From the vista of Landen's grey mist mingling with the white clouds of the sky, the vampires licked their wounds on top of the cliff they used for meeting up…
Oscar tent to his flesh musket, feeding it “bullets”, or what he would say instead of the remains of a poor dependent he had viciously mauled like a hunted deer…
Leuto painted coloured pentagrams on his “children’s” backs, each pentagram intricate and carefully designed before he whispered the assigned spell in each.
Edward and Cain sated their thirst with blood from beaten human sve’s, still resisting the dependency effects of vampirification…
Their sps and cwing couldn't annoy their attackers. Edward seemed eted to see his victims still putting up a fight. He found joy in shoving their heads against the dirty cold grass, plunging his iron cws through their body to “hold down” the limbs, and keep pressuring his sharp teeth down their necks as the only movement they could afford to do was shake in pain and despair…
Cain: Damn, you sure like to eat food fresh and raw…
His colleague had another approach, frying his victims every time they decided to retaliate…Dependents could only flinch from the amounts of volts running through their bodies…
Cain then turned to his partners…
Cain: You fels not hungry? Oscar, that musket could use a few more limbs.
Oscar: I’m full. We should keep the livestock for the rest of the trip, and avoid useless indulgences…
Said the vampire nauseated by Edward’s untasteful table manners…
Cain: Leuto, Traggy, you guys need any?
Leuto: I ate a while ago. Tragoedia as well. Kus should get to eating, and…Edward seems to have had his fill…
Scissors took his blood-drenched mouth out of his gasping victim and looked around…
Edward: Why am I the one taking bullets here? I killed the hunter guarding the chest!
Cain: Hey, I helped!!!
Kus: And none of you would have done it, had I not suggested the pn for it. Now send those pieces back to the cages, Master is here…
Through the hustling bushes, appeared the tall, hunching Ripper.
Kicking away the dependents, unfazed by their struggle to crawl back to their prison, everyone kneeled in response to his arrival.
A shock to see him. Like servants of a deity. He towered even over Scissors, dressed like a scarecrow, and just as horrid as one.
Eyes bloodshot and red, slowly scanning the surroundings and its attendants while holding the bck leather chest with his one hand…
Jack : …Hell y’all are lookin’ at?!
Kus:…Master?
Jack: Tchk, you take one nap too long…I’m fine, what is happening?
Kus:…The chest is here…aren’t we going to open it?...
The question every young lord in attendance wanted to ask. What was in that chest? What was so important that Ripper had to re-create his rgest crime to instigate this heist? What did everyone risk their lives for?
Jack: Huh…I totally forgot about this…Yeah, we’re not opening it.
Kus:…As you-
Cain: What?! The hell you mean we’re not opening it?!
Hairs stood in attention. The young lord stood up and aggressively approached his master…
Cain: We risked our asses grabbing this thing away and you come here and tell us we aren’t getting no reward?! What kind of dumb –
His speech ran its course when The Ripper spun around and pushed his tattered boot’s heavy sole through the bat’s stomach. His strike sent him crashing on a tree stump…
Jack: Losers don’t get to demand rewards. Was that how the Willheart brat had you down those crypts, boy?!
Cain: Pht!...Tchk!
Jack: Spit all you want, you still a loser. The chest stays closed until I say so. Not that you’ll get what will happen, cking in that one department…
Kus: My lord…I understand your reasoning, but my hard-headed partner might just have a point…
Jack: Hm? Kus is taking your side, Cain?! That’s new!
Leuto: Your student is right, milord. We are a little curious about the pn you have in mind…
Jack: Ya know, Leutogi, curiosity is a real nice way of covering the word “doubt”…
A blink away, he appeared before the bat-wielding vampire, slightly blowing his long cyan hair as the young lord looked in awe and fear up to his eyes…
Leuto: I-I only meant…
Jack: I can see your master in those eyes, and hear him in your words…Only thing missing is that wretched, creepy beam of his…
He walked back to Kus, leaving the poor d wheezing out his distress…
Kus remained still, on his knees…His master brought him no fear. Jack took a moment to look at his student…
Jack: Do you trust me, Kus?
Kus:…With all my eternal life, milord.
Jack: Then other than orders and duty, nothing else should run around that little head of yours, I only have one smart student…
Kus: Yes, milord…
Jack : Tchk, I guess I do owe you folks some insight…Cain, get your ass up, I’ve kicked you harder!!
Cain: Tchk, coming…
Jack : Leutogi, the Kaza’khan spell…what did you gather?
Leuto’s fingers darted around his pockets to pull out a bundle of small, note sized parchments filled with vampiric scribbles…
Leuto: My lord, as you said, the spell worked as well as our ancestors used to do it…
Jack: I don’t care about that, what I asked you to look for, Dracu be damned!
Leuto: Well…you were correct, it can work with human remains as well as vampire ones. Even mixed, a hulk, or “Kazakan” can be made…
Jack: Great…He’ll be out of my mind fer a few days…Nice work, Leutogi.
Leuto: My honor, milord. But how was that any relevant?
Jack: Y’all see… We have four other chests to pick up. Then, what’s with Crooked Grove?
Kus: Located in one of the vilges.
Jack: Great! We sughtered all of them, right? Put those ears to work and start digging!
Kus : Milord, the vilge in question…
Jack : What ?!
Kus : With the senior hunters running amok, it might be dangerous to -
Jack : Hah ? The hell are ya talkin’ bout ?! Just go there and find…Uaarghhh !!!
His nails plunged deep inside his own cranium, he shaked in despair…
Kus/Leuto : Milord !!!
Cain : Hey, master !! Give it a rest !!!
Edward : Seems fun…
Oscar :…
No vampire dared touch the Ripper…or no amount of abnormal immortality could ever save them from his cws should he have attacked…
Gradually, he stopped spinning…And with that, the hunchback, eery, creepy vampire gained a posture straight as an arrow. His bck eye bags faded, his limbs rexed, and his chest came out forward…
A distinguished gentleman if one could call him…
Jack :…This man has no ounce of courtesy…
His subordinates were confused, for the cracking, horrid, pitched voice was nowhere to be heard. Instead, altered to a more charming, witty, proper deep form…
Tragoedia :…Milord…
Jack :…Hm ? Oh ! Yes. I suppose I am a ? Lord ? as long as mine spirit inhabits this flesh…
Cain : Oy…where’s the Ripper ?!
Jack : Hm ? An Alzack !? My, my, it’s been a few centuries ever since I saw one…although I do remember them more vicious on the battlefield rather than getting beaten to a pulp…
Cain : What ?!
Jack : My apologies, young lord. Your feats in battle are incredible, from what I gather in this buffoon’s mind archives…An Alzack, through and through…
Cain : Who the hell are you ?!
Kus : Cain ! Manners !
