Knight (46 page)

“What's happening?” She asked.

“It seems Courtney is outside . . . she's calling for you.”

“Why would she call me out at this hour?”

As they made their way out of the first year's building, they realized a crowd has formed around the entrance. It was noisy and very claustrophobic. Bodies were huddled like a flock of penguins, making it unnecessarily hot and suffocating.

“What's going on?” Valeriana asked.

“I don't know.” Her friend answered.

Valeriana saw a flash of auburn hair, making her eyes widen. The sea of bodies parted, revealing the very person she least expected to see.

Courtney was heading her way right that very moment and her eyes were dangerously narrowed as she trained her eyes on Valeriana's confused and intimidated form. The poor human girl absolutely had no idea what was going on, and having Courtney looking like an enraged bull didn't help either.

The former fifth stopped before the current, lips pressed into a thin line with her fair skin tinted by a soft shade of pink—from anger maybe?

Valeriana opened her mouth to ask something when Courtney's hand drew out the sword from her waist, the whisper of the blade being brought out making her swallow heavily.

“Draw your sword, your imbecile!” She exclaimed.

Valeriana brought her gaze to meet a pair of auburn pools boiling with contained fury, looking confused and innocently bewildered at the suddenness.

“What are you talking about?”

“Draw your sword!” She repeated. “Do not make me repeat myself, Valeriana!”

Chavi, panicking, grabbed the sword hanging off the waist of another student and threw it to Valeriana. “Val! Catch!”

As soon as she caught the weapon, Courtney rushed forward. With barely any time to react, the girl held up her sheathed sword to block her incoming attack. There was a loud clang and she was almost thrown back from the force if she hadn’t managed to maintain her balance and push the other girl back.

“What are you doing all of a sudden?!” Her eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t—”

“My aides are under my protection. You make a move against them without any plausible reason, you are insulting me!” She said, making her gape at her in shock.

“What?”

“Do not even dare deny it.” She said. “Julian may be a fool but he never lies.”

Valeriana shook her head as she blocked another assault. “No . . . I didn’t do any of that! I swear that I—”

“Shut your mouth!” She roared.

A man came rushing forward and stood between Courtney and Valeriana. It took her a few moments to realize it was Sir Hajji. The frown on his face was evident as he yelled, “Stop this! Immediately! Academy regulations forbid fighting outside duels, practicums, and class activities. Sheath your weapons at once!”

Courtney didn’t let herself be hindered by the man’s warnings and attempted to dive forward if Hajji hadn’t disarmed her by bringing out his own weapon and blocking her next assault.

“Stop it! Lady Courtney, I will have you suspended once more if you do not!”

Finally, the former fifth stood back and let her arm rest on her side, albeit hesitantly.

Courtney pointed a finger at her face, disregarding the presence of their instructor. “Remember this.” She told her. “I will never acknowledge you. Starting from this day forth, beware. I will make your life a living hell.”

Chapter Forty-Eight ♣ Savior

Although Zion went as far as encouraging her, Valeriana still couldn't help but feel scared of what was coming. Courtney was a force to be reckoned with. Would she possibly be able to handle things like before? Valeriana wasn't sure about that anymore.

“You look unnerved, Val.” Chavi mumbled. “Are you alright?”

After what happened, the girl wasn't sure if she could go back to class and concentrate. Chavi hung out while she wallowed in worry. She didn't even know how long it took her trying to gather her thoughts. However, a few minutes later, she decided she would take some time off and try to relax. Demonology was the last subject after all.

“I don't know.” She clenched her shaking fingers. “I feel . . .” She sighed. “I'm scared. Why? Who would do this?”

“That Julian jerk must’ve done all of this in purpose!” She angrily remarked. “He must’ve staged some sort of accident and chose to blame it on you.”

“If that really is the case, we’ve got to make him admit it wasn’t me who did that to him!”

Chavi worriedly regarded Valeriana with her gaze. She then smiled at her comfortingly, hoping to cheer her up from the recent encounter. The girl leaned towards her and pinched the fifth-ranker on the cheeks, stretching it in an attempt to make her smile. Valeriana swatted her hand away and growled at Chavi.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to cheer you up.” She answered. “Tell you what. A bath's bound to make you relax. Why don't we take one?” She suggested as she pulled Valeriana up on her feet.

After towing Valeriana away and dragging her into the hallway, they trod the path leading to the baths. Valeriana admitted it was a good idea.

