Tyyyrrrrr! A tired growl sounded as Tyra tried hard to get up with his small legs. He got up and came to Princess Natalia's side and licked her cheeks, telling her to wake up soon. He also nudged little princess, whimpering, "Tyyrrr, tyrrr." Then, with a lot of effort, he floated, moving forward like a drunken man, up and down in air, then landed in front of Zack, who was still very angry. Seeing this, Tyra got scared but still, with courage, came towards his legs and nudged sweetly.
Suddenly, Zack woke up from his anger and saw Tyra trying to comfort him. Suddenly, lots of tiredness came over him. His face relaxed as he petted Tyra. "I am okay. Thank you for staying by her side."
"Tyy, tyyyy," whimpering in a low sad voice, telling he was sorry to not be able to do anything.
"It's okay, little one. It's all our fault for not be able to do anything." He picked him up and said, "Go stay with her." He stood up and brought him to her side and let him rest beside Natalia and little princess. Then he patted Lurvi, picked her up, and said, "Thank you, Lurvi, to you also," as he kissed her forehead and placed her beside Sio and Sasha.
"Lurrrr," in sleep she whimpered as she snuggled to Sasha.
Seeing the scene, he sighed and quietly headed for the door, knowing they would wake up soon. The others followed, except for Gloomy—who had somehow fallen back asleep amid all the chaos. Oliver noticed and gently moved him beside Maren. Instinctively, she pulled Gloomy close, hugging him like a teddy bear. His face went pale, frozen in silent horror, and raise his hand as if having a nightmare.
When Zack opened the door, the first light of dawn spilled into the hall. He squinted against the morning sunlight and saw several figures waiting outside—maids, guards, doctors, Leader Remek, and Maid Emmy—all standing in quietly, waiting.
"Let's take a walk with me," Leader Remek ordered. Alfie couldn't meet his eyes since he had failed to protect little princess, which was his only job. They followed Leader Remek. Oliver passed by Maid Emmy and said, "I am sorry," as he moved ahead without looking back. Maid Emmy saw his back and didn't think anything in her mind this time. After a few seconds, she turned away and ordered other maids to clean up and check on the girls.
"Mr. Jorri Jason is heavily injured. We can't really save him from the rampaging energy. Can you help him, Zack, with your power?" Leader Remek spilled everything and asked in hope.
Sadness filled everyone's faces as they thought about Mr. Jorri—one of the strongest in the city—now seriously injured. The realization of how powerful their enemy truly was hit them hard. Zack lowered his head and sighed. "I can't," he said quietly. "You know how my ability works—I need to stay close to someone for a long time before I can absorb any excess energy. Even if I stay by his side starting now, I'd only manage to absorb maybe one percent after several days."
Leader sighed, already knowing the answer, still it made him sad.
"What about that man?" Oliver asked.
"He ran away for now," Leader replied.
"He will come back for sure," Zack said while clenching his hands.
"Hmm, that's for sure." Leader Remek didn't ask the reason for such a reaction. He also said about the Queen's condition. Everyone sighed and prayed for her wellness. They wanted to visit both of them but were denied by Leader. After a while, they split up. Alfie went with Leader while the other three started going somewhere.
"I am sorry, Leader. I failed," Alfie said while looking down in shame, clutching his fist.
"Hmm, indeed you did fail," Leader said without holding back and continued, "If little princess would have been dead, then partially it will be your fault and partially by others and myself included," he said. "Even though it's your job to protect her on the front, but from behind, it's everyone's job to look out for each other, and that includes your friends."
Alfie, remembering how his big brother Zack protected everyone, his heart filled with warmth and pride and also raised the fire in his heart to follow the footsteps and do the same thing. Both walked towards the 2nd rock with one small back and one big back as morning sunshine shone through them.
.
.
Nooooooooooooo
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh
Savvveeee meeeee
Ugggghhhhhhhhhhhh
Lots of screams sounded in the Queen's dream as she struggled in sleep, clenching the sheets.
You have used me!
"Gasp, gasp! No, no, I didn't!" Queen woke up in tears as she put her hands on her head, crying in sadness and pain. After a long time, she got up and sat on the sofa, wearing a long night gown. She sat there for a long while calming herself then called, "Emma, come inside."
Maid Emma, who was clearly waiting to tell her report, came in.
"Queen," she properly bowed.
"How are my kids?" she asked.
"The boys have left the room, and the girls are still sleeping soundly. Doctors have checked their condition, and nothing abnormal has been detected. Clearly, that gas only used to make them go into deep sleep."
