Chapter 20

The Silver Valkyrie II

Silver finished pitching up her tent, and she sat down in front of the fire that one of them started.

“I’m surprised that we are staying for the night.” Jasper walked over and sat down next to her. “I didn’t even see the gate close for this place, so we’re not actually stuck in here. We could’ve went back to the inn.”

Silver shooked her head. She knew that the distance that they walked was pretty far from the gate itself, and traveling at night wasn’t safe at all. “Is unsafe, best to go back in tomorrow in the evening when the sun is still partially up..”

“I expected as much.” Jasper sighed as he threw in a branch into the fire pit. It crackled as the flames slightly enlarged.

In total, they were six tents were pitched up. When they were done, everyone came over to sit near the fire.

“Who’s going first on the night watch?” Tyler was eating a granola bar that he packed with him. He learned his lesson from the first minigame that he brought his own and bought himself a magical pouch just like Silver said too. Everyone else were doing the same, except for the small new group, they didn’t have much to eat.

Jasper saw their measly meal and handed over bags of chips and cans. He didn’t give out too much, but enough to keep their hunger at bay.

Silver bite into an red apple in her hand, savoring the juice that splashed across her lips. She was a fan of eating fruits, especially the sweeter ones than eating sweets. The natural earthy fresh flavors one could get from a fruit was completely different from eating processed foods.

“I never thought we would be brought into this crazy place.” Ronald had a marshmallow at the end of his stick slightly burning. He waited for it to become a warm and crunchy, before he took it off. “Who would’ve thought that we would be spirited away to play in this sick game?” He waved the marshmallow around. It started to rapidly melt, causing him to pull back in alarm.

Tyler pulled out a canned fruit and opened it. “I wouldn’t have believed it as well. Though for the Angels to kidnap us is quite different. If you get what I mean.”

“They didn’t kidnap us.” Salphie voice spoke out. “They’re testing us.”

“What are you talking about girlie. Angel’s are all monsters.”  Rose waved her hands, scoffing at Salphie’s words. “Testing us, what crap are you spoutuing.”

“It’s true.”  Salphie confidently stated. “We are being tested to evolve! I know it. I had dreams about the future.”

Rose  rolled her eyes. “Seeing the future? That’s not possible.”

“It’s true!” Salphie countered. Her small fist curling up into a ball that Rose didn’t believe her.

“Come on kid. Seriously?”

“It’s true.” Salphie stated again as she pouted. “The Angel’s all came down here to test our courage against the other species. Malevolent forces are moving, and it’s not just against the humans. The war for our existence is going to come and it will be the worst then all the other contestant alive. We will all be eaten alive.” She shivered trying her best to explain the situation, but was not succeeding too well.

“Kid, you must be eating too much sweet when you sleep.” Rose waved her hands at her words.

“Hmph.” Salphie didn’t like how Rose just pushed her words as if it was nothing. “By the rate that you’re going, you’ll eventually get married and have two kids with him.” Salphie pointed towards Tyler with an evil grin.

Rose turned towards Tyler. Her whole expression turned into horror when she saw who Salphie pointed. A shriek erupted from Rose’s lips and she angrily yelled. “Hell No! Never! Brat your damn future seeing ability is all a hoax!” She got up and stormed to her tent in frustration.

“Hmph.” Salphie turned her nose away, but pleased that she irritated Rods.

“Don’t mind her.” Ronald spoke with a wave of his hands. “Salphie’s love prediction is not always the best. It’s not something you should be concerned about.”

“That’s a relief.” Tyler let out a stifled sigh. He was choking on his granola bar, when he heard Salphie said the terrible predictions about his life. He shivered at such thought. “Please, don’t make such a prediction. You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“I said the truth.” Salphie crossed her hands. “I know what I see.”

“Please, little girl. Don’t bring such misfortune down on my head.” Tyler begged. He got up. “I think, I’ll go take a rest. Wake me up in two hours, whoever goes first.”

“Good night.” Jasper was chuckling, he almost fell over laughing.

“Quiet kid, if you were to hear such profound words you’ll be shocked as well.” Tyler growled and left.

“You really silenced them.” Jasper was having a hard time getting back up. “I’m going to so remember this. If they ever do get married and have two kids, I’ll make sure to bring this day up over and over again.”

