Journey to Utopia

10: Ears of Fire

X.

I am slowly starting to realize

There's no such thing as prize

Whatever you do in this world

They won't reward you with gold

Even if I always do good things

I'm hated by the queens and kings

***

SLOWLY I rose up from bed without opening my eyes. I don't know if I should stand up or ko lie down again. The gunshot on my lower back still kinda hurts.

"You're awake," I suddenly heard a familiar voice.

I quickly opened my eyes and let out a deep sigh when I saw Dave, who obviously just entered the room. I already know why he's here.

"Later, okay? It's so early, You're too excited. I just woke up." I complained.

"It's 1 PM..." He closed the door.

My brows raised in disbelief. "No way!" I checked the clock and realized that it's really 1 PM! Was my nightmare too long?

I quickly stood up and that's when I felt like the pain on the back has increased a bit.

"Your arm..." He walked towards me.

My eyes shifted to my left arm which has something like a bandage and blood is visible.

"How did you get that?" he asked in a cold but curious voice.

I was hesitant for a second but I think it's not a problem to tell him. "Just from the nightmare. Challenges are hard," I casually said, trying not to make it a big deal.

His brows furrowed and he gave me a confused look with a hint of suspicion.

"What...?" I'm now confused too.

"Your physical body cannot be affected by the nightmares. It's your soul only that travels every night..."

Uh... what?

He sighed and stepped back from me. "You need to tell me... what are you, really?"

Damn, I don't know too. At this point, I'm convinced I'm not human.

"I swear, I have no idea..."

"Find the diary alone. I have to do something," then he went out of the room.

Wow! I just woke up but wow!

We really have this 'enemies and then friends and then enemies again then back to friends' relationship.

Oh, I'm not even sure if he considers me as his friend.

I WENT to the dining area after having a bath. I realized that my wounds were treated nicely. I wonder if the unmasked man was the one who did it.

"You're so late!" Blue arrived with the food. "What happened?"

"Not a big deal," I simply answered and started eating.

He insisted on knowing the answer but I also insisted to just don't mind this.

After late lunch, I went to the room to find the diary. I feel like I wanna slap Dave for letting me do this alone.

Hours passed and I'm still finding it. I think I'm taking a longer time because I often take breaks.

Elizabel 1369 - 8

I quickly opened a white book when I saw the name on its cover because it reminded me of the Eliza mentioned by Magistratus Adelais. The first thing I saw was a sketch of someone. It is a beautiful and elegant woman who is probably in her 40s. Her name is most likely Elizabel. I turned to the next page and there is a paragraph but in a different language.

Next page again and the real mystery started. This book is definitely a diary. There are dates and places, mostly London, Rome, and Venice.

The diary is in the English language. That made me more curious. I thought it would be in a different language because of the poem on the front page.

My eyes grew in shock as I saw the name Corvina. The first diary entry was about the newborn girl named Corvina who broke Flamiva Family's reputation. Everyone in the family since the ancient times is a blonde but then she was born with black hair. The mother clearly wasn't happy to see her child. Everyone believed that the girl was cursed for two reasons. First, her hair, and second, she was born the next day the queen died. The prophecy came true. Someone already said a decade ago that after the queen dies, Flamiva would be destroyed.

Is this the diary we're looking for...?

As I continue reading it, my throat started getting rougher than usual. I was on the sixth page when a nuisance came.

"Did you find it?"

I immediately closed the diary and looked at Dave who has just arrived. Why the hell is he here? He already abandoned me!

"What's that?" he asked again, looking at what I'm holding.

My left eyebrow shot up. "What if I don't wanna tell you?"

He glared at me for a while and finally stopped with a deep sigh. "Then I will tell everyone--"

"Fine! I was just kidding!"

I had the small urge to lie but then something was also telling me to say the truth. I don't wanna break Dave's little trust, especially he knows something about me.

And I also discovered something about him.

"I found it..." I admitted.

He was stunned but then he quickly grabbed the diary from my hands. He would be a great street thief in the human world.

The first thing he did was going to the last page. Oh, that's right. The prison note said the last page of the diary. I forgot.

