5 Chapter 5: The Hermit

Eva and Julia approached the castle, there were many soldiers guarding the castle gate. Eva and Julia were hiding behind a nearby bush. Eva said:

"How are we supposed to get past the soldiers?"

"Don't worry Eva, follow me there's a path the soldiers don't know."

Julia led Eva, hiding in the bushes, around the back of the castle. The duo stopped at a door behind the castle where servants often went out to buy food and few soldiers guarded. Waiting for a few soldiers to leave, they quickly entered the door and successfully entered the castle. Eva said:

"Where do we go next?"

"Into the maid's bedroom, we'll change into the maid's clothes so we can easily reach Urizen. But we must hurry if anyone finds out that our plan will fail."

"Let's go quickly."

Eva and Julia sneaked through the corridor where the servants were transporting food and passed several people and soldiers. They entered the maid's bedroom and quickly changed into new clothes. Then Eva and Julia went out and pretended to be maids serving around the castle. They were tasked with delivering food to Urizen. Eva and Julia bring plates of food to Urizen's room. They wore bonnets that covered their hair and kept their faces down to avoid anyone noticing them. Eva and Julia saw Exos walking towards them. They nervously and calmly passed him. Exos ignored Eva and Julia, but just as they were about to pass, he turned to look at them suspiciously. Eva and Julia finally reached Urizen's room, the guard there opened the plate cover to check the food and one of the soldiers said:

"You can come in."

The two soldiers opened the bedroom door and Eva and Julia went inside. The room door closed, they quickly put the dish on the table and took out the knife to assassinate Urizen. He was sleeping on the bed. Julia whispered:

"Kill him."

Eva nodded and approached Urizen with the knife. Eva was a little scared, but hatred blinded her. Standing next to Urizen, Eva raised her knife and said:

"I will end your life to avenge my father."

Eva angrily stabbed Urizen with a knife, but he didn't move at all. She opened the blanket and found it was just a dummy, she said:

"This is..."

Eva looked at Julia and said:

"Julia, no."

Julia replied:

"Sorry Eva, I have to save my mother."

Soldiers outside rushed in and surrounded Eva. Urizen and The Four Horsemen entered the room. He clapped his hands and said:

"Finally caught you, Eva."

"You used my best friend to trap me?"

"That's right, there's no one you trust more than Julia. It's that simple."

"You coward, using someone else's own weakness to your own ends."

"You can call me whatever you want and you're under arrest anyway. Guards, take her to the jail."

The soldiers immediately handcuffed Eva and took her away. Eva looked at Julia but she didn't look back because she was so upset. Happy Urizen said:

"No one can stop my plan now."

Eva was taken to the prison and chained. The cell door slammed shut, leaving a lonely Eva who had just been shocked by her best friend's betrayal. Eva burst into tears, she said:

"Julia, it can't be. Zed, where are you? I'm sorry. I was blinded by hatred and didn't take it seriously."

Outside the castle on the roof of a nearby house, Zed and Elastor were hiding and observing their surroundings. Elastor said:

"Why did I get dragged into this?"

"Because I need someone's help here and you're the only one who can help me save Eva and Julia if they get taken away."

"You just said last night you wouldn't care about Eva and Julia and now we're here to save them. I hate you Zed."

"I hate you too."

Elastor looked at Zed's left shoulder, which was radiating darkness. Elastor opened Zed's sleeve and looked at the tattoo of a howling black wolf, he said:

"Did you let him off the leash?"

"Yeah, I think I'll need his help."

"Look over there, the bush on the right near the apple tree."

Zed and Elastor looked in that direction, there were two soldiers talking to each other and losing focus. Zed and Elastor smiled sinisterly and sneaked toward the two soldiers. They crawled in the bushes and approached the two soldiers and immediately jumped out and knocked them out. Zed and Elastor tied them up and hid them in the bushes. Then they put on their soldier armor and entered the castle simply. Passing the guards without a doubt, Zed and Elastor entered the castle. But as soon as they stepped in, they were surprised by the vastness and magnificence of the castle. Zed and Elastor sweated and said together:

"This is going to take a long time."

