Episode 144- Sea of Flames

Previously: Lise finally meets her parents. Villagers expressed their happiness upon Lise’s return.

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A cool breeze kissed Aernest on his cheeks allowing him to finally remember the crucial question he had intended to ask his parents in the carriage. It was a question he might’ve remembered a long time ago if he had not smacked his head on the carriage or Eugene’s hard head.

“How did mother come to know of Lady Lise? Or Lady Lise’s parents?” Yes, they’ve brought Lady Lise back home. However, what's odd was his parents' familiarity with Gie!

Eugene’s brow rose, ‘That’s true. How did they know of Lise before meeting Lise?’ Was the silver and red hair the guy mentioned truly Levis and Moniqua? They both seemed very surprised when Lise introduced herself to them yesterday.

By usual standards, Eugene would have caught on to this oddity yesterday, however, because her head was muddled and not exactly in its prime condition, she wasn’t akin to being suspicious of everything like she usually was.

Moniqua pursed her lips and she turned to Levis. They both exchanged unexplainable glances, inciting the children’s curiosity even more.

Eugene and Aernest stared at each other. Why was the mood suddenly so solemn?

Before long, Moniqua broke the silence, “We… arrived 2 days ago.” She confessed.

Eugene’s brows rose quickly, “Two days ago? So during the fire?”

Moniqua nodded.

Eugene furrowed her brows, “And that was how you came to know of Lady Lise?” She tilted her head, “But that’s weird. Lady Lise has always been in the palace.”

“The couple that gave Elder Gres false hope was us. That was how we came to know ‘Lise’.” Levis explained in Moniqua’s stead.

Eugene furrowed her brows as she listened to Moniqua and Levis.

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Flashback…

When Levis and Moniqua arrived, the village had burned down in a sea of red and black. A massive riot had already begun as soon as they reached this part of the country. At first, they wanted to see their children as soon as possible, but they were unable to do so because of the massive catastrophe that was unfolding in front of their eyes. They were unable to ignore the incident hence they stayed to help.

The few first people they rescued were a group of young teens who were barricading armed men from going any further. Due to Promissum, the armed men along with Levis and Moniqua weren’t able to land hits on each other as they got repelled before their swords could strike. This went on and on until the armed men gave up and retreated.

The further Moniqua and Levis head into the village, the higher the flames burn. Some went as high as 3 times their height. It was an overwhelming situation to be in and though they have experienced many things in their lives, this was the first time they dived into an incident as big as this, at least not since they had their first son. And since this was a huge incident they’ve experienced in such a long time, they both went through a rollercoaster ride of complex emotions.

Just when they believed they'd made it through the toughest phase, they arrived in the village's heart, where things were even worse. The pressure to help people but also stay safe was even more immense here. It even felt as though the catastrophe at the entrance of the village was a joke.

Here, screams filled with agony could be heard everywhere around them. They could see people burning alive, and people attempting to help their loved ones. There was nothing but despair at this part of the village.

“MOTHER!! FATHERR!!”

“AHHHHH!!!”

“Please! PLEASE! SOMEONE! SAVE US!!”

Moniqua and Levis split up temporarily and helped as many people as they could. They both did everything they could to save people who were being burnt alive, or on the verge of dying.

“Please! Please help me!” Along this sea of flame, a scream of a woman could be heard. The only woman in this area alarmed Moniqua who immediately rushed towards her. She quickly helped the woman and brought the woman over to a tribesman who was about to escape with the survivors whom she and Levis saved.

“Take this lady with you!” She pushed the woman towards the man and was about to go when the man shouted.

“Huh? DAMN IT! Why did you come back!!” The man shouted at the lady as he reached over to her.

“But.. I can’t leave you alone!!” she screamed back in exasperation!

Gie grabbed a fist full of his hair before hugging the woman tightly!

“What am I supposed to do if you get hurt? Or if you were alone here?! Please don’t do this ever again!” He never thought that his wife would turn back to come to get him. The mere thought of escaping and never knowing that his wife had come back to get him made him break out in a cold sweat.

