CHAPTER 6: MEETING

"W-what?" 'My future husband?'

Seraphin couldn't understand what her unknown savior said. Or at least the meaning behind it.

'Did dad sell me to somebody in order to save me?' The only person who could have sent this savior would obviously be her father. 'Oh, daddy, how much did you have to pay to rent such a mercenary?'

Seraphin is smart and intuitive. Just by observing a little, she can easily understand a situation. That's how she managed to help her father to maintain their smithy for so long.

"Listen, I don't know how much-"

"Later, let's go first."

"No!" Seraphin slaps the stranger's hand and backs away a little, bumping the back of her foot on the part of the pillar that got cut earlier. Seraphin knows. She knows that if she goes with the stranger, it would mean the end of her father. Her fate is already sealed but her father…her father can still be saved. With this stranger's strength, it should be possible.

"Listen to me. I don't know how much my father paid you to do this but I won't go. I will accept my destiny. There is no saving me. But I have a job for you. Save my father and bring him into another city, far from here."

"Ah, I didn't know you were like this. I am falling even more in love now."

The stranger speaks like he didn't even care about what Seraphin said, making her angry.

"Did you not-"

All of sudden, Seraphin gets engulfed by light, the same kind of light from which the high servants emerged when they came. When the light faded, she was in the smithy. She easily recognized the place because of the two furnaces in front of her and the charcoal that was burning red and purple. The special charcoal that her father bought from a faraway place.

"H-how?"

"Seraphin?"

Suddenly, behind her, a voice that she would recognize among millions. Tears start to uncontrollably fall as she turns around.

"Father!"

***

Hithindil has been sitting in a corner of his smithy for the past few days. Today, however, unlike the other days, he is holding a bottle of poison in his hand and looking at the fire of the furnace. That fire that his family maintained for all those years. As he is looking at it, the memories of his family gathered in this place are filling his wet teary eyes.

His wife's gentle laugh, his son's cry, his daughter…his daughter's soundful anger. But now, everything is gone. He is the only one left. He is alone. The sharks that wanted his smithy would surely come before long. But he wouldn't let them have the smithy like this. No, never. He would rather burn it to the ground. Yes, burn everything and him with it.

While those thoughts are filling his head and his resolution is getting stronger, a pillar of light suddenly illuminates the room. When it fades, Hithindil's eyes almost burst. What he is seeing is too great, too beautiful to be true. His daughter… No, impossible, it had to be an illusion. Surely the effect of the fume coming from the poison he bought. But still, his mouth opens as if to confirm how far does this illusion goes.

"Seraphin?"

The illusion, however, turns when called, facing him with tears in her eyes. Hithindil cannot hold himself and starts running. Even if an illusion, he has to hold her, even if it is just a dream. But it is no dream, as he touches and hugs her, he realizes it. It is his daughter, the same smell, the same hair color. His daughter was back. He doesn't care how, his daughter is back, that is all that mattered.

***

After a long and nostalgic moment of crying and hugging, Seraphin and her father finally let go of each other. Hithindil holds her by her shoulders, as if to make sure she won't disappear. He is trying to speak, he is honestly trying to but no words accept to come out. It is the same for Seraphin who just keeps crying and crying. But somebody else breaks the silence. The stranger standing behind them, who went and sat down on a chair while they were having a happy reunion.

"Hm-mhm. I believe we should leave soon. They must have noticed something is wrong by now."

It has not been more than ten minutes since Seraphin and the stranger fled from the underground prison. And yet, he is saying that the church already knows she had escaped? Hearing that, Seraphin finally regains her spirit.

"That's true. Father, please, flee with your mercenary. I have already rearranged your contract. You can-"

"What are you talking about?"

Her father's perplexed expression seems weird to Seraphin. But she keeps going.

"No, father, please. You have to escape with him. I am grateful for what you did, and I thank God that I was able to see you one last time. But you must go or else-"

"Seraphin, I don't understand anything you are saying. I never engaged a mercenary."

"WHAT?!!"

The bewildered Seraphin turns towards the stranger after she heard her father's words. The stranger is not a mercenary? Then who is he? Who is he to be able to infiltrate that prison and free her?

"B-but…Then…If it is not…Who are you then?"

The stranger lets out a big sigh as she asks and stands up.

"I told you before. Also, we should move, staying here more than this will put you two in danger."

"I-I-"

"I understand. Please, help us."

While Seraphin is still lost, Hithindil reacts first and speaks to the stranger with courage. He doesn't really understand what is happening or why he is feeling so uncomfortable around this stranger since he saved his daughter, he knows he can trust him, at least for now.

"Okay."

With just that, Seraphin and Hithindil get engulfed in a pillar of light. When the light faded, they are now in the middle of a forest, in front of a small and deteriorated hut.

"Let's enter first."