Chapter 67: Chapter 67
Shia’s eyes weren’t deceiving her. The figure descending from the void was Langrion!
“Let her go!”
He stuck a sword at Sirion’s hand, but just as Sirion had said, human weapons have no effect on him whatsoever. The sword slid from his body, as if his skin was covered with an invisible shield.
Although the attack did not hurt Sirion, it helped to loosen his grip on Shia’s ankle, enabling Shia to crawl quickly away from him and stand on her feet.
“What a surprise! You’re still alive! You are one lucky insect,” Sirion spat.
“Sending an assassin to kill us while we were inside a monster’s stomach weren’t enough! Try harder, brother!”
Langrion made another attempt to slice away Sirion’s body, but his sword just grazed smoothly in his stomach.
“Insolent fool! Do you think your feeble attempts can beat a god?”
Activated by the ash-colored cursed one staying closely by Sirion’s side, the possessed bodies suddenly started to close in on Shia and Langrion. Without a thought, Shia pulled two pins from her hair and using the power of light, she had made the metal parts of the pin as long and as sturdy as a sword.
Shia had thwacked a few possessed bodies away from her already before she heard Khalis’ voice.
“Shia, Langrey! Come on!” Khailis said, almost reaching the void already, standing just within a few inches more from its opening. She stopped by her tracks to help the two of them fight the army of eerie-looking bodies.
Shia tugged at Langrey’s arm, “Let’s go!”
Langrion nodded. He scooped Shia by the waist and tried to run towards Khailis’ direction, but the thick throng of possessed bodies were pouring out on them heavily, making escape such a difficult thing to do.
Suddenly, the light coming from the void intensified, and a cold halo seemed to spread out from it. As soon as the halo touched the eerily possessed armies, their body became frozen on the spot.
“Come on!” It was Mage Silas who beckoned them. “They would unfreeze soon!”
Khailis turned around and entered the void, and with Shia under his arm, Langrion ran towards the direction of Mage Silas’ voice. He did not stop until he entered the void with her and until the mage had completely closed the opening he had made. The hole disappeared just in time before the Ancient Evil’s hand had entered it.
The void that the mage made transported them directly into an open field. The mage, Khailis, Shia and Langrion all tumbled in a heap as they came pouring out of the void.
Shia felt dizzy as she landed. It took her a few moments before she could raise her head and look at the person underneath her who cushioned her fall from the ground.
The face that greeted Shia smiled from ear to ear. She ran her hands to his dark and unkempt hair and down to his chin where a short beard had already grown. Prince Langrion was still a boy when she last saw him, but now he had turned into a fully-grown, but still quite dashing man.
“I- I missed you,” Shia said, her tears falling down generously to her cheeks.
Langrion’s own hand ran into her wet face. “I missed you so much too!”
She hugged him tightly in her arms, and he hugged her back. They would have preferred to stay exactly in that way for an eternity if they didn’t hear someone cough rudely.
“Ugh, I hate to part you two lovebirds together, but we don’t have all day, you know...”
Shia smiled towards Khailis, but when she looked up, she found that she wasn’t the only one surrounding them.
There was the mage, Khailis, and a bunch of people whom she mostly did not recognize. Only two other prominent faces bobbed their heads in excitement as she met their stares.
“Lady Shia!” the girl squealed.
“My lady,” a man said, bowing towards Shia.
“Marmie, Commander Rus - you’re here!” Shia said excitedly. So, they had all been standing there while she was hugging Langrion…
Utterly embarrassed at how she had acted, Shia quickly broke free from his majesty’s embrace and stood up quickly, brushing against her ruined wedding dress in an attempt to hide her flustered face.
“Prince Langrey, I’m glad you’re alright,” the commander said, extending a hand as Langrion stood.
“I’ve never been so glad to see all of you as well.” He hugged Commander Rus tightly soon after.
“We’ve never been so happy to see everyone,” Khailis seconded his majesty’s words before asking, “Where exactly are we? This doesn’t look anything like Leer.”
