Chapter 56: The cloaked man

Astraea had not expected to enter the gates of heaven when she walked into Sedgwick's restaurant. It was apparently owned by the same people who owned Sophie's café, and after trying the mouthwatering desserts at the café she couldn't wait to try the food.

As she stepped through the door, she was surprised by how big it was, since Sophie's café was quite small. 

The interior of the restaurant was pale blue and white walls with varnished wooden floors. She quite liked the blue porcelain plates that were hung against the walls for decoration. Even though she had come early, only an hour after its opening, the restaurant was practically full.

A man dressed in a suit, escorted Astraea and her attendant to a table right next to the window so that they could have a view of the Harbor side.

As Astraea's eyes rolled down the menu she realized that she didn't recognize any of the items of the menu, so she was so glad that each meal came with a small but very accurate painting of what it looked like next to it.

She was really surprised to see that there was only one stew on the menu, since stew was such a popular dish in most kingdoms. Since she was here she decided that she would be brave and try something new, so she ordered the burger and chicken combo for her and her attendant to share.

When the food came she couldn't believe the amazing smell it was giving off, so enticing that she didn't hold proper eating form and immediately tucked in. As soon as she took a bite, she was in heaven. She had ascended ordinary culinary experiences and stepped into a world of pure cheesy, meaty, oily, salty bliss.

She groaned in satisfaction.

Astraea looked across the table to her attendant so see if she was having the same reaction. She laughed at what she saw. Her attendant's eyes were rolled all the way back in her head as she chewed on the huge bite she had just taken from the burger.

"Your Highness. This food is truly incredible." She moaned as she took another large bite.

The pair finished off the food on silence as she munched on their burgers and dipped their fried chicken into the sauce.

After they were finished they were completely satiated and could barely move, but vowed to come back later and try the other things on the menu.

Astraea and her attendant wobbled out of Sedgewick's restaurant with full bellies and satisfied smirks on their faces.

Meanwhile across the kingdom, the numerous Sophie's café's were opening up and people were charging through the doors to get a taste of the famed iced cream. At one point if felt like the whole kingdom was moaning with satisfaction after tasting the goods the café's had to offer.

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In Hadrian, Alice was teaching Riley how to use fire magic, the only element she hadn't used yet. As they were going through the motions of the lesson, Riley realized that Alice relied on her emotions to magnify her fire magic which was what made her fire so strong and powerful. For instance during the Mage tournament where Alice faced off with Rosalie, her fire style was so strong because she channeled her anger into her casting and thus was able to easily blow away Rosalie's merge magic.

Riley

"When I need to use offensive magic, I draw from painful memories that make me angry or sad. Those emotions are good for situations where you need to attack your enemies because they tend to be the most powerful. However for situations where I just want to display my magic, for a party or something that isn't serious, I can just use happy memories, anything that will stimulate my mind positively..." Alice explained.

I nodded following along carefully.

"You have to be careful though, because although emotions are powerful, they are extremely volatile and in a sense you lose control over your magic if you let your emotions control you."

From the way Alice spoke about fire magic I could tell how devoted she was to it, how serious and how well she understood it. She was a true master and I had a lot to learn from her.

A unpleasant shiver crawled up the back of my spine like I was being licked by a slimy cold tongue. The sensation was horrible and made me jump out of my chair in disgust.

"Riley what's wrong?" Alice asked looking shocked at my sudden reaction.

"Something is wrong..." my hands wouldn't stop shaking as I tried to wipe away the cold disgusting feeling from the back of my neck.

"Riley you've gone as white as a sheet. What's happened? Please tell me." Alice's voice usually helped calm me down, but my instincts were screaming at me to do something, what I was supposed to do I didn't know though!

My mind was racing through all the things that could be wrong, all my projects, all my plans, my mind was sorting through them trying to uncover what was making my alarm bells ring like this.

My mind clicked when I reached the expedition I sent those men on to find the holy cores. Something bad was happening and I needed to go there immediately.

"I need to go." I said flustered as I pushed my hand through my black hair.

"What? Go where?" Alice asked completely confused.

"Something has gone wrong. Something bad is happening with the expedition. I need to go and make sure they are alright." I was flustered and unsure that I was babbling and I knew this probably didn't make any sense to poor Alice. All I knew was that I needed to go and make sure all the adventurers were alright.

"Okay, Riley. Just calm down."

"No I need to go now Alice!" I was panicking and it wasn't a pretty picture.

"Ok! Ok! But take me with you..." Alice said as she grabbed my hand.

I nodded. That was a good idea. Alice was really powerful so she would make a great partner in case I needed to fight someone.

"Transportation!" I called out as I let the magic Well in the meaning of my words.