“Please… Please don’t do this ever again.” As his eyes reddened, he begged her.

After a few seconds, he let go of his wife and turned to Moniqua. His eyes widened slightly when he saw Moniqua however it quickly dimmed down when he saw that the person in front of him wasn’t the person he thought she was.

He bowed, “Thank you for saving my wife. I don’t know what I would do without your help.” He straightened his back and continued, “However, please leave this area as quickly as possible. Despite the presence of knights here, you should never put your trust in them.”

Moniqua frowned, “I shouldn't trust knights?”

Gie nodded, “Did Lady come from the capital city to save us?” He questioned.

Moniqua shook her head, “No. I’m from Xenperia.” She understood why the man in front of her would misunderstand. It was because she had changed into a local dress which was why he had mistaken her as someone from Zene.

Immediately, Gie and his wife’s eyes widened! In a panic, they began to nervously shuffle around, “Ur... Urm.. Lady.. No, esteemed Lady guest. Please.. Please escape. It is not safe for Lady to be here.” Gie pointed to the survivor group and motioned for Moniqua to come with him.

Moniqua shook her head again, “No. My husband and I will stay and escort your people to safety. Please leave this to us. Don’t worry, the knights can’t touch us.” She explained and at that exact moment, a wind blew a chime that had fallen into the ground.

The sound produced from the chime was crisp and melodic, instinctively bringing hope to Gie and his wife. The sound did not only calm their razing hearts but their eyes were also filled with a determined Moniqua. Their eyes were blessed with an enchanting sight of a beautiful woman with red luscious hair tucking her hair behind her ears because of the wind blowing their way. The flames were their terror however at this moment made the woman in front of them look heroic.

Gie bit his lips as his eyes teared up. He felt that he could place all his trust in the woman in front of him. With his fists clenched he mustered up his courage and asked, “Esteemed lady of Xenperia. If you could. Please... Please look for an elderly woman. She… She is still fighting alone.” He immediately bowed the moment he finished speaking and when he straightened up he saw Moniqua nodding and quickly leaving.

Though the woman didn’t give them any words of promise, her nod was powerful enough for Gie and his wife to cry.

“Husband…”

“Yes… Believe in Elder Lin. Believe in the Lady.” he said gently as he watched her disappearing back.

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The way Moniqua saved the tribal people was by going between the tribal people and repelling the armed men away by making use of Promissum. Of course, constantly defying Promissum by attempting to attack a person from another country had its repercussions. Over time, their bodies felt as heavy as rocks, not to mention, their internal organs bleeding from defying Promissum.

Levis grabbed Moniqua’s shoulders, “Honey. Stop.” It was time to stop. Moniqua especially had to stop. They were both at their limits and knew instinctively that if they attacked 2 more people, they would suffer irreversible consequences.

Moniqua furrowed her eyebrows but exhaled, “At least we’ve got everyone out from this area.” She stretched her limbs, but not without remembering the words of the man she had met earlier, who had cautioned her to keep an eye out for an elderly lady.

Just when she was preparing herself for the worst for the old woman, she caught a black shadow moving beyond the black smoke.

“Levis!!” She shouted frantically and immediately dashed to the person kneeling on the ground. Just two meters before Moniqua and the person who was kneeling, an armed person could be seen rushing to them for the kill.

Levis flashed ran and struck the sword of the man before the man could reach his wife.

“?”

Levis raised his guard as he eyed his sword that touched the man’s sword. ‘This isn’t a person from this continent.’ He furrowed his eyebrows as his eyes moved to his opponent.

High pitched sound of swords clashing pierced the ears of everyone present. The metallic sound sounded so fierce that shivers ran down Moniqua’s spine. It was a sound she could never get used to no matter how many times she sees Levis handling his sword. It was a sound that could only be produced by him and only belonged to him.

Moniqua shook the person with striking red hair, “Sir, Are you alright? Sir?” The man kneeling was an elderly person, but he was a man. Not a woman.

“-Cough-” the man coughed, “Have... Have you seen her? A beautiful woman?-cough-” he tried to converse but was unable to due to the smoke he had breathed in.

