[Your memory is now being restored, eighteen percent complete.]
[Your strength has increased by six percent.]
[Your health has been restored.]
[Any poison or potion's effects are being removed.]
[Acquiring new skills. Unlocking: Five percent completed.]
Multiple screens appeared in front of her as many notifications came in one after the other. She was no longer tired or exhausted and felt very energetic and like a kid. Despite getting stronger, she didn't let her enemy find out about her newly gotten powers and continued acting weak. The beast, who was now confused, gave up and moved back several steps.
Twelve wings of twelve different colours appeared from his back and he flew up into the unreachable ceiling. Horns immerged and multiple individual hands popped out from his split arm. It was a scene taken out from the books Aefia had been reading during her down times.
Captivated by the scenery in front of her, she stared at the wings and their independent movements as they had falling constellations from every flap. Each constellations represented the number of different meanings his life carried.
I am not much of an astrologer, but I know they have meanings. They are supposed to represent the different hardships a royalty had to go through and the more they had suffered, the more their wings are made beautiful. To have twelve wings all in different colours, he must have suffered a terrible death and that too, not just by starvation.
Now I can see why he wanted to have an underground palace built and why he still resides in this area. But that doesn't change the fact that he intends to kill all four of us due to his rapidly growing hunger. When beast have been in this state for ages, they grow more and more hungry for blood.
The winged creature plunged at Aefia with exponentially increasing speed, but she still didn't seem concerned about her current situation. She kept eye contact with the wings and moved back a couple steps with small clicking of her boots. Click! Cluck! Click! Cluck! Clunk!
She stopped short of the small epicentre imprinted onto the mosaic floor of the entrance to the hall the beast came from. While tearing a root entangled to the pillars of the unfinished corridors, she lifted her sword to cut her own wrist. The others stared with disbelief at Aefia as blood spilled onto the ground and the dropped piece of the foliage.
The beast roared as he stopped short of the others and ran towards the girl who was now standing into the void the beast came out from. With his pointy nails bared sharply at her face, the beast bent low to increase his own speed. In a split second, the nails would not only stab another of Aefia's eyes but also, break her skull into powered pieces.
Suddenly, the beast seemed to freeze in time and his hand was being blocked with a blood covered one. Then, time continued to move the same way it was a while ago, but the only difference was, the girl wasn't there anymore. She was standing beside her lady with a wicked smile plastered onto her pale, newly scarred face.
The beast looked down with shocked eyes. A bloody handprint and a bloody sword, both of which made him break the rules he had vowed never to break. He screamed out in terror and soon, started to fade away.
There were certain things about beasts that allowed them to restore their sanity for a split second, but whatever it was that controlled their minds, stole their remaining consciousness and left them as a long lost lurking monster who hasn't eaten in a hundred years. Aefia was only using her blood and sword as a bait to see through the beast's weakness clearly before blindly throwing darts at the target and landing none.
Check! The arrow should go right through the centre of the throat and hit the vocal cord. Other than that, no other stages would be any easier than their original level of combat required. The boss room might also have his soul transfered there to intensify the combat level if he isn't killed.
The beast stood up on his fractured feet and moved towards her and the others. In that moment, Aefia, who had the red bow clasped tightly in her grip, held it out straight at her target while pulling on the string. A bright red arrow appeared, just like the time she first tried it out before leaving for this mission. But only this time, it was ignited with a bright red flame at its tip.
She let go of the string and arrow, and watched the beautiful trail it left while travelling. It was now a space blue with red and orange in both sides, added into the trail were infinite stars following it.
[Activated Elemental Ability: Departing Phoenix]
Wow! I didn't know I acquired such a beautiful skill.
"Off with your head, my dear Queen. May you rest in peace."Aefia whispered to herself as the arrow pierced into the beast's long neck and through the other side while stabbing into the picture hung on the wall at the end of that dark corridor. Ending the show by vanishing and reappearing in Aefia's hand. She kept it held tightly in case the beast was capable of regenerating.
Dark liquid spewed out of the beast as he dropped Aefia's sword, and it turned back into a small pocket knife with a cosmic background. The beast held the wound as he fell to the ground, laying still.
Aefia walked towards the corpse to pick up her knife, and suddenly, a voice entered her mind. "I was always destined to die...And kill the people I swore to protect...I wanted to have a castle built under their memories, but I failed due to my hunger."
Rest in peace, but you did great. Aefia thought while wiping the blood droplets off the blade. She turned around to look at the others and their shocked, unexplainable faces. She couldn't tell what they were thinking but she knew that they were all with the same question in their minds.
"Sorry, something happened?" Aefia asked when she felt a bit irritated by the long silence. Just speak! It's awkward right now!
"How did you do that with your arrow? It wasn't there previously. Or was it?" Helio asked finally.
"No, it wasn't. I just leveled up, just slightly." Aefia replied while making a sign for small with her fingers. She felt relieved when she heard their voices. "We can see." Her lady answered back this time. She walked towards her and handed a broken piece of mirror.
In it, was the face of the same girl who first struggled to stay alive, and now was going around killing beasts without permissions. And now, she was already a Phase two elemental magic user and was wondering just how she was going to tell her teachers about it once they noticed.
Although, the real thing her lady wanted to show her was, the crimson red stain in her face which was slowly dissapearing. The sign she first saw in the rock she had absorbed her magic from. A knife with waves erupting from its sides, which now, was the same weapon Aefia wielded, the same way the flames were erupting.
