Part 12
Zenith dismissed the guard with her hands on her chin. This is going to set me back years. The duchess got up from her chair and kicked it towards a corner. God damn it! She was angry sure, but pained on the other hand. She was a mother too, not just a duchess.
The duchess walked down the corridor towards Evelyn's room and barged without knocking to see her sitting on the bed, going through Cyeen's diary.
"Swords and their general usages.
Swords are most useful in one on one fights. It is- skip this one too. Did she even write anything other than lesson notes?!"
Evelyn was stressed as well. She hadn't seen her sister in what felt like weeks and her diary wasn't giving her any solid information on where she could be. The little noble was stressed to the point of not realising her mother enterin the room. Zenith sat down next to her daughter.
"Evelyn, It pains me to say this but I do not have good news. May I request an ear from you, to listen to me?"
Evelyn looked up at her mother with worried eyes.
"Of course your grace. Please tell me."
Zenith sighed deeply and handed Evelyn a piece of bloody cloth along with few strands of violet hair the guard found in the forest.
"I'm afraid we have every reason to think your sister has... passed away." said Zenith, pain ridden deep inside her voice.
A deadly silence befall. Eveleyn looked at her mother in denial. Her mother was lying, she had to be lying.
Evelyn's eyes welled up as her voice started cracking.
"N-no... She.. she wouldn't leave me alone like that. She wouldn't, right..?"
Zenith was trying her hardest to keep her own tears iinsid. She was supposed to be the strong one.
"I can't confirm that but yes, Cyeen has most likely left us."
Evelyn's tears turned into anger tinged with sorrow. She pointed her finger at Zenith.
"She dead because hick because of you! You hick killed her! You killed my sister!"
She tucked herself into the bed and pulled the bed sheets over her head. Evelyn was not in the mood to deal with her mother right now as a few tears weren't enough to express her current feelings.
A thunder was heard in the background.
"YOU FUCKER!"
Jess lifted both of her arms up and tried summoning as many swords as she could materialize. A single short sword slowly glided towards the blonde monster. She happily let it graze her cheek before making a mocking face.
"That was all? Well my turn I guess!"
A dozen of hands flew towards Jess. She managed to block the first half with her soul weapon but the second half sent her flying back towards Cyeen and Zoen, right into a tree.
"Ah, how boring." the blonde girl pouted. "Why insult me then?"
Jess tried getting up but to no avail. All she could do was to watch the girl with shaking hands. "My family... not my family again..." she mumbled. The girl looked ready to finish off the trio before a message written on a blue rectangle popped up in front of her.
"Oh well, I guess my quest is complete. See you later guys, lets play again sometime!"
Fragen used her navy blue arms to leave the cliffside and left the three of them all alone. Cyeen wasnt looking back towards the cliff. She was scared out of her mind. That sound she had heard a second ago was no sound of a shield breaking.
Jess couldn't get up from underneath the tree. The demon woman began bawling her eyes out like a child as she struck the ground. Zoen was barely conscious to know what was going on. They were all barely alive.
***
Twenty four graves. Not one with someone inside them. Jess had dug them all by herself. Twenty four different flowers. Zoen had gathered them all by himself. Twenty four gravestones. Cyeen had found them all by herself. Sun shined brighter than usual as if to mock the losses of the siblings.
Cyeen didn't care much for the pirates but knew to respect the dead. The noble lady watched as the siblings held hands in front of all the graves, quietly watching them.
Zoen kneeled, put yellow flowers on top of the grave right in front of them and got up. He held his sisters hand once again and started speaking.
"Today, the blood of our comrades dye the ocean red, leaving us with a cruel goodbye. Tomorrow, we'll dye this very ocean with our own hands."
The siblings approached Cyeen with frowns nearly reaching the ground. Zoen pointed somewhere.
"Enidia is located there, a day of walking away."
Cyeen got up, ready to leave. It was clear she wasn't wanted here.
Go with them. Beg if you have to.
She turned back towards them.
"I'm coming with you."
Jess lashed out.
"Ya caused us enough problens already! Just go back to yar home!"
Cyeen lowered her head, she didn't want the insincere look on her face being seen.
"I'm sorry. But that's precisely why I want to come with you. I want to pay you back for all the problems I caused you. I have connections and knowledge if you are going to be searching for that girl."
Jess stomped over to Cyeen, lifting her up by the collar.
"Who do ya think yo-!"
Zoen got in between them, grabbing the wrist of her sister. "Having a noble with us will benefit us, Jess."
Jess sighed in defeat. She was really not in the mood.
"Don' be a dead weight." she said, letting go of the girl.
Cyeen stood upright.
"Thank you."
***
There was no talking, only walking. The air was so tense it could be cut with a knife . Jess was clenching her fists occasionally but other than that no one did anything other than walk.
Cyeen couldn't understand Jess and Zoen's sorrow. Most people she knew hadn't kicked the bucket yet with the exception of Súko. Maybe that was the reason she still felt sad about her death, it was her first meeting with death.
Cyeen shook her head and summoned her white book to take notes of new things she saw with a white feather she summoned. Zoen had taken notice of that and turned his head towards her.
"You were a dual wielder?" he asked.
Cyeen looked up from the small book.
"Yes. I got a question as well. Who was that?"
