Chapter 43: Lost and Confused

"W-what kind of joke is this?" Kalika questioned, staring at Rhonda in shock.

Rakon slipped past Kalika Presenting a frightened Rhonda. "I can assure you. This is no joke." He grabbed her by the back of the hair, showing Kalika how terrified she looked. "She only has herself to blame. This lousy maid of yours has caused more than enough trouble for the both of us."

"Us!?" Kalika's anger flared up. "R-Rhonda has served me well. She even put her life on the line for me!"

Rakon snickered looking at Rhonda. "This maid of yours is a lot more sneaky than you'd think. Of course, I'm sure she finds it more convenient that you never remembered the last ten years."

 Rakon turned his gaze from Rhonda back to Kalika. "After all I'm sure the old you would've been thrilled to kill her the moment you were two alone."

"What do you mean?" Kalika watched as Rhonda's frightened expression became that of immense guilt. "What did she do…?"

Rakon got close to Kalika bringing himself close to her ear to whisper something. "Have You ever wondered why each escape attempt failed?" Rakon turned his gaze back to Rhonda. "This succubus maid of yours was never loyal to you Kalika. And I'll let you in on a little secret… ever since your first little escape I had this woman under a carefully crafted contract to help me keep a close eye on you."

Kalika's heart started to sink. "But even under this contract she found a way to report Your escape attempts. Becoming the prime informant to the demon queen against my very wish. Truly miraculous feat, One I'm sure she wasn't expecting me to find out about…" He said more openly.

Something within Kalika flared up, an undistinguished rage that even she couldn't understand. Her whole body felt on fire as she trembled, trying to doubt Rakon's word. "T-that's not true. T-that can't be true." Kalika couldn't take her eyes off of Rhonda. "He's lying Rhonda! Right!??"

Rhonda looked away, guiltily.

Kalika walked steadily to Rhonda, quickly fastening her pace in moments. "Y-you're not going to even defend yourself. Y-you're not going to at least lie!??"

A whirlwind of emotions started to overcome Kalika's senses. It was one unbelievable revelation after another, and she couldn't come to terms with which was worse. The fact that her father wanted her to inherit the throne of her country or the fact that Rhonda had held her back from the freedom she always strived for.

Kalika grabbed Rhonda by the dress, gripping it tightly.

"I…I-I'm sorry…" Rhonda muttered.

"Sorry? Sorry!?"

A hot sensation filled Kalika's hands. She glanced at her hand, finding that the blood blade dagger was already in it. "W-when did I-"

"Are you ready to fight then?" Rakon asked.

Kalika became silent for a few moments. she glanced at Rhonda with her grip still tight on her dress. Everything in her body felt like a confused mess.

"N….No." Kalika muttered.

Rakon got closer. "Come again. I don't think I heard you."

"N-no." she said aloud. "I-I…I'm not ready…"

"" Rakon ordered.

On order Rhonda started to be dragged from the Arena. She followed at first, but quickly turned to Kalika and resisted their pull. "I'm sorry! Kalika I'm sorry!"

Kalika simply watched the desperate maid as she tried to plead for forgiveness. Eventually being dragged through the door until her voice could no longer be heard.

Soon after the prisoners, still around watching from the stands, got escorted away back into the prison. All the while Kalika just stood still staring in the same direction from where Rhonda left.

After some time had passed with even Tilus's body being removed, Rakon finally approached Kalika. "Are you ready to go back now?"

Kalika remained silent for a time before finally responding in the affirmative, finally leaving, with Rakon escorting her.

After some time of being quietly escorted, Kalika's somber gaze turned to her cell, seeing a rectangular reflection by her bed.

"A…A mirror?"

Slowly a view of herself came into view and upon seeing her full reflection, she shook.

"A small reward for correctly guessing your opponent… I hope you'll enjoy it."

She slowly approached the bars of her cell, gluing her eyes to the mirror. Before Kalika stood an image of her past dressing in the brown, ragged and torn prison clothes. "T-there's no way…"

Kalika's gaze quickly turned to her hair, seeing that strands of white hair peeked from between blonde strands. Her trembling hands felt her face, her hair, her nose and even her cheeks.

"W-w-w-why do I look so young?" Kalika backed away from the cell bar, stunned. she bumps into Rakon who now stood behind her examining his own reflection. She looked back up seeing Rakon's reflection behind her own, looking very proud.

"Heh. Now even you can appreciate your own beauty every day."

Kalika's breath started to quicken; an intense pressure hit her chest. She quickly clutched her chest feeling an overwhelming dread over taking her. "No! T-this isn't right! THIS ISN'T NORMAL!!" Without warning Kalika Ran!

"Oh…" Rakon Watched as Kalika races off into the booby-trapped corridor of the dungeon.

Kalika ran, dodged and jumped through all the traps she remembered. All the while the sight of Rakon never left her vision.

"Where are you going Kalika?" Rakon questioned. "I thought you gave up on escape."

 Rakon appears before Kalika. "Or was that a lie?" She turns down another hall evading another trap.

