Journey to Utopia

09: More, Deeper, Darker

IX.

My dear, you made me feel loved

Except when you were very mad

You wanted me to be better

And that just made me suffer

But at the end of the day

You apologize and I stay

***

THE DOOR of the Art Room suddenly opened and three guards went in. I immediately hid the paper and acted like I'm just casually reading.

Without any word, two of them grabbed both of my arms.

"W-wait! What's happening?!" My brows furrowed as I tried to get them off me but they're too strong.

They did not answer and just pulled me out of the room. I looked back on the table where the book is before it was completely out of my sight.

We stopped in front of a golden door with a sign that says 'Magistratus Adelais'. I stared at that sign for a few seconds because it looks familiar.

I know magistratus. It is a Latin term for an officer and was used in the Ancient Rome. But Adelais is...

Oh, yes! I saw the word Adelais a couple of times in the books I found in my old room.

We entered the room and the first thing I saw was a man standing, not facing us. The guards bowed and then left.

He slowly turned around to face me. I was stunned when I saw his face. And he has a great outfit too. He looks like an ancient noble.

I was just standing while he's looking at me. That was a minute straight! When will he speak?

"Where is your respect?" His voice sounds ancient... wow.

I was confused for a second before I realized what he meant. I quickly bowed just like what the guards did. "Apologies... magistratus."

He sat down on the exquisite-looking chair and rested his arms on the exquisite-looking table. I feel like I'm in an ancient place right now.

"It has been a long time, Corvina."

Why is he calling me that name...? Should I just go along or admit I'm not Corvina?

But the real question is... how did he know Corvina?

"Yes, magistratus."

"However, you did something bad out there." His eyes were stern.

"I apologize. I think I was given a temporary spell to act crazy." I don't even know how I thought of that alibi.

He sighed. "They spelled you again?"

What...? They?

"I... I'm not completely sure, magistratus. But it was most likely them."

"Hmm..." It looks like he examining me. "I will be straightforward now. You were gone for three years and came back, making a mess in the feast. That was strange of you... Corvina."

What? She was gone for three years?! Then... how about the...

I was speechless when I realized something.

Magistratus Adelais called me Corvina. He said I was gone for three years. Then, what about the little girl? Does this mean... she is not Corvina?!

"Apologies, magistratus. It was just because of a spell."

"Are you saying you were gone for three years because of a spell? But you are way more powerful than your enemies."

Oh, my answer was wrong.

"I received some reports, Corvina. According to the sources, you are doing something behind my back."

This is not good.

"Those are entirely false, magistratus. I am very honest."

"Really?" His eyes darkened and there was a little smirk on his lips. "But I wonder why you keep on calling me magistratus... that was not what you called me since you were a kid."

Oh, s**t. I'm doomed. What the hell did Corvina use to call him?!

And for my damn sake, why do people in my nightmare call me Corvina?! Do we look the same?! Damn!

I swallowed hard, don't know what to do. My heart is beating faster now.

"I... d-don't..." I can't finish the sentence.

He stood up so I started to walk backwards until I reached the door but it's locked! He grabbed a sword placed near the wall. I thought he was going to kill me but he handed the sword to me and laughed.

Why the hell is he laughing?!

"Oh, Corvina... you are really easy to fool. You need more training so take this sword as my gift. Do you think Eliza will approve?"

Who is Eliza...?

I'm finally able to breathe comfortably. "Y-yes, she will! You scared me, magistratus!" I laughed.

I bowed as I accept the sword. But he is holding it so tightly. Isn't this his gift for me?. "Uh... can I get this--"

"No," his voice sounded stern again. "I knew it, you are not Corvina. There is no Eliza here."

Oh, s**t, I'm wrong again.

I swallowed hard, don't knoe what to do again.

He laughed, again. "You fell into the trap again!"

Damn. Why do things happen again and again?!

"I am serious, Corvina. Convince Eliza to let you have a training with my greatest knights."

Is this a trap again...?

"Sure, magistratus. But please enough with the prank." I finally got the sword.

"Prank...?" His brows furrowed.

"I mean, the trap!"

He nodded and walked back to his seat. "But seriously, you should be careful not to get fooled. I will never get tired to tell you this over and over again. Accept my offer. Don't waste yourself. You are a very powerful creature."

THERE ARE no people in the garden anymore. I looked up and I see no dragons as well.

I'm holding the Tales with Wings right now, as well as the sword. Fortunately, the magistratus allowed me to have this book. I'm a hundred percent sure that Corvina is very special. She gets everything she wants.

I don't know if I can bring these outside my nightmare but I hope so.

I sat on a bench in the garden, waiting for something. Finally, after several minutes of waiting, I saw the portal. I can get out of here now.

