Melody of Sin

Chapter IV~ Escape

Although Kronos Sky Institution and Kronos Fallen Shrine were in the same island, it still had to take ten days of walk for trained people. During those days, only Christopher was with her. The other two were still hiding. She didn’t really plan to escape. She was waiting, waiting for a certain event to happen before her escape. As the future High Priestess, not only she had the power to control blood and few of the five Monsters’ power, she also had the power to predict the future. She could not control that power. It gave her visions of the future but didn’t allow her to seek on her own. Yesterday night, she had a vision. If it were to come true, it should happen in these few days.

The sky was darkening. Christopher was preparing for their camping. He created a fire and cooked the in-stored food for this trip. Scared that she will be cold, he brought her a blanket to cover herself. It had been five days that they had been walking like this, yet he had no sensation of getting near. He once thought that they were inside of an illusionary technique, but he should notice that if someone set it up. After all, he was Sujen, right? He contacted Edward and Frederick, and they both did not notice anything. He thought that he was over exaggerating. Nevertheless, he had never actually ‘walked’ from the Institution to the Shrine. He tempted to avoid going to there as possible. He hated that atmosphere. What amazed him the most was that Elwynn did not resist at all. She just stayed by his side. If time could just stop like that, life would be too good to come true, right?

Elwynn silently looked at Christopher. He seemed tired. He hadn’t taken a day of sleep. He had been enduring the will to sleep to evade her escape. She felt bad for him. Maybe she shouldn’t run away… Who was she kidding? She had to run away, although this would be bad for his reputation. However, she didn’t mind it. The most important thing that she had to do was to avoid the death of others. War wasn’t supposed to exist. It was just reasonless.

“Wynn Wynn, do want to eat fruits? I can get some for you.”

“No thank you.”

“Are you mad at me? You haven’t talked much.”

“No I am not. It’s just that I really tired of walking.”

“I guess that I can take you directly there with my power…”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“I just want to spend some time with you.”

“Should I say thank you for that since you are giving an opportunity to escape?”

“Maybe I want you to…”

“Chris, what is wrong with the Shrine? You are not acting like yourself.”

“I am still the same as always.”

“What happened?”

“I told you, nothing.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“It’s the truth.”

“Do you believe in me?”

“No.”

“Here is a problem. You used to believe in me.”

“You slaughtered all those people.”

“…”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to bring you back those memories…”

“It’s fine. It is a sin that I committed in the past and I have to deal with it whether I like it or not. Even if others avoid talking about it, it still hunts my life. So it does not matter if you talk or not.”

“Wynn Wynn… I shouldn’t have let you go back then… This time, I am not letting you go.”

“I will be gone in five days.”

“…”

“Chris, this will be the last time I ask you. After this, I swear that I will never offer you the choice. Will you assist me in finding the remaining Monsters and try to figure out another way than killing?”

“This is the only way.”

“I see.”

“Why do you constantly seek this? Are you afraid of death?”

“You know that I am not, ever since I was young.”

“…”

            They remained soundless for a while, and then Christopher got alerted. He tried to look around to see what was wrong but couldn’t find anything unusual. He looked Elwynn with doubts. Was this her doing? If yes, how can he not notice it?

            This was the moment that she was waiting for. Christopher finally realized that they were in a trap. It took him long enough though. Maybe his being with her dulled his sense. She took out her necklace. Not only it had a sealing ability, it also let her to see through all illusionary techniques and traps. Edward was at her left, and Frederick was at her right. They were both preparing to fight.

            BOOM! An explosion took place. Christopher immediately covered Elwynn. Edward and Frederick came out of their hiding places and counterattacked. The attackers were all in black and were hiding their faces. It wasn’t long that Christopher discovered that their goal was Elwynn. However, how did they know that she was the Blood? If they didn’t, is it because she killed too many people outside so they were after her life? Impossible, Kronos Sanctuary was not a place that others could enter and go out without permission. What if they were people inside this island?

            He kept thinking and fighting. He didn’t use his power because it would be a little bit too dangerous. Using the Monster’s power beside the Blood was not the best thing to do. He noticed that they were all trained to attack their weak points. They were no ordinary people. Just as he wanted to fight back, Elwynn hit his head from his back. That knocked him out of conscious. The next time she did was trying to get some distance from the attackers while Edward and Frederick still didn’t knew that their superior was unconscious. They continued to attack the incomers but realized that they were too strong for them. The pink haired girl immediately tried to use Kaze’s power to teleport her out of here. Her enemies seemed to notice it and took out a bandage like weapon. On that thing, scriptures were writing on it. Elwynn looked at it and was shocked. She kept dodging it again and again. Now, she regretted of knocking Christopher out of conscious. After numerous attempts, the holder of that bandage still didn’t reach her. That person notified the others, and they all attacked her. It was then that she was caught with it. She reckoned that it wouldn’t matter that much since she was trained not to be affected by mere seals. However, she was wrong.

“Commencement sealing of the Blood, Elwynn Vesalius Kallisto Eleanor.”

            How could they have known her full name? Only few of the people of the Shrine knew it… Could they be of the Shrine? She felt feeble. She couldn’t move at all. That thing sealed her power… Her power of the five Monsters… She still had the Blood’s power. That could not be easily sealed away. She tried to move her hand, but it seemed that it didn’t react to her. Those people were walking to her. They pulled her up. She stood up weakly. She slowly took out her necklace and pulled it out by force.

“Release.”

