Chapter 8: Verdant Maelstrom Spring (2)

'Haa... its warm. This is nice.'

Retracted light streaks hugged her regal visage with her eyes gently shut.

She could not feel her strength any longer. Noodled and flabby although she was half-conscious, she still felt how painful her wounds were as it continuously spewed thick crimson fluid.

'Looks like I'm gonna die again. Well, at least I tried to survive this time.'

Sparkles glittered from the corners of her eyes as tears budded out with the abhorrence from her ever tragic fate.

Was her life really that meant for death? Even after death another death actually awaited her from another world; did she have no right to live anymore? How could the worlds be so cruel?

She pitied herself more than any other person she met from her life... no... there was another person it was the owner of this body... Ziro. She pitied them both.

'Why is it me, of all people? Why is it that how hard I tried, I can't get the life I want. Even if I tried harder... my life gets tougher. I just wanted to live to be happy...is it really that hard to give? Was this really my arrangement in this world?'

Tears welled out, her chest hitched as she clasped her lips together.

Slowly, with a gradual piercing pinch in her chest, something was shattered inside her heart, something she longed in her entire life, almost felt but never been caught.

The burning feeling was swept away and it left scorched hole in her heart, a void that left her whole being empty, as if all her spirit was swept away.

Helpless. Why this was seemed very familiar to her?

'Haaa... how could I forget this feeling...'

Vivid images started plunging in her head, with her mind began to reminisce how painful her past was.

☁ ☁ ☁ ☁

"You useless rat! Get out of this house! You're a shame in this family!"

A rotund old man stood crudely in front of an imposing Corinthian mansion.

"Stepfather! Please believe me. It is not true!"

She was about fifteen years old wearing blanched clothes above her long golden hair, an impeccable young girl anxiously kneeling on the ground and clasping both hands asking for forgiveness.

She didn't really know what really happened but she only understood her stepfamily framed her on the stolen seven diamond rings in a high class store.

She had already suspected her stepfather really wanted to throw her out just after her mother died and her dubiety was made sure when she was easily framed by the manager of the store befriended by her old man.

"Don't call me stepfather! You disgust me! Dont ever show your face in front of my eyes, it reminds me of your whore mother! Scram!"

The old man immediately grabbed a pail of water and splashed it towards the young girl as though the scene became more like a Cinderella story.

With her drenched golden hair, she glared at the old man. Her previous begging visage was completely covered on to extreme hatred.

At first she was actually going to plead for their mercy, but insulting her mother, it was beneath her pride! Despicable!

This fat old man must be taught a lesson.

"A whore?! How dare you call her that way?! My mom was the true heir of this wealth! And you! You're nothing but a thief!"

Her heart burned with fury as she clawed the ground and gritted her teeth.

The stout old man's face went ugly; could've punched the young girl's face at instant if he did not care of his image.

Instead...

"How dare you call my dad a thief?!"

A high pitch tone rammed on her ears as though it was a squeal, it was from a young miss sneering behind her stepfather.

It was more like a screech of soaked tongue of clarinet. It was the daughter.

"Why not?! Guilty?! Are you afraid that your boyfriend would smell your stench?! Or maybe you're just scared because no matter what your wear and what you put on, you just couldn't cover that ugly face of yours or else... your boyfriend... no... correction... my ex-boyfriend... might come back to me!"

Her chest heaved in-out when she ran out of breath. She was trembling not only with cold as her clothes were soaked, but also because of rage.

"You! You shameless and ungrateful brat!"

This time a male voice resounded.

This it was the son of her stepfather. He was quite a gallant yet it didn't even lift the young girl's disgust.

"My father took care of you and your mother! And you-"

"Ha! Took care? Is your brain still intact? Giving us only porridge every meal, letting us sleep in the storage house, never giving us enough clothes is that what you mean taking care?! I think should go crawl back on your mothers womb and suck your thumbs up! No. Suck your fathers d*ck!"

She bit her lips until it a crimson fluid slowly flowed on to her chin.

She really and extremely hated her stepfamily! If not for them, her mother would still be alive. Her mother wouldn't suffer such pitiful death.

Her three stepfamily's faces turned dark. Those words slapped straight to their thick skins.

That young girl's tongue was really sharp! Three of them couldn't take it as they fell on to silence.

"You! Guards! Throw this ragamuffin outside!"

With popping vessels on his temple, her stepfather scowled and pointed his pig fingers on the golden hair young girl kneeling.

"No need! Instead of licking your feet, I would rather live on my own! But remember this old hog! I will never forgive you. I'll definitely come back and I will rub that thick skin of yours on my own money until your face would be ugly as your daughter's!"

