Ulysses had to remain aboard the submarine, unable to leave as he had to ensure that the cloaking chanism the vehicle made use of remained active while floating just above the sparse clouds in the sky.
Below, he watched as one of the city-states that made up the Solomon Alliance was turned into a battlefield with innocents dying in droves.
He didn’t know how to feel, mostly because he had never considered himself a patriot but that didn’t an he wasn’t proud of his heritage.
A desire to head down to help surged within him but he remained calm as he knew that alone, he would be unable to make much of a difference.
Using the telescope aboard the ship, Ulysses scrutinized the area below, his attention drawn toward the area covered by black crystals.
The crystals shared an uncanny resemblance to Quillion, though they appeared to be more volatile, devouring everything they ca in touch with until they could no longer spread.
Just what sort of weapon would cause such wanton destruction?
He couldn’t quite figure it out.
Just then, his heart palpitated as he felt the sa connection as back then.
Instinctively, he shifted the telescope towards the largest mobile city standing just outside Pheripolis.
At the sa ti, down below, in the mobile city Cybele was in, she seed to sense sothing as well, causing her gaze to shift upwards, though she saw nothing but the clear blue sky and a few clouds.
She furrowed her brows while pondering what she had sensed.
Just then, King Ull arrived with news. "We are ready. We can leave now."
Cybele glanced at him only to then return her gaze towards the sky, taking a few seconds to scrutinize it before remarking. "Let’s go."
With that, King Ull and Cybele left while in the submarine above, Ulysses let out a sigh of relief.
He didn’t know why but he felt like he had just escaped sothing.
Pursing his lips, he had a feeling that it was the sa girl as back then but why was she with the barbarians?
The last ti, she was with the Bazaar, and now, the barbarians.
Did that an the two parties had an understanding?
But even more than that, why did he feel like she was his kin?
There was sothing wrong but he couldn’t understand what it was.
Unfortunately, he had a feeling that approaching her now wouldn’t be possible.
If they were fated to et again, Ulysses hoped that he would be able to resolve the questions he had.
***
"How can you say that?" Elena scolded Nadia with the latter replying.
"Is that not the truth?"
"You and I both know that Arwen is unwell!... Don’t make it sound like she left of her free will."
"She wrote a letter and left. As much as we want to believe that she is unwell, it doesn’t change the fact that was what happened."
"How can you..."
"That’s enough!" Alex bellowed, bringing the argunt to an abrupt close.
The two ladies exchanged slightly hostile looks with one another before looking away causing Alex to let out a sigh.
Glancing at Victoria, he intoned. "Explain."
"As you wish, Master."
Without further ado, Victoria proceeded to give a brief account of what transpired before Alex’s arrival, events that led up to Arwen’s absence from their party.
By the end of the retelling, Alex was frowning, sa with Ana.
"How did Arwen beco schizophrenic?" Alex inquired with Elena and Arwen looking at him with confused looks on their faces.
Recalling that the concept of schizophrenia might not be a thing in Eventide, he reworded his question. "How was she corrupted?"
The question caused both Elena and Nadia to reveal varying complicated looks as they struggled to respond until finally, Elena spoke up.
"A journey to the Afterlife?" Alex didn’t even know what to say as he stared at Elena in disbelief.
"How could you be so irresponsible?" Ana scolded, taking up the mantle. "That is an unexplored land, for good reason."
"Arwen said she could handle it and..." Elena trailed off to regard Alex before she continued. "And you were the one that said we should utilize any thod to grow stronger."
"... I did, didn’t I?" Alex muttered, unsure of how to feel.
In a way, he was responsible for Arwen taking such a huge risk which ended with her slowly losing herself.
"Alex, we need to save her. She’s not herself." Elena intoned, also feeling guilty for causing Arwen’s condition.
If she hadn’t agreed to take Arwen into the Afterlife, none of this would have happened.
"I understand," Alex remarked. "Co, let’s get going."
"But..."
"Where do you think the banshees would have taken Arwen?"
"Back to the Wailing Peaks, most likely," Nadia replied before Elena could, earning a slight glare from the latter.
"Then that’s where we are headed," Alex remarked, noting the hostility between the two girls.
Both cared about Arwen but their ans of showing it was vastly different, thus, the reason for their clash.
A smile blossod at the corners of Elena’s lips with Nadia looking rather relieved.
"But before that, I want to make one thing clear. If you truly want to remain a mber of Constellations, I will not accept discord amongst our ranks. That is the easiest way to cause problems. So from this mont henceforth, fights are to be avoided. Don’t let say this again. Understood?"
Aware that he was referring to them, Elena and Nadia exchanged looks before nodding in unison.
Letting out a sigh, Alex snapped and a mont later, a black and white fog engulfed them all before disappearing, taking them along with it.
***
It wasn’t until nightfall that the chaos in Pheripolis was able to subside, by which ti, almost forty percent of the population were gone with the remaining sixty percent under the thumb of King Ull.
As the barbarians went about ensuring that they would remain as overlords of the city-state, Cybele went about her task though she was forced to take detours due to the tails following her.
As she walked into an alleyway, she intoned. "Co out."
There was no response but then, she glanced back with her expression displaying a hint of annoyance as she remarked. "I won’t repeat myself."
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