In an instant Alice and were transported to the Nomansland where the adventures were already in the process of collecting the third holy core from the water nymphs that protected the holy water core. I had been watching them all week as they had successfully and peacefully been able to gather the holy cores, with the few exceptions of a few nasty stray orc packs that had tried to start trouble with them. Needless to say the adventurers has dealt with them swiftly and neatly.

Alice and I appeared in the lush green swamp right next to where the adventurers had parked their flying chariots while they had gone to go and make a deal with the water nymphs.

When we arrived I had expected to hear screaming or see someone fighting, but that was not the case. The situation looked completely calm. About a hundred meters in the distance, Edgar and Lord Elian were politely chatting with the water nymphs, probably trying to negotiate a peaceful pact, while the rest of the party stood around picking their noses.

"Everything looks alright Riley... why were you so anxious just now?" She asked poking my shoulder.

"I don't know..." I frowned suspiciously at the scenery around me. My instincts had never steered me wrong and yet as I looked around, nothing was out of place, not a single thing. The swamp was as green and muddy as it should be. The sky was as cloudy and foggy as you would suspect a swamp to be. Nothing was surprising or unusual or alarming.

Had I seriously just flipped out for nothing...?

No. I refused to believe that I had become that crazy. Just a few moments ago it had felt like it was a life or death situation that I get to the swamp. My instincts had practically been screaming at me. I had panicked. And yet there was no terror or chaos to show for it.

"Sorry Alice. I really thought something and had happened..." I looked at her apologetically for interrupting our lesson. I felt like such a shoddy friend.

"That okay Riley." She smiled, patting the top of my head softly. "It's always good to follow your instincts. Even if they turn out to be false like this time."

"Yeah. I really don't know what happened." I laughed. "Maybe my body is taking revenge on me for stuffing so much iced cream and cake down my throat."

Alice snorted.

"Oh heavens. I hope my body doesn't take revenge on me like this." We laughed together for a moment before I turned around to reopen the portal when I saw it, and that very same alarming instinct blared in my head like a ambulance siren.

Danger. Danger.

My gut twisted and folded in on itself which let me know just how scared I should be. I stared into the foggy distance a few meters away from Alice and I at the black blob of a figure standing dead still, just looking at us.

His figure was blurred between the fog of the swamp and the greenery shielding him.

I quickly stepped in front of Alice, ready to shield her if it decided to attack.

My heart was pounding in my chest but my mind was clear. This person was dangerous.

His foggy figure started to retreat into the swamp, but I knew I had to follow him. I had to stop whatever evil deeds he was doing, my instincts were screaming at me to do so.

I scampered after the receding figure with Alice close on my tail. The foggy shadowy figure seemed to get further and further away the closer I got to him. But for some reason I was just a mad woman dumbly following him deeper and deeper into the swamp. My legs hurt from trudging through swampy mud, and my dress was getting torn from being caught in jagged thorns. However I still followed, until Alice and I finally burst out into a grassy clearing in the middle of the swamp. The man who we had been chasing was standing right in the middle patiently waiting for us.

I saw now that he was wearing a thick black cloak and hood that covered everything from his face to his feet. He looked eerie in the clearing, like he was just a large piece of black cloth levitating by itself.

"Who are you?" I demanded to know.

I heard a grim slimy chuckle come from within the black hood. So creepy that it made My breath hitch in my throat. I was beginning to question whether the thing in front of us was actually human.

"Who are you?" I demanded again, but I was sure my voice was much shakier this time.

"You don't know who I am yet...?" There was a thick air of mocking in his tone, that was laced with pure malice.

"That hurts my feelings..." he tilted his head to the side his enough so that his dark hood exposed his thin pale lips that were carved upwards into a thin creepy smile. "... Riley."

I stiffened at the sound of my name coming from him. I felt Alice grip my hand wearily. I could sense that she was just as frightened as I was.

"How do you know who I am?" I shouted, even though I was afraid to know the answer.

Again he chuckled that dark slimy chuckle that made my skin crawl.

"We are the same, you an I..." his tone was so conceited and cruel that everything he said sounded like an insult.

"What do you mean..."

From next to me, I hadn't realized how tense Alice had been getting during my conversation with the man in the black. I only noticed how freaked out she was when she interrupted me.

"Enough of this!" Alice screeched. I turned to look at her face and saw fear and panic written all over it. The cloaked man was having the same effect over her as he had over me.

"Phoenix flames!" She started to cast her spell so quickly that I had no time to stop her. "Fire mountain attack!"

Just like that, five huge phoenixes made of hot red flames scorched the foggy air around us and flew at a screeching speed towards the man in black. I had seen Alice do this spell before, and I knew it was powerful enough to take care of any master Mage. The five phoenixes cut through the air viciously as they headed towards their target.

But I knew something was wrong when he began to chuckle again.

He raised his right hand and waved it through the air in front of him, dismissively, as if he was fanning away a fly.

