War Declaration and Current Situation

Cosima was quietly sleeping in her room. Sunmerged into the land of dreams, she suddenly found herself in the gardens of her mansion.

Hundreds, thousands, millions, even billions of rows of lantanas were in every direction. In the middle of the night, those orange flowers looked like they emitted light.

In the middle of them, Cosima was standing, contemplating, almost hipnotized. Her right hand was grabbing something.

She looked at it and was surprised. She first discovered that she wasn't alone, but next to his father while she grabbed his hand, and second, she had transformed into a little girl, probably six years old.

Cosima took a moment to see his father. He didn't look too much like her; the principal difference was that he had dark brown hair and his skin was very tanned. She probably was way more similar to her mother, but she had never even seen a photo of her, so she could only guess.

Jessopo Farfali looked at her and smiled before placing his hand on Cosima's head.

"You and these flowers are the same, Cosima; you really are—never forget that."

What did he say? I couldn't hear him.

Cosima was about to ask him about that, but a loud voice took her out to the land of the living.

"ALL THE SUMMONINGS ARE COMPLETED, THE SACRIFICES WILL BEGAN, EVERYTHING IS ALLOWED AND NOTHING IS FORBIDDEN, THE LAST ONES TO SURVIVE WILL BE REWARDED."

The voice was the same that she heard when Eloisa was brought to present time, but this time it came from inside her head, her ears ringing like a grenade just blew off at a meter from her feet.

She covered her ears with her hands and screamed on a pillow so she wouldn't be heard. Cosima remained in that state for a couple minutes before going to search for Eloisa and Massimo.

She opened the door of her room and found Massimo there, about to knock.

"You heard the voice?"

He asked, concerned.

"Yes, it gave me a little bit of a headache."

Cosima answered, trying to make it funny. Massimo didn't get that.

"It was very painful."

Massimo agreed. Cosima didn't know how to continue the conversation while thinking, Why was Massimo so bad at talking with her? He doesn't have problems joking around with Eloisa.

Approaching them full of pride, Eloisa had tuscan bread in her hand.

"Time for a strategic reunion."

The trio sits in their usual chairs around the table. Eloisa started cutting slices of the bread and sharing.

"This type of things should be spoken while eating."

Cosima added a bit of cheese and gave a bite to a slice.

"Let me take the leading voice, Eloisa."

Asked Cosima, wanting to transmit her ideas to her allies.

"Go ahead."

Massimo ate a slice while paying attention.

"Eloisa, you have at your disposal all the hundred thirty-seven million and six thousand euros of the Farfali House; you can spend it all without concerns, but instead, I want you to speak to us without holding back; do you really think we can survive?."

"Do you own a diamond mine or something?"

Massimo was fixated on the quantity of money Cosima just said, unable to even visualize a number so big in his head.

"Only a tiny one in Sardinia; let's focus on the important things."

"I will explain our situation very clearly."

Announced Cosima, putting her hands on the table.

"Gioco fiammeggiante."

Eloisa casted a spell, an orange flame appeared on the table, next to two tiny ones.

"The big flame is me; the two tiny ones are you."

Cosima refrained from saying something about why she and Massimo were the same size.

Four blue flames, all the same size as Eloisa's, appeared next, opposing the first three. 

"These are the enemies we know: Domenico, Masarabi, and the two manasi that were brought from my time, Maverick Bell and Béla Kovács."

Then eighteen green flames, slightly bigger than the rest, appeared behind the blue ones.

"Those are the other summoned and anchors we don't know. I really have no idea if Domenico himself is an anchor, so I put him aside, but if he indeed is, then there are only sixteen flames."

Finally, a purple one bigger than the rest materialized in the middle.

"And those are the masked men; they were like forty of them, and even if they are all weaker than me, there is strength in numbers, so I will count them as a big problem, but they probably won't intervene unless we attack directly. Something we are NOT going to do right now; think of them as a variable. Also, we don't know what type of magic any of them is capable of."

"So it's practically you against the world."

Cosima suggested, fully comprehending that no matter how powerful her master was, she was not winning against all.

"But with my money, you could—"

"Our enemies could also have great assets and resources; we can't count on that as a great advantage."

Massimo interrumped Cosima, making her realize that she was, after all, a member of one of many noble families in Italy.

