57 Separated

The maid stopped and narrowed her eyes. "I can now clearly hear the voice and it seemed to be speaking words that I could not understand."

"It could be language of the spirits." The prince provided.

"What should we do?" the girl asked. Worry was etched on her face.

"We could do nothing but advance." The prince replied. So the two inched their way towards the darkened hall.

After a few minutes of navigating through the hall, Briar turned towards the maid with a frown.

"Hear that?" she asked once again while straining to hear from the hall.

She seemed to be the only one who could hear that mysterious laughter and the prince was getting a bit anxious.

"What is it?" he asked with worry.

"She is calling my name…" she answered almost as if she were in a trance. "I think it was the same person who was laughing earlier."

Briar's frown deepened. His instincts told him that this voice who was calling the girl is up to no good.

But before he could even say anything, Atropa suddenly break into a sprint.

"Atropa! Wait up." He hastened after her.

Unfortunately, he seemed to have stepped into a trap and he felt the floor gave way. Briar was not able to prevent his fall. Darkness then swallowed him.

~~~

"Atropa…" the childish voice and laughter reverberated through the walls. 

Several echoes were produced and Atropa felt that the voice seemed to be coming from almost every nook and cranny of the halls. It almost made her feel dizzy. 

"Where in the world are you?" she muttered as she tried to follow the voice who was calling her. 

She did not even notice that her companion was no longer behind her. 

Listening for the voice and the laughter, the lady's maid navigated through the dimly lit dungeon. 

Her amulet which was giving a rather faint glow was her only source of light. 

When the maiden rounded a corner, she saw a huge double door. Opening it, she entered and stopped short. 

She had gotten into a huge dome shaped chamber. This seemed to be the only area in the dungeon which was somehow flooded with light. 

The wide glass-like ceiling was adorned with paintings which depicted supernatural entities with gossamer wings. 

Since there was light from above, the glass painting was even more marvelous to look at. 

"Your highness, this is fascinating." She stopped short when she finally noticed that the prince was nowhere to be found. 

Atropa's brows creased. "where could he be?" 

When she tried going back and crossing the threshold to find the prince, a huge slab of stone wall had barred her way out. 

"To think it will trap me here. It seemed that it had planned to separate me and Briar." She muttered.

The girl raised her hand. In turn, a red pentagram formed and a huge blast of mana assaulted the doors.

However, the that blast did not even scratch the surface of the doors. She tried several times but it seemed futile. 

"It is no use finding him now. I cannot get out of here anyway." She gave up when none of her spells worked. 

Allowing her gaze to drank the place, she took note of the other details. Since light filtered through the ceiling, her attention was first drawn to it. 

But when she finally gave her attention to the entire chamber, she had discovered that the chamber was quite huge and spacious. It could house almost an entire battalion of knights. 

Atropa moved around to try and see if she could find another exit. She had to avoid some of the boulders which barred her way. 

The boulders which were once part of the walls littered on the floor and could even act as hiding place for smaller entities. 

"These are perfect for hiding. I wonder if that child is hiding here somewhere." She thought to herself as she climbed one of the boulders before making her way towards the center. 

As she explored the place, she took note of the gigantic roots and huge branches of trees that had already destroyed the walls and had become part of the chamber itself. 

Just then the hairs at the back of her nape stood. Atropa was immediately on alert. 

Since she was all alone, she needed to be on guard on whatever danger she might have to face. 

Though she had been exhausted with the all the spells she had cast earlier, Atropa knew that she would still be able to fight for a few more minutes with the amount of man that she has left. 

Holding her amulet tightly, she got ready to confront the entity. 

"Welcome to the dwelling of the fada de luz." A child's voice resounded through the chamber. Giggles then ended her welcoming statement. 

Earlier, Atropa was not able to understand what the childish voice was saying, but this time she heard the words loud and clear. 

"Fada de luz?" the maid muttered. "If I recall the lessons from before that would mean the fae of light.'

She mused. "But what does it want to do with me? I am a witch, a child of craft. I belong to the darkness." 

"Child of man… you have intruded into our sacred grounds." The child said with a serious tone. 

The laughter and giggles were replaced with a threatening message. "You have to face the consequences of disturbing our peace!" 

Atropa got her counter spell ready. 

But in order to stall the entity which she couldn't see, she said. "There were two of us who entered this place. Why am I the only one to face the consequence?" 

"Ooooh… You don't have to worry. Your companion is being taken care of. Sylvia has already made contact with him." The child gave a bone chilling giggle. 

Atropa clenched her fist. It looked like the prince was also taken by another fae to play with. 

Though she wanted him to pay for what his family has done, she would have like it to have her own vengeance be accomplished by her hands. 

And this annoying fae is getting on her way. 

Just then the floor shook and all of a sudden, a ghastly creature emerged from a dark crevice.