Aefia's eyes opened suddenly, as if her heart had just jump-started. But she wasn't breathing. It was an uncommon thing to see from a dying person two seconds ago. The mermaids recoiled, but not enough to let go of their guards.
"Oh? Is this the situation I was supposed to be in?" She asked herself while folding her arms. Devils didn't need to breathe air, and so, Aefia's body didn't need air either. The only necessary thing the devil needed was pure energy.
"What are you doing?" The mermaids pointed their weapons up at her.
"What does it look like I am doing? I am just trying to survive." She smiled peacefully. "Why? Do you really think a drowning person would harm you?"
The mermaid let out a scoff. "Your left eye is different."
"Don't devils have narrowed pupils?" Daphne asked in Aefia's voice, which sounded like Aefia herself was speaking.
"So you are a devil?"
"I am a mythical beast like the rest of you. However... I am not a myth. I am a beast." She shrugged.
"What are you even trying to say?"
"That I am exactly like the rest of you, but still not because you all are mythical creatures and I am... A creature who steals the human bodies."
Or maybe... Daphne was just trying her best to sound cool and non-chalant.
The sirens sighed, swimming away from the mermaids. "Well I suppose... You all don't know her yet." They looked back to the other creatures.
"Who is she? Other than a devil right now?" They narrowed their eyes at the sirens.
"Who else? Ever heard of the Guardian of Death?"
The mermaids' eyes widened in shock. They looked terrified. But couldn't say a single word.
One of them didn't believe the sirens, and tried to attack Daphne. Who obviously burned their weapons away, using black fire. Their shadow element mixed with Aefia's fire element. Forming a merge that was stronger than each alone. If a smoke represents extinguished flame, then a smoke that is a the flame is supposed to be strong right?
The weapons melted away without even needing to interact with the fire. "Well? Chemical and chemical can make a stronger chemical. Haven't you all gotten a single note of education from your parents when you were younger?" Daphne asked with a vicious grin. "Oh wait... You all have no source of education. Sorry for saying such a thing... Hope it didn't hurt your feelings."
She blinked once, looking towards the shore that was quite the pace away. She needed to get the body to the shore to save Aefia—like she had promised. At the same time, the necessasity of air came into spotlight to the devil, and she realized... Two minutes is also the maximum time that the devil could stay in her body.
Daphne clicked her tongue and immediately started swimming to shore. The arrogant mermaid tried to chase behind her, blocking her exit and trying to attack her. But survival was also almost an emotion that could bring even devils to ignore any other threat and head for only one place. The two minutes was now down to thirty seconds.
Every movement counted and as soon as she could, she managed to reach the surface from such a depth away. Her hands reached out first, her fingers surfacing before her hands, wrist and then her arms. She didn't need to reach the land yet, she just had to bring her head above water. It felt like days since she had come out, the cool air already biting against her skin, making her gasp unnecessarily.
With whatever determination she had left, she tried to climb higher off the water. Her throat already coughing up some swallowed gulps. Her vision was blurry, which she blinked multiple times. Her feet finally hit sand, but she didn't have the energy to walk.
However, there was someone already at the shore, rushing towards her with two hands extended and a voice of panic.
"Aefia!" He splashed onto the water, which came up knee-length. But he didn't care, reaching out to pull Aefia out of the water and hug her before she collapsed forward.
A few seconds later, a mermaid surfaced, with an expression of being ready to get scolded by their protector.
"I am so sorry! We didn't—"
"Sorry about what?" Lewis asked with a softer tone of voice, pulling his sister tighter against him—who was shivering due to the cold. The mermaid looked surprised at it.
"You aren't mad? We haven't gotten the Orb of Life yet."
"For once, I prefer silence from you." He furrowed his brows.
"But because she intruded, we couldn't—"
"Who do you think she is?"
"... I don't know."
"She is my sister." He answered. "As long as she is safe, I don't care about the Orb of Life. I rather have my sister alive then worry about my health first."
The mermaid went away immediately, knowing it was not right to go against their master right now. Meanwhile, he helped her sit properly. Concerned about everything going on about her, and why she almost drowned, why a mermaid would follow alongside her as she surfaced.
Daphne was half-conscious while she coughed up blood from the gut-punches she had received. She was sitting on her knees, across from Lewis, who was trying to offer her his coat to warm her up.
"How did you end up there?" He asked, placing a hand on her shoulder, pulling the water droplets out of her clothes. But as soon as the soaked fabric dried up, she pushed his hand away from her. Throwing it with a force that defied her earlier weakness.
"Who are you? Do you have any relationship with the original owner of this body? Otherwise... I will have to kill you."
She spoke with a stern voice, lifting her sharp gaze to glare at his face.
As she did, he stared with shock back at her. His eyes locked onto her left eye.
It was black, the white areas were completely inked. The crimson irises practically glowed due to it, while her right eye was still alright.
What is going on?! She isn't even looking at me the way she did back then. Not acting the way she was when I tried to take my own life back at the cemetry... Then that must mean...
He suddenly gasped for air, his lungs feeling constricted due to the sudden shock and feeling of sorrow. He wanted to vanish immediately, forget about the world and look for his sister's soul inside a body which had become occupied by a devil.
As he continued diving deeper into his thoughts, the two minutes were up. Aefia collapsed forward, exhausted and unconscious. He caught her head carefully, placing her carefully on his lap, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear while slowly lifting her up. For now... His sister's injuries were his problems.
I don't know how this happened. But I don't think I can ever know because she is a devil...
