Chapter 2: Intruders!
"I'm bored of waiting. Where is Grandpa Mika?" A girl in a long sleeve peach dress and mid-length pink hair pouted, she have a soft face but with arched brows showing that she was restless. The others were chatting at the back while waiting for the one called Grandpa Mika.
"Oh, be patient. Grandpa Mika will come." The boy beside her said, who wore a sailor outfit and had a half-covered eye hairstyle topped with his white sailor hat.
They waited at the mini stage which was mostly filled with children of all kinds of appearances and styles. It was placed at the edge of the marketplace, so they can still hear the bustling sound of shopkeepers, merchants, and traders managing their businesses with buyers.
"Hoho, youngsters these days are very eager for knowledge." Grandpa Mika was very proud of them.
"Grandpa Mika!" The children exclaimed.
The old man was in his 70s with a hunched back. Small figurine from the decreased height due to old age. Wearing, an old garment, loosely in the musty color of beige reaching his ankle. He was also holding a wooden staff to support his frail body, greyish hair, wrinkles on his face, and eyes that can barely be seen, added with a warm smile on his lips.
The children quickly sat down, close to him. The old man takes a seat on the chair provided for him.
"What kind of story are you going to tell us today, Grandpa Mika?" A boy asked.
"Today, I'll take you somewhere far and hidden, unknown from the world." He said. They all gasped with excitement and began chitter-chattering among themselves.
"Anyone knows where that is?" Grandpa Mika asked them. Lots of them raised their hands.
"Momo." He looked at the girl from the middle row, wearing a lilac knee-length floral dress and braided brown hair.
"It's the Mer Blueth!" She said.
"Hahaha! You're only obsessed with the merfolk, Momo! But they are not even that special!" Momo pouted her lips with arms crossed, as the boy disagrees with her.
"So Javid, where do you think the place is?" Grandpa Mika asked the boy with messy black hair in a light blue shirt paired with navy shorts.
"That would be Mirifical Enthral, Grandpa Mika!" Javid replies enthusiastically.
"In terms of far, hidden, and unknown to the world, I think Aberrant Mortala of the dark realm holds that title." A boy with goggles on his head cuts in, he had a steampunk style of clothing, with cyan-colored hair.
The other kids sigh in disbelief, some shaking their heads.
"Why do you always ruin the fun, Cyan?" One of the boys asked, annoyed.
"Now, now everyone. I know it's inappropriate to mention the Aberrant Mortala, but Cyan is just stating the facts. Isn't he?" Grandpa Mika laughs, amused by their behavior.
"Did Grandpa Mika ever goes to the Aberrant Mortala before?" Cyan asked, the others are now curious too, eyes dilated in expectation.
"I have." He smiles. All of them murmur upon hearing the astounding fact.
"What is it like?" Asked a cute little girl with a teddy bear in her arm. She was sitting beside him.
"Hmm. That is a story for another day." Grandpa Mika said while softly patting her head. They began to whine.
"Oh come on, Grandpa Mika. Just tell us." They begged, making innocent faces, hoping for him to tell them.
"We have many days to spend listening to my stories, but today I intended to tell you all about the already-mentioned place. Are you sure, you want to continue whining? I'm returning home if that's the case." The children began to panic.
"No! No! We'll listen!" Javid said followed by Grandpa Mika's laughs.
"Okay. Listen now, little ones. Reaching far to the near edge of the world. A place of a fairytale hidden from the outside world. No one knew where it is, only the luckiest few encountered it, bringing stories of unique and mystical creatures lurking inside it. Gigantic mushrooms sky high, illuminating forest during the night, singing flowers, round and fluffy rabbits that can control the ground, enchanting forest spirits, and many more." The old man began his story. They listen attentively, thinking about the miraculous things in there, their imagination knows no bound.
"This is the magical place called, Mirifical Enthral, under the ruling of The Dark King and his daughter, The Dragon Princess."
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A shadow ran as fast as the wind, passing the towering trees while pushing through the bushes, followed by a high-pitched screeching, and metal scraping sound. A hooded person carefully hides behind a large tree, hoping doesn't be seen by the angel-like figure machinery hovering in the sky.
Its glowing red eyes were scanning the ground below, with razor-sharp blades as hands; rotating circularly at high speed, and a large wing with its feathers act as a combustion chamber to produce a large amount of hot gas, lifting its metallic bodies. The Guardian: Angelic, has only one main objective; to eliminate all intruders.
Sliding the hood to the back, revealing a girl with black hair tied in a high ponytail, paired with golden eyes. She pulled a golden carved black bow from her back and put on a stance. She was preparing to ambush the Angelic.
"Now!" She shouted while jumping out from her hiding. The Angelic was alerted by her voice and they went head-on toward each other.
