Kiaran growled, his voice laced with fury. "Maróidh mé é sula dteagmhálfaidh sé leis an bhanphrionsa." (I will kill him before he touches the princess)
The ancient words, sharp and commanding, rolled off his tongue like a blade drawn from its sheath.
The pixie's laughter spilled out, wild and mocking, its wings fluttering weakly in Kiaran's grasp. It tilted its head, a cruel smile cutting across its face.
"Oh, you can try," it said, its voice shifting to English, clear and deliberate now. "But the Queen is coming... to break you."
The words hung in the air, a final, chilling taunt.
Kiaran didn't hesitate. His hand tightened, and with one sharp motion, the pixie's body crumpled.
Its laughter cut off abruptly as its glow flickered and died, leaving only silence in its wake. The forest seemed to hold its breath, the oppressive weight of it pressing down harder than before.
Kiaran let the broken body drop to the ground, his expression unreadable as he wiped his hand on his cloak. "Keep moving," he said, his voice cold.
But I couldn't move. The pixie's words echoed in my mind, each one heavier than the last.
Still, I couldn't hold my tongue. "Kiaran," I said, my voice low but firm. "What aren't you telling us?"
Kiaran didn't respond, his eyes flicking toward the shadows ahead. The wind shifted suddenly, sharp and biting, carrying with it the faint, melodic sound of laughter.
It was light and airy, almost playful, but there was something off about it—something that made my skin crawl.
"Is that...?" I started, but the words caught in my throat.
"Yes," Kiaran muttered, his voice low. "Queen Belladorn."
The forest changed with her arrival.
The wind, once still and damp, whipped around me in erratic bursts, stinging my skin. The trees groaned, their branches creaking as they leaned inward unnaturally, as though listening.
The scattered light dimmed further, blanketing everything in muted shades of gray and gold. The air grew warmer, heavier, and thick with an overpowering scent of roses.
Beneath the sweetness lingered a sharp metallic tang—blood.
Her laughter came again, closer this time, echoing through the trees with a lilting, mocking cadence.
It wasn't just sound—it was a presence, curling around my chest like a vice, suffocating and inescapable. It scratched at the edges of my mind, sharp and invasive, like nails dragging across glass. I winced, pressing a hand to my temple.
"Do you hear that?" I whispered.
Estella froze beside me, her golden eyes wide with fear. "It's... laughing at us," she said, her voice trembling. "It's in my head, Mablevi. It's inside my head."
The laughter swelled, wrapping around us like smoke, suffocating and inescapable. The forest seemed to respond to it—the trees swayed and groaned louder, their branches twisting as if pulled by invisible strings.
Then, the laughter stopped.
The silence that followed was suffocating. It pressed down on me like a weight, each second stretching longer than the last. My legs froze mid-step, and my breath caught in my throat.
The shadows shifted.
And then I saw her.
She emerged from the shadows like a phantom, her wings shimmering with an iridescent glow that shifted and changed with every step. Belladorn was beautiful in a way that hurt to look at—her skin pale as moonlight, her eyes sharp and black like obsidian.
Her hair, a cascade of pink and lilac, flowed unnaturally, as if caught in an unseen breeze.
She moved with a dancer's grace, her bare feet brushing the ground without a sound. Draped in a black gown made of petals and thorns, she was both regal and dangerous, like a rose hiding a thousand blades. In her hand, she twirled something small and sharp—my dagger.
My heart sank. She has it.
"Hello, Kiaran," she said, her voice smooth and melodic, but dripping with venom. "How are you, darling?"
Kiaran's expression didn't shift, his crimson eyes locked on hers. He didn't respond, his silence cutting through her words like a blade.
"Oh, don't be shy," she purred, tilting her head. "I'm being polite, aren't I? It's rude to ignore a Queen."
Kiaran turned slightly, his eyes narrowing. He addressed us instead, his voice low and steady. "Know this... this woman—"
"WOMAN?!" Belladorn's voice cut through the air like a whip, sharp and furious. The wind around us howled, her wings flaring as her smile twisted into a snarl. "How dare you?"
Kiaran proceeded to ignore Belladorn but decided to give her a name this time.
"Know this... Queen Belladorn is one of the keepers of nature in Erem Hadar... she is unmatched when it comes to speed and explosions. Don't underestimate her," Kiaran said, trailing off.
"AM?????? I joke to you! You don't call! You don't write! You don't even acknowledge me!" Belladorn pointed to me and Estella. "And now... now you show up with two tramps!"
She eyed our clothes and fluttered her wings with fury. "Are those brothel WHORES??? You're that kind of man, huh?!"
Estella and I looked at each other, sweat dripping down our heads. I uncomfortably turned to Kiaran and tried to diffuse the situation. "Um, are we interrupting something?"
