A Hell Called Serestral - Chapter 64

As soon as Aries entered the safest zone deep within his mind, the explosion of pain had been instantly eliminated. He wanted to stay there for a while. It had always been a relaxing and comforting place for him.

When Sunrei had stabbed him to death, Aries was expecting eternal torment. Now that he was about to die for the second time, he only wanted to experience perpetual silence.

But it appeared that Aries could never get the afterlife that he wanted. Voices that were as faint as whispers had pulled him out of his calming sanctuary.

“Why did you lie to us, Master Aika?!”

That was the voice of Gust. He was furious.

“I did not lie,” the guardian had answered in her calmest tone.. “Gathering those objects will gain him salvation.”

“Salvation?!” Gust yelled more loudly. “His body is no longer breathing! We lost his soul when your scroll brought us to the House of Goat! And you clearly told us that we will gather only three items! Why is there a fourth area?!”

“I want you to see the House where you will go next,” Guardian Aika simply answered. “Now you see how dangerous that place is and you should enter it with extreme caution.”

“You can show it to us after saving Aries!”

“Yes, my dearest disciple. I can do that,” her voice suddenly sounded so serious. “But only in that body can Aries get close to the person that is both important to him and me. Maybe in that body, he can finally save her.”

“Zodiac Knight Cari?” that was the sweet voice of Princess Pieffer.

“Aries will meet her soon,” Guardian Aika sounded so confident.

“Aries can’t stay in a doll’s body,” Gale voiced out his anxiety.

Something was strangely aching within Aries as he kept hearing the concern in the voices of his comrades. He was also wondering why he could not see a damn thing.

Is that because my body died?

“Only his body has expired,” Guardian Aika had said as if answering the question Aries had in his mind. “And even though his body died, it still has a chance to be revived.”

“What does that mean? Is he an immortal?”

There was more sarcasm in the tone of Gust rather than curiosity.

“The King…” Princess Pieffer muttered.

Judging by the volume of their voices, the princess was nearest to Aries. Gale and Gust were only a few feet away. Guardian Aika was the farthest, probably sitting in her favorite chair.

“Yes, Princess. Your father will not allow him to die. Not until Serestral is safe. He will surely save him. Just wait for it. For now, you should give me time to brew some potions…”

“Potions for what?” Gust snapped at his master.

“I am about to say it if you didn’t interrupt, my dearest disciple,” Guardian Aika sighed before saying, “I will make potions to help you in reinstating the barriers.”

“I can do it without your help. I am the Twins House Leader.”

“No. You’re not,” Guardian Aika was back to her serious tone. “Have you forgotten the truth?”

“What does that mean?” Gale asked.

Gust answered after a minute of silence and he stuttered a bit when he revealed, “I… ah… well… as Guardian Aika had said, I am not the House Leader. Uncle is still alive.”

“What?!” Gale was utterly bewildered and so was Aries “But our father…”

“He tried but uncle survived and escaped from the mansion. He was hiding at the Southern Border. I found him when I was taking a stroll. But he was in a deep sleep and up until this moment, he is still unconscious.”

“You can kill him. That would be easier,” Guardian Aika simply suggested then laughed, “You already found ways to kill most of your relatives and throw the rest out of your life.”

“I gave them an option and they chose to die. The others that picked survival had already thanked me for giving them a chance to live a life away from shedding the blood of their kin.”

“But the House of Twins is still not a safe place for anyone. Reinstating the barriers is the only solution to that. Am I right, Princess Pieffer?”

“I know!” Gust snapped. “You don’t have to ask anyone. But I can’t kill my uncle. Let’s stick to your plan. How much time do you need? Can we return to the House of Goat and look for the soul of Aries?”

“This will only take twenty-four hours. You should stay here and take care of the arena. Jodien is getting out of control.”

“My brother…”

“Don’t worry, Princess. He and the rest of your allies are keeping an eye on the Celestial Knight but only Gust can tame him. You can leave now. I will call for you once the potions are done.”