"Hmm," Queen nodded. "When they wake up, report to me and call the Leaders for the meeting," she said while looking at the horizon where the sun had risen already and was shining brightly.
"Yes, Queen," Maid Emmy replied and went away.
After one hour, in one of the palace rooms, all Leaders gathered up.
"Looks like little Mikaela worked hard at night. Did you find anything good?" Grankell Parmesarson - 5th Rock Leader asked in contempt.
"Maybe or maybe not. I don't oblige to answer you, Grankell," she said while sipping her tea.
"Rather than disturbing us, you should have gone behind that man. Were you scared, little Mikaela?" Grankell continued taunting her.
She looked up, removed her red glasses, and said, "I was better than a so-called Crown who was sucking women's pussies while the city was being overturned," she said sharply.
"Heeeehhhhhhh," Grankell smiled in annoyance.
"Hey, Vali, what about you? Did you get into any trouble?" Njala asked the 3rd rock leader while resting her face on her hands, looking sweetly.
"Miss Njala, except some minor concerns, everything was good. I am a businessman. I like to keep myself clean," he said as he rotated his ring on his big hand.
"Oh my, what a gentleman," she just smiled.
As they were talking, Queen entered in her form-fitting black outfit with a high collar, long sleeves, and a heart-shaped cutout at the chest. The ensemble included a long, flowing black skirt with a bow at the waist, giving it an elegant yet bold appearance as her figure was showing properly and her crotch V-shape was formed beautifully in plain sight.
Seeing this, Grankell smiled and got up and said, "We are sorry for what happened to Mr. Jorri, Queen," he said with a sad smile.
Queen, with a calm expression, nodded, not believing his apology. She said to everyone, "I apologize if Leader Remek's decision has caused you trouble tonight, but his decision was well thought and correct, so I support it." As she said this, she walked to the centre of the table toward her seat and turned to look outside, waiting for complaints.
"Queen, many of my men were captured without any serious crimes. I would like to let them leave," Njala said, complaining while looking at Mikaela.
"That's not true, Queen. From teenager prostitution to illegal supplies of animals from our territory, and many other like these, all these crimes are not shallow," Mikaela said while reporting it.
"So what? If someone could get fed, then what is the problem? Not everyone could get a high-rank military position and work a respectable job with lots of money and resources," she said with slight anger in her voice.
"I have worked for it. No one has given me this position. And if you are that worried about your area people, then why not create a proper work for them rather than making them a plaything to get profited from? I know you must be getting quite a good commission from everywhere," she said as she glanced slightly toward Grankell.
"Huh? What work? Only some types of crops grow here, and it is banned to kill normal animals because of some stupid tradition to respect the nature and all, those animals' parts and meat are fresh. Rather than that, we help them by killing the mad ones, which takes a long time to get energy drained from there meat and body parts, and the parts takes longer time hence get damaged a lot. And eating those meat will send you to energy absorbers who ask so much damn money every time," she complained a lot and continued, "And it's not like we are like those 5th rock bastards who just eat and grow their body size by the work of ours," she glared at Grankell, who was still smiling.
"Hehhehe, who are you blaming 2nd rock leader? with our connection, one of our cloths made in the 4th district can be sold at such a price that can make four families feed for a week without doing anything. Of course, I have to buy all these devices for the people to use. Do you think this windy place could survive if not because of my tools?" Grankell said while seat relaxed on his chair, Njala glared at him, knowing full well how he benefited from everything.
"Stop it, everyone!" Queen turned and said, "Wrong things have to be punished accordingly on every side, whether it's 1st rock people or 5th rock people. Mikaela, I will leave it to you to do it according to the rules and regulations, and continue to monitor the place. We can't have more trouble! Queen sighed thinking about the night. The ceremony is coming soon, if my daughter can do it properly, then we could still work together. If not, then a new outsider Crown will come and probably squeeze this place dry," she said to remind herself and others how far they have come and also to warn others what could happen if they continue to fight amongst themselves.
The meeting ran longer about tightening the security and measures to take against powerful people.
Gasspppp! Huuuufff, uuuuuffff. Large breathing sounded as Princess woke up from her nightmare where she could feel as if she died countless times. She clutched her neck in fear, thinking about what she had felt. She felt weird, her head aching, her body feel sluggish.
