous lighting of the moon shinning above, casting white traces of every shape. It was very subtle, but she could see a soft light being emitted from the ground, barely perceptible.
She was angry now, very angry, her hands gripping strongly on the rail. Storming back into the room she found herself gripping onto Add's clothes strongly, pulling of his shirt and forcing him to look at her.
"Did you know about this all along? Are you responsible for this? Did you have anything to do with the invasion? Did you cause this?!" she asked with an agitated tone, her voice sounding close to a groan, as the volume increased with each question. She held his stare when he looked down at her impassively.
"Yes, I did know about this. But I had nothing to do neither with that nor with the invasion. I am not related to the demons in any way. How could I? All of this started even before I was born, centuries ago, didn't it?" he retorted calmly, even when he was being strongly pulled and the aggressive stare of Ara threatened to cut him.
"Sure you hadn't" she retorted exasperatedly, tightening her grip on him; skeptical.
"Do you really think I'd show you this if I really had something to do with all of this? Think, Ara. Use your head" he scolded her, his face forming an irritated expression that furrowed his brows just slightly. He placed his hands on her shoulders, gently pushing her back, silently asking her to regain composure.
"Of course you hadn't" she replied, her voice slowly morphing to a tamer one as her hands slid through his chest, releasing the shirt. "But what is there to be done about this? That's clearly not an incantation. Was there a ritual to create this in the first place? Or has it always been like this? Is this terrain just like that or did someone open it up? Can we close it?" she asked anxiously, frustration building up inside of her as the consciousness of her own impotence sank in. There had to be something they could do about it, otherwise everything she had done up until then would be completely useless. There had to be a closure to this torment.
"I am not sure. The vampire that raised me told me this terrain had been occupied by vampires for centuries, for generations. He said it was special, that it couldn't be inhabited by normal humans or it'd be catastrophic. I didn't understand why until he taught me how to read the very same chapter you just saw. But he never referred to it being an incantation, nor the natural state of the castle" he explained calmly, relaxing now that she had let go of him and moving his hands to cover hers over his chest. "But there might be a way to fix it. That is, if it really is only and incantation and we manage to find the correct spell to close it. If it were to be just the way things had always been then…there's no hope" he finished, glancing down at her with uncertainty, waiting to measure up the effects that his words would have on her.
"But how? I've never used magic, I can't just cast a spell" she replied.
"Yes you can. Magic comes in many forms. Some people are born with the ability to manipulate it at will, others carry power on their words. And there's magic on books too, magic that can be unleashed by pronouncing the correct words, the correct way" he explained, his fingers gently interlacing with hers. "You have proven to be studious. I am sure you can cast the proper spell if you commit enough to it and learn what you need to".
Ara looked up at him, their eyes meeting intensely.
"Will you help?" she asked with a soft voice. He squeezed her hands, an almost imperceptible smile curving his lips just slightly.
"I have books" he merely replied.
Just then, a powerful sound echoed through the walls of the castle. The vibration of a pendulum clock annunciating midnight, filtering through the walls, filling the small room. Ara brought a hand to her cheek and sighed profusely, knowing that it meant for her the closed doors of her residence. Add spoke again.
"Oh my, are you going to transform now?" he asked with a mocking tone as a small chuckle escaped his lips, a subtle smile twisting his mouth to a side. She looked at him with tender reproach before laughing softly as well.
"I am afraid not, to your disappointment. It just means I won't be able to go back to my room until morning" she said with a tone that mixed a joking attitude with a conflicted mien. Spending the night out was certainly not going to be looked with sympathy by the owner of the inn. She seemed to have a bad opinion of Ara just the way things were, and it wasn't going to get better with her breaking the inn's rules. She would probably have to prepare for a reprimand as soon as she made it back.
"Then I guess the plebeian will have to spend the night at the prince's castle. What a twist of the story" he said, still mocking her. It gained him a soft push from her.
"You call yourself a prince, how daring" she laughed. But it was true, in a way. She remembered perfectly the impression he had made on her the first night she saw him, and how she thought his attitude and his manners resembled those of a noble. Even if he didn't have any title nor a connection with royalty, he did look and acted like part of it. She glanced briefly towards the big tome sitting at the reading desk in the middle of the room, with its lilac glow enveloping it. It looked like it was waiting for something, as if it were asking her to do something. Of course she was going to comply with that silent petition. She turned to look at Add once again. "Should we study, then?" she asked.
Add sighed, bringing his thumb and index finger to the bridge of his nose, making a seemingly exasperated sound.
"I knew you would ask that. Of course you would" he said, massaging the bridge of his nose. "Wait here, then, I'll bring the book" he said before walking out of the room, leaving her to explore the thick tome some more by herself.
Even if her knowledge of the ancient language was limited, she was actually able to understand some of the phrases inside the book, some titles here and there. At least she had enough clues to find a chapter referring to what they needed to do. The terms "demon realm" or "human realm", "portal", "summoning incantation" or "gate closure" would be enough to lead her to a starting point. She skipped through the pages at a fast rate, checking for familiar characters or known words. But they still weren't completely certain that this method was going to work, or if it was even possible to do in the first place. Yet the only hope fell in that one chance.
Looking through the book, she found a particular title that caught her attention. Thanks to that portion of the language she had managed to learn, she could read it perfectly. "Dark Spectral Energy Spells" it said with beautifully traced letters. Unable to understand the emotions that were accumulating inside of her, drawing her attention towards that chapter, she kept reading. It felt like she was being pulled by it, a hypnotic sensation invading her completely as she examined the words that revealed the ancient incantations. She understood a big part of the instructions; one passage that was particularly clear to her spoke about the specific words to cast one of the spells. She had to try it, even if she didn't understand why it was so terribly appealing to her. Add had said there was magic in books, magic that could be freed by just pronouncing the right words.
Following the instructions carefully, she extended her right arm perfectly straight, pointing to the farthest wall in front of her. Using her left hand to follow the lines of the paragraph, she started to read the words out loud, making her best to pronounce them the way Add had taught her. The words slipped through her lips causing a ticklish sensation inside her stomach, they were dancing in the air in front of her, floating lightly and impregnating the room with an atmosphere that caused her anxiety and anticipation. The tips of her fingers started to vibrate with a strange sensation, heat invaded her body. She kept reading until the air in front of her started to swirl, the walls around her vibrating strongly. Still casting the spell she looked up for a brief moment, feeling like something was changing vertiginously. Where her hand was pointing a strange vision had appeared. Red and orange light shining brightly in a circular motion, fast like a swirl. And it was sucking everything around it.
The door opened up abruptly, showing a confused Add under its frame.
"Just what are you doing?!" he exclaimed with a hint of irritation shaking his voice. All of those sudden sounds surprised her. She fell quiet, withdrawing her arm from its former position. As soon as she stopped the process the strange vortex disappeared with a small explosion, sucking itself to extinction. Astonished, she unconsciously took a couple of steps back; feeling like a portion of energy inside her body had been drained. Add held her by the shoulders, looking around the room with confusion and alarm showing all over his face.
"I…casted a spell" she said, and both of them fell silent.
Fun fact. I was going to write a lemon scene here, but I wrote it with my bf next to me so I got embarrassed and ended up not doing it. Sorry!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Feel free to leave a review!
See you soon.