Aries heard footsteps.

“Oh, I have one more thing to remind you, Princess,” Guardian Aika suddenly said. “Take care of the arm you are holding. That part of the ragdoll is still sheltering a part of your beloved’s soul. Aries will need that.”

“Thank you, Guardian Aika,” Princess Pieffer sincerely said.

“Why are you being grateful to that witch?!” Gust snapped. He was still annoyed at his master. “She tricked us.”

Aries heard the slamming of a stone door then everything went quiet.

He wanted to see his comrades. But there was only darkness around him. And his soul still felt so weak that he could not struggle against the darkness cradling him. He was starting to get drowsy. He should take a rest even for just a few hours. His comrades were strong. They would be fine.

^##########^

Aries attacked the possessed princess while wondering how the corrupted soul could hide its dark essence from him. That was the first time he encountered such a weird possessed person.

When the princess grabbed and pulled his hand, they were both instantly covered by absolute darkness. He counted ten steps before they had been bathed by a blinding light. And instead of seeing the backyard at the House of Bull, Aries found himself in the middle of a forest.

“How did you do that?” Aries asked as he yanked his hand away from the princess.

“I can teach you that convenient way of traveling if you give me enough time to prove that I am not a bad person,” the princess was always smiling beautifully at him.

She was still trying to entice him.

“Stop it,” Aries waved his crimson claymore.

The princess was calm as she jumped away from the enormous blade.

“I am not doing anything,” she said as soon as her feet touched the grass-covered ground.

“You are trying to bewitch me,” he had no intention of saying those words out loud but his mouth moved without his permission. “Are you a witch?”

The princess laughed before saying, “I already told you who I am. You should stop your baseless accusations. Not all people with dark aura are bad. We can be good.”

“If you are not casting any spell on me then why am I feeling so lightheaded?” he began attacking the princess and his questions kept on pouring. “If you are not trying any charms on me then why do you look so… beautiful? If you are not a witch then why can’t I control my mouth from speaking my thoughts out loud?”

“Oh… that,” the princess easily dodged the crimson blade aimed at her head by swiftly bending her knees then she answered, “The water of truth must be starting to take effect.”

“What?” Aries waved his huge sword in the air and stabbed the edge of the blade on the ground. “Water of truth?”

“I’m sorry,” the witch princess looked apologetic. “While you were unconscious, Tauren made you drink a tiny amount of his experiment.”

“Experiment?” his fist trembled violently around the hilt of his crimson claymore. “You forced me to drink something like that and you expect me to trust you?!”

“Tauren likes to conduct a lot of experiments especially when Quaria is actively helping him,” the princess explained after dodging the crimson blade. She smiled timidly and blushed when she said, “Thanks for saying that I am beautiful.”

Aries also felt his face reddened and more so when the princess added, “You are stunning but that is not the only reason why I am attracted to you. It was all because my sole purpose is to be with you.”

“Stop bewitching me!” Aries struggled to slash his claymore against the princess.

Instead of feeling threatened, the princess was always smiling sweetly and sometimes laughing softly at him. It was annoying but that emotion would only last for a few seconds and then his heart would start fluttering strangely.

“I like you, Aries,” her words hit him deeper than the sword she was wielding. “Do you like me?”

‘No’ was the word that he wanted to say but he blurted out, “Yes!”

The princess beamed widely at him and asked another question, “Do you want to kill me?”

Instead of answering, Aries raised his crimson blade and slashed it at the throat of his strange opponent but his blade froze an inch away from the neck of the beautiful princess.

He should kill all the dark essences within his sight but why could not he kill the lady in front of him?

The princess walked closer to him, held his weapon hand, and gently put it down, “I promise you. I am not your enemy. We have a common goal here. We want to save Serestral. If you are still not convinced that we are your allies, we will drink the water of truth and you can ask us anything you want. Please, Aries.”

“Fine,” he finally surrendered with a sigh and willed his weapon to vanish. “Let’s get out of this place.”

^#######^