19 the PREDICAMEN (1/2)

”Oh, you're awake! Great! Grab your breakfast and eat this berry. This'll help you quickly recover.”

”Ow, ow, ow! What happened, Master?”

Lime found herself in the clearing under a tall tree on the bright morning the day after her attempt of pushing her body to its limit. She discovered all her extremities bound in white bandages as a rosy pink smear peeks on the edges round her left knee suggesting she has sustained quite an injury. She didn't feel any open wounds, but she feels as if ten giants took their turns to slap her body sore.

She stood up and tried her best to stretch her body as she was invigorated by the weird fruity smell of the marinated roasting fish crackling on the bonfire. Karus is eating his apparent third serving of the foot-and-a-half fish close to the fire almost ten paces far from her.

”Well, you did injure yourself doing your laps and fell on the ground unconscious but you're fine now.”

”Wh-what?! I did finish my laps? Right, Master!?”

Karus smiled looking at her eager eyes and nodded. This brought a fiery passion within her as she started to crawl near him and grabbed her share of the huge fish on a stick. Karus just chuckled continuing his meal.

Although she just reached a hundred and twenty-seven laps last night before falling unconscious, her true grit to still push on inspired him. So even though she did not really finish her promised task of three hundred, he wouldn't mind lying to her to give her some satisfaction on her efforts. After all she did manage to drag her body for a lap and a half unconscious and bleeding.

”This is good!” she gaily exclaimed, ”Really good! Master! What'd you put in here?”

Karus snickered as he asked surprised, ”Are you teasing me or something?”

”No! Really! It's the best fish I've had so far. And believe me, I've tasted quite plenty back in the East.”

”Tell that to Kayzar and Yosh,” he whispered grinning.

”Who?”

”I - uh - nothing,” he cringed inside feeling awkward forgetting about his disguise, so he quickly changed the topic, ”I-it's just - uh - the usual herbs and spices. You know? We're praised for our great spices here. That's just the basic mix. It's nothing compared to a kitchen full of exotic ingredients.”

”Yes, like in the Palace. Chef Mort makes the perfect meals! The explosion of flavors really invites you to take a bite out of every single dish served even if you're full.”

”Mort,” he silently laughed, ”he's nothing compared to the great Chefs Kudos and Madj, which I warn you, makes the most addictive Red Meat Stew, Fruit Drinks, Grilled White Meat...”

”Oh, Dear Lord!” she stood up almost instantly feeling tensed and disturbed.

”What is it?” Karus followed as she immediately ran to get her things.

”I got to get back at the Palace, Master. My father would be furious if he finds out that I'm not in my quarters, which I think will be soon since it's a four-hour trek from here to there.”

”No, you're not. In your condition, trekking isn't an option. Not only that you won't get to reach your four-hour bar, you won't reach the Palace in time for dinner. And besides, I've been here for years and it's nowhere near a four-hour walk. Trust me. You'll be much better if I scour for your tall beast horse. It's around here, somewhere, right?”

”You don't know my father. He will be so devastated he'll summon a search party and will scour every inch of the city and that would be really, really embarrassing.”

”The sun hasn't quite settled itself in the sky yet so that means its halfway till lunch.”

”Yes! It's nine o'clock and in about an hour or so he'll be comin' up my room to check on me.”

”Well, then, you're in luck!”

Lime stopped gathering her things as she stood up looking around the clearing, ”Thank the Lord you have a spare horse!” She walked for a while almost searching for her miraculous stallion only to find Karus smiling wide. ”Master, I really appreciate your humor, but I think that I don't find this very funny.”

”We Daomagarians do not use beasts to travel such great distance. We use our Bathala-given feet!”

”And how do you propose we move at such a distance, Master? Even if you carry me there running, cutting the travel time in half, it wouldn't even matter. No one can run for five miles non-stop carrying another person in just an hour!”

”True. It's impossible for a Daomagar to run five miles carrying someone in an hour. That's utterly ridiculous...” He stopped picking her travel pack on the ground still with confidence, ”We only do it in twenty minutes. Thirty minutes tops.”

”The Great Dash! Of course!” she cried but was taken aback slowly stepping back. ”But uh... you see... That means I'll be clinging on your back...”-

”What's wrong with that? That's not actually humiliating.”

”B-but It's wrong and I'm... I'm a woman... and...”

”Oh...” Karus smiled tilting his head in confusion. ”Is it wrong in your lands for women to cling at the back of a man? What a weird custom.”

”Ye- no... yes...”

