Just A Pawn - Chapter 3 Wont You Trust Me..? Part Two

After roughly twenty minutes of walking, Pawn had finally reached the desired position, the barrier at the other end of the tunnel.

Only past this point could it truly be considered the ‘demon realm,’ she was thankful that she hadn’t run into any demons while on her way down, she knew she didn’t have the right mindset to fight them anymore.

Before her, on the other side of the barrier, was a large wasteland, stretching in every direction as a few dozen horrible looking purple and green plants scattered themselves throughout the otherwise grey scenery.

The sky itself was black and starless, slightly glowing dark red clouds being the only light source, other than Pawn’s orb at least.

(I’d want to leave as well, if I lived in such a gloomy place,) Pawn thought as she looked over the scene, feeling slight pity towards all those born in this world, she then ran some Mana into the light orb and spoke loudly.

“I’m at the barrier, what do I do next, through the package at it?” Pawn joked as she kept a healthy distance from said barrier.

She then waited for a reply, and after a several second delay she received an unexpected one.

“…Walk through and then open the package, that’s all,” Lumin’s voice gave an order that Pawn found to be rather shocking, yet it was given in a casual tone, Pawn hadn’t expected this at all.

“Uh, that’s a bit…” began Pawn, confusion evident in her voice, a low-spirit like Pawn being sent alone into the demon realm, she had never heard of such a bad joke, but before she could continue she was once again quickly interrupted.

“Won’t you trust me…?” Lumin repeated the words she had told Pawn previously, in a slightly mischievous tone.

This time it was Pawn who gave a several delay before replying.

“Okay,” was all she said, in the end, she really did just trust Lumin that much.

She then immediately proceeded to do as she was ordered, stepping through the barrier as she unwrapped the package, wanting to finish this as soon as possible.

She turned to face the tunnel entrance after having passed through it, like the entrance in the mundane world, this one was built into the side of a hill as well, however, it was completely barren, a withered black tree standing proudly at its top.

“By the way Pawn, I wonder if I ever told you the origin of your name…” Lumin’s voice began, speaking in a casual tone, not waiting for a reply before continuing.

Pawn actually already new her names origin, but didn’t interrupt as she thought it would be nice to hear Lumin’s perspective on the topic.

“You see there is this game called chess, humans play it, it’s actually quite popular in many of the mundane worlds, some of the less energetic spirits play as well, though mostly just the higher ups so you might not know about it.”

As Lumin spoke, Pawn had finally manged to open the package, on doing so, an extremely bright silver coloured light shone from within, directing itself straight towards the barrier she had just passed through.

-Zzzzzzzzziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!

The light was accompanied by an equally powerful high-pitched screeching sound as well, it drowned out Lumin’s words completely.

-ZZZZZZZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-!!!!!!!!

“Ugh!?” Pawn let out a short yelp as she dropped to her knees and desperately covered her ears, tightly closing her eyes as well as a feeling of confusion and desperation washed over her.

The light and noise became stronger and stronger over the course of several seconds, completely overwhelming Pawn as it did so.

…

And then in an instant, the light and sound both vanished, as if they had been a lie, leaving behind a stunned spirit lying motionlessly on the ground.

…

Pawn then inclined her head to look towards the barrier, or rather, towards its previous location, it was now gone completely, the spot where it had existed now ordinary dirt.

She reached for the now inert box which was laying nearby, the one which had caused this strange phenomenon.

Inside of which was an oval black stone, the markings on which indicated that it was enchanted into being a proximity based sealing stone, seemingly set to activate the moment it was exposed to air, in other words, the moment someone opened the box.

“…” Pawn just sat there in confused silence as she tried to process the situation, still dazed from the light, ears sill ringing from the sound.

Then came the voice once more, with a few final words for Pawn.

“You see Pawn, a pawn’s purpose is to support its betters as they strive for victory, moved ever forwards by the player, they are both the most common, and most expendable pieces.”

“So when such an unimportant piece like that ceases to support its allies, like you want to do, or saves enemies from their well deserved deaths… as you have done.”

“How does one prevent said pawn from leading the other little pawn’s astray…”

“Clearly an example must be made of it, of you… I’m sorry sister, I take no joy in this, but the ‘player’ has spoken,” After those words the voice was suddenly cut off, and the light of the crystal went out along with it.

It could only mean one thing, the orb on the other end, the one held by Lumin, had been broken.

…

…

“A joke, no, Lumin doesn’t know how to joke… a dream, yes, this is a dream… saving those two demons happened like a decade ago, there’s no way she’d only act now if she had known,” Pawn remained still, laying in the same spot she had been hours earlier, muttering reassurances quietly to herself.

“when I wake up everything will be fine, I’ll be home, I’ll be with my big sister, everything will be fine…” she concluded as she closed her eyes, waiting to wake up.

Pawn paid no attention to the approaching demons, not their arrival, nor the shackles they placed upon her, as they took her away to one of the demon world’s largest prisons for interrogation.

She hadn’t bothered using her ‘facade’ spell when she saw them coming, in her mind it was just a dream after all, it had to be.

It wouldn’t be until later that she would finally realize the truth…