Alexa took a step back, confused. This was plainly impossible. They had lived in the Forgotten Fjords before, not in Fortunalia. Very few people knew its exact location. So how could this be?
As she was about to step forward again, her foot stumbled over a protruding stone, causing her to fall backward onto the grassy ground.
A sharp voice chillingly spoke, "Is this her?"
Alexa rose to her feet, her gaze roaming to locate the source of the hissing tone. Her stance was rigid, and her eyes were fierce.
When she looked over her shoulder, she saw two tall figures wearing black masks that concealed their entire faces. They were dressed in black furry clothing from head to toe, even hiding their hair.
That's when Alexa finally realized it. She was no longer inside Lancaster Castle. Instead of endless walls and expansive chambers, she was surrounded by large trees, strange flowers, and sharp rocks.
The air around her was no longer warm and thin. It was salty, indicating that the ocean was close by. The sound of raging waves seemed to hum in her ears.
Alexa's heart leapt when she noticed the purple trees glowing near her. This struck a forgotten memory. She was in the forest of Sosto, the place where her parents were murdered.
"It seems Amelia kept her end of the bargain," the shorter figure whispered to her companion in a flat tone. "The Cursed One is indeed here."
Alexa cautiously analyzed her surroundings while squinting at the two figures. She was alone, and there were two of them.
She cleared her throat. "What do you want from me?" She tried to sound brave, but her voice trembled.
Just one look at the masked figures told her they had ill intentions. The swirling air gave off a rotten, disorienting smell. Their association with Amelia only confirmed her suspicions. She was not safe here.
"It'll be unfortunate, but soon the stupid Faes will look for her corpse here…" The taller figure tilted her head as she stared at Alexa.
Alexa felt a sudden cold graze her nape. Although their eyes were concealed, she knew their gazes never left hers. She could even feel them smiling mockingly from a distance.
Their voices were familiar, but she couldn't place where or when she had heard them before.
They added, "Your remains will lead them here. And you will be the death of them."
The two figures encircled Alexa. With quick gestures of their slender hands, they murmured and immediately fired their spells.
Bolts of blazing light emerged. Alexa ducked just in time, and the spell hit a tree behind her. She ran while rummaging through her bag.
Witches, she thought. They're witches.
She needed to get out of here and warn Ludwig and her cousins that this was a trap and she was the bait.
Alexa was so preoccupied that she didn't realize the masked figures had already awaited her in front. They whispered, conjuring another spell as the air grew dense and leaves nearby swayed.
A large vine sprouted beneath her, slithering around her legs. It rose and pulled her body off the ground, hanging her upside down. Her vision blurred.
The concealed witches walked closer, but Alexa had managed to grab her pendant before she was captured. She was trembling with fear.
All her life, she had not fought on her own. She always had company. Her loving parents were always there for her. And when they were lost, her cousins became her protectors and saviors. She always had someone to rely on, especially in times like this, but not today.
Right now, Alexa was on her own, and she was terrified. But instead of cowering in fear, she focused on her clasped pendant.
She whispered quickly, "Blade."
Her silver pendant throbbed and stretched until the metal turned into a recurve sword. Despite its deformed appearance, it was sharp enough to cut the vines gripping her tightly.
There was a hiss, then the cold grasp on her legs vanished like smoke, and she fell sideways to the ground. She coughed a few times from the sudden impact.
Alexa had just composed herself when she saw the black smoke. It looked harmless at first, but then it grew wide and merged until it was as large as the clouds. Like a predator stalking its prey, the smoke crawled rapidly towards her.
At the tail of the smoke stood the two masked witches. One of them was murmuring spells while standing still, commanding the ferocious smoke to consume Alexa, while the other attacked her with flying boulders emerging from all directions at once.
Alexa barely avoided the ones from her right, but then five stones as sharp as knives appeared overhead.
She knelt in time to dodge the stones, but the black smoke caught her left foot. The moment it touched her skin, a prickling heat spread through her like wildfire.
Tears threatened to fall from her eyes as she shouted, "Bastione!" She hoped the spell would not fail her this time. But nothing happened.
Alexa cried out as the magic failed. "Gale!" she groaned.
The witch maneuvering the stones aimed three at her, grinning.
"Gale, Gale, Gale," she screamed. "Damn it!" Her voice was so loud that the entire gloomy forest seemed to hear her.
Finally, sudden gusts of wind moved at her command, blowing the smoke in the opposite direction. Once the smoke was carried away, Alexa collapsed to her knees, narrowly dodging the stones that almost hit her head.
She lay weakly on the ground. She might have avoided death by smoke and stones, but her left foot was injured.
The witch who had been commanding the smoke blinked numerous times. Alexa could tell she was no longer manipulating the air, but she was still dangerous.
I need to move!
The witch with the stones hissed with fury. She flicked her hands, firing spells at Alexa's panting frame. But Alexa was quicker.
With everything she had, she commanded the air to move again, dragging her along like a leaf.
Alexa focused her magic on the dust, making it swirl fiercely around her. She could feel her strength decreasing as the dust multiplied until all she saw was a wild tornado of brown dirt.
The swirling dust temporarily hid her from the witches' eyes, but Alexa knew it wouldn't be enough to defeat them. She couldn't just run away forever and let them haunt her.
Her hands trembled, but she pushed herself to rummage through her ripped bag. She needed something to use as a weapon. She had to get out of here before Ludwig and Liam followed her trail.
Like the masked witches said, they would die. This was nothing but a trap.
