Unwanted Visitors

"Who are you?"

Her eyes traced the sharp blade up to meet the young man's eyes. What she saw was almost blinding. Messy silver locks reflected a halo around him that was ethereal. She would believe he was an angel if he said so. She had never seen silver-white hair and gray skin before. His appearance is uncommon for someone in Adhelis Empire as all citizens have shades ranging to the colors of gold like the sun.

Adeleine stared at him, star-struck.

The frown resting between his eyebrows deepened. He cocked his head, his silver chain earring clinked; his voice was dangerously low. "I said, who are you?"

She flinched, the hair on her back stand on its ends. She swallowed from apprehension and also from ogling. The sudden drop of temperature seeped into her skin and she shivered.

"A-adeleine..."

He squinted his eyes in distrust at the girl. He didn't fail to notice blood smeared under the hood on her baby blue dress. She's a part of this mess, he concluded. He eyed the disaster around them before shifting his eyes back to the perpetrator.

To be able to gather a group of monsters, with high-threatening ranks at that. He trod her with caution.

"Remove your cloak."

Adeleine instead peered on his back. A royal red coat draped around his shoulders with a symbol behind his back—a sun in a shield with reindeer horns on top and a large feather diagonal behind it, two wavy lines across that was like a snake.

She sighed, disinterested. It wasn't the emblem she was looking for.

Irked and impatient, the young man hooked the blunt end of his sword under her hood and flicked his wrist. Her eyes widened as it fell behind her.

He took a precautionary step back, assuming a defensive stance hammered down into his instincts as his fingers sought for his sword's hilt. Adeleine's arm was twisted awkwardly behind her back before she had a chance to react while he put some force on her untrained muscles, causing her to yelp even without much pressure.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" she grimaced. Her heart leaped, she thought he was going to use his sword. She couldn't save herself if that happens.

She wriggled, only to be restricted by the young man holding her in a tight grip.

"What are you doing?! Unhand me! " she demanded as he kept a straight face.

"Shut up," he growled.

"I said let me go!" she raised her foot and slammed it down to his toes hard for his mishandling.

Instead of letting her go, he held her tighter as he pulled a rope from his back out of nowhere and tied her arms together while she thrashed wildly. Having enough of it, he attempted to cover her mouth.

"You—," he hissed when she bit his hand.

She jerked her head backward, head bumping him intentionally hard. Her head throbbed from the impact.

Her eyes swirled. The world appeared upside-down but, that did not stop her from cheering inside when she got free when the young man stumbled backward. Taking this opportunity, she shook her head to dismiss her hazy vision and dashed to wherever, just away from the hunter.

She didn't even manage ten steps away when she tripped on a tree root and her cheeks kissed the leafy ground.

"Ow!"

'Way to go, imbecile.' Moon sarcastically cheered her.

"Shut up, wench. I'm doing all the work here," she hissed. She pushed herself up only to be pinned down by the guy, hands on her back and face squished down on the dirty floor.

"Stop struggling," he snapped, "or I'll kill you."

A chill ran down her spine. Sure enough, this guy meant what he said.

He's not an angel at all, he's a devil in disguise.

Moon, who had felt the girl's agitation, told her. 'Calm down and just do as they say.'

She took a deep breath. Moon's right. Panicking wouldn't help her in this state.

"COMING THROUGH!"

A young man swept back his blond hair as he balanced himself on top of a galloping horse, one which should not do. Unless you want to fall off and break your neck, possibly die.

He unmounted near them, landing almost face flat on the floor. To save himself from embarrassment, he swept back his hair again and flashed them a grin as if his blunder didn't happen.

"Perfect," he winked.

After him, another horse sped through. It came to a stop and neighed as the tall lady riding pulled the reigns. She unmounted her horse and briskly walked behind him with a tight lip.

She whacked the back of his head. "I told you not to use your affinity for convenience, only for necessity."

"Ah, not my hair!" He patted his head, checking to see if that ruined his slick back hair. "I'm running out of gel for this trip and they don't sell it here."

"Bear in mind that we're on a mission, not a gala. Not only did you do nothing of importance, but you also complained about your useless aching legs and be a hindrance." She regarded him coldly. "You're an embarrassment to the proud rank of Mir."

"How could I be an embarrassment? Mir should be grateful to have a handsome individual such as myself." He puffed out his chest.

"Stupidity does come with personality," she muttered under her breath enough for the boy to hear.

They heard a shriek. Another horse came after them. Compared to the previous two, the horse ran without a proper direction while the girl on the back clung to its neck as her life depended on it.

The horse kicked its front hooves in the air and neighed as the tall lady moved in front to stop it. The girl on the back clung tighter and yelped. The taller one managed to calm the horse down while the rider fell on her bum, shivering.

"S-scary." Her teeth were chattering, her long wave locks in disarray.

"That is not how you ride a horse," the taller one scolded.

She struggled to push herself up the ground with her knees shaking under her cloak. Brushing her hair back, she noticed everyone staring at her. She was quick to avert her gaze. Her body trembled even more as she tried to hide under her hair. "I'm- I'm sorry," she said weakly.

