Volume 1 Chapter 11 Betrayal

Chapter 11 Betrayal

I

Inside the necroplane, the four ministers of the Grey Factory were gathering in the meeting hall.

It was a shadowy room inside the necroplane with a round table and four delicately decorated chair, on the surface of which, logos of the Grey Factory resembling human skulls were embossed. Those skulls were smirking victoriously as if they had won the war against the old uncivilized world.

Hanging on the ceiling of the room was a grey chandelier emanating eerie cool toned lights. There were no windows installed inside this room and thus this whacky chandelier served as the only source of light inside this murky room.

There was a square-shaped hollow at the centre of the round table. Clearly, this hollow was prepared for the Cube of Necrus. Maybe one day they would be able to retrieve the cube and insert it into the hollow, using it to power up the whole necroplane as well as the Grey Factory.

Sitting on the chairs were Master Mortis, Sir Bellum, Professor Fames and Doctor Plague. They were four of the most powerful persons in Normania now. Under the light given off by the grey chandelier, enormous shadows were cast under the chairs of the four.

They were the pioneers of civilization and they were the laws since they had already corrupted the world of politics in Normania with their unmatchable power provided by necrology.

However, although all of them were powerful, Master Mortis seemed to be the dominator in this room. Everyone was looking at him with respect, waiting for this alpha man to speak first.

It was quiet inside this room. All attendees of the meeting was sitting on the chair silently. No one said a single word until their boss Master Mortis broke the silence.

“Good afternoon, comrades. This is a crisis meeting,” announced Master Mortis.

“A crisis meeting? Is it about the stolen Cube of Necrus?” asked Doctor Plague.

Doctor Plague was a man wearing black trench coat and a top hat. His face was obscured by a beak-like mask and few people knew what he really looked like.

“Exactly. And I guess that they are now trying to destroy this cube, and the only way to destroy this cube is to throw them inside a volcano. The nearest volcano is Infernal Mountain, so I speculate that they’re going to Infernal Mountain now in order to use the high temperature of lava there to destroy the cube,” answered Master Mortis.

“However, I think we don’t need to worry about them. We’re far more stronger than them,” Doctor Plague pointed out.

“Anyway, we shall not look down up them. That elf girl possesses unimaginable magical power, and the others have been enhanced by a magical spring in Dream Forest. We’re fighting with magic,” continued Master Mortis.

“So what shall we do?” inquired Sir Bellum. This dark knight had lost his mace and without his powerful weapon, he really looked less oppressive.

“I’ll drive a necroplane to Infernal Mountain and guard there. Doctor Plague and Professor Fames, please try your best to cleanse the dwarves in case they align with that elf. Dwarves are a threat. If they join the quest of that elf, they will be more likely to succeed,” replied Master Mortis.

“What about me? What shall I do?” questioned Sir Bellum.

“As for you, Sir Bellum, you’re responsible to distribute arrest warrants. There are other volcanos in this world and I am afraid that they may choose to use other volcanos instead of Infernal Mountain to destroy the Cube of Necrus. Therefore, we shall capture them as fast as we can and seeking help from those greedy commons is the fastest way to find them,” commanded Master Mortis.

II

It was afternoon now and the sun was shining weakly on the pale sky.

Aislina and her friends were sitting on the sofa inside the office of Mister Berg.

Mister Berg was staring at Aislina and there was an indescribable expression on his face which was mixed with astonishment, surprise, hope as well as excitement.

He had lived in this grimy village for nearly a century. Everything was dark and gloomy inside this lifeless village, but Aislina seemed to be lighting all the things up.

Though she herself was dipped in the ocean sadness and anger too, there was something deep inside her heart which was definitely different with human, which was able to change the future.

Aislina was also staring back at this old man. Though he had already been an old man who was about to leave this world, he was now looking at Aislina as if he were a curious child reading a fantasy fairy tale.

“So you’re the last elf in this world! It’s unbelievable. I thought that elves didn’t exist in this world anymore, but now I see you, in the flesh,” murmured Mister Berg, breaking the silence.

“To be honest, I am not that good. I’m just an ordinary girl, like Floria and Starsha,” stammered Aislina with shyness.