Jack : Oh, do not mind ! I understand the confusion…
Kus : So, you do understand that the rest of us are on guard right now…
Edward : Itching for a fight, Kus ?! I’m right behind ya !!
Jack took a quick scan…From the ornated, light greatsword with the intricate golden handle on Ku’s belt, to the monstrous musket being discreetly fed by its user, Oscar…
Jack : Aaah…while I’m afraid I can’t expin just yet who I am, or why I have taken control of your master’s body…I can say this, and hope your bodies tense down…
Kus : ?
Jack : …Through this one’s eyes, I have seen and orchestrated every action for the past few weeks…
Leuto :…You had the Ripper free us ?
Jack : One could say so…And I assure you all…we have taken a great many steps into the py that’s about to unfold…
Kus : Py ?...
Jack : Our dy Tragoedia here would be most familiar with what I’m talking about, but it seems the Molière house’s scion can’t speak up her mind !
Tragoedia :…I…
Jakc : No need, darling…we all know what you are capable of, no need to exceed your limits today…
Tragoedia :…
Jack : As of tomorrow, though…Your abilities will py a crucial role for the next object we’ll retrieve…
Kus : Crooked Grove…but…
Jack : My dear Kus…we cannot let such a powerful item fall out of our grasp…
Kus :…
Jack : Now ! First order of business, before I give this body back to its simpleton owner ! As I recall, two of our own were captured during the attack. One of which, is scion to House Grey…
Leuto : Lady Erylis, yes ! She fell to the Sword Dancer…
Jack : Then some of you shall save them ! Scissors, would you be so kind to ssh a few more guards before we go back to Transylvannia ?
Edward : Hihihihihi…Pleasure…
Jack : Hmm, you can take Leuto and Oscar with you !
Leuto/Oscar : What !?
Edward : Horray !!
Jack : Now, now ! Every element said here is crucial to the plot. As for the Ripper’s disciples, we’ll be assisting Tragoedia from the shadows…
Kus : Assisting her…to do what ?
The now-elegant vampire, grandiose as he was compared to the red haired singer, approached the dy in hiding, and kneeled gently to level his head with her eyes…
Tragoedia wanted to hide…spread her wings and fly away as far as possible. The Ripper, his cws so close to her face…
But something…a feeling…a small hint of reassurance…drawn out with the possessor’s innate charisma…as if Tragoedia somehow knew that standing still would bring her no harm…
Jack : My dy…Beneath the vilge defiled by human soles…rest the roots of an elder tree…running deep inside its wilted body, rests something…a key…an element, most crucial to our pns…and your vocal help is more than needed to complete our search…
Tragoedia : Then…why not just take it away…
Jack : A reasonable proposal…but unfortunately, in our long lives…we must resort to longer pathways to achieve the goals we want…
Tragoedia :…
Jack : Your pristine voice must silence this vilge’s arms…No one should know what we are about to do…And…we will be in need of two…two conspirators…at our beck and call for trials beyond their comprehension…
None of the vampires could understand what he was saying…Conspirators, silencing…what was their Lord going on about…
But the shy vampire seemed…comprehensive. As if the scarecrow-turned prince was talking directly to her ear, orders broken and made again to fit the inner machinations of her mind…
Tragoedia :…Understood…
Jack :…Perfect. No wonder your brother has so much faith in you…
Tragoedia : Huh ?
Jack : Well, my time is up. The buffoon needs the body back. Until next time, my little vamplings !
Jolting throughout his body, the hunchback’s bck circles and grouching stature came around…
Jack : What are ya lookin’ at ?! Get ta work, all of ya’ !!!
No time to be wasted, the young lords made their arrangements for the next days…Just before they separate…
Edward : Damn, Kus, wasn’t expecting you to go head-to-head with the possessed…
Kus : My master’s body was in danger…I acted as I thought was appropriate…
Edward : For the record, though…You couldn’t move an inch either right ?...
The vampire held his sword with might, as he reminisced on his Lord standing proud with gusto, in front of his subordinates ready to attack…
Kus :…
Edward : I fear yer Lord, alright…but that guy…whoever he is…I couldn’t find one good moment to strike…
Days ahead, Tragoedia and the hunters were plunged six feet underground…
Aaron woke up to a spacious, but long, hollow burrow, with thick, pale grey vine roots attached to its dirt-made walls, thumping every three seconds, like arteries and veins pumping blood from the heart to the organs…
Scanning around, he found Lau, slowly awakening…
Aaron: Hell is happening…?…Oi, Lecourt! Get yer ass up!
Lau: Mhm…five more minutes, papa…
Aaron: Get up!!
Shaking her off the ground, Lau’s leg found itself pushing away the hunter’s face with deadlock precision…
Lau: Is this how you treat a princess!!?
Aaron: That’s how I treat my lousy teammates. Where are the others?
Lau: I just woke up, how’d I know?
Aaron: Separated then... I noticed the branches splitting apart while pulling us down…
Lau: Great. We should start searching, then find a way out of this mess…You and your great ideas…
The hunter watched for a long time as Lau dusted off her clothes grunting and compining…
Aaron:…I’m sorry…
Lau:…Huh?
Aaron: I brushed you guys off; I left off without a word, you came to save my ass and I never even thanked you for it…
Lau:…
Aaron: I’d be a dead man if you had left me alone with the Steed…I owe you guys a –
Lau: Will you stop that!!!
Small as she was, the young man still retreated a few feet when she turned to shout right in his face…
Aaron: What?
Lau: You don’t owe us!! We are a team!! That’s what we are supposed to do!!! We aren’t just some strangers forced to worked together anymore!!
Aaron:…shrimp…
Lau: When you saved us in the factory…you took all those bdes right ahead without a second thought. And when you rushed with Cassie to the sewers…you weren’t the sorry excuse we found under the Steed’s boot…
Aaron:…It was my dut-
Lau: When my father told me I’d be in Landen, he didn’t even hide it from me. He told me I’m going to learn some required discipline. That I’m a dirty-mouthed spoiled brat that needed to learn how to listen…
She took her rapier and angrily pointed its sharp tip towards Aaron…
Lau: Why should a dirty-mouthed, spoiled brat then sit and listen to a zy, whiny brute!? If I’m going to sit around and listen to orders, it should come from Willheart’s son. No, yet, the Aaron Willheart who stands in front of the enemy to save his teammates!!
Aaron bit his lips, unable to utter a word when the brat he so loathed managed to make her point come across, like strikes of a rapier to his weakest spots…
Lau: And what pisses me off...is that he’s in there for sure, but he’s too stubborn to come out…
His hands trembling, his eyes grew heavy as tears slowly ran down his face…
Aaron:…It’s…
Lau lowered her sword, to smoothly near towards him…
Aaron:…You didn’t see the corpse…they killed him, and had their fun with it…and we couldn’t do a thing…
As he squatted down on the dirt, she found the chance to settle her pted arm on his rugged shoulder.
