Victoria and Douglas erged from a Spirit gate to find themselves in a dense forest with tall trees all about them with a canopy so thick, that barely any light from the Lightbringer could penetrate, ensuring that the ground level was in a perpetual state of twilight.
"Co, our target should be ahead," Victoria remarked as she made her way forward.
Moving to keep pace with her, Douglas seed to be in deep thought as he pondered a certain matter.
After almost a minute of silence, he couldn’t help but inquire. "Do you think sothing is wrong with Alex?"
"Why do you ask?"
"The directive he gave. It’s just so..."
"Abrupt?"
"Mn."
Victoria paused as her gaze fell on a clearing in the dense forest, revealing a large mansion with eye-catching aesthetics.
"Is that what we are looking for?" Douglas inquired.
Victoria didn’t respond, instead asking a question of her own. "Do you think he would make a decision detrintal to us?"
"That..."
"Tell ."
Douglas pursed his lips, pondering her question as he recalled everything Alex had done so far.
After a bit of silence, he replied. "No, I don’t think so."
"Then that’s more than enough," Victoria remarked before adding. "Now then, focus on the mission, there is much to be done."
Then she intoned softly. "Open sesa."
A spirit portal appeared behind after which a ghostly apparition revealed itself.
It looked like an old hag with white hair and an illusory body, holding a blood kitchen knife in one hand with a large bead in the other.
The old hag’s milky white eyes swept over both Victoria and Douglas before moving to encapsulate them after which they disappeared, like that, they continued their journey toward the mansion.
***
Despite the peaceful nature of the sight before them, there existed a discordance that left Alex wondering what was wrong.
Feeling sluggish, he massaged his temples before glancing at Elena to find her expression shifting rapidly.
"Are you okay?"
She t his gaze, her expression rather sour as she remarked. "I don’t know why but I feel sick, like there’s a foul sll in the air."
"Foul sll?" Alex intoned as he glanced around.
After so thought, he remarked. "We have stepped into sothing weird. Co, we need to get ourselves together before figuring out how to head to the palace."
"Mn, alright."
With their destination planned, Alex walked hand in hand with Elena as they maneuvered their way through the streets, quickly finding themselves on an avenue with a restaurant open.
Walking in, they realized it was an upscale establishnt with everyone within most likely nobles or at least related to nobles.
The ambiance was rather novel and though the peace within still felt discordant, Alex was able to rationalize it as a result of the nobles’ upbringing.
Soon a waiter arrived. "What would you like to have sir?"
"Just water if you don’t mind," Alex remarked with the waiter nodding as he turned to retrieve their request.
anwhile, Elena had her eyes on a platter of fruits set on the table.
She seed to be studying it, looking for sothing that wasn’t there.
"What’s wrong?" Alex inquired, knowing that she was an important key in what they were doing.
Elena hesitated before replying. "The fruits... don’t they seem weird?"
"Weird?" Alex muttered as he shifted his attention to the platter.
He hadn’t considered it but sothing did seem off.
The fruits looked... perfect.
The apples were without a single blemish, sa with the pear and cherries, all set in a perfect arrangent that scread extre OCD.
Then it began to click.
Humanity strived for perfection but there was no way they could achieve it.
It was their imperfections that made them human so the mont those were no longer there... could they be considered human?
Alex whipped his head around, quickly taking in the actions of everyone present.
There was a thodical manner in which everyone moved, it was almost chanical with no emotions mixed in.
Even the way they chewed food lacked anything notably human.
Just then, his eyes fell on a certain old couple only to realize they were staring back in a rather haunting manner.
"Alex..." Elena called out softly, her voice holding hints of nervousness.
Alex slowly but surely shifted his gaze from the old couple to the others to find that at so point during his deductive process, the patrons within had placed their eyes on him and Elena, their gazes devoid of any emotion.
"Sothing is wrong." Elena intoned.
"I might have an idea of what it is," Alex replied, prepared to act should it be necessary only for everyone to open their mouths and almost like they’d made an agreent, say the sa thing.
"Welco Alexander Regulus, His Imperial Majesty awaits your presence in his chambers. Go forth, Go forth, Go forth!"
As they spoke, they pointed, all of them pointing in the sa direction.
"Oh my gosh." Elena put a palm over her mouth, clearly terrified by what was happening.
Alex was quite disturbed as well but managed to reign in his emotions as he calmly rose from his seat and stretched out his hand for Elena to take it.
"Alex..." She muttered as she trembled ever so slightly.
Alex managed a smile. "Don’t worry, we’ll be fine."
Gulping hard, Elena slowly reached out and took his hand before allowing him to pull her to her feet after which they both left the establishnt to find that those outside were also staring in their direction, their hands pointed in the direction of the palace while they all said the sa thing, from the oldest to the youngest, including the babies.
"Go forth." They said,
It was a haunting scene but they kept moving, unwilling to pause for even a single mont.
From the outer city, they made their way into the inner city before finally arriving at the palace gate which stood open, ready to receive them though it elicited no positive response from the duo.
Glancing at each other, they both took deep breaths before making their way inside.
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