2 weeks passed with the three idling around whilst watching Austin busily preparing for expedition upon the orders of Rowan.
Today was the day they were going to head to see their first location the Altar of time.
Rowan had asked for a map of where the locations would be, first was the Altar which luckily was only a day's trip away, next was the Spring of Life located off Redthorn, meaning they would have to leave the isle before traveling to the kingdom of Floris. The last place they were headed was Opaline village located next to an oasis in the kingdom of Genesis.
All was ready as they assembled themselves in the hallway.
"You, guys ready?"
"Yep!" I responded looking at Rowan who was staring at his watch and looking towards Braylon who I heard a, "Mmm" from.
"Alright let's go then," Rowan said as he grabbed my hand as my vision turned hazy and I started feeling nauseous.
It was then Rowan's voice rung in my ear, "this must be her first teleporting otherwise how else would she be like this?"
"Let's take her to the place we're staying at as it seems like we can't go to the Altar today anyways." Braylon's voice came ringing through the darkness.
After taking Lilith to the place we had planned our stay in, Braylon and I headed out in the town. Scouting the area was important as the Altar changes place every month, but luckily I came across some information leading me to believe that the Altar would appear here in Hermington.
The town's folk don't seem to know of any strange occurrences around here, even when the news has spread last week about a temple being caught on fire. To them, it was like it didn't even happen at all...
But how could that be possible when-it must have something to do with the Altar. I heard that where ever the Altar appears something strange happens to the area and the people and creatures in the area.
But on the other hand, it may just be someone casting an illusion spell over all the town when the Altar might have appeared.
So, which one is it?
On the other side of town, Braylon was assigned the task to scout the location of the Spatial Altar and headed towards the first lead. The temple.
The temple was the same one that had recently burnt down, the place should be in shambles but once the sight of the temple fell into view, he was left stunned.
Is that the temple?
How?
He thought as he walked on a clean pathway, with lush green trees creating a canopy. What he saw was a bright, clean almost new building, with multiple priests and priestesses roaming around.
What the hell was going on? Wasn't this place burned to the ground only a few days ago? How could the building still be here?
As he kept walking he started noticing how quiet the place was, even with the busy priests and priestess there wasn't a single noise nor chatter. The place felt rather empty. Braylon continued to look around until he heard a chime of the town's bell and quickly fled back. His gut instincts told him that if he stayed any longer something bad would've happened, once he got to the town he suddenly felt lighter as if a force was lifted off him.
He knew something strange was happening in the town, and he had a hunch that it had something to do with that mysterious temple.
He went back to where they were staying and went to check up on Lilith. He knocked on the door twice before hearing Lilith's voice.
He then entered and was left frozen in place at the sight of Lucifer, who was floating in the air drinking tea.
What was he doing here?
Lilith who had woken up a while ago was conversing with Lucifer who happened to find something weird while she had been unconscious.
Lucifer had waited until now to speak but unfortunately, Braylon had interrupted their time.
Lilith then continued to urge Lucifer to continue as she found what he had said earlier, very interesting especially when it was something to do with the strange Altar.
Lilith didn't miss noticing Braylon's hesitance and wariness when he saw Lucifer and thought it was quite normal to have that reaction, and that's what she hoped his reaction was for that but something small in the back of her mind was nagging at her saying otherwise.
Her heart contained a turmoil of emotions that was suppressed down after realising that this wasn't the time for such things and it was better to focus on the task at hand.
"I can locate where the altar is." Listening to Lucifer who leisurely drank tea while speaking, gave birth to an annoyance in Lilith's expression, is this guy a fool? What does he mean he can locate it? We've never been here before and haven't known the exact geographic's of the town yet and he tells me this.
My mood hasn't been all too well as being here in this place made me feel strange like I was back in my past life as an assassin, my emotions were hard to decipher even for Scarlett who was with me for so long.
For some time I've been speculating if Lucifer was indeed part of the strange things that were occurring more frequently lately as his disappearance from my side and sudden reappearance when the pocket-watches message rang out was to perfectly timed.
I knew I couldn't do anything about the matter after all I wasn't strong enough to withstand the consequence of forcefully removing the contact between us, yet I couldn't ignore the seed of doubt that was starting to sprout.
