Lisa slowly walked down the stairs, but her eyes caught something that made her pause.
Diana, sitting next to Selay, was subtly sliding closer to him…so close that their arms slightly touched. It was hard not to notice.
Lisa's smile faltered. She tried to pretend everything was fine.
"Um... hi, everyone. Sorry I am late… It's been so lon…" she started, but stopped mid-sentence.
Her eyes met Selay's, and for a brief moment, they just looked at each other. But then she noticed how closely he and Diana were sitting again. The words caught in her throat. Her heart felt heavy.
"I... I have to go. Sorry," she said suddenly.
Caprio looked confused. "Where are you going?"
But she didn't answer. With emotions building inside her, she quickly turned and ran out toward the courtyard. Tears welled up in her eyes as a memory came rushing back.
It was a year ago.
Diana slapped Lisa hard across the cheek.
"How dare you try something like that!" she shouted.
Selay turned to them in shock. "What happened? Why did you slap her? What did she do " rubbing his eyes.
Diana glared at Lisa. "Why not? She tried to kiss you while you were sleeping!"
"What? You... you what?" Selay asked, confused and stunned.
Lisa, trembling, let tears fall down her cheeks. "I'm sorry... please forgive me..." she cried, then turned and ran.
Selay made a move to go after her, but Diana grabbed his wrist tightly.
"What do you think you're doing? Do you have no self-respect?" she shouted. "If you go after her, I'll never talk to you again."
Selay hesitated. He stopped. He let Lisa go.
As the memory came to Lisa's mind she ran until she stopped in front of a large pillar in the courtyard.
Her face was red with shame. She sat down on the stairs, burying her face in her hands.
"I couldn't even look him in the eyes... They were sitting so close... I just couldn't…"
A shadow fell behind her. She looked up and saw the maid.
"What happened?" Gaya asked gently, seeing her tears.
"Oh... Gaya…" Lisa whispered and hugged her tightly, breaking into sobs. "I couldn't even face him properly... I don't know if he still hates me for that or not."
Gaya stroked her hair. "No, don't think like that. You were and you are just a little girl back then and even now. Mistakes happen. But maybe it's time to talk to him. Or... maybe it's time to not think about him anymore…."
"I love him so much… I don't even know why. Ever since I first understood what love is, it's always been him. But…" her voice broke, and she cried harder.
Gaya held her close and thought to herself, "I understand... There's someone I love too. But he never looks at me that way."
In Gaya's mind, she saw the image of Cara speaking with Xavier just a while ago. Her heart ached.
"..."
Meanwhile, in the jungle, The seven stared at the strange horse-headed figures, until they suddenly vanished into the darkness like smoke without attacking again.
"What the hell just happened?" Xavier muttered.
Knight 1 who had fallen with his horse , looked at his fallen horse.
The arrow had hit its leg and disappeared like smoke, but the horse wasn't moving.
Knight 2 came over, placed a hand on it, and shook his head as he looked through the soul spirit of the horse which was no longer with the horse "It's dead."
Cara walked closer. "That's impossible. The arrow only hit its leg."
"Come on, wake up buddy . You can't die like this," Knight 1 said, his voice full of pain trying to shake the horse trying to wake it up.
Xavier glanced around. "Where did they go? They just vanished…"
Knight 3 asked, "What do we do now?"
Before Cara could speak, Xavier cut in. "What else? We keep moving. That attack phenomenon is weird, at least not normal, and I want to find out what those things were."
Knight 4 hesitated. "But what if we get attacked again?"
"We're not weaklings," Xavier replied. "We're not going to die from a few arrows…." then he looked at Knight 1 and said "Deox… since your horse is dead. I want you to return to the village with its body. Tell them what happened."
Knight 1 nodded, eyes full of sorrow. "Understood."
Cara gave Xavier a look and smirked. "So you are not that dumb after all..." said Cara and added " This was exactly what I was thinking. We should move. I didn't get any signal that those crystal walls I made are broken yet so going there won't be a loss."
Knight 2 frowned. "That arrow killed the horse's soul instantly. I can sense these things. It's risky to move forward… if it hits us, it could do the same."
Knight 5 stepped in. "I'm not worried. I have Organic and soul control and have resistance to soul-based attacks like that. "
Xavier nodded. " That won't be much problem, animals don't have souls like humans or intelligent life who can sin so their souls can be killed like that because their souls are different from ours. And we can use mana to protect or resist soul attacks. "
....
....
After a while, the five of them arrived at the place where Cara had fought the strange creature with a horse's body and a human head.
Cara got off her horse and looked around. Just as she had left them, the two crystal cages still stood exactly where she had placed them.
