Chapter 88: Chapter 88

Shia wanted to collapse on the floor. Her head hurt and her heart felt stuffed.

How many times had she been through this? She had lost count at twenty, but the layers of realities that she was passing through hadn’t stopped yet.

She had been a murderer and deserter so many times in the past few hours – or was it days – that she couldn’t shed any more tears for those whom she had to abandon or to leave to be killed.

How many more of these scenarios must she overcome? She had been a mother, a lover, a daughter, a son, a criminal, and many more, and always, she needed to leave people who needed her and begged for her to stay, and their cries ate away at her soul. How long must she be so heartless?

Now, as she left another painful reality behind, she was immediately taken into another one...

Shia gazed at her palms, and frowned. Her nails were painted in pretty neon colors. They were new, so she shouldn’t try to wash dishes today. Of course, that was the least of her worries. Right now, she was going to school, and she knew Lotti and her gang were waiting for her by the junction several miles away for she could smell their putrid scents.

“I said move!”

That was Lotti’s voice. It seemed like she has found someone new to torment for today.

“N-no, y-you can’t take that.”

Shia stopped on her tracks. She knew that voice. It was Em, her best friend.

From the sounds of breaking bones and a body colliding by the pavement, she could tell right away what Lotti and her gang had done to Em, for she had been subjected to this kind of torture numerous times as well. She clenched her own fist. She couldn’t stand it.

‘No, Shia, you need to hurry away from there...’

That mysterious voice came from the ring around her left ring finger. What the hell, how did she get that ring? She turned her finger around, examining it. She bet she could buy several school lunches with that shiny thing!

‘Shia, there’s no time. You have to leave...’

“Who the hell is Shia,” she muttered out loudly. She had forgotten that Lottie and her filty hippies were close by.

“Min, you’ve come! Where’s my allowance for today?” Lotti growled at her.

If she didn’t swear to her mother that she’d never use her powers in front of others, she could easily take her on, like the disgusting fly that Lotti was!

“Aren’t you getting sick of this routine, Lottie? Now you’re harassing another one,” she scoffed at her.

“Yeah, scums like you, Min, abound so much in the city, so I ought to clean it!”

She gritted her teeth. She really hated Lotti to the core.

‘Shia, don’t get involved! Leave as soon as soon as you can...’

“Agh, who’s Shia,” she asked. Who was it who kept calling her Shia?

“You crazy girl, are you talking to yourself now,” Lotti roared in laughter.

Suddenly, she could see a lighted doorway by the end of the junction.

“Shit, what’s that,” she asked aloud. What the hell’s happening?

“Girl, you’re seeing things again, huh?” Lottie said. She produced a small pocket knife from the sleeves of her school uniform. “Witches like you ought to be cut up!”

She stared in horror. Lotti had a knife! Double shit!

‘Shia, run!’

All this talk about Shia - who was that? Who’s Shia?

“I’m not Shia! I’m Min,” she growled towards the air, unsure as to whom she’s really talking to.

‘You’re Shia... You’re my bride...’

Her head throbbed. What the hell was that voice saying?

Lotti swung the knife towards her. “Crazy bastard, why the hell are you even yelling?”

Lotto was too fast. She cannot avoid it, unless...

She levitated to the ground.

“What the -! Min’s a witch!”

Finally, she wouldn’t take their crap anymore! They screamed as they saw her rise up higher and higher into the ground.

Her heart burned in rage. She wanted to hurt Lotti so much that her chest hurt.

Lotti was quick though. She snatched Em who was trembling beside her and used her as a shield, aiming the knife at her throat.

“If you come near me, witch, I’ll kill this girl! I swear I’ll kill her!”

She looked back at Em’s horror stricken eyes. She had totally forgotten she was there because of the creepy voice. Her best friend looked as pale as a ghost while looking at her flying from the ground.

‘Shia, come out from there... You are not Min! You are Shia, and you’ve come for Sirion!’

