"Don't let her get away", a man yelled at the top of his voice ordering a group of men who
looked like personal guards, clad in black cloaks. They were chasing a woman; she was just
a few paces ahead of them. She looked like she was in her twenties; she was running with
all her might, strands of hair stuck to her pale white sweat covered face. Her violet eyes
reflected fear and panic. Physically she was almost done but it seemed she was running
only on the sanity of her mentality while protecting the belly protruding from her petite
form with her delicate hands. For reasons unknown to her she was being chased. "Make
sure she is killed or we'll lose our heads", the man who had ordered them earlier spoke
sternly. He looked like he was in his thirties, short brown hair parted in between revealing
his wide forehead, blue eyes reflecting authority and tan skin which complimented his
features.
"Captain ! I think we've lost her!"
"Stop!!" the blue-eyed man ordered "she couldn't have gone too far" he continues "keep
looking" he says directing his men to go in every possible direction.
"Chasing and capturing mice, how troublesome, isn't that right Captain Braun?" a sneaky
looking man whispers into the captain's ears.
"Levi...you..." the captain glares at him with irritation, to be honest Braun thought of Levi as
a snake that incessantly tried to wrap itself around its prey.
"Ah...did I say something...don't give me such scary glares", Levi says pretending to be
offended, his eyes closed , a fake smile plastered on his long bony face and long black hair
curtaining both sides of his cheeks. He places a hand on Braun's left shoulder, his eyes part
open slightly revealing yellow irises, his eyebrows perk up as he continues "to think the
mousetrap is having a hard time trapping a pathetic mouse" he grins. The captain gets
agitated and smacks Levi's hand away and takes a few steps ahead, "Levi know your place
don't get too casual with me!"
"Oh! Scary..." Levi raises both his hands and wriggles his fingers dropping his head to the
right, the same fake smile stuck to his face, 'just you wait Braun...it would be fun to kill you
but playing with you is so much more fun ' he thinks chuckling to himself. Meanwhile
somewhere behind a dense bush the woman that was on the run managed to hide herself,
her heavy breaths seemed to vibrate into the air so she held onto her mouth fearing that
the sound of her breaths would give her away. Her face showed signs of fatigue and
exhaustion as multiple thoughts crossed her mind, 'Why...Why are they after me…? What do
they want...? Who sent them...? ' Of course she couldn't make head or tail of the situation she
was in. Her thoughts turned towards her husband, and all she could think of was if he was okay and if he would find her. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, 'I can't just sit
here cracking my head over things I don't have a clue about' , she takes a peek through the
partings between the bushes, 'it seems no one's there I should take this opportunity to escape
some place where I won't be found'. Then looking down at her belly she gently caresses it
'Don't worry my child I will protect you, I will protect us both'. She takes a deep breath and
picks herself up, the moment she stands her head begins to throb as dizziness takes over
her, and she almost falls but manages to hold onto a nearby tree maintaining her position.
Suddenly voices could be heard; she whips her head backwards and catches a glimpse of
the guards. In a hurry she trudges her way through the woods trying to pick up her pace
but accidently steps on dry twigs sprawled on the forest floor. CRACK!! The crackling of the
twigs catches the attention of her pursuers.
"There she is!!! Captain we found her!!"
"Damn it!" she bites her lip in fear still running; she notices an opening in the forest. It
looked like a path, there were trees on either sides of the path making it look like a tunnel
enveloped in darkness 'just a little more ..If I can get there I still have a chance...But I'll have
to risk getting out into the open...what should I do?..' she stops, clenching onto her dress skirt
'I don't have a choice', saying this to herself she dashes out of her refuge and attempts to
make a run towards the direction of the dark tunnel. Braun arrives on time catching her
making a dash for the opening towards the dark tunnel, he looks over to a guard, "give that
to me" he says and then looks towards the direction of the woman.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!!!" Braun shouts.
The woman looks back and stops, her eyes widen at the sight in front of her. There was
Braun aiming an arrow at her ready to shoot at any time. 'I can't move….why can't I move?'
"Are you thinking why you can't move?"
Levi sniggers at the woman trying to move whilst crying out in pain, she finds herself stuck
to the ground as if frozen on that very spot.
"I have you in the palm of my hand" Levi smirks lifting his hand and revealing a red
translucent light shaped like a snake making its way out of his palm and slowly gliding
along the floor. The woman looks on in horror as the red snake like light twirls around her
body gradually transforming into a real snake. As he closes his palm into a fist the snake
tightens itself around her. 'What is this..? Dark Craft? I can't breathe... Damn it...Is it the
end...? I've been running for hours I don't have much energy...move...move...I have to get
away...What do I do?'