Karus's eyebrows knotted still in confusion. ”Is that a yes or a no? I'm not sure what you want.” He suddenly figured out clapping his hands upon realization. ”Ah! I know what you meant. Don't worry I will not do anything untoward. You have my promise as a Holy Sentinel.”

”It's not it... I'm...” she paused for a few seconds pushing her lips to the sides. ”I'm a bit embarrassed... I mean I'm dirty and filthy and sme...”

Karus laughed interrupting her, kneeling backwards offering his back. ”Nah, don't worry about that. We roll on the dirt countless times we practically live on filth as apprentices, so I know a thing about being in training. No one can train and remain clean, that's what baths are for.”

Lime walked slowly, clinging carefully in awkwardness which Karus noted so he waited a few more seconds till she's all settled in.

”Um, not to sound rude but you may want to brace yourself tightly. I don't want you to be thrown away injuring yourself further. After all, we're going to be moving faster than you're used to. If you fall, it'll be a hundred feet of further rolling before you stop and that's practically dangerous in your state.”

”Yes, Master!” And that's all Lime said closing her eyes smiling as Karus ran towards the capital.

-------ooO0Ooo-------

The sharp smell ran almost burning Juni's nostrils down to his throat, awakening him to yet another horrific nightmare. He still recognizes all the moldy slabs of huge bricks surrounding him all connected by a chain that connects with his arms and legs all spread apart, hanging him at least two feet above the floor like a pitiful ornament. He fancied a short dream about escaping the awful place, but all was an illusion possibly given to him by Bathala to offer him some sort of solace, a little mercy, in his agonizing fate.

He is still inside the lower catacombs of the Palace. It's a contemptibly ironic place to be after reviewing his situation. It is the perfect, albeit cruel, venue for his ill-fated detention. A place where all your screams will not amount as much as a faint whisper to any concerned soul's ear. No one enters the catacombs, much so in the lower parts of it.

He noticed the remaining part of his left arm cauterized and wrapped around in a clean bandage. He would've thanked Prodea for this, thinking she' has a little ounce of goodness left clinging in her soul but he figured she only did this to prevent him from losing blood or acquiring an infection. A method to buy her time for her unusual interrogation, he thought sighing as he looks in her smiling eyes confirming his hunch.

”Wake up sleepyhead~”

As his senses gradually came to be, the pounding pain pulsates at his left shoulder came wildly apparent, ravenously eating away the peace he once had, rushing in to take control of his focus. He tried to concentrate blocking all the pain but was halted by a severe shock inside his head - clearly a work of Prodea's enchantments.

”Hey, hey, hey. Don't faint on me again,” snapped Prodea, ”I've wasted enough Spirits of Hartshorn to revive you again and again it could practically kill you.”

Juni laughed almost insanely at Prodea. ”Then by all means, I welcome death. Do you think I'm afraid of you Little Prodea?”

Prodea retaliated slapping him to stop. ”I SAID DON'T CALL ME THAT!” She came down from her levitation to the floor frustrated. ”Bathala help me! I will rip your arm apart if you don't stop insulting me!”

”Awww, Little Prodea is humiliated by...”

Juni's mockery was immediately interrupted as he saw an invisible hand twisting his left arm. The crackle of his bones bounced on the dimly lit chamber. He tried his best to resist the suffocating pain grinding his teeth in agony, forcefully till his gums bleed, as his left biceps turned blue.

”SEE!? I TOLD YOU I'M NOT JOKING! You're lucky I didn't pull that away!”

”This is a waste of time Prodea...” he weakly whispered panting. ”Either kill me or let me go... You got what you wanted...”

”OH NO, NO, NO! I'LL DECIDE IF I GOT WHAT I WANTED!? NOT YOU!”

”So, what do you want!?” he shouted almost whimpering in pain, ”You took everything from me! What more could you possibly want that warrants further pain!”

”TELL ME HOW YOU MANAGED TO CREATE A RED EMERALD!!!”

Juni smiled and looked below to his abdomen where his emerald is embedded. ”Years of research, this ridiculous thing gave me. You think I will reveal to you how I made a fusion of Ruby and Emerald? This secret will be with me to the grave! Artemus made sure of that and you can't do anything about it.”

Prodea rushed floating to face him with a surprisingly calm temper. ”What's the harm in giving me the secret? Hmm?” she whispered hovering, taunting him, ”You've already told me about Dim'ion's Global Binding Spell? Isn't that more dangerous than your precious Red Emerald?”

”Having the Red Emerald Amplifyer gives you both the capacity to control and maximize fire combustion. I cannot have a White Demon rampaging around the Holy Lands killing everyone on my conscience.”

