At the Backyard of the city lord's mansion, a handful number of people had gathered.
"Your Highness, are you awaiting someone?" asked Ernestar.
Before the princess could respond, a voice was heard behind them.
"Ylva, sorry for the wait. I was making preparations for the dive."
"Loki, if you are taking this as a joke, then you better return home. Because if something goes wrong, things won't be pretty for you," she said with a cold gaze.
Seeing her cold eyes, Loki gulped and said, "I was preparing for Chaos emblems."
Hearing this, she thought about something and said, "Those would be useful for the dive. I forget."
"Alright, Seth Estenar, this is my friend Loki and would be my other helper in the dive with your daughter. Prepare the Doom and bring the Slaves. I don't want to waste more of my time," she ordered.
Hearing this, Seth nodded. He walked towards his daughter and gave her the task of bringing the slaves. Then he created some distance with the group, sat down on the ground, joined his palms, and started chanting mantras. The words were mystifying.
There was a change in the surroundings. The nearby insects and animals started running in the opposite direction of Ernestar, but those that were resting on trees dashed towards the far horizon. The flowers that could not move and the few insects that were too slow suddenly became still. As time stopped itself for them, the clouds turned darker, and it was on the verge of raining.
In the midst of this mystifying and heaven-defying phenomenon, a sigh was heard.
"It was Loki. My breath can't help but be held always whenever I saw this scene," he said.
Ylva nodded her head, her emotionless face showing signs of seriousness.
Then sounds of footsteps were heard, which belonged to Ory and the Slaves.
Ory was taken aback by this strange phenomenon in the air, but she held her curiosity. She didn't have the status to query this person. Her background was too above her.
"This always happens when someone is taking their first Dive. All of you are lucky enough to witness this. Not everyone can enter in the dive," explained Loki, seeing the curious girl, but he frowned.
Seeing this, Ory asked with a little concern, "Is there something wrong, sir?"
"Are you sure there is no problem with the slaves?" to which Ory nodded. She was confused a little, but Loki didn't care about that and pointed in certain directions.
She looked towards where he pointed, and what she saw stunned her. One of the slaves had moved from his position and was staring at her father intensely, as if he had almost met the god. But what bothered her was that he defied her order when she had clearly mentioned that they should behave.
"Please control that slave. We don't want any variables," Loki said.
Ory didn't have to be told twice. She suddenly chanted a few words and pointed her hand at the slave. Then, suddenly, the slave that was standing was lying with his face on the ground, blood flowing, a sign of the clear use of strong force.
"Zerooo!" Ory shouted his name hysterically. "Didn't I mention that you better behave yourself? Looks like you don't want to live." Then the hand she was pointing started to descend.
And mysteriously, the ground around Zero started breaking as some sort of mysterious force was creating destruction. But Zero was not having a good time. His entire body was filled with blood, and second by second, he was feeling more pressure. In a few seconds, he would die. He knew that for sure
Stopped it.
Ory stopped what she was doing as she heard a voice from a distance. It was her father. She couldn't help but ask, "Why?"
"We need these seven slaves. If one of them dies, we'll have to find another one," he explained before tossing a bottle of strange liquor towards the slave on the ground.
"Make him drink," he ordered.
Ory did what she was told, but as she looked at the slave, she had already made up her mind to get rid of him after his value had dried up. She thought there was something wrong with him.
She stared at the slave as he drank the potion. "Death is the only salvation for insects like you," she thought to herself.
Despite her thoughts, she knew she had to obey her father's orders. She watched as the slave convulsed in pain, his body writhing on the ground. His eyes were rolling back, blood vessels bulging out from his neck.
Ory's heart ached at the sight of wasting a potion on a slave, but she knew it was necessary. They were embarking on a dangerous mission and they needed every resource they could get. Even the lives of slaves.
She couldn't shake off the feeling of unease, however. It was as if something had gone wrong, and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She turned to her father, who was standing a few feet away.
"Father, what are we diving for?" she asked.
Her father's eyes narrowed, and she knew she had overstepped her boundaries. "You don't need to know, just do as you're told," he replied sharply.
Ory bit her lip, knowing better than to argue with him. She turned away and walked towards the group, her mind racing. She needed to figure out what they were diving for.