“I have lived for nearly a century and I know how this world has degraded. I also know that people begin to lose hope, or to be precise, they begin to hate hope and negate its existence since their souls have been already corrupted by the darkness. Love and kindness begin to disappear inside them while anger and hatred begin to dominate their hearts. You can change everything, Aislina,” Mister Berg pointed out.

“But how? By oration? No, it won’t work. One of the most popular hobbies of people nowadays is destroying beautifulness and replacing them with ugliness,” breathed Starsha.

“You’re right, girl,” Mister Berg agreed and continued, “Since that, what are you planning to do? You shall do something for this world. After all, you are all endowed with the power of Life and thus you’re fated to change something.”

Obviously, the four had shared the secret of the Spring of Sylvana with Mister Berg.

“In fact, we’re planning to destroy the Cube of Necrus which was constructed by the Grey Factory, and we will set off tomorrow morning,” answered Floria.

“And what will you do after that? Destroying the cube won’t bring an end to the evilness which is corrupting our world now,” questioned Mister Berg.

“To be honest, we have no idea,” sighed Aislina.

“You will figure that out one day. Anyway, there are two empty rooms available in my house. They used to belong to my late sister and my son who has gone to live in the Scuropolis in search of fortune. You four can spend the night in my humble village,” suggested Mister Berg.

“Thank you, Mister Berg,” expressed Floria gratefully.

After the conversation, Mister Berg took the four to his house.

On the way to Mister Berg’s house, people were looking at Aislina because they had all heard the news that the last elf had come to their villages.

However, there were no looks of curiosity or excitement in their eyes when they saw Aislina. On the contrary, there were only coldness and emptiness, as if the presence of Aislina in this shabby village meant nothing and would change nothing.

Witnessing the indifference of his villagers, Mister Berg sighed and shook his head. He knew that the most important things that humans should have had been lost and forsaken into the abyss of nothingness.

III

The dusk was coming, with the sun descending and the moon ascending.

Mister Berg was taking a walk in the brown fields. The cold air of the twilight was penetrating through Mister Berg’s old skin, making him trembling frozenly.

As he was about to go back to his house, a man with black armour came into his sight, held in whose arms was a pile of black files, on the surface of which the word “wanted” was written.

This man in armour looked whacky and there was an aura of wickedness emanated by him, as if he were a focus of unholiness in this area.

“Hello, who are you?” inquired Mister Berg curiously, his voice trembling in fear because he knew that this man was not a potential friend at all.

“I am Sir Bellum, the general of the Army against northern barbarians!” the knight introduced himself.

“Wow! You’re Sir Bellum! I read about you on the newspaper that you led the army of Normanian Kingdom to win that war against barbarians!” exclaimed Mister Berg.

“Yeah, that’s me. Now I have been assigned here by Master Mortis, the boss of the Grey Factory, to search for a band of criminals and I am now distributing the arrest warrants,” continued Sir Bellum.

“A band of criminals? What does those criminals look like?” pursued Mister Berg.

“Oh, they are quite distinguishable. This band is composed of three girls and a boy. One of the girls have cerulean hair because she is not human at all. She is a monster with extremely dangerous magical power,” replied Sir Bellum.

“You know, there are aways rewards for helping find the wanted criminals, right,” queried Mister Berg tentatively.

“Yes, there are rewards. If you really help us to capture the criminals, the rewards you’ll get will be unimaginable,” responded Sir Bellum.

“Unimaginable?” Mister Berg raised his eyebrows with his eyes wide open with excitement.

“Because that band of criminals have taken a quite significant possession of us Grey Factory, so there will be an unimaginably big reward for any information. It’s ten million gold coins,” explained Sir Bellum.

“Ten million gold coins? That’s crazy! If I have such much money, I will be able to do almost everything!” exclaimed Mister Berg in ecstasy.

“That’s true. Have you found any information?” questioned Sir Bellum.

The expression on Mister Berg’s face was twisting now. He knew that this world had been corrupted by evilness, and he was one of the very few man who had realized that and was still awake.