"This is going to be fun...finally the mouse has been trapped eh.." his long snake-like tongue
whips out licking his lips, as if ready for a meal he lets out an evil grin.
"Quit your maniac drama and get it over with" Braun reprimands Levi. Levi's expression
changes into a serious one "when I'm playing don't interfere" he spits back and while
saying this, another snake wraps itself around the neck of one of the guards. The guard
writhes in pain; his face begins to lose color.
"Captain...he is suffocating!!" another guard shouts out.
"Levi!! Let him go right now!!" Braun commands while walking over to the guard.
"Tch!! Whatever!! "
The snake around the guard vanishes, the guard holds onto his neck coughing in pain. Levi
just sniggers looking at him then turns his attention towards his prey "sorry I didn't pay
much attention to you...so where were we??"
'This man...he uses the forbidden Dark Craft...Who are these people…?' the woman thinks to
herself.
"You are not allowed to get lost in thoughts when I'm playing with you woman!" Levi
squeezes his palms causing the woman to give out a painful cry. Her head jerked forward as
she took in heavy breaths.
"Who…who are you?? Who sent you..? Who are you working for? Do you even know who I
am?" she manages to speak out.
"There there be patient...all your questions will be answered...it would be rude not to let a
dying person know what they want...don't you think Braun??" Levi looks over at Braun who
immediately ignores him. Levi looks over to the woman, perking up an eyebrow he says
"and of course I know who you are …Queen Rei".
"You know who I am and yet you dare to harm me? Do you know the consequences of such
a traitorous act?!"
Upon hearing her say those words Levi bursts out into a psychotic laughter, "You speak as
if you will be rescued" his tone changes into a dangerous one "you my queen are going to
die here and no one will know".
'Of course I know that', she thinks to herself 'I just need to buy some time to conserve my
energy, even if a little'
He starts walking towards her "so then end of our little game, it seems I've gotten bored"
he stops in front of her and lifts her chin up with his forefinger "what a pity, such a
beautiful face" saying this he leans forward and whispers into her ear "the one that wants
you dead is...Lady Rowena".
Rei's eyes widen in disbelief "Rowe...na?? No...It is not true...I refuse to believe that".
"Ah! My queen...don't worry...My Lady will keep the king company so DIE IN PEACE!!!!" he
shouts out. The snake wrapped around her loosens its grip, its head grows larger aiming to
bite off her neck. That's when Rei musters up all the energy she could and chants a spell.
"Break and cast away, all evil that hinders my way.
Divine Spiritual Spell Mote and Dispel!!"
At that moment a white semi-translucent light emits from her body, the snake immediately
withers and a strong gust of wind blows over in all directions.
"What was that?!!" Braun exclaims shielding himself from the wind while the other guards
try to stand their ground, Levi is blown a little away from Rei but manages to maintain
himself in time.
'Divine Craft huh...didn't see that coming but she's not getting away' he mutters materializing
two more snakes that charge at her "you can't escape this!!"
"Protect and defend Attacks that transcend Divine Spiritual Spell Be my shield!!"
Rei faces her palm forward forming a huge wall of blue spiritual energy that shoots up from
the ground protecting her from the charging snakes. She cringes as she feels pain shoot
through her body 'this won't hold on for long I have to make it into the dark tunnel'; she says
to herself and makes a dash towards the tunnel path.
"Don't let her escape!!!!" Braun orders his men who immediately ready their bows and
arrows and fire at the blue shield but the shield stays strong. Another shower of arrows hit
the shield making cracks on it when it finally bursts into pieces and fades away.
"Captain she got away!!"
Braun walks over to Levi and holds him by the collar "You psycho! How, are you going to
explain this to the lady?!"
"Oops! My bad!! I made a mistake" Levi looks away "I'm human after all".
Braun snorts at his remark "Human huh..." saying this he pushes Levi away.
"Captain what about the queen?" a guard runs up to him.
"Let her be she just dug her own grave by entering that part of the forest"
"Captain...What does that mean?" the latter inquires.
"She just entered the Forbidden Forest, they say abhorrent monsters and dangerous
creatures lurk in there", saying this Braun looks towards the dark tunnel path and
continues "And its getting dark we should head back".
"An old granny's tale" Levi snorts teasing Braun.
"Shut your mouth Levi!! Why don't you go in there and check if it's an old granny's tale or
not" an already pissed off Braun retorts aggressively.
"Whoa! I used up too much energy I'm tired" Levi stretches his arms and yawns then stuffs
his hands into his pocket.
"Everyone let's go!!" Braun walks away as the guards follow him.