Chapter 68: Taking Over

I never expected any of this to happen. Dad and Charles have been gone for an hour already. I just hope he is going easy on him. I paced around the garden, pondering inside my head about the whole situation.

I never knew it was this hard on Emily until she told me about Elara, but I still didn't know she was hurting this much.

I decided to go back inside and stay with Alda; I have left her alone for long enough. When I got to the sitting room, she was gone. Maybe she went to the bathroom. I sat down on the couch and decided to rest my head for a while. It was getting late, and I don't think Alda and I would be able to go home today.

Alda's POV

“Thank goodness you are here, but what about the dinner?”

“Something happened while we were having dinner, so it ended sooner than expected. So it's in our favour; let’s just go. Take my hand.

“What about Xender? Wouldn't he be worried?”

“I left him a note; he is smart, so he would understand.” We went through the portal, doing as Elba instructed us. All we had to do was think about her. We arrived at an old-looking house built with wood. It looked so dark and hunted, giving off this chilling vibe.

“Where are we?” I asked Siofra, who was already approaching the house. I followed her, not wanting to be far away from her.

“This is my grandma’s house. It used to be very beautiful and full of nature, but without her, it has turned into a dark, abandoned house. I wonder how her farm is doing, including the horses.”

“So that means Elba didn't find her.”

“Guy! Over here!” We saw Elba weaving us over. She stood close to another wooden house that was a few metres away from the one in front of us.

We both went to meet her, but she pushed us inside, locking the door once she stepped in, leaving us confused.

“What is going on?” Siofra asked when she saw her peeping outside through the door. She was also acting like we were supposed to be hiding from something or someone.

“What took the both of you so long?” She asked, looking angry.

“We were following your instructions; you told us to wait until the portal opened." I just stood by the side and let Siofra do the talking.

“I'm not talking about how long it took the portal to find you guys; I'm talking about how long it took you both to use the portal. I have been here for about three hours waiting for you two.”

I was stunned and, at the same time, impressed. She was right; it actually took me three hours to get enough distraction to disappear. I won't lie, Emily’s action today really helped me, or I wouldn't have been able to be here.

“It's my fault; I had a family dinner to attend, so I couldn't leave.” I explained it to her. How was she able to calculate when the portal would open and when it would disappear?

“But wait, so if you have been here for three hours, then that means you know when the portal will appear and disappear,” Siofra said. I thought this was going to pass her by, but it didn't.

"Yes, I know; if not, I wouldn't have told you guys to let the portal come to you.”

“Oh and that, why did you also say that too because it took us two fucking days to get a portal?” Elba sighed out in frustration at Siofra's question.

“That's because if you keep summoning the portal, you will start getting different-dimensional universes. You might end up in another world where dragons feed on elves.” She replied before going back to peeping out the door.

“You are hiding from something, right?” I asked her.

“I'm glad you finally noticed. Her sister created an army within the few hours you guys were gone.” Did she just say a few hours?

“Few hours—what do you mean by few hours? We have been gone for two whole days.”

"There are so many things you don't know, princess. Our time and that of humans aren't the same. We are two different universes, so our times are also different.” 

"But you just said you have been waiting for us for three hours." Siofra said, twisting her face in confusion.

"Yeah, I calculated with a different time."

"You are so weird," Siofra said to her.

“What do you mean by an army?" I asked her.

“I'm sure you know what an army means, but they are no ordinary armies. Most of them are made of rock; some are made of iron, while others are made from my babies,” she said, sounding angry.

I think I also remembered her mentioning something like this the first time we met her.

“Who are these babies you keep speaking of?” Siofra asked her before I could.

“My beautiful dragon fish, she turned him into a big giant dragon that can burn down Álfheimr with its fire.”

“How is that even possible? Elves hate dragons, and we have never seen or heard about their existence in our world. Apart from the story that backed it up, as we're growing, we have never heard of any dragon in our history.”

"Well, I guess your sister is about to add one. The dragon works for her, and it does whatever she tells it to do.”

“And the armies? How many are they?” I asked; I was more interested in the armies. How can three of us fight armies made of rocks and iron?

“Thousands of them. She had all the chiefs of every village arrested while leaving four or five of his armies to their families, including everyone in Álfheimr. No one is around to leave their houses. She is slowly taking that to every other village in another kingdom.”

“This is insane; what are we supposed to do?” Siofra asked, pacing around the room.

“You are supposed to be the one leading us.”

“What can I possibly do? I don't know a thing about leading people; I don't even know why the stone chose me instead of choosing my....”

“Your sister? The same one that has turned Álfheimr into a mess. I am very glad that never happened, and the stone never makes a mistake."

"Oh, really, it never makes mistakes, right? Then where are the powers that come with it? I got chosen by three stones, and yet I couldn't even get a single power. How else am I supposed to fight my sister, who now has the most powerful powers?” 

“You know, princess, maybe you are your own problem. Let me ask you one thing: If you were given the grace to go back to the day you got picked by the stone and you got an opportunity to give it to your sister, would you have done that?”

“Yes, I will gladly give it to her, and maybe all this wouldn't have been happening.”

“You are wrong; your sister is already a bad person. She has never had the interest of this kingdom in mind. She just wants everyone to be under her control. The sooner you accept the fact that you are the next queen of Álfheimr, the better for you. You might be the one holding yourself back from your powers.

Until you learn to accept the stone, then forget about getting your powers or even saving Álfheimr. Your sister’s armies will just chew you up.”

I have been watching these two bicker with each other, and I'm getting tired of it. I wonder why they can't just get along. I walked past them and decided to peep through the door. 

What I saw had me closing the door immediately, with my eyes wide open in shock.

“Why are you looking like you saw a ghost?” Siofra asked. I locked the door and stepped away from it slowly while placing my index finger on my lips to tell them to be quiet.

“They are here; if we don't leave now, then we might stay here forever; follow me.” Elba said. She opened another door that led into a dark room. She lightened the torch she took from the wall of the room and led the way, which we followed.

“What is this place?” Siofra asked.

“It's a tunnel that can take us out of here, so stick close to me if you don't want to get lost.”

“How on earth are we going to get lost when there is just one narrow way?”

"Siofra, please, this is not the time to start this; let’s just do as she said and get out of here. We need to be together if we want to stop your sister.” 

Their ears pointed up, indicating they heard something. I looked from Elba to Siofra, waiting for them to say something to me.

“They are here; they followed us down.” Elba said, panicking.

“What do we do?” I asked; I was already getting scared.

“We walk in the dark. They have sensitive hearing but lack the ability to see in the dark. I have been observing them, and their vision is quacky. Luckily for us, we have sensitive hearing, and our vision in the dark is still perfect, so we won't go with the torch since it simply means calling their attention.” Elba said, dropping the torch to the ground in an attempt to turn it off.

“Wait, what about me? I don't have those abilities.”

“That's why you have Siofra; I will advise you both to stick to one body. She will be your eyes; now let's go.”

“A few minutes ago, she talked about being the leader; now she is ordering everyone around.” Siofra mumbled as she entered my body. 

It didn't take much time before her vision affected mine. The once dark passageway was lightened, and I could see everything like it was daylight.

I followed Elba as she led us outside this weird-looking passageway.