Chapter 367: Chapter 367

“Unhand me, you damn lizard!” Lyra shouted and screamed at the top of her lungs as she flailed her limbs around while getting dragged out of Limbo by Aedan.

“Oh, stop whining,” Aedan replied nonchalantly as he pulled Lyra out of Limbo through a rift, a portal. Though he wasn’t as physically strong as he was in his prime, he could still manage Lyra’s weight and struggles. His near boundless stamina also had a hand in his efforts. Once he successfully crossed over to the overworld, he tossed Lyra to the ground with a huff.

Lyra tumbled for a second before she regained her sense of bearings and balance. She immediately bolted for the portal she was just dragged through as it was closing. She could make it before it fully closed, she knew for a fact. However, someone stood in her path.

“Foolish,” Azaela said.

Lyra rammed into the apostle but she bounced off of her as if she had hit a wall.

“Calm yourself, lady.”

“Get out of my way!” Lyra snarled.

“Lyra, calm yourself,” Aedan said. “Going back into Limbo won’t save Erin.”

“How can you say that?!” Lyra turned around and shouted at Aedan in his face. “She’s your friend!” She shoved Aedan with all her might.

Aedan stumbled but he didn’t fall.

“She’s your companion!” She hit him in the chest with her fists. “Your lover!” She shoved him again. “How could you just abandon her ?!”

Aedan caught Lyra’s hands just before she could shove him. “No one’s abandoning anyone here.”

“No? Then how do you explain this?! The portal is closed! It took a lot out of you just to open that one portal! How are we going to save her now!?” Before she could continue shouting, Lyra felt her right arm being pulled towards that direction. She was even spun in that direction. It was Siv who tugged at her arm. “Siv, what are you—”

Siv gave Lyra a hard slap. The smack was so loud that only silence ensued afterwards.

Lyra cupped her cheek, where she was slapped. She stared at Siv in silence and confusion.

“Calm yourself, Lyra. As Aedan has said, we are not abandoning Erin. We have another plan. We are not alone this time. We have the Ruvans’ assistance.”

“The Ruvans? What are you—” Lyra’s question trailed off as she began to look around her, finally paying attention to her surroundings. She was still in their room of the inn, where Aedan had opened the portal to Limbo. She saw familiar faces but there were also some faces she had never met before. The Saintess was on the ground, wrapped in a blanket, beside a female paladin who was tending to her.

“My name’s Azaela, the Grand Apostle of Ruva,” the Scarlet Blade introduced herself. “I would introduce my companions too, but time is against us. We must be quick if we wish to save your friend.”

Lyra finally calmed down. She felt her legs turning soft and she slumped to the floor, or she would have if Aedan hadn’t swooped in and supported her.

“Well, we got your precious Saintess back,” Amyra said with her giant of a sword drawn and stabbed into the floor beside her. “I hope you had a good plan for saving our companion too.”

“Of course. It is a promise. I will bring everyone back from Limbo, not just the Saintess.”

“Save the speech for later. For now, I want to hear about this plan of yours.”

All of the eyes of the room went towards Azaela but the apostle wasn’t intimidated by the gazes and expectations at all. “Before I explain the plan, you all will need to know the dire straits of Limbo. Currently, it has become unstable. Usually, it doesn’t devolve this quick but whoever dragged the Saintess into Limbo did so without prudence, increasing the pace of Limbo’s destabilization. We can’t open another portal like before without risking an implosion.” Google seaʀᴄh N()velFire.net

“An implosion?” Lyra blurted out. “Are you serious?”

“I won’t joke about something . It’s more than just a serious matter. If an implosion ever occurs as a result of an unstable Limbo portal, this entire city will be engulfed in the disaster. That is what would have happened if we kept the portal open any longer. Once an implosion starts, there’s no stopping it until the portal itself runs out of Mana to sustain itself.”

“Ah…” Lyra felt a tad guilty after learning of the consequences had she continued to be stubborn. She felt Aedan’s gaze on her and she refused to meet it.

“The implosion is a huge problem but there is another. Xathur.”

“Is that thing I told you all about?” Aedan explained. “That thing that would sweep through Limbo once in a while and eat up anything or anyone that’s not supposed to be there.”

“Since you all already know about Xathur, I will spare you all another lecture. Right now, we need to be precise and swift when we open our next portal. To do that, we need to know Lady Erynthea’s exact whereabouts.”

“And how would we do that?” Lyra asked.

“I trust you already know?” Azaela said.

“Of course. How else would you track down a Fae?”

“...The Spirits!” Lyra exclaimed.

Azaela nodded. “We will need the Spirits’ assistance.”

“But… who will help us?” Lyra asked. None of their Fae companions were available at the moment.

“The Fae will. This works out with your aim, doesn’t it?”

“I… I suppose it does.”

“It’s great and all but I’m still not hearing the plan here,” Amyra said.

“I concur,” Siv added. “The Fae embassy will not be so kind as to receive us or any of our requests.”

“They will,” Azaela answered resolutely. “You already have the Valdruns as your advocate and you will have mine, the Ruvans’ advocate too. They cannot refuse this request.”

“What if they do?” Amyra asked.

Azaela finally glanced at the Augur. “They won’t.”

“But what if they do? Or are you saying there’s absolutely no chance of that happening? If that’s the case, just say so and we will move on.”

Azaela glanced at Aedan.

“She’s speaking my mind. So, answer her.”

Azaela sighed. “...If they refused, then things would get… violent.”

