Chapter 34 - The Council of Time

The Elf made his way towards them with his hands at the back. "That useless man was always our weakness," he said.

"Jaszter we have already gone through this conversation, " Weswill interrupted.

"Of course but I never got the chance to prove myself in the trial."

"That's because everyone was on Grypsin's side. And they unlike you have known he wasn't a betrayer."

Jaszter didn't say a word after that. Bryan sighed. "You both...stop this argument." He seemed frustrated somehow.

"Apologies, Your Highness," Weswill said.

"My apologies too," unexpectedly Jaszter said.

"Where are the others?" Bryan asked.

"Well, they..." Weswill looked at the door from where he had entered.

"Ugh...don't tell me..."

"I'll check!" Weswill ran towards the door like there was an emergency.

"What's wrong?" Serefina asked.

"Uh...well. It's not wrong but-" Bryan was interrupted by someone's screaming. A woman's voice.

"This cat doesn't even bother that someone died out here. He keeps making his mischief with that unbearable smirk on his face!" This time it was a squeaky male voice.

"What is happening there?" Kyle asked.

"Looks like someone created some kind of chaos." Rhys claimed.

"Oh don't even get me started about the word chaos here," Bryan sighed for the millionth time.

Serefina's jaw dropped when she saw at least seven people entering the round table room covered in shiny purple goo. Weswill was the only one who was clean. The crowd contained four ladies wearing extravagant gowns and their hair tied in buns. The three men wore suits just like Jaszter. Everyone came inside the giant table through the gap. Their faces were in a frown.

"We are extremely sorry about this, Your Highness," said the male wearing single-eyed glasses in a blue suit, the goo covering his almost grey hair. "That cat! We have to do something about it as soon as possible!"

"Relax, Dowan," Bryan said. "That cat is just an animal. It doesn't understand what's life or death."

"We know that," said the woman whose screaming Serefina had heard before, her green dress sparkling like crazy. Still, the goo covered half her dress. "If we don't do anything, this cat will just keep on creating a mess in the cathedral, and maybe someday the people outside would find out about us."

"We are inside a cathedral?" Serefina blurted out. And she shouldn't have interrupted because the woman glared at her with her green eyes.

Bryan didn't mind her interrupting, or did he? "We are technically beneath a cathedral. This place was built when my dad was of my age. So, no one has known about this place, yet."

Serefina just nodded. She was getting new surprises every day now plus Bryan was asking her to dance with him in front of  all the Time kingdoms. That was nerve racking.

"Your Highness, may I ask who this lady is?" said the lady with burnett hair, "Someone special maybe?" She smiled and raised an eyebrow.

There was an awkward silence. Serefina felt her ears turning red as Bryan said, "She is special, and there's no doubt about that." They looked at each other for that felt like eternity.

The woman with red hair cleared her throat, "I don't mean to interrupt but we have a situation here that needs a solution. With Grypsin gone we lack protection. How are we going to hide ourselves now?"

Bryan's expression changed. He was silent. Serefina had never seen him so...speechless. "I'll think of something but first let me introduce everyone. This is Serefina." He introduced.

"This is Dowan, " he pointed at the one eyed glasses man, "This is Solemn, " he pointed at the blonde man with a red suit, "This is Malvock, " the man with a scar on his right cheek, "Lady Dasera, " The sparkling woman, "Lady Laurani, " the burnett haired woman, "Lady Traasvin," the red haired, "Lady Soo-ha," the Korean woman (well, her name sounded Korean) , "And you've already met Weswill and Jaszter. They all make the Council of Time."

"Nice to meet you all, " Serefina gave her best greeting smile. All of them returned the smile except Lady Dasera and Jaszter snorted.

"Anyways, " Bryan continued. "Have anyone of you...you know?"

"The funeral, you say?" Lady Soo-ha spoke up for the first time. "I was the in charge of that. Well, the coffin is ready but there's no one to put in. He was burnt to ashes."

Serefina felt goosebumps. Grypsin was burnt? It  was brutal. Who on Timeland would do that? Sedvie? Or those ladies who broke the Time Crystals?

"Where's Linda?" Kyle asked. "She was supposed to come here, right?"

"Linda desperately wanted to see Grypsin's ashes, " Lady Laurani said. "She went to the Time forest."

"She went to the Time forest by herself?" Bryan panicked. "And you all didn't stop her?"

"We tried to but it was too late, " Weswill explained. 

"It's still dangerous there, I think I should go look for her before anything unfortunate happens."

"I'll go too, " Serefina blurted out.

"Sef, it's too risky. I can't take you with me."

"Bryan I am not letting you go in a place like that by yourself. As you said it's dangerous. I am going with and that's final."

Bryan sighed, "You will not here me out, will you, sef?"

"In this case, no."

"I would've come but, " Rhys said, "there's something I need to do."

"I too promised to meet Natalie, " Kyle.

"Well, then it's a good thing that you don't have to come, " Bryan sighed. "Sef, let's go."