I snapped my head to the side, my head swung back and forth.
My instincts suddenly spiked as though they sensed something. As though there was something wrong with the air. Something ---
My sudden movement caught Annabelle's attention. "What's wrong?" She asked, her tone full of doubt.
"I sensed something" I responded.
Annabelle's eyes immediately widened. She took a battle stance, ready to call out her spirits at any moment as she looked around her surroundings.
"Are we surrounded? Have the other fallen Kingdom decided to attack this city?" She took my words seriously since she knew that I was stronger than her, and so there was a fact that I might be able to sense something that she could not.
She gritted her teeth and immediately spread her magical energy around the building, encasing it. "If they are already here then--".
She went silent. She halted her movements.
I stared at her. "What's wrong, did you sense anything?" I asked.
However, Annabelle narrowed her gaze at me. "Captain are you sure you sensed something because I don't sense anything?".
Huh!
My instincts are still blaring.
I took no heed to her words and prepared to conjure my flames and summon Toothless.
"Captain, I think that the rejection has somehow gotten to your head and --"
"Shut up!"I ordered.
One second, I felt as though someone was watching me and every hair on my body had turned to ice, then the next second --
"GROOWWWLL!!"
Everyone went silent.
A dreadful animalistic 'growl' bellowed through my anxiety and sudden doubt, causing the foundation of the brothel and its inhabitants to tremble.
MOTHERFUCKER!
I moved faster than I ever have before, faster than I thought possible, faster than I've ever experienced. I lifted both my hands upwards and unleashed my flames, instinctively directing them through my legs, creating a stream of fire that quickly transformed into a sturdy wall of fire, safeguarding myself and everyone.
"Captain!" Another voice rang out in the air.
I gazed ahead and saw Annabelle shivering in fear with her face drenched in sweat as I continuously sustained my magical energy to keep the fortress of fire ablaze.
FUCK.
This might be the most number of times that I have ever cursed in my life. Nonetheless, to my credit, I still managed to keep the flames up as every second tick by with the measurement of a minute in my head.
Two seconds -two minutes
Three seconds -three minutes
Four seconds--
Five seconds --
That was it. My blaring instinct dissipated and the apprehension that came with it vanished in the blink of an eye.
My arms fell weakly as I dropped to one knee, gasping for breath with bated breath, and greedily inhaling air to fill my lungs.
"M…r W..yatt"
The sound of a gentle, frightened feminine voice entered my ears. More so, I felt a chilly wind clash against my skin and saw my breath escape in a misty fog as I exhale.
This shouldn't be possible in the brothel. I focused my attention away from the ashen scorched ground and looked around. In those few seconds that I had conjured and switched off my flames, everything -from the floor, the walls, the rooms, and the building was encased in ---
Ice.
You have to be kidding me!
The brothel was frozen. And I didn't need to be a genius to know that along with everything in it.... everyone was encased in ice -they were all dead. The heat that warmed our bodies some minutes ago, was now replaced with an icy chill that tickled our skin with pure undiluted anxiety.
I turned my head and gazed at Edna who watched the scene with terror in her eyes before my eyes moved over to the two workers holding the still unconscious Vaness before I directed my attention over to the shivering Annabelle who other than me must have felt the pure immense rush of mana.
Then, my voice rang out in the air.
"Let's go" I said, taking the lead and igniting my flames to melt through the ice.
Nothing happened!
I tried again. My flames clashed against the ice, their searing heat collided with its icy surface, and I hoped they would melt it down this time. However, when I pulled back my hands and deactivated my flames, the wall of ice remained pure ---
Unblemished.
You have to fucking kidding me!
It seems that we are taking the stairs then.
But, I couldn't help but feel that something was waiting at the bottom for us to come out. A deafening feral 'growl' had rung out before the ice erupted, so does that mean….
And as though my thoughts and contemplations were written out on a blackboard with chalk for all to see, Annabelle began to summon her spirits without delay.
"Sprinkled from the top to the depths of the ocean, the sound of the warring winds fills her heart with vengeance. Let thy hands place judgement on those who dare to trespass on your water"
An invisible wind blew around Annabelle before it instantly faded at the end of her ritual.
[ Summoning magic: Mother Andiara ]
But she did not stop there. She immediately continued and restarted her ritual to call forth another one of her spirits.
"I respectively speak to you, the warring woman of water and blood. Seeping crest of lunacy and hatred. Assemble, daughter of Mother Andiara -My name is Keia"
[ Summoning magic: Keia ]
Immediately after she finished her ritual, bright blue specks of light that looked like dust sprinkled into the air, escaped her body and vanished into the winds.
"Haaa… Haaaa…." Annabelle breathed out loudly as she wiped out the creases of sweat away from her forehead.
'Did it work?' This is what I would have asked if the roof of the building had not immediately detached itself and been flung to the side by a giant water-carved, transparent blue hand.
Of course, it worked
"BAMM!! The giant hand was positioned in front of us, with its palms wide open.
Without giving the women an explanation, I immediately dragged them aboard it, with Annabelle jumping on ahead of us. And as though it somehow sensed that we were all complete, the hand ascended and carried us upwards until we were above the brothel and under the dazzling moonlight.
I looked to the side and I saw Keia- a gigantic woman made of flesh and water, dressed in tribal attire. Since we were still up high in the air, I shifted my gaze from their figures and focused on the ground below.
Even though she was near me, I yelled. "TELL YOUR SPIRIT TO GET US AS FAR AWAY AS WE CAN FROM HERE!".
The first thing we had to do was to run. There was no time to reason, and even if we did, she wouldn't understand. She wouldn't understand that since the time I first entered this world, there has only been one thing that has only ever threatened my life.
Annabelle felt confused about my outburst "Prince Wyat--".
"GET US OUT OF HERE NOW!".
The only being that ever genuinely threatened my life was a magical beast, now my tamed beast -Toothless. However, the second….
"Prince Wyatt…" I stared at Annabelle as she looked down. Her eyes widened more than ever as she muttered in fright. "Is that…". A dramatic gulp rang out in the air as she stood still unable to complete her words.
The second was a reptilian behemoth of a beast. It stood on all four legs, with icy scales that blended seamlessly with the snow and ice below us. Its body towered over the ice-encased brothel, and its head was raised high, with lifeless eyes pointing straight at..... us.
The sight of that terrifying view was enough to bring Annabelle back to her senses, as she snapped her head towards her spirits.
She commanded. "Get us out of here!" And the spirits listened.
They turned around and ran towards the city gates, away from the beast at their backs, uncaring of the destruction they left in their wake. I turned my head to look back and confirm that the beast was not following us
My eyes peeled at the scenery in front of it.
It was! The beast was tailing after us.
"FASTER!" I screamed. Surprisingly, they listened, and their footsteps hastened into a full sprint.
BADDUM! BADDUM! BADDUM!
I held my hand towards my chest and clutched it tight.
Why was my heart beating fast?
Yes! I was afraid, Very, very afraid. But it shouldn't be to the extent where my body would suddenly grow numbed and become unable to move as my heartbeat quickened like a pestle rapidly striking against a mortar.
My magical energy began to overflow within my body, and I decided to focus on the sudden surge of mana that caused my magical energy to rampage without reason.
I focused my attention on the source of it and traced it all the way back to —
Bones.