Chapter IX

Deep underneath the silent twilight were two cloaked figures, walking side by side with a small lamp on one’s grasp that serves as their light within the cold dark halls of the palace, whispering and pointing onto places that the female magician have recently found odd. The two of them had just finished their discussion, and as suggested by Sappherine’s best warlock— they decided to tread the whole place and find leads or track the source of negative sorcery.

“I felt it here, the first time”, The silverhead commented, eyeing the huge double doors that stood in all its might right in front of them. Located by the end of the hall, devoid of usage from any palace residents. It was weird to say that under the order of King Lawrence Dei Celeste— this room shall stay as it is, if not then better forgotten by many. None of the castle inhabitants dared to approach these doors. Well, that is until the two of them. “I entered the vicinity upon sensing such malevolent aura, yet the room is barren, devoid of anything— not even materials. This room is unused, abandoned in a sense”,

“Then after a few more searching, I concluded that it’s not the room itself. It was just a distraction. . .”, she added, shaking her head in frustration when she recalled how she was lead into a maze of theories and possibilities only to meet a dead end. Sneaky. Really sneaky, whoever this person is— had certainly desired to toy with her. “Smart thinking in a way, but definitely irritating”, she hissed.

“If that’s so. . . Then we can likely assume that it was and is still is in the palace”, Alejandro pointed out, biting his lower lip, delving deep in his thoughts and analysation, only to sigh afterwards when he reached yet again another end. “Nothing. Dead ends here and there”,

“Then again— we’re just starting over, perhaps we can find more clues later on”, he added, glancing at his companion who had now started to nip her thumb, furiously glaring on the poor cold carpeted floor with such agitation glimmering within her silvered-optics. This had the warlock smirking, crossing his arms as he watched her from the side. He finds it somewhat fascinating. Not in a creepy way, of course.

“Should we go and ask Delphinium?”, the witch inquired in a sudden, mentally cringing at the mention of the last magician who loyally worked for Xereisee. Little is known about the aforementioned lady, for she is as secretive as the previous royal magicians that served under the rule of the Xereiseeian Empire. It was their utmost rule to remain as mysterious as they can be, and it was then passed from generation to generations.

“Delphinium is unable to. She’s been quite packed as of late. The queen has been ordering her around every single hour— minutes even”, he replied, scoffing at the imaginary image of the current ruler of Xereisee— mentally cringing at how ghastly that old woman looked. Alejandro would rather choose King Lawrence than that hag if someone made him pick the best between both rulers. The old lady was simply just. . . unbearable.

Honestly, he had no general idea whereas why Delphinium chose to serve the kingdom and never leave her position, after countless of tasks, that were bossed for her to do. “That hag. She’s a great ruler, yes. But simply insufferable”, he added.

“I second that. . . I must admit Her Excellency builds and guides her nation well, yet. . .”, trailing off, Clementine inwardly sighed at the thought that crossed her mind. She recalled that one time wherein all three of the four of them (imperial magicians) were called by the queen. The room was filled with unbreakable tension and uneasiness even for a mere introduction since the old lady wanted to meet the rest of the royal mages— and after an hour or two of standing in the courtroom, all tensed and uncomfortable, the three where then ordered and sent to numerous amount of tasks that lasted for a whole week.

None of them visited Xereisee since then, fearing to have their magic drained close to the frightening red-line. They were all geniuses and witty in their own ways that each of them already knew from the beginning that the results of emptying magic within one person who can produce magic, would lead to a very undesirable consequence.

“Poor Delphi, must be suffering yet hiding it well”, Clementine mumbled, loud enough for Alejandro to hear.

“I say otherwise. She’s been obviously enjoying it”, the warlock retorted, crossing both his arms with a huff of irritation, before turning his heels away from the looming door. Clementine saw this as an indication that it was time for them to leave the place. Mimicking Alejandro’s previous actions, she too— twirled around, ready to take a step away, only to halt when the ground beneath them glowed.

A lavender colored magic circle enveloped the male magician, mumbling faint incantations that Clementine soon recognized. “A tracking spell?”, she whispered with a quick of a brow, eyeing Alejandro with an almost increadously expression plastered on her visage.

“An advanced one at that”, the mage added amused, squinting her doe-silvered optics towards the ground wherein the light slowly dulled into nothing, leaving the floor as it was before, devoid of a glowing circle that recently luminated the area.

“This place will be the root for now, based on your explanation beforehand. There’s a huge possibility that this could be the real main source and was only made to be a distraction to your or our senses”, Alejandro implied, glancing back at the door with a glare. He then released a frustrated sigh, shaking his head whilst he continued to move forward, prompting Clementine to jog and follow him from behind, thinking at her friend’s statement.

It could possibly be true. Apparently, this kind of cases where never new to her. There was this one time where she happened to join Delphinium in one of her missions a few years ago. It was something that concerns the help of an exorcist, and by far— none of the local mages and magicians who studied the ‘Art of Exorcism' were capable of exterminating the matter at hand. Thus lead the imperial magician of Xereisee to summon Clementine.

By far, after the demise of Amelia Vaygne, she happened to be the one who got the title of the late famous exorcist, who happens to be the countess of House Vaygne. At first the main object of suspicion was examined and was concluded innocent and pure, but it wasn’t until a few loops here and there before Delphinium commented and analyzed the whole situation, only to stop at the final confirmation that it was indeed the object’s fault, which surprised the imperial mage of Celeste.

Clementine felt really dumb and humiliated back then, but duty must be done— thus, instead of sulking over such embarassment, she opted to exorcise the item till it’s devoid of evil, before leaving the scene without alarming Delphinium. She spent a month mulling inside her tower after that, enhancing and practically training her mental capacity and knowledge to be wider, wiser, and much more genius than before.

“Brilliant thinking Alejandro”, she mused, nibbling her bottom lip with a shit eating grin plastered curving her lips, made to taunt the warlock who simply rolled his eyes at her.

“Heavens, I wonder what would dear Clementine do had it not been for my wise strategious thoughts. She’d probably be crying her arse now”, he mocked, smirking at the sight of a fuming mage behind him. Her ears were literally oozing smoke, and her face was covered in red. She was even practically seeing red.

“Shut it you sarcastic mouse! If I hadn’t figured it first, then I’ll probably figure it sooner!”, she exclaimed, redeeming herself from the embarassment that Alejandro had basically dumped on her.

“Hmm? Then the situation would be far worse than it is now?”, he asked, a tone of mock-wonder lacing each word. This had Clementine’s eye twitch, fighting off the urge to strangle her bully of a childhood best friend.

“I’ll definitely murder you”, she grumbled, crossing both her arms as they continued their search throughout the palace for the entirety of twilight, until the sun rises.