Loved Ones (part 1)

Ch. XIV - Loved Ones (Elice)

-----

The explosion was loud, extremely loud.

Our ears literally went deaf right after it occurred, and the windows of the royal castle were being blinded by the bright and sudden white sun. Some even shattered due to the quake and shockwave.

Only five seconds later did we recover, and we both immediately turned shocked.

What just happened… was real. Neither of us were imagining it.

Without speaking a word, me and my mother immediately exited her bedroom and began rushing outside the room. We arrived at the hall after exiting, and thanks to the window on the hall, we could see exactly what the source of that explosion was.

Far from the castle, there is a large amount of black smoke gradually reaching the skies. There was such a large amount of smoke, that anyone would assume that the explosion was precisely that big.

I couldn't turn my eye away from it, but mom knows that this isn't the time to be panicking. She quickly grabbed my arm and pulled my shoulder so that I could face her.

Now, I realize that the only person being shocked is me. 

Mom looked… so calm.

"Elice, I need you to be calm. This is no time to be panicking, and I want you to listen to me very carefully."

Mom looked calm, but her voice is already shattering. Her hands were shaking so hard as it held my shoulder. But, her eyes are calm. 

This is the kind of calm people do when they are under a heavy pressure, that they can stay calm even when they don't even know how in the first place.

And she is… scarily calm.

"Mom… we should--"

"No. Elice, listen. The enemy is already well on their way to our place right now. You need to listen to everything I have to tell you, every single bit. Remember it, never forget it until the day you die. Understand?"

"M-Mom… you are the one overly panicking--"

"Elice… please."

Her voice shattered even more, making me feel even worse. There is a looming mushroom cloud right outside our window, and I can tell just from it that our situation is terrible.

But the way mom is acting… is like…

"The end is here, Elice... Please."

Mom pleaded once again with her already heavy and saddened voice, and I closed my eyes and nodded.

"I will… listen."

"Thank you… thank you."

Mom closed her eyes from happiness, and she opened it again.

The moment her mouth opened, was the moment I became sure.

I became certain… that this very moment… is dumb.

Mom told me everything she wanted me to know, and knowing how important all these information she just told me, I remembered all of it. Until the day I die, I memorized all of those things she just told me.

Right after she finished, footsteps came behind me and we both turned towards the source.

It's the head maid, madam Feyn.

"His majesty requires both of your presence."

Madam Feyn said coldly to us, and Mom turned her gaze back to me.

"Elice… there might not be… another chance for us to talk. I wanted to keep saying this… no matter how little time there is.

You are… the most amazing daughter I can ever wish I had. The most beautiful person to ever exist, the strongest out of all. You are destined to all sorts of greatness, despite all of the rocky paths that you have to take. This world, this timeline… is all about you…

So please… stay strong, Elice. And stay alive…"

Mom said with tears overly welling out of her eyes as she placed her hands on my cheeks, and I can't help but cry as well.

I know nothing of the reasons why she is crying her eyes out like this, after all the only thing that has happened was a simple large explosion.

We aren't going to die, so why is she this sad?

But, after knowing her for so long, the person who gave birth to me, who raised me, taught me everything… She is my mother.

Anything she says to me… I will heed it. I will listen to it. I will do it.

Because she… and nobody else… is my mother.

"I will… do everything you say."

I said to her, and her tears burst out even faster as she rushed to hug me. She hugged me so tight that I couldn't breathe, and she let go after a while.

"You might not get to meet your brothers because of me… I'm very sorry about that."

"What--"

BLAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't get the chance to ask the question because a large lightning strike occurred just right behind me.

I turned my horrified gaze to where Madam Feyn was standing, and I realized that there is no more Madam Feyn standing there.

Only a single man… wearing a furry lion mask and gray armor.

Madam Feyn is down there, under the rubbles once belonged to the same wall he just barged in. From the rapidly puddling blood, anyone can tell her condition.

In his hand is a large long red blade, and his entire body is being cladded in red lightning. His eyes are shining red, and I can see it through his lion mask. His body is also quite colored with blood, simply showing that he has gone through a massacre before he came here.

I am not a magician, so I became fully open to his pressure. And his pressure was so heavy, that I will immediately pass out.

But a hand suddenly landed on my shoulder, and I turned my gaze to the person behind me. Her motherly smile was shown upon me and my life suddenly became much calmer.

She is purposely protecting me from his pressure, because she knows this person is an enemy. A magic, which protects another person other than yourself from a heavy pressure. However, by doing that, you are splitting your own resistance in half.

How is mom this strong…? Then again, I have never seen her fight before…

How… strong is she?

"Run, Elicia… Stay alive, and avenge us."

Mom…?

I couldn't leave. No chance in hell I am leaving her with this monster that just killed Madam Feyn.

I couldn't leave her… I don't want to leave her…

But after everything she had told me, after everything she told me to remember… what she said as she was heavily tearing up…

It's as if she knows about this... About all this.

Mom…

I will do everything that you ask…

And so, I started running.

So please… don't hate me…

Tears fell heavily as my footsteps hurriedly ran away from their location. I can hear the two converse loudly there, but since everything was so loud, I couldn't really get much of it.

I arrived on the stairs, and made my way down to the second floor, and finally the first floor's lobby.

The destroyed lobby of the first floor.

"Hkk!!!!--"

My breathing stopped as I found the situation at the front lobby.

The front door was completely annihilated, and bricks from the walls are everywhere. Dead bodies of the servants that once worked for the royal family can be seen lying everywhere, either in pieces or cooked.

That lion mask person had already come to the lobby first before he came to our floor. He killed everyone here, already…

I was frozen on the spot. I couldn't move thanks to the shock, and it feels like I wanted to puke so badly.

But then, a hand landed softly on my shoulder.

I was expecting it to be mom, and I quickly happily turned to her.

But, the one I found is Dad.