Among Us
2336 Words
We wait for Lord Santos to finish fixing Lord Narada. It's a very grave moment because a life of an Olympian is at stake. Losing one of the brains of the Realm is a very huge loss. I can feel the tension inside the operating room, spilling out and making my hands sweat.
Lady Juliet is scared to watch so she just sits on the bench facing the glass. Although, she looks at the floor. Hyeon is beside her at her right and Lady Mila is hugging her. To think about it, Lady Mila is so kind, almost like a mother. She's taking so much responsibility in this bunker. I might want to lighten the load for her. But what can I do? All I can do is fight. Even so, I think just doing what I'm good at will help her, hopefully.
Lord Santos puts a thumbs up at us, saying everything went well. Lady Juliet sobs harder but a few seconds later, she stops and wipes away her tears.
“You okay?” asks Lady Mila.
Lady Juliet nods. “I'm okay now.”
She stands up from her seat and goes to the room where Lord Narada is transferred to. We exit the operation theater. The door to the recovery room is just a five-second walk but it takes us longer because of the people. They must've come here after hearing the news. Lady Juliet tries her best to act normal as if she never cried.
I'm at the last so I had time to think about if I want to go inside. I think I'll be uncomfortable so I stop before the door.
“Come in, what's the matter?” Lady Mila asks.
I answer, “I think I'll stay out of this, my lady.”
“Why?”
“It makes me uncomfortable.”
“Okay,” she nods and closes the door. The other people stop leaning forward to see what's happening inside.
I think I have to go to the bathroom.
-
*
Upon turning after closing the door, Mila walks to Juliet where she sits on a chair beside her father's bed. He has bandages covering his left eye and all of his head. His right arm and left leg are encased with castings. Juliet is waiting for him to wake up. Her worries are gone now and all she has to do is wait.
Seok is there too, talking to Lord Santos. Hilde is awake and takes everything from the food cart beside her. Mila decides to talk to her so she walks there. Hilde is occupied with her ravenous eating that she does not notice the young goddess.
“We're glad to have you back, Lady Hilde,” she bows.
Stopping her chewing for a second, she looks at Mila and says, “Oh, Lady Mila—the King's clever daughter. Thank you.” Then proceeds to eat again. That is when Narada wakes up.
“Father!” exclaims Juliet.
Smirking, his eyes instantly fixate on his daughter. “Juliet…,” he utters with a weak voice almost sounding like a creaking door.
Santos hurries to tend to him along with his assistants. They check his senses and find out that he is fine. Everyone is relieved except Hilde—who is focusing on eating as she does earlier.
Mila turns to her and says, “If you need anything, my lady, I'll gladly answer It.”
Hilde nods. Looking at Seok and Narada, she narrows her eyes. Both of them notice her doing so and they mutually know what she means. “Oh, I actually have a request to ask you and your friends, Lady Mila,” she says.
“What is it, my lady?” she asks as she feels a jumping feeling inside her chest.
“Would you be kind to get me a lot of spicy foods?”
“I will-”
“I'm afraid for the meantime,” says Santos. “you can't, my lady.”
With a smile, she says to him, “I'll eat them later.” then puts on a stern face all of a sudden.
Everyone knows what she means so everyone except her, Seok, and Narada scramble out of the room.
Juliet does not like this. She insists, “I still haven't-”
“We'll talk later, my daughter.” He grins instead of making a face that could ease her worry. The problem is that he could not.
“Okay, father,” she says, feeling down as she stands up from her seat.
They waited for a minute until Santos—the last one to leave closes the door, leaving a suspicious glance. The only people left in the room are the Third Seaters of Olympus.
“So, what is it, Lady Hilde?” asks Seok, clasping his hands behind his back.
“We should award you the title ‘Neat and Clean’ among the Third Seaters,” she sarcastically replies. Narada laughs but coughs soon after.
“What happened to Lady Alina?” asks Seok.
“Dead, what else do you expect?”
He rubs his eyebrows. “Did you at least buried her properly?”
“I don't have that luxury while floating in the middle of the ocean.”
“Are there any survivors?”
“Yes.”
Seok raises his eyebrows. “Who-” he asks but then realizes what she means. “Oh, you.”
“That's right,” she nods, reaching for another piece of bread.
“How about you, Lord Narada?”
“Attacked by a fleet of the Masked League!” he laughs. He tells the tale like it is some kind of an adventure. “It was fun! Dozens of ships hunted my only ship for weeks. I launched missiles on random parts of the sea without detecting them. We hit all of them, of course, because of my bets. And then!” He widens his eyes as if he is seeing what he saw right now. “Hundreds of large shrimps destroyed our ship into pieces! It was so wonderful that I almost died! I bet that I would survive, so I did. My men saved me and they're the ones who died.”
“You're so fortunate to leave unscathed, Seok,” says Hilde.
Seok explains, “Thanks to Lady Aiko, Lady Aurelia, and Lady Eleanna. They saved most of us.”
“You're lucky, indeed. Anyways, how many deities died?”
“About three-fourths of the population.”
“Dammit!” she spats.
“The Oracles are gone, as well as the elders of each House.”
“So, we depend on Narada's inconsistent predictions now. And let me guess, the ambitious children of the elders took over.” Seok nods. “Just as I fear.”
