Chapter 41: Chapter 41
Davida sat down on the jail bed, where a corpse used to be, while Diane leaned near the end of the cell, and Duncan stood guard, leaning at the cell door. The trio then heard a loud roar outside. Duncan glanced outside then watched as the Dullahan raging, killing its own undead with his sword.
Duncan shook his head and turned his attention back to Davida. Diane sigh, and looked at her young miss, “What’s now, young miss?” she asked. Davida rests her head, leaning on the cell’s wall while thinking, “These three orbs, they look familiar”, she said while holding the red coloured orb. Duncan watched as Davida turns around the red orb in her hand, “Hmm….” he pondered before shaking his head, “I’m sorry, but I cannot recall”, Duncan said helplessly.
“How about you, Di?” Davida asked Diane. “Nope, nothing of the sort”, Diane shook her head. Then, Diane took out the rainbow orb from inside her pouch, staring at it intensely. She shook her head again, “Sorry young miss, nothing comes to mind”, Diane said regretfully, then handed the rainbow orb to Davida. Davida pondered hard, ‘I’m sure I’ve seen this before…. But where?’ she thought to herself.
While Davida was thinking, the little bunny looked at her little brother, satisfied with his behaviour. She patted the furred head of the giant lizard with her cute little hand, “Good job, little bro. See? You can do it after all”, the little bunny put her hands on her hips, looking smugly proud. “Of course, sister, anything for you”, the lion-headed giant lizard said with a beaming smile on his face but inside, Anthony thought, ‘Who would dare go against your wishes, you crazy woman’.
“You really are amazing, huh, little brother….” The little bunny praised. Anthony’s ear perked up, hearing the little bunny’s praise, “Thinking that far ahead, luring them into a false sense of security because of their previous experience and when they let their guard down, you just swoop down and take them by yourself. Really amazing….”
“Yes, yes, I’m amazing….” Anthony, the lion-headed giant lizard, nodded its head happily with the praise given by the little bunny before realising the implications that she made towards him. “No, no, no, big sis, I don’t plan on eating them. No, really, I don’t,” Anthony pleads nervously, his true thoughts exposed. “You’re really, really sly”, the little bunny smile sarcastically, “Amazing, catching them off guard then using them to become your food. I applaud you, little brother.”
Hearing the little bunny, the giant lizard sweats profusely. With his thought laid bare, Anthony did not dare to move even a single inch, and he had to use all of his willpower to hold the trembling on his body. “Now, when they finally figure out the puzzle and defeat the Dullahan, you’re going to fight them, right? Lose purposely to them”, the little bunny ordered. Anthony wants to refuse as it would conflict with the order given to him by his ‘father’. “Hmm? You want to refuse? Are you worried about the old man? Don’t worry about him; I’ll go talk to him after….” The little bunny assured her little brother.
Anthony reluctantly agreed by nodding his head as the beaming smile from the little bunny expressed her approval. The little bunny smiled warmly, looking at Davida and the others, “Now, let’s see what they would do”.
While the little bunny was busy reprimanding the giant lizard, Davida was still inside her thoughts while Duncan stood vigilance near the cell door, and Diane hummed in boredom. This has gone for a while, precisely 5 minutes, since they closed the cell door. Although from the outside they looked like lazying around, they used this time to recuperate their strength.
Diane watched as her young miss slowly open her eyes with clarity. “You got something, young miss?” Diane asked curiously. Davida nodded with a smile, “Yes. I thought I remember these orbs somewhere. It’s from inside the laboratory”, she explained happily. Davida added, “While I thought about the orbs, I also pondered about the situation that we’re all in. Do you guys still remember that we’re still inside the trial?”
Both Duncan and Diane expressions soured, “Yeah, how could I forget that?” Diane said, tilting her elven’s head up. Duncan pondered, “I almost forgot about that…..” he murmured. Davida continues, “It’s because this place warped our sense of time. When I look around earlier, I found an old sand clock inside my pouch”, she took out the sand clock with her left hand, showing it towards Duncan and Diane. Diane looked at the sand clock strangely, “That clock…. Isn’t that sand clock from your sister?” she asked.
