There was something wrong about where she was, Elena thought. Yes, she was in the
same cage that she had been tossed into, but it felt different, somehow. The air was there, but she
couldn't feel it, though she could breathe. The cage felt larger than it had been when she first
entered, and her friends seemed farther away than the proximity they had always shared since
their kidnap. She wondered if what she was seeing was another effect of their drug. She looked
around her cage and couldn't notice any difference, except it looked bigger and broader.
"Elena," a voice called her name. She looked around, first to her friends, to see if they
were the ones calling her. Her friends were asleep. She looked behind her, trying to see if anyone
was with them.
"Elena," the same voice called out.
"Who is there?"
Everywhere became silent at first, before a mist slowly appeared and took form and
shape in front of her. A woman came out of the mist. She wore a black flowing gown, and her
eyes were white, with no pupils inside. Her face was a bit blurry yet clear. It was like she wore a
mask that prevented others from remembering her face. She seemed more prominent than their
cage, and yet the perspective felt right.
"Who are you?" Elena whispered in awe, and a hint of fear was visible on her face.
"How did you get here?"
"Elena, daughter of Neba, you are at the window of your fate. Choose wisely the path you
walk, and you would be the saviour of all." The voice said, comforting yet chiding.
"W–What?" She asked, baffled.
"The world is at war. Our fate lies in your hands. Choose wisely the path you walk on,
and you would be the saviour of all."
The woman's form began to fade out, shimmering into the air.
"Wait!" Elena called out. "At least explain to me what I should expect!"
"Choose wisely, the path you walk on, and you would be the saviour." The woman's
voice was but an echo, fading as her form was, before disappearing totally.
Elena came awake with a jump.
She looked around her, and the cage was back to its original size, the width just as small
as it used to be. Elion and Forest whispered between themselves, and they turned to her at her
abrupt movement.
"Nightmares?" Forest asked, his brows raised.
"No, just a strange dream." She said, but she knew it was more than that somewhere deep
down. The dream felt much too real. Clearing her mind from the strange encounter, she thought
back to her situation.
"Is it just me, or is everywhere suddenly freezing?" Elena asked, rubbing her arms
together as she shivered.
"No, it isn't just you. We have entered the blood kingdom."
"How do you know all these?" Forest asked, curiosity lanced in his voice. Elena was also
wondering the same thing.
"Books. There were many books back in our homeland that described the Blood
Kingdom. You might not have heard of it, but few people did manage to enter the kingdom and
leave. Hopefully, we would be one of those numbers." Yeah, hopefully, Elena couldn't help but
think.
"You remember the plan," Svetlana called out. Once our captors come to release us, we
must hit them with everything we have and run. Run as fast as your legs can carry you."
"I just have a problem. What if we scatter and don't end up together? Where would we go
from there?"
"Our main goal is to survive." Elion pointed out. "Whether we remain together or not, we
need to remain alive and not as slaves for us to do that, do you understand?"
Elena and Forest nodded their heads gravely.
The distant sounds of people could be heard from outside their cage. There was laughter,
and somewhere a woman screamed. Elena didn't want to imagine what torture she was going
through.
Suddenly, the carriage stopped abruptly, and everywhere became quiet. Elena listened
quietly, trying to grasp what was being said. Her captors talked, saying something about goods,
but she couldn't point out what they were saying.
Heavy footsteps thudded as they made their way to where she was. Elena prepared
herself, not ready to go down without a fight. She surmised that they might have reached the
place where she and her friends would be sold as slaves, and she swore that they would lose a
part of themselves before they could lay hands on them.
The thudding continued before finally stopping in front of the cage. All was quiet before
the cover thrown around their cage was removed. Elena saw herself looking into a gorgeous face,
despite the long scar that marred it, starting from his left eye to his nose. The said eye was still
working fine, but it was hard not to see the scar, and yet, it did not hide the beauty of the said
male.
The man looked at her with a chilling scowl, and Elena almost cringed back in fear.
"Foreigners? You dare smuggle foreigners into the blood city?" The man who opened the
covers was saying it with such intensity Elena almost fell on her knees to start apologizing before
she remembered that she was the one who was kidnapped, and not the other way around.
The sounds of swords drawn were followed by the clashing of iron. Elena wished she
could see the fight, but her cage was surrounded by many huge wooden boxes that she thought
were meant to distract anyone from searching her cage.
The fight ended in a matter of minutes. Silence fell again over their environment. Elena
looked towards Elion, offering her a silent look to see if they should still act out their plans.
