Volume 2 Chapter 14 A Family Reunion

Chapter 14 A Family Reunion

I

After dumping Nephrenbethys, the assassin and the four set up a camp. That assassin brought a simple camp along with him.

That assassin seemed shocked upon seeing the four. He looked at them with interests as if they had met them somewhere before.

Floria, Yanni and Starsha were observing that man too. It was strange that he seemed familiar, though he was wearing a mask and full-body robe. Clearly, they had met once.

Their memories started to blur and twist. When did they meet that man and where did they see him? They tried to dig deep inside their memories but failed to find any valid information. Seemingly they had met that man sometimes before, but they really couldn’t recall the details.

When their minds were in chaos, that man kept looking at them and mysteriously. His face was nearly fully veiled by his silver mask, so no one knew what his expression was. The four were staring at that man too, their faces brimming with confusion.

“You think that you have met me somewhere before, right?” asked that assassin in Normanish.

“Who are you actually?” questioned Yanni.

“If you want to know something about me, tell me something about yourselves first. Why are you four so powerful and why do you fight against Macchina Gloriosa?” queried the man.

“We’ve bathed in the Spring of Sylvana so that our physiologies have been enhanced, and we want to destroy the Mother Matrix so that we’re enemies of Macchina Gloriosa,” answered Starsha.

“The Spring of Sylvana ... That’s interesting. Anyhow, destroying the Mother Matrix a brave act. You’re a bard, girl, right? You’re going to destroy the Mother Matrix because it is producing mechanical music. You can’t stand that they’re treating music as something mechanical and making consummate music at the same time …” speculated that man.

“Yes, I am, how did you know all of that?” asked Starsha.

The assassin began to tell a story:

Year 3018, the prince of Lower Desertia was born.

Year 3020, Solaris was destroyed by Upper Desertia Kingdom with the help of an organization called Macchina Gloriosa, and the entire royal family of Lower Desertia was murdered by the soldiers of Upper Desertia, except the prince who was taken away by Chophys, who managed to escape this disaster.

Year 3021, Lower Desertia and the Upper Desertia merged into one. This one true Desertian Kingdom which was in fact ruled by the royal family of Upper Desertia was born.

After that, the prince, or to be precise, the exiled king of Lower Desertia, learned the art of assassination from Chophys who bathed him in the Spring of Arcana when they were in exile.

However, the secret power of assassins was discovered by Macchina Gloriosa, and Achnosiris, the leader of Macchina Gloriosa, wanted to research the power of arcane magic.

Although assassins could not manipulate magical power, their blood contained the essence of Arcana, the creator of high elves, which would be a key to uncover the mystery of magic.

Therefore, he sent his loyal killer Nephrenbethys to hunt the assassins.

With her formidable power armour, Nephrenbethys was invincible. Many assassins in Desteria were murdered by Nephrenbethys, who collected the blood of the assassins as research samples to invent the artificial magic that could be dominated by Macchina Gloriosa.

To escape from Nephrenbethys, the exiled king ran to Normania where he met Cecile, the apprentice of the Ex-Farseer of Wildshadow Tribe at that time and they two fell in love with each other. Soon they had a baby and her name was Starsha.

He thought that he could live happily ever after, but fate was cruel. Nephrenbethys had come to Normania and she needed to kill more assassins and collect more blood as research samples. Unfortunately, the exiled king was one of her aims.

Sensing that Nephrenbethys was approaching, he decided to leave the tribe or Starsha and Cecile would be in danger since Nephrenbethys was bloodily ruthless. Killing people was like childish games for her. She could use his beloved wife and daughter to threaten him.

Leaving the tribe in a hurry in case Nephrenbethys discovered that he had started a family, he escaped to Desertia once again, where he found out that those assassins who had survived Nephrenbethys’ bloody slaughter had built a sanctuary to fight against her together. The leader of the sanctuary was Chophys, his master.

One day, he was sent by Chophys to find some foods with his friends because the foods in the sanctuary were going to run out. They encountered Nephrenbethys, who killed all his friends.

He found a forbidden village and hid inside it. However, he was still ambushed by Nephrenbethys there.

Luckily, when Nephrenbethys was about to kill him, four young people saved him. Coincidently, they were his daughter and three friends of hers.

…

After he finished speaking, the four started at them astonishedly. That assassin was smiling.

“You, you’re … You’re Ramsesys, Starsha’s father” exclaimed Yanni. His eyes were widen in the shock.

“Yes, I am. I am also the King of Lower Desertia, a kingdom which had already been destroyed,” nodded Ramsesys, the assassin.

Slowly, Ramsesys took off his mask.

Starsha saw his father’s face …

“Dad …” she looked at her father, eyes to eyes.

“Starsha, long time no see …” greeted Ramsesys, smiling embarrassedly.

Suddenly, Starsha stormed out of the camp without saying anything.

“What?” Ramsesys didn’t know what was happening.

“She just can’t accept this. She needs sone time alone,” guessed Floria.