Shia looked around. They seem to be on top of a mountain field with a quaint little village sprawled in a valley not too far away.
“Due to what has happened in the void, we cannot follow the original plan, so I transported everyone here,” Mage Silas said, shaking his head in bitter disappointment.
“Where is ‘here’ exactly?” Khailis asked again.
“In Liddraele,” the mage replied, finally catching his breath.
Shia frowned. Liddraele is a town at the northern part of the Capitol. Hidden by mountain ranges, Liddraele was still very close to Gaulane, taking only an hour to reach by horse. Liddraele was also very far away from the coastline of Jazamel. They would have to follow the Dorana River to be able to reach the Coast of Carm before they could take a boat to Jazamel. It would probably take them months by foot alone.
Perhaps thinking of the same exact thing as Shia, Commander Rus spoke. “No need to worry. We could still continue to Jazamel. I and some of the men would purchase horses from the village. The rest should camp out somewhere a little further for now. We’ll meet you at sunset.”
Everybody nodded, and Commander Rus picked some of the men who went with him as well as Mage Silas to get the horses. Only Marmie and Shia were left to Langrion’s and Khailis’ care.
After the men left, for the first time, Shia realized that she was barefoot. Langrion offered to carry her up, but she laughed in embarrassment, saying, “don’t worry. I can make shoes for myself.”
As she said this, she swished her hand in the air and made vines come out from the earth. The vines had immediately sewn themselves together, creating a pair of sandal that was just right for her feet.
Marmie looked at her dumbfounded, while Khailis smiled in amazement. No matter how many times she had seen it, she could still never get used to Shia’s display of power.
“Lady Shia, I didn’t know you had powers too. Now, I know why you cried for me so much back then,” Marmie remarked.
Shia just smiled and ruffled Marmie’s hair. It had only been a few months since she had last seen her, but she had already grown up a lot.
They started to walk on foot to look for a suitable place to camp. Shia and Langrion, unable to part from each other for a second, walked hand in hand behind Khailis and Marmie.
Tugging at Langrion’s coat, Shia remembered what Sirion said about the void. “We heard that the void had been compromised. What happened?”
Langrion ran his hand into his hair, recalling what had taken place. “The void turned into a sort of stomach. We trudged for hours in the dark. Thankfully, we were able to get out of it in time to see you and Khailis.”
“You walked in the void for hours? Did you enter it early?”
“I had to. Someone set the cell on fire and pursued me and the mage. The void was my only means of getting out from there. Luckily, I was able to get his sword and to lose the thing inside the void.”
Shia fell silent. Sirion knew of the plans that she and Khailis had concocted, but how did he? Even if she had asked Danterion for help before, she did not give him any specific details of their escape, so there was no way that Sirion could have known what they had intended to do, right? Shia began to entertain the idea that Sirion could probably read what was inside her head...
“The man who pursued you and set the prison of fire, I think the Ancient Evil sent them.”
Langrion nodded. “That Ancient Evil – was he in my brother’s body back there? It didn’t look quite like Danterion.”
Shia could only nod. Langrion’s eyes furrowed.
“I think your brother is cursed as well, Langrey. The mark of the beast I have seen in his body was the same mark I have seen on my family’s murderer. It’s likely that he also has your powers.” Shia said.
As if trying to console her, Langrion, hugged her even tighter. “I’m so sorry, Shia.”
“Don’t be. Now I know you did not really kill my family. I’m sorry I had suspected you back then.”
“It’s understandable. Every time the mark of the beast burn fiercely in my chest, I lose control of my body, so I was never quite sure if I really was the one responsible for your family’s death or not. That fact made facing you and Nana quite difficult at times. Now, I can face you a little bit more easily.”
Shia’s eyebrows shot up in the air in amazement. “I thought the only thing that made you uneasy to face me was because you still liked Edelfina. I didn’t know my family’s death weighed so greatly upon your soul too… I’m sorry…”
When he heard the name of Edelfina, Langrion’s mouth fell open and his face turned pale. He thought gravely that perhaps, Shia was still misunderstanding the nature of the relationship between him and Edelfina.