Even so, the halls ran quite a length. It seemed like a tedious journey until they finally reached the bathing pools.

They started to strip off their clothes. Valeriana wrapped herself with a towel to cover her modesty. “How odd.” Valeriana said. “No one’s here. Why is that?”

“I don't know.” Chavi shrugged. “Maybe everyone's busy.”

“But that's impossible. Even if it's class hours—” She said.

“There's only a few minutes left before dismissal.” Chavi told her. “Maybe they'll come around then.”

“Ah, well, whatever.”

Valeriana and Chavi submerged themselves in the water. The warmth seeped into Valeriana's skin, letting her muscles relax. She blew out a sigh and tilted her head back as she leaned against the wall of the pool, somehow glad she accepted Chavi's offer for a bath.

“Let's do this every day.” Valeriana muttered in ecstasy.

“Certainly. Why not?” Chavi giggled.

Valeriana closed her eyes for a minute, relishing the comfortable feeling of warm water against her skin. Everything was oddly quiet for some reason, but she assumed that Chavi must've been relaxing as well so she dismissed the oddity. She was too lazy to open her eyes to confirm her thoughts.

She jolted when a familiar shiver ran down her spine. She jerked, splashing the water around her. She took in a large breath as the hair on the back of her neck stood. Goosebumps prickled her skin, and although the water should've felt warm, it suddenly felt cold. Valeriana shivered and placed her arms around her.

She suddenly had a bad feeling. “Last time I felt like this—”

She was cut off when something encircled her ankle. Valeriana gasped as she was suddenly pulled underwater. Although the bathing pools were supposed to be shallow, it suddenly became deeper for some reason and the floor she was sitting on a while ago suddenly disappeared like a bubble.

She shut her lips together tightly to prevent the air she last sucked in from escaping. Looking down, she saw bottomless depth. She withheld the scream that attempted to escape from her throat. Her hair floated wildly around her as the strange thing wrapped around her ankle slowly started to pull her down.

It was a hand.

She kicked her feet but it was no use. The grip on her was deadly tight so she couldn't break free.

“It’s cold, isn’t it?”
Whispered a voice and a pair of dark eyes emerged from the darkness, glowing like twin flames. Thousands of hands appeared, looming at her like torturous knives.
“The worst kind of death is by suffocation. They say it hurts the most.”

“Who are you?”
She mentally asked.
“What the heck are you?”

This was probably the worst kind of death she'll experience.

Whatever it was, she refused to die like this. She wasn't going to give up. Never. She already faced a lot of dangers, this was nothing.

Bubbles escaped from her lips. Her lungs began to feel tight and she fought the urge to suck in a breath. It was getting darker and deeper.

The voice spoke once again and the eyes got closer, revealing a woman’s face with a sharp-toothed grin.
“Aren’t you tired of fighting?”
It asked her.
“Let go. Let go of everything. Nobody cares about you here, do they?”

“No.”
She replied.
“Nobody here cares.”

“Then—”

“But someone else does somewhere else.”
She continued.
“And it is for them that I do what I do.”

She curled her hands into a fist and threw a punch to the woman’s face as hard as she could despite the thickness of the surrounding water. The exact opposite of how she wanted things to turn out happened and one of the many hands caught her fist. The grip on her ankle tightened, pulling her down even faster than before. The hands even wrapped around her stomach and bound her body tightly. One reached to her throat and choked her, forcing out the last bit of air she had.

She struggled to hold her breath and looked at the surface of the water to see the light fading—closing. Oh, gods, that freaking hole was closing. That doorway-thing that led to the baths . . .

Holy shiznits.

“Don’t make this much harder for yourself.”
It told her.

It felt excruciatingly painful. It was agonizing.

She grabbed hold of the hand around her neck and tried to wrench it off, but it was simply too strong for her to fight alone.

She hopelessly tugged off the slimy thing wringing her neck. She didn't know what it was and she sure as hell didn't want to know either. Still, she didn't know if she was going to survive this. Her lungs started to burn for some air. She needed to breathe soon or she would probably die. Yet, the future remained bleak. She was going deeper and deeper each passing second.

Frustration welled up inside her as well as anger. She begged the gods, begged whatever or whoever it was who had the power to help her.

“Nothing will help you here. This is damnation.”
It said.
“Why don’t we form a contract, my dear? I’ll grant you every power you wish to take vengeance on the ones who deserve it.”