Alexa felt the hairpin, the herbs she was about to give to Leonel, the skins of her pet snakes, and a small apple she had saved earlier.
She sighed and cursed under her ragged breath. It seemed she didn't have anything she could use to save herself.
Maybe I could use the skin?
Alexa groaned. She could use it as camouflage, but the witches would immediately spot her. She had never done a concealing spell before, and it would be tricky since there were no white snakes in the Forgotten Fjords. They were only found in Fortunalia or Primotheus.
A sudden thought made her stop. Only in Fortunalia could white snakes be found. Right! Her pet snakes were at Lancaster Castle. She could use their skins to communicate with other snakes.
Alexa was about to conjure the spell when a flash of light temporarily blinded her. Then a cold palm gripped her neck, and her breath caught in her lungs.
She tried to scream, but to no avail. Her muscles weakened, but she was determined to survive. Even in her current state, she forced her mind to think.
She palmed the soft skins of the snakes. With the remaining strength she had, she conjured the spell in her mind. She hoped the snakes were still alive to warn Ludwig. She wished the spell would work.
Please work, please work, she pleaded. This is not the time to mess up.
A paralyzing pain surged through her stomach. She felt nauseous. Her thoughts spun, and her vision blurred. But she held onto the snake skins for dear life. Then, when the skins vanished into ashes, she grinned with delight.
It worked.
But her fleeting happiness was stolen when her lungs began to burn, and her vision failed.
If Alexa wasn't as terrified as she was, she might have laughed at what she was feeling. Oddly, it felt close to dying, and she did not want to die. Not yet. At least not like this—helpless and weak.
The darkness was fast approaching, the coldness embracing her. But she pushed them back as hard as she could, which wasn't much at the moment.
In her peripheral vision, she saw the desperate figures closing in. They were already near, soaring before her eyes.
Alexa tried to fight back, to control her hands and move her lips to utter a spell. Any spell. But she was trapped, motionless, breathless, hopeless.
It's over.
She wanted to cry as realization finally caught up with her. She would never survive this battle. She never stood a chance alone.
The moment she gave up, she felt the entire world shift. Everything slowed down. Her enemies' rush almost turned into a halt. Her breathing, her heartbeat, even her own thoughts seemed to slow.
That was the exact moment Alexa felt it. She felt the spirit, her Sinister.
At first, it was a small anger, and she mistook it for the lack of oxygen. But then the rage grew. Alexa felt furious, fueled like never before.
She didn't understand what was happening as her body tensed and jerked into motion. She moved on reflex, unaware she even had fighting instincts until now.
Her fingers crumpled into a fist, swiftly punching the one who was holding her neck. It was as if her hand had a life and will of its own. She kicked her attacker squarely in the stomach with her knee.
The moment she broke free, Alexa threw the pendant into the sky.
She shouted, "Aegis!"
Her pendant soon turned into a metallic confinement once again. But this time, it wasn't to protect Alexa. It was to cage the two strangers.
She knew she couldn't imprison them for long. Her strength was fading. She had to escape as fast as possible.
Alexa heard the grating, rattling, and clanking from inside. She felt the two reconstructing the spell, but she held her ground. She wouldn't let them untangle her magic.
Clutching the apple, Alexa threw it into the nearby river. It was the river she used to play in when she lived there with her parents. Using her magic, she made the currents larger. The massive water flow swallowed the apple, and it floated away.
At that moment, Alexa heard the blast of the metal egg. She used the same trick with the air and dust, making them thicker this time, both suffocating and blinding. She made them as large as her remaining Life Essence could manage.
The two masked witches screamed at once. A huge cockroach rushed at Alexa with lightning on its back and fire catching up. It was a chaotic scene, and she didn't have any more strength to fight. So, she ran.
She followed the apple, but the cockroach followed her closely. The raging fire crawled toward her, burning everything it touched.
Alexa rounded a corner just in time to dodge the electrifying lightning. The cockroach's arms grabbed her waist, but she immediately punched it in the face. It was so fast and heavy that she felt her knuckles bleed.
In the distance, her hurricane of dust grew thinner. Once she had the chance, Alexa jumped for the apple at the same moment the fire caught up with her.
She landed in the awaiting water, and the fire hissed as it died. She almost drowned as she sank into the abyss. With weakening hands, she swam up. She resurfaced, holding the apple. Then the fast and raging current took her away, and she saw from afar the standing figures of the witches.
Alexa was glad as she wiped the water from her face. When her vision cleared, her relief was cut short by the realization of what awaited her on the other end.
Waterfall.
But it wasn't just an ordinary waterfall. It was the Waterfall of Departed Souls, the third gateway to Aincrad Wasteland, the place where Ludwig was once exiled. It was a place everyone knew was haunted. It was the main reason no one stayed at the Forgotten Fjords.
Alexa tried to paddle against the current with her hands, but it was too strong. Her weary eyes searched for anything that could help her.
She was already panicking, her heart drumming heavily in her chest. She was near the cliff. Then she saw a small branch stuck on a nearby stone. She swam toward it with immense effort.
Her feet shivered with fatigue, her hands devoid of strength. Still, she gripped the delicate branch tightly. Then, she hauled herself toward the riverbank. The branch cracked.
Alexa was so close, so close to saving herself alone. But her entire being gave up as she lay on her side when cold, bony fingers gripped her feet. They emerged from the depths of the river and pulled her down with ease.
Bloodshot eyes stared at her, and then it smiled, showing long, rugged teeth.
Alexa was about to scream, but water filled her mouth and nose, burning her throat. Until everything faded and turned black.