The ground shook and they heard crumbling blast from all the halls, as the sound reverted from all the halls it felt like all paths were connected to same place, the place where that sound came from.
Laya puzzled to determine from where this sound had come from. The sound which had broken the absolute silence.
Nearly a hour had passed since Shugel and Celena had left, but that sound.
She was worried. What caused this? She bit her lips, as she regretted not going, with with no idea as to what had happened she instinctively thought about her mother. Was mother okay?
Celena was strong enough to protect herself pluss she was someone not to taken lightly. Laya didn't particularly cared about Shugel but the situation and isolation was making her doubt him.
Was he an enemy? Was it wrong for her drop her gaurd and trust.
*Wait this isn't the time, we don't know what if there is a third party involved. Intruders? Someone Shugel had warned us about. A threat to her and my father.*
As her mind played over the possibilities. She couldn't wait any longer, if it had started there was no other way but to use the other path. Gaurds must have been alerted so she had sometime she thought.
She looked back at she everyone's response. Dae looked cautious, While Fors remained calm and was observing them. Ulius was looking at direction of sound, though it had come from all the direction like an echo, but first ripple to have reached them was from the way Celena and Shugel gad gone in.
"Ulius, give me the blue crystal we need go check on them right now. I know you are worried about my mother too." Laya ordered.
"Yes, I am." Ulius mumbled, Laya found his response slightly off but ingnored it as she took the crystal from his belt.
"Follow me." She grazed past Ulius as she walked towards the blue crystal path. As Soon as she moved step forward, she felt gush of wind, an damp impact of steal against something.
"Now sir Ulius such underhanded attack really doesn't suit your face." a calm voice resonated.
Before she could turn behind she heard Dae mumble, "Ulius you basterd!..."
A sword had been stopped from completing it's arc in mid air. She saw Fors behind her as she turned around.
He had stopped the sword from his bare fingers tips.
*Just when did he...* As thought crossed her mind, astonished by almost teleportation level speed with which Fors had appeared behind her to parry the sword aimed at her neck from behind before it could have touched her.
Now she understood why celena had Fors as a gaurd when she was some of strongest mage in the kingdom. Completely astonished by this her mind finally now added what had happened in a split second.
Ulius had attacked her with his sword intending to kill her using the chaos as leverage when everyone was focused on the blast and it's source.
It seemed Dae had caught on Ulius' intent but wasn't fast enough to reach her, even before her scream could form she knew Laya would dead by then but, suddenly Fors appeared in between Laya and Ulius and stopped the attack.
*Just what was that speed!...* Dae wondered to herself.
But now was not the time, Dae hissed as she cursed at Ulius, "I didn't think you would stoop this low... you... Fox..."
Ready to slit Ulius' hand at the slightest of movement.
Laya took few steps to distance herself from ulius and surrounded herself in protective mana. "What's meaning of this Ulius!?" She demanded for an answer.
Ulius looked annoyed yet there was tinge of anxiousness is his face as he was warry of Fors. Looking at Laya he sighed, "If I only you all were not somehow immune to Sleep Veil."
What was he talking about, it was first time she was hearing something like this. Ulius sword suddenly started glowing as he jumped away from Fors. Fors simply observed him.
As soon as he had managed to create distance from Fors, a dagger grazed past his neck, Ulius clicked this tongue as he blocked the strick of another dagger. And barely managed to put some more distance between them.
He seemed to grumble as he noticed that he was now on one side and Laya and Fors and Dae on other side, Dae ready to attack at any moment. Dispite the fact that he was outnumbered, he looked worried about something else.
His vision shifted to the crystal in Laya's hand. They were on the blue crystal path while he was on the red crystal path.
Laya and Fors noticing his gaze
adjusted there stances.
"Princess it seems, I will have my hand full with him. If not for sir Fors I don't know what I would have done. As a gesture of gratitude let me handle Ulius." Dae said.
Fors simply nodded and accepted her gratitude, Laya understood Dae was being logical and for now this was most optimal option.
She could trust Dae's strength, plus she knew the ahead whatever danger lurked she would require greater strength to respond appropriately. Fors could probably defeat Ulius, but Dae was nonetheless the abnormally strong for her body size, too the point that she was called anomaly. While Ulius' strength was probably close or on same level as Dae from what she could sense.
"Find me as soon as you are done here, Dae. Fors' come with me." Lata said as she blocked a ball of magma propelled towards the crystal.
As she made a run towards the source of earlier blast on end of the curving hall, from behind she heard sharp clangs of metal impacting with metal, foots stomping the ground and walls and chaotically rhythmic manners. She prayed one last time For Dae before shifting her focus ahead.
She could see particals of smoke. But more that that there was something more, something that made her gulp down a reality that she wished was not the case.
___
"This is... " In the hall streching in front of them lay many gaurds unconscious.
The reason there had been no alarm when the blast happened was simply because no one was conscious to have done anything. But with this realisation chills ran down Laya's spine as she looked ahead towards to source of that smoke— The entrance to her mother's room.
