Vela watched a lady with pink hair whiz past her view, beaming as she ran around the capital in what seemed to be an exhilarating game of tag.
"You can't catch me!!" she shouted gleefully. No sooner had the words left her lips did Vela hear another voice calling out from behind her, roaring with determination.
"Says who?"
The pink-haired Lady abruptly halted and spun around to assess the distance between herself and her chaser.
As Vela focused intently, Her heart raced as realization struck; it was herself - A much older and more defined version.
The Lady had an expression of sheer confidence etched upon her visage as if this game were something she had been playing for years.
"the hell?" Vela breathed, dumbfounded by the sudden emptiness of the capital. Everywhere she looked was deserted.
The crowd had seemingly vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye. She couldn't turn her head or do anything; her gaze locked on the two strangers whose hurried footsteps bounced off the walls of the alley they ran down.
Vela abruptly awoke, her eyes adjusting to the blur of colors around her, and when it cleared, she found that the mysterious man and woman had evaporated from sight as if they were no more than a figment of her imagination.
She frantically looked around, spinning in a frenzied daze, attempting to comprehend what had occurred. As realization replaced confusion
"the hooded man must have done something" Vela thought,
"Olivia?!" Vela shouted frantically as she scoured through the faces in the crowded capital. It seemed that Olivia had disappeared, swallowed up by the crowd.
Vela gracefully scaled the small towered rock, her sharp gaze darting around until it landed on a figure at some distance.
She spotted the hooded man far off in the horizon. "Got ya!" she yelled with a raucous laugh before leaping from her lookout point.
She pulled in a breath and, with teeth gritted and fists clenched, began her chase, her legs moving faster than her mind could comprehend.
Apologies flew out of her mouth like arrows as she bumped into people unknowingly as she kept her focus on the hooded man's retreating frame.
With desperation rising in her chest.
"Hey, wait!!"
Vela shouted as the hooded man picked up the pace, increasing the gap between him and her.
Her lungs burned as she raced after him, determined to get what she wanted.
Vela sprinted around the maze-like capital as She turned corners quickly, her lithe form gliding effortlessly through the narrow passageways.
She finally stopped when she saw him standing before her, blocking her path. His demeanor wasn't one of defeat or exhaustion, making Vela unsure whether he would move or not.
Vela paused momentarily to catch her breath, feeling the dull ache in her legs from the unrelenting run. The man had just used her as some toy in his twisted game of cat-and-mouse, but she wasn't going to let him win.
She straightened up and stared at him, determined to take back control of the situation.
"Who are you?" she asked meekly. The man shrugged his shoulders, offering no response.
Vela closed her eyes and breathed deeply, desperately trying to curb the frustration boiling within her core. The man's arrogant silence enraptured her further into darkness and despair.
She marched up to him with her fists clenched, fueled by a pure sense of anger. Her eyes bore into his back as she reached out and grabbed one of his shoulders.
"Why would you do that to a lady?" she demanded, wanting to turn him around and make eye contact.
As soon as she had nearly seen his face, the world suddenly turned upside down, and darkness enshrouded them both. The air was thick with tension, invoking an eerily silent atmosphere.
"Hey! Be careful!!", A loud and familiar voice suddenly cut through the air, tense with urgency. As if responding to their warning, a fierce gust of wind blew past them, causing debris to swirl around them and objects to take flight in its wake.
The two strangers were forced to shield their eyes against the powerful gusts, not daring to relinquish their grip on their belongings.
Vela craned her neck to make out his face's contours, but it was like viewing a foggy dreamscape. His eyes and lips were nothing more than grainy smudges as if some supernatural force had erased them from existence.
The pink-haired woman uttered a shrill cry, startling both the man and Vela.
"My earring! The left earring is gone!" she exclaimed, her voice trembling.
The man shifted his gaze to her and spoke sternly
"I told you to be careful." Despite his words, it was clear that he was concerned for her well-being.
But Vela's attention was elsewhere. Her gaze drifted towards the enigmatic figure standing nearby.
'How could this woman not see that he had no face? ' Vela thought as shivers ran down her spine.
The Lady's voice echoed in the wind as she shouted,
"Don't just stand there! Help me find it!" She dropped to her hands and knees and began to scour the capital's cobblestone streets for her missing earring.
Every nook and cranny was examined as they searched, their eyes scanning every crevice and alleyway in a desperate attempt to locate the tiny glimmering object.
The Lady sprinted to where Vela stood; her face contorted with worry. "Hey! I think I see the earring!" she cried in relief as she stretched her hand toward Vela.
Vela closed her eyes and opened them the next second, only to watch helplessly as the Lady's hand passed right through her and picked up a pretty blue earring lying on the ground.
"Can't she see me?" Vela thought in confusion as The Lady's worried face turned into a smile of joy.
"Found it!" The Lady exclaimed in delight.
Vela's heart raced as she tried to comprehend the truth, her suspicions confirmed.
"What the hell is going on," she thought to herself.
The mysterious Lady before her was unmistakably her, and With each step the man with the blurred face took toward them, Vela's vision started to blur and spiral out of control once more.