Rakon's voice couldn't escape Kalika as she expertly weaved through all the traps eventually seeing an unguarded staircase up. She made her way up the stairs only to be captured and held by a floating pool of blood. Rakon's head stretch out from the pool the held Kalika, shocking her.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Kalika gritted her teeth. "L…Leave me alone!!"

She forcefully ripped herself away from the blood that encased her, continuing her escape. guards start to run in her direction, spears in hand.

"Get out of my way!"

The first guard attacked the missing Kalika. She quickly turns to run up the side of the wall, hopping over the demons. They gave chase until Rakon called them off. After some time, eventually finding her way to the second floor of the dungeon, she ran to the only exit she knew of.

She ran hard down the corridor with the light at the end until eventually she found herself on the very same cliff overlooking the forest and mountains ahead. And beyond those mountains lay a magnificent sunset.

Despite the beautiful scenery however, The one thing she hated most stood before her. Rakon wore that same cocky smile as he stood to the side of the doorway.

Kalika ignored him, walking to the edge of the cliff in front of her. She looked at the scenery before her, then looked down into the rocky and grassy fields below. Not long after she sat down.

"Leave me alone" she said solemnly.

"You're not going to jump down? You've been avoiding me so far, so why stop now."

"I said 'Leave me alone'."

Rakon kneeled over by Kalika's side overlooking the same horizon. "You know, I always wondered why you always sat here. At first you would jump down from here all the time but after a while you just sat here."

Kalika scowled. "Maybe I just gave up then!" She hissed. "It's pointless to run away, and even if I did, there's no one that will help me. Or save me."

"Even the most powerful humans in the world were no match, They died trying to help me… so what hope do I have?" Kalika seemingly began to relax herself looking over the horizon. She watched as the sunset continued its course.

"When I look over this cliff, onto the land I was born… it reminds me how unchanging these lands can be... and that infuriates me!"

"Oh?" Rakon's curiosity peaked. "And why is that?"

"Why else!? No matter what I do or try… I feels like I'm under someone else's thumb. I tried to be the perfect daughter, I tried to usurp my sister rights to the throne, but that was…

Kalika grabbed tight onto her prisoner pants. "I really don't want to believe Tilus… I-I really don't! But I can't help to believe him."

"The more I think about it the more I'm questioning if I was ever free at all, or if I was just some, thing that be molded. It sickens me! How do I know what choice mine was and what choice was his!? It was the same with lily and now YOU!!"

Rakon watched as Kalika started to tear up before him in a rare moment of weakness. "It looks like the mask has finally fallen…" He said to himself.

With a smile Rakon started to pet Kalika on the head. "You poor little thing. So you feel unable to escape your own destiny. An ironic sentiment coming from the girl the broke destiny itself."

Kalika winced painfully. "S…Shut up."

Rakon got back to his feet standing before Kalika. "What's wrong? How do you expect to complete our contract when you're like this?" he teased.

"S-sh… Shut up."

"You want to be free right? To do everything you wanted and everything you desire. You've already killed two former allies. So what's some lousy maid to you anyways."

An anger flared up, her hands trembled violently, and she couldn't control herself. "Y-you-"

Before she could even realize it, Kalika found herself stabbing Rakon in his stomach with her dagger. She dared not to look up at Rakon, stunned by her sudden flash of intense anger. To her surprise, Rakon pet her again, much more gently.

Her knees start to become weaker, with her grasp leaving the handle of her weapon.

Rakon smiled, pulling the blade from himself revealing the inside of his hollow shell of blood. Rakon dropped the blade before Kalika.

"I-I didn't mean-"

"Don't lie," he said.

Rakon placed his fingers under Kalika's chin, lifting her gaze to him. "I'll allow it. But only because I like you."

Rakon started to chuckle. "Even in this state, you're cute…"

Rakon took his hand away. "But you'll want to pull yourself together. After all, trying to go back on the contract now, you'll be penalized with the mark of a slave, force to bend my own will. I'm sure you wouldn't want that."

"N…No… I just… I just need some time...," she said. Kalika attention turned to see hues of purple starting to settle in from the sunset sky.

"Good girl. I have high expectations for you Kalika. After all it'll be a shame to see you linger in this prison as my slave. Especially when there's so much potential, so much more you can achieve that can help change this sorry excuse of a world."

She looked back up to Rakon seeing his smile. "It… It doesn't matter what I do… I'm always going to be that pawn to him… to be used and..." frustration started to settle back in.

Rakon started to walk away. "You can stay up here for now, but when the sun finishes setting, lets go back in. I'll be just behind you."

"I envy you." Kalika suddenly said. Rakon stopped, listening intently to her words. "I envy you, my sister and the demon king... It must feel good knowing that you can do whatever you whenever you want. free any constraints..."

"You envy me?" Rakon chuckled. He gave a quick glance to Kalika. "My life isn't forever Kalika. Just like my brother and that sister of yours, our lives are still mortal. We may live ten times longer than any human, but that doesn't stop us from dying of old age or on the battlefield. Unlike you that is."

Rakon continued to the dungeon entrance, leaning himself on the cliffside beside it. "For all we know, you may never die of old age either. living to see the fruits of our labor, generations into the future and beyond is something I think is much more enviable in my opinion."

Kalika, at a loss for words, looks up into the sky somberly. "Why...?"