I decided to test out the waters a little and play along with him as if I was just another naïve and sheltered 16year old, completely oblivious to the world outside. I had just wanted to live a normal life yet now I need to go back to my old set of skills just to save the world...seriously, what a pain.
I played the role of little curious Lilith and the first thing was to ask excitedly with big sparkling eyes, "How!?"
I could see him narrow his eyes while hiding his subtle lift of the corner of his lips behind the teacup, "Through my magic."
At his response, my smile grew wider and my eyes cresented in shape, my completely harmless gullible face contradicted my internal thoughts as I wish I could just openly stare at him as if he was the dumbest thing ever.
Like...come on!
Does this guy really think so lowly of me to actually say something so stupid? And expect me to believe it. Really?
I looked puzzled as I formed a small pout and with the slight tilt to my head and hand on my chin I presented the image of a confused yet thinking child, "Hmmmm, Lucifer? I never recalled you having time magic before, how could you suddenly feel it and be able to locate it?"
My question sparked alertness in the two people before me, I could see it in their slight freezing before becoming more relaxed.
I didn't let my eyes drift as I openly looked at Lucifer with a curious gaze yet holding amounts of admiration and a little bit of doubt, just to stir up his emotions and hopefully lower his guard down.
I was waiting for him to answer me, not minding the weird tension that was underlined through the silence, and just stayed smiling at Lucifer with anticipation, finally, he spoke though a little rigid he spoke well enough to almost mask his uncomfortableness, "...space magic is linked to time magic. I can use the gathered mana properties in the area to sense where the densest areas are, allowing us to find the Altar and to stop the illusion it casts here."
"Wow! Really, you can do that? But how come I can't?"
He slightly coughed, while I felt Braylon who was beside me fidget, seriously these two are so bad at lying that's sad. Have they never experience a time where they had to lie or act before? If I didn't know better, I would think that it's their first time trying to coordinate a lie to someone.
*sigh* what can you do right, some people are just not blessed with the abilities to be a good liar, my internal pity was broken as Lucifer seemed to have worked out an excuse, "That's because you're not proficient enough to incorporate both space and mana manipulation magic together, so your perception for the magic particles aren't as heightened as mine."
My eyes held traces of shock and understanding as I seemed to have accepted that answer which caused the tension in the room to drop and a faint sigh escaped Braylon's mouth but since I was playing along I didn't bother with it.
Though I got to praise Lucifer for being able to tell a very acceptable excuse, it made a lot of sense and if anyone heard this they would believe him. But I'm not just anyone, after going through hellish training with father, I was able to control my magic fluently at an expert level to the point where I could stop the flow of mana through someone's body. So, his excuse was ineffective, to tell someone who is almost as powerful as a god that they weren't good enough is just laughable.
But since he doesn't know my full capabilities as I've never shown them to anyone before, I'll let it slide. After all, it is only my trump card and the only backup plan I have, so that means I really need to be cautious of my decisions and the people around me.
*sigh* damn...I had wanted to trust Braylon and Rowan, after how we all got along so easily like we were old friends but since that night when I went looking for Rowan, and so happened to had overheard his talk with his "boss". It made me stop thinking so naively, how can someone like me who was a past assassin and had transmigrated to a make-believe world, live a normal life...*sigh* it's practically impossible.
At my sigh, I hear Scarlett yell, "Stop sighing you'll grow old that way!"
Sometimes, I'm really just stunned by how Scarlett reads my most internal thoughts but chooses to comment on the most stupidest of things.
But hey at least she's the only one who I can trust.
I promised myself I wouldn't be taken advantage of again so that's what I'm going to do. We don't need friends like them, after all, they are the enemy.
And like hell, I want to be used as a tool again!
Honestly, I've already had enough of all this trouble!
When will I be treated as a normal human being not some toy for war or someone's selfish desires!
*sigh* this is so annoying...
Well, at least it's helping me decide on a matter that's been on my mind for a while.
Recently, I have been thinking that it's about time I returned back to the top.
After all, it would be rather sad to see a top assassin be used and trampled on by the enemy, right?
Right! That's what I thought,
Now then...
Let's have some fun, shall we?