“That’s true … I … I …” stuttered Ramsesys, Starsha’s father.

“Anyway, it’s dangerous outside. Nephrenbethys can be anywhere now. Yanni, you go to find Starsha with me; Aislina, you stay here with Ramsesys … Starsha is a princess … It’s unimaginable,” commanded Floria.

II

Everything was happening so fast …

Starsha had reunited with her father, but she hadn’t figured out what she should do and what she should say.

She was walking soullessly through the dunes.

Soon Floria and Yanni found Starsha and the three looked at each other in embarrassing silence. Floria was the first to break the silence. She walked up to Starsha, sat beside her and held her arm tenderly.

“You look absent-minded, Starsha,” Floria smiled affectionately. Starsha was beautiful under the pure moonlight …

“Yes,” Starsha lowered her head.

“Don’t you want to say anything to your father?” queried Yanni.

“I just need to … I cannot forgive him because he has abandoned mom and me … But he really had a reason. He was just trying to protect us because that Nephrenbethys had been hunting him and other assassins … He didn’t want to get mom and me involved in those dangerous stuff …” stuttered Starsha quietly.

“So your father is an assassin … He is also a king, and you … You’re a princess. That’s cool,” summarized Floria.

“Yep. I am a princess. Like most girls, I dream of becoming a princess when I was young, but when it really comes true, things can be complicated … I have heard a lot of stories about Lower Desertian, like the invincible solarite weapons which were their royal artifacts …” sighed Starsha.

“Anyhow, I think you shall talk to your father,” advised Floria, caressing Starsha’s arm.

“I know it, but it is too difficult. He is so foreign. He is my father but it’s just happening too abruptly, coming as a bit of a shock. I … I am a human and it will take my brain some time to figure out the current situation and ….” stammered Starsha.

“Easy, Starsha. We’re your friends and Uncle Ramsesys looks like a nice man. You don’t need to feel stressful at all,” Floria reassured her.

“But what can I say to him? Shall I say something like ‘hi, dad, my name is Starsha and I am your daughter’? Everything is so embarrassing,” complaint Starsha.

III

Inside the camp, Ramsesys and Aislina were sitting in silence. They were foreign to each other so that they didn’t talk much.

Sometimes they would observe and peer at each other secretly.

Aislina could sense that there was some kind of mystic power lurking inside the body of Ramsesys just like the power of Yanni, Floria and Starsha.

Perhaps the Spring of Sylvana and the Spring of Arcana were substantially similar, since Sylvana was the creator of wood elves like Aislina, while Arcana was the creator of high elves, another subrace of elves.

Though She and Starsha had a good relationship, Starsha had never talked with her about her father … Therefore, she was a little curious what kind of person Ramsesys was.

Ramsesys was observing Aislina too. Since he started to learn the art of assassination, he had been reading books about elves and their magic. According to Libro di Arcana, the first assassin in this world was chosen by the high elves to bath in the Spring of Arcana and protect this world.

Now, Aislina was sitting by his side. He wanted to talk with her because the power of assassins was given by the elves to some extent.

“It’s my honour to meet you, Aislina. I have been studying about elves through my whole career as an assassin, and seeing you, an elf in the flesh, is an unbelievable experience!” exclaimed Ramsesys.

“I am not that good,” whispered Aislina.

“You’re the last elf! Elves are real masters of magic! I’ve seen you manipulating the power of Life!” commented Ramsesys.

“So are you kind of … My fan?” asked Aislina.

“For sure! Every assassins are your fan! You know, Our power is given by the Spring of Arcana which was created by the high elves and the first assassin was chosen by the high elves to bath in the spring …” narrated Ramsesys.

“Yeah … So you’re … Starsha’s father … You’re an exiled king … And you’re also my fan, that’s fantastic …” murmured Aislina. She was not so interested in Ramsesys’ story in fact.

“Yep. But seemingly Starsha don’t want to talk to me today. She must feel embarrassed because I’ve showed up too abruptly, and to be honest, it’s really a surprise to meet her here … By the way, what is the relationship between Yanni and my daughter now? They two seem intimate?” probed Ramsesys.

“They’re intimate, are they?” Aislina flushed.

“Maybe I am too sensitive … I am an assassin. assassins are sensitive because we must be aware of the danger. Wait, you’re flushing … Wow, elves can flush! That’s marvellous!” blurted Ramsesys.

“Enough! Shut up!” commanded Aislina.

“Sorry, Master Aislina. I don’t know your surname, so may I call you Master Aislina?” questioned Ramsesys.

“You’re annoying, man …” complaint Aislina.

“I apologize. Sometimes I talk too much, especially when I am nervous. I am nervous right now. I’ve met my daughter but she doesn’t want to talk to me. What shall I do? You must have been living for hundreds of years, can you give me some suggestions? In my imagination, elves were old philosophers …” inquired Ramsesys.

“I am only 18 years old now,” corrected Aislina.

“What? But you’re an elf. Elves can live for centuries …” stammered Ramsesys.

“I am a baby elf,” explained Aislina.