I OPENED my eyes and saw myself inside my new room. But surprises really don't stop. I saw Dave sitting on the couch, holding a sword.

That's my sword!

I immediately stood up and grabbed it from him. "Why are you here? You shouldn't just enter a woman's room without permission. Worse is touching things not yours--"

"Is that yours?" he asked.

"Yes," I answered confidently.

He raised a brow. "Humans here are not allowed to own weapons."

Why does he even care? I thought he's the cold type of man? He should not talk to me!

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna... slice your neck," I smirked.

"This is not a joke. You'll be in prison again."

"Then arrest me! I don't care!" I rolled my eyes. It's just morning but he's pissing me already.

He sighed and rested his back on the couch. "I need your help."

What...? I didn't see that coming.

"Asking help after pissing me off..." I sighed. "We're not even friends."

"Do I need to be your friend to get help?"

I gave him an amused smile. "No, this just feels weird. Like, we just met a few days ago but now you are in my room early in the morning."

"What's wrong with that?"

I raised a brow. "Hello? I'm a girl and I woke up seeing a man in my room. Isn't that weird? It's so early, sir."

"Then should I go here at night?"

I stared at him, can't believe at what he said. "That's worse! You're really weird!"

He stood up and gave me a glare. "If you don't want to help me, just say it. And I don't like the way you talk to me casually."

"I don't care if you're an official. I bet we're just the same age so I want to talk to you in a casual way, okay?" I smiled, clearly pissing him off.

He didn't answer. Silence means yes. Confirmed.

"See? I'm right! I'm 18, turning 19 this year. How about you? Maybe 20 or something?"

He just sighed and walked towards the door. Wow, he'll just leave like this?

"Hey, I'm gonna help you if you tell me your age."

He stopped walking and immediately replied. "20."

I chuckled at how fast he answered. "Okay, tell me, what help do you need?"

I ARRIVED at the meeting place earlier than scheduled but Dave was earlier than me.

"Where is it?" I asked.

He didn't speak but just walked inside the room so I followed him. There I saw a lot of books and papers. Some of them are scattered on the floor.

"So messy," I murmured. But I was speechless for a second when my own crazy mind told me that my life is messier than this room.

"We just have to look for a diary here," he casually said like everything's okay.

I looked around and smiled bitterly, seeing how many books and papers are in here. "I kinda want to back-out..."

Almost an hour passed but we still haven't find a diary. We are also looking for XII on the papers because it was written on the paper I found in prison.

"Dave, I'll call you that because I helped you. This won't work. There are too many papers. Besides, we're not even sure if the diary is here." I finally expressed my thoughts.

"Just find it!" He looks frustrated.

"Why do you want to find it so bad? Why not just ask your father--"

"No!" He immediately opposed. "Stop speaking and don't waste time."

"Listen to me first," I insisted. "When we talked earlier about this thing... you weren't really suspicious. I think you're not planning anything bad. And you kept my secret. I'm really thankful you haven't told the officials about my fire superpower or whatever." I admit that was kinda long.

"I'll entrust another secret to you. The officials, including your father... they are doing something not good. I'm sure of it. If we focus on that--"

"Can you stop accusing them?!" He's kinda mad now. "You don't really know them personally. You're just new here. My father is not bad! Probably you're the one who is doing something here!"

I looked at him in disbelief. "You're accusing me now too, huh? If you're father is bad, you can't do anything about it."

Now I remembered my own father. Bad father. Bad person.

"Just stop and find the--"

"Forget it," I rolled my eyes. "I won't help you anymore."

I walked away but I stopped when he spoke.

"You can't back-out. We have an agreement." His voice was so stern.

"Let's just terminate that agreement. How much is the penalty?" I raised a brow. "I'll just give you a million dollars."

That's not true. I don't have that kind of money.

He scoffed, pissed and amused at the same time. "It should be ten million."

"Okay," I shrugged like it's not a big deal.

"Give the ten million dollars right now."

"No, I'll give it next time. But the thing is... it's play money."

He didn't laugh at the joke? He doesn't have any humor. I'll just leave.

"Bye, you wasted my time." I rolled my eyes once again.

"Fine. Sorry."

He apologized... Is this for real?

"Just don't say anything bad about my father... and we'll be fine."

Wow, he loves his father so much.

But whatever he says, it won't change the fact that the official are secretly doing something bad. I'll just don't mention it to him to avoid arguments.

"Deal," I replied.

WE JUST finished searching probably one-third of the room but we did not find the diary.

Nevertheless, I have read some papers that might be useful for my investigation. I'm thankful that Dave is an official so I had the chance to read and get some books and papers. I told him I want to bring some to my room because there are no books there.

"Come on! Tell me, why do you want that diary so bad?" I asked him for the nth time. "I won't stop if you don't tell me!"

He closed his eyes, obviously irritated by my repeated question.

