Chapter 64: Turn of Events

All the teams from different entrances started sprinting inside the maze, searching for the eggs with incredible speed. Dalary couldn't be able to keep up with her teammates, as she was panting after running for half an hour. Stamina isn't her thing at all.

Meanwhile, Pholly and her team continued to charge in every single path they could fine, meeting the monsters, the eggs, or the other contestants. They were known to be on the top among all the other teams, thus eliminating them so easily.

Teams are stealing eggs from others and sometimes, eliminating them completely. It wasn't the guarding beasts that were a big deal, it was the top teams themselves.

Just as expected and as planned, Dalary's team couldn't even be able to reach the top 5 teams on the big screen in front of them. It wasn't her top mission anyway, and she was too lucky that the tournament played along with her plan.

It had been an hour and the whole arena became a mess, as the teams were wiped out one by one by the others that were stronger than them. But the crowds continued to cheer, adding their noise to the work of chaos below.

It was a disaster.

Meria couldn't help but be worried about the sisters that were lurking between the mazes. Thankfully, after a while, Dalary and her team went out, accepting their defeat but at least, they weren't involved in the rampage inside. Some might have died and brought to the infirmary but they were just glad that their suffering finally ended. Now, the only one left was Pholly.

She was still busy fighting off monsters and other people, as her thoughts started to pull her to the back of her mind. The words Redael told her were spinning inside her brain, covering her focus on the matter at hand.

Suddenly, someone from a far distance, hiding in between the walls, took it as a chance to fire a red magic orb on her way, shouting Apollus. She heard it and ready to sprint but before she could avoid the attack, it was already too late. The crack on the orb started to increase more as it floated in the air.

It was like everything went into slow-motion. It was already in front of her but all she could do was to stand, shivering in her feet. She had never felt how it's like to be dead, so she wasn't sure if she wanted it. But she didn't have a choice. She couldn't be able to do anything with her situation.

She shut her eyes, waiting for her time to come. A minute passed but there was no sign of explosion along her way. Out of curiosity, she opened her eyes and in front of her was Redael, looking at an explosion from a distance. It seems like she hit the orb away from them at an incredible speed… how?

"Didn't I tell you to be careful?" Redael said with less emotion as possible on her face. She didn't even bother to look at her companion to check if she was alright.

But her pride goes first, thus never thanking nor apologizing to her about what happened. She knew that she had no reason to do such things as she never requested to save her in the first place.

The chaotic battle goes on, and the top team, which where Pholly and Redael were, continued eliminating the others one by one like they were smashing ants on the ground. Thankfully, their weapons caused the illusion to let the other opponents experience death, but they haven't died yet.

After hours of cheering crowds and deadly fights, the second stage was finally over with only one team standing and holding all of the nine eggs as mentioned at the start of the round.

Pholly won along with Redael and her team, reserving a spot towards the finals. Just like the last time, they were given an hour break before the final stage of the tournament.

The bleachers started to get messy, as hundreds of people piled up at the gate on both sides, pushing themselves out to prepare before the finals, while the others stayed on their seats, couldn't wait to watch.

Meria and Cainne were still tracking down people that entered and exited the gates but there was no sign of the man Heron. An hour had passed and they didn't have any leads where he would be. The crowds went back on filling up the seats of the bleachers, ready for the show.

"Meria! Cainne!"

As they were about to lose hope, all of a sudden, a familiar scream from a maiden lifted their heads up. They turned around in every direction, until they saw Dalary at a far distance below, yelling at the top of her lungs.

"D-Dalary?" Meria exclaimed, with her eyebrow raised. She knew that she was already been ousted and planned to approach them, but she never expected that she would be desperate to call them.

"It wasn't Heron at all!" She shouted, but the crowds grew thicker, keeping her from walking towards them that easily. Every time she tried to take a step on the stairs, she got pushed down. She didn't have a choice but to yell.

"It was Vison! Heron is Vison!"

***

It had been his tenth yawn since Kandani started focusing on being a lookout. True, his friends needed him in order to watch out for the chasers from the Deravon army or the daminons, but the longer he stayed in the cargo, the more bored he could be.

He couldn't speak with the animals so he didn't have a chance to talk to Dino, the only companion he got this time. He missed Eldon, and his friend Tasan. Even though he was betrayed and witnessed his kind got killed in front of him, he wished that it never happened, that they should have become normal scarnets, innocently dreaming about everything.

