"Lyra...?" Drek asked in an astonished voice.
Behind him, a girl of the same age as him stood with a quiet smile. Dressed in casuals and hairs tied into a knot, she exuded a charming personality.
"I was wondering if you would recognise me...seems you do remember me." Her cheeks formed dimples and her bluish eyes lit up with joy.
Then suddenly her smile ceased as she looked around Drek, as if searching for someone. Satisfied with whatever she saw, her smile returned back to her lips, leaving him in a confused state.
"Are you looking for something?" He asked, despite his heart beating louder now.
"Ah, I just wanted to see if you have a new companion."
Drek chuckled, "You joke well. Here I thought you had died that night but look at you! Not only are you alive but you are no longer a stick as well."
Lyra narrowed her eyes at him. "That...was almost a decade ago. Nothing I could have controlled."
The vibration from the gong increased as the ground underneath them started shaking and shadows started pooling at their feet, gradually extending around them.
Looking up, Drek smiled at Lyra.
"Looks like we are about to enter the Underworld."
"Seems so." She replied, her eyes fixated on the ground. Then in a shaky tone, she said. "I am glad you are alive. It took me such a long time to find you, even though I was constantly being said that you wouldn't be alive."
Hearing that, his expression turned whimsical as he ran his hands through his hairs. "In truth, I had already assumed the Frostmere family was wiped out that night. Consequences of being my father's right hand." He replied in an apologetic tone.
The shadows underneath were now surrounding everyone as the ground shook like a volcanic eruption had just taken place.
"Not your fault, Drek. I am sure my family didn't ever regret being loyal to your father, His Majesty."
"I don't doubt that either. But more importantly, how did you find me? Earth is huge and the Domain of Vengeance should be the last empire you should be searching me for."
At that moment, the translucent globe roared as massive slits started appearing underneath the candidates.
Looking at them in alarm, Lyra glanced at Drek and said. "I guess we can worry about it later. But before that..." She reached out to hold Drek's hands as he visibly twitched from the contact.
And Lyra noticed.
Her smile wavered and a hint of uncertainty crossed her eyes. But as if choosing to ignore it, she smiled even more brightly and said with absolute certainty reigning her tone, "Be safe out there, prince Drek. I shall definitely find you out, even if I need to trample over kings and queens."
Drek felt a tingling sensation creep up his spine as he heard her bold declaration as well as her almost ear splitting smile.
Feeling himself being dragged underneath by the massive slits, he glanced at her waist one last time and shouted over the voices of others screaming in fear. "Take care, Lyra. See you on the other side."
If she responded back with something, he couldn't hear it as he was completely dragged inside the rift that had opened to the Underworld.
Inside, Drek felt like he was floating in empty space falling down in a constant speed as opposed to reality. He moved his limbs but couldn't feel the presence of any air; it felt like he was in vacuum.
'And yet I can breathe properly...how marvellous.'
But now with time to process everything, he sighed.
Not even in his wildest dreams had he imagined he would meet Lyra here of all places.
'Heck, she being alive is already a big of a surprise.' His mind drifted off to that night where blood had flowed like the currents of a river, when royalty and commoners had both been slaughtered without any divide and how an empire had burned for an entire night.
He was lucky for getting Sir Zhong to somehow help him escape. But on his way, even Zhong himself had said that every member of the Frostmere family was dead alongside his father.
But it would seem he was quite wrong on that for at a crucial moment, Lyra had returned back...
His fiancée had returned.
Drek held his head in his palms as he went into some deep thinking.
'It is suspicious; nothing makes sense.' was all he could conclude after brainstorming for about a minute.
Even if he believed Lyra had somehow escaped like him, where had she been all these years? Who had raised her? And most importantly, how did she find him?
The only answer to his last question would be Master Zhong. Other than him, nobody else could have even followed them.
'Or could they have?' A string of doubt grew longer inside his head as even more questions arose. And with them, came more doubt.
Drek groaned as his thoughts turned messy. He decided overthinking right now wouldn't change anything and thus, after closing his eyes for a moment, he cleared his head of all unnecessary thoughts.
And waited for the rift to carry him to the other world.
He had been looking downwards when suddenly, a faint light appeared above him. Startled, he moved his gaze at the source of light only to find himself being flashed by a light of blinding intensity.
He squinted his eyes trying to cover his eyes against the light when suddenly he felt his body incline horizontally followed by something striking his chin with a brutal force behind it.
He almost screamed in pain as his vision burst into stars and he felt something oozing through his nose and leaving a rusty taste on his tongue.
'Blood', he concluded almost instantaneously. He could hear metallic clashes of blades and screams ranging from rage to pain.
Still making low groaning sounds, Drek looked up.
His expression turned into a mixture of shock and horror, both dominating any other pain he could have felt at that moment.
Spread across a massive field, thousands of armed men and women of two different groups were engaged in a war.
Chaos ensued, swords flashed and blood sprayed, men died, women died, horses neighed frantically and spells were thrown hapazardly causing far more destruction than any steel could ever deal.
[~Ding~]
[Welcome Aspirant. You have been successfully spawned in the Underworld.]
[Name: Drek Minsi
Aspect: _____
Rank: Mortal]
[You have been assigned a task to complete your ascension from mortal to Awakened.]
[~Ding~]
[Mission: Save Princess Yawa (0/3)]
"Where the fuck am I?"