With this memory, Judith had realized that a goddess of some kind, had blessed her with a new life, a new opportunity.
Immediately this realization had sunk in, Judith felt a great weight lift off her shoulders. Which had caused her to let out a huge sigh of relief, before falling onto the sand and pointing her gaze to the stars while breathing heavily.
It had taken longer than supposed to, mostly due to the fact that the Tethereds didn't exactly know what had happened before their very eyes. But when it was evidently clear that the Parabeast had been defeated, a large roar had erupted into the air.
The Tethereds began to jump and hug one another, as though they were soccer players that just won a game.
Upon hearing this sound, the slaves that all but ran away, had thought something worse had happened. But upon returning their gaze to the point of collision, they discovered the Parabeast had been slain.
So they proceeded to return to their masters, as they knew surviving in this desert without them would be a task next to, if not completely impossible.
The nobles who had been watching from a safe distance high above the ground, all let out a sigh of relief, as they discovered they were safe.
Though one could say these nobles were safe at the height they currently were, this was not entirely the case. Because ascending a hovering carriage, would impede it from moving and eventually, the Alkalis stones keeping the carriage afloat, would run out of juice and begin to descend. Thus, delivering them to the Parabeasts.
Luckily for them, this did not happen.
Upon confirming the fight had been won, the coachman up front had pulled a lever that caused the Alkalis stones to stop expending much power, and then descend to ground level.
The prince had joined the foray of cheers, leaving Qui Lin to stand and watch Judith.
Though she attempted to approach Judith, a Tethered had approached her first, with vital information in toe.
"What is it?" Qui Lin had asked, only to realize the reason for the Tethered's urgency once she had laid eyes on the cargo he was carrying in his hands.
"Is that…?" The prince withheld his question, not feeling the need to state the obvious.
The cargo in the Tethered's hands was a crystal the size of a football, shaped like chains interlinking over and over on itself till it formed a sphere.
This crystal was called a Paraheart, as it could be found in the carcass of every Parabeast that had been slain.
A Paraheart had many uses in this world, from using it as an energy source, to crafting potions, weapons, armor, construction and even jewelry, the applications of a Paraheart was seemingly limitless.
Which was why they were highly valued.
But it was not the value of the Paraheart that had everyone present shaken, that much was old news.
It was the fact that this Paraheart was colored in a deep blue, this meant that the Parabeast they had fought, was a Sapphire ranked.
If one were to rank the power levels of this world, it would start with the strongest being Opal, then Sapphire, Garnet and Zircon. With Zirocn being the weakest and Jade being a legendary and seemingly unattainable rank.
And the thing that had been strange about this Paraheart's ranking, was that such a high-ranked Parabeast had never been spotted anywhere that was near a Rift.
And as far as they knew, there were no Rifts anywhere nearby. Else they would have known days prior.
"How is this possible?" Prince Lee had asked Qui Lin, who remained silent.
She felt in her heart a great unease, as nothing seemed to be going right this night.
First a slave had known secrets even she didn't, and now a Parabeast ranked dangerously high was found in a location it should not have been.
One too many things were indicating a bad omen, which Qui Lin did not like in the slightest. She had turned to the Paraheart and then used her Alkalis to open a vortex in the ground.
"Throw it in and do not speak of this further. I don't want anyone alarmed." Qui Lin had commanded, and the Tethered obeyed.
After he had flung the Paraheart into her vortex, he was dismissed and he returned to his comrades.
"You can't just keep it a secret, I'm sure everyone already…"
"I don't care." Qui Lin interrupted the prince, and then turned to face him. "I said no one should talk about it so no one will. Now, go and round up the slaves and…" She paused, then turned her sights to the desert, which was littered with corpses and Lergobeasts wailing over their dead Tethereds. "The corpses." She had said this with great empathy in her tone.
The prince, wanting to insist more had let it go, on account of the now somber and grim reality that was the dead Tethereds.
Without further complaint, he did as told and walked off, whilst calling other Tethereds to help him.
Qui Lin who was now left alone turned to Judith, who had gotten off the ground and began to make her way to the center of it all.
"Stop there girl." Qui Lin had said once Judith got close enough.
Judith, fully aware of the fact that this could all go down the wrong path, began to prep her lies.
"Start talking, now." Qui Lin had used a flame Alkalis, so fire burned above her hand.
'This is bad.' Judith had thought, realizing just how dire the situation was.
She thought to herself if it would be the right choice to tell her everything, but without much contemplation, she disregarded this thought, as she knew no one would believe her at best, or take her for a spy and kill her on the spot.
And being a spy is the last thing Judith wanted to think of as of now.
"My…" She thought about the protagonist Sarah, and began to form her lies based on the character's story and background. "Father, was a scholar. He did, much research on Parabeasts as a whole." Judith had said, telling mostly the truth, except for the fact that her father, never shared any of his information with anyone, not even his own family.
"If your father had such incredible information on the weaknesses of these beasts, then that means the kingdom of Western Shoubi has been holding out on us, and as such have betrayed the treaty of peace and prosperity through coalition. Which means that we have no choice, but to go to war."
Judith had gasped, upon realizing how much of a blunder she just committed.
/AN/
Shoubi is Mandarin for arm.