Kiaran shook his head. "Nope. I came here once on a mission due to the King's orders, and she wouldn't stop following me."
"Unconceivable?" I muttered under my breath, glancing nervously at Estella. "Is that even a word?"
"Shush," Estella hissed, her golden eyes wide as saucers. "Do you want to die?"
Belladorn whirled on us, her wings snapping like thunder as she hovered in the air. "What was that?" she snarled, her voice dripping with venom. "Did the little tramps have something to say?"
I froze, my heart hammering in my chest. Next to me, Estella raised her hands defensively, her voice trembling as she stammered, "N-no, Your Majesty! We didn't—"
"KIARAN!!!" Queen Belladorn pointed her dagger at me. "Please tell me you don't have any relations with her? Tell me, is she your lover?"
Kiaran looked at her dryly, pinched his nose, and in the most unemphatic, dry casual tone, he replied, "I'm on a mission, either move or die."
"Ooofff that's rough even for you, Kiaran," Estella replied. I even agreed that Kiaran was being too cold.
There was a beat of silence, the kind that comes right before a storm.
And then Belladorn exploded.
Her scream tore through the forest, raw and guttural, and the ground beneath us trembled as if the earth itself was recoiling from her fury.
"HOW DARE YOU?!" she shrieked, her voice reverberating through the trees. Her wings flared wide, and in a blur of motion, she hurled the dagger into the ground at Kiaran's feet.
She jabbed a claw at me, her voice shaking. 'YOU BROUGHT ANOTHER TRAMP? Just like her... JUST LIKE MY SISTER"
The blade sank deep into the soil, quivering from the force of the throw. Kiaran's crimson eyes flickered—not with anger, but something heavier, darker. His grip on his dagger tightened until his knuckles whitened.
The air around me shimmered unnaturally, the heat waves distorting her figure like a mirage. My skin prickled under the oppressive warmth."
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYZKCLNH3J
Kiaran took a deliberate step forward, his spear raised slightly. "Belladorn—"
But before he could finish, she thrust her hands forward, and the world erupted into fire and chaos.
Explosions tore through the clearing, bursts of golden light and searing heat that sent me diving to the ground.
The force of it knocked the breath from my lungs, and I scrambled to my feet, my ears ringing. Chunks of earth rained down around us, and the acrid scent of burning filled the air.
"She's insane," I wheezed, struggling to push myself to my feet as the ground trembled beneath me. "She's absolutely insane."
"Welcome to my world," Kiaran muttered, his voice tight as he reached down to haul me up by my arm. His grip was firm, almost bruising, as if he knew we didn't have a second to waste. "Now move."
We darted through the clearing, the air thick with smoke and heat. Vines shot out from the ground like striking snakes, their thorny tendrils lashing at us with violent precision.
I ducked instinctively as one of them whipped past my face, the sharp hiss of its movement inches from my ear. Another slammed into the ground just behind Estella, leaving a jagged crack in the earth where it struck.
Golden blasts shattered the clearing, splintering ancient trunks that toppled like felled giants
. Shards of wood rained down, sharp as daggers, and the acrid scent of burning filled my lungs, choking me as I ran.
Belladorn was everywhere and nowhere all at once, her inhuman speed making her impossible to track.
One moment she was above us, her wings casting long, flickering shadows over the forest floor like a predator circling its prey.
The next, she was behind us, her laughter cutting through the chaos like a jagged blade. It was sharp and grating, a sound that made my skin crawl and my heart race as it echoed in every direction.
"Don't lose focus!" Kiaran shouted, his voice cutting through the chaos as he deflected a glowing projectile with his spear.
The impact sent him stumbling back, but he recovered quickly, his crimson eyes scanning the clearing with the precision of a hunter. "She'll use the forest against you if you hesitate!"
"No kidding!" I snapped, narrowly avoiding a burst of fire that erupted from the ground where I'd been standing moments before.
The heat singed my skin, the flames licking at the edges of my cloak as I threw myself to the side. I hit the ground hard, the breath knocked out of me, but adrenaline forced me back to my feet. My heart pounded in my chest, each beat a frantic drum that drowned out all reason.
The ground beneath us shifted and cracked as if alive, glowing with molten light that snaked through the earth in jagged veins.
I stumbled as another tremor rippled through the forest, nearly losing my footing as the terrain shifted violently underfoot. The forest itself seemed to writhe in agony, as though Belladorn's fury had infected it, turning it into her weapon.
Belladorn's voice rang out again, mocking and cruel, cutting through the chaos like a siren's call. "What's the matter, Kiaran?" she called, her tone dripping with venom and amusement. "Is this too much for you? Or are you too busy babysitting your little weeds to fight back properly?"
Her laughter followed her taunt, high and manic, and I could feel it clawing at the edges of my sanity.
