The sun had already set a few hours ago, and the clouds still lingered in the sky after the heavy thunderstorm. Carlisle was at a river bank in the eastern region of Indian. He rummaged through the ruins of the boats and through the dead bodies of the imperial soldiers. He didn't know what he was looking for. He was probably trying to find something useful or may be he was venting his anger and frustration in that way. A lot has happened in the last few days. His entire life and existence, and the world surrounding him seemed to have turned upside down. He felt like a failure. He failed to save his benefactors, failed to protect his closed ones and even failed to keep his promises. The promise that when the time comes he would lay down his life for humanity.
The other imperial soldiers were were doing the same and looking for any survivors. One of them suddenly shouted, "Your Highness, we found Empress Rayne (The queen of the Oceans)"
Hearing this Carlisle turned and started walking towards the spot where Empress Rayne was found. He crouched down and placed his fingers near her nose to feel her breath. He also noticed that blood was slowly oozing out from the side of her stomach and that area had already turned greenish blue. He turned to John who was his second-in-command and said, "She is alive, but the knife might have been severely poisoned. Call for the imperial doctor and also look for the weapon. We might get some more clues."
"As you say, your Highness." John said, and with that he left, and the soldiers carried the Empress to their base camp.
"Rest of you keep looking."
After a few minutes, almost a hundred metres away from the spot where the empress was found, Carlisle saw something that was glowing in the dark. A soldier was already standing there and examining that place. He started walking towards it. On reaching that place, he found that it was teenage girl, who looked no more than an sixteen or seventeen year old. She had a pretty face, which was now covered in cuts and wounds. Judging the surroundings around her, one could easily tell that there has been an explosion. Her entire body was covered in injuries, both minor and major.
"Your Highness, we found this cursed dagger beside her. It does have her finger print and also it is smeared with her majesty's blood."
Hearing this, Carlisle looked up to him and asked, "Is she still alive?"
"Yes, your Highness." Carlisle crotched down, closed his eyes, took her right hand in his and placed the index and the middle finger of his other hand on her forehead.
Meanwhile, the soldier who had paused for a brief second, breathed in and continued,"I do not mean to overstep my boundary sir, but she can surely weld such a cursed and dark weapon. I think it was her-"
Carlisle cut him in between and spoke in aa stern voice, "Speak no more. Do you think you can bear the consequences if your words are not true? Can't you see that I am holding her hand and she is clearly not repulsing my spiritual energy? A person using the forces of the dark, can never be so unaffected by the pure light."
"I shouldn't have said so. I sincerely apologise, sir."
Carlisle stood up, "Make arrangements. Send her to the nearby hospital and make sure she is well taken care of. Find her family and let them know that there was an road accident. Find everything about this girl, where she lives, which school she attends and who she hangs out with. Keep a guard around her 24/7 and report everything to me. And lastly.... Remember to do everything in the mundane way. I don't want any suspicions."
"Yes, sir." With that the soldier left. Carlisle stood there looking at her, it reminded him of his sister who had the same dark hairs and big doe eyes. In his lifetime of four hundred and fifty six years, he has never seen anything unusual as her. In the future, this girl had the potential to burn the bridges between the light and the dark, the good and the bad, the pures and the shadows. She can become someone who could weld the sword of life in one hand and the sword of life in the other. Perhaps, it is utterly necessary to protect her from this unfair world, to protect her from being taken advantage of, until the right time comes. Carlisle picked her up in his arms and starting walking towards the base camp.
After he placed her in one of the empty bed, John came walking up to him.
"There's news sir. Both good and bad."
"Good news first, John."
"The imperial doctor was able to identify the poison. It was a very toxic one but they were able to prepare the antidote successfully on time", he paused for a second, that earned him a look from Carlisle and he continued again, "And the bad news is that his highnesses, Alaric and Leon have escaped. According to the reports, Alaric has left for the frontiers and the whereabouts of Leon is still unknown. But a team is already deployed to look for him" John released a breath tha he had been holding this entire time.
