Chapter 13: High stakes

Lassie woke up from her sleep, sweating as if she just had a nightmare. Wiping her face, she looked at her hands in shock.

"Master Ryder.."

Jumping out of bed, she got ready with the aid of her maids as quickly as she could before heading to the major room in the castle. In the middle of this room was her mother and father just like she expected. It was always part of their route to go round the whole castle in the morning. Since the place was so big, they considered this as taking a morning stroll.

Upon noticing their daughter slowly approaching them, they looked at her with a questioning look.

"Good morning father and mother," Lassie stated with a curtsey.

The two nodded their head before her mother asked what was on her and her husband's minds.

"Lassie, why are you up so early!? That is unlike yourself. Is there anything wrong?"

To this Lassie would shake her head, showing that all was okay. Her father on the other hand felt otherwise, so he asked even further.

"Are you sure, Lassie? You know you can tell us if anything is wrong."

"I am telling you, I am fine. I just want to see Master Ryder."

After her words, her mother would make the funniest face she had ever seen before coming in for a quick hug.

"Awww! It seems someone is really in love with their fiance. Your father made the right choice after all."

"Mother!" Lassie exclaimed with her face bright red.

"Let Lassie be Kory. She is no more a little girl," Floyd reminded her with a smile on his face. "Go ahead now, just make sure you are safe."

"I will father."

After their short discussion, Lassie ran out of the castle, entering a carriage in a short period of time and riding off to Ryder's castle.

Within the carriage, many thoughts ran through her mind. Though one particular thought made her feel happy. The fact that she was going to meet Ryder once again. For some reason, he had suddenly changed and so far she was liking this change. There was no denying it, he was even more mysterious than before.

Few minutes went by in the carriage before something strange happened. The carriage rumbled just as if it had passed through some rocky surfaces. This was indeed strange because they were no rough paths on the route to Ryder's castle. Putting her head outside the small window, she was surprised to see a difference environment from the one she was in before.

Seeming to have been put in some kind of some weird space, Lassie couldn't help but grit her teeth. Remembering her father's last words, she couldn't help but feel like that was going to be a problem.

"What is going on!?" The carriage rider asked in panic.

Looking around the area, Lassie quickly discovered that a magic object was responsible for their current situation.

"A Pocket orb!?"

Just as the name suggested, this was a magic orb housing some kind of pocket dimension within it. Not only that, it contained an artificial landscape within it. Knowing that it was used by assassin's to kill without being noticed Lassie couldn't help but be frightened. It was clear that someone was after her life.

'But why?' Lassie asked herself.

Preparing for the worst to come, she created tiny magic symbols all around her and the rider's body. Before she could create one on the carriage, it was obliterated by a blast from an unknown direction.

With the carriage blown to pieces, the two flew, landing and rolling on the ground hard. Even though she had created a spell for her protection, she could not deny that it hurt like hell.

Trying as hard as she could to get up on her feet, she was caught off guard by a glowing golden spear coming straight for her. She was surprised even further when her carriage rider had jumped in front of her. The spell she had casted on him for protection shattered, enabling the spear to plunge through his chest.

"Erwin!" Lassie shouted in disbelief.

It didn't take too long before he passed away leaving her alone to fend for herself. Multiple of those spears appeared once again heading for her, however this time she was prepared. Taking in magicules and creating giant circles around her, she formed a massive shield that tanked all of these attacks like they were cheese.

"Whoever is doing all of this, you are going to regret it," Lassie notified filled with rage.

"On the contrary, I don't think I will," a figure said upon coming out of the shadows.

This man's body was covered from head to toe with some kind of black suit, making it impossible to know who he was.

"Lassie Floyd Grinus, the daughter of the overpowered Strageia, Floyd Grinus. A lady who is known for her strange ability to communicate with the animals and plants around her. To be honest, that ability is one of a kind. As a result of this, significant amount of her spell casting abilities has been affected. She is unable to use any tier of magic above third tier."

Upon hearing this, Lassie could not help but look at the figure dumbfounded.

"Yes, I know a lot about you."

"Then you should also know that I am Master Ryder's fiancee, a well known Strageia known for his world defying feats. If you harm me, my father and fiance will hunt you down," Lassie added to the mix.

Giving off a chuckle as if amused, the mysterious man would go ahead to respond to what she had said. "That is exactly why I am doing this. In order to hurt them so bad they would never forget it. When they come for me I would have had enough time to arrange a way to get rid of them. Even if I can't take them both down, I will remove that fool Ryder from the equation."

Now aware of this, she instantly knew she was in a bad position. Feeling that she didn't want to task or let Ryder get hurt in any way, she took the job upon herself to take down this threat.

Creating multiple fire ball spells, she launched a full scale attack on the menance. This attacks were dodged as best as they could by the assailant until they eventually connected with his body. Several fire balls bashed into him causing massive explosions that rocked the place.

Though to Lassie's surprise, none of these things did any harm to him. Trying to carry out another attack on this individual, a tiny box would land by her side unleashing some kind of vile smelling gas.

"What is this!?"

"Oh, that is Vile scorpion venom in it's gaseous form. Poison that is capable of making a grown dragon sick. I wonder what effects it will have on you," he mentioned as he slowly approached her to finish the job.

Coughing heavily, Lassie would fall to the ground trying her best to breathe in oxygen. This left her open to any form of assault the villain my have had in mind.

"Don't worry I will make this qu..." He spoke only to be interrupted.

Just then a fist connected with the assailants face, causing him to fly though a solid wall. Looking on, Lassie smiled as she saw that Ryder had come to her aid. Unable to breathe properly though, she passed out.

"Lassie! Lassie!" Ryder called out by her side.

"It's no use. The poison has already kicked in. It is only a matter of time before she dies," the assailant stated.

The mysterious figure would come out of the rubble his body had created within few seconds staring Ryder down. It was almost as if his attack earlier had no effect. In response, Ryder would turn his rage filled eyes to him, ready to take the enemy down.