Trial of Empathy (4)

Vivian gasped for air after it all just happened to her. As if she hasn't breathed for so long. She immediately grasped her neck. 'It is intact!' Her head was once again intact in her body.

'That one truly makes me feel terrified as I thought I was already being beheaded at that time. But gladly, I'm still here.' she thought as she was still grasping at her own breath while touching her neck.

This meant that one would not die on the trials. No. The thing here is they would probably die. But even though they die they would be revived back until the elemental beast was satisfied or they would be the ones who would give up first.

Vivian immediately looked around her surroundings. She was surprised to see that it was the same last place that she came from. Like she regressed back to the place where she died.

However, while looking at her surroundings she noticed that there was a difference. First, the duke was not looking at her. Or Isaiah was not paying attention to her. As if one would be editing a video, the part where she died in the memory has been cropped out since it was already unnecessary.

Though Vivian knew that she wouldn't die, experiencing death even if it was not real, was really something that can cause a fear inside of her. 'I have already been hit by a truck, and now I have to experience how to die by chopping my head. It is surely an experience one would never forget. However, after those experiences, I'm still here breathing and feeling all my flesh.' Vivian wanted to laugh at the craziness that she was currently feeling as she flashback all those terrible experiences. But since she was invisible right now, she was careful not to make any noise or to do some things that could lead her to experience death again. To think that Vivian would still be able to keep her sanity, she couldn't believe herself most of the time. Or maybe she was already insane so there was really nothing to change in any situation. Since she knows that she has no control over her surroundings but only how she acts in her situations..

'But I was very careful not to make any noise, what gives me away from the duke?' Thoughts scattered on Vivian's mind. However she couldn't think of how the Duke found out about her. 'This is definitely not an easy task to be here without any idea how just things happened. I feel like a little child who is lost in the middle of a city full of strangers.' Vivian takes a few more breaths to ground herself by focusing her 5 senses in the present moment.

"Where is your Blood Plate?" The cold voice of the Duke resounded.

"It seemed I had left it in my room earlier somewhere, father, in a rush to come meet you here.' Isaiah said without any glimpse of emotions and tried his best to match his father's energy at all cost.

Blood Plate was also another term for the Invisibility bracelet that was used by the vampire. But for Vivian, calling an invisibility bracelet was easier to remember.

"Do you know that if someone uses it other than you, whether they become invisible, once they enter that door, I still have the power to recognize and would probably be able to detect them, my dearest son?"

At the words of the Duke, Isaiah suddenly realized something. He looked back at the door but to his surprise Vivian was there, all alive and even waving at him.

If Vivian would read the expression on his face. There was only one word that best described him. Confusion.

Well, Vivian could really not blame him since the memory of her dying as soon as she entered the door already vanished. She just regressed at the same spot where she died. And that same very spot was already a few inches away from the door. But to think there was some sort of magic that could detect someone using the invisibility bracelet. Now that explained her death earlier.

"You seemed to be bothered by something?" The Duke stared at his son.

"I just look to see the door again when you mentioned how it can detect someone using the Blood Plate. And I was wondering how it can detect any intruder using such an item."

The Duke eyed Isaiah to see if the boy was lying. However when he saw that there was nothing amiss to his reason, he just continued speaking. Also, if his son somehow made someone borrow his Blood Plate to someone, and followed them here, that someone would already be dead at his own very own hands. "It's a complex magic. But that was not why we came here for now because there is something much more important we need to focus on. You can tell your magic tutor."

"Yes Father." Isaiah nodded.

With one snap of the duke's right fingers, torches lit up in a domino and circular motion from right to left.

Vivian stopped herself from gasping when the whole place was lit in just one snap.They were in a circular room. In the middle was a huge circular cell.

Like a huge bird cage. And surrounding that huge cage was a pool of something like a red liquid. From the strong stench of the metal, that liquid was blood.

Inside the cage, two young people, one boy and a girl, were in the middle. Both of them were sitting on a chair, their hands and feet were chained. One could also notice how beaten they were.

"Now, I want you to focus and look at them carefully, my dearest son. With these two dolls I have bought just for you, make sure that you will be able to learn your lesson this time around, Isaiah." The Duke said as he looked at Isaiah's scared eyes.