"Looks like they are under some kind curse spell." Fors said as he layed one of the guards on ground after checking their condition.
Laya nodded and prepared herself for what was to come ahead. Fors got up from the ground, and laya felt sudden surge of pressure. Having Fors by her side made her feel safe to some extent, but still it only made her think calmly and worry less about direct attacks.
Fors clearly was not letting his guard down, evident by sudden surge in his aura. She too was clad in thick mana.
When they reached the room's entrance, which seemed to have been blasted away—leaving only a broken hole in the place of where the door was supposed to be—, Fors seemed to have noticed something but focused his attention back to immediate look out for any enemies.
Laya made mental note to ask him later and checked inside the room. It was empty, everything was a mess, broken glasses, pots, curtains all here and there, as if a tornado had passed by the room.
Her gaze shifted to the couch area where there was a huge crater that had been burned into wall and floor. The couch and stable in front had been disintegrated to molecular level as not even ashes were left, smoke still rising from the crater.
"There is... No one?" Laya muttered.
She turned to see that Fors had been look around the entrance with intrigue, as there was something invisible. Before she could open her mouth to ask anything Fors pointed towards a spot near the entrance.
"There are traces of space distortion magic having been used here."
"How can tell that?" Laya asked noticing that there was nothing abnormal in place where Fors was pointing at.
"Because of this," Fors rolled his sleaves to reveal a bracelet "Princess Celena has a bracelet and seal, both of which can be used to find ones location."
Laya remembered Celena wearing a similar bracelet. "But that still does not explain... Wait where is she right now!?"
Fors expression twisted as if struggling to think of something.
"The last location of Princess was right here, and currently" Fors paused thinking how to phrase it "Both the Seal and bracelet are showing different locations."
"Are they alive..." Laya worried.
"The signals are being blocked by something, Thought I can sense movement in one location. But..."
"You can't say for certain if it's Celena or Shugel..."
"Yess, and I think that they have seperated and one of them is probably unconscious." Fors stated, contemplating where to go.
They also has to worry her mother. Was she okay. Laya couldn't think straight. The room showed traces of battle but it seemed that some very different kind of magic was used here. If someone possible of this was here then they need to hurry.
Laya wanted to go run look for her mother but, unsure where her mother' location she couldn't risk exposing their location.
Shugel had warned them about the threat to the her father's and Celena's life. Best way to know what happened here was to find Shugel and Celena.
Gulping down her own indecisiveness, Laya clenched her fist, "Where are they."
Fors looked down at the floor, "Both of them are on lowest floor, below the floor where the manaless chamber is..."
"The ancient underground tomb on which this palace was built upon?" Her voice tense.
Fors nodded as a cold bead sweat of worry ran down his neck.
___
As they ran down towards door which led to underground halls, the sight of knight, maids, Butlers, gaurds laying unconscious on ground became a common point. On every turn they would be greeted by same sight. The one knowledge that made her heart not crumble was that these people were not dead.
They had tried to hide their presence as much as possible on the way, as they now stood in front of a huge door, unconscious knights lying on both side of the door. Laya took out a crystal from on the knights armour and placed it in the hole at the centre of the gate.
The gate unlocked as mana from crystal flowed into the ruins carved on the door.
The sneaked through the light opening not wanting to waste any time in useless action and exposing themselves to anyone.
After running down through curving halls and going down in the path, they had left behind the manaless chamber ahead of them was darkness.
The access to this area had been restricted for many years. Hence, there was no traces of human ahead. The lights in the mashall and crystals that once lit the path ahead has not been maintained leading to eventual failure or burning all the fuel.
"May the light that is source of mana illuminate the path I take. 'oz Luminous'."
A soft ball of luminous mana formed in front of her, floating in air, with enough radiance to illuminate few metres around them.
Infront hall had started sloping down, after walking some more distance. There was a fork.
"Why do they have to end up different in corners of the world." Laya complaint.
She caught the bracelet Fors had tossed to her as she prepared to go on right path, while Fors would have to go left.
"Are you sure about this?" Fors asked confirming one last time if they should go together.
"It's better this way, also we can always come back to this place if something goes wrong. But in any case, take this with you."
Laya broke the red crystal she had into two, now that she had no use of it. The raw material could be used for something else.
"Luckily, If you apply lightning magic to it, it will trace a faint and shortest path towards its other half. Like this"
On applying a tiny bit of lightning mana, tiny sparks flew in all way and then slowly subsided leaving only a string of lightning that connected both the stones.
"It was used by early sapiens to travel through early underground mazes, built by dwarfs to hide their treasure. It's a very rare crystal." Laya finished.
Fors took one part of the crystal, "Very well then, I shall trust you to handle the unknown ahead as you find the source of bracelet's signal, I worry that something is wrong. It has not moved at all."
Laya tensely nodded and waved a final, "Well then here we go."