Without taking any glances at her back, she clenched her teeth, and walked out from the gate and stood before the road's curb.

Haa! She finally got out of that pernicious family.

Thunderclaps rammed around with the dark heavy clouds bolted lightning.

At instant, she found herself looking at a gloomy sky while a heavy downpour kissed her smooth white face. Her pallid lips quivered as cold hugged her whole body.

'Where should I go now?'

Feeling like a lost lamb, she just slowly traipsed on the street splattered by continuous rain. Her face turned ashen as her eyes went dull and half-closed.

She felt empty.

"Hey, is it..."

"Yeah. She is."

"Did you hear it too?"

Murmurs floated around as familiar faces passed by.

Even though her fireless sight didn't even rolled towards the whispers, she knew for herself, they were talking about her.

Who couldn't be? Her stepfather was one of the influential persons in this area, and with just by his foul play of his mouth, there isn't any single person who would immediately believe it.

'Great. I am a thief, this time.'

Helpless. She slumped before an alley with her body completely drowned. Her condition was no better than a ragamuffin indeed.

Where did all your fire go? Wash out?

However before her light was completely flushed, a shadow sneaked towards her as her shivering figure had deluged into shade.

It was a tall figure of a young man wearing a pink cotton sweater.

"Miss, are you okay?"

A deep soothing voice as clear as pure water clanged on her ears.

As her gaze lifted, she found a gentle looking guy holding an umbrella and stretching his hand on to her. And he sweetly smiled.

"Mind if I help you?"

☁ ☁ ☁ ☁

As she was an inch away from her doom, bubbles formed on the corners of her eyes as tears could not help from gushing out.

Her throat suddenly dried out with her chest burned nothing but regret.

But, as she was still on amidst of slowly drooping towards the floor, a distant light faintly glimmered at the very bottom of the spring, where only darkness only awaits.

Once. Twice. Even a long stare, you would think it was just a firefly sluggishly flickers its luminescence.

Ziro who simply unaware of what was happening, lost all of her strength to move as she was just waiting for her lungs to blow out all of her breath.

With that, the faint effulgent gleam underneath became brighter and brighter until it exploded with a great lumen!

At an instant distant rumbles echoed from beneath. The silence of the water broke off into tremendous ripples, surges started a menacing splashes.

Ziro who was already nearing on her death, was blasted with such heavy sound and crippling pressures from the water as though millions of elephants hurtled down above her and crushed her body into pieces, it was more like trudging in a crust with a hundred meter per second per second gravitational acceleration.

Couldn't hold off her breath, liters of water plunged her mouth and nose.

"Glurggg!!!"

Bubbles of air scurried out from her throat and nostrils. Immediately her body trembled and floundered, she almost felt like she was being zapped by hundred stun guns.

No! She could not last long with that! She would die immediately!

As what she feared at seconds her figure slowly halted quivering…

Until she entirely lost her breath.

However, thunderclap-like sound grew even louder until ripples turned into a several maelstroms!

It swirled the spring water until it smashed the rocks and steamy ground off the brink.

Whirlpools swelled even stronger as it made extension twisters, in no seconds, it became a colossal hurricane!

For the wind had ragingly whipped everything it danced with, the forest terribly howled in anguish, trees lurched to n fro, having no other way but bust into pieces.

Briskly, the protective blanket mists covering the whole forest lost its chance to clutch the ground for another seconds as it was slapped up to the sky mélange of lightning tails and livid flurries.

No more than a minute, the tourbillion's eye became even pronounced as it thrust the springs crust and created a vent.

Boulders started swirling up the dark sky rammed with lightning crawled up to the tip end of the vast forest.

Thunder!!!

Brilliance...

Silence...

And with a godly strike of light it vanished!

The gale storm... the maelstroms... the thunderbolts... it all disappeared.

Everything went silent as though you would end up being deaf unable to hear any noises.

No crickets... no hisses... no rattles... no sound at all.

Broken trees just laid down on the mushy ground where boulders had just landed, the fog eventually subsided and hugged the whole forest again; everything went back except for precipice that collapsed, the spring water that vanished and...

....Prince Ziro.

*******

Clueless of what happened to the Prince, First Class General Lixardo mustered all his courage to talk what he knew about the second mountain of the seven summits of Ruzas, where they currently stopped.

"D-don't tell me there are beasts inside that fo-forest... oh no, the prince... there's no way he can survive in there... i-is there any way we can find him? Is there any path we could break into that damned forest?"

