SHATTERED REALM: FORGOTTEN ECHOES-Chapter 178: Lucky Coincidence

While everyone was distracted, someone was observing her target.

Aramith felt her gaze and looked at her. Serephene smiled, and though it was hidden under the mask, her eyes didn't hide the glint of interest in them.

And even from where she sat, across from him, he could still make out the expression clearly.

Aramith frowned and was going to ignore her, but he felt they were an unavoidable obstacle.

He could either run into them or break through them.

"Mozrael," he called.

She quickly turned to him, ears perked up.

"I want you to come with me," he said, then turned to Sylvia.

"I need you to go and find..."

Serephene watched him carefully, but couldn't make out what he told mozrael or Sylvia.

"He knows I'm observing you," she said languidly.

Elira, shadowed behind her, stepped forward, resting a hand on Serephene's seat.

"Where do you think he's going?" she asked, watching Aramith get up and leave with Mozrael, while Sylvia remained, looking distracted.

"For safety," Serephene replied. "We're not the only ones keeping an eye on him."

Elira smiled. "Our pet is famous, but I can still get him."

"As you should," Serephene added, then gave her a casual wave of her hand, signalling for her to act.

"Wait for my success, princess," Elira bowed lightly, then left.

The streets were almost empty, even though it was noon, and the occasional few they met too looked at Aramith with varying expressions, but ignored Mozrael.

As the final opponent of the top competitor, his popularity was greater than any other person, even though he didn't seem to have any special background.

It didn't take long before Aramith noticed someone following them.

I wonder if it's Elira herself or someone else, he thought.

He signalled for Mozrael to be alert, as they weren't seeing any new people, making this ideal for an attack.

Yumaris forbid any attacking outside the arena, and even in the arena, both parties had to agree about it first.

But it was still possible for someone to get injured by mistake, and that was what he knew Elira could do.

A minute passed, and one person popped up around a corner.

He wasn't going to pay any attention to the person, but then he noticed the person tailing them had suddenly disappeared.

Then he quickly glanced at the person approaching them.

It was a student who looked quite young and smallish. He carried a box, happily humming a tune as he moved, but Aramith didn't fail to notice.

That uniform is the same one Elira was with.

Everything seemed normal until the student tripped and fell, scattering the contents of his box all over the floor.

"Oh no!" he exclaimed and rushed to pick the items up, only to end up scattering some papers all over.

The first thing that was off about him was how odd his items looked together. They were so random that it didn't make any sense, no matter how Aramith looked at it.

Then, the box...it was heavier than it looked, which didn't make sense.

Then, finally, the boy just continued humming. He just kept humming in the same pitch, not going higher or lower, which made the tune uncomfortable. It was as if his vocal cords weren't capable of changing tone.

Aramith narrowed his eyes, scanning the boy's items for anything dangerous, but before he could finish, a low growl from behind drew his attention.

He quickly turned around to see Elira approaching him slowly, a skeletal leopard standing next to her. The feline growled low, its eyes focused on him.

"Therin, right? And Rin?" Elira said, pointing at him, then Mozrael.

They didn't confirm if she was using the correct names or not.

"Well, I don't have a grudge against you, but I want to use you to get something," she continued.

Aramith was quick to lead her on. "If you want money, I can go back to my room and get you all the money I have."

His response startled Elira, then she laughed. "Do I look that broke to you? I'm not a thug or a beggar," she said.

Aramith wanted to drag things out for as long as he could, so he chose to act ignorant and incapable of reading the room.

"Then what do you want with me? I don't have anything special on me."

He grabbed Mozrael's hand tightly, pulling her behind him.

She pretended to be frightened, looking away from Elira, but secretly eyeing the kid behind them, who just continued to pick up his things, while ignoring them.

His action was too suspicious.

Elira mistook Aramith pulling Mozrael behind him as an act of fear and false bravado. "Is she your sister, Therin?" She asked dearly.

Aramith didn't reply. "I won't let you have her," he said boldly.

Elira chuckled. "No, I don't like girls. Though she's a cute girl, I'm not here for her."

"Then what do you want?" he asked seriously.

Mozrael was surprised at his acting skills. He was perfectly portraying a bold person being confronted by someone stronger. This made Elira easily look down on him and also prevented her from recognizing him. At the moment, he was THerin, not Aramith.