Elion turned out to be just as confused as she was.
When the handsome stranger came back, Elena forced the boldness out of her and asked.
"Who are you?" She was inwardly relieved that her voice didn't shake, which would have
betrayed her bold font and exposed the fear she was trying to hide. She had thought she was
ready for anything, but relating with people from the blood kingdom was the last thing she
thought she would ever encounter.
"I am a warrior of the Blood Kingdom." He answered. At that, Elena scooted back,
making her fear and anger known.
"You're just one of the other guys then. Do you plan on selling us as slaves? If not I can
promise you that we wouldn't go down without a fight."
The man scrunched his beautiful brows.
"Slaves? What are you talking about?"
"Those men you just defeated planned on making us slaves," Elena said, going along with
what she was sure was his ploy to get her to calm down.
"They called themselves warriors of the Blood Kingdom, which you introduce yourselves
as. Now you know why I am wary of you."
The man's face curled up in anger, and Elena was sure he would take it out on her. She
was surprised again when he turned his face outward, looking at whoever was there, and shouted.
"You introduced yourselves as warriors of the blood kingdom? You dare slander our
name?" Grunts of pain were heard outside where he faced, and Elena was as confused as she was
curious.
"You shall pay for that. I swear on our ancestors' name."
"No, please," the victims of the punishments begged as they cried. "We are just normal
merchants."
"What did you plan on doing with these humans? Making them slaves? So you are part of
the faction who works against our king?"
"Have mercy!" Another pleaded.
"We would see about that when our king returns. He would be the one who handles you.
Take them away!" The guard ordered.
Elena, Elion, and Forest looked at themselves, confused beyond measure.
The beautiful guard turned back to look at her.
"I apologize sincerely, for whatever you had to go through. These men aren't warriors.
They are mere merchants, who pose as us. Don't worry, we would punish them as deemed fit.
Come out, so we can take proper care of you and offer you a place to stay. When you are strong
enough to return, we would take you back to your homeland."
Elena nodded slowly, and the man opened the cage. He held out his hands to Elena for
her to raise herself from the cage. Elena left and watched as the man helped Forest out. When it
reached Elion's turn, the man's eyes widened, and he offered her a bow.
"My lady." He said, shivering a bit as Elion placed her hands on his. He helped Elion
more gently than he had helped Forest or her, and Elena couldn't help the smirk on her face. She
had been getting surprised so far since she arrived there.
First of all, they were captured by brute men who they had earlier thought were warriors,
only to find out they were merchants. Elena didn't want to think of how mighty the real warriors
were. Then they were being offered a place to stay and a promise to return home when they were
strong again. And now, the warrior who helped them seemed to have fallen in love with Elion.
She needed a long sleep.
The guard led them out of the carriage, where they then saw their captors being dragged
away by other soldiers. Their features were a mixture of black and blue tints, with so many
places on their faces swollen. They were also bleeding in many areas, and Elena almost felt pity
for them.
Almost.
She should have been afraid of the warriors if they could cause that much damage on
their captors in mere minutes. Elena couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy on the thought
that she still couldn't defeat them despite all her training. Then she calmed herself, believing that
Elion also couldn't beat them. That would not deter her from her dreams, though. She would find
a way to train here and become even more powerful before leaving.
The warrior who had rescued them led them to a carriage. They were all hesitant at first,
but the warrior immediately quelled their doubt by opening the passenger side of the carriage.
"You can all sit here." He said to them, though his focus remained solely on Elion. Elena
felt proud of her friend that despite the apparent show of interest in her, her face never dropped a
mask. If she were to be the one who was paid that much attention, she would have been a
blushing mess.
She thought of Calhoun, wondering where he was. She could only imagine how her
strong warrior would react were he to find out she was kidnapped. She cleared her head and
hopped inside the carriage.
Once they were all settled, the warrior silently shut the door from the outside, then
walked towards the driver's seat. The carriage was built to have a perfect view of the driver's
back and a side view of the city. There was a little stove built inside the carriage to warm it up,
and Elena had never felt so grateful. She reached out her hands towards the flame, trying to
warm herself. Forest joined her, and both of them turned the simple action into a game. She
didn't want to think of the fact that she was in the blood kingdom. She didn't want to believe that
she might be going into someplace worse, despite the favourable reception they had received.
She didn't want to think of her family back at home or her lover. She didn't want to think of the
strange dream she had. As the carriage started its journey into the city, she tried to think about
how grateful she was that she and her friends came out of this alive.