"Also, my knowledge is obsolete, and both of you just don't have any idea where to buy magical objects and ingredients that we may need. That's a disadvantage that we have."

Eloisa argued further, but Cosima's eyes shined at that statement.

"Maybe we don't know where to buy things like that, but I know where to get some from."

Eloisa just blinked, dumbfounded.

"Ah? Didn't you told me that you were an amateur between amateurs, the amateurish amateur of all amateurs?"

"I didn't said like that."

Cosima's face went a bit red, but she did know a place from which they could get things.

"And where is this place? Is it close?"

"It's the Farfali Mansion."

Eloisa facepalms herself; it was so obvious; why didn't she think of that, no, even worse, she did straight up told Cosima that the book collection of her mansion was invaluable; obviously, she had lots of useful objects, but she simply just forgot about that.

I'm such a fool.

"That's great, Cosima; it's actually marvelous. Let's go to your mansion, and I will tell you what is useful. If only I knew what was in my castle..."

"You have a castle?"

Massimo asked, confused.

"Well, I had; I don't know what it was of it."

"Why don't you search on the internet?"

"The what?"

Now Cosima facepalmed herself, thinking about why she didn't do that.

"The internet is like an immediate... letter-sending system!"

Massimo tried to explain what the internet was in terms that Eloisa could understand, but he didn't think he had lots of success.

"So I can write to a friend in Venezia, and he could answer the same day!?"

Eloisa's eyes shone, and she had a smile so big you would think she was a little girl going to the beach for the first time.

"In the same minute, actually."

"No way!"

"What is your castle's name?"

Cosima asked, bringing out her phone.

"Oh, Cosima, you never explained what that thing in your hand was."

"I will do that on the way to my mansion; tell me the name of your castle."

"Cobossi Castle."

"I thought it was going to have a fancy name."

Commented Massimo disillusioned.

"The actual name is Il Grandissimo Castello Azzurro della Grandissima Casa Nobiliare Cobossi e dei suoi vicini, but no one called it like that."

Cosima did a quick search and found a photo and an article about it.

"Is this a castle?"

She asked, showing the photo to both of them.

The castle was very big, with what looked to be six towers and a wall surrounding the main structure, which Cosima estimated to be thirty meters tall. It probably was very beautiful in his time, but today it was in ruins; it looked like it had been attacked multiple times without seeing reparations.

"Ahhh..."

Eloisa's eyes watered. She was about to cry, but who wouldn't if they were in her situation? In her perspective, four days ago, that was her home, where her family lived; today, it was abandoned and ruined.

"Aghhh uhhh."

She started crying standing there; tears just ran down her face, but she couldn't move. It was as if the fact that two hundred years had passed truly weighted on her in that moment. Cosima quietly hugged her.

Both of them just stood there for a couple of minutes. Massimo went to the kitchen and left them alone.

"E-Eloisa... We met four days ago, and... we don't know each other very well. But I trust you, and I won't lie to you... I won't pretend to understand how you feel because I really don't, but still, I get that it's incredibly horrible, and I won't let you alone.

Eloisa didn't answer, but she returned the hug to Cosima.

Massimo returned with a cup of coffee.

"I made your favorite, Eloisa."

It was a hot mocca.

Eloisa grabbed the coffee and stopped crying.

"I investigated a bit more about your castle; the current owner is an old man called Tomasso Costa, who inherited the castle after the death of Leandro Cobossi in 1977. Apparently he was the last servant of the Cobossi family."

"What happened to the Cobossis?"

"Apparently the Cobossi family declined during the later half of the nineteenth century until the Cobossi Castle was accidentally bombed during the Second World War, killing the few remaining members but Leandro Cobossi, who died of old age in 1977, leaving all the Cobossi's fortune to the only servant who remained loyal to the end, Tomasso Costa, who has said that he would return the fortune if any with the Cobossi mark appeared, and if not, he would give it to whoever he finds worthy."

"I'm the last Cobossi."

"Well, if we could communicate with this Tomasso Costa, you might be able to reclame the castle."

Cosima opined, trying to give her hope and making her see that maybe not everything was lost.

"But that would be a week of traveling! The castle is in Campagna! We can't lose so much time."

Eloise refused, deeply saddened, but without losing sight of what the actual objective is.

