Chapter 21 – Women's Prejudice
As Jane and Draugit walked through the passageway for a long period of time, the sounds of the whispering shadows and animals can be heard from a distance. Jane and Draugit continue following through the straightforward path until they found a large door. The door is very fancy, somewhat golden and it bears a skull mark at the handle.
"This is it. She is definitely inside this door." Draugit said.
"Should we try to formulate a plan?" Jane asked, which is somewhat unusual because she normally would not think things through.
"Supposedly, we shall have to try and convince her. If that does not work, we have to find a way to knock her off balance. You will have to fight her and try to snap her out of it while I strongly-" Draugit stops for a second before he takes a second sniff of the nose. He then becomes very flustered and quite nervous.
"W-What is this? This does not make any sense?!" Draugit said.
"What is it?" Jane quickly asked.
"I can sense it. It-It's that demon. Felicia Hawthorne." Draugit nervously said.
"What?! Really? She's still alive?!" Jane asked, surprisingly quickly.
"I'm afraid so. But then again, this might be a perfect opportunity to end this once and for all." Draugit clenched his fists and grips it tightly.
"Let's go Jane. We'll plan out our strategy when we know what to expect from them." The armored warrior and the lady knight enters the room and they finally see them, Clarissa Chelle and Felicia Hawthorne.
The demonic laugh fills the presence with such toxic air. Jane feels quite weakened by the air it gives.
"So? The cards have all arrived. The final game has finally begun..and everything is set in place." Felicia said.
"What are you doing here, Felicia? And why do you wish to manipulate Clarissa?! For what purpose?!" Draugit asked.
"Her? Oh. Well, simple. Just wanna crush and smash stuffs. Kipperniums are nothing but weaklings who "simply put" are incompetent fool of a kingdom. Those puny squash bugs needs to be squashed and frankly, they've all been turn to ash by this girl here." Felicia laughed maniacally after saying those words. Jane simply boiled herself in rage and anger as she said that, being hurt by the words Felicia spoke.
"You are a true devil, now bring her back. Turn her back to the way it was." Draugit said, calmly.
"What calm composure you have! Is it because you're confident that she won't harm you in any way and that she trusts you as both "wannabe's couple"?" She sarcastically replied.
"Yes" is all that Draugit says before Felicia mocks him slightly with a denial expression.
"Your voice is a whole lot deeper though. That's one thing. This means that the seal was broken thanks to those annoying pests.." She said.
Again, "Yes" is all Draugit said, making him presently incredibly dangerous as an opponent.
"You really aren't that scared of it huh. I was hoping that I could save this bit for last resort. But I suppose nothing else could inevitably break that little emotion barrier of yours. But that's fine; because it makes the torture all the more fun!" Felicia said.
"Get to the point. I know what you've said. And its not working." Draugit said, thinking that she will try to kill Clarissa.
"Oh, really. Then you might love it then." Felicia paused at that moment before she could say the words.
"Raymond is being taken by Rudolph, my boss. He's using him to get back at me for giving him my little welcome gift. The boy's got guts. That's for sure. His reluctance to be negative is slightly suppressed, making him a difficult target for me to attack his feelings." Felicia said, with honest-like devil eyes. This sparked Draugit's interest.
"Raymond's with Rudolph..huh. I already know that. But I don't know the reason for it. Thank you for clearing that up." Draugit said with intense sarcasm, making Felicia quite annoyed.
"You-You really are well informed. That annoying Raymond kid's all alone now. You'd bet he'll run out of that castle and simply heads out to find you two here. Oh well, I'll just have'ta kill you before he gets here." Felicia said.
"Draugit. Its time." Clarissa finally speaks to them. Draugit simply takes a stance and starts drawing out his blade. Jane begins to strike down at Clarissa, being slashed down by her attacks, she takes a slight scratch on her body.
"It truly hurts, does it not?" Jane asked.
"You..are selfish. You know that." Clarissa speaks in a monotonous voice.
"Selfish? As if you have any rights to judge me! You're still a horrible woman! And I won't let Kippernians suffer of your magic any longer!" Jane, with pride, shrugs off Clarissa's prejudice over Jane.
"Fine. I'll just make you understand." Clarissa said as she completely used the same dark flames that surrounded her. But this time, the courage Jane possessed enables her to shrug the fire off her with the dragon blades, knowing that it won't deal any damage to her.
"A Dragon sword. I suppose that is natural. Your self-esteem improved from our last battle. But time for some more judgment on your account.." Clarissa starts lashing out magic, but all the attacks are nullified by the sword's powers. Clarissa then shoots out an illusion sphere holding out all the painful memories of the past. But this time, she managed to hold all the mental pain and shrugs the illusion off her. She completely overpowered Clarissa in terms of strength and when she is about to finish Clarissa off, Clarissa pushed a strong blast of evil energy that the sword couldn't deflect and it pushed Jane backwards until she hits a wall, completely damaging her and left her paralyzed.