He took a few seconds reading whatever's on the last page. Then he sighed and handed the book back to me.

"That's not what I'm looking for," he said with a disappointed tone.

"Oh... really?" That was unexpected but I just shrugged it off. "Okay, I'll take this instead." I grabbed the book and went to the last page. It is an English poem. There is no XII, though.

My eyes blinked twice when I realized it has seven stanzas.

This must be the diary mentioned in the prison note! I wonder why he thinks this isn't it.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Seven."

Oh, I need to eat dinner.

"Let me eat now, okay? Tomorrow we will find it, I guess."

"You go first, I'll find it."

Whatever. If he wanna make himself tired, then fine. I just went out of the room alone, holding the diary.

My blood ran cold when a smirk welcomed my eyes outside.

"Getting close with him... I see..." Ivan is smirking like crazy.

How the hell did he find this place?

My throat is suddenly rough again. "W-we're not close," I denied. It's not a lie.

He nodded sarcastically and stepped forwards, getting near to me. He playfully whispered, "But he doesn't like being alone with anyone... unless he needs something... from you."

I suddenly felt a presence behind me then Dave's voice was heard.

"You're not allowed here. Who are you?" He was calm but his voice screamed confidence and authority. He now sounds like his father.

"Oh sir," Ivan smirked more. "I'm just here for my friend... a very close friend." He looked at me creepily.

Dave looked at me too, asking with his eyes if that's true. I was about to say no but Ivan spoke again.

"We have something important to talk about... Right, Amara? You know, the little girl..."

"Y-yes! Let's talk about that!" I blurted so that Dave won't know about the little girl. How did Ivan know about that, anyway? Does this mean he is the...

I thought Dave would ask more questions but he just nodded and went back inside the room. Wow, his face was the definition of silence and peace! Oh, yeah. He is really cold. He looked like he doesn't care.

But he'll be talkative when it's about what am I, saying I'm certainly not human.

"YOU NEED to follow everything I say, remember that. If not, it's war." He gave me one last smirk before playfully going out of my room.

I planned on asking him about the little girl but it ended up with him telling me to follow his orders or else a war will destroy Utopium and kill everyone I care for.

So that enemies Dave mentioned... Ivan may be a part of them.

What bothers me the most is that creepy-smirking Ivan said he was quite impressed with what I did in the nightmare... He liked the fire...

Is he the... No. He's not the unmasked man. They are different. I'm sure of it.

His first order is to keep an eye on Blue, which is what I really do. Confirmed, Blue is involved in this thing. Secondly, he told me not to trust Dave, and I don't know what to do with that.

He gave me a g*n. And it is the same with the g*n that is always used by the masked man.

I don't know... why did he give me this? If it's to kill those who he considers a hindrance for whatever his goal is, I would never do it. Never.

DAYS PASSED and every night, Ivan goes to my room, which really makes me feel uncomfortable. He asks me about what happened each day and if I talked to Dave. But I can't do anything because he always brings a g*n. My g*n has no bullets so...

For the three nights he went to my room at exactly 9 PM, I didn't have nightmares. Now I'm slowly having the urge to believe that he is the unmasked man...

No, he's not.

A WEIRD and unknown feeling covered my entire body. I don't know if it's because of what Ivan told me a while ago or it's something else. Maybe I'm just overthinking. I tried to ignore it and just go to sleep or just let my mind rest, but I can't.

I stood up and went out of my room. I don't care if it's past 11 PM. If I get caught and go to prison again, it would be great because I won't have to see Ivan every night.

Wait, that's right! I should be caught by a guard for disobeying the law so they will send me to prison and I can avoid Ivan. What a good idea!

The dark hallway feels like a medieval eerie. There are no guards here, making it more uncanny. I walked down the stairs but I really am alone. I was able to get out of the palace but I'm still not arrested.

The cold and gentle wind hugged me as I reached the grassy garden. Only a few lamp posts are open so it's pretty dark. The sky has less visible stars too. Above all, there are no guards at all. This is weird because guards were always keeping an eye on the palace and in the garden since the first-ever night I didn't fell asleep.

