Romnwell's grip on Ara's neck softened involuntarily, his hair standing on end. Everything on him screamed at him to run at that moment. Fear paralyzed him, but only momentarily.
Less than three seconds later, Romnwell finally snapped out of his trance as he finally let go of Ara's neck and turned around in an attempt to flee from the scary situation he found himself in.
"So you know fear?" A voice echoed in the corridor bouncing off the walls and travelling into the ears of the three of them that were there. The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Romnwell's heart skipped a beat as he spun around trying to locate the source of the voice, his eyes darting around anxiously, but they only met Ara's frightened gaze and Mark further back with a concerned expression.
"It's good that you know fear, we'll make good use of it." The voice repeated, this time it was accompanied by bright orbs of light.
The orbs of light appeared out of thin air and began to converge to a point and condense forming a human figure of light, slowly but surely the light figure began to look more and more like a person. Romnwell's face paled as the figure took shape, its features becoming more defined.
Without waiting for the figure to take shape completely Romnwell turned in the opposite direction and bolted towards the exit of the corridor.
He ran like a creature that had met its natural predator in the wild, with no hesitation or looking back, just pure instincts driven by fear.
The corridor was quiet, save for the sounds of Romnwell's rushed footsteps and his pants of fear resounding in the hall as he made his way to the end of the hall desperate to get away from the figure of light.
Mark and Ara watched on with mixed emotions as they saw the man who easily handled both of them run away like a mad man, both of them turned their attention from Romnwell to the figure of light that had Romnwell running with apprehensive gazes, not sure what to think of the newcomer.
The orbs of light around the figure finally converged completely and dimmed revealing the handsome face of a young man with bright blonde hair. The figure bore a striking resemblance to Ludwid.
"Prince Stefam!" Mark called out in respect after he saw the figure's face for the first time.
Stefam Tasvill, the son of Ludwig and the prince of Tasvill was the light figure. Stefam looked at Romnwell's escaping figure for a second before calmly raising his left hand and pointing it out towards him.
Mark looked at Stefam in confusion, the action seemed unassuming and out of place, but suddenly a thin almost unnoticeable beam of light shot out of the finger and sped towards Romnwell and a split second later Romnwell suddenly tumbled and fell before he could get to the exit.
Romnwell clutched his leg and winced in pain, still consumed by fear and not ready to succumb to his faith he began to crawl slowly, his only motivation at that point was to get away from Stefam.
Stefam approached Romnwell calmly, his light footsteps echoing in the silent corridor.
He looked at Romnwell with a flat expression, not a single display of emotion. He then bent down slightly and grabbed Romnwell by his hair pulling him back deeper Into the corridor.
Romnwell squirmed reluctantly, not willing to be pulled away, alas, there was little he could do in the situation. He was pulled back to where Ara and Mark were, their eyes fixed on Stefam with a mix of fear and respect.
Stefam reached Ara and Mark and looked down at both of them, causing both of them to flinch nervously under his gaze.
"Your grace.'' Both of them echoed simultaneously.
Stefam acknowledged their greetings with a nod then raised his hand over them and spread his palm open.
A bright, luminous light emanated from his palm and engulfed both of them, the moment the light made contact with their skins a heavenly feeling came over them, they felt like they had been embraced by something divine.
It felt like just had they had taken a very refreshing and satisfying dip, their pores tingling in pleasure as they took in every ounce of the light that bathed them
While they were under the light, their injuries began to heal at a pace visible to the naked eye, their bleedings stopped, and the burn marks on their skin slowly faded away, replaced by healthy unscarred skin.
Slowly the light faded leaving Ara and Mark leaning forward unconsciously as if reluctant to let go of that heavenly experience.
Slowly opening their eyes they saw Stefam looking at them with a weird gaze, realising what just occurred they both blushed in embarrassment and lowered their heads.
"We're sorry, your grace." they echoed in unison.
"Hmph," a soft laugh escaped Stefam's lips, as he looked at them in amusement.
"It's okay, it's a natural reaction for most people," Stefam explained good-heartedly.
Stefam's laugh surprised both Ara and Mark.
"Thank you, your grace," Mark said before weakly standing up. "We'd be dead without you."
Mark helped Ara get up and observed her face for a moment and a light smile coloured his face.
"Your scars are now mostly gone, just a bit more treatment and your face will be flawless again."
"Is that so?" Ara asked in a daze as she placed her hand to feel her face. Her face felt a bit smooth, not completely but there was a clear difference from before.
After being burned by Romnwell twice, at that point they were fighting for their lives, so she couldn't spare a thought for her face, but the possibility of her living with a permanent scar on her face was there if they had made it out of the situation alive, so she was glad that wasn't the case.
Ara tried to stand up but she nearly fell as she was still feeling weak. Mark's hand caught hers and helped her to her feet.
Ara looked at Stefam deeply and bowed her head.
"Thank you Prince Stefam, I'm really grateful."
"You're both welcome." Stefam responded.
What are you going to do with him? Mark asked, pointing towards Romnwell.
"What else? Kill him of course." Ara spoke, her malice very evident.
Mark stared at Ara silently for a moment after he heard her. 'Prior to today she probably hadn't witnessed a single person killed before, much less this much blood shed. But now she just asked for someone to be killed without hesitation. I guess this whole ordeal must have had a huge impact on her.' Mark thought to himself silently with concern.
"Unfortunately no, I'm not killing him, I could have if I wanted to, but I'll be keeping him for questioning later."
"Questioning, what sort of questions do you want to ask him?" Ara asked again feeling unsatisfied with Romnwell getting away with just a 'questioning'.
Mark gently responded to Ara. "Calm down Ara, I understand how you feel, but questions do need to be asked, aren't you wondering why the civilians were running up and down in the halls? Or why did Allan and the rest suddenly start killing our colleagues and attempt to kill us? What could be happening within and outside this building?"