“You know, I have to ask.” Ronald spoke up. “How were you able to not let the fear get to you?”

“Practice, and a strong determination. Though, I’m a bit disappointed that you guys did not partake on the fight. You know those were the Dresden’s that came here fort. Have you all forgotten?”

“Well…” Ronald was embarrassed, especially being told off by a kid. “I personally forgot. We never have seen something so strong except the Baphomet.”

“You guys were so cool.” Salphie interjected with excitement. Her eyes were twinkling towards Silver.

“I understand.” Jasper nodded. “The hunt is not over yet, until we leave this area. I need to what are you going to do now? Will you fight or go back out?”

“We’ll fight.”

Though Silver could hear a bit of fear coming from Ronald’s voice, but he still choose to stay.

“Great.”

Salphie whispered under her breath as she was reciting some kind of poem. “….The Silver Valkyrie that shimmers underneath the moonlight, heralding the beginning of change. The bringer of future and past, a maiden wrought with sorrow and blood.”

Silver caught most of her whisper, wondering what she meant.

“Hey squirt, did you say something?” Ren asked, gazing over towards his sister.

Salphie stated with excitement. “The Queen that enlightens us all…no,” She took a deep breathe, “An Emperor.”

Silver clenched her teeth and her voice went cold.“What did you just say?”

Salphie froze.“The battle maiden, Valkyrie?” She said with a frightened voice. A horrifying intimidating aura oozed out from Silver’s body.

“No, after that,” asked Silver slowly.

“Empero-”

“Don’t say that name!” Silver shouted with fury. “Valkyrie, I’m fine with, but Emperor? Don’t you dare!” She was heated. The memory of fighting the Emperor brought out horrible flashes memories of their fights.

The thought of what she had lost made her heart cringe in pain. Her breath became heavy and her eyes became redden. The name of Emperor infuriated her to the point where she wanted to kill him right now.

“Hey Silver, calm down.” Jasper was gazing at her worriedly. “She didn’t mean any harm.”

Silver reeled in her anger and tried her best to calm down. “I’m sorry.” She got up. “I’m going to sleep.” She left them all behind.

Opening up the tent, she walked in. With a sigh, she sat down with her hands crossed over her legs. “I shouldn’t have yelled at her like that.” She felt a bit bad that she took her anger out on a kid and flopped backwards.

“May I come in?” asked Jasper.

“Sure.”

Jasper came in. He sat down next to her worried at her strange behavior. “Is everything alright? You were quite unusual out there. Why did you get so angry?”

Silver was silent. She didn’t wanted to say anything. It was something that she could easily discuss. Plus, in this time period, the event didn’t happened. She felt stupid that she allowed her emotions to run out of control.

“If you feel like talking I’ll be here.” Jasper lay down on his back.

The silence wasn’t unbearable for Silver in fact she welcomed it. Just having someone next to her calmed her down. She closed her eyes and let the presence of another help her lull to sleep.

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Silver and her group stay a bit longer, killing quite a large number of monsters until they couldn’t anymore. They head back towards Boar’s inn to trade in their items for Angel coins.

“Kuhuhuhuhahahahah!” Rose burst out laughing like a maniac with excitement. “I killed five Kasha’s and two Dresdens, all by myself!” She reeled her head back as she cocked her hips arrogantly

They were all waiting in line in front Angel Archarzel. She was giving each one them a soft smile that melted any male or female’s heart, making them feel welcomed. It was difficult to get mad at someone who was so unearthly beautiful and had a natural calm around her, but it was even ten times more difficult to even think about harming her.

“Five that’s it?” Tyler rolled his eyes. “That’s nothing. Seven Kasha’s and two Dresden.” He thumped his chest in front of Rose. They were stupidly comparing their kill to see who was the better hunter.

Silver ignored the two idiots and went forward to trade in for her points. She pulled out all the items that she could trade onto the desk.

“That would be 3,400 Angel Coins and one small Red Crystal.” Angelzel said with a smile and the coins disappeared into her card.

When Angezel spoke those numbers everyone became silent. Even the people who were in the room, turned their heads towards her with shock. Even Rose and Tyler who was speaking in haughty air was stunned at the enormous amount of Angel Coins that she had procured.

