The hand grapped her throat as it stole all her breath away and lifted her into the air. Aefia pretended to struggle as she held onto the claw and its tightening grasp. My lung capacity is strong, so I will be able to survive. Just hold on until the duchess appears I guess, otherwise that timetable might have been a bait for me to plan a false attack if I wanted.
"If just anyone had a sane mind, they won't try to lie to a royalty." Lewis spoke as another hand flew towards her at incredible speed like a spear, but a simple head movement dodged it. "To lie and act fraud towards a royalty would only mean execution, so I am doing you a favour."
"Then I am guessing this is the reason the duchess hates you." Aefia spoke as she tried to break free of the grip against her throat. "And the funny part is, the contract avoided me from fighting back with any of the royal members. But I can escape if I want to."
She tore the clawed hand apart as it fell onto the ground as water. Aefia landed on her feet as she noticed how he was controlling the water falling from the fountain. "Controlling water at any wills...must be a Whale then." She spoke while wiping off the blood stains on her cheek.
"Oh come on! This was literally new and I just got it yesterday!" She spoke while simultaneously healing herself. It was all just pure prediction that she had asked Helio for his magic energy before departing for the palace. And thanks to that, she was determined she wasn't dying due to the injury.
Swiftly enough, she pulled out her kitchen knife and held it out, but didn't use it, nor even dare. Aefia held it in front of her as it immediately extended into a dagger, and she shouted, "Puppet!". In a flash, a red wave of magic covered the ground and she ran towards the bushes while hopping behind them to get cover.
Lewis threw a claw where she had gone, but no obstacles were met and it seemed that she had dissappeared. Terrified, he immediately ran towards the castle's gates. He passed many maid servants preparing for lunch or cleaning around the inside of the castle. Some of the maids dropped the objects they were holding at the sudden movement between the small places.
The door to George's office slammed open and Lewis burged in. He walked towards the table where his brother was occupied with the piles of documents. "That new girl who is supposedly our sister...she is odd! She was there at the garden just a few seconds ago and then, she dissapeared using magic! She must be a witch, inform mom about it immediately!"
George took of his glasses and slammed his hand on his table while stepping up and in front of his younger brother. "Don't expect me to not see what had her scared." He spoke while rustling his brother's hair. "You had her threatened before she could make a move. She could fight back if she wanted, but she isn't allowed by our mom. And if she were witch by using magic, won't you be a wizard?"
"But then how does a normal human like her have excess to magic?" Lewis spoke while following his brother outside. "You must be insane to think mom made a right choice! She doesn't seem to be a much of an advantage to this family, why don't you just check it out yourself?"
"She has just been here for a day, not even a full day. Leave it a week, and see if there are any changes in this household. Have you seen the number of cases here people are left murdered or missing? Just two days ago, they detained six people who were in charge of this case, and one of them were found dead. Do you know who it was?" George explained as he entered the study.
Lewis shrugged as his elder brother handed him a report that had come in the following day. "The description states that the 'girl' that they were said to be confronted by, was a dark haired, dark eyed, and had bright red glowing eyes when they were using magic. Based on what you had just witnessed, doesn't fit by the way she was actually wielding the magic?" George asked as he took back the report.
"And what element would that be?" Lewis spoke as he looked at his brother. "Red must mean Wolf, other wise she would be the Torture Cell's leader herself." George replied while opening up a scroll. "If you know it already and have forgotten, mom has the power to see the best among the people whenever she find herself looking for someone loyal. That is the work of the Lion element."
***
Aefia stabbed through the beast in the back lawn of the office. Puppet did a wonderful work of summoning me deep into the woods and throwing me into more danger...when will it ever learn to actually do something right?
Another beast's body fell dead to the ground and stayed still, the blood had melted the snow with a very vibrant red. But I believe that it had saved me from much more trouble then the one I am going through right now. Thankfully this is just an experiment, otherwise I could get an excuse. I just need to wait until it finishes building that world, and I will be able to get away much easily the next time.
She looked around as the beasts slowly dissappeared. Now what else do I do? Helio might have been a bit late or is still asleep. At the royal family, they wake us at six. That makes me feel grateful for the amount of sleep I was allowed to get at the office.
Aefia cleaned her blade and dusted her clothes while waiting underneath the tallest tree of the entire woods. Then, Helio came running with all of his breath while holding an artifact in his hand. "Sorry I am late, Cindy was a hassle just a few minutes ago." He said while holding the object in front of Aefia.
She took it, to take a closer look at it and how to use it. "Found it." Aefia called out as she pulled a mechanism and it spread open on her hand. A totally blank script, just a blank page with absoluetely nothing written on it. She opened her free palm and a glass pen appeared in the air as she grabbed it. Placed it on the surface of the tree trunk to be able to write on it.
On the blank script, she wrote the word 'money' and immediately afterwards, the words faded and Helio stood confused as he noticed the fading ink. "What even is this!" He spoke as he looked up to see a bundle of money suddenly fall on his head. "Oh look! A bird is also a thief!"
"Birds can't be thieves." Aefia spoke while picking it up and flipping it around. "Whatever you write on this script, it comes to life." She spoke while flinging it at Helio as he caught it in time. "But since this was an experiment, I guess you can keep it. And if they ask you how you got it, say Aefia gave it as to contribute in her part of the payment when we go to the restaurant."