Kyyyaaaaaa!!! Suddenly, Sasha woke up with a huge scream, making others slowly wake up from noise. Sasha, fearful, suddenly got up and closed her legs and sat up, brought her knees closer, and covered herself in a blanket. She felt fear, true fear, as if she was tied to a rock and thrown into the deep sea, unable to do anything, her heartbeat rising, she doesn't know but she feels very sad and fearful making her body shiver in cold. She slowly touched her crotch, putting her hand inside and touched her vagina, then suddenly retracted it back in a jolt. She suddenly felt weird very weird, can't really put into words but she didn't like this at all, she felt all her energy had been drained from her body. When her face was going all pale, she heard a voice: "Lurr, lurrr!!"
"Hmmm?" Lurvi looked at her and tried to calm her down.
"Lurrviii," she brought her close and hugged her. Somehow feeling Zack's smell, she suddenly felt warmth. She touched her crotch again, but this time, feeling warmth rather than dead coldness, she smiled and took a deep breath, calming herself down, it's okay I am okay, she thought while feeling the warmth on her body.
Slowly, everyone woke up. Little princess also had similar fear like her sister. She started crying. Natalia had to console her a lot to calm her down, forgetting her own fear because of this.
"Tyr, tyr," Tyra snuggled in between to make them comfortable. They both hugged Tyra and felt his warmth. Fia and Sio also woke up with headaches.
Suddenly, Maren's voice came: "Hhuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, what are you doing here, you bassttaaardddd?" she shouted, seeing Gloomy sleeping beside her. She picked him up like a rag doll and forgot her uneasiness by this little surprice. Gloomy was still sleeping, not bothering to wake up. Seeing this, Maren jolted him up and down like a rag cloth. "Hey, wake up, you lazy bum!"
Everyone, seeing this, laughed a little with little smile on there faces.
"Huhh, whhaat, whhhattt? Is it an earthquakkeee?" Gloomy woke up and saw beautiful sisters looking at him. "Good morning, sisters," he waved while cursing his brothers that they didn't take him with them. Geerrrrrrhhhh, I will kill them next time I see them, he cursed while smiling embarrassingly.
"Hey, stop growling and tell us what happened here. Why does our body feel so weird?" Everyone nodded, holding their pillows or Tyra and Lurvi in Sasha and Natalia's case.
"Hmmm..." his expression fell, and he said softly, "I'm sorry, sisters." Then he began recounting Zack's part—the story he had heard from Oliver—and everything that happened afterward. He didn't know what how Zack saved them, but everyone know he must have done his best. An assassin had nearly succeeded in killing the princess; Zack had tried to save them and sent him away, while Uncle Jorri fought the attacker and was gravely injured, this is what the gist of it, gloomy stopped his explanation.
They didn't say anything, sat on the bed completely silent. Sasha once again touched her crotch, trying to remember, but nothing came to her mind.
"These stupid boys!" Maren's voice sounded as she glared at Gloomy, who in fear ran behind Fia as she touched his head and said, "Why are you getting angry at them? They have clearly saved us," Fia said in dissatisfaction.
"I am not angry with them for this. I am angry at them since they hide the problematic thing. If they would have shared it with us, then we would have been alert and could have helped everyone fight that bastard."
Fia said, "Maybe, but the timing was not good. They were also discussing it, so stop blaming them. Let's go. We will go and talk with them," Fia said while getting ready to go.
"No!" Maren said while cursing at them. "You girls are way too soft on them, especially Sasha, Natalia, and you two little girls, and you, Fia are also to blame. That is why they do whatever they want. I will go talk to them, and you girls stay here, or go home," Maren declared while ordering everyone.
Everyone looked at each other and smiled. It's true that they were not as fierce as her, so they let her be, and once in a while, let the boys have her fiery anger taste.
"I will also go. I need to apologize to them. It was because of me that this happened. I am sorry to you girls also because of me, you were in danger," Natalia said while bowing.
Everyone shook their heads and hugged her. Everyone hugged each other for a while and got up. Sasha and Natalia saw the crack in the floor. Their hearts ached thinking about Zack.
Fia, seeing this, changed their minds by saying, "Anyways, where will they be?" she asked, knowing the answer already.
"Where else? Doing workout somewhere at a rock," Sasha said, smiling.
Everyone smiled and went their own way.
END OF CHAPTER
The morning after trauma never arrives gently—it comes with gasping breaths, phantom sensations, and the desperate need to ground yourself in something real. Sasha reaches for warmth through Lurvi's scent, Natalia finds strength in comforting her sister, and even Gloomy becomes an unwitting anchor for Maren's deflected fear. Sometimes the people who save us aren't even in the room—they're just the memory of safety, the echo of someone who stood between you and darkness.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Some tales don't fit between these covers; I keep them locked in a quiet corner elsewhere for the curious to find."