As Michael was building bracelets that allow his subordinates to use Arch energy, four horses were pulling a fancy carriage through a thick forest. The forest was far-reaching, compact, and budding. Its canopy was eclipsed by a magnolia, asp, and dogwood, still, plenty of light passed through their crowns for a plethora of sprouts to make use of the insect-riddled soils below. Curving branches waved from every tree, and a potpourri of flowers, which grew in abundance, clashed with the otherwise amber terrain. In addition to the horses galloping, a variety of animal sounds, most belonging to rummaging critters, reverberated through the air, and almost completely muffled the occasional roar of a large animal trying to scare away predators.
From the outside, the carriage seemed rather generic, nothing special about it at all. However, the inside was exactly the opposite. It was fancier than the interior of Caius's private airship. Two gorgeous young girls were sitting gracefully in the carriage.
One of them wore a white, jade embroidered robe and had her silky hair draping down all the way to her shoulders. A jade hairpin was stuck within her bun of hair. Her face was alluring and friendly because of the warmth smile on her face. Those hazel eyes of her exuded an elegant and intelligent demeanor which caused everyone around her to like her instantly.
The young girl infront of her was prettier and had sharper features than her. Her red hair was tied up in a high bun and her skin was smooth and flawless. However, she had a certain cold and icy look in her eyes which almost seemed like she could see through anyone and anything. Her posture and aura indicated an arrogant elite demeanor.
The girl in white robes whose face was full of smiles asked softly, "Victoria, you seem to be bothered by something. From the moment our journey back to Thusia began, your expression was so sullen. Be careful that wrinkles don't sprout out since you've been frowning."
If Michael was to see the girl, a blood bath would have happened inside the carriage. THis Victoria wasn't the Victoria of GoldenValley sect, this Victoria was the one who pretended to be a farm girl, made Abras fall in love and betrayed him by sending a dagger through his heart. Abras knew her as Emily until General Booth revealed her identity as the Princess of Kingdom Thusia, Victoria Barnes.
Ofcourse, her hairstyle, hair color as well as her dress was way different than the girl Abras used to know. Still, he would recognize the face anywhere anytime. Her face was etched into his very soul, the soul that now merged with Michael and becoming whole.
In his memories, the Princess wasn't so cold and arrogant back then. In fact, she was a warm and adorable girl in the past. Unlike Michael, Abras had no connection with the outside world. Therefore, she was able to fool him easily with her phony love and sweet talks.
"Do you believe in this Lucifer figure?" Victoria asked the girl in white robes softly.
The warm smile on Edith's face faded away after her question. A solemn expression replaced her warm smile
"I don't know Vikki. It seemed he appeared when we were in Awor. I think people are exaggerating things. I don't know if Lucifer is real or not, but I certainly know he's neither the devil nor a god as some claim him to be. Why do you ask?"
"I have this weird feeling in my gut, Edith. Like, something dark follows me"
"Huh? What are you talking about? Lucifer might be just some punk running around killing people Vikki. If you ask me, he's either not real or he's a murderous psychopath that Guardians needs to apprehend as soon as possible"
"Is it a coincidence? Lucifer appears claiming he's the devil after we took over the Cosmic Stream. What if his sudden appearance and Cosmic stream are connected?" Her one eyebrow raised like a sharp sword as she talked,
"You are overthinking Vikki. I heard how you guys took the Cosmic Stream.If you want to blame something, blame the flu that wiped out the people who protected the stream"
"No. The flu wasn't natural Edith, it was made by our Alchemists and healers, to subdue the elders protected the Cosmic Stream" Victoria shook her head gently, her expression was blank, "Since we are going to be family and form an alliance, you deserve to know the truth"
Victoria began to narrate the events that led to the capture of Cosmic Stream. She did not hide anything from her best friend because Victoria trusted her friend more than anyone.
"What?" Edith widened her eyes and spoke in shock, "why? Why did you do that?" Her hazel eyes contained a tinge of fury,
Victoria sighed, "It was not by choice Edith. I can't tell you everything but trust me, we were forced. It was either taking over the Cosmic stream or cleaning up thousands of corpses, corpses of my people"
Edith remained silent for a couple of minutes.She took a several deep breaths, looking at her best friend's eyes,
"Do you regret it Vikki?"
Victoria shook her head, "I feel bad for everyone who lost their lives but i don't regret it. They could have helped millions of people with the stream yet they chose not to share with the world, kept it as a secret. Because of what we did, thousands of people are alive now" Victoria replied nonchalantly.
"What would you have done in my situation, Edith? Would you have chosen to save them and let thousands of innocents die? Being rulers is not always fancy Edith, we need to make tough choices such as this" Victoria calmly spoke,
"Your sister wiped out an entire army of the orcs to save a kingdom. The orcs were just following orders but if your sister didn't do anything because they were just following orders, thousands of humans would have lost their lives that day"
Edith's pupils constricted as she became silent for a little while before letting out a sigh.