”But I have the Global Binding Spell? It's in here in my mind! With this I can kill everyone, and yet you didn't even endure much before spilling it out?”

”YOU PRIED THAT IN MY BRAIN YOU PIECE OF YIT'ARD!”

”Tsk, tsk. Such language.”

”Besides, with your weak essence, you'll just die in the process. You cannot handle the red emerald.”

”Oh, and how did you know? I am only ten points below your essence?”

”On record that is!” he deriding her sources almost insulting her. ”Ten points... Ha! I know you could attest that I am far more superior than your pathetic essence. But even then, I wasn't worthy in the end to exploit its full potential...”

Prodea smiled wryly, ”I see... so I don't have to make it.”

”Wh-what that you say?” Juni asked chuckling, hiding his evident fear.

”Oh, Juni,” whispered Prodea combing Juni's long beard with a smile shaking her head in disappointment, ”You think you're smarter than me? You think you and petty older brother can both connive to block me!? NO! I AM smarter than both of you combined!”

”You're delusional, Prodea,” mocked Juni with his wide grin, ”Your intellect cannot even catch up to an inkling of mine. Good luck surpassing your brother.”

”Artemus's memory protection is not absolute. It is a two-way process, you know.”

”Wh-what do you mean?”

”Not laughing now, are you?” yelled Prodea getting the upper hand, ”You see, in order for him to block your memory, he has to hide it to the furthest recesses of your mind. He has to completely cover it in darkness. And it only takes a flicker of cinder to light the way to your precious little treasure box.” Juni's eyes widened with fear as Prodea's face turned frightfully sinister. ”Thanks to you, I found it!”

The three-foot Phantom Hand of Prodea appeared before him giving off a ghastly grayish smoke all around it. It immediately pushed to his abdomen almost clawing to grab the five-inched Red Emerald that is embedded. The resulting painful stab just made him grunt in pain, angry but still smiling devilishly.

Prodea moved closer whispering in his ears. ”You know, I just wanted you to see my Phantom Hand one last time. No Nagozulian can pull this off but me. Just goes to show that your precious Artemus isn't really the genius he's dubbed to be.”

”Hey Prodea,” Juni leaned to Prodea's ear whispering back, coughing up a weak laugh or two, ”You forgot one thing...” His eyes turned white as his Amplifyers amplified the whole room to white. Prodea was disturbed and tried her best to move back but she couldn't. She could not pull the Phantom Hands away from Juni's bloody abdomen as if the old seer trapped it in a clutch. ”You forgot to ask me about the prophecy...”

With his last words, Prodea's eyes were filled with surprise.

Juni's body gradually turned into a wonderful radiance lighting his body in white fire. The resulting energy burned her left hand, but she managed to put a protection spell immediately saving her to be burned to a crisp. Juni then smiled contented, closing his eyes, as he exploded burning the whole room within a second, turning all slabs of bricks to char black, throwing her away, slamming into the wall to fall down disgracefully on the ground, ruining her perfectly colored red silk robe.

”JUNI!!!!!!!” she shouted furiously releasing an explosion of red fire creeping to the whole room, burning it again in her tantrum.

After about a minute of angry shrieks and the wild dancing of red fires all around the room, she calmed herself down and sat on the floor depressed. She sat there quietly for about another minute till a glint of light sparkled on the corner of her horizon. She curiously stood up and slowly approached the sparkling object and smiled.

”You tricky little monkey,” she whispered as picked up the gem below. She created a fireball to light the gem as she inspected it. She saw a broken three-inched dirty green shard with a mixture of plush red swirling around inside as if a drop of blood dances within. Her phantom hand must have saved it in the resulting force trapping a little of Juni's essence in the process. ”At least I have some souvenir left from your insolent existence!!!” she yelled as if talking to him. She wants the satisfaction of seeing her opponent's eyes with fear thinking she has the upper hand but got humiliated instead so she was a little happy she got something belonging to him. At least, she thought, she got back at him somehow.

”Your highness,” entered Zeba looking down on the floor that has a thick black charcoal coat, ”Got everything you need?”

”No Zeba. Not quite yet.” Then she smiled as she hovered to the door to exit.

Before Zeba can ask where the old fool of a seer was, Prodea has gone passing her by in a frantic rush. Another person in her list that will haunt her at night, she feared.

-------ooO0Ooo-------

”Liar!”

Sarram grunted heavily containing himself. ”Don't you dare mock me in front of your daughter, Cousin Sayed,” he whispered frustrated, ”Do not test my patience!”

