12 Winged Creature

Sunrei led the way towards the dungeon. They descended a long spiral stone staircase and reached a basement where a huge door was waiting for them.

Engraved at the center of the door was an emblem of a hooded man holding a spear that had a blade shaped like palm leaves.

"His name is Kiel. Beast Tamer and Guardian of Dungeons," Sunrei said when he noticed Aries curiously examining the carving at the door. "It is because of Kiel that our dungeons remain impenetrable despite the houses being conquered by our enemies."

"He is loyal to the king," Pieffer was staring at the image with a proud smile.

"But that's it. He is loyal to the king and unfriendly towards the rest," Leon frowned at the door. "It is because of him that I hate entering dungeons."

"Then why are you here?" Aries glared at the lion house leader.

Leon crossed his arms and scowled, "I have to make sure that you will not die until we successfully retrieve my house."

"Dungeons are dangerous," Pieffer seriously warned.

"Particularly for someone whose brain had been damaged," Sunrei glanced at Aries with concern.

"That's why we are here," Pieffer put her palms over the closed door. "Once we enter the dungeon, we cannot leave until we meet Kiel," a golden light enveloped her hands. "We have to descend five floors for us to meet him. Each floor is guarded by powerful monsters. We cannot kill them for two reasons. One is because, as I said, they are powerful. Second, their death will make Kiel furious. We don't want that to happen. Just take what you must take. And always stay close to us."

"Okay," Aries replied, feeling a little tensed. They all looked so serious as if that place were more dangerous than the conquered House of Lion."

"Here we go," Pieffer pushed the door open, and a blinding light forcefully yanked them inside the dungeon.

One moment, Aries felt himself being pulled at a dizzying speed and the next second, his back had already rammed a hard wall.

"I hate this!" Leon was leaning his head on the wall where they had recently hit. His eyes were closed. His brows were furrowed. His back was obviously hurting like Aries, Pieffer, and Sunrei.

While rubbing his aching back, Aries glanced around him and saw a wide pathway in front of them. The floor where they were sitting was made of stone. Lined at each side of the pathway were cells big enough for one person, one bed, and a toilet. Only a few of those cells were occupied. Some prisoners were quietly slouched at the corner of their cell, oblivious of the other inmates that were desperately screaming for mercy.

"Let's go," Sunrei had gotten up on his feet and was looking straight ahead. It appeared that all of them were trying their best to ignore the prisoners.

"Once a criminal had been sentenced for imprisonment, his only way out is Kiel's mercy," Pieffer said while walking at a faster pace.

"But Kiel rarely shows mercy," Sunrei stopped and motioned for them to also do the same.

"Kiel knows better than us when it comes to pardoning criminals," Leon sighed. "I respect his decisions. If only he can imprison those corrupted souls…"

"Talk later. The floor guard is coming. Be ready," Sunrei quietly warned then called for his sword, "Demise."

"The guard's name is Garnet Grace," Pieffer informed Aries before releasing her sword, "Blue Rose."

"Flaming Fists," Leon made his fists burn then told Aries, "It is a flower pixie that likes to feast on human blood. Be careful."

"Vermillion," Aries whispered, and swords formed in each of his hands.

"Why did you come in this place when you have no prisoner to offer?"

From the shadows of the dimly lit pathway, a pretty woman with translucent butterfly wings had lazily hovered towards Aries. She was wearing a crimson floral gown with a long slit on the left side, revealing her flawless long leg. Her feet were covered with red stilettos. Her straight hair was black and falling elegantly up to her petite waist. She had a crown of crimson flowers and a pair of floral earrings with the same shade of red. Her eyes were also crimson in color and looked somehow dangerous yet oddly alluring. Her gaze fell upon Aries.

"We've heard what happened," the pixie had said in a voice that was slightly melodious. "And we also received a rumor about it," a prickly whip materialized in the right hand of the pixie and a dagger with a leaf-like blade on her left. "I will let you pass once you proved that the rumor is wrong," she glared at Pieffer, Sunrei, and Leon. "Just stand there and no harm will come to you."

Vines instantly sprouted from the stone floor and wrapped around the three, making sure that they would not go anywhere and help Aries.

The pixie glanced back at Aries with a dangerous smile, "Show me who you truly are."

The pixie waved her whip towards Aries who thought that he could easily tear that weapon into pieces since metallic armors had already been shattered by his blades. But to his astonishment, the whip was sturdier than metal though it looked more like a vine rather than any metal.

The whip wrapped around one of his blades. He tried to free his left weapon with his right, but he could not cut through the whip. The pixie flailed her weapon from right to left and Aries swung with it, painfully hitting floors and walls.

When the pixie decided to stop thrashing her whip all over the dungeon, Aries dropped facedown on the floor, spitting blood, and starting to feel numb.

"You have greatly weakened," the pixie dragged him closer to her and as if her whip had a life of its own, it raised Aries from the floor so that he was face to face with the pixie. "Is your injury that serious?"