"But will it stay?" She asked after looking up. "I am afraid about how I am going to explain it back at the office. So I was just asking." She scratched her head and felt liquid on her fingertips. Oh right, I was hit pretty hard in the head without me realizing about it. How reckless.
"It doesn't stay for long, but it will appear in certain times like, increasing in power phases, using intense amount of magic in a short amount of time, and times like that, just anything requiring a heavy load of magic. But the real thing I want to know, how long has it been since you first acquired your power in your current timeline and which Phase are you in?!" Her lady spoke with interest in her eyes.
"Well, I am currently residing in Nikoan and in there, I have gotten my power just two weeks ago. I have just leveled up to Phase two, Apex Predator, and I don't feel like it is of anything odd?" Aefia replied.
Her lady rushed to Aefia and hugged her like she were her own child. "You are the youngest in the entire universe to manifest your powers that quick!" She spoke while squeezing the last breath out of Aefia.
You can let go now...But I suggest that you must let go!
"Ma! You are starving her of oxygen like that. Down here, oxygen levels are so low, that it is nearly impossible to survive for five minutes. That is how we were unconscious for a few minutes, weren't we? And most importantly, don't you think we should be focused on trying to get out of here?" Her son spoke from across the room, as he leaned against Helio.
"Did you happen to break your leg or twist your ankle?" Aefia asked while following behind her lady. "Hey! That was my line!" Helio laughed. "Or was it? I forgot..." He spoke while scratching his head.
"Oh right! We have a number of things that needs to be done by you, my lady. Well, to begin, I assumed that you had the power to heal the others just like how you healed me during our first meeting..."
"Let me guess...your teammate there, interacted with the poison created when the hybrid creature's blood reacted with oxygen and carbon dioxide? And the reaction then created a substance which has the same property as the dimethyl mercury? But dimethyl mercury is too slow compared to the substance created as the poison..." Her lady continued blaberring about her chemistry knowledge which made the slightest sense to Aefia, knowing that she left Earth pretty early on during her tenth grade.
"Uh...I know it seems rude...but there are two people waiting for your help." She asked politely. "Its not like I am not happy with your sharing the knowledge you have stacked up on through out the years of your studies, but their lifes might just be on the line."
"Oh right! Now, I will need to have you hold my bag as I search for the antidote somewhere here...And! I can't cure a broken bone just yet...So who is it that broke or twisted their leg?" Her lady asked looking around.
Aefia grabbed her lady's shoulder and pointed out with a flat palm, at her lady's son. "I am sorry, but it is your own son, the one with the fractured leg. But don't worry, I am pretty sure Helio can cure his leg if you really don't know how to fix a split bone. But still, you will have to focus on helping Helio restore his memory to be able to do that."
Her lady started searching frantically looking through her thousands of test tubes, but she didn't seem to find the right thing. Then, out of the contrary, she pulled out a tube with colourful liquid inside. It was a hue of blue at the top and green at the bottom, almost like when a liquid was being tested for its pH level. Woman, you are not only shorter than me, your brain is a little smaller than mine. Aefia tried her best not to laugh.
"What is so funny?" Her lady asked with a stern face.
Panicked, she made up a lie. "Oh, it's just that my screen made a joke and I find it pretty funny." She pretended to move her finger through an invisible barrier.
[What did I say that was so funny?🧐]
Bro! Seriously!
[Calm down! I just wanted to know what is so funny that was said. And don't you know? That short people has the most temper? That lady is short, yes, but she has managed to save more worlds than you. You haven't even saved anyone! And you are busy making fun of her...😂]
Oh shut up! Aefia flapped her hand at the screen.
[Too...Windy!🥸 My glasses and moustache were about to blow away!😠]
Aefia laughed hard as she reread the sentence again and again. Since when did a screen wear glasses and funny facial costumes!
[...Bye...I have nothing else to say to your stupidity, so I will just go back to sleep with my anger tantrums.😴]
Yeah...Go to sleep...but I want you to be aware of my conditions from time to time.
[Alright...Whatever.😴]
Aefia switched off the screen and by then, Helio was vomiting out blood. Suddenly aware about her environment, she walked over to the others, noticing how she had just wasted time on things she shouldn't have, like chatting with a screen.
"Don't worry, it's just all the poison that you had collected onto your blood. You should be able to regenerate those lost blood soon after. I believe that after vomiting, you will lose your consciousness to allow for the faster recovery..." Her lady spoke as she suddenly stopped. "So, maybe you can heal my son before you fall asleep?"
What the heck lady! That guy is barely alive and your son isn't going to die or something! So let him rest because he isn't well either! Aefia suddenly felt her blood pressure rising.
To distract herself from their conversation, she walked around the entire room to take a closer look for exits and what they were actually supposed to do. The fact came into her mind that it was possible they would have to climb back to their respective dungeons and take the door to the next stage.
She looked at the cabinets that were leaning against the rotting walls. She used her long, rolled up sleeves and covered her hands to her fingertips with them. While using the collar to cover her face, she took a look at the items in the shelves.
Four books were kept in standing position, with all their spines having printed gold letterings and all the first letters were aligned. Wait! I know this trick! It is supposed to be used to decode a new four letter word that is in return used to find another clue.
She started reading from the spine all the way left and to the right. N.O.T.E.
"Sorry for disturbing, but has anyone seen any sort of note anywhere in this room?" Aefia asked as she turned around.
"Oh yes! I have!" Her lady pointed to the broken down car.