11. Grief

Nora clinch her chest with her hands, all she feels is sadness, regrets and agony, she wish she could turn back time, they could have stayed with the queen and help the kingdom, they could have done alot to reduce the casualties, but it too late, the deed had already been done, no one can undo what has happen, she wish she was given a second chance, then she'll have stayed in the kingdom and fought with all her might. thou the queen is not dead yet but she will be anyway, no one walks out of the Coral Dungeon alive, it was built with dark magic mix with wave energy at the bottom of the sea, it's so dark even for someone using the sacred light of the light magic, distrupting the mental health, who ever cultivate an Art hardly live for a day because the wave energy used, it sucks out energy from the creature, the queen is so strong but was yet overpowered, Nora knew of no one in the kingdom as strong as the quee since the fall of their great king. 

The more Nora remembers those things, the more tears flows out of her eyes, she promise the king to never give up on her family, but she failed, she left the kingdom and everything got ruined, she was so careless she let her only beloved brother down, now his laying lifeless with no hope of surviving, life is indeed cruel, it takes away all she possessed then left her alone, alone to face all the pain, She can't do it alone, the pain is unbearable, it shredding her heart,digging holes in her soul leaving her with empty shell with no way to fix it. Her body shakes, feeling dizzy and nauseous, she lay next to Rayd moving some of the hair strands covering his eyes, she stare at him for she knows how long, her tears dried up but she still lay motionless her body went numb which moves on autopilot, her thoughts went blank, she could think of nothing right now, all she wish for was the pain to go away, it hurts so bad. 

The girl was scared, she barely escapes their kingdom and then this, why are they such cruel monsters, lusting for the worldly possessions, forgetting they're mortals which means they could also be killed mercilessly. Their surrounding was getting darker, the houses are disappearing slowly seeming unnoticed, the collapsed mansion has now turn to dust same as the other houses in the Fortress, the girl panic at the sudden change around her, it only means the fortress is disappearing, their time is up, Nora was oblivious to those changes lost in her thoughts and grief, the girl muster up the courage to talk to her master before they get stuck.

"We stayed for long in here master, we should leave before the lights fade and get stuck in here".

That when Nora gaze left Rayd, she looks at the girl before noticing her surrounding, another mistake she's about to make for not noticing her surrounding, she nods her head lazily standing up slowly.

" Just call me Nora", she said after standing up moving towards the girl,

The girl looks at Nora for a few second before averting her gaze, 

"Am not sure master, but can I?", The girl ask 

Nora nod her head while answering " sure, I just told you to call me that right, thats more better than the master thing", she said.

The girl smiled softly "Nora", she whispers as if afraid of the name.

"Quick, we should hurry", Nora said rushing to Rayd lifting him up, the girl shift to her wolf form and kneel close to them, Nora try putting Rayd on with the aid of the wolf. They hardly make it to the light before it dims, the wolf ran faster both she and her master scared.

" I was scared we're going to get stuck", Nora said catching her breath as she sits beneath a tree, they both look at the portal door dimming completely, the milkish ball had turn black, Nora walks towards the ball and pick it up, she examine the small ball which looks like a round crystal.

"I think someone drop it knowingly or unknowingly", Nora said

The girl look at Nora confused " why do you say so master",

"It a movable space portal not natural Space Portal, someone must be holding unto it waiting for the door to open, it hard to find a natural Space Portal unless it was opened by a space mage and it takes alot of energy to do so, the person must have a higher cultivation to open such natural Space Portals", Nora explained to the girl.

" But master, who would drop something as precious as an elf kingdom space vortex", she asks inching closer to take a look at the black like crystal.

" I told you to just call me Nora", 

"Am sorry, am not use to it", 

"That fine, am sure you will",

Their stomach grumble at the same time, they look at each other, the looks away shyly while Nora smiled.

" I have some food in my bag if you'd like some", Nora said walking to her bag which lay close to Rayd underneath the tree.

They both sits Nora bringing out folded leaves from her bag, 

" It mostly lobster and shrimps, I don't know if you eat those".

" I love sea food but I prefer fish especially grilled". She closed her eyes as if savoring a long lost taste.

" We are mermaid royalty, eating fishes are prohibited and I never thought wolf eat sea food". Nora said unraping the leaves.

" Well, we do eat in our human form, and fish is my favourite Cox I get to eat all kind of meat when we go hunting with my Grandma". 

" You look young when we first met, I never knew you could shift, I thought it just some furious wolf", Nora said taking a bite of the lobster.

" Woooooo, your cooks must be good, those are great", the girl chew the lobster bobbing her head.

" Don't change the subject girl, I know what you trying to do",,

" I was in frenzy and in rage, am sorry I caused trouble",

" Where are your parents, you're too young to move around the forest alone", 

" Am on my way to hunt when I heard your voices, but when I saw you guys, I couldn't stop because of a certain reason".

"You lying girl, I can feel it through the link",

 The girl shift her gaze looking at the shrimp in her hand,

" What your name", Nora asks softly looking at the girl who's blinking back tears.

She looks at Nora before answering lowly, "Lyra".