Chapter 5
Trick or Threat
"Until we meet again, darling"
Hiro's Point of View
"The sun will set and the moon will rise."
Lady Solaris was slowly absorbing energy around her. I'm afraid that the energy will kickback and suddenly strike us.
"Hidden is the truth, Unleashed are the lies."
Her hair turned white while flowing violently through the air as she floated high up as her eyes and hair glowing. I can tell that she can't control her powers anymore.
"The cursed shall meet the precious savior,
To do the chosen one's only favor."
The absorption was slowing down. Oh no. This is bad.
"A war is seen."
The first strike of her powers was unleashed. It released a strong wind that made the furnitures fly and tumble down. The ball gowns were violently flapping. The buffet table tumbled down and the food landed on the ground. The sound of crashing plates, furnitures, and shrieks by the people made way through my ears.
"Death will win."
"What's happening?" Mizuki shouted.
She used her arms to shield the raging wind to look at us.
I was about to respond when I saw Kichi's crashing down from his hair. The wind became stronger. Mizuki tried to help Kichi to stand up but she also fell down. I pushed our table and placed them behind it so it can serve as a shield for us.
"Stay here," I said to the both of them.
I scanned my eyes through the messy venue to see where Xael was. As her knight, I was obliged to protect her at all cost.
"Taking down a sister's requiem."
I can't find her, damn it. I looked back at Lady Solaris and saw that she was surrounded with light again. This is really bad.
-•-
Xael's Point of View
I walked towards our table when the dancing finished. Mother and Father were talking about royal stuffs. Kichi was talking with a girl with brown hair. Cute.
I sighed when I found no one to talk to so I approached Lady Solaris to try initiating a conversation with her. She was sitting across me but I noticed that she was sweating heavily.
"Lady Solaris, are you okay?" I asked. She looked at me sharply and stared . She stood up and held her head.
"La-lady Solaris?" I called her out.
"H-huh? N-no it's fine. I just felt nauseated. Everything's al—" she couldn't continue what she said because she suddenly fell down and a wave of power was released inside of her making our table crash which caught the attention of the people. She tried standing up once more so I tried calling her out but she remained expressionless.
She started floating and an intimidating aura surrounded her.
"S-sol. Control it. Xael get out of here now," Mom said in a calm tone.
A more devastating power was released and people, furnitures, and utensils started flying and falling to the ground.
I tried standing up but I was brought back to the ground when the wind started going stronger.
I looked at my mother who was not affected by the wind nor the force. She was looking at Mistress with a horrified look. Father was holding her back and telling her to get back. A strong gush of wind was released again and Father came tumbling towards me. Mom remained in her place as she tried communicating with Lady Solaris through telepathy.
"Xael. Get down," Father said as he summoned his force field to sheild both of us.
"But Dad, what about Mom?"
"She'll be fine," he reassured me.
I tried to shapeshift so I can go to Mom but I couldn't concentrate well. Ugh! Why am I so useless?
I stayed on the ground and waited for the wind to calm down.
When it was finally calming down, I ran towards Mom.
"Xael! Get back here!" Dad shouted. My knees were shaking and my legs were still wobbly. I tried to make another step but almost fell down on the floor until someone held my arms. It was Hiro .
"Hold on," he said.
He pulled me to a fallen table that we used as a safeguard. I scanned my eyes to find Mom and she was at the exact same spot that I saw earlier.
"I have to save my mother," I said.
"No!" He firmly disagreed.
"Please!" I begged.
"No! Do you want to get hurt?!" he asked and intensely looked at me.
No. I can't let this happen. I bit my lip and looked at my mother. I looked back at Hiro and uttered a sorry and ran towards her.
"No! Xael, what the hell are you doing?"
I was this close to touching her. I was almost there but a light ray hit my chest. Pain. That's the last thing I felt before darkness conquered my sight.
-•-
Hiro's Point of View
I tried catching up to her but she was too fast. The wind was slowing me down.
I looked at Lady Solaris and realized that she was gonna strike light rays. My eyes widened and I ran faster. I was able to dodge the light ray but Xael wasn't able to see it.
As soon as the last ray was released, the wind calmed down and Lady Leila fell to the ground. I looked at the queen and she was still in a shocked state. She didn't move until she fell unconscious. I ran to Xael and tried to wake her up.
"Xael! Wake up, Xael!" I said and shook her. Blood was dripping from her mouth.
After a minute, help has finally arrived. The castle clerics helped the people. My father and his knights secured the premises
-•-
I walked towards Xael's room because that's where she was confined. I was gonna knock on the door when it unexpectedly opened.
I saw Bree yawning in front of me. I looked behind her and saw Xael who was currently resting in her bed.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!" She screamed.
I looked at her again and put my hands on my ears.
"Quiet down. She might wake up," I said
"Oh. S-sorry. You surprised me." She said and bowed.
"Is that so? Then it's my fault. I should be the one who's apologizing. Anyway, is she okay?" I asked her.
She didn't respond because she was in a trance again so I called her again, "Bree."
I think she was pulled back into reality and finally responded.
"Ah! Sorry. What was your question again?" She asked.
"I was asking if she was okay." I said and gave a half-smile so she can ease the tension she was feeling.
"Oh. Hime is okay. The doctor said that she just needs some rest. You can come in if you like," She said and made way.
I did enter the room and walked towards her bed. Bree was standing behind me.
I sat down on the chair beside her bed and stared at her face.