However, I am still not certain about anything. If she was fully a devil, she won't be drowning like that. And she won't collapse either. Unless... She was possessed for a brief moment. I just need her to wake up first.
He looked down at Aefia's face as he carried her towards his tent for a while. It was still the middle of the hunting competition afterall.
***
Throb.
Aefia opened her eyes, her head gave her a hard time keeping them open for much longer. Ugh! What the heck... Where am I?
She sat up, looking sideways to look for a clue that gives away the location. But before she could fully register the environment, her eyes flew to the coat that was hanging at the foot of the bed. On the coat, was Lewis's personal stamp.
The only thing that made her worry more, was that she was brought back to the palace. Her pupils narrowed to dots, as she trembled in place. The only reason she ever wanted to die, was to escape that hell. However, if after reawakening, she got back to this place, what was the point of going through all that she had done?
She gripped the sheets at either sides of her with fear, thinking if it was possible to run away right now, without anyone knowing. Guards were standing outside—two of them—with swords at their sides. If she went out as she was, she would be caught and imprisoned back at the palace. Who knew what would happen this time.
The earlier events caught up to her mind, but she couldn't recall what Daphne had done. She remembered the mermaids, the sirens, then the devil. Her eyes immediately flew to her hands and her ankle. They were tightly bandaged.
This is the first time... That I got the least injured. She thought to herself to calm her frantic mind. Then, she used her hands to cover her face, the cool air of the autumn season travelled into the tent. The breeze moved a few strands of her hair away from her face.
Usually... I am not this afraid of things. I think the human emotions are catching up to me now that I am trying to recover.
Suddenly, the tent flap moved, spilling the afternoon light inside the area.
"You are awake." Lewis muttered with a smile, that immediately wiped away as he looked at her face. Her left eye was white again, like those five seconds were nothing but an illusion. He walked up to her bedside, pulled a stool and sat down with a frown on his face.
"I realized something..." He spoke under his breathe. "While you were unconscious, I thought of it more deeply. You weren't really a devil back when I first met you at the grave, right?" He asked.
"..." Aefia stayed silent, staring at his face for a moment. "I don't know if you are seeing things... But nothing like that happened."
He got taken aback, confused. Then clasped his hands tightly at his knees. "You won't lie when you say you did get possesed by a devil. Will you? Let's be honest to each other, I am not going to force you back at the palace. I am not like mother. You know that."
Aefia stared for a bit more. Her expression hollow and empty of any thought. "For some reasons, I am having a hard time believing you."
He grit his teeth while biting his tongue, he was hurt that the current version of his sister was someone he didn't know anymore. But he wasn't going to let that stop him.
"How about this? If I do try to drag you back into the palace, you can have me killed if you are treated badly again. You know I hate to break a promise if it means I will be harmed."
"Sounds good fit for a punishment. But why go that far for an answer?"
"Because... You are still my younger sister even if you think you rather stay unattached to our family." He answered almost immediately. The words caught at his throat before spilling out, he had to tell the truth, even when it meant he was going to suffer the consequences with sorrow and the feeling of lose.
She finally shifted her gaze to her hands. Her fingers were visibly trembling and she couldn't understand why. Maybe it was the feeling of fear, that always radiated from her everytime she saw the Empress.
"Since you are willing to bet that much on finding the answer... I rather just say it out." Aefia let out a deep breathe. "Before that, how could you tell I wasn't a devil?"
"Because when you were possesed by a devil, your left eye was black. And you couldn't recall a single thing before suddenly falling unconscious. It could be possible that you took a head injury, but that would need a pressure enough to blind you or bleed you."
"I see..." Daphne was truely doing something. No head injury, and I am perfectly fine.
She lifted her gaze back at his face. "My reawakening wasn't something I myself had anticipated. It happened suddenly."
"Hm?" He furrowed his eyebrows.
"I too was surprised at first to see myself suddenly conscious. I stayed in the forest near the cemetry for two weeks before Elanor reached out. By the end of those two weeks, I met you near my grave. I decided to observe from a distance. Until you raised your sword of course—"
"But you died one month prior. Didn't you?" He asked with a tilt of his head.
"That's right. Time in the Spirit Realm travels quite fast. Like wind on a stormy day. Days keep going and going, we don't even see the sun or the moon. Those are just a blur in the sky." She mumbled to herself. "The thing though... As to why I hid myself from you that day, was because I couldn't find the courage to say I was Aefia. I felt like you would be disappointed and never want to speak to me again. So I wanted to stay out of it and focus on my current goals.
"Back then, the only thing that came to my mind was a text I had read in the Smod library about devils. I used that, made up a name, and a story. But I wasn't truly contracted to one back then—"
"Then when you were drowning in the water, you had to make a contract to save yourself?"
"Yes."
"But why did you go to the lake? Don't you know that it is dangerous? I saw you reading a book about lakes back at the Imperial palace."
"I didn't learn a single thing about Lake Erie though. Later on, Cedric assisted me by telling me about the mermaids and sirens living in here."
"But then why did you want to go into it—?!"
"I had to retrieve an artifact..." She answered straight-forwardly, cutting him off.
"A... What?" He stared with disbelieve at his younger sister as she got off the edge of the bed and put on her shoes.
"I had to get the Orb of Life... Which apparently... I was asked to give it to you." She clarified. Pulling out a small pearl-sized rolled-up weed. Then grabbed his wrist before placing it at the centre of his palm.
"I know I had to go through quite a lot... But I honestly feel satisfied about this." She looked at him softly, shoving her hands inside her pocket in a nervous manner. Waiting for his response.