            That necklace disappeared, and Elwynn’s eyes turned purple. A strong current of wind blew at her surrounding and hit the people holding her. Her blood came out of her as if it was alive. It kept on striking the others’ heart. Their blood all tried to go out of them. A lot of them died from it.

“Retreat!”

            They were all gone. Elwynn’s eyes were still the same colour. She coldly looked at Edward and Frederick and said,

“Be gone, or you will be next.”

            They looked at each other, took Christopher with them, and went away from her.

            It had been a month since that incident. No one had heard of Elwynn. Cypher joined the Kronos army by hiding his identity, and the other three graduated students, Ren, Len, and Gwendel had gone elsewhere. Christopher received his punishment for his inability of bringing the Blood to the Shrine. Edward and Frederick were both punished too.

            War started. Lorigen invaded half of Valkyrie and Ralkian. Salkerye received daily attacks. Even Walkure couldn’t escape the involvement of being in war. Kronos Sanctuary did not react to the fact that the other countries were in war. Its only concern was to find the Blood. Lorigen did not dare to strike it. After this month of time, Lorigen’s army started to rumble. There were two people who, came out of nowhere, protected Valkyrie and Ralkian. Those two people did not defend another country than those two. To be more precise, only one of them was protecting Walkyrie, and the other protected Ralkian. No one knew who they were. All they knew was that the Lorigen’s soldiers died in horrible ways. Half of them died from burns and the other half was all buried.

            Lorigen started to back out from Valkyrie and Ralkian and concentrated all its military power to Salkerye and Walkure. Its invasion greatly raised its accuracy because it could focus all their forces in two major points. People from Salkerye used mostly water combat because they could breath in water while the people from Lorigen had to rely on technology. Walkure was mostly air combat. Lorigen wasn’t advanced enough to developed in that area so it was disadvantaged.

            Kronos Law enforcement groups were dispatched everywhere. None of them stopped to help the ones in war. They said that it wasn’t their concern. However, even if the number of Kronos L.E. groups increased, the search for Elwynn still hadn’t been successful. Finally, the Kronos Bliss castle decided to add its military force to the search. Christopher, Frederick, Edward, and Cypher were part of them. Since the groups were formed by three people, Cypher had to join another group. The members of his group graduated from the Institution four years ago. Both of them were ranked lieutenant. Their names were Vince Kenister and Goethe Inester. What amazed Cypher was that the groups were divided by power: the strong with the strong, and the weak with the weak. It didn’t really make sense but didn’t bother him at all. His partners were both annoying people, at least to him.

“Hey Goethe, Cypher!” Vince called him. “Did you my brand new badge! I’ve just received another award.”

“Oh just shut up.” Goethe answered him in a mad tone.

“…”

“It is in 18 K gold. They told me that they wanted to make it with 24 K, but I refused since I will receive so many awards that they would have to spend all their money on me! I don’t want the military to become poor, you know.”

“Vince, you are such a show off!”

“…”

“It is so shiny and pretty. It is only normal that you get jealous of me.”

“I AM NOT!”

“…”

“Raising tone is a sign of jealousy.”

“IT IS NOT! It is just that you are annoying!!!”

“…”

“I am not! You are just jealous!”

“You are, and I am not!”

“…”

“Cypher, which one of us is right?”

“Come on, tell the truth. No harm will be done.”

“…”

“Man, do you even speak?”

“ANSWER!!!”

“You two are the same (idiots).”

“I can’t sink to this idiot’s level!”

“Who are you calling an idiot?”

“Oh! The idiot just replied!”

“WHY YOU!!!”

            Another fight started. Yes, this happened every single day. Cypher often asked himself why did superiors put him with them. Another good question would be how did they become lieutenant. Maybe they were strong… Just maybe…

“I see that things are pretty lively here.” Christopher said.

“Salute, Colonel Ivarice.”

“Colonel Ivarice, sir.”

“I don’t like you, get out.” Cypher said.

“Cypher! You can’t be impolite to your superiors! Or you won’t get shinny badges like me!”

“Or worst, you can be seriously punished!”

“I don’t mind.”

“Leave him be. I didn’t take it personal.”

“Colonel, is there something you wish us to do for you?”

“Actually, Duke Duncan asked for all units to search for the High Priestess.”

 “The Blood?”

“Elwynn Eleanor?”

“…”

“You cannot call her in such an ill-mannered manner.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Understood.”

“…”

“While you are on the search, seek for the five Monsters too. When you find them, notify the others and kill them.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Understood.”

“…”

“Cypher, I need you to come with me for few seconds.”

“1…2…3… Few seconds passed.”

“Cypher!”

“GO!!!”

“I really don’t mind. Cypher, I want to talk to you about you-know-who.”

“…”

            Christopher went away, and Cypher followed him. All that left were Vince and Goethe.

“Wow! This ‘you-know-who’ must be powerful.”

“Sure is… Otherwise, why would cipher go?”

“Or… This ‘you-know-who’ could be his lover.”

“If it is, why would Colonel Ivarice want to talk with Cypher ‘alone’?”

“Oh! I know! It is a triangle love!”

“Colonel is going to warn Cypher not to go near you-know-who!”

“Colonel will win even if with Cypher’s interference.”

“Cypher is way more attractive to girls.”

“But Colonel Ivarice is a colonel! He has so many awards and money! But I will catch up with him someday. Someday is too vague! I said in a year, no! In half a year!”

“You said the same thing a year ago.”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“I said NO!”

“And I said YESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!”