“Is this real?” Xiolise asked as she finished reading the letter that was sent to her by a supposed Ruvan envoy. The letter not only had the Ruvan’s seal but also the seal of House Valdrun.

“It is, Consul Xiolise,” Luvia answered without any doubts or hesitation. “The Ruvans and House Valdrun endorse this request. We cannot reject it.”

“I am aware, Luvia.” Xiolise folded the letter and placed it on her desk. It was only midday. The candle by her desk was unlit. Had it been lit, she would have burned the letter after reading the first line.

“What is the request, if I may ask, Consul Xiolise?”

“The release of Nivia and Lilian, for one.”

Luvia frowned, clearly displeased. “There’s more than one request?”

“The other is a request for a Spirit medium. A sensitive one, preferably one with an affinity to the Exalted Spirits.”

“Impossible. We have no one we can offer.”

“Have you forgotten about my affinity?”

“I have not. But you are the consul and the sister of the Queen. You can’t possibly be entertaining the… possibility.”

“What am I to do? These are the rules. I cannot reject them without proper reasons.”

“They sought to debase our kind, a royalty at that.”

“...As much as I hate to say this, but that is only our opinion, not a fact. Opinions are not proper reasons.”

Luvia gritted her teeth in frustration. There were many things she wanted to say but it was not her place to be overly opinionated. She managed to reel in her outburst before it could escape her lips. “Why are they in need of a Spirit Medium in the first place?”

“It has to do with the disappearance of the Saintess.”

“You mean the abduction.”

“Officially, it is a disappearance. But of course, it is an abduction. Apparently, the Saintess was dragged into Limbo.”

The frown that just faded reappeared on Luvia’s face. “...They dragged the Saintess of Ruva into Limbo? That is not an easy task. Things must be dire on their side, seeing that their Saintess is trapped in Limbo.”

“The Saintess is currently safe and sound.”

“However, the Saintess’ saviour is still trapped in Limbo, which is where the second request comes in.”

“I see…” Luvia mused. She was no expert in Spatial Magic but she knew enough to understand why they needed a Spirit Medium. “This saviour… It’s Erynthea, isn’t it?”

“That explains how the two requests came together. I suppose we have no other choice.”

“Shall I send word that we accepted their requests?”

Xiolise smiled wryly. “No need. They’re already here.”

Just then, the sound of carriages rolling up to the front gate could be heard clearly. It was no small company that came to their doorstep.

“I will go and inform Nivia and Lilian,” Luvia said and left the room without waiting for a response from Xiolise. She didn’t need to.

“Aedan!” Lilian exclaimed upon entering the parlour room and seeing Aedan seated on the guest sofa. She forewent all manners and etiquette. She rushed and leapt into Aedan’s embrace. “Spirits be good. It’s so good to see you. Feels like it has been forever.”

“It’s only been two days.”

“Two very long days,” Lilian gasped breathlessly. “Our parting was very abrupt. I thought we wouldn’t see each other again.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“I am not. It was awful here. I have been treated like—”

“—royalty,” said Nivia, who was walking behind Lilian. “They may have been harsh in parting us from our party but they had treated us like royalty here.”

Lilian pouted but she didn’t separate herself from Aedan.

“This is very unbecoming of you, Lilian,” reprimanded Luvier, who was standing behind the seated Xiolise.

“Where’s Erin?” Niva asked. She had noticed her absence from the beginning. She thought it was just an odd arrangement by Aedan as only him and an unknown lady were present in this meeting. There were others outside of the main house. She could hear Lyra and Siv’s bickering from here. She could also hear Amyra’s brutal yet honest remark. However, she didn’t hear Erin’s voice. The more she thought about it, the less it made any sense.

“Hmm, that’s right. Where is our little troublemaker?” Lilian asked too.

“You were not informed?” said the woman sitting beside Aedan. She was wearing a cloak with the hood pulled down. Underneath her cloak was a tight-fitting armour suit.

“And who are you?” Lilian asked.

“I am Azaela. We met, I believed.”

“Oh, now I remember. What’s the Grand Apostle of Ruva doing with our silver-tongued devil here?”

“It is about Erynthea.”

Lilian dropped her smile and sat up straight. “What happened to her?”

“In the process of trying to save the Saintess, she has gotten herself trapped in Limbo.”

“What!?” Nivia yelled out in shock. “How did this happen!? Aedan, you were supposed to protect her! How could you—”

“Calm down, Nivia,” Lilian said.

“How can I be calm?! You taught me everything you know about Limbo. If all of it is true, how can I be calm?”

“Because Aedan has a way to get her out.” Lilian turned to Aedan. “Don’t you, Aedan?”

“Yes, I do. But whether it works, it will depend on the cooperation of your aunt here and also the cooperation of a certain critter,” Aedan said, staring at Lilian’s bosom.

Lilian noticed his gaze, everyone did, but she was the only one who tittered in response to his brazen stare. But of course, she knew he wasn’t staring at her bosom with lust. Or rather, he was staring at what, or who, was hiding in her bosom.

“Aedan, I don’t remember telling you that she’s my aunt,” Nivia said.

There was a brief moment of absolute silence as soon as those words left Nivia’s mouth.

“...Aedan, how do you know she’s my aunt?” Nivia repeated, “Have the two of you met?”

Aedan simply smiled wryly.

Nivia frowned and then turned her gaze to Xiolise. “You two were acquainted… and you knew. And you didn't tell me?”

Xiolise sighed. “That is not important right now. If you wish to save your friend, we will have to act now.”

“...Fine,” Nivia said after a brief contemplation. “But don’t think I will forget about this after all this is over.”