Hotel Selten

The Happy Aftermath

“We are now safe, don’t worry.”

Everyone cheered as Miss Eve announced the victory against their enemies. They were outside, everyone was piling up near the back door of the main building, where the lady is standing. “Thank you for our beloved fighters who fought and defended our hotel at their best.” Everyone clapped to the group where familiar faces like Thilda, Peony, Adam, and Aquil were there. “I am glad that no one was severely injured nor died. The celebration today will be sad rather than happy.” 

“It is our pleasure to protect our home, Miss Eve.” Thilda smiled, “It was great teamwork, I am glad too that no one left us.” The others cheered and happily claps. “It was fun anyway, might do it again!” Peony enthusiastically challenged herself, which made the lady in front of them giggle. “I also thank you all for following the others to stay in the cabins as long as the battle is happening. I am glad too that no one was taken, unlike the previous ones.” Another set of claps and cheers filled the hotel.

“And, last but definitely not the least, I thank Hugo, Blaise, and Ophelia for exerting their efforts to regain my energy back and form the barrier once more.” Ophelia, who was scratching her head and suffering from another headache smiled along with the two other boys. “Without their efforts, we might lose the battle and well, lost a lot of residents.” The residents cheer for them. 

What actually happened after the “big bang”?

The bang was Miss Eve’s power which regenerated thanks to Ophelia’s magic. It created a barrier. It dissolves all of the non-magical people within the barrier, therefore a lot of cries of pain were heard everywhere on the grounds of the hotel. The hotel disappeared within the eyes of the weak minds, which made the enemies surrender since they can’t access any of the hotel’s ground. All of the space occupied by the hotel became mere trees as if nothing was built there. There are a few left of the enemy, which lowered their morals. 

Inside the barrier, the fighters are slowly navigating in the hotel, avoiding the mines placed by Blaise. Most of the mines were detonated, which prevented the enemies from entering the buildings, which also damaged some of the construction of it. Aquil shot the remaining micro mines with her bow.

The ground was neatly clean since all of the corpses dissolved because of the barrier’s energy. A mere human can’t handle a full-blown barrier, being stubborn with its results in death. That’s the reason why the people entering here were filtered, but their intentions aren’t. 

Miss Eve slowly wakes up from her slumber, her feeling is eased, she was feeling so strong and the barrier was on its full strength without having her getting weak. She looks around her and she gasps as she noticed the poor three teenagers knocked off. She looked at the wrist who seems aching a bit and there was a bit of blood dripping on it. She heals the small cut and she went downstairs to get help with the three. 

Ophelia, Blaise, and Hugo get their rest for the day since they were knocked out from the blast. The others were escorted to their rooms since they were so afraid of the situation. Thilda and others clean the blood out of their weapons. “This is a lot of construction to make. Even the public bath needs some repair.” Adam is talking to Thilda, who is looking at how devastated the place was. “This would be a piece of cake for the builders, it’s just some repairs, unlike the previous one which really renovated the walls of the hotel building since the woods are decaying.” 

“I’ve clear all the mines.” Aquil approached the two. “Great, now the others can go out now and let them cope with what just happened.” Thilda smiled as she goes to the main building. She went inside to check the others. The residents start to go to their rooms and calming down. 

This is the aftermath of the small battle they have with those greedy humans, yet, they still don’t know why they are getting attacked every single year. It’s the same attackers since 2010. But above all of these, they know one thing. It is to protect the hotel, home of over 54 people with great skills, unbelievable magic, and cool abilities, all of which are unique in their own way. 

Back in the present, everyone was enjoying the large banquet they have. The other people who were seemingly normal enough went shopping yesterday after the battle and cooked a lot of food. Ophelia was eating her favorite, rib steak dipped in gravy. The table was divided into two sections, one being full of meat and one being full of vegetables and fruits. 

“Hey, Ophelia!” A familiar enthusiastic voice called the teenage girl who was chomping on her favorites. She turned on the source of the voice and saw Peony, who was eating a chicken drumstick. She approached Ophelia and rests her elbow on her shoulders. “You enjoying this?” She is chewing up her food as Ophelia nods, “Yep, never experienced some whole buffet before.” 

“Really? Then you will be experiencing this a lot!” She bites the last meat of the drumstick, “Oh?” Ophelia dipped a piece of steak in gravy and eats it. “Well, Miss Eve is totally making sure everyone is having fun in the hotel. Sometimes, we got several of these in a month if there are birthdays. But sometimes, we do a mass birthday celebration to lessen these kinds of stuff, but we are thankful for it anyway.” The teenage girl looks around, ‘Well, they are all happy. I guess that’s why they will defend this hotel to the extent.’

“How long have you been here?” She asked Peony who grab a chicken breast as her 3rd round of eating chicken meat. “Well, since I was ten and I spent my whole teenage years and maybe adulthood here! I grew up with Hugo, Thilda, Dulse, Blaise, and others! Some of my childhood friends are gone, like Ezmeralda…” Her face got sadder for a while, but then she smiled again. “But, I know she is okay! And we got a new resident and maybe a new friend.” She looks at the unaware girl in front of her. 