The image of the tough, non-chant brute she came to hate broke along with his spirit…She couldn’t bring herself to insult him now. Hate and distaste flew out of her …Empathy sprouted like a rose inside her mind as images of a funeral clouded her thoughts…
A little Lau…tears covering her blue pupils and falling like rain down the dirt patch of a single, silver engraved stone tomb, fashioned in the shape of a rose. A pte with saphirre letters described :
Beatrice Lecourt. Beloved Daughter, Loving Sister, Huntress…
Fran?ois Lecourt to her side, a slim, dark-haired man, dressed in bck tie, but with the Lecourt brooch always patched on, raised his arm to signal his men…
Two series of ten soldiers each, stood in parallel, muskets faced upwards, and sent three quick bsts in the air, the signal of departure for every hunter…
Fran?ois: Lau…you are the scion of this house now…we shall grieve, we shall cry…but we shall always fight…You need to make your sister proud…wherever she is…
Fshing forward, she watched Aaron drying his eyes…
Lau:…When I was 11, I lost my sister to vampire…
Aaron:…Beatrice Lecourt…I heard the story…
Lau: Then you know…
Aaron: Next in line to take the throne…”Beautiful, resplendent, all I could ever hope for”…That’s how mom said it…
Lau:…
Aaron: And some bat took her out…some people say he turned her over before he did it…because she had fallen for him and wanted to live a life away from humans…
Lau:…Do you…
Aaron: If she’s anything like my mother, I wouldn’t be so sure…
Lau: She was my rock…I looked up to her, even more than my own father…I never hoped I’d manage to reach her heights…And then she went and died…
Aaron:…
Lau: My father trained me even harder ever since. My whole life, has been me and Valiant, pointing its tip through bat scum…every day, more elegant, more refined…but never like Beatrice’s…
Aaron:…
Lau: I don’t think my sword will ever reach hers…but I won’t stop…I won’t stop, until I surpass my sister, and kills the vampire that took her from me!!
Shaking what she could of the hulk, she stood up with gusto…
Lau: And I’m not going to do that while my “temporary” leader sits and sulks in a forest with his Assian boyfriend!!
Aaron: (Sniff)…keep calling Suiga like that, and you’ll see for how long “temporary” is…
Lau: Now get up! I can’t see my Pirouettan stylist’s efforts drenched in dirt!
Aaron: You did these?
Lau: Like I’d parade around town with a bunch of clowns!
Aaron: You didn’t change Cassie and Url!!
Lau: They get a pass…
Aaron stood up and stretched his arms and legs…
Lau: What is the pn, Willheart?
Aaron: Well…Can’t do anything else, let’s just follow the vines and hope we’ll come up with something on the way…
Lau: My brilliant leader, everyone!!! At least on the way, you can come up with something to make it up to Mergrove…
Aaron: Why should I do that?
Lau: The poor girl adores you and you ‘ve treated her the worst out of us all! She cried her EYES out, you know that right?!
Aaron: I’ll treat Cassie better when she stops devouring my food! And maybe first we should talk about you and Suiga torturing Url’s ear drums. Give the guy a break, will ya?
Lau: When you and your boyfriend finally admit your pces as my manservants, I might just stop-
Their conversation’s cut short by a slight scream of pain coming from across the burrow…
They cautiously approached the corner…Popping her head, she noticed Maya trying to pull off one of the thicker vines off the dirt wall…
Lau: Willheart, one of the students!
Aaron: Hah! Hey, brat!
Maya:…Hunters!! Finally, someone!
Regrouping with the girl in tattered clothes, Lau had her sit in a arching vine while she sew her wool dress back to order…
Maya :…You are really skilled with this…
Lau : A princess unfamiliar with dresses…You’d have to be out of your mind, little huntress…
Maya :…How did you…
Aaron : Maya, right ? Url talks about you a lot…and that other kid, with the orange hair, eehh, Vic ?
Maya : Aaah, yes, the buffoon which me and Poppy have to thank for this predicament…
Lau : Did I hear correctly, Lady Mergrove called out to him as ? brother ? ? Or did she mean one of the two traitors ?
Aaron : Nah, orange hair, it’s blood she’s talking about.
Maya : Spot on. Victor Mergrove. A little-
Url : Splinter here, some scratches there, we’re almost done, Poppy !
Poppy : Yes…sir…
Url: No “sir” yet, but you are welcome…just don’t wonder off in farms filled with living trees and lunatics crazy enough to chase them…
Poppy smirked, a small, cutesy ugh in contrast of their grim situation…
In another side of the cave, Url tended to the dy’s leg wound, while Suiga scouted next to them…
Suiga: May I ask, what brought you here in the first pce?
Her small finger quickly pointed towards Vic…
The orange-hair boy, standing opposite of Cassandra, averted his gaze from her steel-eyed look…Arms crossed, she pressed her boot on a rock – hard vine plunged through the ground…
Vic:…
Cassie:…Would you expin yourself, now or whenever?!
Vic:…Nothing to expin…
Suiga:…Lady Cassandra, would you happen to know this bo-
Cassie: I haven’t properly introduced him, have I? This is Victor Mergrove, my sole, irresponsible, little brother.
Url took off his mask in confusion, tilting his head with an eyebrow raised as he switched between Cassie and Victor…
Url:…No, I can’t find the resembnce…
Cassie: What do you mean, doc? We are literally the same person?
Vic: Don’t lumb me in with you, weirdo…
Cassie: No words out of you! Punishment shall soon find you once we get ourselves of this predicament!! What are you doing here?!
Vic: Told you! I have a css with Mister Huckleberry, and I need-
Cassie: Why in the world would you have a css with a senior hunt-…
A silent cave, as Vic averted his gaze with embarassement once again…
Url:…He didn’t tell you, huh…So that’s how he knew about the depository…
Cassie: Are you a fool?! You can barely move from the bed to the toilet, why are you taking the hunter course?!
Url is a known psychopath. Suiga has seen terrors through his hell fmes…
Yet both were affrighted by Cassandra’s deadlocked eyes of judgement, a look she only let vampires meet before they fell to her bow.
Poppy trembled for her teammate, who clenched his pupils as he took a deep breath before he responded, hands resting in the pockets of his leather brown jeans…
Vic: Isn’t it obvious? How could I not become a hunter after having the living nightingale as my own kin and idol?
Three, strenuous, life or death seconds ter, Cassie’s frown turned upside down, her face literally shining the entire dark burrow…
Cassie : I knew I’d get to you sooner or ter!! No one, not even my non-chant captain can withstand the nightingale’s charm!!