Just like that, the five monstrous phoenixes dissipated into nothingness in the foggy air before they even reached him. Just like that he stopped one of Alice's most impressive and dangerous attacks.

"No!" Screamed Alice.

"That's impossible!" Alice's eyes were frantic and her breathing was so heavy, like she was having a panic attack. From the way she was acting I guessed that the cloaked man must have some kind of special skill that allowed him to freak out his opponents. Whatever the deal was I needed to get Alice away from here becasue it seemed like the longer she stayed here the worse she was getting. Right now she was barely able to stand becasue her breathing was so rugged and her face had gone a disturbing shade of bright red.

"Transportation!" I opened the portal to Hadrian and swiftly moved the panicking Alice through the portal and onto the living room floor. I then closed the portal and then focused back on the cloaked man. I was ready to get serious now.

"Still no clue Riley? About who I am?" His smile widened into an even more terrifying toothy grin that put me even more on edge.

"No?" He teased me. "Then I guess I'll have to wait a bit longer for you to figure it out... huh?" He was patronizing me, as if I were some little child for him to toy with.

"How's Fitz by the way? I didn't get to say goodbye to him after are little meeting int he forest."

My heart froze in my chest and my blood went cold. This was the man responsible for Fitz's demonization when the demonized wolves attacked their party in the woods between Gismead and Patagonia ...?

"You demonized Fitz?" I whispered almost unwilling to believe it.

"How could you do that to someone?" I asked incredulously, I had assumed that Fitz had somehow gotten demonized by one of the demonized wolves that had bitten him, like an infection. furthermore, the way this crazy person was chuckling made it seem like he didn't understand the severity of what he had done.

"How could I do that? People like us can do things like that quite easily you know." He smirked at me from across the clearing. I was amusing him, this was all a game to him...

"I've had enough of your games." I scowled at him as I started to release my magic and break open the flood gates to my true powers. I had the feeling that for the first time since coming here I was going to really need to use everything I had.

"Riley.... are you getting serious with me?" He laughed out loud with a childish cackle that made me anxious.

"What a pity..." he sighed dramatically. "I'd love to get serious with you, but I have to go now."

"No, you are not leaving until I get answers out of you!" I shouted at him.

"Don't get all pent up, I won't leave you high and dry without any clues..." he smirked.

We stood there, looking at each other, each waiting for the other to act first. I should have acted first in hindsight.

"Hhmm." He sighed thoughtfully as if really thinking over what my clue should be, until that thin smile slithered across his thin lips and he had settled on what my clue would be.

"See you soon..."

"...Riley-chan."

The air crashed into my lungs like a giant wave against the coastline rocks. The reality of the situation hit me like a Motherducking truck.

That hooded man used a common Japanese term that was said in every single anime or manga. He had just called me 'Riley-chan'. Nobody from Arteria could have know that term.

With that, the cloaked man lifted his left hand into the air, revealing the very obvious very recognizable Rolex watch on his wrist, and snapped his fingers. He was suddenly gone, without a trace.

There was no mistaking it, not after seeing the Rolex. He was a reincarnated person, just like me...

And even more shocking was that he somehow got reincarnated as a villain. How on Arteria did the gods allow that to happen? What in the name of Girannon was going on!?

Without a moment to waste I teleported back to Hadrian, where I found Edna and Mellie taking care of Alice.

"Milady what happened?" Mellie cried as I teleported into the living room.

"I don't have time explain right now Mellie. I need to go to the palace and talk to Geoffrey." I dismissed her as I headed for the door and grabbed my coat.

"Edna. Take good care of Alice. Mellie go and fetch Cornelius form the lake. Alice will want to be comforted by her brother when she wakes up."

With that said, I dashed out of the front doors and made my way to the garden. Form there I teleported to the gates of the palace. The guards immediately recognised me and let me in. From there I entered the main hall of the palace and grabbed the first butler I saw and told him that I urgently needed to speek to Prince Geoffrey. I then waited impatiently for the butler to come back and escort me to Geoffrey's quarters. It was just my luck that the King happened to by hanging around in his son's room that day, so I got an audience with them both.

"Goodday your Majesty." I greeted the king with a low curtsey.

"Goodday your highness." I greeted Geoffrey with a low curtsey.

I took in a deep breath while thinking about how I was supposed to explain this all to them. Somehow I had to explain that I had lied to them and that I was actually a chosen child. I would then have to explain that I met another reincarnated person in the woods who took credit for the demonization of Fitz and could possibly be the culprit behind the series of demonized attacks in all the kingdoms. On top of that I would have to inform them of how powerful he was becasue he was a reincarnated person and that he had some crazy skill that made his opponents freak out when he was around. On top of that I was thinking about telling Geoffrey that I had a tiny little crush on him because at this point I really had nothing to lose.

Please comment and vote!! did anyone see that plot twist coming?!?!?! :>