”Well, at least now you got to practice on building up on that because I will not put up with this,” he calmly stated smiling as if in insult.

His brown hair is short-trimmed all brushed back. His golden vest shimmers giving pride to their family name as the caretakers of Bathala's hills, wearing the Bolann Family's crest. He looks cleaner and more professional than Sarram in their business meeting inside his study at the Palace of Hishma.

Sarram looked at Illyriah with fury, ”Why are you here!?” he shouted jolting Illyriah in her seat almost frightened, ”Get out and give the grownups some privacy!”

Sayed snapped invoking a water bubble on the floor. ”You're stepping on thin line here, cousin. If you insult my daughter's presence again, I may just have enough right to drag you out all the way back to your Palace. Even if you're the Queen's favorite. We have the same designation. We are both a Prince to Nagozul, so I wouldn't be punished if I serve you up to your mother crying in shame.”

Sarram walked near him breathing in his face, still with rage in his eyes, ”Well then, let's see if you can. Let's see you beat me first in battle.”

Sayed faced him, bravely without flinching, ”Finishing a course with your General Ugan won't help you beat me, cousin. Remember that even if you're a Molder and I'm just a lowly Caster, I still have the upper hand. You may be strong, but my essence is far greater than you, three-fold at the very least. Even I know that that gives me roughly fifty percent advantage.”

”Well, let's see you try still, cousin,” he mocked, ”Let's see you try, you puny little coward!”

Sayed scoffed infuriating Sarram even further, ”Well better a coward than a lowly thief.”

Sarram shouted blasting the doors and then marched out in his tantrum leaving a mess of debris of wood, gems, and precious metals that were once was a part of an intricate design of expensive and artistic antique double-leaved door. The two just sat in silence for a while waiting for the calm to settle in.

”Well, I've been meaning to replace that distasteful door anyway,” Sayed laughed calming the storm in Illyriah's tensed heart. ”My great-great-great grandfather made that awful, awful, door and no one has ever had the courage to tell him how horrendous that thing is, up to this day! Can you believe that? I've been denying my thoughts to that door for quite some time now. Good thing I have a reason to replace it now.”

Illyriah just looked down almost crying which discontinued Sayed's further mockery of the door Sarram blew to shreds. He didn't mean for her to witness this so he's a bit distraught about the events that has transpired.

”Father,” Illyriah whispered almost hesitant, ”Why won't you yield? Give the rights to Hishma already...”

Sayed looked at her directly with a smile and a sigh, ”I can't, my dear. We have been entrusted with an honorable task of keeping the mines holy. Our ancestors trusted our lineage to uphold the sanctity of one of the holiest of places here in Nagozul. We cannot betray that trust.”

”But father, if you do not grant their wishes, they'll just take our mines by force! Stopping them would be in vain. It would only make matters worse.”

”It will not,” he went closer to her and held her hands while kneeling on the floor. ”What counts is that we upheld our honor, our family name's integrity, our pride, so that one day, when we face Bathala in Paraiso, we will be glorified and we will be proud, as my father will be, and his father before him, even your mother. Oh, my little Lily, one day you will understand this.”

”I do, I do,” she tried looking down feeling sad for being selfish. ”It's just that I don't want you to endanger yourself. I'm worried, father,” she murmured breaking in tears, ”Uncle Sarram has a reputation of beating other nobles almost to death if he doesn't get what he wants. I just can't live feeling like this. The tension between you two is ever increasing that I fear one day it would cost you your life.”

Sayed embraced her daughter tightly calming her down, ”Shh... Now, now. Don't fret. Remember why I brought you here lately when I'm in a business deal?”

Illyriah nodded her head pushing her chin to her father's shoulders.

”It's because I want you to understand the way things work.” He pulled her away looking directly with his reassuring eyes, ”I am showing you the reality of life. How unfair and unnerving it is. But still, you mustn't give in and sway to whoever's in power, even if it costs you anything. You go with what's right and what's just. That's our purpose here on Earth as Bathala's sentinels. That's what gives us life. That makes us worthy of the powers he granted us!” He stood up pulling her too to stand too, putting away her tears and fixing her hair, ”One day, when I'm outrageously wrinkled and too crazy enough to even think, you would get to manage our mines and I would like you to think back from this day and remember my words.”

Illyriah gave a weak smile nodding.

”Besides,” he added chuckling pulling her to the open wall, ”What could that plumpy prince possibly do? I am the Commander of the Water Caster's Primary Assault Regiment. I think I can take him down with just a liter's worth.”