Victor: Your who can’t withstand what?!
Url: Probably not what you think…I think?
Cassie: Nonetheless, these actions of yours have brought danger upon yourself and two of your concerned cssmates. A true fault, dear brother of mine.
Victor: I know, sis…
The hurt dy discreetly raised her arm high…
Poppy: Ehm…excuse me…dy…Nightingale?
Cassie: What is it, mine child? What can this heroine do for you?
She said with stars in her eyes and down on her knees in front of the young dy…
Poppy: Em…Vic only tried to help me out because I was a st-minute entry to the hunter division…so…it is not entirely his fault…
Cassie: Tch, my bro’s generosity knows no bounds after all.
Victor: See? I’m-
Cassie: You’re not out of these woods yet, mister!
Url: Uhm, Cassie.
Cassie: WHAT!!?
Url: Uhm, we need to have a discussion…quick!
Cassie: Tchk, you! Stay with your cssmate and make sure she’s under no stress!
Victor: We’re six feet under a fucking ghost tree stuck with vampires, how the hell will she be under no stress…
With the two young students away, the three huddled up…
Cassie: Doc, I’m so sorry about my behavior, but this is quite the shock to me.
Url: No problem, Cass. But right now, can I suggest you put whatever murderous intent you have for your brother and focus on getting out of here. I have some news…
Cassie: Hm?
Without his mask to hide his expressions, he made notice of the Poppy’s bandaged leg, still bloody…
Url: The girl’s wound is patched up, but I’m afraid leaving it dangling alongside dirt and wilted trees…Their resistance trials aren’t finished just yet…I can already see bacteria setting up…
Cassie: Then we’ll have to be extra careful…
Url: Did you even know there was this whole network right under your vilge?
Cassie: This…is the first time I’ve seen this…and I’ve explored every damn cave of the suburbs.
Suiga: Nonetheless, it’s alive…and that singer vampire has it under its control…
Url: Hmm…maybe I can test some of the vines…and the dirt…hmm, maybe I’ll have the kids help me too…Although I have to say…I really don’t see the resembnce, Cassie.
Cassie : The brother of the nightingale could only be identical to the nightingale herself…
Url: No…not at all…especially since…well you are you, you remind us of you…
Suiga: Jumpy, energetic, happy to fight, help, live…
Cassie couldn’t help but smile after her teammate’s commentary…
Url: Your brother, I’ve talked to him…he’s just…
Maya : Irritating. Lazy. Aloof. A bother. A bore. Annoying. Unbelievable. Adding to that-
Aaron: I think we got the picture, your friend’s an ass.
Maya: He doesn’t think before he acts, which means that I must think for him, and every time he acts, it’s just a domino of problems cascading throughout the room!
Lau: I understand you, little girl.
Maya: Huh?
Lau: Me and my team just happen to be stuck with a certain individual, a zy slob that eats like a pig, sleeps like a pig, talks like a pig, thinks like a pig, and we just happen to find ourselves in predicaments usually because of him…
Aaron:…Who are talking about?
Lau/Maya : You!!!
Aaron: Well no one asked you to follow my orders now, did they?
Maya: Oh Lord, it’s like he’s in the room…
Aaron: Can we focus!? We’re stuck six feet under with vampires and…
Lau:..??
Aaron:…Those two…
Lau: The brothers…
Maya: Do you know them? Victor seemed…agitated…
Aaron: They are two siblings…They’ve been coming to Crooked Grove the past few days, but they wouldn’t tell us why…guess we just found out…
Maya:…Emmett and Kevin?
Lau: Little Mergrove talked about them?
Maya: All the time until we arrived here…We came to gather velvetgrass…Victor knows a patch in the wheat fields that has fresh ones…We were just gonna cut some and be on our way…But the whole time…Emmett and Kevin…he wouldn’t stop talking about them…how they treated him like a kid…their kid…
Lau:…
Maya:…If what Victor told me of them was true, there is no way these two are doing this on their own accord…
Aaron:…
Lau: What?
Aaron:…Tragoedia…
Url: I also believe our hypothesis on what happened to the vilgers was proven true…
Cassie: Again…she did it again…
Cassie's shaking arm was unable to conceal itself from her teammates' eyes…
Cassie: The vilge…I can’t let that monster do it again…to Sophie…
Suiga: She won’t! Me and the shrimp gave our word on that!!
Url: Cassie, there is no illusion like st time. The Sophie we saw was the real one. She seems just fine, but under the singer’s spell… To get us off course, she most likely went less forward with the mind binding.
Suiga: Forward or not, that disgusting creature can’t get away with this…We must find her immediately.
Url : Well, first of all, we should figure out what we are dealing with.
With a small knife picked out of his belt, he approached the roots stuck on the dirt walls…
He carefully nicked a small piece. The root twitched for a little, but remained in pce…
The doctor pced the sample inside a vial, and rushed to the table of wonders to study his findings, with a microscope pulled from under, and glow of His light shining in his eyes…
Url : Apothecary should tell me what this is…huh. That’s odd…
SUiga : What did you find ?
Url : Really, Really small smite termites, bck as hell…But the tree itself…no…
Suiga : ?
Url :…This is lepidodendron roots. This is Crooked Grove !
Victor/cassie : What ?!
Url : I’m not joking…my god...these are at least 60…no what am I saying, centuries old !!!
Victor : Doc, don’t kid us now.
Poppy : G-g-ghost tree…
Url : If only I could show you… the linings, the buildup of microorganisms in between…These are really Crooked Grove’s roots.
Cassie : So…Crooked Grove is alive ?
Url : And in the service of the vampires, as it seems…But why would Tragoedia bring people here…and what does she need with Emmett and Kevin…
Suiga : I figured a little exploring would help us…maybe find the culprits before they make more trouble for us, and get some answers on the way.
Url: Ugh…kids, help me pack this up, we are moving deeper to the literal death trap!
Cassie: …I really wonder what they did…
Deeper inside the burrow, to a hollow, tower-tall clearing, rested Emmett and Kevin, close to the singer…
Emmett dusted off their clothes…With the chaotic transfer, their clothes shifted, revealing the well-hidden, tiny bites on their necks…
Emmett: Thankful for our dy’s tender teeth…The hunters couldn’t figure it out…
Kevin:…
Tragoedia:…You two…how are you feeling…?
Emmett:…
The slim man raised his gre up to his brother’s eyes…
Kevin seemed scattered…while knowing where to go, but not sure if he walked the path right…
Tragoedia could only watch as Emmett hugged his brother to supress his doubts…
Kevin:…Midy…I can’t have Emmett live like this anymore…
Tragoedia:…Tis why you are now one of my own…
Emmett: Midy…what is next?
