Fire rages from the demolished segment of the Daggerhand mansion, it seems the fireball they cast left out embers and slowly ignited the debris. Garth couldn't dissipate them all it seems.
My shoulders felt heavy. The gravity weighs me down tremendously. A force of incredible power suddenly pulls me down painfully. My body instantly fell, and my forehead knocked on the solid ground. Soon, I find myself emasculated as Titus stands before me.
"You," his devilishly hoarse voice echoed within me, "Who are you, why are you here?"
I struggle to look up but as soon as I have a better look at his face, my heart skips a beat. The skin on his face hasn't manifested properly yet, the exposed muscles let out small spasms, and his flesh smells of fresh-cut cattle meat. Titus is human without the skin and everything else, the uncanny wears me down.
"I asked you a question,"
My voice slowly builds, searching for the courage, "I'm nobody…"
With his finger, Titus flings me aside, "Is this somebody to you?" he points at Hearth's motionless body, "The one with such magic power?"
I slowly nod, powerless, "My sister," I winced.
"Ah," Titus smirks, "And those two boys over there are your acquaintances I presume?"
Again, it took me a while, "My brothers,"
Titus lets out a menacing chuckle, "Delicious siblings you have," he said, "Their auras are strong!"
Auras. What does he mean by that?
"But why can't I sense yours?" he pouts mockingly, "And why do I feel like you're not related at all?"
My eyes widened. How could he know.
Titus smiles terrifyingly, "You're all adopted." his raspy voice cracks ecstatically, "So, that's why I don't feel a connection. All your auras are different, you can't fool me!"
I tremble in fear. The information he holds is sacred to us.
He sighed at the finality of it, "But who cares, it's not something I could use against you." he blew a raspberry, "But I am curious, why do I feel the Goddess' aura from that big fella over there,"
I absolutely don't know what he is talking about. My mind is still on the fact that he doesn't care that we are adopted.
"You're boring to talk to, you know that?" Titus didn't appear pleased by my lack of response, "I will consume them now," Titus readies his palm. My body didn't know how to react.
"No!" A voice cried, followed by a piece of cobblestone debris that hit Titus' head. When the chunk connected to his flesh, it made a squishy sound.
I look over to the direction where the rocky ballistic came from. Behold, Amelia, standing bravely from the pole where she was tied a moment ago. She is gasping and weak, her life force was partially consumed. Her lively skin turned pale and sickly. The most striking change was her hair, it was gold the last time we met but now it is bleached and flowing down her shoulders.
"And who you might be?!" Annoyed, Titus glanced back.
"I am Amelia–" she suddenly passed out. Her knees were first to fold, then as she knelt on the ground, her arms made their last effort to stay conscious, and finally, her head thuds as she fell completely flat.
Titus scoffs, "Huh.", he turns back to me, "Back to it then,"
A hand raised once more from the flock of robed men, Titus nods unenthusiastically after rolling his eyes.
"My lord, the surveillance wards we dispatched report several squadrons are coming!" the robed men hastily said.
Titus stomps on the ground, "Damn it! If only you resurrected me earlier my form would've prepared for this,"
The robed men didn't say anything but they all stood up, "Please, my lord, we have prepared a teleportation scroll for this,"
"Good," Titus smiles as he walks slowly towards Ansel, "I guess it will be a shame if I leave you here," he grabs Ansel from the ground.
Ansel groans in pain. Titus' hand is grabbing onto his neck, choking him a bit, "Such weakness!" Titus exclaims as he returns to his mysterious servants.
One of them takes out a scroll and unrolls it, revealing its glowing contents. A symbol floats not far from the holder's face. A series of incantations were whispered, it hovers in front of its caster. At the same time, it expands and morphs into a door-like visage.
"Make it quick," Titus commands as he gazes over to my direction once more, I grab hold of Hearth, never letting her go, "Boy, what's your name?"
My mouth opens in fear, and the voice stumbles before I can finish my answer, "Arys."
The robed men knock on the door, quite ridiculous in my opinion. But Titus claims my attention, he arcs a brow prominently, "Arys?"
I nodded, and the door opened behind him. Ansel turned purple from the brutal chokehold and his awkward position made it unbearable. Titus' hand still has a strong grip on his neck as he carries Ansel reminiscent of a slumping bundle of string beans.
"Arys, you say?" he smiles as he throws Ansel inside the magical door, "You must be Rysa's descendant," he says while the robed men quickly follow Ansel on the other side, "Prophecies are a wonderful thing, don't you think?" he asked.
I didn't answer. Though, who is Rysa? A strong surge of wind jets out from the magical door as it visibly shrinks slowly.
"The Emperor will be pleased!" he excitedly chuckles as he puts his fleshy bare feet inside the door, "The Emperor would be pleased!"
It sounded obnoxious of him to lose it over a name. Confusion grew as he kept laughing but as his body entered the door, I also felt an immense amount of relief knowing he was leaving us alone. But before he could truly go on to the other side, he peeks out his head, and it startled me.
"Until we meet again," Titus said in a language foreign to this world, a sentence oddly familiar to the old life I led. He flashes a wide grin before pulling his head back inside to the other side of the magical door.
As the door shrinks completely, it disappears into the space, along with his face. The wind stops gushing, and the cold settles. A terrible sensation crawls onto my skin, the silence that follows doubles the anxiety that is damaging my fortitude. What did he just say?
Before I knew it, I dived deep inside my consciousness. I paused in the terror of contemplating about the words he said. I heard those words very clearly. Thunder roars and it starts pouring. The torches and the fire that was engulfing the Daggerhand mansion were extinguished soon after.
Moments passed and I heard rustling sounds coming from behind, the squadron that the robed servants were talking about finally came. Among them was the aging Lord Jaxson who came rushing to Amelia's aid, he bellows in her sorry sight.
I heard commotions and whatnot, our rescuers started shouting. I couldn't care less. My attention is idly focused somewhere on the ground. I feel weak and afraid.
"Lord Arys? Arys? Please, Lord Arys?" A hand gently placed on my shoulder but it felt heavier the more I ignored its plea.
My vision grew blurry. It was a long day after all. There was a funeral earlier today, I wish for none tomorrow. My mind still lingers on Titus' final words. What language was that again?
"He spoke English," I blurted before passing out.