Davida nodded, “Yes. A twenty-four-hour sand clock made from rare materials known as the Sand of Time. It would always accurately measure time no matter what happens. I, and I assume both of you thought that we’ve been here for days, right? Well, look closer” Davida hold the sand clock closer towards Duncan and Diane.
Both Diane and Duncan eyes popped out with realization. “You’re right, young miss. I also thought that we’ve been here for a long time but seeing this clock….” Diane added, “Turns out we’ve only been here for only a short time.” Duncan nodded at Diane’s comment. “Yes”, Davida affirmed, “We’ve only been here for about 10 minutes or so. And did you notice something else?” she asked Duncan and Diane with a smile.
Duncan shook his head while Diane curiously looked at Davida. “Have you ever notice that ever since that we’ve arrived in this place, every time we got injured, we always recovered faster. Our mana and aura, too, they recover faster, and even I almost had a breakthrough here.” Diane concludes. Duncan nodded his head, “You’re right young miss”. Diane put her finger on her lip, “I noticed that too”, she exclaimed.
“Yes, and how did we come to get here?”
“Hmm, we’ve gone through the ancient gate, and we arrived at the ancient gate by traversing the Abyssal Forest….” Diane softly said.
“And?”
“And…..?” Diane tilted her head, “I’m confused”. Davida shook her head while smiling, “Don’t you remember what’s behind the ancient stone gate?” Duncan answer with uncertainty, “I’m sure it is empty…. It is empty, right?” Davida nodded, “Yes, you’re correct. While we struggled to open the ancient stone gate, the ancient stone gate immediately opens once Eru comes by. After that, when we go inside, the voice told us that we’re on some kind of trial ground, right?”
Both Duncan and Diane nodded their heads. Davida continues after seeing her companions nodded, “The voice gave us trials to complete after that. Then, every time we complete our objective, we got some kind of reward.” Duncan nodded, lifting his head to look directly at Davida, “So, what are you implying, young miss?” Davida smile, “I’m saying that this place is some kind of a training ground for special people”, she paused for a second, “People like Eru.”
“So, all of this stuff is training for him?” thoughts Duncan out loud. “If my hypothesis is correct, yes,” Davida answered. “Then, there really is something with that guy….” Diane wondered. “Yeah, From the first time I met him, I could feel that he’s special” Davida rested her arms on her chest. Diane smirked, hearing that, “So that’s where it all begins….” Clueless, Duncan asked Diane, “What’s is….?”
“Where the young miss started liking Eru….” Diane gave a teasing smile towards Davida. Davida’s cheek reddened, turning her head sideways. Diane wanted to continue teasing her young miss, but Duncan interrupted her by coughing. Diane pouted, “You’re no fun….” Diane slumped back down to the floor, sulking at Duncan. “So, what’s your take, young miss?” Duncan ignored the sulking elf, asking Davida.
“So, where was I? Oh, yeah. This place was likely a training ground for special people like Eru”, Davida paused, “And the fact that we’re able to enter is what bothers me….” She murmured. “Why? Isn’t this good for our mission?” Diane asked. Davida shakes her head, “It is, but I felt like we’re going to get dragged into something bigger in the near future. I don’t know why, but I just had that kind of feeling….” Davida frowned.
The room quietened for a moment. Then, the ruckus outside the jail cell washed away the quietness. The trio looked outside as the Dullahan kept killing its own subordinate. Seeing the Dullahan, Davida sighed deeply, “We need to forget that for a moment. Since we’re already here, we should focus on our task at hand”, Davida exclaimed. Duncan nodded in agreement, “You’re right, young miss. We needed to figure out how to kill that Dullahan. Even me, I did not think that I could best him on my own, at least in such a short time”, he informed.
Diane tilted her head, “What about the orbs then?” Davida rubbed her forehead, “We can’t do anything with the orbs right now. I think to use the orbs, we need to enter the giant metal gate. We can’t enter there as long as that Dullahan was there”; she took a deep breath, “Like it or not, we need to defeat the Dullahan.”
“For that, I got a plan,” Duncan said, smiling.
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