“A beautiful woman?” Moniqua repeated after the man as she furrowed her eyebrows. She then remembered a beautiful lady in the group whom she had saved.

“Yes! She has escaped!” Moniqua nodded before pointing towards the direction the surviving group had escaped to.

“Escaped? Lin escaped?” The man’s eyes widened in relief as they stared straight into Moniqua’s eyes.

Moniqua nodded, “Yes. Elderly, please head to safety.”

Moniqua watched as the man nodded, mustered up his strength, and ran towards the direction she pointed.

When the elderly man left, Moniqua couldn’t help but shout, “What on earth is going on?!” She was baffled and unable to comprehend why anyone would ever choose to attack a small village like this. Her last straw before she snapped was seeing the elderly man about to be attacked and killed.

Levis eyed his opponent who fell back before turning to Moniqua. Yet before he could put his guards down, he saw another person rushing towards him,

“Careful.”

In an instant, he arrived by Moniqua’s side and deflected the man’s sword. This time, his opponent wasn’t someone who wasn’t from this continent. Like every time he attacked and defended against a person from Zene, before his sword and the enemy’s sword could touch, an invisible force pulled them apart.

This was the second-to-last person he could attack before succumbing to the consequences of violating Promissium.

Without any exchange of words, the enemy who was unable to attack him retreated to his comrades. His comrade was the man whom Levis fought with earlier on and concluded that he wasn’t from this continent. Levis watched as the man eyed him dangerously before turning away and leaving with his comrades.

Even though Levis assumed he had one more person he could attack before his body suffered irreversible damage, his hands were already shaking violently. But before he could say anything, Moniqua snatched his arm and dragged him somewhere.

“Levis, look! There’s someone!!”

Moniqua knelt in front of the woman, who was surrounded by flames and lying in a pool of blood. It was the Elderly woman the man mentioned!

“Elderly? Elderly! Are you okay!” Moniqua held herself back from shaking the woman and could only gently touch her. The old lady did not respond to her, however, her eyes were opened.

Reflecting on the elderly woman’s eyes were red, orange, yellow, and black.

“Li..se.. Hus..band.” The Elderly woman muttered, her hands reaching out to nothing but flames.

Moniqua knew the lady was unconscious and was only reacting instinctively due to her opened eyes. Nevertheless, she turned towards where the elderly woman had reached her hands over to and like she thought, saw nothing but burning houses and trees.

Sighing, she turned around again and reached over to the Elderly woman’s eyes and gently ran her palm over her eyes to close them.

Levis kneeled in front of the Elderly woman and reached for her wrist.

“She’s alive.” There was relief in his quiet voice. He had thought she was gone after her last words, but she just fell unconscious.

“Hn.” Moniqua nodded, however, her heart felt empty.

She was affected by the elderly woman’s emotions and tried to calm down but no matter how many times she inhaled or exhaled, she couldn’t help but be angry. She was angry at the fact that someone could attack an elderly person. Angry at the fact that a group of people didn’t care about lives and destroyed a whole village. She was also sad. Sad for the villagers.

“Honey.” Levis grabbed Moniqua’s clenched hands, “Let’s bring her to safety okay? Hm?” he rubbed her fingers with strength enough to make her snap out of her thoughts.

Moniqua nodded slowly. She helped the elderly woman into Levis's arms and they walked towards the capital city. But, before leaving the area completely, she turned around and gazed at the sea of flames. She instinctively understood why the elderly woman had reached into nothingness. Even though there was nothing there, she could hear the sorrow and wail from beyond the sea of flames.

“... May you rest in peace. I, the Duchess of Veria, swear to help out with whatever I can, and come back to pay respects to you. Please don’t worry. Everyone is now safe,” she whispered to the flames.

The vague screams and cries slowly dissipated into nothing and at that moment, the flames seemed to flicker into a hue of white before returning to deep red.

Moniqua bowed to the flames and walked away.

“Thank you…” a voice, no multiple voices whispered behind Moniqua’s back. The voice brought cold shivers down Moniqua back, but she continued walking forward with Levis and the Elderly woman.

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