He started to wonder if… Tasan thought the same before.

"Excuse me, sir."

As he was about to get drowned in his thoughts and homesickness, he was woken up by the deep voice of a man in front of him. He stood straight, with his chin and chest up, and his hand on his lap out of surprise.

He raised his head and saw a man with a pale face like that of a corpse, with golden eyes sparkling under the sun and winged ears, telling that he was an encantor. His long silver hair reached the ground, as he was wearing protective golden armor. He rode on his horse, along with two other men with the same features as his with shorter hair while the rest were standing on their backs, waiting for a command.

Kandani couldn't help but be stunned at the beautiful men, as well as the other people that were nearby. They couldn't be able to do their job properly as their charisma distracted them.

Unlike the other human kingdoms, Astraen had never disliked the encantors. They were idolizing them, while others worshipped them, because of their majesty and elegance. They were like the masterpieces of the gods that should never be stained.

But the man in the golden armor widened his eyes as he finally realized Kandani's true identity. With their enhanced sight, he couldn't be able to hide that he was a scarnet from the encantors.

They were informed that Eldon, the only scarnet town in the land of the humans, was massacred by daminons so they wouldn't expect any scarnet to be here.

Both of them were frozen in their position, as they realized the other's races. But the man shook his head and wore a straight face, didn't let his guard down.

"Do you happen to pass through a strange… encantor?" He asked as he turned his head around the streets of the capital, with people still staring at their presence.

"He had the skills of a swordsman, and a mind of a general…" He added. Then, he turned his head to Kandani, showing his power and intimidation. He lowered his head and looked at him in the eye, which made the latter gulped. "His name was… Cainne."

After hearing a familiar name coming from a powerful encantor, he couldn't help but widen his eyes out of shock. Out of all the people he knew, he didn't expect that it would be Cainne. But why?

"S-Sorry, sir… But I haven't…" He stuttered in his words, spitting it like it was the truth. After short seconds of debating in his head whether he should tell it or not, he finally had decided. He wouldn't let his friend's condition to be revealed unless he will know the purpose of their search for him.

"I see…" The man said with a raised eyebrow, looking through his lies. He had made the situation worse than before.

Then, a compilation of screams from the arena caught their attention, turning their head to the dome at a near distance. The encantor continued to stare at it, while Kandani gulped once more as he knew that his friends were inside.

They started marching inside the dome, leaving the scarnet alone with the wagon and Dino. He took this chance to grab the orb that could transmit messages to contact Cainne on the inside. He might not know who were those armies, but he knew it would end up bad.

***

"What?" Cainne exclaimed as he heard what Dalary said earlier, and turned his head around to see Meria with the same face as his. The tendrin, no matter how tall she was, couldn't be able to reach for them at the top of the stage, continued to struggle in the crowd.

"Welcome folks to the final stage! Are you ready?!" The announcer yells which made the crowds scream louder than earlier. It was the finals after all.

The excited people made Dalary's struggle harder than she had experienced before. She had a hard time breathing between the crowds, as her position was farther than earlier.

"The first battle will be between… Redael!" He yelled, which made the crowds scream more, "and… Pholly!"

Along with the screams of the audience, the contestants Redael and Pholly walked forward towards the middle of the arena with a great distance between them. They were facing each other, putting their game face on.

They couldn't help but be worried about their friend in a tournament, but Dalary, who was still struggling is their priority.

Meria and Cainne tried to help her by walking downwards and reaching their hands when all of a sudden, the encantor's magic orb started to ring. He postponed his help to the tendrin and grabbed the orb from his pocket.

It was the magic orb that could receive messages from Kandani. He said that he will just use it if he saw some chasers looking for them outside. He accepted the message and the orb cracked, turning himself into a small speaker.

"Cainne," Kandani's voice was heard from the orb, which made Meria's eyes widened out of shock. She had never seen such an amazing magic orb before, let alone sending messages without walking or transporting.

Both of them stayed quiet, ready to listen to what the other line was about to say.

"Someone was looking for you, an encantor army."

As soon as he heard what he said, his eyes widened. He couldn't believe what he just heard in the messages. He was sure that he stayed hidden and safe, counted the clairvoyants he knew, but he didn't expect that they had this high-level magic to detect him.

At the same time, on the other side of the gate, was an army in golden armors, started marching inside.