Minutes passed but I still see no one. I was honestly close to giving up and going back to my room but then a noisy sound enveloped the surroundings. I looked up and there I saw a flock of birds hurriedly flying. Soon came dragons, aggressively spurting out fire from their mouths. But there is one damned dragon who produces lava and some of it fell onto my skin. It burned the hell out of me!

I ran away while looking at my excruciating arms, and I saw no signs of burn. What the hell?! But I feel a lot of pain right now! It was lava, my arm should've melted already!

My brain didn't have the time to overthink that anymore because my priority is to get away from the dragons. But more of them came and surrounded the palace. s**t!

I'm left with one choice. The forest. Without hesitation, I ran into there as fast as I could. A few dragons saw me running and even blew fire at me but I didn't have any burns on my skin! What a magic! However, my body hurts as hell.

When I finally entered the forest, I let myself sit on the ground, breathing heavily. Fortunately, dragons don't enter the forest.

Or so I thought.

There was a loud scream from somewhere. Sounds like a male voice. He sounds like he's tortured or something.

My heart is beating so fast that breathing becomes so hard. But with all my strength, I stood up and followed the continuous shouts and dragon noises.

Now I'm near the source of the sound but still far enough to not be seen. I covered my mouth in shock as I see a familiar face of a topless man kneeling down. The dragons are continuously releasing fire but he is not burned... same with me. However, there is a lot of blood on him.

When the dragons stopped, Dave stayed on his knees for a minute before standing up and wearing a top. He's struggling so much. I don't know what I can do to help him. We are not that close and we just met days ago but seeing him being tortured for whatever reason really angers me.

An old and middle-aged man suddenly came. The old one gave Dave a pat on the back after examining his b****y body. He even had the audacity to smile! He whispered something to Dave which I didn't hear so I went closer. Dave didn't answer and is just in his resting face. The man told Dave something again but I still did hear it. This time, Dave replied. t, still haven't heard anything!

Dave started to walk away with an unstable walk. I want to help him so badly but I should not be seen by the old man and the dragons. And those guards, why are they here?! They must keep an eye on the palace first!

The middle-aged man got a tiny g*n out of his pocket while the old followed Dave, obviously distracting him. The middle-aged inserted something I don't know in the g*n and it was very suspicious. What the hell is he planning to do? Dave is already in too much pain!

"Dave!" It was very dangerous but I screamed before the man could even pull the trigger. Everyone looked in my direction, shocked about my presence here. I walked towards Dave so the middle-aged pointed the g*n at me but anger is my body's king right now, not fear.

"Who are you?!" The middle-aged man's voice is a sound you don't wanna hear.

I smirked, "Ignis.." Wait, what's that word again? "...Avis."

I just completely realized yesterday that all those books and papers I didn't understand are written in Latin. That thought started when I met the magistratus.

"Ignis Avis," I finalized.

Suddenly, the two dragons growled so loud. Their powerful mouths made fire spread quickly around the area. Damn, it happened! So am I really a...

Whatever. This is the chance! I grabbed Dave's arm so we could run away. He was confused for a second but then finally understood me. Things happened so fast that I didn't have time to see everything. I don't know what happened to the two men and the guards.

I felt deja vu as I run away with Dave in the woods. I don't know, I can't understand. But one thing for sure, this is how I would like to run away from cruelty if ever I can't endure it anymore.

IT HAS been four or five days since I last saw Blue. Not seeing him in the dining area is really weird. Meanwhile, Dave is okay. He's supernatural, after all. Every mark of the t*****e was gone in just a day. But I think his body hurts.

"Hello? Amara? Are you listening?" Naomi's voice made me come back to my senses.

"Sorry? What is it again?"

"Tss. You're not listening," she jokingly rolled her eyes. "We were talking about Blue. Some said that he had an issue between the officials that's why we don't see him anymore."

Oh, so Utopium also has gossips.

It caught my attention. "What else?"

He raised her brows and slowly grinned. "That was a lie. Why are you always interested when Blue is the topic?"

Because I'm investigating.