Tragoedia:…The tree has more…visitors…than expected…In a few minutes…you will see how the boy’s body will be healed…
The stable boy quickly held Emmet’s shoulders in return…
Kevin: Emmett…I won’t let this…thing take you away…
Emmett:…Let us hope the other side will let us live our life in peace…
Tragoedia:…What is it you desire, humans…
Emmett and Kevin gave her a confident gaze, certain of their response.
Emmett:…Eternal life…
Kevin: If bein’ a human won’t give us that…I might as well be a bat…
Tragoedia continued to be amazed but was unable to convey it through her shy canvas.
Fshback to a few days ago, right after Jack’s new pn for Crooked Grove…
With the Sun shining above the farm, Kevin effortlessly carried stacks of wheat, hay, velvetgrass, and many other flowers back and forth to the carriages ready to depart for Landen…
Ollie: Damn it, Kevin, leave some work for us too!
Kevin: What work old man!? You can barely lift that notepad!
Said the d with smile as bright as the sun poring his hot rays on to the farm.
Ollie: Tchk…Wonder if you’ll say that same stuff to Emmett once he starts over here…
His pleasant smile turned to a slight, discreet frown…His heart made a few beats more, his forehead sweat more than usual…
Ollie:…Tch, sorry kid…I-I meant to-
Kevin: Tis okay, gramps…He’ll start here…I’m sure…
Ollie:…Hm, ain’t he just ready, now...
Kevin didn’t figure out what Ollie was telling, right until he looked around…
His little brother, in a farmer’s outfit, his own notepad in hand, ready to follow the old man through hours of counting inventory…
Kevin:…Really? Those clothes?
Ollie: What ‘bout ‘em?
Kevin: No offense, boss, but I’d rather not have you in my head when I see Emmett working…
Ollie: No other kid like him to inherit my mathematical mind…Now come on! Wipe that frown off your face before Emmett sees you! Two more stacks and then off to the stables you go!
Before he left with the next stacks, he took one more stare at his brother, hard at work, discussing calmly with the excited farmers…
Emmett looked back, and sent him a warm, kind snicker…Enough for Kevin to look away satisfied as he left with the stacks of hay…
Hours ter…Emmett rest in his balcony. Paper full of red sptter in hand…
He stared for a while, before eventually crumbling it as Sophie approached from behind…
Sophie: Bothering you, again?
Emmett: Sophie?! I told you to tell me when you are visiting! I’m barely ready to accept you!
Sophie: Like this pce is ever a mess!...
She couldn’t take her eyes off the crumbled, thrown blood paper…
Sophie:…Heard about some new treatment…
Emmett:…
Sophie: We could ask at the hunters to lent us their genius man…We do have a mediator…
Emmett: I hardly think Cassie’s head offerings are a good leverage to have me treated by a senior hunter…
Sophie: Worth the shot…
Both remained quiet, let the gentle breeze drive away the fallen leaves and dirt off the ground…
Emmett:…It’s only been getting worse…
Sophie:…You know…you could stop going to that-
Emmett: Don’t even say it, Sophie…Please…
Emmett stole Sophie’s voice. She no longer had the strength to answer back…
Sophie:…We’ll find a way…I’d rather starve than see you away from Kevin…
Emmett: Tch, Sophie! Come on, stop saying that! Cassie would kill me before I let anything happen to you!
Sophie: Like that girl would ever touch you to begin with! Look, she’s bound to come by. And if not, we can send her a letter! Tell her what is happening!
Emmett: We’ll see! For now, I’m still trainee overseer to Crooked Grove’s farm and I won’t let my this thing stop me!!
Sophie: That’s the spirit! Now, Kevin should be finishing up, I’ll go check on’im too! Don’t twist that smile while I’m gone!
As he watched the old dy leave, he sighed before returning to his loom…
Nightfall…The moon shun upon the old tree…
Resting together, Emmett could not stop his hand from staring at his lost in thought brother…
Kevin:…
Emmett: It is beautiful here…
Kevin:…Makes great shade in the day…
Emmett:…
Kevin:…
Emmett: I…coughed up blood…
Kevin:…Told ya not to work yerself too much…
Emmett:…The vilgers…I can’t have them pick up my sck any longer…
Kevin:…
Stuck together like glue…and yet the two men felt nds apart in their minds…
He got up to face his brother, who still chose to look towards the pathway to the vilge…
Kevin:…
Emmett:…I…I don’t know…
Kevin: Hell ya mean “don’t know?”
Emmett:…Huh?
Kevin: You can leave if that’s what ya want.
Emmett:…I never-
The stable boy got up in frustration, almost pushing Emmett back.
Kevin: Never what, Emmett?! I told ya, ya can’t work anymore!! Pu it through ya damn skull, ya sick!!!
Emmett: And let everyone, let you work yourselves to death for my sake?!
Kevin: Like we have a lot to clean up!!
Emmett: I know, Kevin!! I know, about you and Ollie asking for more medicine form the support army to handle my aches!!! I know about the dies back at the vilge giving away herbs!!! I know about how the whole vilge wants to sends us to Pirout and Afreeka to see healers!!
Kevin: And what’s the matter with that!? You don’t wanna live?!
Emmett: I don’t want to see you suffer before that happens!! You’ve been working nights too!! That’s why we haven’t been here for a while!!! What if something comes out-
Kevin: What about now, Emmett?! Now that you’re here, under the holy tree, no bat will come fer yer head?!
Emmett: What?...
Kevin: Tchk! The hell is up with you and this old piece of wood?! Cause it hell ain’t making you better!!
Emmett: I…I can’t expin-
Kevin: Well, find a good excuse, cause I’m sick and tired of you thinking this fuicking tree is your only way out until you croak!!
Emmett: Then why are ya following me here!!?
Kevin: Cause I’m yer brother, ya damn fool!!!
Emmett’s face tensed down once Kevin repeated his own words, now hearing how cruel he sounded…
Kevin:…Can’t believe ya’, givin’ up without a proper fight…
Emmett:…Well what would YOU have me do, Kevin? Magically heal myself? Like it’s my own fault I’m losing hope!!
Kevin: Hey, don’t twist ma’ words no-
Emmett: I’m not twisting anything!! I’m here, trying to figure out a way to finish this mess with everyone happy, and you just stand here like an oaf telling me to leave the only thing that has made me feel like a fucking human for the past few months!!!
Kevin:…
Emmett: How can I not act like a wuss, Kevin!? I’m about to lose my life, and the only person I want to count on thinks I’m against him!!