And this was it. This news is something that triggered Carlisle and he snapped. He released all is frustration, yelling at John, "There were fucking two hundred experienced imperial soldiers who were trained by me, stationed inside the castle. And you all couldn't prevent two teenagers from escaping. Those teenagers who are still trainees in the mid stages of martial arts and soul skills, teenagers who are inexperienced. Did I raise a bunch of useless shits all these years? Tell me John."
Carlisle finally said it and punched the wooden wall beside him making a hole through it. No doubt that it damaged his knuckles as much as he damaged the wall, but he was too frustrated to realise that. He covered his face with his hands, run his hands through his hairs and then inhaled deeply.
Though his actual age was four hundred and fifty six, yet he looked like some no more than twenty five year old. And twenty five year olds tend to loose their shit sometimes.
"I am sorry, John. It's just too much sometimes."
"You don't need to apologise, my lord. I am at fault too for failing to carry out your order properly."
Between all these chaos going on in Carlisle's mind, a messenger arrived with an envelope. Carlisle signalled John to receive it and then read it. The letter read:
Everything is stable here for now. Medical teams are being properly deployed. The epidemic is seemed to be under control.
We captured a young witch who was trying to sneak into the imperial library. She is being detained and interrogated. She has refused to speak or eat and drink anything, since the last twenty four hours. I think Your Highness must have a conversation with her, as we have clearly failed to see through her true strength and abilities, which is being masked off by some spell.
She is 'a Virgo'.
~ The Headquarters, Palace of Versailles
Carlisle looked down and sighed. When he sworn to his master that he would protect them. He never knew that he was up for babysitting a few teenagers. Or, that these teenagers would give him the shittiest days of his life. However, there was one thing that he was sure of that these bunch of hormonal teenagers are probably going to constitute the Supreme Five, including Carlisle himself.
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The Next Morning:
Evelyn opened her eyes slowly, as the lights penetrated her eyes. Taking in everything around her, it took her a few seconds to realise if was really alive or dead as she had dreamt in her sleep. Looking around she saw that she was inside a hospital room. She tried to remember how she ended up there, but couldn't. The only thing that she remembers is that there was an explosion. Anything before that she couldn't remember. But, there was something different about her now. She felt different. She felt strong, fearless and more determined, as if a new energy was circulating in her body.
Carlisle was standing at a corner inside the room. Carlisle was tall, lean and muscular, but obviously not an Indian. He finally said,"You are finally awake."
"Who are you? And what happened to me?", She asked.
"I am Carlisle Greco, a travel photographer. There was an accident. You collided with a truck while crossing the road. I happened to present there at that moment. And I brought you here." Carlisle lied to her smoothly, without being caught, or that's what he thought.
Evelyn looked at him accusingly, raising an eyebrow, "Are you sure that's what happened? I don't remember crossing any road?"
"The doctor said that you hit your head and had a concussion. Its possible that you lost your memory temporarily.... Oh! I will get the doctor." He left the room before she could ask him more.
The doctor came and examined her. He said that she was stable and would be discharged in a week. She was also asked about her address and her parents phone numbers. After the doctors left, Carlisle entered the room again, "Now that you are okay and your parents have been contacted, I will be taking my leave. It was good to meet you Evelyn." And there was a slight smile on his poker face.
Evelyn kept quiet, and looked away from him. Taking that reaction as a que, Carlisle turned to leave, but then she spoke up, "You are a really good liar. I doubt if lying to people is your profession, but thank you anyways. I sincerely thank you for saving my life."
Carlisle smiled widely now, the only person who could read through his lies was his sister. He regained his poker face and turned to face her again, "There are a lot of things in this world, that is beyond human imagination. The lesser you know the safer you remain. When the time comes, you will know where to find me, la ville où tes rêves deviennent réalité."
And with that he left.
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The Headquarters, Palace of Versailles:
"John, I want you to do something ." Carlisle said.
"Anything sir." John replied, sincerely.
"I know that you still have no news of Alaric or Leon. Leave for the frontiers now and remember to bring him back safely."
"Yes sir. But about Leon....."
"He might be traumatized now and the ocean is no more safe. I wil look for him myself."
"Yes sir. I will leave for the frontiers this instant." John turned around to leave.
"John, come back alive."
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