Zed and Elastor began to check all the rooms in the castle. From the royal baths, the busy kitchens, the soldiers' bedrooms where many soldiers were resting, the vast corridors hung with the drawings of the Gloria family, a huge library made them forget their way out, the garden behind the castle with its beautiful flowers and so many places they couldn't go. Zed and Elastor shouted:

"Where are we?"

Back to Julia, she was talking to Urizen, she said:

"Urizen, I followed your plan, now let go of my mother."

"Okay, but I want to ask this."

"What do you want to ask?"

"Did you really betray your own best friend to save your mother?"

"Why do you ask about it? You imprisoned my mother to make me do that."

'I did not order your mother's arrest but the Reaper did it on his own without my decision.

Julia paused, she thought to herself:

"Reaper Sin, the most inhuman and cruel of the Four Horsemen"

Urizen said:

"Think about it Julia. Guards, take Julia down to the Reaper's lab."

Julia followed the soldiers to Reaper's place. Now she was very worried about her mother's fate, she thought to herself:

'What did I just do?"

Back with the reluctant rescue team, Zed and Elastor wearily sat down with their backs to each other. Zed said:

"This place has too many places to look for Eva and Julia."

"Damn it, you're the guy who came up with the idea of ​​looking around the castle."

"Where are we?"

"I don't know, 29th floor?"

Suddenly there was the sound of approaching footsteps, and Zed and Elastor hurriedly stood solemnly and pretended to be on guard. It was Julia being led by soldiers to Reaper, she was very scared. When they got far enough, Zed said:

"There's Julia, but where's Eva? Why didn't Eva follow her?"

"I'll follow Julia, you keep looking."

"Good luck Elastor."

"You too."

Zed and Elastor separated and continued the search. Zed was walking while thinking:

"Eva, where are you?"

Julia reached a large door with a crow pattern. The soldier opened the door and said:

"Go in, your mother is in there."

Julia nervously entered. The door was immediately closed. Julia was standing in a horror lab, there were chemical tubes boiling some kind of medicine, animal carcasses everywhere, the smell of blood and chemicals here created a disgusting smell and would make anyone feel sick. And in the middle of the room someone was sitting and covered by a curtain. Julia was extremely scared and nervous, she slowly walked over to the person sitting there, she kept looking around in fear of the Reaper and thought to herself:

"Please don't, please don't"

Standing in front of that person, Julia opened the curtain, she immediately screamed in horror. It was Julia's mother, she was transformed by the Reaper into a Zombie that could only scream in pain. Julia stepped back in fear, and said tremblingly:

"Mom, what's wrong with you?"

Reaper suddenly appeared behind Julia and put his hand on her shoulder, he said:

"Beautiful, isn't it? My latest experiment was successful."

Julia replied:

"This is murder, what have you done to my mother?"

Angry Julia summoned Berserker gloves Mega(it was a gloves with a hard and pointed fists, it had an extra green forearm guard) and punched Reaper. He immediately dodged and slapped Julia causing her to fall to the floor. Reaper said:

"I remember who you are, you are Urizen's spy who betrayed Princess Eva."

"Urizen said you arrested my mother, I didn't expect you to torture my mother like that."

"Yes, I did. But I transformed your mother into a work of pain art, now your mother is perfect and there will be no more pain."

"You killer."

Julia jumped straight at the Reaper and raised her fist to punch him. Reaper punched Julia in the stomach, causing her pain and spitting out blood. Reaper laughed evilly, he said:

"You can't defeat me, now let me reunite you with your mother."

Reaper grabbed Julia's hair, she cried out in pain:

"Damn it let go of me. No, no, no!"

Reaper laughed, he threw Julia's mother in the cage and hung it up along with dozens of his other horror experiments. Elastor outside had just defeated the guards, heard Julia screaming inside, he said:

"Julia."

Back to Zed, still lost in the castle, he thought to himself:

"Okay, this floor is empty and I only have 40 floors left."

