14 Dangerous

The regret couldn't help but squeeze at Silicia's heart while her golden eyes shook at the horror that she'd caused. It was red, stinging her hands much like the toxins of a pain-affecting plant that Silicia had once mistakenly handled. Yet, this was worse, it was something so unbearable to look at but her eyes couldn't look away. The red liquid sparkled and dripped down her knuckles. This wasn't her blood, but the blood of the body that lay struggling to breathe in front of her. Chills ran through Silicia's body, the scene was… repulsive. 

Silicia had done this herself. 

Releasing her grip from Haven's neck, Silicia stared at her shivering hands. Haven didn't say a thing as she watched Silicia tremble at the sight of what she'd done. Haven took long raspy breaths, wincing in pain, and caressing her bruised throat. 

In Silicia's hands, reflected the horrendous memories and images of her family stained with blood, screaming and convulsing before their deaths. She'd done something so dumb, so horribly dumb. Why hadn't she stopped herself? She thought she'd learned to cope with her emotions and to hide all fear and sadness away. Now… this was the result of her inability to keep herself together. 

"I'm sorry…" Silicia whispers, leaping away from Haven's body. A red flash struck Silicia's feet abruptly causing her to crash onto the ground, falling onto her knees. 

"Did you not hear me?"

Silicia looked up, lifting her body up steadily using her left arm as a hold for balance. There she caught the red eyes, flaming with anger and rage. The eyes had lost the tinge of playfulness that she had seen the night prior.

He raises his arm to the sky. "Girl, I'm asking for your attention. Are you deaf?" he asks, glaring at her with a tone of authority. His face was filled with disgust.

Silicia couldn't say anything. All she did was tremble in fear, watching as his bleeding blood-colored eyes stared at her. They pierced through her, cutting her apart, ripping her into a million little pieces… killing her. 

What could she say? 

She'll accept it. If she were to die, she must die right here, right now. This was going to be her consequence. She'd rather die than let her emotions hurt someone again. 

"Alex..." Haven calls, her voice broken and husky. It sounded so strained that it was barely audible. Haven lifts herself up from the ground, standing on her feet, her hand still holding her throat. "Alex…"

Alex's head turns toward Haven and his eyes begin to get glassy. The red began to fade, slowly, not as pungent as before. His eyes were turning black again. 

"Haven?!" Alex runs towards the girl and helps her up. "Don't speak." 

Silicia's eyes watch the encounter. 

Haven says something inaudible to Silicia but it makes Alex turn back towards Silicia. His eyes stare at her darkly.

Silicia trembles from the intensity of his gaze. Every bone in her body shook on its own. There was nothing that could describe the overwhelming fear that clasped her body. What would she do? 

Alex's eyes turn red again. 

"I said no!" Haven's crackly voice manages to spit. Alex grimaces at her, but after some hesitation, his eyes turn black again. 

He clenches his fist. "Go. I'll let you off this time. Don't come to the tower again. This place isn't a museum." 

Silicia looks at the beaten face of Haven, and the blood that spilled from her ripped skin. 

Something overcame Silicia, she wasn't sure what but it rushed through her body and caused her to shiver in fear.

Unable to control herself Silicia stands up, grabbing her rapier.

With one last glance at Alex's resentful eyes, she runs, jumping over the gates and pushing past others in the town square. Was this all she could do? Escape the mistake that she'd made?

Sprinting through the streets of the town, Silicia felt as if the very world was judging her. The earth seemingly warped up and constricted her whilst everything else screamed.

"Pathetic."

Suddenly, Silicia jolts awake from her own delusions. She glances around at the source of the sound but the streets are empty. Looking in front of her, Silicia realizes that she has arrived at the Guild Building. In her run of delusions, she had arrived here without knowing.

"AHRG!" Silicia screams.

Throwing open the door of the Guild Hall, Silicia stomps in.

"Hi-" starts the receptionist at the desk. Silicia ignores her and walks directly into the guild bar.

The bar was packed, as it was noon and the bar was unrestricted to the townspeople despite being affiliated with the guild.

Ducking under a barmaid holding a tray of bread and mead, Silicia beelines towards the staircase at the corner of the room.

Silicia enters her room and collapses on her bed, before she knows it, tears begin to form on Silicia's cheeks.

What was she doing? 

The rapier is still clutched tightly in Silicia's sweaty palms as she lays there on her bed.

*Creak*

The wooden door separating Silicia's room from the hallway swings open.

Surprised at the sudden disturbance, Silicia scampers up and points her rapier at the door.

"WE'RE BACK!" says Yue as she bursts into the room with Lane following in behind her.

Signing, Silicia puts down her rapier.

Bouncing towards Silicia, Yue prepares to pinch Silicia's cheeks before suddenly stopping. It finally occurred to her that something was wrong when she laid her eyes on Silicia. Silicia was in full battle gear, and the red splotches on her clothing definitely weren't there before. Yue looks towards Silicia's rapier which by now was dropped on the floor. Its handle was stained with blood and so were Silicia's hands.