Elira raised a hand and pointed a finger at Aramith. "I'm here to capture you. And before you do anything funny, know that I'm stronger than you."

The leopard lowered itself in preparation to attack.

"It's illegal to fight in Yumaris!" Aramith shouted at her, pretending to scare her with the name of Yumaris.

"I know that," Elira said. "I'm not going to do anything that would get me in trouble. You have my word. I won't attack you in Yumaris."

You won't attack me in Yumaris? What is that supposed to mean? Then he focused on one part of what she said. She didn't say she won't attack me. Just that she won't do that in Yumaris.

Aramith couldn't figure out her plan, and it was clear she was about to make a move before he was done.

Sylvia...what are you doing?

"Now!" Elira shouted.

Aramith stepped back, ready to do something about the leopard.

It raised its body to jump...

Then feigned it.

BOOM!

There was a sudden explosion behind him.

He turned just in time to see the boy who'd been collecting his things slip under his box as a small explosion in front of him, sending a chunk of debris barreling towards him and Mozrael.

He was about to act, but Mozrael was fast, quickly raising her hand to form an umbrella of blue flames that consumed the danger.

Elira's eyes widened in disbelief. It was as if time had slowed as the flames shone in her eyes like fireworks.

"Those flames...Mozrael!" She shouted, recognizing Mozrael.

Dammit!

Aramith turned to Elira, brows knitting at the mention of Mozrael's name.

Mozrael quickly doused her flames, realizing the terrible mistake she'd made. Her breath came out faster.

"Then you must be Aramith!" Elira exclaimed, giddy with excitement. "I'm not letting you escape me!"

"Mozrael, fly!" Aramith grabbed her hand and commanded her.

"Too late!" Elira shattered an orb on the ground.

It exploded with a loud ring and blinding light.

Aramith shielded his eyes, then the orb negated the space, sucking them all into another place.

The light dimmed to reveal a large, dark room. He held on tight to Mozrael's hand. The air felt too thin, as if they were either deep underground or high above ground.

They weren't in Yumaris.

Her words echoed in his mind like a painful reminder. You have my word. I won't attack you in Yumaris.

Mozrael clenched his hand harder. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking." She glanced at him, but refused to meet his eyes, fearing he might be mad at her.

"Don't worry, she won't be able to do much," he assured her.

"I can say I'm the luckiest person in the world," Elira said. Aramith noticed how her voice didn't echo, even though the room was large.

"Didn't you miss me, Mozrael? Aramith?"

She spun around on her heel. "I wanted to find you both so badly, you have no idea how many nightmares I've had."

"..."

"..."

"You won't say anything?" She grinned, then laughed heartily.

"No, you have no idea how lucky I feel right now. You'll be laughing with me!

I saw a boy named Therin and decided to capture him, since he looked important. And guess what? Turns out I didn't need to capture that important boy!"

She came closer, but kept her distance. "I planned to use Therin, the important boy in Forsaken Peak, to trade for Aramith, the one I wanted. And I was certain they would agree to do that."

She paused a little, admiring her work.

"I've just accomplished my long-term task in one go."

"Where is this?" Aramith asked.

Elira chuckled. "So that's the first question you ask someone you haven't seen in a long while? What happened to friendship?"

"You were never my friend."

"Oh, I see. But I'll answer your question."

"We're somewhere outside Yumaris, but that's obvious, isn't it?"

Aramith narrowed his eyes. "What level are you?" he asked next.

"Elira stands before you at the Crystal gate, so give up already."

Crystal? Mozrael paled instantly. She was at gold, and Crystal was two whole gates above her. She glanced at Aramith. He's more powerful than me, but...he can't defeat someone at the Crystal Gate.

Aramith stayed silent for a little while, calculating his odds of defeating her.

Elira saw that as him giving up. "Relax...If I wanted you dead, your heart would he quiet already. I didn't remove you from Yumaris to hurt you. I removed you because I value you." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Mozrael shifted uncomfortably, remembering their last encounter with Elira and how she had almost finished them.

She shuddered, remembering how she passed out and had to be carried away.

The only reason they survived that encounter was that Lynnor worked with Father Iltahne to get them out of harm's way. But now...they were on their own. This was different.

And worse yet, she now had a different beast.

"I'm not going to wreck you. We just want to study you," Elira finally said.