Jess let out an annoyed grunt.
"Ya jusd can't mind yar own bussinez can ya?" she said but began talking again after a pause. "That girl... She is monster. Specifikaly, a player. A reincarnator from another dimension. They can get stronga unlike us."
Zoen interrupted her.
"They cannot be from another world. Other dimensions don't exist."
Jess clicked her tongue.
"See if I care. Doezn't change the fact they stil are the parasitez of Lianite."
"I see..." Said Cyeen as she wrote what she learned down. The noble chose to believe Jess this time. If what she said was true it would mean these players were actual threats to the residents of Lianite.
Apologize. To Jess.
Why? Cyeen thought. That was the second time the voice gave her confusing instructions.
The noble sighed, unwillingly opening her mouth.
"Jess, allow me to apologize for tiring you out. You could have maybe put more of a fight if I hadn't."
Jess clicked her tongue again.
"Don't, I would have done the same. Been in yar shoez before. The reason I'm furiouz is 'cause you made us take that route. If it wazn't for ya... If it wasn't for ya, they'd still be living."
Cyeen crossed her brows.
"I didn't force you to go that way?"
Jess just clenched her teeth and shut up. She wanted to pounce on this violet haired noble there and then but the demon was way too tired to start a fight. She preferred insulting her.
"Ya din't tire me out one bit by the ways. And your shiel', why 'avent yu adjusted it to be above yer clothin'? Are you that braindead?"
This was the first time Cyeen heard of that. I could make it protect my clothes too? She tried a few combinations of hand moves. Honestly, she didn't even know what she was doing. Zoen tapped her on the shoulder.
"Imagine as if you're pouring more essence into it to make it bigger. The same process as weapon creating." he whispered.
Cyeen followed Zoen's instructions but was met with utter failure. She decided on giving it a try later.
***
They had been walking this entire time without stopping once but were still nowhere close to any settlements. This state of constant walking lasted only eight hours as the trio got hungry. Which let to them settling in a forest.
Zoen went out to hunt and bring water while Jess constructed them a small tent made out of sticks, leaves and dirt. The flint and steel the demon had on her came in handy to start a fire.
Cyeen stared at the demon woman in awe. She was atleast ten times better at surviving out in the wild than her. Zoen soon returned with a few rabbits and a leather flask full of drinking water. They ate like wild animals that night, no words spoken. It felt like her usual dinners back home.
Zoen cleared his throat.
"Looks like we'll be traveling for a while together Cyeen. So, could you tell us a bit more about your strengths?"
Cyeen was startled.
"Oh of course. So first of all I'm-"
Her sentence was cut in half as Jess grabbed her arm and tossed her up on her feet. Cyeen was thrown approximately two meters away from where she was sat.
With a quick adjustment she managed to regain her balance and saved herself from falling down.
Jess walked towards her menacingly
"We had an unfished fight, Cyee Flame."
Cyeen stared her down.
"I don't want my clothes to rip any further."
Jess wasn't stopping.
"I know, that'z why we wil fite like men. Han to han. No teleportin, must be a fayir fight."
Cyeen held both of her arms out next to each other. Jess faked a left hook, making the noble let her guard down. With a lightning fast straight punch to the face, Cyeen was knocked to the ground.
Jess let out a mocking snicker.
"That's all? Such confidance fo' this? Ya are seriouzly weak." a scary grin appeared on her face.
Cyeen looked up with bloodlust in her eye. She pointed at Jess, summoning five blasters around herself. Just right before she could fire them, Jess kicked her hand and stepped on it.
"Coward."
The demon went back next to her brother after she was satisfied. It took a while for Cyeen to recover from the blow even though her shield regenerated the impact she took.
Upon getting up, the noble went back towards the temporary base. She was quite butthurt about this. Any person that got beaten the senses out of them would feel that way. She quietly went back to eating her rabbit meat.
Cyeen waited until the two slept to practice expanding her shield. She didn't want to feel embarrassed even more by her failed attempts.
First try, nothing happened. Second try, the shield shrank. Third try, it expanded a little more than the usual but only for a second. Fourth try, the shield extended horizontally.
The noble picked up a rock and threw it at a random tree. To her horror, she heard a chuckle coming from behind that same tree. A victorian violet colored beam of essence quickly blasted the brown pillar. Cyeen looked at her hands in suprise, she had just summoned something mid air.
The chuckling hadn't stopped even when the tree was severely damaged by the blast. Jess slowly emerged from the shadows.
"HAHA!!! Wer yo even taught anythin' back in yo fanci mansion?!!" She was clearly enjoying this way too much. "My broter told me to teach ya a litle aboud combat bud oh mæn, this is hilarious!"
Cyeen could clearly see the shape of Jess's muscles under the moonlight. They weren't extreme but definitely didn't match her strength level. Do demons have lower muscle percentage and isn't she be supposed to be mourning? What's with all that laughing? Cyeen reached out her arm towards Jess trying to summon knives. Nothing came forward.
Jess tapped the side of her head twice.
"Yu stupid Cyee Flame? Ya are suppozed to assign it a hand sing."
"I'm pretty sure my hand cannot sing." Making fun of her accent was probably her only source of joy these days.
Jess cracked her neck.
"Oh it wil sing when I'm dones widh ya."