He also knew that Aislina was the only hope to save this world. She was the last daughter of wilderness and her journey of life would definitely turn this world around.

However, the temptation of one billion gold coins was so strong that Mister Berg could never resist that. A normal farmer could only earn five thousands gold coins one month, which meant that he needed to work for about 160 years without eating or buying things to gather such much money.

Was it worthy to sacrifice such a fortune for an elf that he had never known before?

“Yep, to be honest, those criminals are in my house right now,” revealed Mister Berg after a short but drastic psychological struggle. He knew that he had betrayed what he truly wanted. However, he couldn’t resist the temptation of money, which he lacked most.

He could do everything if given enough money, and ten million gold coins were far more than enough.

“Bravo! I’ll contact my colleagues to hunt them together,” shouted Sir Bellum.

“No, they will leave my village tomorrow morning, and it will be nearly impossible for you to find them after that. You shall act as quickly as you can. You have no time to contact your colleagues,” suggested Mister Berg.

“Since that, I have to hunt them alone. Can you do me a favour?” inquired Sir Bellum.

“For sure, Sir Bellum, I’m at your service,” Mister Berg bowed.

IV

It was dinner time in the Starshine Village. Although people there were dipped in depression, they still needed life to go on. In their kitchens, they were making their dinner and from their houses, the smoke was curling coming out of their chimneys.

Unlike those monstrous chimneys in the Grey Factory, those chimneys on the house of the Grey Factory looked harmless and beautiful. The twilight was fading and soon the night would come again. As usual, it would be a starless night.

Mister Berg was cooking the dinner at his kitchen while. Aislina, Starsha and the siblings were sitting in the bedroom making their plan of journeying to the Infernal Mountain.

However, irresistible aromas of foods kept coming out from the kitchen and gradually this fantastic smell filled the whole house. Clearly, the smell of foods had really made them hard to concentrate themselves.

Their stomach was rumbling in hunger as well as desire for foods and there were only pictures of the upcoming dinner inside their minds right now instead of scenes of epic adventures or cruel destinies which were flooding upon them.

Failing to resist the temptation of the deliciousness, they went into the kitchen together to check what food Mister Berg was actually cooking.

To their surprise, Mister Berg was roasting a salmon. Humming softly and tunelessly, he was fully absorbed in his work and clearly, he was an excellent cook.

There was alluring seasoned salt scattered on the surface of the salmon and the skin of this fish looked rather soft but elastic, which made it even more appealing. There was also some colourless oil coming out from under the skin of the salmon and emanating an unforgettable smell that was beyond description.

The aroma of the salmon made its way into the noses of the four, stimulated by which, the glands inside their mouths commenced to pump out saliva.

“I am going to cook a grand dinner for you. However, doing that is too difficult for an old man like me. Therefore, can you four help me to prepare some food?” asked Mister Berg.

“For sure! I am a good cook, after all, I cook every day at home, since my dad is awful at cooking and he is suffering from dementia recent,” answered Floria.

“How about your mom? Is she good at cooking?” pursued Mister Berg.

“My mom passed away when Yanni and I were very small,” breathed Floria, dipping down her head in sadness.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Mister Berg reassured her.

“To some extent, I was raised by my sister,” added Yanni.

“By the way, I have run out of eggs. I need someone to help me buy some eggs,” Mister Berg change the topic.

“I’ll help you, but where can I buy eggs?” questioned Yanni.

“There’s a merchant who sells eggs in our village. Give me your map and I’ll mark the position of the merchant on your map,” replied Mister Berg.

“Since that, Yanni will help you buy eggs while Aislina and I will help you cook at home. Let’s make those dishes without eggs first,” concluded Floria.

“That’s a good idea. We elves use magic to add some delicious flavour to our foods, and I can make the dinner magically yummy,” said Aislina confidently.

“Let me summarise what we’re going to do. Floria and Aislina will help Mister Berg cook, Yanni will help to buy eggs. What shall I do then?” inquired Starsha.

“How about you accompanying Yanni to buy the eggs? After all, he is awful at directions,” suggested Floria.

“All right, I’ll be the babysitter of your little brother,” Starsha agreed and called, “Let’s go, Yanni!”