"I don't know what you are talking about," Aries finally let go of his blade and dropped gracefully on the ground.

Vermillion.

He tried calling his weapon using his mind and instantly succeeded. The blades materialized in his hands and forced the pixie to use the dagger in her left instead of her whip.

Aries thought that he would be having an advantage in a close combat battle but after a few minutes of fighting his opponent, he had forbidden himself from assuming things.

The pixie appeared more experienced in wielding a knife. Her attacks were not that strong but she could still cut her enemy. Having a pair of wings was a great advantage for her. She could easily move in and out of her opponent's reach. Regarding stamina, she seemed to have plenty of it.

Aries was relentlessly moving around while swinging his dual blades, but he could not even graze the slippery pixie while he was being cut all over his body.

"Weak!" the pixie had cornered Aries and made a swift yet graceful three hundred and sixty-degree turn to cut her prey with the knife and trap him with the whip.

Aries saved his chest from being wounded once again by sacrificing his left arm. But he could not avoid the whip from wrapping against his arms and torso.

Aries winced in pain as thorns pierced his skin.

"Tell me," the pixie sat in mid-air and leaned her face closer to Aries. "How corrupted have you become?"

"I don't know… what you… are talking about…" Aries was having difficulty breathing as the whip tightened and the thorns pierced deeper into his flesh.

"Will your blood taste different now?" the pixie revealed her fangs and leaned closer to his neck.

Aries wanted to headbutt the pixie or bite her in the face, but he could not move his head. His entire body had suddenly been paralyzed.

Is it because of the thorns? Her crimson eyes? Or her fangs?

"Will it be similar to the blood of the criminals in this place?"

Aries winced as fangs punctured his flesh.

Bloodsucking pixie.

Aries wanted to laugh when he remembered those words from Leon, but his vocal cord seemed to have malfunctioned the moment his neck had been bitten. It could no longer produce a sound.

He was starting to get dizzy and feel disoriented. His consciousness was slowly fading away.

"Garnet, please stop!" Pieffer screamed and the desperation in her voice made a part of Aries' brain itch.

"I TOLD YOU TO STAY STILL!!!" the voice of the pixie was no longer melodious. It echoed perilously all throughout the dungeon.

Aries realized only then that he was freed from the whip and the fangs of the pixie. A thin sheet of light was protecting his skin. Though he was still a bit dizzy, his body could move again.

The pixie changed her target. She was now hovering towards Pieffer who cannot move an inch because of the vines binding her body.

Aries cursed himself for noticing the shadows all over the dungeon only at that moment. That pixie seemed to have messed with his mind. He quietly hid at the shadowy walls. Whenever darkness covered him, his movements were not making any sound. Even when he was running. He can even move faster.

He easily reached Pieffer, grabbed her from behind, and covered her with his body before the pixie could stab her in the face.

His shoulder would have been stabbed if he were not protected by the shield Pieffer had created.

"Is that your true self, Aries?" the pixie was trying to shatter the shield by stabbing it repeatedly. "Will you protect Pieffer with your life?"

"Aries, your life is more important than mine," Pieffer seriously whispered. "Please, let go."

Aries remembered the night he had been stabbed to death. Pieffer asked him to kill her, forget about her, and go on with his life. And he was stupid enough to do as he was told.

"This time…" Aries whispered and quietly called his dual blades. "…I will choose to live," he cut the vines binding Pieffer. "Trial of redemption or not," Aries winced as the shield finally shattered and the knife pierced his right shoulder. "Even if you are the Pieffer I know or not," he pulled away from the knife and quickly turned to face the bloodsucking pixie. "None of us will die."

Once again, Aries engaged in a close combat battle against the pixie. This time, he was determined to survive. Using the shadows all over the dungeon, he finally gained an advantage against the pixie. Appearing and disappearing whenever he wanted, he finally cornered his opponent.

The pixie lost her balance when Aries suddenly appeared in front of her and slashed her with the dual blades. Her wings hit a wall and even though he managed to dodge the blades, she had still hurt her wings that she could no longer fly. She slumped on the floor and dropped her knife.

Aries quickly kicked it away from the pixie who still had a whip at hand. It had been slashed in his direction. He slightly dodged it and dropped one of his blades just so he could catch the whip.

He ignored the thorns that pricked his palm and tightened his grip on the whip. He knelt in front of the pixie and pointed a blade at her neck.

He would have killed her in an instant, but he remembered what Pieffer had said. Making the beast tamer furious would only make things worse for them.

"Please, let us pass," Aries sincerely begged. "I only want to take something that I left at the deepest part of this dungeon. We will leave once I get it. I promise."

"Okay," the pixie smiled, and the whip had instantly vanished. "I will take you to my master."

Aries was dumbfounded.

Should I just beg the pixie right from the start?

^################^