“Nobody deserves vengeance.”
She told the monster.
“Not the one avenging nor the one who’ll receive it.”

She never felt so helpless. How did things end up like this? The hole was getting even smaller.

Gods, it felt like an eternity.

She then heard loud splashing from above and saw a figure swimming down towards her. Valeriana felt hope spark within her chest and she reached out to the figure pleadingly, face creased in discomfort. She needed air so bad. She wanted to breathe.

The figure swam towards her, holding out a hand for her to take. She grabbed it in desperation and felt the comfort of warm hands encircling her wrists. But then, she almost gasped at what she saw if it weren't for the fact that she remembered she was currently submerged in water.

She blinked rapidly, not knowing if she was imagining things.

Corvan?

His face seemed to say,
'What have you gotten yourself into, you stupid girl? Why do I have to go through the trouble of rescuing you when you're just a pain in the ass?'

She felt glad inside.

He started pulling her up to the surface, but the hands only tightened more, squeezing her neck. At this point, Valeriana couldn't hold it in anymore. She coughed as the water forcibly went through her mouth—down her lungs.

To say the least, it tasted horrendous. But she wasn't in any position to complain.

“What do you think you’re doing? You are not taking the girl! Join her if you wish!”

The hands shot forward to attack Corvan, but the first-ranker was a fast-thinker.

Frustration crossed Corvan's face for a moment before he pulled back one hand and clenched his fists. He looked like he was trying to force something out.

She opened her mouth and pointed to her throat, trying to tell him she desperately needed to breathe. He seemed to have gotten the message and exerted some more effort. As Valeriana wondered what he was doing, his entire body erupted with flames, sending bubbles flying. His right arm was the only part of his body that did not have the fire, saving her from the injuries. The girl felt the warmth and was grateful for it.

Fire in water. What an impossible, impossibly beautiful sight.

There was loud shrieking as the thousands of hands backed away, as though scared.

“Not fire! Not fire!”

Without warning, he reached out to the hand that gripped Valeriana with his flaming fists, causing it to flinch away and loosen its grip. Corvan tugged on Valeriana until she was finally freed.

Once she was up on the surface, she would probably learn how to appreciate air a little more than she did before.

Corvan started to pull her up, swimming as fast as he could.

Valeriana's vision was getting a bit blurry.

Hurry up.

When they thought that the creature finally retreated, it seemed it refused to give up. One, cold hand reached out to Valeriana once more and grabbed her wrist. It tried to snake around her arm and drag her down once again. Because of this, their journey to the surface stopped.

A couple more was reaching forward, though still wary of Corvan’s fire.

Valeriana frowned and overcame with frustration, she tugged her hand back and kicked the hands away harshly. The action was successful although it cost her something she didn't want to lose. Her bracelet slipped from her wrist and sunk down the seemingly bottomless depths.

Valeriana opened her mouth in a silent scream. She tried to reach for it but Corvan squeezed her hand and tugged her away, his fire dying. She was helpless against his strength since she felt weakened from the lack of air.

Valeriana tearfully watched as her treasured bracelet vanished into the seemingly unending pit of dark water.

Once they reached the surface, Valeriana reached for something to grab onto. Her hands came around the edge of the bathing pool and so she heaved herself out of the water, her lungs greedily taking in the air. She slumped against the floor, her muscles feeling slack for some reason.

She looked back at the depths and attempted to jump in again but was stopped when a pair of strong arms came around her and kept her in place. “What are you doing, idiot?”

“Let me go! I have to get it!” She yelled at him.

“What?”

“My bracelet!” She screamed. “My father gave that to me! It's important!”

“It's useless!” He told her. “It fell with that demon! You cannot get it back! The unending depth you saw was world of its making. A place of nothing with no light and no warmth. An embrace of death. There's no getting it back.”

She looked forlornly down into the water. The darkness disappeared suddenly. She reached into the pool and touched the floor. It was no longer there.

She lost it.

Tears welled up from her eyes. Valeriana started to sob. He told her to take care of it especially. She owned it since she was five. How could she just lose it?

“My bracelet!” She hit the water and droplets sprayed to every direction. “Give it back! Give it back, you monster!”

“Valeriana . . .” Corvan trailed off.

Looking up at him, she saw the fact that he was blushing.

“What?” She snapped at him.