"Thread: Lock!" Suddenly, the Angelic stopped mid-air. Threads can subtly be seen covering its body in the shining sun.
"Remy!" She called out. A tall man appeared out of nowhere and raised his hand toward the Angelic.
"Ice Magic: Absolute Zero!" He shouted. Freeze at a rapid speed began to build up around the Angelic, and it becomes immobilized.
"Target: Bull's Eye!" She shot the final combo attack directly at a star shape on the Angelic's chest.
The arrow flew and built up momentum before hitting its target, piercing through its body. Creating a severe and icy cold blast, a chilly mist of air can be felt from the explosion. The Angelic fell to the hard ground with a loud crash, they defeated it.
"Take that! You stupid machine!" Remy shouted. A stone hits his head.
"Ouch! That hurts!" He yelled angrily. Remy is a 6ft young man with flowy dark blue hair and icy blue eyes, in a plain white long-sleeved shirt, black pants, and high-cut sturdy boots. His vest was made of leather, and hanging on his hip was an old-looking blue grimoire.
"Shut it. You'll alert the other." The girl puts her hands on her hips. Her cloak was pulled to her back revealing a slim body with a black puffy-sleeved blouse, and a corset while wearing shorts and high knee-length boots. Dressing mostly in dark colors brightens her fair skin.
"Aurielle is right." Said a man sitting on top of a tree branch, his body covered in his black cloak. He had long light green hair tied and pulled to the front, paired with sharp and deep emerald eyes.
"Good job to you too, Dylan." She praised. Dylan just nodded while Remy huffed, dissatisfied.
"I know. I know, but I can't contain it. You know how long we tried to get away from them. We barely have enough mana to ward them off and they kept coming back. Talk about being cursed." Remy complained.
"I agree with you on that. It was a pain in the ass." Dylan agrees with him. He slumped against the tree trunk.
"It does lives up to its name, the Cursed Woods." Aurielle chuckles.
"Luckily, we manage to separate it from its choir. If we were to fight them all together, we would already be minced meat." Dylan remembered the countless Angelics roaming around the Cursed Woods, it seems never-ending.
When they destroy one of them, the others will immediately arrive, as if they had a tracker to identify the defeated Angelic's location.
The three of them lured one of them to the south of the Cursed Woods, where the Araneus mostly reside.
Hopefully, it will give them enough time for the Angelics to fall into the orb-weaved web trap made by the Araneus which was intended for intruders like them.
Moreover, bringing the Angelics to the south will cause them to travel, an even larger distance, away from the ruin.
"Let's go, no time to spare. The other Angelics will arrive at any time. We must reach the ruin before then." Aurielle reminded both of them.
They swiftly went their way. After running what felt like a long time, they were almost through the forest. Spending many months in the Cursed Woods, they began to memorize the ways around there.
The Angelics already went past them. The moment they saw the Angelics, they hides quietly until the Angelics were out of view.
Skeletal remains of humans were lying around the ground, defeated by the Cursed Woods' monsters. With due respect for the brave ones, they had to continue running to the targeted location.
"You know, now that we're running for our life. I'm beginning to worry that we might as well are running toward our death." Remy laughs paradoxically.
"Yeah, I think so too. In there... It's not the same as the ones out here." Dylan tries to hide his nervousness.
"Even the Angelic, can inflict such wounds on us. I don't even want to imagine what kind of dangers are inside there, waiting for us." Remy sighs defeated.
In the past months, trying to find their way into the Cursed Woods, they have encountered many types of monsters, and they barely avoided having their souls taken to God.
The three of them weren't fully healed from their previous confrontation too, and to make matters even worse, they were low in mana, food supplies, and not enough rest. They didn't know if they can survive the final hurdles.
"The Guardian: Armored Golem..." Dylan said weakly.
"I'm more concerned about the Guardian: Killer Gliders!" Remy differs.
"No. I won't worry about that too much. You two are forgetting the final boss." Both of them felt unsettled because they knew what she meant.
"The Guardian: Replica." Her voice thickens and is unsteady, showing how anxious she was just to mention its name.
"Let's just... Not Die, okay?" Remy tries to clarify their main objective.
"Of course." Dylan sees eye to eye with his statement. Aurielle nodded her head in agreement.
"Hurry you two! We're almost there!" She shouted.
With their remaining energy, they pushed themselves to sprint toward the light and reached the edge of the cliff.
Unveiled to their eyes was the bare view of the enchanting scenery above the Cursed Woods, and standing tall far in distance from them was their ultimate destination.
They huff and puff for air, breathing irregularly from lack of oxygen.
"There it is..." Their eyes widen to see the majestic and obsolete but preserved ancient architecture.
"We're here. Ruin of Eve!" She exclaimed. Aurielle smiled ear to ear, it was an exhilarating moment for them.
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