"See. Its pointless to struggle. You are not a very strong person. You have courage. But you are but a mere mortal. One who is pathetic and weak." Clarissa continues to curse Jane further. Realizing that there might be some way for Jane to snap her out of her trance, based on what she said.
"The one who is weak is not I. It is you who is. You are the one who does not understand how important a person is. You do not have the right to judge me when you are referring to yourself!" Jane said weakly.
The necromancer shows signs of anger and pain as Jane says those words. She screamed in pain as memories begin to flow out to her, showing her the memories of her past. Before she became who she is now..
At that time, Draugit clashes with Felicia, exchanging strong blows. But clearly Felicia had the upper hand as she prepares a toxic attack that hits Draugit internally, yet it is ineffective.
"That shadow seal dragon made you immune to poison, huh. I guess I'll have to try a little harder." Felicia said as she prepared a strong blow on the center of Draugit, slightly destroying his armor, but it rapidly recovers instantly and the armor returns to its former glory. Felicia is slightly flustered by the immense advantage of his armor. Draugit silently attacks her without any mercy and tries to push her down. When she finally crashed into the ground, she snapped.
"That's about IT! You have gotten stronger. But you're no match for my dark aura attack!" Felicia angrily says as she begins to release a strong dark bomb energy blast that can pulverize the castle. Draugit, however, easily intercepts the blow and Felicia is knocked out by the impact of the blow Draugit made.
"It seems you have gotten weaker than before. I don't understand why. But I know that this is not the real you. The real you would be immensely stronger. Much powerful than this.." Draugit said and Felicia chuckled.
"That's true, you incompetent dweeb. I would love to say that cursing word right now, but I suppose I have no right to judge you over all people. Fine. You win. I quit. I'll be waiting back in your world. Where I can finally crush you and pulp you between my knees. And I will show you, the horror of the Hawthorne legacy continues on!" she said. But a sudden jab in the back knocked her out unconscious.
"What the?!" Draugit said as he approached the unconscious Felicia, and notices a letter where she was jabbed.
"Felicia's legacy continues. But her terror of this world ends here. We shall require her for another stage to set…for the glory of Elysium. My advice to you, leave her here. We will come to pick her up for the next stage of the plan."
"W-Who wrote this? And how did that jab get to her? There wasn't anyone there.." Draugit thought as he looked behind her. There was and still is nothing there but an empty shallow hall behind her unconscious body.
"Hmm..who is this? Could it be the Holy One?" Draugit continues to ponder on the situation as he hears the noises of Clarissa's pain. Draugit senses it immediately and runs over to Jane, quickly staring at the Clarissa's pain of her influx of memories returning to her.
Meanwhile,
The dragon, who claims himself as Trastion Travesty, introduces himself to Jester. He then simply asks a question to Jester of Clarissa and Draugit's whereabouts.
"..Is in the Gypsies' border. I have no idea where.." Jester said, still stunned by the wingless, humanoid dragon's presence.
"I see." Trastion said quietly. He chuckled in his mind, assuming Jester as a 'cute, yet vain-like magician'.
Trastion then carries Jester immediately and heads up.
"W-W-Wait! What are you doing?" Jester asks the dragon, immediately showing direct fear.
"We're tracking their scent. I'm going to go and find them once we're out of this castle." Trastion answered before he leaped high above, crushing what is left above and destroying the castle completely with the exception of a small square area cube that seems to resist the destruction.
"Hold on!" Trastion said while Jester screams in fear. The jump goes so high that he is capable of jumping high above the ground few feet high. Trastion then materialize his wings, showing draconic wings that seemingly gives a heavenly aura.
"What is this feeling? Its like I'm no longer scared of the heights.." Jester thought.
"Alright. With this nose, I can track their powers from here, should it not be too far from here.." the dragon sniffed at his nose, hoping to get something. And fortunately, he is able to find the location of Draugit and Clarissa. Who immediately flaps his wings and quickly fly over to their destination. At this time, Dragon defeated the soldiers and retreats from battle, knowing that they lost the fight.
"Haha! Serves you right!" Dragon enthusiastically said. Afterwards, he notices a dragon above with wings and is enthusiastic even more, as now he finally seen another dragon beside himself makes him ecstatic. Dragon immediately flapped his wings and flies over to the Dragon, seeing Jester on ride with him.
"Oh? Kippernium's Dragon?" Trastion said.
"Who are you?" Dragon asked Trastion.
"The eastern dragon division. You're the last dragon existed in this little world of yours. I'm one of the few ones as well. The one who is assigned to watch over Raymond." He answered. The word 'Raymond' completely brings both Jester's and Dragon's attention into call.
"Raymond?" in unison, both Jester and Dragon said to which Trastion laughed at the comedic situation.
"I'll give you a hint. I'm not a Kippernian resident. And so are some of the shadows lurking in this dark world we're living in right now." He said.