"Because I'm curious and worried. He's the only kitchen staff we talk to."

After dinner, I went back to my room. I know what or who is waiting for me later at 9 PM. I disobeyed him. I better get ready.

8 PM. Memories of last night flashed in my mind when the dragons arrived. As usual, I watched them through the window, but I immediately stopped when I saw a yellow-eyed one. I remember that creepy little girl again!

Eat the dragons...? No. No. No.

The clock finally hit 9 PM. But there was no Ivan. 9:30 PM, No Ivan. This is very weird!

At past 10 PM, the door opened and I didn't even look at it. I ko thought Ivan was going to say something first, particularly nag me about how I messed up. But he approached without any suspense or hesitation. When I turned around, a g*n pointed at my forehead is the first thing I saw.

"I told you not to help him with everything!"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "If I see someone near to death, I save them. I know you don't get this because you're evil."

"Why would you help them? They will abandon you... soon," he's bitter.

"They can abandon me but I can't abandon them."

"Look at you! A cursed girl pretending to be kind!" He laughed with so much sarcasm.

"I value--"

"Stop that shitty kindness talk. I'm here to kill..." His creepy smirk is back. "You wasted your power last night. It's not worth it..."

"It's worth it! I saved Dave!" I defended.

He laughed hysterically. "He'll die tonight, though. Actually, he might be--"

I immediately kicked him and pushed the g*n away. That's his weakness. He becomes pretty careless when he speak, easy to distract.

He grabbed my hair to stop me from leaving but I threatened him with fire. My skills are becoming better.

"Ignis Avis," I said then Ivan's whole body was enveloped with a painful heat I left him in that condition. He's not gonna die, anyway.

I was able to go out of my room. But I don't know where exactly is Dave right now. I ran to the garden, dining area, kitchen, prison, and diary room but he's not there. The Art Room is the only one left. I rushed to that room, hoping to see Dave there but I saw a woman instead.

She has short black hair and porcelain skin. She's pretty.

She looks familiar...

I just stood at the doorway, don't know what to do. She raised a brow, obviously asking why I am here in this room.

"I-it's nothing... sorry--"

"What sorry? Come in," she simply said.

"Sorry, miss, but--"

"I don't accept buts," she looked into my eyes. "Come in."

Uh, she's so bossy.

"This is really important, miss. Dave-- I mean the Son of Power is in danger!" I freaked out.

She stared at me for how many seconds before shaking his head and looked again at her book.

"The Son of Power is in a meeting right now with other officials..."

I was speechless. I don't know if she was saying the truth. Does this mean Ivan was just tricking me?!

"Margarita, chef. Now sit down," she said quickly like she doesn't wanna waste every millisecond.

And she knew I wanted to know her name.

I awkwardly followed what she said and sat down on a chair in front of her.

"Be my muse," she said with a serious voice and put her book on the floor. "I'll just draw you. Act normal."

I did act normal as what she has ordered.

"You're a chef... so you know Blue?" I immediately asked her when I realized. She wasn't shocked. She didn't even stop drawing.

"Yes," her short answer.

"Perhaps, do you know where and who is he...?" My tone was hopeful.

"Of course," short answer again. She stared at me with cold and dark eyes. "But I won't tell you."

"W-why not...?" I awkwardly asked.

There were a few seconds of silence before her answer. "To avoid early death."

THAT WOMAN Margarita really is a chef here that's why her face is familiar. In the next few days, she didn't talk to me and I didn't talk to her as well. But I have noticed that she is the one who always serves food on our table. I thought she was just doing her job and wants to serve our table but then at one dinner, I saw something inside the rice, a paper. Of course, I immediately hid it and acted like I'm just casually eating. I purposely ate the rice slowly until everyone at the table was done.

Finally, I got the small paper out of the rice. I thought there would be a written message but it's a drawing, specifically a sketch of a... pond? I'm not sure. I looked around and I saw Margarita staring coldly but deeply at me. But she then looked and walked away.