"Because of my mother! Don't ask further."

I did not listen to the last sentence. "What happened to her?"

He let out a deep breath. "I don't fully trust you yet so I won't tell you. Not now."

I nodded and smiled a little. This is okay. If we would talk about his mother, I'll remember my mother too.

Damn. Now I remembered what the masked man said. I hope that was a lie. My mother wasn't a good mom and wife but I would never be able to move on if my own father kills my own mother.

AFTER DINNER, Blue and I talked. It was just a casual and friendly conversation. It was also a good way to lessen my anxiety over my parents.

However, I couldn't stop myself from involving him in my investigation.

"Is it okay to ask you something?This is kinda random but... also kinda relevant to you."

"Oh, interesting," he smiled. "What is it?"

"Do you know the blue-eyed dragon...?"

His smile slowly faded. But then he quickly smiled again. "Oh, yes, I know that dragon. We have the same eye color."

"Do you know anything about it? I'm just curious. My human friends told me about the tale of that dragon... but maybe you know someone more...?"

I hope he doesn't feel weird about me.

"I'm not an expert about dragons but... someone told me that the blue-eyed dragon is the best friend and the worst enemy."

"Woah... anything else?"

"It hates creatures who are too curious about it. The blue-eyed dragon wants a low profile."

Oh, so the blue-eyed dragon hates me?

"What else?"

"Hmm..." he sighed, thinking. "There's this bird called... Phoenix. It is the only one the blue-eyed dragon fully trusts."

The Fire Bird is mentioned again... Now I'm reminded of my superpower.

COLD AIR covered my body as I get into my nightmare. I'm in the forest...

The masked man was the first to come into my mind. He's here. That's for sure. But now that he knows I'm not Corvina, I'm worried about what will happen. He will most likely try to kill me tonight.

And I wasn't wrong.

I felt something at the back of my head. It is surely a g*n. I turned around to see the masked man but surprises really never end.

"Did you miss us?" the masked man said. Behind him are four men, also wearing black masks and cloaks.

The hell! There are five masked men now!

"I'm honored to kill you with my own hands."

"Your own hands? But the bullet will be the one to kill me..." I will not let him win a conversation even in my last breath.

"I won't be affected by that anymore. You have words, I have bullets."

"It's okay. You can't kill me, anyway. You're cursed. Thanks to that spell that protects me," I smirked.

He laughed. "That spell was given to Corvina. But you are not her!"

Oh, that's right. I was pretty dumb.

I put my hands at my back to create fire.

"Ha! Now you're not speaking! Are you scared?" he laughed more.

I did not mind him and just focused on the fire. Finally, I'm done.

"What's that smoke?" the masked man asked.

"Five men versus one girl? Are you threatened by me? I mean, why can't just one of you kill me?" I distracted them.

Suddenly, all of them pointed a g*n to me. There are now five guns. I had a deep breath before releasing fire from my hand.

I ran as fast as I could. They started to shoot bullets which made me flinch. But fair enough, the fire is spreading on their cloaks. They shouted a lot at me but I didn't care. Their shots were bad too. The bullets didn't hit me.

I hid behind a tall and thick tree so that I could stop running and see what they're doing. They are trying to stop the fire and they're almost finished. I wished for the fire not to get defeated. It actually gave me a headache but it worked!

Then I felt something behind my head. Uh... what's that? I counted the men I see right now. One, two three... four. One is missing. I breathed heavily as I slowly turn around to face the masked man.

He's not wearing a cloak anymore. Just a mask. His hair looks familiar...

"How did you do that...? How did you make... fire?"

I smirked. "Honestly, I also don't know--"

"Corvina... she can do that too. Are you really... Corvina?" He sounds confused.

I did not mind what he said. Instead, I used the chance because he's obviously distracted by his confusion. I tried to get the g*n from him and it was successful.

However, he did not care at all. The g*n is in my hands now but he's just staring at me. That's why I slapped his arm. But he still did not react! What happened to him?!

An idea entered my mind. What if... I remove his mask?

And I did. He was so surprised. He tried to keep his face hidden but I used heat to distract him by my hot hand.

When his mask was removed, the world stopped for a second. The face I see right now...

Are you telling me that Ivan really is the masked man?! No! They must be trying to fool me!

The voice did not change, though. It's still the masked man's voice but the face is Ivan. What the hell's happening?!

"Happy now to see my face?" He sarcastically asked.

Before I could even say anything, a gunshot surrounded the area. I touched the part of my lower back which was hit by a bullet. Another gunshot was heard and a bullet hit my arm.

"Vina!" I heard a shout as I fell onto the ground and quickly lost consciousness.

"SHE'S AWAKE! The lady's awake!" As soon as I opened my eyes, a cute voice exclaimed.

