Voyage Of The Villainess

The sky remained filled with dark clouds but the sneaking red and orange hues indicated that the sun was setting down.

The group decided to settle down near the opening of a nearby forest. The men get some wood they could use for the bonfire while the females prepared a single tent they could use to sleep.

"Wow," Hyun Jae exclaimed in amazement. "I don\'t know that people in this world could set up a traditional tent-like we usually do back on Earth."

Iris paused midway from hammering the huge nail with a stone, then they exchanged meaningful glances with Malaya.

"Is that so?" Iris said, making her voice sound a bit curious. "This way is pretty normal around here." 

"Earth?" Malaya also asked. Though she probably knew what that could be. Iris just gave her \'what kind of question are you asking?\'.

Hyun Jae\'s eyes lit up with her question. "I haven\'t told you about the world where I came from." She said excitement lacing her voice.

"It is a beautiful planet. Compared here it\'s a world without magic. But we do have what we call Science where we base every development and technology."

"I see..." Malaya responded with a smile as she finally took a seat in the huge log. 

\'I come to take you back, Carolle.\' Malaya just smiled bitterly when she remembered that strange dream again. Up to now, she just put it back to her mind, not dwelling into it much deeper. "The world you live in sounds wonderful."

Hyun Jae also sat beside her as she stared at her with a strange look. 

"What? Is there something on my face?" Malaya asked as she tilted her head.

"Na-ah," Hyun Jae shook her head. "I\'m just surprised how different your reaction is despite knowing that the world I live in has no magic."

"It doesn\'t really matter to me," Malaya said. "Even if a different world exists then there could always be a different living system isn\'t it?"

"Yep," Iris sat on the left side of Malaya then stretched her arms. "But whatever the differences are, the important thing is what place where you could feel, you can truly belong."

"Pfft." Hyun Jae stifled a laugh. And the two looked at her with questioning gazes. "I apologize for laughing. It\'s just although we are the same age both of you really sounded so mature and like real adults."

\'No, we\'re not. I\'m probably the same age as your aunt. Wait, now that I think of it, if Fate of the Stars were written around 2010 on Earth then does it mean she would probably be much older than me?\' Malaya pondered deeply.

And in Iris\' thoughts, \'definitely, I\'m not the same age as these youngsters. I would probably like to be a mother to them now.\'

"But I guess you\'re both right." Hyun Jae went on to say. She then glanced at the desolate horizon. \'A place where I could feel like I belong huh. I never really think of something like that.\'

"Meow," Iris remembered again the cat above her head which brought back her annoyance. 

"Ah! Just get off already, ah right." A sudden thought came from Iris.

"Hyun Jae, could you check what might be wrong with this cat?"

Hyun Jae tilted her head then glanced at the cat that was on Iris\' head. "Actually I\'m also curious about that cat as well."

---⚓⚓⚓---

"I think this is enough," Elred said as he picked up another dry twig. "We can go back now and..."  he froze midway when he felt something pointed at his neck.

"Speak,  Sir Elred. The White Knight of the Emperor." Rein\'s cold voice resounded. "What are your real intentions for coming with us? Does it have something to do with the emperor?"

Elred narrowed his gaze when Rein called him with his title that only a few individuals knew about.

"You really are not an ordinary person to know even that," Elred said as he unleashed his sword. The twigs he was holding fell on the ground.

His sword clashed with Rein. "The emperor had nothing to do with why I joined here."

"I\'ve met many individuals like you, and they told me the same things over and over again; do you know what happened to them?" Rein increased the pressure on his sword, causing Elred to lag behind. "They didn\'t live to see the next day."

"Should I be scared?" A nonchalant smile escaped Elred\'s face. "Are you really going to kill me, Sir Rein? Lady Malaya had accepted me to be part of her crew without any question. What would she think if you suddenly do what you really intended to do?"

"Is this your true color?"

"I\'m just stating possible scenarios, Sir Rein. And right now, I\'m still a valuable asset to all of you."

"What do you mean?"

"Aren\'t you curious why the Orca city was not in the place where it was supposed to be?"

Rein narrowed his gaze looking intently at Elred.

"The city of Orca has long been gone," Elred said though there was a faint smile on his lips his eyes flashed with sadness. "The emperor lied to everyone that he let all the survivors from the fallen kingdom live. But that\'s not true. He blocked all the means of living for them. And in the end those survivors, this whole place..."

"Rein! Elred!" They both turned to Iris who was panting real hard. It seemed that she ran with all she got to get to them as soon as possible.

"Malaya and Hyun Jae! They..." Iris paused when she saw both men have their swords pointed at each other.

Though Iris didn\'t know what\'s going on with the two, she decided to still continue. "They disappeared!"

"Don\'t tell me..."

Elred ran fast towards the place where they were supposed to camp.

The wind blew, sending cold chills to their exposed skin. There were also some dry leaves flying but the most noticeable thing, the whole place was glowing with a mixture of red and black hue.

"This..." Iris, shocked, looked at the scene in front of her. "This is not here before."