"Yes, I will help you."
"Y-you'll really help me?" Aisha blurt out; her lips forming a wide smile, a smile a child would make after reuniting with their mother in the grocery store.
"I'm not doing this for you." Speka kept her voice calm and steady. "I'm doing this because there could be a slim chance of this lizard knowing grandpa's whereabouts."
"I-I see." Aisha tries to hide her excitement with a more mono-toned voice. "W-well thanks for the help anyways." She smiled sheepishly at Speka.
Speka's eyes widen at Aisha's gesture. I can't help but smile at the spark in Speka's eyes, for once Speka appears to be shocked and even happy at Aisha's gesture. The once thick tension is now replaced with a lighter atmosphere as the sisters' hatred for one another weakens its grip.
Elsword clears his voice loudly, catching the attention for both sisters," I hate to interrupt the touching moment." Aisha and Speka roll their eyes in response. "But how do you two plan on getting some dirt out of the lizardman?" Was he listening at all?
"We'll simply be performing an old spell, once used by royal guards to force out information from prisoners." Aisha began. "You can think of it as a form of hypnosis, the victim will not recall the information they've leaked out."
"However," Speka cuts in. "This spell is not easy to perform, that is why it requires more than one caster."
"This also means the session will not last long, so you must ask the question quickly before we exhaust ourselves out." Aisha concluded. She tucks a piece of tray hair behind her ear," that'll also mean we'll be useless if that mage decides to come back."
"We'll deal with him if he does shows up." Eve reassured the sisters. "Your job is to get information out of the lizard, so please do not worry about anything else."
Speka nods," I guess we should get started." She cracked her knuckles loudly. "Don't expect me to help you further after this, Aisha." She spat her name out coldly.
Aisha's eyes narrowed slightly on Speka," don't worry, I don't plan on asking for your help ever again." And once again that thick tension between them is back. These guy can't go five minutes without getting each other upset.
"Such a shame, for a moment they seemed to have forgiven each other." I whispered softly to myself. Chung snorts loudly beside me - I send him a nasty glare in return.
"You ready?" Aisha asked her twin; she holds out her hand towards her.
Speka wraps her hand around her sister's," let's get this over with." She grunted.
Together the twins, with joined hands, turned to face the unconscious lizard. Taking a final glance toward one another they began to chant in a strange language. We instinctively take a step back as a large magic circle forms beneath the sisters and lizard. The hairs on the back of my neck rose at the amount of magic present; I can hear Yang growling at the uncomfortable change in atmosphere.
A strong current of wind circled around the casters and lizard, picking up a cloud of dust in the process. Aisha and Speka gradually raise their voices, with each word spoken the magic circle grew brighter and stronger. I squint my eyes to shield myself from the light and tornado of dust as Aisha and Speka spoke the last word; their unified voices blending into one. A shock wave abruptly hit us shortly afterwards; knocking us all down.
A tense pause follows shortly after, I quietly counted each second passing by. The silence seemed to drag on, I can picture each of my team mates shielding their eyes, waiting for someone to say something.
Finally what felt forever a soft voice sounds," it's done." One of the twins spoke weakly.
Swallowing I began to slowly squint my eyes open to see Aisha and Speka holding onto each other for balance, their hands still tightly intertwined. The lizardman is now sitting upright in the bright magic circle; his eyes staring blankly ahead.
"Did it work?" Elsword questioned in a whisper.
Aisha nodded," let's test it out." She tightens her grip on Speka's hand. Taking a deep breath in she asks, "are you Lucas' father?"
"Yes I am." The lizardman answered robotically; he seems more emotionless than Eve at this point.
The sisters exchange smiles. At the corner of my eyes I could see everyone else celebrating at the success of the spell, I couldn't help but smile along with them.
"Time to get some answers!" Elsword jumps to his feet - dusting himself off. Crossing his arms he ordered," tell us where that Dark Mage is."
Once again the lizardman replied in an emotionless voice,"he cannot be found here. He has left to find the Dragon's power."
"That's perfect!" Raven exclaims while cracking his knuckle. "We can easily ambush him when he decides to come back."
"This seems too simple." Aisha pointed out weakly - her legs shaking, Speka struggled to keep her up on her feet. It's only a matter of time before the sisters run out of energy.
"He must know where to find the Dragon's power if he just left like that. Also, why would he just leave his puppet behind? Leaving him here would easily give away the Dragon's location along with his hide out. If we never bumped into his puppet we wouldn't have been positive about the path we were taking. If this lizardman was never here we could've turned back thinking we got ourselves lost."
"Are you suggesting this may have been set up?" Eve asked; a sense of fear hit me once those words left her mouth.
"Why are you here?! Where has the Dark Mage gone to?!" Speka quickly questioned the lizardman.
"I am simply here as a decoy." I can hear Elsword cursing to himself in the background. "I was told to keep the threat busy while Kayak went to fetch an item from the village. The alchemist has something he needs for the Dragon's revival."
Speka cursed loudly as she falls to her knees, her hand breaking free from her sister's. Almost instantly the magic circle disintegrates into tiny bits of light. The lizardman's eyes roll back as he falls back into unconsciousness.
Raven angrily punches the ground," we should've left someone behind! We foolishly left the village defenceless." He continued to punch the ground.
