Descending in the darkness was the absolute worst because you don’t know how far the fall is gonna be, or what awaits at the very end of it. She had been so desperate to get away from everyone that she didn’t think through what might await her the second she steps into the gateway pillar, which had led to all this. She couldn’t even begin to describe that panic that gripped her the second she started falling, and flaring her arms and legs wasn’t working out for her. She even thought to reach out and see if she could feel anything that she could hold unto, but there was nothing.
It was...futile.
Her heart jumped with surprise and relief when something grabbed her shoulders. It felt like someone’s hands, which were now slowing down her fall till she was now hanging mid-air. Looking up to see who had come for her, her breath got stuck in her lungs at the sight that welcomed her. They looked like small glitters, floating in mid-air and they formed something that was shaped and flapped like wings.
Raziah’s jaw hung open as the grip of her shoulders tightened, but the light coming from the glitter was still too thin for her to make out who possessed them. It was truly fascinating and bespelling as the glitters began flapping faster and they began moving higher and higher.
It felt so surreal to the Princess. Though the view of the beautiful and colorful glitters was amazing, fluttering about hypnotizingly that Raziah never took her eyes off it till she felt her legs touching solid ground. She immediately looked down, wondering where she had been brought to when the grip on her shoulders loosened...and the glitters quickly took off far away from her.
Raziah watched as it went far away, and she just felt like it had to have been a miracle. Maybe Faith didn’t want her dead just yet, so they sent something like that to come and help her get back on solid ground. But Raziah was extremely careful this time. She went into a scrunching position just like she did before while attempting to find Caius, and closed her eyes.
Normally, she does it with her legs but the effect was better with both hands and legs touching the earth, though when she finds herself in a battle, she then relies more on her legs and four other senses apart from her closed eyes of course.
Vibrations from the earth reduce the more they travel, till they turn into silence. The earth is always in a state of constant vibrations whenever Raziah concentrates her mind on it, therefore she’s able to pick up even the tiniest of movements using her sensitive fingers. It’s something she had since when she was young and churned it to be better over time- especially the sounds she’s able to pick up in the air using her ears.
She just didn’t know it was this effective until now. It’s like...it was evolving inside of her.
She tried to make out Caius’s voice amongst all the other vibrations she found, but it was harder to pinpoint which was his.
Then, she heard something close by. Footsteps were approaching her, and she was just about to pull out her sword when a familiar feminine voice whispered into the darkness, "Your highness...your highness...Princess Raziah..."
Raziah didn’t say anything because she couldn’t trust what she couldn’t see. But it could be possible that Aletta had followed her in here, and Raziah almost exposed her location by sighing. If she was really the one, why did she even bother coming here on her own? Raziah would have picked up more footsteps if she wasn’t. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚
"Oh God...why is it so dark in here?!" Aletta muttered again, walking closer to Raziah while trying to find her way. She was scared as hell, wondering if she would ever find the princess. Walking around aimlessly was the worse thing to do because if the bad guys found her first, she would be dead meat. She was safe since she was the type that cannot be sensed, but calling unto the princess was risky because anyone could hear her.
"Why are you here?"
Aletta’s heart jumped out of her mouth when the familiar cold voice rang so close to her ears, and her world was spinning. Where the heck did she come out from?! She had almost broken into a run, but Raziah caught her arm and pulled her back to her. The fact that she wasn’t feeling even the slightest weariness around Aletta only meant that it was definitely her and not someone else impersonation her.
"It’s Raziah!" Raziah told her in a small whisper, while Aletta let out a relieved sigh, "Why are you here?!" She demanded coldly, almost snapping at her, "Don’t you know it’s not safe? Are you capable of protecting yourself?"
"I... picked up this small dagger."
"You’re aware that we are going against Vampires...and possibly, a witch right?"
"You don’t have to worry." Was Aletta’s response. She would have to worry about herself. She knew she was out of her mind to have followed the Princess in here, but she just couldn’t sit still. It was mainly her fault that Caius was gone, and people who had no fault in it were the ones being sent to retrieve him back. She wasn’t very confident about her skills...Oh God, what was she even thinking?