I saw a little girl rushing towards a man who is sleeping on a nearby couch. My eyes widened when I realized who that man is. My eyes widened more when I saw the little girl's face.

She is the little girl in The Evil's Desire!

I quickly stood up and looked around. Where am I? Why am I here with the unmasked man and the little girl?

"Beautiful lady, let's eat!" the little girl smiled. I examined her from head to toe. She is still wearing the same dress I saw in the painting.

My eyes shifted to the unmasked man who is now awake and looking at me. I won't call him Ivan. I know he's not Ivan. But I can't explain why they have the same face. Anyway, they have a different voice.

What the hell is happening? I thought he's gonna kill me?

I couldn't disagree when the little girl pulled me to the dining area. I stared at her again. Is this for real? The little girl in a dark and creepy painting is inviting me to eat? She sounds just like a normal kid...

"This is delicious, lady! I already ate... two hours ago! But I will eat again with you!" she chuckled.

She's so cute... but I really can't avoid thinking of The Evil's Desire, the way she smiled at the dragons in the dark sky.

"Wow! What food is this?" I asked. I should treat her as a normal kid... for now. Or else she won't answer my questions later.

"Dragon soup!"

My smile faded. "What...?"

"Don't you know dragon soup, lady? It is made of dragon meat! It's hard to capture a dragon but look, we can eat it now!"

What the hell...?

"I'm not hungry..." I awkwardly smiled.

She pouted. "Why not, lady? Don't you like the meat? What about the eyes--

"No!" I quickly said.

"But this is a yellow-eyed dragon!"

"Oh... haha... wow!" What should I say?!

"Give her chicken instead," the unmasked man arrived.

Ugh, why do I keep calling him masked and unmasked man?What's his name? I need the little girl's name too!

"After you eat, lady, I will show you something!"

"Sure!" I faked a smile.

The little girl started eating the dragon soup. I swear, I would never eat that. Meanwhile, the unmasked is staring at me so I stared back at him. He really confuses me. His personality changes from time to time.

It was weirder and creepier because he did not talk to me. He really stared at me the whole time I was eating. I think I better go with the little girl.

"This is my room, lady!"

"It looks nice. Do you live with that man?" This is my time to slowly get information.

"Yes! But sometimes, I live in another house."

"What house?"

She looked hesitant. "Apologies, lady. I am not allowed to say it."

That's suspicious.

"It's okay. But can you tell me your name? And that man's name too?"

"I don't have a name, lady."

What?!

"I don't know the gentleman's name," she added.

I just nodded and smiled awkwardly. They are so weird.

"Don't worry lady, I will show you something very amazing!"

We went inside a room which is inside her room. I thought she'd show me ancient things, books, or clothes but the reality was far from my expectation.

There are cages with different living creatures. I'm not sure if they're considered animals. To be honest, the little girl was right. They are very amazing. But they are also kinda creepy and scary, especially those wild ones.

"What are you going to do with these creatures? Are they your pets?" I asked.

She smiled. "We cook them, lady. They are so delicious!"

What the hell...

I swallowed hard, trying my best to stay calm. "T-that's amazing."

"Right, lady? That's why I am confused why you did not eat the dragon soup."

"I'm just... I mean, I ate dragon soup the whole week so... I wanted something different." Thank goodness I thought of that alibi!

She nodded. "Oh, I understand, lady!"

I'm worried about these creatures. A little girl will eat them...

"I... I have a question. Why do you love eating... these wild creatures?"

She smiled. That was the smile I saw in the painting! "They are supernatural, lady. If I eat them, I become powerful."

I have a new theory!

In The Evil's Desire, she is smiling at the dragons because she wants to eat them!

What the damn hell!

My heart is throbbing right now. I want to leave this nightmare and go back to Utopium. I would rather be with the annoying Dave all day than be with this little girl.

"O-okay... W-why are there... cabinets h-here...?" Now I'm stuttering too much! I hope she doesn't mind that.

"Those are cages, lady," she chuckled. "Do you want to see what's inside?"

50 percent yes, 50 percent no.

"Sure... l-let's see."

We walked towards that cabinet. Even though it's not yet opened, I can hear the creature inside! I can't do this anymore!

"Uh wait! I just remembered... did I bring a purse here?" Whatever I say is okay as long as I get out of here!

"You did not, lady."

"What?" I furrowed my brows. "Wait, this is urgent. I need to talk to that man. My purse can't go missing." Then I started to walk away. She just looked at me, not saying anything.

"I'll be back! But I'll find my purse first!" I said before I get out of that room of soon to be eaten creatures. I also went out of her room. I closed the door and leaned there while breathing heavily.

I want to wash my eyes with water, soap, alcohol, and sanitizer!

This little girl is so creepy! She's not a normal kid at all!

***