"Heirs and heirress' are required to complete training in Fortem Academy, it is crucial to become a strong leader-"
Chapter 8: Jury Wistal Part 1
Eliana sat softly on the couch, thankful it wasn't like the creaking prison bed she was in an hour ago.
The Jury was sitting right across her and the knight behind him who chose to stand. The guards guarding Eliana on both sides.
"May I introduce myself to you young lady." The jury starts, "I am Jury Wistal member of the Jurist Court, I am here to provide you the things you need to stay here in Praediti. To put it simply, I will be your guardian." He said. Eliana stared at him emotionless, he sighed and continued, "I understand you are in a distasteful situation, however we can start flatting the wrinkles. Let's start with this, may I know your name?" He asked.
Eliana waited for a moment before answering, "I'm Eliana, I'm surprised you didn't investigate me." She bluntly said, with a blink she continued. "I am a minor, I expect the law will not be kind to you." She added her face hard.
"My dear, Eliana, you are in Praediti." Jury Wistal informed. "This is not earth if you believe that is where you are."
Eliana broke into a fit of laughter, who knew kidnappers could be jokers as well, she thought. "You guys HAHAHAHA!, you got me. Good joke you got there." She wiped an imaginary tear.
There was no humor between all the men inside the room, and Eliana noticed this. Her mood switched suddenly panicking.
"Wait, tell me that was a joke." She said, "This is all cosplay right? I mean, look at you. You are all dressed like you're in the age of renaissance for petes sake!" She pointed at the knight.
"And you guys, what's up with the musketeer outfits?" She gave the two guards a cringe look.
"I believe you have to take us seriously Eliana." Eliana returned to look at Jury Wistal. "This is not a jest-" Eliana raised her eyebrow at his choice of words, 'jest?'
"You must understand the situation you are in."
Eliana frowned. "Crap, so this is all real. I can't believe aliens are nearly this similar to humans. Oh god." She panicked through random words. Although she was not buying it, maybe a bit.
The jury blinked at her. He expected her to create another rampage, but she has shown a different reaction instead. He guessed everyone will always have different reactions in face of the truth.
"Eliana... " He called her attention which she returned, falling quiet allowing information to sink in. "The night is deep. It is best we leave right away, the streets do not guarantee our safety when nightfalls."
Eliana nodded hesitantly. "Please tell me everything." She said.
"You have the right to learn the truth of course, but for now we must rest to resume our discussion tomorrow." Jury Wistal answered.
Everyone stood to leave the room. Eliana's shackles were removed when they stepped outside the Prison Dome's entrance. She caressed her wrist where red marks were left by the shackles.
Eliana was momentarily surprised to see a carriage pulling out directly in front of them. It was all black and shiny. The door had windows covered by deep green curtains preventing from exposing the insides. The rig was pulled by two horses in front with the coach driver in front.
Eliana stared at the wheeled vehicle in awe.
"Thank you, head Adamson." Jury Wistal paid his gratitude to the head of the Security Prison Brigade.
"It's an honour Lord Wistal." The head guard slightly bowed his head as respect. "You and your companion be careful now."
The jury nodded in response. He then exchanged looks with Jester, the knight, who saluted at him before the Lord turned his back on the men. He eyed Eliana with an amused look. The girl's mouth was practically hanging in awe at the carriage. The wind was getting colder as it fell deep into the night. He approached Eliana and gave her a slight tap on her back on the curve of the girl's waist.
"Lass, let us ride the coach." Jury Wistal opened the carriage's door and motioned for Eliana to get in.
Eliana composed herself and nodded at the Jury. She climbed to enter the carriage muttering thanks to the guy. The Jury followed in suit.
"Depart coach brown."He said the moment they sat comfy inside. His voice was loud enough for the driver outside to hear the cue. The carriage moved to their destination to God knows where.
Eliana and the jury were facing each other, that was their sitting arrangement. Just when Eliana thought the carriage was amazing enough, the inside was astonishing as well. The carriage's interior was big enough to fit eight people, four of each couch seat across each other. The colours inside play with black and green. It wasn't a tight space, it was enough to breathe.Noticing the silence between them Eliana decided to speak up.
"So..." The Jury, who was looking out the window, turned to look at the girl. "Jury Wistal right?"
The man cleared his throat and nodded. "Yes, but call me Lord Wistal. I prefer to be called by my career title when the status is necessary to be of mentioned." The girl nodded understanding.
Eliana clapped, a thought crossed her mind. "So what's this place called anyway? I mean, it's not like I'm in outer space right? You said we're not on earth, so where the heck are we? And why are you all wearing funny clothes? Not that it looks bad, it's fashionable! Hehe." Questions came flooding out from her mouth.
The Lord barely managed to catch most of the words blinking in surprise. He was momentarily taken aback by her sudden talkative nature, it was unexpected since she was in tears back when they were in the prison dome.
"Eliana, please ask one at a time..."
"Oh, sorry sorry. Right, so what is this place? And where am I exactly?" This time, she delivered them calmly.
"We are in Praediti, my dear. A leap of dimension from your world. We are relatively no different to humans but only a slight more special. The people here are called Praeditians. And you are a human from earth." The Lord answered. "Do not worry, we came to an agreement to refrain from doing anything that will harm you." He added noticing the growing wariness from the girl.
Eliana hoot out a whistle, "Well thank God you decided to spare me, cause I can guarantee my corpse will be hard to hide." She joked. The Jury gave her a puzzled look. She dramatically waved her right hand between them. "Geez, I get the feeling you guys are a serious bunch." She muttered.
The jury decided to ignore her sentences.