"It actually is only a nine-hour journey if we go by bus; if we go by car, it could be even less!"

"Nine hours!?"

"Ahh, you don't know what cars are; I forgot."

"It's the metal things with people inside and wheels that we saw in the parking lot."

Cosima explained to Eloisa in a whisper.

"Ohh."

"If we go today, we could return at night; let's go to continue sleeping now to awake at five."

Massimo ordered; he had already planned the trip in his mind.

At the same time, walking in the middle of the night in front of jewelry stores, seeing the rings on exhibition display.

"Do your wounds still hurt, my dear Flavio?"

Flavio moved slowly compared to Elettra.

"Only the shot; the others don't. Thank you, Elettra."

"What do you think about this ring, Flavio? The gold one with the three diamonds."

"I-it's very beautiful, Elettra. I think it would look very good on you, but please, we have to find some clothes. The police are going to arrest us if someone sees us!"

Flavio was completely sure people had already seen them, and there were probably videos of them on the internet with titles like "Shameless exhibitionist couple walking in Florencia," but what embarrassed him the most is that now he was conscious of the situation he was in.

"You worry about nothing; the police wouldn't dare arrest a noble like me over such thing. Also, stop being ashamed; you look good like that. You said the ring would look good on me, but it's not for me."

"Ah?"

"It's for you."

"WHAT!? WAIT WAIT WAIT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN IS FOR ME!?"

"Of course it's for you; that's why I'm giving you options I like to choose from; after you decide on one, you are going to give me options too! You heard the voice, war is going to begin soon, and it's very important that the enemies know that we are married!"

"T-t-then I choose another one!"

"But you already said it was beautiful! Were you lying to me?"

Elettra put an expression so sad that Flavio felt incredibly guilty.

"I-I-it's just that it just, it just isn't for me; it was made for someone beautiful like you!"

Elettra gave Flavio the most sincere smile he had ever seen, her eyes looking directly at his.

Faster than he could react, Elettra grabbed him by the waist with both hands and kissed him in the mouth.

"I think you are beautiful, Flavio; I'm both body and soul, but you don't have to lie; I know you don't like my scars."

Flavio, for the first time, looked at her body without turning his eyes away. He understood that what he had done out of respect was misinterpreted as disgust. 

There were a lot of cuts and bullet wounds all over her back, stomach, legs, and even one in her left shoulder near the point where it connects with the neck, but by far, the most noticeable one was a diagonal one that went from under her left eye, going over her nose, until the right commissure of her mouth. Nevertheless, Elettra was undoubtedly the most gorgeous woman Flavio had ever seen.

"N-no Elettra you are wrong; I think you are dazzling; it's just that I thought you may not like it if I saw you too much!"

"Ahhhhh, I fell in love with the correct man! You are wearing that ring now."

"Wait Elettra I haven't told you if I choose that one yet!"

"Wear it for a week; if you don't like it after that, we can change it; it's just a ring after all! Now choose mine!"

If it's just a ring, why do you want me to wear specifically that one!?

Flavio was cold, embarrassed, and wanted to get over this quickly. He could choose a random one, but he also knew that Elletra's feelings were genuine, so he decided to choose the one that he truly thought would look better in Elettra. He saw them one by one with full detail until he found the perfect one.

"That one would look very delightful on you."

Flavio pointed at a ring with a red gold hue that had a diamond the exact same color her hair was in an intricate design similar to a river; if it was made by hand, it would be a masterpiece of jewelry.

"But I can't pay for them; I just turned eighteen today!"

"Don't worry about that."

Elettra put her left hand in his waist and extended two fingers towards the glass.

"WAIT ELETTRA DON'T DO THAT!"

"Ira del cielo."

The glass shattered into millions of tiny pieces, and the store alarm went off, Flavio felt that the loud noise of the alarm could be heard in all of Florencia.

"What is that?"

Asked Elettra as she extended her arm through the now open space and grabbed both rings from the exhibition.

"We are going to jail..."

Said Flavio while burying his face in Elettra's back.

"Don't worry about that."

Elettra understood that this must have been a very long day for Flavio, and he was concerned about lots of things. She tried to make it better, so she grabbed him by his waist again.

"It's very cold right now; guide me to your home; I'm going to give you the best birthday party ever!"