He screamed those st words. Emmett broke down. Kneeled in tears, tried to wipe his eyes…
Kevin couldn’t hold his grudge…He embrassed his brother, reassuring him with a rub of his back hair and a firm hug…
Kevin: I’ll find a way…I don’t care what it takes…
Emmett: Sniff…but the rest of the vilge…Sophie…how will we-
Kevin: We’ll find a way…I promise you…Let’s rest for now…I don’t want us to fight anymore…
Emmett: Sniff…
The two men took their pces back at the foot of Crooked Grove…Slowly fell asleep to a weird, mellow tune…
Emmett: Kevin…that sound…
Kevin:…must be a night willow…let it go on…too tired…
Emmett: I…just wish…someone would pull me away from all this…
Back to the clearing, Emmett rubbed his neck with pleasure, as eternal life was achieved…
Tragoedia:…
Kevin: Midy…You never told us…
Tragoedia: Eh?
Kevin: Why the three kids?
Tragoedia:…Sacrifice.
Emmet: ?
Tragoedia:…Payment…Emmett’s body is not healed yet…we must control the disease…Pure human blood is needed.
The stable boy seemed troubled…
Emmett:…Kev?
Tragoedia: Is…this a problem?
Kevin:…No…ma’ brother’s life is what matters now…
Tragoedia:…Of course…Now…As for what’s next…
Emmett: Yes…midy…what is this pce?
Tragoedia: I…cannot expin entirely…but centuries ago…
Aaron: All of this was hidden under Crooked Grove vilge, huh…
Lau: We’ve been walking for half an hour, how much of Landenian soil does this thing cover?!
Maya: According to Sir Samuel, lepidodendron trees have enormous roots, thinner but longer than the Afreekan redwoods…But even this is excessive…
Lau : I wouldn’t be surprised if this whole ghost pnt can cover all of Landen…what happened to Crooked Grove anyway?
Aaron: Eh, death? What else could have happened? They cut it down when it started wilting.
Maya:…Now that you mention it…
Aaron: Oh fuck…
Maya: Once in our history css, Sir Huckleberry proposed to me a book concerning Southern Landen…Crooked Grove came up…
Aaron: What did you see?
Maya: The story of a scouting outpost turned settlement. Called Crooked Grove for the crooked lepidodendron tree in the center of it. Every day, night, patrol, change of guards, scoutings, sightings catalogued from the start right until the creation of the settlement and the timely death of the author…What did catch my eye, was that there was no mention of how it turned into a settlement in the first pce!
Aaron: Can’t imagine anything suspicious. Tree died, no more treehouse for us to scout from. Who’d write 6 pages about a dying tree?
Lau: Any official serious about documenting Landen’s pivotal changes? I’ve read 5-page documents about mps changed in the central route dating back to 1356.
Maya : Exactly. That’s when I digged a little deeper…Asked Victor, but like he’d know anything…but I did have the chance to talk to that old dy, Sophie…she told me about the attack that forced Landen to ditch Crooked Grove and turn it into a farming vilge. When the settlers arrived, Crooked Grove was already a wilting husk.
Lau:…a gho-
Aaron: Probably destroyed in the attack. Although marks would’ve been left over…Yeah, sounds fishy…
Maya : Not just any attack. A vampire had snuck in the outpost, murdered the entire squadron until a hunter came in and killed him...Next week, the pce was changed to a settlement.
Lau: Huh...
Aaron: It could expin why the fucking tree’s still alive...
Tragoedia: One day, when this nd was but an outpost of the usurper…One of our own chose to attack during a night like any other…
Maya : An entire squadron was killed over one vampire. Unusual, even for those days, because at least one hunter was there…
Tragoedia: That fight would end up his st. One hunter stood his ground and impaled our kin into the old tree’s husk.
Maya: Both lost their lives that day…But once reinforcements from the city came in…That vampire still had enough blood in his system to send himself off with a letter.
Tragoedia:…”The dealings of your demise have already been pnned”…
Emmett: The vampire…what did he do?
Tragoedia: This tree…is that Lord’s gift to us to use…it is our job to cim it…And you two…your role is most pivotal to this…
Emmett: Role…
Kevin:…What should we…do?
Tragoedia:…In the center of the tree…You need to head there…Should you find the hunters…
Emmett: Yes, midy…
Kevin:…
Emmett:…Kev?
Kevin:…They’ll die before reaching the core…
Url: God dammit…They aren’t stopping…
Their group stood on the opposite side of Lady Luck’s wave of grace.
Flooding from the burrows, rows of imps cwing at each other to reach their target…
Cassie’s right arm moved back and forth drawing those arrows and nding them at her adversaries before they reached her comrades.
Url: Dammit, Cassie, try to hold on until I find a way to get rid of them all…I think I have some imp incense left over, but where can I throw it…
Suiga: Look, I can switch and try to burn them all with the bde!
Url: A good idea; only it will also burn away all of the vines and burn us with them. Hold on to the kunais for now, buddy, until I-
Cassie: They’re starting to overflow; I don’t think my ammunition will be the only problem in a few minutes!
Rushing, wobbling his head around while sticking his saw bdes down every imp he could find, the doc’s brain ran ps around fresh ideas…
Cassie's ability to conjure various arrows, with the silver materialising over her hand into a straight bolt, provided him with the revetion he needed.
Url: Cassandra, your arrows! That’s what we’ll do!
Cassie: Doc’s brain always reassuring!
Url : Suiga, use the bde, and we’ll back away the moment the fire catches on! Vic, grab the injured and stay away from the walls!
Suiga: You’ll have to be quick!
Swapping pces, Cassandra turned to Url with his fsk of imp sedative, while Suiga cast out the accursed weapon, and swiped from the ground and up in a rge arc to conjure a fming wall, rge enough to block the scamps from approaching…
Vic: Isn’t that a bad idea, with the roots still here?
Suiga: Url, tell me when you are ready!
Url: Two seconds! Cassie, try to conjure an arrow that can carry this little fsk over here!
She looked at his hands, holding one fsk of incense tied with a drawstring, and a small vial full of grey dust…
Cassie: What concoction is this-
Url: Cassie, just trust me! Do it!
Without a second thought, she conjured the silver arrow. To her surprise, the items managed to fix themselves onto the arrow on their own, now a makeshift bomb.
Url: Shoot it far away, the vials will do the rest!!
The wall grew rger and rger, slowly lighting the vines afme!
Suiga: I’m casting away the bde before it burns everything!!!
Cassie: I’ve got you, Suiga!!
Cassie aimed the arrow at one of the caverns behind them as soon as Suiga removed the malediction. The gas and the grey particles were released as the vials cracked. As a result of their reaction, the dust began to glow spluttering white before violently exploding, spewing gas throughout the burrows and alerting all of the assaulting imps.
Cassie: They’re leaving!!
Url: Cassie, rest for now! Suiga, let’s dispose of them!
Suiga: Follow my lead, doc!
It took mere seconds to kill the clusters of monsters literally cwing at each other for the incense…
Cassie: Nice job, my comrades!!
Suiga: Url, what was that?
