What happened after is something I can bet my life that you had no idea was going to happen. Sure, you were waiting for some over-the-top epic fight that was going to take place right here inside the cave, between us, the kidnapped kids, and the mysterious guy who I'm sure you have guessed is a bad guy.
Tsk, oh how I wish, though I know that our butts might have been kicked regardless of our strength in numbers, but that guy resonated with so much power, and his presence alone was threatening.
I'm sorry to say that wasn't the case. After the whole thing where Odessa and I took an unplanned bloodbath, the mysterious guy had put back on his mask, which was exactly like the one the people that took us away from home wore, but his was white.
To be honest, today has been a very interesting day—at least that's what my big head thought. But guess what? I was wrong.
You just gasped, didn't you? Even if it was sarcastic.
But to tell you, it turned out that the day I thought was one bad day full of nothing but bad luck actually turned out to be a different and new day—meaning us being kidnapped happened yesterday, I think.
Still, I can't wrap my head around it. How come that two of the children of the most powerful family get taken in broad daylight, in a room of—I don't know—countless elders, who I now remember are dead? May Ney, the goddess of light and wisdom, watch over their resting souls. But still—
Where were the guards? Where was our father? I mean, Axel, our butler, was there, and he saw the whole thing—at least I think he did.
I know I'm getting out of track and losing the story, but you'll forgive me. None of this makes any sense.
Anyway.
The whole thing left not just Odessa and I scared, but the other children who were held captive scared. And I may have played a hero and kinda did save my half-sister, but I didn't get the chance to have my celebratory moment because this moron decided to show up and steal the spotlight from me.
Ha! But at least I did make him pay—yay me.
The mysterious guy approached us.
Oh, about the chains that I had after the fall—they got loose and I was free. But since I didn't get the chance to check up on Odessa and make sure that she wasn't hurt, I also didn't get the chance to free her.
"Stay behind me." I pushed her behind me.
"Interesting, so you are the reason for all this?" The mysterious guy stopped a few inches away from us.
"Who are you and what do you want from us?" I made my voice sound firm.
I won't lie to you, though—in that moment, I seemed heroic, and too bad there weren't any cute ladies there to witness everything.
Yeah, yeah, I know there were cute ladies who were dangling up there inside the cages, but that's different. And if you are asking yourself how different?
They were other species.
"Oh, me? Mhm, what do I want?" The mysterious guy pretended to think. "Oh right, I simply want one thing," he continued.
"And what is that?" I stood my ground.
"This."
As much as it was way cool and sounded so awesome the way he said that—'cause it made him look like a villain that just came at the end of an anime episode and said something so cool right before the anime ended and left us on a cliffhanger.
When he said that, at first he was looking all around, making sure that all the kids were still there. And when he looked at Odessa and I, his eyes glowed purple again. Though he wore a facemask, I sensed that he was smiling underneath it.
Something happened to all of us. I may not know what it was exactly, but all of us had this piercing headache from out of nowhere that made us feel like we were drunk and dizzy.
"What did you do to us?" I felt like the whole cave was spinning around.
All I heard after were thud sounds, which came from the children that were there falling down and going unconscious. A few seconds later, I felt Odessa loosening her grip on me as she also fell unconscious.
"Odessa." I wanted to check up on her.
I may have been the last one standing, which was impressive if I say so myself, but it wasn't long before I also suffered the same fate as everyone else. I fell too, and as much as I tried and did give my best to withstand this kind of magic—
I felt myself losing control of my body as it went numb, and I lost consciousness too.
What happened next was just a mystery to me as it is to you.
'Cause I woke up inside the back of a truck, locked away in the cage again. When I was asleep, I was actually sitting down.
"You are finally awake," one of the children said.
"How long was I out for?" I shook my head.
"I don't know, but it seems like you are the last one to wake up," the girl said.
Her name was Mira, and she was a fairy.
"Where is my sister?" I looked around.
"I don't think she's with us," Mira said.
Mira was a strange-looking girl, though she was really beautiful and very much attractive. Hey, don't go around thinking your own things—I'm not talking about her in a weird manner or anything.
She was the same height as me, but she had short orange hair, and her eyes were a color I'd never seen before—but even if I did see it, they were definitely one of those one-percent eye colors that a few people had.
She wasn't dressed like the rest of us. Instead, she had a top and a skirt that were green in color, and I don't know if it was my vision acting up again or what, but I'm a hundred percent sure that her clothes were tree leaves.
At first, I didn't know that we were in a moving truck, up until the truck hit a bump on the road.
"Are they taking us somewhere else?" I asked.
"Yeah, it seems like they finally are going to trade us," Mira said.
Mira didn't look like she was scared or anything like that—in fact, none of the children that were with me there seemed like they were scared or anything.
Others were sitting down while the others were standing.
"Why are you looking around for?" Mira noticed me looking around.
"I'm just really impressed with everyone. They know that we are about to be sold off to who knows where, but not even a single one of them is making a fuss," I admitted.
"That's because they are under a spell that is keeping them calm, despite them being scared for their lives," Mira said.
"Under a spell? What kind of spell?" I didn't know what she was talking about.
"It's called a Mind Ease spell. It's a form of spell that only a certain kind of race can do, where they link with everyone's mind and manipulate the way they are feeling," Mira explained.
"But I don't feel like I'm under that spell—at least I think so." I felt normal.
I wasn't lying when I said that, though I understand how it may come across to you guys, since I believe something telling me that your minds are something else.
But if I was maybe a teen boy going through puberty and experiencing all sorts of emotions the way I was while talking to Mira, it might seem like I would be trying my luck. But thank the goddess it wasn't like that.
"That's because–" Mira stopped before she could finish off the sentence.
I could tell that she was trying to hide something that she almost accidentally revealed to me, and since in my previous life I had managed to learn a skill to actually read people, I called that skill Ki.
Yes, you heard me right. That name sounds so familiar—that's because it is. I took it from one of the manga I was reading.
There you have it—the secret's out. Yes, I love manga, but I also love manhwa, donghua, and anime. But I wasn't a nerd, okay? I think the right term would be geek.
As much as I was curious about what she wanted to say to me, I told myself that I won't press her and force her to tell me if she wasn't willing or ready to tell me anything.
"I'm Persues." I reached out my hand and introduced myself.
"I already know who you are, but nice to meet you, Persues. My name is Mira." She shook my hand.
One thing about Mira is that she was really good at making me curious because she was so strange and mysterious, so I think she saw that, so she was playing along.
"How do you–?" I wanted to ask. "Nice to meet you, Mira." I smiled.
Our truck finally stopped, and from outside we heard footsteps coming to our truck.
"Is this all of them?"
We were all met with a man's face.