Xavier dismounted and scanned the area. His eyes fell on the cracks in a nearby tree and the torn ground.
"Yeah... looks like a fight really happened here," he said, narrowing his eyes. "But it doesn't seem like a tough one. I don't get it…how did you get injured?"
Knight 3 stepped forward, frowning. "Mr. Xavier, why does the air feel… weird?"
"It's probably the fog," Cara answered quickly. She walked toward one of the crystal structures and stopped in front of it. "I'm opening it now. Be ready. It might attack as soon as it's free."
She pressed her hand to the crystal. It began to dissolve slowly, melting away like ice in heat. But when the mist cleared, the cage was empty.
"Wait... what the hell?" Cara stepped back. "It was right here! I trapped it…how could it be gone?!"
Meanwhile…
Knight 1 and Knight 4 were walking along a quiet path. Knight 1's dead horse was being dragged behind them, tied to Knight 4's horse with a rope.
"Good thing they let me go with you," said Knight 4 with a laugh. "To be honest, it felt like I'd die if I stayed with them."
"Shut up," Knight 1 snapped.
Knight 4 raised an eyebrow. "You upset?"
"Of course I'm upset! My fuckiing horse died!" Knight 1 yelled, his voice was full of pain.
"Calm down, man. It's just a horse," said Knight 5 coldly.
"What the hell did you just say?" Knight 1 said loudly with his voice shaking with rage.
"Do you even understand what that horse meant to me?
I raised him since he was a foal. He wasn't just some animal to ride into battle…he was my friend.
When I had nothing, when I was just a useless trainee who couldn't even lift a sword right, he was the only one who stayed by my side.
I fed him with my own hands. Trained with him every single day.
When I was sick and thought I was gonna die, he didn't leave my side.
I talked to him more than I talked to most people.
So yeah…when you say 'it's just a horse', you're basically telling me that the only thing in this shitty world that ever gave a damn about me doesn't matter.
So shut your damn mouth unless you've lost something that meant everything to you."
As he finished ,suddenly, an arrow shot between them so fast it was barely visible, missing them by inches.
Both knights immediately drew their swords, scanning the trees. But whoever had fired the arrow was gone.
Then, out of nowhere, another arrow flew from behind. Knight 1 dodged just in time and caught a glimpse of a horse-headed figure but it vanished in a blink and reappeared at a distance, already releasing another shot.
Knight 4 managed to block it with his sword but the arrow shattered the blade and slammed into his chest.
A moment later, his entire body exploded.
Knight 1 stood frozen in horror. Before he could react, he felt something pierce straight through him which was another arrow.
He looked down, stunned, and then his body, too, exploded into pieces.
Back at the crystal site…
"There's no one inside," Xavier said, still staring at the empty cage.
Cara rushed to the second crystal and quickly dissolved it with her hand. But again it was empty.
"This is impossible... I trapped them!" she shouted.
Knight 5 stepped forward, still shaken. "That doesn't matter now. We saw it, those horse-headed humans appear and disappear at will. Something's seriously wrong."
Cara pointed to the ground. "Look, there are footprints. This proves the creature was here."
"But now the horses are gone," said Xavier, puzzled.
"I don't know how they escaped without breaking the crystal," Cara muttered.
Knight 2 thought aloud, "Maybe they have the ability to vanish, like teleportation or phasing? Or maybe they disappeared the way those horse headed men did. That would explain it."
"Yeah," Knight 5 agreed. "That could definitely be it."
Suddenly, Xavier's expression turned serious. "I sense something."
"Me too," Cara said, her eyes narrowing.
The air shifted. What had been a cold, foggy atmosphere turned scorching hot, as if a wave of fire swept over them.
"Why is it suddenly so hot?" Knight 3 asked, wiping sweat from his forehead.
Then they saw them.
Two horse bodied, human-headed creatures appeared before them. Each had four arms. Cara's eyes widened in shock.
"Yes... these are the ones I fought," she said, her voice trembling.
But they looked different now.
Their bodies burned with fire and molten lava. Their bones were visible beneath the cracking, melting flesh. The heat around them was unbearable. In their hands, they held chain-like lassos glowing red with flame.
Xavier touched the hilt of his sword and smirked.
"Well... this is more exciting than sex."
Cara turned her head toward him, scowling. "How can you still be a jerk at a moment like this?"
One of the creatures moved. It was so fast, none of them saw it coming.
The fiery chain whipped through the air and struck Knight 3.
In one brutal instant, his body was split clean in half. Blood sprayed across the ground, and he died on the spot.
Xavier's small smile disappeared.
His eyes locked on the creature and it spanned its expanding chain to attack again and attacked him.
Tbc…