Url: Grey dust? High react Nitroglycerin. Samuel’s invention. Normally it doesn’t explode without enough heat. But the ingredients inside the incense have a nasty reaction with the nitroglycerin, that’s why I keep them separate inside my pockets. I thought that if we’re going to burn something it should be far enough from us…
Suiga: And yet…the vines hit by the explosion don’t seem that bothered…
The samurai was right, the vines regrew their missing parts, as soon as the fight was over…
Url: Hmm…Maybe your fmes had a better effect…Cassie! Could you check the vines touched by Suiga’s fmes for us?
Cassie: Nightingale is on it, doc!
She rushed to their old tough spot. But the vines were neither charred, nor cut, thick and pulsating as usual…
Victor stared at them…One thing he did notice was the vibrating, tangling effect where the cut was supposed to be...then followed Cassie along with his cssmate to regroup…
His eyes were drawn to the bck bde on Suiga’s hand, and its own expanding, bck fmes…
The more he stared, the more he thought he could here voices of people calling out for help…
Cassie: Victor! Are you all right? Do you need to y down, maybe?
Vic:…Doc, prince boy, can I try something?
Url: Um, yeah? What’s on your mind, buddy?
Suiga: Prince boy? (He really is a small Aaron)…
Victor approached the prince’s bde. Almost instinctively, Suiga pulled back in caution…
Suiga: Be careful, it’s too dangerous to be near to.
Victor: I know. But I think it might help us get to the bottom of this maze…
Suiga: Excuse me?
Vic: That’s…blight, right?
Suiga:Ah…yes…
Vic:…I might be wrong…but I think the vines are blighted…
With Cassie, Suiga and Poppy in shock, only Url remained still and curious to his junior’s hypothesis…
Url: How…could that be…
Suiga: Little one, I hope you are wrong about this…
Cassie: How could the vines be blighted? None of the known symptoms are present…
Poppy : Eh…excuse me…
Url: Yes, Poppy, what’s wrong?
Poppy: I’m new to the hunting division…I just got in, but…what is a blight?
Url: Oh! Well, you see…When vampires die, there is one rare phenomenon where the magicka circuits for their spells run rampant right before they pass away…In that moment, a bck ooze forms and corrupts anything it can find itself to hop on…That bck ooze is blight, and it’s the amalgamation of aggravated magicka, extremely harmful to both vampires and humans…
Poppy: Oh…so the prince’s bde…
She said, while visibly distancing herself from the accursed hunter…
Url: Yes, a blighted weapon. But the prince himself is a cinnamon roll, so no worries on that part.
Victor: Candies aside…Prince boy, do you ever hear voices coming out of that thing!?
Cassie: Victor!
Suiga: No, Cassie…it’s alright…
No other moment would come to Suiga than the time he almost killed Aaron and lost it during his fight with Kus and Cain…The slow whispers and puppets expanding in front of his eyes, people cut and burned by the vampiric fme…
Suiga: Yes…ever since I found it on my right arm…
Poppy:…
Victor: I’m asking because…well…
Url:…You heard something from the vines back then…
Victor: I thought it was just my head, but when Suiga used that bde…I heard it…voices of people crying for help…That should be why the vines never got hurt from Suiga’s fmes.
Url: You need an equal or stronger amount of blight to combat another...
Suiga: Huh…now that I think about it…I heard something from this husk when my foot got caught in the afternoon.
Url: Hmm...you know...I think we just found a way to the core...
Cassie: Our very own doctor Schellinger to the rescue!!!
She said, throwing her fingers towards his way as if he was some statue to be admired.
Url: Suiga...for how long can you keep that bde up?
Suiga: Well, training with my father and uncle showed that it depends on how much it has eaten...And thanks to Sir Luca and Sir Samuel’s tips, I can hold out a little longer now, about 20 minutes...
Url:... How much can you hold it without it burning any…flesh?
Suiga: Oh? Well...I do remember discussing it with Sir Luca...he did suggest that since I don’t struggle at all when the bde is under the base threshold of its power, I should have indefinite use...
Url: Exactly! Everyone, get close to the vines. Suiga, keep that bde up...
As the samurai brought the edge of his bde closer to the vines, the cinders started expanding toward the pnt...
Poppy: Won’t it catch fire?
Url: Not at all! The fmes are too weak right now to burn the blight vines. But this is interesting...Suiga how do you feel?
Suiga: Tch...Nothing in particur...although looking at it doesn’t make it any better...
Url: Blight interacts with one another...
Victor: And what are gonna do with this?
Url: If I’m correct, the more we move towards the core, the more intense this little effect will become...
Suiga started walking, and along with him, the cinders and vines grew a little wilder ...
Url: Victor , Poppy, do you know the “Purify” Incantation?
The little students shook their heads in agreement...
Url: If you see Suiga‘s fmes going out of control, both of you cast it onto the bde...Me and Cassie need to keep our mental stock in check for the next fights...Cause I don’t think this trip is gonna be any more peaceful...
Maya:…Hm…
Lau: Everything ok, girl?
Maya: Just…worried…
Aaron: Miss yer friends, huh?
Maya: Should I not? Shouldn’t you too?
Aaron: If you and this shrimp made the fall, then the others definitely had a chance. They’re probably walking inside this maze along with us…
Lau: Let’s focus on the road ahead…Hey, I think I can see…
In front of them…the clearing that Tragoedia rested…
Tragoedia:…
Her mellow voice, producing a high-pitched melody fell like leaves from one of the burrow holes on the top side of the tree “trunk”. Following the sound, the hunters id eyes upon the red-haired singer gazing from above…
Not the first time a human would have to admit the superior beauty of a vampire. Medium height and thin, pale soft skin, little pink lips to compliment her already cutesy nose and small ears.
Other than the bright white gown, the first thing that could catch their attention was the intense red colour of her bowl cut hair, contrasting with the pitch-bck mask divided into two nail-like visors covering the eyes and parts of her cheek, leaving the nose and temple exposed, and held on the forehead with an engraved golden circlet…
Even with half her face covered, Lau and Aaron skipped a beat gazing upon her presence…
Lau:…Hey, brute, wake up!!
Aaron: Huh?! Shit must have been her Virtue!
Lau/Maya:…Sure.
They said, having had enough…
Lau : Vampire ! Descend and come meet your punishment!
Tragoedia :…The girl…hand her over…
Aaron: I’d rather chop your head off. What is this pce!?
She struggled to get the words out…Every phrase out of her mouth would have a 5-minute dey before exiting the premises of her mind…
Tragoedia :…I want no blood shed…on this dear grave…
Maya: She must be talking about the vampire…
Lau : That’s a load of lies, you pulled us in along with you to this dirty mudscape!!