Much to her relief, the spotlight didn't last long when the fourth one trotted near. She hopped down from her saddle, her curly hair bouncing.

"You? Handsome? Where?" she laughed.

Hayden rolled his emerald green eyes at them. "Uh, I don't know. Maybe if you use your eyes, you could see the glorious being in front of you."

She cupped her hands around her eyes like binoculars as she squinted. "Ah there it is," she exclaimed.

He grinned, "Ha! I told you—"

She pushed past him. "There it is! What handsome mane you got there, Row," she patted the horse's snout, and the animal neighed in satisfaction that left him with jaws dropped.

"You... You traitors!" he glared at the tall woman and the beaming girl as they chuckled.

"Um, but I think it's not nice to hit Hayden though," the short girl whispered and shrunk when she was once again under the spotlight.

"Aw, Bridget," he turned to her with teary eyes. "You're such an angel. I knew you were on my side."

"Not so fast, fool." The tall lady smacked his head again.

"Ack! What was that for then?! I didn't do anything wrong to you, Amalia!"

The tall woman glared down at him. "That's Lady Amalia to you. Treat your seniors with respect, dunce."

He turned away and grumbled.

A vein popped on her forehead. But before the woman could do anything else to reprimand the poor boy, the attention was diverted to Adeleine when the other girl crouched down to her level.

"Who's this?"

"Woah." Adeleine held her breath as her eyes crossed at how the girl was too close for comfort. She craned her neck to lean back. She would want to keep a respectable distance between their faces if it wasn't for the young man pinning her down.

"Hi! I'm Ria. Nice to meet you," she chirped as she offered her a handshake. "Oopsie me, I didn't notice you're in a bit of a bind." She bounced her eyebrows with a grin and giggled at her joke.

"A letherian…the boy was right." The tall woman muttered with her brows crossed. "Does it have special abilities?"

"Oh! Oh!" Ria raised her hand enthusiastically as if she was reciting in a classroom. "Is she a deviant? She looks weird." Ria grabbed Adeleine's cheeks, squishing it and turning her head side-to-side.

"How did you find it, Clandes?" Amalia raised the young man an eyebrow.

"She was here and she tried to escape."

"What else?" Amalia's amber eyes bore straight to him.

He grunted. "Nothing else. I got here with the whole place in shambles."

"Man, looks like everything was destroyed though," Hayden did a three hundred sixty around the place. "I wonder if there's any loot." He paused as his eyes settled on the humungous body lying a mile away. "What the FarSide of the moon? A KUHRA?! I thought they don't have those things here?!"

"But it happened. That leads us to what we have here." Amalia looked down on Adeleine, who was trying to wriggle her way out. "What is your motive?" she asked her.

"Huh?" Adeleine stopped and met her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play us for a fool. We are all well aware you are responsible for this mess. Why else are you and that thing here?" Her eyes gleamed with malice as she stepped on her head, pushing Adeleine's face down to the floor.

"Responsible?" Adeleine raised her voice with her muffled reply, "I'm the victim here!"

Amalia's face darkened. "Clandes, move."

Adeleine felt the restraints loosen and she breathed out a sigh of relief. She pushed herself up but she was halfway through when Amalia's knee hooked to her abdomen. Her back smacked into the large trunk, paralyzing her for a brief while. She slumped to the forest floor as her vision doubled.

"Celestial above!" Bridget gasped and stared at them, horrified.

"Don't toy me." She loomed over her. "Answer. What is your motive?"

Adeleine couldn't understand them. She only heard muffled speeches drowned by the ringing in her ears. She tried to move, but only her fingers twitched.

Receiving no response, Amalia raised her foot but, Bridget threw herself between them.

"Stop!" The young petite woman shut her eyes to anticipate the incoming hit. She didn't feel it, however. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked at Amalia, begging. "Please…stop."

Amalia paused. She looked at Bridget with hard cold eyes, her eyebrows narrowing.

"Please…"

Amalia huffed as she closed her eyes, turning them away. "Astrea shouldn't have let them live. But I'll let this one pass. We'll wait for the academy's decision."

She walked to the saddles, opening the bags and grabbing thick ropes from inside. She tossed them to the others and said, "Tie her up."

"Aye, ma'am, we'll be done even before you could say poop!" Ria saluted and pulled Bridget to work.

"Make sure it's tightly secured," she added.

Bridget and Ria pulled her with a gentler approach compared to what happened just a while ago. Moon calling her name echoed in her mind multiple times as her eyelids drooped heavy. Her vision turned black. As they hauled her up the saddle in an awkward and unpleasant posture, her body coordinated with them like a puppet in their hands.

"Hayden, Clandes," Amalia turned to the two boys. "You two scout the area. See if there's anything else."

"Don't order me around, barbarian," he scoffed and walked away, ironically, to do her commands.

The blond followed behind him with a snicker. "Barbarian," he mocked with a laugh.

"You dimwit. Say that again, I'll rip your head off and feed it to the ferves," she warned. Hayden scampered off, tailing Clandes. Her eye twitched and mounted her horse with a stomp. "Let us move, people."