“What the -?!”

She... is Shia. Her name isn’t Min... But the people down below, her best friend, Em is screaming for Min! There cannot be another bloodshed!

“Don’t hurt her,” she yelled.

Before she could even complete her words, she looked in horror as Lotti stuck the knife in Em’s throat. Blood spurted all over.

“No!”

‘No, Shia! You must leave now,’ Langrion said loud and clear, the pleading in his voice resonating so strongly that she had been awakened to her task almost instantaneously.

Trembling, she levitated towards the glowing doorway. She could hear Em gasping for breath, and she was able to see her extending her hand towards her as she turned her back to her friend, the friend she had loved since childhood... The friend who wouldn’t have abandoned her like she just did...

Again why is it that she must leave at the exact point where someone was to die?

As soon as the light touched her, she felt a force pulling her through, ripping at her flesh. A blasted time passage is about to repeat a cycle again, and she can never fully prepare herself to what happens next.

“Freya!”

She recognized that voice...

A hand brushed the wisps of wet hair from her face. “Freya, what happened to you? Are you alright?”

Shia bolted upright. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw a comely man with delicate silver hair and dark violet irises. He was kneeling and cradling her body next to his lap. When she woke up, his eyes immediately lighted up, and he hugged her.

“Thank the heavens! Are you alright?” he said. Was he weeping?

“I... I...”

“Save your energy... Don’t speak yet.” He looked around them before he spoke again. “Why have you come here? Have you lost your mind?!”

Shia’s heart throbbed even harder than before. It was too dark to see anything else around them, but the face of her carer was shining as bright as day. “Wh-where am I?”

“You’re in the underworld prison, of course... But what are you doing here? Perhaps, did you come to -”

His face contorted in anguish. It’s as if he was trying to say something, but he couldn’t. Finally, he gave up. “Ah, blast it! You still couldn’t remember, couldn’t you?”

“Remember what?”

“Never mind... Why did you come here in hell? It’s so dangerous!”

Shia froze. Did he just say she was in hell? Is she really in hell, or did she already reached her destination?

‘Langrey,’ he called her husband’s name internally. ‘Langrion...’

“You know you can’t communicate with anyone here... It’s a prison, so it’s prohibited.”

“So I have already reached it?” Shia said tentatively. Perhaps, this person then is... “S-Sirion?”

The man snorted, but he did not answer. He looked very disappointed when he said that name.

“Ah, blast it! Why did you come here? Did someone set you up to come here?”

“N-no one... I asked Galahad to help me come -”

He started to grip her shoulders hard. “Him? He sent you here?”

“No... I insisted...”

“So why did you insist to come? Tell me so that you can get out of here quickly!”

“I- I came to make a wedding wish.”

“What?” His face was already as white as snow, but it turned even paler.

“I-I came to make a wedding wish from you...”

As soon as Shia said this, the man’s face darkened. He gripped her even harder. “And who did you wed? Was it him?”

“Him?”

“The one who helped send you here – was it him?”

“What do you mean ‘him’? Are you referring to Galahad?

“Yes... No... I mean, the one in his body.”

What the hell is this man saying? He was thoroughly confusing. He looked listless and agitated too that it was so hard to believe that he was Sirion...

“No, I didn’t marry Galahad,” she said, and his face loosened up. “I married a mortal.”

“You married a mortal... A mortal, right? Ah, thank the heavens then!” He loosened his grip on her once again. Why was he so relieved after hearing that he wedded Langrion?

“What kind of marriage wish do you want to ask of me, then?”

“My husband, do you not know him?”

His eyebrows went up into the air. “How would I know him? I haven’t come to know anything from the mortal’s realm since I got here.”

Shia was shocked to the core. “What do you mean you don’t know? As in you don’t know anything?”

“Yeah, I don’t know anything.”

“Are you... Are you not Sirion?”

He looked at her back for a very long time before he quietly spoke, “who do you think I am?”