Tragoedia:…Twas not…mine doing…
Lau: What is going on?! What is this whole construction? And don’t pn on jumping us before you say, we are more than capable on pnting you to the ground!
Tragoedia:…
Before they could move, vines from below grasped their legs and arms, and rendered them immobile, forced to listen to Tragoedia singing…
A calm, bright voice, with a slow-paced rhythm to match…
Tragoedia, the vampire that couldn’t talk, kept everyone on their toes with her mesmerising voice…
Aaron : Shut your hell hole and tell us what you’re pnning!!!
Tragoedia:…The girl…Milord asked for the young ones specifically…
Lau: What?
Tragoedia: To help the two siblings…To help the sickly one regain his body…blood sacrifice is needed…The girl must-
Aaron: Like I’d let that happen! Once I get myself out of here I’ll-
Tragoedia: You needn’t struggle with your binds…His roots are strong and impenetrable…Now…if you…could help the brothers…
Lau: Help them?
Tragoedia:…Milord…he wants to treat the Emmett…His disease can only be treated by vampire-
The hunters shagged their limbs around, struggling to escape the pnt’s grasp. Aaron’s strength wasn’t enough to slip off the vines, who would expand their thick grip on his arms, and Maya barely had any power to contest them…
Lau, however, after a brief struggle, stooped her movements and started chanting under her deep breaths…
Winds flowed throughout the area, then slowly gathered around her body to spin at incredible velocity…
Aaron: Hey, shrimp, don’t do anything stupid!
Lau:…shut up…
Maya: (The vines respond to resistance… If what she’s trying to do is…) Lady Lecourt, you’ll hurt yourself!!
The young princess shoved away their voices. Only things coursing through her head were Louis’s notes on her own fighting style, preferring speed over raw strength…
Lau: (What that geezer said…I’ve known speed my whole life, because my sister was the fastest sword I ever saw…)
Right after Louis’s stopped talking, she fshed back to her father’s rigorous training. Dolls punctured with rapier holes, swords falling to the ground, all manners of sounds in the Lecourt courtyard were masked by Fran?ois’s stern, bass parole on Lau’s tactics…
Lau: (Guess I’ll defy the old man for once and risk a beating…can’t be worse than getting strangled to death…)
The air flow of her rapier gathered around her limbs and right through the vines. As Maya well thought, Lau was depressing the pnt’s grip by inserting air through the gaps and spinning it violently, pushing the vines away from the inside and ripping away at her arms in the process…
Aaron: Hey, shithead, stop it!
Lau: Trust me for once, Willheart!! I have this!!!
A sudden burst of energy, and she slipped out of the vines and onto the ground the minute they lost control on her arms and legs…
Lau: How dare you…never once in my days…have I ever heard of a vampire caring for a human…
Tragoedia:…
Lau: I know that from my sister! All you freaks look for is a way to sink in your teeth against weak, defenceless necks!
Tragoedia: I…I-
Lau: So don’t you dare tell me you are trying to fix them after what you’ve done!!!
She wanted time, but the pnt didn’t even let her take a look at her bruises. She immediately rushed with the Pirouettan blessing from the inner walls and right onto Tragoedia’s viewing spot…
Lau: I’ll slit her throat before she makes another-
Aaron: Lau calm down!!! Her voice will break through you!!
Happy to run towards her target, she failed to hear Aaron’s warning. She only heard Tragoedia reaching a high octave just before the tip of her rapier pierced through her throat…
Lau:…Why am I stopping…
Aaron: Fuck….
Maya: What is going on…
Lau:…This…uneasy feeling…
Tragoedia kept on singing, lowering the octaves to reach a slow, ominous harmony, almost baritone and male one could say…
Tragoedia: Sing to me, dy. Your plight and struggles, I’ll hear and chant…
Lau’s stabs turned…weak…As much force as she attempted to put through her strikes, Tragoedia simply sidestepped through…
Lau: What is this…Why can’t I hit her…
An uneasy feeling…a creeping sensation of despair…
Lau:…Am I weak…
Aaron:…?
Tragoedia: A star fell of your sky, and you’ve been reaching out ever since…
The princess lowered her silver bde, and fell backwards as Tragoedia kept on singing…
Nothing else mattered…Not the tree, not the vilge, not her comrades…She found herself tearing, biting her nails, and scratching her arms., over the Steed insulting her…
Lau: Weak…I’m a weakling princess…
Tragoedia: Listen to my singing of your plights...
Lau:…My sister…How could I ever…
A ruin. She dropped in embryonic form, cradling herself and continuing to mumble…
Lau: Bea left me …I’m but a weakling…
Tragoedia left her crying in the burrow, and glided to the other two tied hunters...
Aaron: You think Lau’s gonna kneel there for long? She’ll be up and kicking your ass in no time!
Maya spread her palm open, and chanted “Blow” towards the binded Titan. Forced out of the vines, Aaron stood up in shock...
Aaron: Are ya nuts?!
Maya: You are free! Fight her!
Aaron: Oh shit, you are right!
Maya: God, you two are the same!
Aaron : Tragoedia, you ass, what did you do to Lau?
Out of the walls, vines formed a bridge on which Tragoedia could pce her feet, just above and before the hunter, who she looked at with a mix of terror and disdain.
Tragoedia: My voice tampers with emotions...I sang to her, plights she chose to ignore...It’s not my fault...
Aaron: (Keep a cool head, I’m probably under the spell...) Get her out of there, or I’ll do it myself!
Tragoedia:...your friend...her mind won’t tolerate the stress...she’s clouded by her troubles...if this keeps on...
Aaron: Guess I’ll have to wake her up on my own...
Tragoedia: Your trick won’t work with her...
She chanted high, votile harmonies that tempered the vines around them... Aaron found himself running around, barely escaping vines that threw their entire weight onto the floor, or whipped in the air he tried to cross...
The chaos gave him a chance though. He quickly cast out his greatsword, and empowered its bde to cut through Maya’s binds in one sweep…
One whip shed at his back, giving him a hint of what he’ was up against…
Tragoedia: This senseless trials...why...
Aaron: Why? You can ask yourself that.
Maya: (She clearly has us trapped. Why risk a fight and not enchant us like the Lecourt princess...?)
Aaron: Damn it, Lau! Come on, wake up!
Tragoedia: That trick you used st time...she’s under an entire song of her own...She won’t hear your cries...The world means nothing against her plights now...
Aaron: You don’t know a damn thing about Lau, SHIT PRINCESS GET THE FUCK UP!!!
His voice echoed throughout the tower, but Lau’s ear couldn’t give a damn...
She wasn’t under any dream...She could feel every tinge, every sound, every smell the world around her had...
She just wasn’t interested...the only thing running through her mind, started from Louis’s beatdown to the massacres of Landen, right down to a particur memory...