"Shadows?" Dragon seems confused by the statement.
"I think the floppy hat knows." Trastion said, which awkwardly gives the same nickname Dragon does. Dragon immediately starts liking him, for comedic reasons. Jester finds it uncomfortable to have dragons calling him floppy hat now. Hoping that he'll shrug it off, he finds out the meaning of what Trastion said and he goes over to his ears and he whispers
"I think its in our best interest that we keep these shadows a secret, Trastion?" He struggled with his name, as he is not used to saying his name. Trasion simply nods in agreement. Dragon's question is never answered, and it leads to a slight deep annoyance for him, but he cheerily leaves it off.
"Now, let's go find Jane and Draugit." Jester said as both Dragons immediately head towards the gypsy kingdom.
They all tried to sneak in in order to avoid suspicion. Fortunately, Trastion size is nothing shorter than a normal human being and he can remove his wings as wished. Hence, he can blend in like all other humans with the exception of his appearance. Dragon, on the other hand, is relatively huge and stands out. Especially since he battled the gypsy soldiers before.
"Er. Floppy ears. I think I'll stay outside. Just come here if you are done, ok?" Dragon said. Jester and Trastion immediately sneak inside the Gypsy territory. Trastion is able to perfectly sense Draugit and Clarissa's scents and they both manage to find the same passageway Jane and Draugit used.
In another time,
Rudolph is still trying to locate a lost treasure inside the cave. The butler mostly did all the work, but Rudolph helps to carry out instructions and directions for the path. Within the limitations of Rudolph's conditions, he has to try and exert minimal force, in order to preserve himself and prevent his symptoms from advancing any further.
"Sire?" the butler begins to speak.
"What is it?" Rudolph immediately responds accordingly.
"Does this little excavation really worth risking your health? I do not wish to force this upon you." The butler said.
"Force? I was the one who asked for this, am I not? You are just purely concern for my safety-" after which Rudolph immediately falls down on the floor and coughs blood all over the place.
"Sire? You are coughing blood. We must give you first aid treatment..now." The butler immediately puts him on the ground and gives him a bottle of water to drink.
"Your fever is rising and your body is hot. I do believe we have to get you back to the mansion." The butler said in a somewhat calm and collected state that doesn't seem to faze.
Rudolph continues to cough blood and it splatters all over the ground, which would shock anyone who witness it, yet he (the butler) is unfazed by the horrors of the pain Rudolph felt and he immediately gives him a tranquilizer from his pocket to knock him out unconscious.
"Sire, I'll get the treasure. Rest here." The butler quickly runs over to the end of the cave and discovered the artifact, golden and glimmering like the heat of the blazing sun. He retrieves it and quickly returns to his master, who he immediately transports them out of the cave and back to their mansion. And to both their surprise, they found their mansion almost completely destroyed by the strong impact. This surprised both of them, as it was extremely unexpected. The butler quickly investigates the place. Fortunately the room Raymond does his experiments miraculously unharmed. The butler quickly puts him to the nearest resting place and notices the letter near the table, saying as follows:
"If you have this letter, this means that I'm done with you. I won't follow your road any longer. With my friend, I will no longer be a pawn of you again. If Rudolph's condition worsened, it means that you must have progressed the illness by taking him somewhere dangerous. You will find the antidote in the drawer around this room. Use it to save his life. But you will no longer search for me, or I shall end you. Right there, right now.
. I hope that you will not pursue me. I have already paid the debt I owe, by saving your master's life. If you would harm me, I will use the same poison Felicia use to curse you. Now, take care and goodbye."
The butler quickly drops the letter and immediately takes the antidote from the drawer and gives it to Rudolph. Rudolph's coughing finally stopped and he finally recovers from the illness that affected him.
"W-What happened to this place?" Rudolph asked in confusion.
"Sire, Raymond has escaped. He seems to have an ally infiltrating the castle and both of them managed to hack the majority of the place from the outside. Seems like he left this room unharmed in order to let us get the antidote." The butler explained. Rudolph flusters at the extent of the damage caused by Raymond's "ally".
"At least he gave me this antidote before his friend left. In any case, do we have the treasure?" Rudolph asks the butler. The butler then showed him the golden treasure found in the caves.
"Fantastic work. We shall get started on our final assault against Kippernium using 'the Dragon Lord's powers'." Rudolph laughs after saying that. The butler stays motionless and cooled himself well, unfazed by either the destruction or the excitement.
"It is time for Kippernium to tremble on their knees and beg for MY mercy! And not even the great Draugit Drayden will stop me!" Rudolph laughs menacingly as his sound echoes the hall.
"Sire, what about Raymond? He said not to follow us." The butler said, this time seemingly losing his calm exterior he once had.
"Raymond might be the biggest thorn I have to break. I might have to set a little fire to the rain to do that." As he said that, his air of laughter gives an ominous stare, showing a demon not far from his existence.
To be continued