“Sorry … Uh … I thought that you were as old as my grandma’s grandma … Well, I’ll shut up. I am bad at chatting. Sorry …” apologized Ramsesys.

The instant his voice broke off, Starsha and the siblings came back to the camp.

Starsha was staring at her father.

Her father was staring at her too.

“Dad,” called Starsha tenderly.

“Starsha,” greeted Ramsesys.

“Sorry that I haven’t talked to you since I met you today. It’s just … I am shocked … You know … I am shocked,” stuttered Starsha.

“I understand, Starsha,” whispered Ramsesys soothingly.

“I want to say that … father …” stammered Starsha.

“Relax, Starsha,” Ramsesys reassured her.

Starsha said nothing but walked up to her father and hugged him tenderly.

“It’s so good to see you, Starsha. I’ve been thinking about whether you will hate me or not. I left the tribe without explaining a single reason,” muttered Ramsesys.

“I won’t hate you, dad,” Starsha smiled.

“Thanks, Starsha,” expressed Ramsesys affectionately.

After talking with his daughter, Ramsesys looked at the siblings.

“Wow, Yanni, you have really grown up. When you were a kid, you were much shorter and smaller in size than your elder sister and Starsha. You were following your sister all the time like a minion,” expressed Ramsesys.

“That sounds cute,” giggled Starsha.

“You used to be cute, Yanni. Now you’ve become so tall, even taller than Floria and my daughter …” drawled Ramsesys.

“So you have really been running from Nephrenbethys for all those years?” queried Floria.

“No, most of time I am living safely inside the Sanctuary of Assassins, but sometimes some of the assassins need to go out to find some foods and other supplies. Though I am a noble king, I still need to carry out the tasks assigned by Chophys, because my kingship means nothing since there’s no Lower Desertia now,” narrated Ramsesys.

“Where is the Sanctuary of Assassins, dad?” asked Starsha.

“I’ll guide you four there. It is a beautiful sanctuary for us assassins. Those mechanists of Macchina Gloriosa are assholes, but we cannot defeat them. However, now we have you, Aislina. The magic of elves is said to be beyond the comprehension of us assassins. With your help, Aislina, we’re going to kick the asses of those damn mechanists!” proposed Ramsesys.

“But I am a baby elf. I am not so powerful,” argued Aislina.

The phrase “baby elf” somehow hit the laughing bones of the siblings and Starsha. They burst into laughter and the nervousness of the upcoming fight with Nephrenbethys was alleviated a little.

After another hour of chatting, recalling and laughing, the five fell asleep gradually inside the warm tent set up by Ramsesys.

IV

On the next morning, Ramsesys and the four set out towards the sanctuary of assassins.

The morning sun was not so scorching so that the sand was comfortably warm.

Ramsesys was holding a map and through the map, they knew that they had been walking in a wrong direction. However, their current position was still much closer to Santo Cielo than Le Meraviglie.

With the help of the map, they arrived at the Sanctuary of Assassins at noon.

The sanctuary was protected by a magical barrier set by Chophys with the Arcane Orb, an artifact constructed by high elves.

No one could cross the barrier, even Nephrenbethys.

The barrier looked like a transparent wall composed of materialized magical energy.

“Only we assassins can walk through the barrier, unless you are my guests,” said Ramsesys.

“How to be your guest?” asked Aislina.

“That’s simple, touch my hand please,” Ramsesys smiled.

The four put their hands on Ramsesys’ and they felt a small surge of energy running into them from Ramsesys’ hand.

“I have marked you as guests. Now you can go inside,” explained Ramsesys.

“By the way, dad … Do solarite weapons exist? In the legends, they were the gifts given by the high elves to us Lower Desertian royal family, right? Do you know anything about them?” questioned Starsha.

Solarite weapons were legendary weapons in mythology. They were said to be invincible and solarite was said to be the hardest metal in this world invented by the high elves. They were the royal artifacts of Lower Desertian royal family, which Starsha and Ramsesys belonged to.

Starsha’s gut told her that solarite might be the key to defeating Macchina Gloriosa.

“I have no idea. No one has seen them. I even think that the solarite weapons were made up by people. They’re only legends, just like the Sanctum of Life,” Ramsesys shrugged his shoulder.

Prudently, Ramsesys and the four walked through the magical barrier, inside which stood the sanctuary of assassins.

The sanctuary was a temple-like building built of sandstones. Around the sanctuary was a vast patch of grassland. Flowers of all colours were glowing on the grassland. Although this place was built at the centre of the lifeless desert, the assassins had made it a heaven on earth.

Along with the fragrance of flowers and grass, bees and butterflies were flying carefreely over the grassland.

Aislina could sense that there was some mystic power lurking inside the sanctuary.

However, though the assassin were rather powerful, they were still not strong enough to fight back against Nephrenbethys, because that power armour was the most powerful thing Aislina had ever seen in this world, after all, all power armours of Macchina Gloriosa were designed with the Mother Matrix.

Respectfully, the four paced into the door of the sanctuary.