My daily life seemed to have a regular pattern in the whole week. I wake up, take a bath, eat breakfast, investigate, eat lunch, investigate, eat dinner, receive a drawing from Margarita, meet Ivan, overthink, and sleep but don't get a nightmare. In spite of that routine, new weird and mysterious things still come every day.

EIGHTH NIGHT of Ivan's visiting pattern, I got used to his smirk. I actually do not consider it creepy anymore. It's just his normal expression. The only thing creepy about him now is that he knows a lot about the little girl.

I was in the midst of overthinking at 12 AM when there was suddenly a knock on the door. Good thing I've learned to lock the door at night. I glanced through the peephole and was stunned when I saw Dave. The last time I saw him was two days ago. We finished searching that room and did not find the diary he's looking for. He knocked a few more times until I decided to get rid of my exaggerated thoughts.

"Hey, do you need anything?" I casually smiled to not make the situation awkward. But Dave is really clueless about this kind of stuff in the human world.

He lowkey rolled his eyes and entered my room without a word. Goodness. This attitude again. He's like the male version of Margarita.

"What is it?" I'm trying my best to be calm. But he didn't answer. He really is too lazy to speak.

"Okay," I sighed. "It's past 12 AM and you're here inside a girl's room without even saying anything. Just tell me the damn reason."

"The diary..." He finally spoke. "It's not here."

Goodness. Yeah, he's still looking for that. "You know, if you just tell me more about that diary, We'll find it faster. Do you still don't trust me? Even after I saved you?"

"I trust you. You're a Phoenix, after all."

Now I remember what happened after the night I saved Dave.

We were both panting as we enter the palace. Guards are now everywhere, looking worried at Dave. But it seems like they were not shocked to see him in this condition. Or maybe they don't care about him?

The world seemed to have stopped when Blue arrived, holding a glass of a clear liquid with a tint of blue. Dave drank it all straight. Blue was obviously shocked to see me too, but he acted like he does not know me.

I can see right through the guards' eyes that they want to say something but they can't.

Jacob arrived too. What the hell! Do all of them know what's happening? Am I the only one not aware?

"If he knows about this... you know what will happen." Dave looked at the guards intently. They saluted and started to get back to their respective posts. Wow. So this is the time they work. I was clueless.

"What's the reason this time?" Blue asked playfully as if it's funny and entertaining.

"Still the same," Dave answered with obvious annoyance like he doesn't wanna talk about it.

They were talking about something and I completely do not understand. I caught Jacob glancing at me a few times. So this guardian is involved too, huh. What about Sarah? What does she do?

I cleared my throat to get their attention. "You're aware that I can hear you, right?"

"It's okay, Amara. You did a great job so you got my trust now." Jacob is back with his cheerful smile. He walked towards me saying, "The right time I told you is about to come. Your birthday."

My birthday? When is my birthday?

Oh, yes. August 16, 2003.

"You can work in the team now. Help us, for the sake of everyone."

What the hell is Jacob saying?!

"My best friend has been revived," Blue smiled.

Blue, as well! Best friend, my foot.

"Crazy men," I muttered.

"Leave her alone," Dave interfered. I looked at him in disbelief too. Are they setting up something against me? Is this a trap? What do they want from me."

Dave gave his last speech before walking away. "After all, she has a principle. Fire hurts and so is trusting."

"I know you need something so just say it." I still didn't close the door.

"Then what's next? I'll leave?" Damn. That's full of emotions. It is unusual for a cold person.

I was a bit confused. "Of course... you can't stay here forever. I mean... yeah. And it's 12 AM, Dave. It's not good for a girl and a boy to be alone in a room together, especially at night." Why do I even need to explain this stuff?

His jaw clenched. "That Ivan is a boy too, isn't he?"

Uh... what's he saying...

He started to walk around the room while speaking. He is becoming talkative again. "I saw him enter this room for eight nights at 9 PM. The door was always closed so I couldn't see what he was doing here. But the thing is... you both have a loud voice. So I... I heard your conversation."

I don't know what to say. I don't know what to feel.

"Yes, I need something. I need you to explain everything about that... little girl."

My anxious mind prevailed in my body and I ended up running away.

***