“Me?” Ophelia points to herself. “Yeah! You look interesting! What’s your ability anyway!?” Peony was excited to know what she can do since she’s been longing to have a partner in combat. “Well… I don’t really know. Miss Eve suggests, from the chunk of story of my life I said to her, that I might possess water or telekinesis, but seems none of it applies to me.” She fetched a grape-flavored drink, which she really loves. “It’s okay! You have plenty of time to discover your ability. Some people really have hidden abilities! Sometimes the people you encounter might have hidden manipulation magic! How cool is that!?” 

“You two seem going so well.” The two girls who were talking turned to the source of the voice, “Miss Eve!” The lady giggles, “Greetings, Peony and Ophelia. How’s the buffet?” Ophelia swallows the last piece of steak she has, “Yes, thank you, miss.” “No worries, it has been a tradition of mine to stuff the residence with these euphoric substances after a stressful battle. It was very unlucky for you that on your second day, you will encounter these types of chaos we got here. I hope we didn’t have a bad impression on you.”

Ophelia shook her head, “Well, honestly, when I step on the hotel’s premises, I feel like I am at home. Though, my reflexes totally screwed me up in my first day, since I thought this was sort of those like Hansel and Gretel’s stories.” She nervously giggled as Peony puts her arm around her, trying to comfort her. “It’s okay! It’s normal since who would’ve thought there’s a hotel in the middle of the woods!?” “Mhmm, and since Dulse sort of scared you in your first night, I guess that weights off on your initial decision to leave in this place.” 

“Anyway, Blaise is inviting you again to the lab after you eat, he has something to say with you.” Ophelia confusingly looks at the lady. “Why?” “He has some sort of observations and explanations about what happened last Thursday.” Ophelia slowly nods as she sips her drink empty. “I’m gonna head now, see you later.” Miss Eve smiles as she walks out of the scene. 

“What happened?” Peony immediately asked. “Last Thursday? Uhm… Well, remember that sort of earthquake stuff?” “Yeah!” Ophelia sets aside her cup and looks at her. “Well, Blaise was sorting out stuff on the machine thing he has been making.” The green-haired lady’s eyes widen as she realizes something. “Oh! That Alternative Concealer machine Blaise showed to us!” 

“Well, yeah… The machine made the earthquake.” “And!?” “Well, me and Miss Eve investigated it and since I am new, I got introduced into the lab and his machines. He then gets some magic from me and inserted it along with the others and boom.” Peony’s mouth gapes, “That’s cool!” Ophelia rolls her eyes, “It’s actually not, I got a headache after that.” “Yet, it’s still cool!”

“I guess I’m gonna go now.” She starts to walk towards the entrance of the underground in the training grounds. “Hey! Let me join!” Peony catches up with her, “Can I!?” Ophelia chuckles, “Sure.” Peony cheers as the brunette girl open the entrance. They walked down, Ophelia turns on the lights and Peony closes the trapdoor. They head to Blaise’s lab where he is writing more observations and trying to solve the puzzle he discovered in the incident. 

“Hey, Ophelia and Peony didn’t expect her to be with you here.” He said, drawing back his gadget. “I guess a company won’t hurt.” She smiles, “Anyway if you remember the incident last Thursday, the machine actually destroyed the barrier, making the lady weaker and as well the barrier we had 2 days ago.” Peony inserted herself into the conversation. “So, that’s why we got attacked!?” Blaise heaved a sigh as approached the machine, “Well, the attackers may have observed us like, every day, and they found us again, gladly they weren’t so prepared to actually attack us, that’s why we won.” 

“The barrier has been protecting us for all of the time it is existing, and this machine screwed it up. I actually found out that we can’t make a barrier while another barrier is existing, since this machine forms the purest energy, while Miss Eve’s barrier is another type of energy, which made them fight each other. Testing this thing will be tougher than I expected since I need to have permission from Miss Eve to weaken or remove her barrier for a while.” He sighed again, “I don’t know if I can test this without us getting attacked.” 

“Why did it screwed up anyway? Is it my magic?” Blaise looks at her and nods, “Yes, apparently, I can’t tell why. I tested mixing it with other magic, it goes well in a second then it just explodes. That’s not a behavior of both water and telekinesis, since water goes so well with other magic, while telekinesis explodes as it touches other things. It’s just… strange.” He draws back his gadgets and starts typing and scrolling. “So, I am neither of those?” 

“Hmm… Try to unleash your power these days, I am not an expert on how magic really works, I only have the basics. Try to train, and I guess it will answer your question. I can’t really answer you accurately, but for me, you are neither of those things Miss Eve suggested.” Ophelia sighs as Peony hugs her. “Hey! Don’t be sad, as Blaise said, he is not sure! Maybe you are something more than you expected!” Peony smiles, which made Ophelia smile also. 

“You didn’t get them!?”

“I am sorry, they are too prepared.”

“One more failure, you are out!”

“I won’t fail you next time.”