ELITH
"Alpha Raiden," as soon as we entered a room at the farthest end of the floor, we were greeted by a tall, slender woman of a rather respectable age with sleek gray hair gathered in a bun at the top of her head.
"Clarissa, this is the girl's attendant," the man flicked his palm at me, ordering me to come forward. "You have ten minutes to chat," he then added, his attention shifting to Amy. "After that, he goes back to his room."
With that, Raiden just left, and the elder woman followed right after him, leaving us alone.
The moment the door behind them closed, I felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders, and before I knew it, I was already hugging Amy, barely holding back my tears.
"What are you doing here, Miss?" Amy lamented, pushing me away as she looked at me with widened eyes. "You can't act so carelessly and compromise yourself!"
"Amy, I can't go through with this!" I protested, grabbing her by the shoulders. It was only then that I finally noticed the way she was dressed.
She wore a red, see-through nightgown that barely covered anything. Her body shimmered with oil, her long, fair hair cascaded down in carefully styled waves. Her left hand clutched a clear tube of something that looked like gel, her fingers trembling.
"Amy... are you really going to.. him?"
"Listen carefully, Miss," Amy commanded, her big blue eyes shining with determination. "It's better if I go. You haven't been with a man before, while I have. It will be easier for me to endure it."
"But you have no idea what's waiting for you there!" I nearly screamed, frustrated by the brave facade Amy was trying to put up. "There is a reason why no one wants to offer themselves willingly to him! They said he had gone feral! He is no longer a man––he's a beast! He'll tear you apart, don't you get it?!"
"Elith," this was the first time Amy called me by my first name, without any title attached to it. Chills ran down my spine as I saw how cold her expression had suddenly become. "My late mother vowed to your parents that she would protect you, and when she died, I vowed the same thing to her."
She paused, letting out a long sigh, while all I could do was just stand there, speechless, frozen like an ice statue. Amy continued.
"It doesn't matter what happens to me tonight. What matters is that if you keep pretending to be a man, nothing of the sort will happen to you. Just do as I say, please? We'll find a way. We'll do what we can and run away from here, I promise."
"Don't do it, Amy," I pleaded, but she only shook her head in response.
"Time's up," the old woman cut through the tension between us as she slammed open the door, stomping inside like she owed the place. "You need to leave now."
She motioned for me to clear the room, but I couldn't bring myself to move a single muscle.
"Where––where are you going?" I asked, stuttering. "Can I at least see her until then?"
Clarissa frowned, wrinkles gathering over her nose as she contemplated her answer for a bit, but then she simply sighed and jerked her chin at the open door.
"We're going all the way down to the zero floor," she explained, "get moving."
Although her voice sounded stiff and rather stern, somehow, I sensed no malice behind it.
Nodding, I left the room first and waited until Clarissa led Amy outside with her. I walked behind her like a shadow, her words still playing inside my mind like a broken record.
She promised to protect me... But who is going to protect her, then?
Suddenly, Clarissa stopped, then turned to face me and said in a somewhat grim tone, "That's it, we can't follow her any further."
"What? Why?" My agitation grew again, sending another wave of shivers through my body. "Is this the floor?"
"Of course not," Clarissa protested, looking down on me like I was a clueless child. "King Magnus is locked in the basement. If we get closer, he will sense our scents and get mad, which will not reflect positively on the breeder girl. Feral beasts are very sensitive and possessive––if you want your mistress to stay intact, you will have to listen to me and obey."
"It's alright," Amy reassured me, though I could see tears building up around her eyes. "Just go. I'll be alright. I promised you."
"Let's go," Clarissa grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me away, but I couldn't stop looking at Amy.
"Will she really be alright?" My question was rather rhetorical, but the woman still offered me a reply. "Who knows? But if you want my honest opinion, it's better for her if she dies tonight. I wouldn't want my archenemy to experience what she's about to go through in there."
"Wh-what?" I stammered, snapping my body around as I was ready to run back to save Amy. The old woman shoved me through the door and quickly locked it, pointing her bony finger right into my face.
"Don't be a fool!" She warned me. "Now get back to your room and pray your mistress gets an easy way out of this, understood?"
I didn't know what to say, nor did I have anything to do.
I was terrified. Was facing the Lycan King really so horrible that death was considered a mercy? I wanted her to survive, but at the same time, I had no idea what would happen to my friend if she actually did.
Back in my room, I paced back and forth, waiting for something––anything. I tried thinking about the ways we could escape this place, I even tried to look around to see if I could turn something into a weapon, but it was all in vain.
No one had ever successfully escaped this place before. I wouldn't make it.
So for now, I did what I could––I waited.
Falling heavily onto my new bed, I closed my eyes and started praying to the Moon Goddess to show mercy to Amy and show us a way to escape this hell.
I wasn't sure how long I had spent with my eyes closed, but when I felt like I was about to doze off, my eyes snapped open, and a sudden wave of heat consumed me from within, jolting me up from the bed, down to my knees, as I struggled to breathe through the fire that kept spreading.
I felt hot. I felt like I was dying, burning alive.
Goddess, what was going on?