Shackles

Marlowlia is currently moving slowly down the corridors, and it's easy just to catch up to her.

I am pretending to be just passing by and running into her. Her head is down, and her hands are curled into fists. She continues to walk without talking to me.

It doesn't seem like she sees or hears me; she is completely out of the moment. Suddenly, her movement speed increases, and she's walking three times as fast. I match her tempo and call out her name.

Slowing down and looking behind her, her face is neutral, but I sense a sense of guilt behind that mask. She is secretly deep down feeling guilty about the conditions she has accepted with her father.

"Marlowlia, when is lunch being served?"

"I don't know." She pulls out a piece of paper from her pocket and checks it.

"11:30."

"I don't have a clock to check the time."

She tells me that the maids are going to call when lunch is ready, so I don't need to worry.

We continue walking, and a dreadful silence embraces us both. Marlowlia doesn't want to say anything, and I can't think of anything to say to Marlowlia.

"Marlowlia, where are you going now?"

"I'm gonna go to the main hall and check up on Aylin."

Reaching the main hall, she calls one of her maids to come and lead us to Aylin's room.

The girl with long black hair in ponytails comes rushing down the staircase.

"You called?"

"Can you help us to Aylin's room?"

"Roger that!"

Zeri then asks us to just follow her. We go up onto the second floor. We continue a bit down the corridor before reaching the guest bedrooms.

Room 219.

Zeri knocks and announces that we are there, but no response comes from the room. I try knocking louder, thinking that Aylin is sleeping or didn't hear the initial knock.

After a minute or so, Zeri gets tired of waiting, takes out her keys, and unlocks the door. The room is empty; there is no one in the room. Aylin has settled in because dirty clothes are lying all over the floor. Zeri starts to pick up the dirty garments and places them into a basket. "I'm gonna take care of this, don't worry."

She then hauls the clothes off.

A faint sound comes from the left. There are windows all over the mansion, and when I look out of one of them, I see Aylin.

She is yelling out some things.

This is so confusing; Aylin is outside, screaming something. Running down the staircase, Marlowlia watches as I hurry out.

Outside, Aylin is still yelling.

"OSLOVI, WHERE ARE YOU!"

"What are you doing Aylin?"

She then starts to explain that when she let go of Oslovi, it ran off, and she chased after it. But it got away, and it is now missing. She thinks Oslovi saw the same bird from earlier and wanted to snack on it, so it ran.

Aylin asks me to help find Oslovi, which I agree to.

We search around the Fivindius estate without any traces of our cat. It has seriously disappeared.

I then remember the conversation I overheard; Marlowlia's dad was going to turn me in to the authorities if I failed to cure Fiviana. I have to find Oslovi, and fast.

A drop falls onto my face, a second drop, and then the rain comes down. We hurry back into the mansion to seek cover.

"I'm sorry for losing Oslovi! I should have been looking after it."

"It will probably come back after eating. I think it is nothing to be worried over."

"Lunch has been served; you may eat as much as you please."

The maid appears out of nowhere and spooks me and Aylin. We follow the maid to the dining room.

Long fancy tables, golden utensils, the finest silk cloth you can get. The plates are meticulously crafted with patterns and colors. On the table upfront lies food that Aylin has never seen before. This stuff is more deluxe than the food served at Fukviyu.

It is an endless buffet of meals and drinks; there are even desserts! I start taking up the food one by one and putting it on my plate; whenever it is filled, I take another plate. I come back to the table with 4 plates filled with food.

Aylin tries to whisper to me.

"Can you be a little more modest? We are in a rich person's house."

Oh yeah, right, we are guests. We are supposed to be gregarious and respectful.

That's right, I can't just have all the types of food at my table. I have to have all the desserts too! What am I doing?

I run over to the food table and grab all the different types of desserts.

"Here Aylin, want any of these?"

She asks me to give her the sakura mochi one. Aylin places the mochi in her mouth, and her expression starts to melt.

We thank the maids for the scrumptious meal and return to our rooms. Oslovi hasn't returned yet; it has been a few hours since its disappearance, and I start to worry.

The entire journey here is to cure Fiviana, but without Oslovi, we can't heal her.

Why am I even here in the first place? I lie down on the soft bed. Thinking about my past experiences, it has been one hell of a month.

Kidnapping some princess, finding a cute girl in an alley, the mission to save her sister. Then I learn that Aeons wants to kill me, getting saved by Aylin. Aylin wants us to go to Serenity Mountain to heal our mentalities. We meet Sekito and Devina. Complete Sekito's trial, Breakage comes out of nowhere and curses Emovi. Now we are in Nautilus trying to heal Emovi and Fiviana.

The device Devina gave me starts to vibrate. I open it and see that the time is already 20:00.

*incoming call from Devina*

"Go outside and meet up with me; it's time to go."

"Ok."

I hang up.

I start preparing for the mission; I clothe myself correctly and wear thick clothing for the freezing temperatures underground.

I unlock the door, step outside, and put my keys in to lock. As I'm putting in the key, I drop it and bend over to pick it up. At that moment, 5 men dressed in black all jump onto me, pinning all my limbs down.

"You are under arrest for kidnapping Fiviana Fivindius!"

They put handcuffs around my wrists and hold my head down. The floor is so cold. My body feels heavy. Did Marlowlia betray me? Where is Aylin?

Fiviana kidnapped?