Speka summoned out her staff. She shakily hops on, nearly losing her balance in the process.
"What are you doing?!" Aisha attempts to grab onto her arm, but her legs caved in before she could reach her sister. "You're dangerously low on magic!"
"I don't care!" Speka shot back harshly - her eyes quickly growing moist. "I'm going back first, I don't have time to stick around your team."
"No wait--" Speka hurriedly flew off before Aisha could finish talking. She lowered her head," you left me again." She mumbles to herself. "But why should I care? I hate you anyways." Her voice began to tremble.
Elsword kneels down beside her, wrapping his arms around her he whispers something in her ear. Whatever he said to her made her break down, before I knew it Aisha has her arms wrapped tightly around Elsword. He returns the gesture with a warm hug.
A familiar pain pounds in my chest, the anger I thought I overcame is slowly crawling its way back to me. I forced myself to look away from them. Chung rested his hand on my shoulder, encouraging me to stay strong and not to care.
"I-I might have enough energy to use a binding spell on him." Aisha spoke softly. She unwraps herself from Elsword," but I don't know how long I can hold."
"Don't worry about restraining him." Eve said with crossed arms. "You have done a great job already. You should rest up, Raven and I will make sure he stays unconscious."
"We should hurry back to the village." Raven picks up the lizardman with ease. "It's getting late and who knows what damage Kayak has done."
"Sounds good." Elsword agreed - he turned his attention back to Aisha. "Can you walk? Do you want me to piggyback you?"
"No, I'll just ride on Yang." She slowly helps herself up. Right on queue, Yang hurried to her side.
"Let's get going." Chung nudged me to start walking. Taking one last glance back I began my way down the path we just came from - mentally praying for the safety of everyone in the village.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The first thing I noticed was the mourning villagers standing outside of Buch's house - Lucas can be seen crying along with the crowd. A sense of guilt hits me like bricks as each villager turned to face us, some held an expression of anger while others could do nothing but cry.
"It's all your fault!" One of the lizardmen spat.
"Honey, don't be so harsh. They tried their best to save us."
"Buch is dead because of them! They're the reason he's dead!"
Stella abruptly stepped out of the house, with hands on her hips she began loudly," is that how you treat the team who is dong everything they can to save us?!" The crowd froze at her booming voice. "Yes, Buch is dead and yes the Elder is dead; however, everyone else can still be saved because of them."
"They should've tried harder!"
"They're too weak!"
"We're all doomed!"
Each insult hit me like a knife. The thought of being powerless, helpless, and weak brought me down further. I've trained hard to fight and protect, and yet here I am today. Weak and powerless to the mage who has tormented this village.
"Enough!" Stella interrupted loudly - quieting the crowd almost instantly. "Each and every one of you are to return home! No one is allowed to step out of the house, and if anyone has objections they will need to report to me in my office!" She scanned the crowd, waiting -- daring someone to say something.
The crowd grumbled angrily to one another as they retreated from Buch's house. I couldn't help but look away as Lucas set his eyes on the unconscious lizard in Raven's arm. The guilt I felt earlier is now growing, like an uncontrollable wild fire.
"Daddy!" Lucas cried out loudly. "Daddy! Daddy please answer me!"
I can hear the small lizard running toward us. I clenched my fists, fighting back the urge to break down into a blubbering fool.
"Wow there little man." I can picture Chung stopping him in his path. "He's not safe at the moment, he's still under Kayak's control."
"But he's my daddy! I miss my daddy - I want to be with my daddy again!" He cries out desperately. "Please let me see him! I'll give you anything! Please, please let me be with him again." I glance back to see Lucas falling to his knees. "Please." He begged shakily.
"Lucas," Stella sits herself beside the crying child. "I understand you miss him, but you must understand he is not himself. You can see him once he's safely locked up, okay?"
Lucas wraps his arms around Stella," I really miss daddy." He turned his head to face me. I could feel my legs turn to jelly as he spoke his next words," why aren't you strong enough to save him?"
I nearly lost it. All I could do was shake my head as I shakily wiped my eyes dry. Yang nuzzles my leg softly, as if its trying to say everything will be okay. I could faintly hear Aisha comforting me, but my thoughts and old memories overpowered her soft voice - leaving me alone to relive the time I hid in that closet.
"Buch and Speka is inside." Stella helped herself up, with Lucas in her arms. "I'm going to put him to bed first, Raven, can you wait for me in my office?"
"Alright," he spoke quietly. "You guys should see how Speka is doing."
"Okay, take it easy, man." Elsword pats Raven on the back. "Come on guys let's get going."
My legs remained planted as my team began their way back. I desperately tried to shake the old memories away, not wanting to walk back in while my past is playing like an endless movie in my head.
"You okay?" Chung's voice abruptly sounds beside me. I shake my head, not bothering to look at him. "I understand it's hard to know we have failed to save his father, all of us feel pretty terrible at this point."
"Y-yeah." I bit my bottom lip. "C-can you help me get to Buch's place? I-I don't think I can walk myself there." I could careless about my hate for him, all I need now is for someone to help me out - even if he's the one helping me.
Chung sighed," you owe me big time after this." He gently lifts me up in his arms - like that time in Elder. I rest my head against him, I stared blankly into the distance; forcing the past memories out of my head.