“I don’t know what to say, and I’d like to have things out in the open rather than buried away to cause problems later on. You already know that I don’t have any memories of a single past life, so I can’t call on them for any help.” I took a breath and continued my stream of thought.

“It’s just that I can’t stop thinking you’re only helping me due to the possibility of being able to kill you permanently and now my appearance was added on as the only other reason.” My eyes averted from Eris and I couldn't help looking away, somewhat numb to whatever her response was going to be.

“You got it all wrong, Volatis. I wasn’t mentioning all this to mess with your emotions. I’m telling you the truth as it is, and how I’ve been together with you has not been an act or in any way forced on my end.” Eris was already aiming to soothe my distraught feelings even though I knew her situation was more important.

“It’s okay. It’s nothing you should have to justify. Anyways, back to you.” I quickly got back to changing the subject and continued, “You should know who I am by now and regardless of how dangerous any given situation is, you can always count on our friendship.” I sped up my speech as to not allow her a chance to interrupt me.

“I can’t help you with what happened in the past, but I can do my best to ensure you survive in the present. I promise to help you get back everything you lost along my path to figuring out my own stuff.”

“Yeah…, thanks. ” There was a pause between her soft gratitude and a concerned look that I forced myself to ignore.

“Now let's join back with the others. Jade's got a lot to answer.” I promptly stood up and turned my back away from her, about to head towards the door.

“Are you sure, you’re okay?” Eris held onto the same concerned voice though spoke louder to reach me.

“What do you mean, was there something else you wanted to talk about?” I only turned my head to her once I finished speaking and had reached the doorway.

“No, I guess not. It should be fine for now.” Eris hid any further facial emotions and got up to leave together with me. I felt relieved and sad at the same time that she wasn't going to push it even though she knew I was acting strangely. I wanted time to figure out my feelings and being rushed always created more issues than they solved.

I had Eris head on back to the room first by motioning a hand in front of me for her to go ahead and walk through first. Jade and Selka were situated around the table, sitting cross-legged on the floor. There wasn’t much that I needed to talk with Selka about and all of our questions were going to be directed at Jade. They greeted us as we entered and I waited for Eris to find a seat next to Selka before I started the questioning.

“Let’s get straight to the point. I do not like Ella at all. Neither Eris nor I wish to work with her.” I felt like that was as clear as possible.

“Not only that, but I don’t even fully remember the contents of the test last night. All I know is that I was threatened to an extent that I felt forced to use my fear ability.” I let them know if not for my new power, our situation would most likely be very different.

“I had no idea she would go that far. Things weren’t like this when I was growing up here.” As Eris mentioned I knew Jade was telling the truth for the most part due to the slave seal, so lying wasn't an issue.

“Maybe you were oblivious to the events around you or simply chose to feign ignorance.” Eris made it out like Jade was placing her time and relationship here with Ella on a pedestal.

“Let me ask you…, for what reason did you decide to leave this place to work together with Marcus.” It sounded like she was treated like a princess and there should have been no reason for her to want to leave this place.

“Initially, he was my only way out of this place, and to see the world above. Helping Marcus with his side business was something that just sort of happened along the way.”

“You make it sound like he smuggled you out of here in his bag, to escape from boredom.” I was sitting next to Jade and she maintained a calm exterior the entire time we spoke with her.

“Something like that. Marcus knows that Ella’s influence drastically weakens once you go beyond the underground city limits. So long as I reached topside, there wasn’t much she could do.” Jade brought up a key point that I made sure not to miss.

“Why is that exactly and what's the deal with her request to find this person?” I wanted to know because like I mentioned earlier with Ella, wouldn't it be an easy task to send one of her guards to handle the issue.

“The bodyguard you saw, from my understanding is bound to Ella in some fashion.” Jade’s tone was beginning to shift to speculation, not too sure how it worked.

“You mean under a contract like a slave seal or more literal like glue?” I couldn’t help tossing in a joke to lighten the full-on interrogation mode that was in effect.

“That’s not exactly what I meant. Think of it as a spirit that can never leave and its only duty is to protect. It’s similar to her ring that cracked from your attack.” Jade kept the straight face, always down to business with her. My response would have at least obtained a sigh from Eris and I know so because she was currently providing one from the other end of the table.

It seems like Jade doesn't know about the bodyguard's heartbeat, even if it was very slow that negates the possibility for it to be a spirit. Still, that wasn't very much to go on regardless.

“So, some type of jewelry that binds it to the wearer?” Ella was fairly covered up in the kimono though had several little trinkets and accessories adorned around her neck and hands together with the ring that cracked.

“Something like that. Even I’m not too sure which item it is exactly.” Jade finished with her thoughts and waited for my next set of questions to answer.

The info gathered told me that Ella had many forms of defenses set in place and the main concern was choosing to leave this place. As long as she was determined to hole up here, it would be extremely difficult to harm a hair on her head. It would be troublesome to make an enemy out of her, taking that into consideration.

“Let’s back up a bit. I can see Marcus being your option to get out but how was he able to take you out of here without her knowing.”

“Marcus is someone that likes to prepare. Even Madam Ella cannot act rashly in front of him.” It sounded like Jade was describing someone else. I could see the part about him being cunning due to the nature of his lifestyle choice, but to evoke caution from that narcissistic woman was another thing altogether.