Chapter 22

My eyes opened, finding myself lying on my back on the soft grassy field. I scanned the area around to see if I was still being chased, and when everything was clear, I sighed in relief and fell back to the ground again. It's been a long journey… But as much as I want to rest, I cannot let my guard down. Vivian knows I am here. She probably knows by now that I have escaped from the tower.

But wait… How did she know that I am here? I'm sure I left discreetly. Not even Gia or Hazmuth knows I left. There is no time to think about this useless stuff. First, I have to get out of here and break free from these chains.

I stood up, but was immediately met with a wall in my face. At first I thought it was a wall, then I took another look and it was a monkey staring at me with its wide eyes. Its head tilted while its mouth was agape, showing curiosity towards me.

"What do you want?" I asked. Can't you believe it? I asked a monkey what it wanted, expecting a reply. If mother was here, or Gia or Hazmuth, I bet they would look at me crazily.

"You are not from here, aren't you little girl?" To my surprise, the monkey actually spoke. "Did I catch you off guard?" The monkey snickered.

"What the heck are you?" I asked, asking what was obvious already.

"What you humans call, monkey. But in this realm, we are the Heavenly Guards of this realm." He said. "I am Corporal Yokun, a team leader who is in charge of scouting. You are the first that I have found."

Heavenly Guards, huh… I have never heard of that before. Not even the history books covered their species. All I know is that they are monkeys because they look like one.

"Are you going to report me to your so-called queen?" I asked, preparing myself for a fight if the worse comes. The eyes of Corporal Yokun darkened, glaring at me when he heard the queen.

"Watch your mouth, human. We have no desire to bow down to a corrupt and evil ruler." He said.

So they hate her too. Good. This would make my journey easier.

"I know right? Who would bow down to an evil ruler like her." I said. I tried to stand up, but my legs were sore and tired. It appears that sitting down for too long, my fatigue caught up to me.

"Here, drink this." Corporal Yokun handed me a glass of bottle filled with blue shiny liquid.

"What is this?" I asked.

"A potion that restores one's energy and mana." He said. He then looks at the chains I was bound with. "It appears that you won't be able to use magic unless those chains are broken. Unfortunately, the only way for those to be loose is by finding whoever keeps the keys for these chains."

I sighed in annoyance. "No shit sherlock. You know who the keeper is?" I asked after gulping down what was left of the bottle. It tastes similar to honey.

"That is a question I don't know." The monkey replied. "You think you can stand?"

I stood up and stretched my body before moving. "I can. Where are we going?"

"To our town." Corporal Yokun said.

It took us an hour to reach their town. Their town was so big that I had mistakenly thought it was a city. From what I found out, their town was founded after rebelling against Vivian. When Vivian came and took the throne, the Heavenly Guards knew her evil intentions and refused to bow down to her. Vivian became furious and wanted to annihilate them, so they fought back and tried to take her down. But in the end, they lost. They got kicked out of the Sky Castle and fled here, where they founded a town for their folks to live in.

"What was her intention? Do you know?" I asked, hoping for more answers.

Corporal Yokun didn't respond. He was thinking. After a few seconds, he finally spoke. "If I do remember, she wanted to completely have full control of the Heavenly Realm's Army and invade the Demon Realm so she can also rule that world."

Tsk. How greedy of her. "And your rebelling is what stops her from invading it even though she has the Army under her?"

"Yes." The monkey frowned. "Unfortunately, we are the only race who did not bow down to her. Our sister, the Griffins, kneeled to her as well as everyone else. Only we did not give up."

"You did a good job not bowing down to her." I said with confidence.

After a few minutes of walking, showing me around the town, and introducing me to the other folks, we met the commander of the town.

"Sir, reporting in!" Corporal Yokun said.

"Come in." A deep voice spoke. Corporal Yokun and I went in.

"Sir! As I was scouting around the perimeters, I found a human being in the forest with anti magic chains attached to her. She said that she was imprisoned in the Heavenly Tower and fled."

The other officers were surprised. "What? A human being escaped from the tower? How is that possible?" They looked at me. All eyes on me.

I don't know what to tell them. If I say, I escape in brute strength, they might not believe me. But it's better than not saying anything at all, right?

"Well, I escaped by using these chains as my weapon." I said. Yet they are even more surprised.

"Impossible! No one has ever escaped the tower since it was founded. But a human has escaped.. It is hard to believe, but just looking at those chains, it is true." One of the officers said.

A loud bang echoed in the room. The commander got everyone's attention.

"Who might you be?" He asked.

"Ashe. I am an adventurer." I said.

The commander looked at me deeply, as if he was staring at my soul and not my eyes. "Strange… You are a human, yet something tells me you are not. What are you?"

"I am an adventurer. Anything more than that is personal matters." I said.

The commander didn't push. He gave up and nodded his head. He looked at Yukon and said, "Good job, Corporal. You may rest." He said, but before Yukon could reply, we heard an explosion from the outside.

We all went outside to see the commotion. Monkeys were running away from the source of power, while others were fighting whoever that is. I could see some were gravely wounded, others were already dead.

"I found you, you rebels. It is time for you to die!" Shouted by an angel. Before the angel could kill more, I rushed in, blocking his next wave of attack using the chains I was bound with. The angel took a step back, analyzing me. "A human? I don't know what you are doing here, but I recommend not stopping me. If you get in my way, I will kill you as well."

I laughed. "I can't let you just go on a rampage against these monkeys. Besides, I have some business with your stupid queen."

The angel became angry. "Stupid? Who dares to mock our ruler! I shall slay you with my hands!" The angel roared furiously, causing the ground to shake and the wind to blow strong.

Even in front of my enemy, I smiled. For many years, I have been fighting with magic. But now that my magic is sealed, I wanna see how I physically improved.

"Come to me. I will show you what true fear is."