"I guess you and my sister are a lot stronger than me. I couldn't have made the choices you two made. But what about him Vikki? The guy you pretended to love?"
"What about him? If it wasn't him, I would have done the same to someone else. He was an orphan who was thrown away by his parents.The elders raised him but a couple of days of a woman's warmth was enough for him to betray them and run away. As far as I was concerned, I gave him a quick death. They all died quickly and painlessly" Victoria said dully. She showed no regret or emotions at all. Her face and voice sounded cold
Victoria remained unmoved and without any sign of emotions, saying apathetically, "Everybody has their own fate. There are way too many pitiful people in this world besides him. Moreover, his death wasn't anything important. After absorbing the energy from the Cosmic Stream, my father quickly reached Fusion stage. If he continues his cultivation, he would enter the immortal stage which would bring peace and prosperity to not only Thusia but also to the entire world"
"Sigh…" Edith closed her eyes,sighing briefly. She did not speak for a couple of moments
"Enough of talking about my feelings. How do you feel Edith? I heard you may have met your soulmate"
Instantly Edith's face became redder than a ripe tomato. Even the cold beauty such as Victoria gently smiled looking at her best friend blush.
"Shut up Vikki, it's not anything like that. Noah is just a friend"
"Is that his name? Noah, nice" Victoria said as though she was hearing his name for the first time.
"Does he know who you are really?" Victoria asked as Edith let out a deep breath,
"If he's just a friend, you don't have to tell him anything.Otherwise, its better you tell him you are an Alden, better yet, little sister of Lailah Alden, the wielder of Angel's veena"
*********************************
(Two hours later)
Rustle!
Rustle!
Rustle!
Among the trees in the forest, a girl was laying on a thick branch up high from the ground. She used one hand as her pillow and the other to cover her face. Her snoring sound was interrupted by a childish voice.
"Hey hey wake up"
"Fuck, lets just bite her face" Another childish voice of a girl sounded,
"Snake wake up" This time, the voice belonged to a boy but the voice sounded calmer and more mature than the two previous voices.
"Aaaaawwwww" the girl yawned as she moved her hand away. Her eyes slowly opened,
"Didn't I tell you three shitheads I need rest?"
This girl was none other than Gaya herself. She was taking a long nap after continuously flying for three days. She was craving for snacks and exhausted. Despite her deep thinking about her mother, she was able to sleep due to her exhaustion. As Ghost always used to say 'sleep is not only for the body but also for the brain', she decided to sleep before continuing her journey. She wanted to look at her mother's disappearance with a fresh mind yet for some reason, the hydra woke her up in the middle of her sleep. Just as she was about to slap each of the heads for waking her up, her ear twitched a little. Not too far off, there was a faint noise.
She turned her head in the direction of the noise to see six silhouettes running through the forest. They were wearing completel black clothes along with a wolf mask, only exposing a pair of eyes filled with murderous intent.
"Not here. Continue to search. That princess bitch dies today!"
The six people didn't notice Gaya on top of them. They just continued to search the forest.
"What the fuck?" Gaya was stunned,
"Are they searching for you?" she frowned after hearing Sarba's question.She had the same doubt but she had no idea who they are except they belonged to the Grim Reaper guild,
"We better follow them silently. I have some weird feeling about this" She stood up to follow them behind,
"I can sense the energy fluctuations around them, they are definitely weaker than you" Sarba exclaimed.Since recently, Gaya learned that each of the heads is developing new powers. Ayag was able to create a powerful sonic blast that distorts people while Sarba developed some kind of sense that let him see the energy radiations. With this skill, Sarba could compare cultivators in terms of power and determine their cultivation stage.
Only Cain was yet to show his powers but Gaya was sure his powers would soon come to light.
"Let's see what these idiots upto" Gaya rolled her eyes,
"Yeah and I wanna see who that bitch princess they were talking about" Ayag chuckled.
Gaya took off from the branch into the sky. When she was high in the sky, she was able to see some smoke coming from not too far from her location. It took her a few minutes to reach the place. When she descended onto the path through the canopy she saw a horse carriage. Surrounding the carriage were many corpses with fresh blood flowing all over the ground.
She walked to the carriages and squatted down to look for some footprints if there were any.
"I hear heart beats" Suddenly Cain opened his mouth. Hydra's senses were extremely sharper than anyone in this world.
"How many?"
"Two" Cain said, looking in the direction of the heartbeats,
"Killing Grim Reapers is always a great exercise to mind and body.. It will calm you down" Gaya devilishly chuckled before dashing into the forest.