Suddenly Hatai turned into the hallway and was walking towards Zed. Knowing that if Zed went alone he would be suspected, he quickly entered a nearby room. Zed didn't know that room had an owl pattern that meant it was a very powerful person. Zed turned around and found himself standing in a dark room with floating blue candles, on the table were all kinds of witchcraft such as straw rings, voodoo dummies... On the walls were painted magic rings to create magic. Suddenly someone said:

"Hello stranger."

Zed looked back to see someone dressed as a wizard sitting on a round table and looking at the crystal ball in the middle of the room. Zed said:

"Sorry, I'm just a lost soldier, I'll leave soon."

The wizard replied:

"It's okay, Zed Whitney, owner of the Dream workshop."

Zed whispered:

"What the hell?"

The wizard continued:

"Come over and sit in front of me."

Zed slowly approached the wizard and stood in front of her. Zed says:

"Shall I sit on the floor?"

"There's a chair next to you."

"Which chair?"

Suddenly, a chair appeared right next to Zed, startling him. Zed slowly sat down and said:

"It's strange."

"What else do you need?"

"A mug of wine is fine."

A mug of wine immediately appeared in Zed's hand, he said:

"What the hell? How could you?"

"Magic."

"So you're a magician? Like they say, can do all sorts of magic tricks and then charm people with love spells."

"It's just a game. I'm Wizard Laura Clark - The strongest Wizard in Gloria kingdom. It's more than just here, but there are stronger people in my hometown."

"Yes I see. How did you know my name and why did you call me to see you?"

Laura took off her hood to reveal her beautiful face and shiny black hair. Laura said:

"Magic can do anything including knowing everyone around. And Zed, I want to know your fate."

"What?"

Laura took out a deck of cards and arranged them in an arc in front of Zed and said:

"Raise your hand over each card to see which one chooses you."

Zed calmly listened to Laura and ran his hand over each card. Suddenly a card stuck to Zed's hand, he turned his hand to reveal the Hermit card. Laura said:

"Hermit card, interesting."

"What does it mean?"

"The Hermit is the "withdrawal from events and relationship to introspect and gather strength." Seeking the inner voice or calling upon vision from within. You are a talented person but you are the loneliest. So Zed, choose the right time, not tomorrow or when but Now."

"I really don't believe it, you know. I don't even know who I really am."

"You don't know if it's because you're trying to hide it or you know you're too weak for the truth."

Zed heard those words, he thought to himself:

"The truth?"

Zed finished his mug of wine and said:

"I see, the past I tried to bury."

"You can change that, there's someone who desperately needs you to save."

"Eva."

Laura smiled, she put away the deck and said gently:

"Go and prove you've overcome that past."

"Thank you, but can you help me with Eva's location?"

"No, I'm on the Urizen side, I'm your enemy. I'm just helping you to understand a lesson."

"Haha."

Zed said goodbye to Laura and left the room. Laura smiled and said:

"Good luck, Zed."

Zed continued to look for Eva, he said:

"I'll save you, Eva."

Suddenly Zed slammed his face into someone's back and he fell to the floor. Zed says:

"Who is that?"

It was Hatai, he turned to look at Zed angrily and said:

"Who are you to touch me?"

Zed replied:

"Damn it."

Hatai summoned Horn hammer Zin(It was a large white hammer with a huge head with two ivory tusks at the tip) and slammed the hammer down on Zed. Zed immediately dodged and stepped back to summon the Devil sword Dante. Zed said:

"In that case..."

Back with Julia, she was tied to a chair by the Reaper. Julia kept trying to get out and Reaper pulled out a syringe containing a potion of something. He put the syringe near Julia's neck and said:

"It won't hurt but it will be very painful like hell."

Reaper laughed maniacally and Julia screamed in fear. Suddenly Elastor rushed in and said:

"Sorry, I just happened to be passing by here"

Elastor slammed his great sword Volt into the floor and said:

"Let her go."

Julia replied:

"Elastor, no."

Reaper summoned the Infinity scythe Whisper(It was a black scythe, with a sharp and thorny blade and on its head was a head of a crow) then said:

"You are my new game."

Elastor replied:

"In that case..."

Zed and Elastor raised their weapons at the enemy and said together:

"Let's fight!"

Zed and Elastor's battle with Hatai and Reaper began.