"Wha..what happened?" asks Yue.

"Did the boar give you guys too much trouble?" interjects Lane.

"No we killed the boar yesterday, Kenmer has the rewards," replies Silicia. "I-" Silicia can't bring herself to speak.

Before Yue and Lane could stop her, Silicia pushed them out of her room. Before they could come back in, she blocked the door from opening with the bed in the room.

Ignoring the knocks and questioning remarks from Yue and Lane, Silicia falls back onto the bed. She starts to examine her hands, the blood is mostly dry now but it is still stained. The faint metallic smell that wafted out from the dried blood didn't help her mood either.

How could she have hurt someone?

Silicia definitely wasn't against killing, as she wished for nothing more than revenge on those who killed her family. She had also killed criminals before for guild quests, yet the siblings she had harmed hadn't committed any crimes to her knowledge.

Despite how shady Silicia found them, they weren't bothering anyone.

It was Silicia who was following them and annoying them for no reason, it was her fault, not theirs.

*Knock*

"Go awaaaay…" groans Silicia.

This time, however, the knocks weren't from the door.

Turning towards the direction of the knocks, Silicia locks her eyes with Kenmer. There outside the window, Kenmer waves. Rolling her eyes Silicia prepares to close the window which had been left open from last night but Kenmer manages to wedge his way in.

"Woo, I couldn't hold on much longer, "says Kenmer with a mischievous grin.

Both Ramone and Kenmer had gravity magic as they were father and son respectively, yet the way they used it was different.

Ramone mainly applied it to other beings and objects, letting him suppress an enemy and lift tower shields with one hand. The magic was also useful for making enemies extremely light allowing Ramone to dropkick them up into the sky before releasing the magic.

Kenmer however, took the magic a step further. In addition to Ramone's applications, he could also use his magic on himself, which was a territory Ramone never touched. Ramone was a bit apprehensive about Kenmer's use but the rest of Aislinn knew he was secretly proud. Kenmer was a great example of a bloodline growing more powerful in later generations. 

Hence, Kenmer was able to easily jump up to the second story of the Guild Building, despite its reasonable height. Then Kenmer simply had to grab onto the ledge outside the window.

Ignoring Silicia's blatantly unwelcome stare, Kenmer approaches Silicia.

"So what's wrong?" Kenmer plops down on the bed next to Silicia.

"Pretty rude of you to push Yue and Lane out," he adds with a cheeky grin.

"Get ou-"

Before Silicia can start yelling at Kenmer, he interrupts. "I know, I know, having an entire room to yourself is great! I hate sharing rooms with my dad also!" 

Silicia scoffs, knowing very well that Kenmer frequented the rooms of the girls he flirted with. Furthermore, Kenmer adored his dad, and he was a daddy's boy down to his last cell. 

"Soooo, did you try to kill a chicken or something? I know you were eyeing the chicken kebabs in the market when we first got to the town. You could've just waited for me to come back."

"No, I…", Silicia trails off again.

"I…?" Kenmer prods on.

"I hurt someone." 

"What?" Kenmer's face filled with perplexity. "That's what got you all worked up?"

"They didn't do anything though. I just hurt them.."

Sighing, Kenmer grabbed Silicia's chin, directing her gaze straight into his blue eyes. "Do you really expect to continue adventuring like this?" His previous playful tone vanishes, now instead, it's harsh.

Letting go of Silicia's chin, Kenmer flung his hands into the air. "Oh no, I messed up! I'm just going to run to my bed and hide. Making my poor friend come and give me attention!" He shouts in a mocking tone, imitating Silicia's voice.

"This. Is. Why. I. Hate. You." Silicia rolls her eyes and turns her back to Kenmer. "You don't understand anything." 

Kenmer signs, lowering his head. His fluffy blonde hair falls to his eyes and he blows it away. "You want to be an adventurer and you're all worked up over a little blood?" 

"I'm not worked up… I just…" Silicia turns her head towards Kenmer, her arms crossed on her chest. 

"Just what?" Kenmer raises his eyebrow, clearly impatient. 

"Remember what I told you yesterday about the boy with red eyes that turned black?"

"Yeah…?"

Silicia takes a deep breath. "I hurt his sister… and in turn, he almost tried to kill me." 

"What?!" Kenmer's eyes widened. 

"Yeah, but see I'm fine!" Silicia smiles awkwardly, lifting her arms into the air. "No body parts missing.. His sister on the other hand…" 

Kenmer's shocked expression slowly turns to worry. He stays silent for a bit as if thinking deeply about something. "You said that they had eyes that changed color, right?" He pauses, pressing his lips together. "I knew you'd be nosey, that's why I didn't tell you."

"What do you mean?" Silicia asks.

"Silicia, you've made an enemy of someone dangerous."