Did she decide to run into her death?
"When you walked in..." Raziah then moved back to her squatting position, "Didn’t you...feel like you were falling?"
Aletta shook her head in the darkness, "I don’t think so. I walked all the way here," She replied.
Raziah didn’t say anything after that and returned to her search. This time it took longer for her to find any voice that at least sounded like Felix’s or even Malcolm’s. It was till she felt a certain low vibration coming from her left, which happened to be the loudest she’s felt from a distance so far that she decided that they would go that way.
Aletta was still slightly trembling on her feet, which had Raziah shaking her head in dismay, "Don’t you dare regret this, or you can go back the way you came from now." Raziah suggested, and Aletta squirmed under the hefty icy gaze she could feel through the darkness.
"I...I can take care of myself." She replied shakily.
"Careful now. We are going left." Raziah deadpanned, and grabbed a hold of Aletta’s arm so as not to lose her in this darkness as they took off toward whatever awaited them there.
.
.
.
Zoan didn’t catch the whole conversation. By the time he arrived, they had already started fighting. He saw the king’s guard and the princess’s friend fending off a group of Vampires. Since Felix was a witch himself, he could easily counter the spells thrown at him while helping Malcolm to defend himself. Zoan just glanced at them before he slipped through the crowd, completely unseen.
He moved further through the cave, using his abilities to his advantage as he floated around in form of smoke, moving along the walls so he couldn’t be easily detected till he was past where the fight was going on. He came across a room, and there were about five Vampires in there.
And two powerful witches.
It was surprising what he was seeing right now. Because the place looked a little like an altar, like a sacrificial altar with candles flickering black flares lined up at each tier. There were a few red ones, which complemented the room with a red bright glow too. What really pulled his attention was the child that was being dragged across the altar by one of the Vampires. Caius was trembling like a little lamb, and from his shoulders down to his ankles had been wrapped and tied down with thick Chains, inbounding him completely.
That was what got Zoan even more confused. He had been on his way to rest on his tree at the silent part of the palace when his ears picked up Raziah’s voice. She had been talking to her male friend about something strange concerning the boy, and then he had also heard them talk about her birthday. Though he dearly wished he had arrived a little earlier so he would have listened to the conversation from the start.
Yes, he had eavesdropped but they were the ones who made the mistake of conversing close to where he usually spent most of his time.
Now, things just got stranger. Why would they tie chains around his whole body as if the boy was gonna transform into some monster? Zoan didn’t just want to jump in and take him out without getting some information on what was going on, so he eavesdropped on what the Vampires present were talking about.
"Of course we are sure. The moment he awakened, the seeress let us know about him. We cannot let him live, but his death..." The Vampire speaking smirked as he watched Caius secured to the walls of the altar, where he currently stifling back a horrendous cry from escaping. There was blood on his lips, and more was running down his head.
"He’s like a ticking time bomb. The earlier we get rid of him, the better," A female witch sitting next to them added, folding her arms with cold looks directed at the boy.
"We still don’t know what caused his awakening. What could have triggered it?" The second witch beside the first asked curiously, but the silence and restlessness that followed had Zoan understanding that none of them knew the curse.
"The one thing I know is that he must be a Lazarus or a descendant of the family. There’s nothing else to know about what caused his awakening. We have nothing to worry about since we are just about to get rid of him." The Vampire that spoke at the moment looked older than the rest. He wasn’t just older, he seemed to be the strongest, and his demeanor when he spoke had Zoan’s eyebrows furrowing slightly at the man.
He felt like he knew him from somewhere.
And there could be a possibility that he might turn out to be a special Vampire too.
"It’s starting." A witch announced, and everyone’s eyes trailed upwards making Zoan follow their gazes. The second his white eyes edged in on what they were all staring at, he just knew his self-control was about to snap.
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