“Don't be like that, Lady Hilde. I'm sure they will learn through experience like what their elders did.”
“I bet they won't,” says Narada, chortling. “They will die before becoming wise.”
“Narada is right,” says Hilde. “We're in a dire situation. We can't let those kids lead the frail state of Olympus.”
“I was thinking about that too,” says Seok. “But we need to train more leaders. We can't do that if we do everything for them. Well, in the meantime we could but we must let them lead after we defeat the Masked League. Let them meddle in only the things they can reach. And we meddle with those who are beyond.”
“Speaking of which,” says Hilde, sitting up. She drinks water before saying, “Do you think that whoever leads the Masked League is smarter than any of us? As I noticed, everything is well-planned and coordinated. The bombs remained undetected by our agents and the traitors blended well among us. I only know two people in this Realm who can think of that master plan. And they are here listening to me right now.” Raising her chin, she asks, “Would the two of you be kind to tell me about what you think?”
Narada laughs very hard that he chokes himself with his saliva. After coughing, he jests, “Ohoo… exciting… who could it be?” He shows his smirk. “Is it me?”
“I agree that it is a brilliant plan,” says Seok, ignoring Narada's jest. “They made the King and Enzo leave Earth at the same time to start their move. They know they can't defeat any of them so they used Venus as a distraction. They even bombed populous cities to limit our prayers and then resulting in trapping the King on Venus. But rest is assured that none of us three is willing to s*******r billions of innocent lives for that. Let's trust each other through this hard time.”
“Why are you afraid pressing this issue, Seok?” taunts Hilde. “It's obvious that there might be traitors in this bunker right now, pretending to one of us and waiting for the right moment to strike us all in one blow.”
“I can't point who,” says Narada. “but I bet there are more than one traitors in this bunker.”
“And you, Narada, you like moves that sacrifice pieces. Are you-”
“Lady Hilde,” Seok interferes. “if it comes down to accusing someone, the candidate could also be you. You keep accusing someone else and you could be doing it to cover yourself.”
“Right… right…,” agrees Narada.
“But I don't believe that any of you are traitors. And I agree that whoever planned this is very clever and is tricking us to fight amongst ourselves.”
Narada chuckles with himself. Seok and Hilde find it peculiar. Even if they are used to his strangeness, this chuckle of him makes both of them slightly on guard. Seok and Hilde look at each other and finds out both of them are thinking the same thing.
“Alright,” says Hilde, lying back down on her bed. “I'm sorry for accusing both of you. Now, just let me sleep for a while.” She yawns. “I'm damn tired.” She closes her eyes.
“Both of you rest,” says Seok. “while I handle things in this bunker.”
Narada settles down and stares at the ceiling. His faint grin is disturbing Seok. He could not wait to turn and leave the room. And when he did, his sigh feels as if he freed gallons of air. Mila, Juliet, Hyeon, and Santos are looking at him.
The expression on his face changes into an optimistic smile. “You can go inside now.”
“Is everything fine, my lord?” asks Santos.
“Everything is great. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have something to check to keep this bunker safe for everyone.”
“Of course, my lord.”
Seok walks steadily away from them. He is calm and composed like nothing ever happened. Mila and Juliet look at each other and feels something is up. They break their glances after Santos opens the door. They enter after him.
Upon sitting on the same chair, Juliet asks her father, “What was that all about?”
He is about to answer but Hilde is listening although sleeping. “Nothing, my dear….,” he says. “nothing….” He half-smiles but Juliet and Mila know he just wants to make them stay out of it.
*
-
Darius returned and I don't have anything else to do so we take time walking on the passageways of the bunker, on our way to our room. There aren't many people and I'm grateful for it because I feel uncomfortable with their glances and gratitude. It's not that I hate it but I don't like to think that I might unconsciously like the attention they give me instead of my goal to find Hera and other survivors. I really miss her.
I sense a particular presence behind the corner. It's Lord Seok. “Good afternoon, Lord Seok,” I greet with a bow. Darius didn't do the same.
“Oh, hello, boys,” he says, smiling as we pass by. Just as when I feel at ease, he calls, “Leo, Darius.” in a whisper. We turn to face him and he leans forward to tell us something. “Keep your guard up at all times.”
“Why, my lord?”
“There might be traitors anywhere. Leo, you have the most powerful senses right now. This might be too much for me to ask but could you keep watch at all times?”
I swallow, feeling a disturbing pulse running on my skin and giving me goosebumps. “Yes…,” I accept. “my lord.”
“Good.”
“And you, Darius,” he whispers to him. “Try to put marks everywhere in this bunker so you can respond quickly if something happens.”
Without hesitation, he says, “Leave it to me.” looking glorious about himself.
“Thank you, young warriors.” Then he turns to leave.
We both watch his back for a second before continuing on our way. I concentrate on my senses and I can guess what everyone is doing and where they are. Darius has a new trick up in his sleeve, on his palms to be exact. He has this custom-made stamp of his rune so he could mark a surface instantly. I suggested the idea and it went fine like how he used it when we fought that powerful goddess. He bites his thumb and wipes it on the stamp. Then he presses it against the wall every twenty meters or so.
I wonder what will happen next.
- Writer
