"What the fuck-" Raina let out a quiet mumble as her eyes locked on the familiar face walking into the cautious crowd.
"Alice?" Richard's voice pulled her out of her thoughts as she glanced over, his confused expression staring straight at her, "Is something wrong?"
"I-" Raina let out a beaming smile, "I'm okay. I just felt a little dizzy,"
Richard nodded as he looked around before grabbing her hand and pulling her over to a small white leather couch by the wall.
"Just sit here and rest a little," He ushered her down as he sat beside her, "You can stay here until the start of the meeting."
Raina smiled as she nodded,
"Wilson!" A voice suddenly called out from the distance causing Richard's expression to instantly sour before forcing out a smile, "Just give me a minute,"
He stood up, straightening his suit, as he let out a professional smile, and headed in the direction of the man who called out to him.
Raina's eyes slowly drifted back to Solon. His usually messy and boyish look was groomed back as he wore a pitch-black suit and tie. A mischievous smile on his lips with a glass of wine in his hand.
Raina continued to stare as she sat back on the couch, the suit seemed to make him look slightly older than usual, letting out a sense of dignity and professionalism. Suddenly, his head turned, his eyes staring straight at her own.
Without even knowing what was happening, she watched him walk over, the glass of wine by his lips.
"Hello there, Mi'lady," He smiled, a few meters away from the couch, "I noticed you seemed to have been staring at me for quite a while."
Raina tilted her head as a smile also perked up from her lips, "Have I? I didn't notice." She crossed her legs.
"May I know your name, Mi'lady?"
"Alice. Alice Liddell," She raised her hand to which Solon tenderly held and kissed.
"Beautiful name," He nodded, "Who's your accompaniment for today?"
Reina glanced over Solon's shoulder,
"That'll be me," Richard's voice replied as Solon turned around,
"Richard Wilson," Solon acknowledged with the same professional smile on his face, "I've heard much about you, but never have I heard anything about you having a female companion."
"Dear, the meeting's starting soon," Richard ignored Solon as he helped Raina stand up, Raina taking his hand and sticking to his side, "You should hurry too newbie. You don't want any more bad first impression now." He glared at Solon before walking away with Raina.
Solon stood still as he watched the couple leave, shaking his shoulder, he placed his glass of wine down on a bench, following the rest of the crowd into another giant room, though this one empty except for a giant stage at the front.
"What did that brat want?" Richard whispered to Reina as they stood some distance away, "Did he threaten you?"
"He just asked my name," Raina replied as she glanced around in awe at the absolute size of the building.
Richard let out a sigh of relief.
"Let me know if anyone troubles you, alright?"
Reina nodded.
"Quiet Down!" An ear-crushing voice suddenly called out from the stage as two figures stood on stage, a tall yet muscularly tanned European man with white dyed hair and another who was wearing a cloak, covering his features from head to toe. The tan-skinned man's eyes scanned the crowd as his soul-crushing presence spread around until the entire room went completely silent.
Reina let out a frown as she glanced at her trembling hands. Her instinct told her the man on stage was strong. Extremely strong.
"The Leader has passed on this message!" The man began, "For the second time, a Territory Lord has been killed. Argo's land will be taken by whoever can claim it first as the killer has not stepped forward."
A hushed murmur spread across the hall as Raina glanced over at Solon, his expression looked complicated, but as soon as he saw her glancing over, he simply returned a smile and focused his attention back to the stage.
"Quiet." The man said once more, looking around the crowd, his eyes staring at Raina half a second longer than everyone else before once again speaking, "That is all."
The man turned around and walked backstage alongside the cloaked figure, the crowd immediately erupted into chatter.
"Argo's dead?" Whispers and confusion spread around, their eyes all slowly turning to focus on one man in particular. The individual having not moved a single inch since the reading of the message.
"Who's he?" Raina whispered over to Richard as she noticed everyone's staring.
"That's Eryx. The brother Argo." Richard replied, leaning back over and whispering, "He's ranked quite high in the Territory Lord leaderboard and is known to favor his brother a lot. There's going to be bloodshed."
Raina nodded as she peered over the shoulders of everyone else who was intrigued by Eryx's reaction.
Eryx's eyes were bloodshot, his long black hair reaching his lower back.
"I swear," He suddenly spoke, his teeth gritting, "I will find whoever killed my baby brother and give them death ten times the pain he felt!"
His voice echoed around the hall with absolute clarity, then a small, quiet chuckle whispered out to her side.
Raina glanced over to see Solon holding back his laughter, his face straightening up when eyes began turning in his direction.
"Did you just laugh?" Eryx's eyes frown as he walked through the crowd, standing in front of Solon, their height difference causing Solon to lift his head to see Eryx's face looming over.
"No. You must have misheard." He replied, tilting his head with a smile,
"You fucker!" Eryx's fist came crashing down as gasps rang out, everyone taking a step back.
"Alright there, Mr Giant." Solon's voice came ringing out from beneath the fist, a giant steel cage revealing itself, blocking the fist from reaching him.
"You bastard!" Eryx cursed once more, this time his hand shone a bright red, a giant battle axe forming in his hands as it came crashing down.
However, before it was able to land, a blur suddenly appeared, a hand reaching out and grabbing the blade with no effort and immediately stopping it in it's track.
There stood the cloaked figure from the stage. Their entire body still concealed behind the robe as the axe was confiscated from the hands of Eryx.
"No fighting within neutral ground." A voice scolded from behind, the same tall European man from the stage walked over. "As a penalty, the Rift Leader has ordered you to back down from the territory fight of your brother's land."
Eryx grit his teeth as his hands clenched tight, "What about that motherfucker?" He pointed over to Solon who had unsummoned the steel cage and stood there with an annoyed look.
"He will face the same penalty." The man said, "The meeting is over. Everyone is to return to their territory now. This building will disappear in 2 hours."
After speaking those words, the dropping of the battle axe broke the silence as the cloaked man walked away, followed closely behind by the European.
"Are they the Rift Directors?" Raina asked Richard,
He nodded, "That's Epsilon. One of the 4 directors."
"And the cloaked one?"
Richard slowly shook his head, "I've never seen them before."
Raina nodded as she watched the two figures leave the building.
The crowd quickly began chattering once more as they all flowed over towards the door, a sense of excitement and curiosity towards this unknown figure spilling out.
"Have a good evening, Mrs. Alice." Solon smiled as Raina stepped into Richard's car, Richard got in from the other end, "I hope to see you soon,"
Raina smiled in reply, "We will. Real soon." She slowly leaned over, a mischievous smirk plastering her lips as she whispered the next two words,
"Virgin boy."
The car door slammed shut as Raina sat down whistling to herself. The engine gearing up and speeding into the distance. Outside a frozen, wide eyed Solon stared blankly into space as his brain attempted to process the words that was just uttered to him.
"Oh fuck off…" Solon finally unfroze as his hands reached his face, his entire body crushing to the ground as reality hit, "Oh fucking damn it! Raina!" He screamed to himself, hitting his forehead as he sighed out loud.