Chapter 192: Control Over The Mind

Chapter 192: Control Over The Mind

Late Afternoon - Late Fall : Northern Market District (Valtivar)

"I'm not sure why you attacked her, but I can't let you kill my lab rat." I gave Amara an intimidating glare, but she didn't back away from it.

Instead, she hastily jumped in the air, rotated, and slammed her foot down into my collarbone with the intent to kill me.

*CRACK* The wooden planks lining the floor simultaneously shattered when I spread the impact around the room, but the shift in my attention caused the light magic disguising my eyes, horns, and scales to fade as well.

*silence* Looking at her in the eyes with thin draconic pupils, I tried my best to suppress my anger. "I'll give you one more chance to explain what you're doing before I knock common sense back into you."

The anger on her face finally started subsiding after I spoke, but instead of a familiar look taking its place, her eyes simply looked lifeless.

-Something's wrong...-

But as my mind raced to try and figure out a solution, a tall and muscular elven man ran up to us. "Hey, what do you think you two are doi-" *CRUNCH* His body was slammed through the floorboards before he even got close.

"Don't interrupt." I gave the man a death stare but was promptly interrupted by Amara swinging around again before throwing another kick into the side of my head. *pat-CRACK* As I caught her leg, I noticed that she was kicking with more force than her body should have been able to naturally exert. -That's not Amara...-

Thinking she could have been under the influence of magic, I blasted some aura through her head, but nothing seemed out of place.

-F*ck!- It wasn't until after I caught several more blows that my instinct finally took over and accumulated space mana around my palm without the thought of repercussions.

*WHAM-Vwoom* A large ripple was sent through the fabric of space as her head recoiled back from my palm, but the wave wasn't alone. Within the shockwave was a tiny circular warp.

Without thinking, I reached out and created millions of microscopic gates where the warp was, shredding whatever caused it and scattering its remnants in the void. *Crackle* There was a momentary bright flash as countless atoms were ripped apart by the gates, but it vanished before anyone could react.

*Thud* As Amara's body limply fell to the floor, my mind finally caught up to speed and broke into a panic. -SH*T! I didn't kill her, did I?!-

Hastily lowering myself next to her, I did a deep, full-body scan of her, and noticed that, shockingly, she looked fine. -There's some broken cartilage in her neck, but that's it...- "Phew..." For a dragon, the injury might as well be a bruise. -Thank goodness...-

As I let out that breath of relief though, I finally noticed just how many people in the room were still awake.

-To think this many were strong enough to not pass out from this much of my aura...- While casually thinking of ways to make sure this incident would stay under wraps, I had one idea that stood above the others. -Hmm...- Glancing to my side, I looked at the elven girl with the exposed dragon scales. "Liv Sigmond was your name, correct?"

In a flurry of movement, she dashed around the kitchen and tidied up most of it before putting her grandmother in the back room and coming back out with a forced smile on her face.

"You ready?"

"Of course." She hesitated for a moment before throwing herself into a bow. "T..thank you!"

-What is she thanking me for?- I took a moment to think about it before giving up and just looking past it. "Don't worry about it."

Quickly hiding my draconic features with magic once again, I tossed a few gold coins onto the table and made my way outside with Amara in my arms and Ilios in tow.

But, once I got outside, I quickly came to realize that I had no clue where the inn even was. -Sh*t... I forgot to ask beforehand...- Slowly turning to Sigmond, I shot out another question with no expectations. "Do you know where an inn called the Golden Lotus is?"

Almost immediately, she gave a fast nod. "Would you like me to guide you?"

"If you could." I felt a bit awkward asking, but there was nothing I could do about it.

Quickly making our way down a few roads and wrapping around the center of the treant we were on, we eventually came across a tall, three-story building with a golden lotus on the front. -How gaudy...-

*Click* We quickly made our way inside, where we were met with a young elf halfie woman with a concerned look on her face. "Sir, we don't endorse kidnappings." She looked like she didn't even know what to do.

"Very funny." My sarcasm was palpable. "I'm here for a reservation under the name, Amara Chalkos." As I pulled out my ID and set it on the desk, I gave the receptionist a look of genuine curiosity. -Did Amara really make a reservation 15 years in advance?-

"Ah.. yes. I see that name here." She nervously looked at my ID before looking at Amara laying unconscious in my arms. "Would that happen to be Amara?"

"Yeah. She ended up getting a little too drunk and passed out. Sorry for the inconvenience."

After nervously glancing back and forth between my ID and me, the lady reluctantly handed us a pair of keys. "Room 304. The second room on your left, on the top floor."

-Sweet.- "Thanks! If you'd like, I'll send her down to confirm everything when she wakes up."

A bead of cold sweat started to form on her head. "I..f you could, that'd be great."