The air in the alley turned colder as Vela stumbled forward.
"I don't know why you were so keen on following a stranger," a voice echoed from somewhere in the distance before she felt herself being swallowed by an abyss of darkness, losing all grip on reality.
At that moment, every fear and doubt seemed to vanish as her awareness slowly faded into nothingness.
"Shit!" The hooded man barely caught her before vela face-planted onto the hard ground. His eyes darted around, searching for any sign of danger as he tried to catch his breath.
He was sure he had seen her in the company of a maid with long pigtails earlier.
The hooded man looked down at Vela as he inhaled deeply, scenting her sweet perfume.
His gaze slowly traveled down her face, taking a moment to admire the graceful arcs of her long lashes and full lips that curved ever so slightly upward in a gentle turn. With a gloved hand, he traced the line of her jaw, tracing the subtle shadows that shifted across her delicate features with a hint of reverence.
"I knew this would be a bad idea; I shouldn't have started the sync if it would end up like this." The hooded man sighed profoundly and murmured under his breath.
He shook his head solemnly as he carefully walked towards the entrance of the capital, desperately trying to avoid crowded places for fear that someone would notice him carrying an unconscious person - a mistake that would indeed be branded as kidnapping.
The hooded figure uttered a deep, mournful sigh before submerging himself in the task at hand.
He slowly lowered himself to one knee and delicately positioned Vela's body over his outstretched lap, using his right hand to keep her there and reaching for the desired pair of earrings with his left hand. The air seemed to stand still as he admired -them, their shapes and colors reflecting off the dull light of the alley.
The hooded man placed the shimmering earrings in Vela's hands, their willowy luminescence illuminating the darkness around them. He gently folded her fingers over them, enveloping them within her grasp.
"This should have been the first sync she saw," he whispered softly, his voice scarcely audible over the steady rhythm of her heartbeat.
The hooded man lifted her form once more, his brawny arms straining under the weight of her petite frame.
Just as the man turned his head to gaze at the horizon, he caught sight of her loyal maid making her way towards them from the towering gates of the capital city.
"My Lady!" Olivia screamed, her gaze fixed on the hooded man cradling a pink-haired woman. Fear coursed through her veins as her mind raced to imagine why this stranger held Vela's unresponsive body.
Lieutenant Roycezic strode towards the hooded man, his sword masterfully drawn as His aura filled the air with a sweltering intensity as if to overpower any doubt of his authority. The man stood silent, unyielding, as if impervious to the Lieutenant's determined display.
The hooded man's voice cut through the silence like a sharp blade of ice; his lips curled into a scowl as he barked out his command.
"Stop releasing your soul aura, tch."
Lieutenant Roycezic peered at the stranger suspiciously. He had seen many strange things in his time spent being a defender of the dynasty but never something like this. With sword drawn, he voiced an inquiry.
"What do you want."
The hooded man motioned to the slumped figure in his arms. "nothing, She happened to pass out in the capital, and I helped," he said, handing Vela's body to Lieutenant Roycezic.
The Lieutenant sheathed his sword and carefully gathered Vela up, cradling her close to his chest.
The Lieutenant reverently bowed his head to the hooded figure, a gesture of the utmost gratitude. "In return for aiding our young miss," began Lieutenant Roycezic,
"We would like to offer our most sincere thanks. Would you consider accompanying us back to our mansion?" He made a grand gesture with his hand towards the awaiting horse-drawn carriage.
With a somber expression, the hooded man declared, "I don't need rewards for my act of kindness." He slowly turned away from the Lieutenant and began to walk back toward the capital, with his head hanging low.
he gripped the side of his hood, pulling it further down to mask his face as he spoke calmly yet menacing, "You'll never leave my side again." The statement hung ominously in the air until the shadows of the crowd swallowed him up.
Olivia thanked the Lieutenant profusely as she climbed into the carriage.
Lieutenant Roycezic then carefully placed Vela within the carriage, ensuring she was steadied and secure before turning to Olivia with an air of severity.
"Make sure she doesn't fall over," he told her, his eyes burning with intensity.
He closed the door, mounting his horse suddenly and calling out orders to the coachman, "To the castle at once! Don't let up on your speed!"
The sea of silence inside the carriage was nearly palpable. Olivia stared at her mistress, Vela, as she lay in stillness on the couch - her bony hands grasping frantically around her bosom.
Not a single word escaped her lips, yet Olivia remained vigilant, watching over her beloved Lady until the carriage suddenly jolted, almost tossing Vela off the chair.
In a reflexive surge, Olivia grasped her vela, protecting her from a dangerous descent to the carriage floor.
As Olivia raised her gaze to ensure Vela had been placed in a comfortable position, an intense blue light caught her eye and pulled her into its hypnotic shimmer. It glowed with such intensity, radiating from within the empty cradle of Vela's hands.
Stretching her hand out, she pried Vela's grasped fist open to reveal a set of crystal blue earrings, carefully carved to look like an intricate crest she had never seen before.
"Did the miss buy earrings?" Olivia wondered to herself as she softly took them into her own hands, marveling at their beauty.