"Why didn't you just follow me?" I sighed and caressed her sleeping face
I sat on the chair beside her bed and rested my head on my chin. I closed my eyes and just felt the silence while I caressed her hair.
My attention was diverted when something crashed. I quickly turned my head and saw Bree holding a silver tray with a tea set and a broken tea cup beneath her.
She placed the tray on the table beside her and knelt down to pick up the broken shards. My eyes widened and ran to her.
"Wait! You might hurt yourself," I warned but she already wounded herself.
I sighed and shook my head. I called a maid to clean the broken pieces as I searched for the first aid kit. When the maid finished cleaning, I walked up to her and made her sit down on the bed since there isn't any other chair besides the one beside the bed.
"You're a clumsy one, aren't you?" I asked and chuckled.
She got embarrassed so she bit her lip and turned her head to another direction. I smiled at her reaction and washed her wound with clean water.
Silence entered and I cleaned her wound after washing it. As soon as I was finished cleaning it, she finally broke the silence. She was looking at Xael and asked, "You really care for her, don't you?"
"Yes. That's my job. To protect her" I said and put bandage on her wound.
"I wish I had someone to protect me," she said. I didn't respond and just finished wrapping her wound.
"There. All done." I said and smiled at her.
"Thanks." she said and smiled back.
"I better get going now. Take care of her for me, Bree" I said and stood up to stretch my arms.
"Yes, Sir Hiro" She said.
"Call me Hiro" I said and beamed.
She nodded her head and smiled. I walked to the door and bid my goodbye.
I walked again through the hallway and found Kichi. He was eating a chicken leg so I grabbed the chicken leg from him and hit him on the head with it.
"Oww!" I heard him grunt.
"Have you seen Lady Solaris?" I asked him. She regained consciousness after the incident. She was the first one to recover. The minute she opened her eyes, she immediately panicked which is a rare sight to see.
"In the meeting room with Mom and Dad. They were talking about the incident," he said, still rubbing his head.
I was going to make my way to the Meeting Room when he spoke again, "And that reminds me, Uncle asked me to check up on you."
"Uncle?"
"Your Dad."
"Okay don't call my Dad, 'Uncle'. We're not cousins" I said and glared at him.
"Oh, yes we are!" He said and hugged me tightly.
"Get off me!" I shouted at him.
"No!" He shouted back and climbed on my back.
He pointed towards the meeting room and asked for a piggy back ride.
"Will you get off me?!" I said and wiggled so he will lose balance.
"No!" He said and held onto me tighter.
"Get off me, Kichi" I said in a serious tone.
"Nope. Not gonna happen" He said and pouted.
"One"
"No"
"Two," I said in a darker voice.
"Okay, okay. sheesh." He said and started climbing down. I guess he was intimidated.
The minute he stepped the ground, I instantly walked. He kept on following me until I reached the intersection towards the Meeting Room. The intersection had three pathways. The middle leads to the Meeting Room, the right one leads to the other rooms and the left one leads to the orchard. I was gonna continue walking when I noticed a figure by the orchard. It was too suspicious since guests aren't allowed in that area.
I turned to Kichi and told him to go to the Meeting Room without me. He didn't question any further. Maybe because he was still intimidated.
As soon as he was out of my sight, I walked towards the orchard and searched for a figure.
I sharpened my senses to see if my eyes were fooling me. A minute has passed and I wasn't able to sense anyone so I chose to continue what I was going to do.
I turned my back and took a step. I was gonna take another step when a voice finally spoke.
"The party was a disaster, wasn't it?"
It was a voice of a woman.
I slowly reached for my sword. When I turned my back, I quickly pulled out my sword and pointed it towards where the voice was coming from. I don't care if she's a lady. I'm more concerned of the fact that she might be an intruder or a spy from the neighboring kingdom.
"Oh come on. No need to be cheeky, sweetheart" she said and stood up. I couldn't see her face since it was still dark and she was wearing a cloak.
"How's the princess, by the way? Heard she was struck once and then fell down. Pathetic?" she said and laughed maniacally.She has this playful and dangerous aura that could kill.
She started walking towards me and plucked an apple by the nearby tree.
"How brave of you for trying to protect her. You are her knight, right? It's pretty much a normal sight—you rescuing her. But what happened, Mr. Knight in Shining Armor? You weren't able to save her." She said and ate the apple she was holding.
"Who are you?" I asked in a cautious way.
She smiled and looked at her side. The moonlight touched her face underneath her cloak and I was able to see most of her face except her eyes.
She laughed and started circling me.
"Me? I'm not your enemy." She said and smiled sweetly.
I don't know why but I held my guard down with her smile.
As soon as I held my sword down, she kicked me on my abdomen. I was caught off-guard and fell to the ground. I looked at her wide-eyed.
"But who knows, maybe I'm not really an ally" she said and smirked as if mocking me.
My knight instincts were finally kicking in. I was quick but she was quicker. I was gonna grab my sword when she stepped on my hand and kicked my sword away from me.
"Until when will you protect her?" She asked and knelt infront of me. I was still clutching my abdomen when she gripped my hair to look at her.
She was against the moon so the light struck my face. I still couldn't see her face but I can tell that her eyes was glowing white.
I wasn't able to move. This is the first time I experienced intimidation. I wasn't able to move a muscle but I was able to move my lips.
"What are you planning?" I said in a serious tone.
She smiled sweetly and said, "You won't understand for now. Protect her if you must. Judgement day will arrive soon," She said and kissed me on the lips.
She stood up when we heard footsteps by the hallway.
"Until we meet again, sweetheart."