Helio smiled as he found it burdensome that she was entrusting him with a huge sum that summoned from thin air and now he had to pay for everyone's meal at the restaurant. "You know, you can give it to someone else who is willing to spend." He spoke while rustling through the money.
Aefia softly punched him at his elbow as she kicked him harder in his knees. "Who told you all of them were for you?" She spoke while helping him back up. "Give some to Nada as an advance before the battle. Also, tell her that the battle will be at the castle on the day of the banquet. Anyways, I forgot to ask how she has been doing, any progression?" Aefia spoke as she folded the script close.
"Nada is slightly improving, but she needs to be intensely trained in order to make it to Phase two before the time you wanted." Helio said as he scratched his head. "And I am already Phase two, since the last mission you made me attend."
"Wow! Congratualations!" Aefia said as she managed to fake a smile and clapped her hands. "And now that you are Phase two, there is something in particular you need starting now." She spoke as she held out her hand and a mysterious shape wrapped in red silk appeared. She slowly unfolded it and pulled out a brand new weapon, a better much bigger blade.
"I think you deserve a reward too, so I got you a sword. Don't worry, its been made normally and it was actually a gift from the royal family to me, and I didn't like it, because it won't be any use to me." She spoke as she handed the blade to Helio. A bright smile appeared on his face as he pulled open the shealth. "And of course, you are not to show it to anyone at the office." Aefia added after a few seconds.
"Don't worry, I don't have any necessasity to use it at the office. I will only use it when I am at a mission, it is too intricate to show to the others." Helio replied as he swung it in the air, and put it back into the cover while holding it. "And how do you store objects in your inventory again?"
"I just throw it in the air and Puppet does the rest." Aefia shrugged as she spoke. "Anyways, I need to return to that terrifying place. To think I almost died, and by now the entire palaces might just be up in flames trying to look for me. I swear, they think I am there as a fraud!" She spoke while gritting her teeth.
"Who? Your brothers?" Helio asked. "You should expect that, knowing how it is a very common thing when it comes to fantasy novels, and they properly learned their lesson from those stories. But you will get along with them sometimes sooner." He spoke as Linday appeared and glanced at his new sword.
"You need help storing it?" Linday spoke while glancing at the silver and black hilted sword. "Alright, there you have it." It immediately dissapeared in a blink of an eye and the weight that Helio was holding also went away, which caused him panic for a swift moment.
"Puppet knows when I want something, so you need to practice doing that with Linday too." Aefia pointed at the dagger that he was holding at his other hand. "Meanwhile, I will need to take that dagger back. I hope you don't need it anymore."
"Nah, I don't need it." He handed it over with no hesitation and stepped back while trying to summon the sword. Immediately, it fell onto his hand with a shiny ray of light bouncing off its crystallized part of the handle. "Alright Lyndey, take it back."
"So you actually renamed it to Lyndey? That reminds me, where is Puppet?" Aefia looked around as she glanced at the green dagger with the name 'Albert Nicholas' written on the surface. A small red wolf appeared out of Helio's pocket and flew onto Aefia's face and hugged her cheeks.
"No, I was going to ask you to stay with Helio for a little longer. The environment around the castle isn't stable just yet." Aefia spoke as she held out her hand and it went to sit on her palm. "But thank you for the help earlier." She said after letting out a sign.
"Yeah nevermind it. I am actually supposed to protect you, not help you to begin with it." Puppet said as it jumped down and turned into its full form. "Anyway, you forgot to pay. If you want that world built in time, you have to pay the price in time too. I am not cheap stake, so get it." It said as it bared its teeth.
"I actually how cutely you do that." Aefia spoke as she patted it's head and walked back towards the place she had been summoned. "Anyway, if you know just yet...I have found the place Anasiy had buried the ritual object. Those servants of the Torture Cell are really smart."
She dug out the light snow and used the dagger to poke the ground and bring out the chest. "But unfortunately, if I touch it, I will mistakenly absorb it so I will need you to open it." Aefia slammed the blade next to the ground and left it there. "We can't delay the process either, so get along with it already."
Hurriedly, Helio and Puppet shared a glance as he sprinted towards the chest and dug the remaining of the blue and gold box while opening the lid. Tiny black strings shot at Helio and Puppet bounced it off his hand. The strings all went back inside and slammed shut. Both of them looked at Aefia who was staring blanking at them with dark eyes.
"The Torture Cell has gotten smart." Aefia spoke as she stared with pupiless eyes. "Don't think that Anasiy will not find it out, put it back in the soil." She slowly took out her own blade and pointed it at Helio's forehead. Puppet noticed those black threads tied around the edges of her wrists and throat. Some more fainter were tied around her fingers too. "She has absorbed it from that distance...or maybe not."
"Amazing play, I really enjoyed it." Anasiy spoke as she walked up beside Aefia. She had a slight bluish black eyes glowing brightly right next to Aefia's overall black clothing. She clapped her hands as she made a hand gesture and she lifted the sword up into the air, threatening to slam it down at Helio's head.
Even when Anasiy moved the fingers down, Aefia showed symptoms of restrain as her fingers shock due to the pressure of the threads. "But at the end, she is smart herself too." She spoke as she closed her eyes and erased all hints of sight. Due to lose of sight, she moved her hand down too.