It wasn't just sound—it was a presence, invasive and overwhelming, pressing against my mind like a storm threatening to break. I clenched my teeth and forced myself to keep moving, even as the forest closed in around us, its branches clawing at my clothes, its roots rising to trip me.
I thrust my fingers forward, my hands trembling as the wind around me stirred to life.
A shimmering barrier of faint, swirling air began to form, flickering weakly like a candle fighting against a storm. The barrier stretched outward, encasing the group in a fragile dome.
But even as it took shape, I could feel its instability. The wind wavered, thin and uneven, and the faint hum of magic barely rose above the chaos of the forest. My chest tightened, dread creeping in as I realized how fragile it was.
Belladorn's laughter cut through the heavy air, sharp and mocking.
The sound made me flinch. "That's it? That's all you've got?" she sneered, her wings beating furiously as she hovered just beyond the barrier. Her grin widened, venom dripping from her voice. "You're pathetic. Weak."
The words stung, sharp as a blade. She wasn't wrong—my magic was weak. Her words made my skin crawl, and I fought the urge to shrink under her gaze. I forced myself to meet her eyes, even though my legs felt like they might give out.
Her voice dipped into a low growl, sending an icy chill down my spine. "Let me show you what real power looks like."
With a feral scream, she lunged forward. Her claws, glowing with golden energy, tore through the barrier like wet paper, shattering it with a deafening CRACK.
The force of it sent me stumbling backward, my breath catching in my throat.
"Mablevi!" Estella's voice snapped me out of the haze. She was at my side in an instant, her hand gripping my shoulder tightly. Her golden eyes burned with determination as she steadied me. "It's not over yet. You can do this."
I shook my head, my voice trembling. "I—I can't. She's too strong. I'm not..."
"Yes, you can," Estella said firmly, stepping in front of me. Her confidence was unshakable, like she could will me into believing her words.
She raised her hands, and I watched in awe as a soft pink light began to swirl around her fingers. It grew brighter, cascading over her arms like flowing ribbons.
The magic moved with an almost sentient grace, swirling upward before spiraling toward me like a storm of rose petals.
he pink light sank into my skin, warm and steady, like sunlight breaking through a storm. For the first time, the wind felt like it was mine to command.". My chest no longer felt heavy, and the air around me began to pulse with renewed energy.
"I'm with you," Estella said, her voice steady. "I'll amplify your magic. Now, try again."
This time, the wind snapped into a solid dome, streaked with Estella's pink light. The barrier hummed like a living storm, stronger than anything I'd ever conjured.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRwoGib1cR4
The sound of it was deafening—a sharp whoosh followed by a deep, vibrating hum that reverberated through the clearing. My heart pounded as I stared at the solid wall of magic before me. It was stronger than anything I'd ever created before.
Belladorn's shriek tore through the air, wild and furious. She threw herself at the barrier, her glowing claws raking against it with erratic, animalistic movements.
Sparks flew with each strike. "You think this will stop me?!" she screamed, her voice cracking. "You can't hide from me! You can't hide HIM from me!"
She pounded against the barrier, her fists slamming into it with a bone-rattling BOOM. Each strike sent vibrations through the air, and I felt my legs shaking beneath me. Tears streamed down her face, her obsidian eyes wide and bloodshot.
"How could you, Kiaran?!" she wailed, her voice raw with anguish. "How could you bring them here? How could you bring another woman into my forest?!"
Her words hit me like a punch to the gut. Another woman? What was she talking about? I glanced over at Kiaran, searching his face for answers, but he stood a few feet away, silent and unmoving. His crimson eyes were fixed on Belladorn, his expression unreadable.
"Kiaran!" Estella's voice cracked with frustration as she whirled on him. "You're one of the strongest guards in Aranbiya! You could end this—end her—with a single strike! So why the hell are you just standing there?!"
Estella's voice cracked with frustration, and I felt the same anger bubbling in my chest. Why wasn't he helping us?"
Kiaran didn't respond. He didn't move. Kiaran's breath hitched, almost imperceptibly, as her words dragged old ghosts into the open. But he stood frozen, a soldier shackled by memory.
Belladorn's laughter bubbled up again, high and manic. It made my skin crawl. "He won't do it," she said, her voice trembling with a mix of rage and despair. "He can't. He won't even look at me, because he knows—he knows what he did."
For a split second, Belladorn's claws hesitated, her face twisting—not with rage but raw grief. Then it vanished in another scream, her fury doubling.
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTaGRpS4YwY
Her claws scraped against the barrier, leaving glowing trails of light in their wake. "I loved you, Kiaran," she whispered, her voice breaking. "I loved you, and you... you were in bed with her. With Serendinë. My sister."
22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwoebIuVxF8
然後按「加至主畫面」