Chapter 9

Luke was pushed back and his back hit the wall hard, he was sure he heard a crack before the familiar feeling of pain overwhelmed his senses. Surely, a few bones were broken from the sheer force.

River stood up horridly with her sword in her hand. She levitated to the air, she felt pressure applied to her neck as she was slowly being suffocated.

"Who'd have thought we'd find the one with the butterfly tattoo five minutes after His Majesty made that announcement, and right in the place we chose to camp for the night too," a woman said. She sounded quite seductive when she came into sight.

Her luscious black hair parted to the left, covering her left eye, her right eye was purple, wore black eyeshadow with red, sharp eyeliner. She licks her blood-red lips and smirks seductively.

She has a quite revealing outfit. She wore a pair of trousers which was incredibly revealing the shape of her waist down, with a pair of leather boots. She also wore a corset on top of a tunic.

"The princess, too? It must be our lucky day, isn't it Gin?" she said.

"Yes, but we have to capture the princess, not kill her Eve," a timid voice said. A girl stepped in, her head was lying low, and she too had black hair, but her face wasn't visible either except for her lips, which were more pinkish than red. She was wearing a gown that reached her knees, with a pair of ankle leather boots, and like her Eve she was wearing a corset, but she didn't have as much shape as her to show off.

Luke whistled despite the amount of pain he was in. "I'm supposing you guys are here to kill me?" he said calmly.

"Why of course," Eve said flipping her hair. "The king has demanded that your head be brought to him for a bounty of five thousand gold coins," she said, she took a vial filled with red liquid which multiplied and formed into a sword. "Unfortunately, we have to kill you now, I hope you understand, doll," she said giggling.

Luke swallowed a bit. To be honest, he always thought his killer would be himself, and he doesn't plan on letting that down.

He slowly raised his jaw about to bite down and commit suicide by suffocation. 'Tim, you idiot,' he thought. 'You can no longer go home.' He then began laughing to himself thinking of how devastated Tim would be to learn he was dead.

He readied himself, and just as he was about to bite down, he fell face down to the ground, he struggled to raise his head and looked up to see Gin was stabbed by a blonde man in the chest.

River too fell to the ground, coughing as she held her throat.

"Gin!" Eve screamed turning around.

The sword was pulled out of Gin's chest, and blood flowed out of her stab wound then she fell to the ground.

Pat appeared behind Eve, claws extended from her hand.

The orange-haired man stepped forward, he was looking at her coldly. "It would be a pity to kill two beauties," he said nonchalantly. "I'll give you this one chance to leave and never appear before us again," he said coldly.

Eve sneered her blood sword disformed and she ran to Gin picking her up, not caring if her blood was staining her. Fortunately, she was still breathing although it was quite slowly.

'I'll get you for this!' she thought angrily as she ran out of the cave.

"Alright then," the orange-haired man said walking to the princess and picking her up and dropping Tim to the ground harshly. "Let's go," he said smiling contentedly.

"W-wait," River said sounding hurt. "We have to help him," she said looking at Luke, who had already sat up and his back against the wall.

"We already did," the orange-haired man said. "He's alive, he's dangerous and he comes from the same place that bastard did, it wouldn't be wise to trust him."

Luke watched as they left with River, then looked at Tim. 'It's still just us, huh?' he thought, then stood up. The pain weakened him and he fell back to his knees.

He grits his teeth in frustration. He's back in his nineteen-year-old body, this body didn't go through what he went through in prison.

He endured the pain standing up and began moving. His head hurts a lot too, it is a wonder his skull didn't break rather both of his scapula, a few ribs, and probably his ilium. 

His legs shook as he struggled to get up. He goes to the place where he kept the stuff he had taken out as he needs to recreate the time machine. He carries them ignoring the difficulty and pain he's having and perseveres.

Tim wakes up to a fire burning. He sits up and sees Luke writing something opposite him. He was sitting in a lotus position and his face was incredibly pale and flushed as he was breathing heavily.

He sits up hurriedly and rushes to Luke, touching his forehead, which is a bit too warm. His hand was slapped away.

He immediately notices Luke's turning paler as he shudders in pain, his eyes rolling behind his head and then him fainting.

Tim put his head on Luke's chest immediately, his heart was beating fast, and his temperature rose even more.

"We have to save him," River said for the tenth time that day. "He's badly hurt."

The orange-haired man pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He was preparing dinner for the entire group and he wasn't enjoying that River was saying this again "For the last time princess," he said growing impatient with her. "We already saved him! Why are you so desperate to save him?" he exclaimed in frustration.

"He saved me from David!" River replies, shouting back at him. "Did you even read his aura to know what he's like, Quince?" she exclaimed.

The orange-haired man's right eye twitched angrily. "That's it I'm leaving," he said disappearing.

"She's just like her father," the blonde man, whose name is William, said.

"And that is not a good thing," Pat said coldly as she walked to River who was drawing on the ground with a stick.

She sat down where Quince sat earlier and began watching the soup boil slowly. "What was his aura like?" she asked.

"It was grey," River replies. "There was no sign of happiness or sadness in his life."

"A person with a soul like that has no desire to live," Pat said bluntly. "So why would you want to save someone with no desire to live?"

"He told me the only reason he appeared here was to take David back home," she said.

"David is his guardian," Pat said trying to reason with her.

"Then why did David look afraid of him?" River questioned.

Pat held her breath. She was about to get frustrated, but she held her breath and began breathing in and out heavily. "Fine, if we help him with whatever you want then we leave," she said.

"But we were playing a game as well," River said whining a bit.

"You are an infuriating child," Pat said calmly. "Fine, finish your game and we leave him and his companion alone."