Palutis visage turned pallid until he could not help himself but grabbed Siwaliw's shoulder for support.

"I'm afraid, we cant. It was as Our Highness had just said. It will not let us find itself. If we thought it right... if the prince really entered the wandering forest... then there is no way we could find him, but we can highly assume that he'll go out... if he could... at the same place where he disappeared."

With his eyes anxiously gazing Paluti, Lixardo glided his hand towards his chin as the other gripping the reigns of blazing horse.

"If he could?"

Siwaliws eyebrows suddenly twitched and creases formed on his forehead.

He knew he was just a royal babysitter of the prince but it was also his duty to protect Ziro against slanderers even if it's Lixardo.

"You're quite rude yourself, general. He is the prince, why did you sound like he cannot go back."

Lixardo immediately curved the corners of his lips up and pointed his right eye towards the wingman kneeling in front of the king.

"Youre quite a guilty one, dove-guy."

With a long eloquent sigh, he continued.

"Besides, the prince had not even learned any fighting techniques, even handling a stick alone. How will you expect him to survive in that forest? By running away? Did you even let him run all this past years? I bet you didn't. I'm afraid he could not even last than a dozen minute running."

That hit the note. A sudden guilt indeed burst inside Siwaliw's heart as though he wanted to blabber...

'I know that already. You don't need to slap it on my face.'

Instead he quickly averted his gaze from the general and redirected it towards the ground where his fist already been grasping.

Well, Lixardo wasn't that insensitive.

As long as he felt a sudden remorse from the young servant, he lowered his eyelid towards Siwaliw and blew another sigh but as he was about to open his mouth...

"Hahaha. You people are really funny. Hahaha."

King Nāga who was just staring at them the whole time, burst into laughter. He never thought in his entire life that these three would be so touchy about his son, well, as if they could; they rarely see each other inside the palace.

Since Paluti and Siwaliw had almost spent their entire time guarding the prince in Ruzas, they had no chance dilly-dallying.

All of the three even the rest of the servants, flinched and quickly lifted their sight towards the king.

"Rest assured. Nothing bad will happen to my son, well, that's what I hope for."

With a clear of his throat, King Nāga tried so hard to hide his weakening visage by composedly leering towards where Ziro had disappeared.

"B-but… Your Highness… it's far from being dangerous."

"Do you really think I did not know that?"

In a swift, the king glued his eyes on Lixardo and gave off an ironically blithesome grin, despite that, all of the servants were engulfed in a deathly fear as all of their head drooped at the same time.

The king's fury was definitely to be feared with, but a smile in such discourse, it was beyond deadly!

"Ah. N-no, Your Highness. I am very sorry for my rudeness."

At instant, Lixardo bowed his head and cupped his hand.

"F-far from being dangerous? W-what is it? H-high tier beasts? Dont tell me L-legend?"

The more they talked about it, the more Paluti could not hold his breath, even his mouth was already trembling.

"Parrot-boy You really sucked on guessing, you know that. Well, there were few mid-tier beasts in the forest we can only hope he luckily survive from those. But the real problem was… a God tier beast."

"G-god tier? How is that even possible?! Even we cant win on that! Nor our forces combined."

Nor our forces combined? Did he mean the king was a weakling?

Paluti immediately shut his lips and slowly lowered his head when that sluggish realization came into his mind.

Well, he's not wrong after all. Even with King Nāga's power could not defeat a God level beast, given that he was already in the mezzanine level of High and Legend.

Adding Lixardo in the force, he was almost breaking through in high tier, and with his White Ghost Horse, the Crimson Panther reigned at the golden carriage, plus the Kings contracted beast still low chances of winning!

"That's exactly what I am talking about right now. It's because Wandering Forest was the one and only gate towards the Cave of Death, the dominion of Ketu, one of the seven moon-eating beasts of the Pearl Continent. Isn't that right, Your Highness?"

Lixardo calmly turned his gaze towards King Nāga imposingly standing before the ingress of the golden carriage while streaks of light highlighted his exorbitant crown.

"Hahaha."

King Nāga's beard suddenly swayed when he exploded with laughter.

"Lixardo… I was never really wrong picking you as my general. I have never thought you knew about the hidden scriptures of the Pearl, might as well make you my royal adviser."

"I'll humbly refuse such offer, Y-your Highness. I am not fit to take that and could you please stop being gladly overwhelmed by what I know? I merely happened to read some part of the scriptures. I never thought that it would be true. In any case, I think we should start waiting from the extraction point of the forest."

"Of course! Of course! If it is what my mighty general would say, then."

"Er... is there a need to say that, Your Highness."

******