The Tale Of Three Sisters - Chapter 157
Jegun entered the house and went to the rooms to find the old woman.
“Esmeralda, where are you!?” he called out her name.
No one is responding to his call. He began opening the rooms inside the house, he found no one! Where is she? A frown appeared on his head. Did Esmeralda leave the house?
He comes to the last room that he had not open yet. He was hesitating because it was the Immortal’s room, he doesn’t want to be accused of trespassing. But he has no choice, they were experiencing a critical situation.
He pushed open the door slightly and took a peek inside. There she is!
He saw Esmeralda lying on the bed, sleeping soundly, surrounded by books. He tiptoed inside the room as to not startle her. His gaze was drawn to the books on the bookshelves, there’s a lot of them.
He went to the bed, Esmeralda was holding a book in her hand. He nudged her arms lightly. “Esmeralda…wake up…wake up…wake up…” he said over and over again, he controlled his voice, not too low and not too loud, just enough to wake her up from her slumber.
Esmeralda opened her eyes slowly and blink three times. Her eyes came in contact with Jegun. “Oh my! Did I fell asleep? Did I?” she asked him.
“Yes, you do!” Jegun answered with a smile of amusement plastered on his face.
Esmeralda sit upright and was confronted with the ten books around her. She groaned. “I was looking for the books that contain spell to free my mentor from being frozen in time. And the spell that could also unravel that impostor’s face!” she explained.
“I see…” Jegun said. “Okay, let me help you then…” he volunteered. He walked towards the bookshelves and starts reading the titles of the books, which is quite hard because the majority of them has already lost its title due to old age.
He just picked up random books and began flipping the pages hoping to find something that will make sense to his already fried mind and tired body that desperately needed long rest and sleep.
He was reading the books for more than fifteen minutes already and the words were turning into a blur, swimming in front of him. Ugh! He was never a reader! Reading tiny words gives him a headache! He finally stopped reading to save his sanity.
Sighing, he stood in the middle of the room, trying to find something or anything to occupy his mind. He looked at his companion sitting on the bed. Esmeralda is busy reading books. He was shaking his head, fine, she can read all the books. He will try to find something inside the room.
He addressed her. “Esmeralda, can I look over the cabinet there? Maybe I can find something useful there…?” he said pointing at the cabinet near the window.
Esmeralda was busy checking out the books. “Okay, go ahead…just don’t break anything…my mentor will get mad if you do,” she responded without even looking at him.
Jegun proceed to the cabinet and opened it… he saw several bottles in there…frowning…he picked up one bottle and read the label. Ugh! The words were written strangely. How was he supposed to understand them and their purpose?
Dang! He got to start somewhere. He picked up five bottles, lowered himself on the floor, and began analyzing their labels. He read the labels aloud.
“Confusenum Completasis…”
“Isoarmus Imperfecicum…”
“Redulso Rascundis…”
“Rejuviundis Consiendo…”
“Vengeendius Echeos…”
He read the labels a few times, much louder each time…trying to make sense of the difficult words.
Esmeralda heard the words… ‘Vengeendius Echeos!’ That words ring a bell in her mind. The words mean…”Altered Appearance!” A long time ago, she and her mentor discuss a powerful liquid that can reveal the real image of an impostor disguising as someone. That was a long time ago.
She looked at the old man. “Jegun…pick that bottle with the ‘Vengeendius Echeos’ label and poured the liquid on that impostor’s face, let’s see what’s going to happen,” she ordered.
“Are you sure?” Jegun asked her.
Esmeralda sighed. “I’m not sure, either. But hey…we have nothing to lose…that impostor is already dead. No one will sue us!” she responded wryly. “There’s no harm in trying, just do it for me!” she added. She will remain in the bedroom to find the spell that can unfreeze her mentor.
“Okay,” Jegun picked up the bottle and rises to his feet then left the room.
Outside the house.
Zemeth was staring at Ivy’s face, his heart was still bleeding inside. Right now, he was not sure anymore if the dead woman was indeed Ivy or someone disguised as her. He can’t do anything right now, he has to wait for grandpa to come back. He glanced at the girls nearby, they were no longer crying but their faces were filled with sadness and grief staring at their sister’s lifeless body lying on the ground.
He released a deep sigh.
The door of the house opened and Jegun exited, holding a black bottle in his hand. He walked towards the dead body.
Zemeth rose to his feet and went to the old man’s side. “What is that bottle you are holding in your hand, Grandpa?”
“Ah…this?” Jegun raised the bottle in front of them. “Esmeralda said that it can reveal a person’s true identity if he or she is wearing a disguise…” he explained.
“Will it work?” asked Zemeth.
“I honestly don’t know. We can only try…” Jegun replied. He opened the lid of the bottle and poured the colorless liquid into the dead woman’s face. He emptied the bottle into the woman’s face.
Zemeth and Jegun stared at Ivy’s face drenched with the colorless liquid.
The sisters were curious about what the men were doing to the body of their sister, they walked towards them.
Jegun and Zemeth observed the corpse.
For the first few seconds, nothing happens…
The two men were about to give up.
Jegun sighed. “It’s not working! Esmeralda was wrong!” he finally said.
Fresh tears emerged in Zemeth’s eyes. He desperately wanted to hold Ivy in his arms for one last time before they will bury her body.
They turned their back on the corpse.
“Look…sister Ivy’s face began to change!” Ella screamed.
Suddenly… Ivy’s face slowly transformed into the face of another woman. A stranger’s face!
They gathered around the body. They wore a shocked expression on their faces.
“Oh, my God! She is not our sister, Ivy! Thanks God!” Ella declared in great relief.
Kate was shaking her head in disgust. “This woman was trying to trick us into leaving the mountain! She will probably kidnap us! She will bring us back to the castle. Good thing, Immortal Vearah arrived on time and save us!” she said. She was grateful that it was not really her sister that was lying dead on the ground.
Zemeth closes his eyes. Whew! Huge relief washed over him after discovering that the woman he thought was Ivy, turns out to be a stranger! He was happy upon knowing that Ivy was still in the castle safe. There still enough time to rescue her.
Jegun looked at the sisters. “Girls, now you know that this woman is not your older sister Ivy. Get back to the house now and prepare something to eat for your Granny Esmeralda,” he said.
“What about the dead body?” Kate asked.
“Leave her to us,” Jegun said. He looked heavenward and saw the sun rising on the horizon, morning finally comes! The sun rays were already spreading all over the mountain.
“Okay,” Kate said.
She and Ella were about to enter the house when they heard Grandpa Jegun’s voice…
“Everyone! Look at the dead body…!” Jegun shouted.
They all looked at the body…their eyes widened…the sun rays landed upon the dead body of the unknown woman…the body began to burn and turned into a pile of black ashes in the ground as the sun continues to bath the mountain with bright light.
“What the hell…” Kate covered her mouth in shock.
“OMG! The sun roasted the woman’s body!” Ella uttered in shock.
Jegun shrugged, he was not surprised at all. “That’s not surprising because the woman is a vampire. Beings of their kind are creatures of the night. They cannot stand the sun rays for a long time, they will burn and die under the sun,” he said casually.
The girls were flabbergasted after witnessing such a horrific spectacle. They turned around about to enter the house.
Ella noticed something, she screamed in panic. “Oh my God! Look at Immortal Vearah’s body…!”
They all stood rooted on the spot, eyes widened in shock and horror!
Because Immortal Vearah’s body was disintegrating and turning into particles of dust swirling in the air…her face…her arms…her feet… every inch of her body even her clothes disintegrated into the air.
“Shiit!” Jegun can only stare in awe and shock. Then he remembered Esmeralda…he bolted towards the house enter the door at the speed of light and entered the room. “Esmeralda…your mentor’s body is disappearing! Come out now!” he shouted into the room.
Esmeralda leaped from the bed almost tripping into the door and sprinted down the staircase…rushing outside the house only to see her mentor disintegrating into thin air. “Noooooooo! Teacher, please don’t leave me!” she cried in horror.
Slowly… Vearah’s hand that was holding the dagger began to disintegrate until nothing was left on her body. The dagger fell to the ground. The particles from Vearah’s body gathered in the air and transformed into the most beautiful butterfly they had ever seen. It’s golden wings shining brightly as the sun bathed it with its golden rays.
“Wow! Such a beautiful butterfly!” Ella murmured.
“Catch the butterfly! It’s my mentor’s spirit animal!” Esmeralda shouted.
Zemeth and Jegun were trying to catch the butterfly but it flew away quickly and disappeared from their sight instantly.
Jegun glanced at Esmeralda’s devastated face apologetically. “I’m sorry, I’m slow enough to catch the butterfly…” he said.
Fresh tears emerged in Esmeralda’s eyes. She walked to the ground where the dagger has landed. She picked it up and hold it in her hands as tears fell in torrents from her eyes. She walked towards the door like a zombie, she entered the house and went to her mentor’s bedroom.
She reached the room in a daze. She put the dagger in the cabinet and went to the bed and lay her tired body down, feeling so heartbroken and devastated about the tragic end of her mentor.