“Not fair.” Rose whispered underneath her breath. She had received around 890 Angel Coins while Tyler got around 950 Angel Coins. Even though, they had extraordinary amount of coins, they felt they didn’t get enough compared to Silver.

“It should’ve been expected.” Tyler nodded at the amount she was given.

“I would like the accessory Sonius and 50 boxes of magic bullets please.” Silver replied.

“Sure.” Archarzel magically summoned what Silver asked for and placed it on the table.

Fifty boxes of Magic Bullets were neatly placed in a pyramid and a set of ear cuffs made out of gold were next to it. Silver put away the magic bullets and picked up the ear cuffs.

“What do they do?” Jasper asked leaning over to see the gold ear cuffs with curiosity.

Silver picked up one of the two identical pairs and placed it on Jasper’s ear. Then she put the second one on her left ear over her ear lobes.

“Couple?” Salphie blurted out and gasped.

Silver frowned. Even though she had said sorry to Salphie, she couldn’t help but feel a bit annoyed at Salphie’s outburst. “No.” She quickly replied, making it clear that it was not even possible. “It’s actually allows me use the dominant elemental magic from the other person who wears the same pair of earring. Though the amount of power is could use is only 10%, while the other holder can do the same.”

“Really?” Tyler asked shocked. “So that means if I trade an ear cuff with you, I’ll be able to use your magic?”

“No. One earring per a person.” Archarazel spoke out loud for Tyler and everyone to hear.

“Damn. I thought I found a loop hole.” He replied with a grumble. He put his hands in his pocket and kicked the ground.

“My turn.” Jasper whimsical walked over excited on how much he’ll get. He brought out all the materials he wanted to trade.

“A total of 2768 Angel Coins plus one small Red Crystal. Here you go.” Angelzel happily replied. Jasper took the small crystal and store it away.

“I would like Jewelry crafting, Locking picking, and Monster Tamer skill please.”

“That would be 2700 Angel Coins. Here you go.”

Three small clear orbs with skills were placed on the counter. Jasper picked them up and ate them with a smile.

“Why did you get the jewelry crafting? Are you trying to impress someone?” Tyler snickered, winking at him.

“Absolutely not. I-I just thought of t-t-trying something out.” Jasper stuttered. He was blushing and twiddling his fingers. “You just watch and see.” He pouted, making his cheeks a bit puffy.

Silver couldn’t help but think that he look so adorable right this moment. She reached over and patted his head. Jasper frowned at her, and pushed her hand aside.

“I understand love at first sight. You took a liking to her didn’t you.” Tyler jokingly goaded at Jasper in a whisper that only the two of them could hear.

“W-what?” Jasper was looking at Tyler as if he was caught red handed.

“We all know who you like.” Tyler teased

“No you don’t!” But Jasper exclamation was drowned out into a whisper. Everyone stopped to stare at Jasper, wondering who he liked. Even the outsider that were watching the group were listening in, making it ten times more difficult for Jasper to speak. For a moment, Jasper seem to shrink in size from the people’s gazes.

“Who does he like?” Silver cut in on the silence. Tyler sighed and shook his head when Silver asked. He glanced over towards Jasper in pity.

“I like him.”  Salphie interjected. Her hands were raised up, waving over her head with a cute smile. “Can I marry him?”

“What?!” Jasper voice shrieked up an octave. “Bad Idea. I don’t want to get in trouble and go to jail!” He was stepping back a couple of steps, looking for a way to escape, but Tyler came up from behind him. He was having too much fun seeing Jasper flustered.

“What the heck are you talking about?” Tyler grabbed him by the shoulder, stopping him from running away. “You guys are a perfect pair. With your looks you’ll pass with flying colors. We should start the wedding.” He mischievous stated.

Everyone including Silver couldn’t help, but think that they would be an adorable kid couple. On the other hand, Jasper felt a shiver run down his spine. He couldn’t believe his future was being set before his very eyes..

“Miss Angel, do you do wedding ceremonies?” Tyler jokingly called out.

“Yes, we do.” Archarzel who was standing in the back of the counter smiled widely with pleased expression at the thought of a wedding. “That is our speciality. We do not charge anything for a wedding reception.” She excitedly stated. Silver could tell that she took her job way too seriously.

“Well now, we got the wedding bells ringing.”

Jasper slammed down Tyler’s foot hard. He grinded his heels without a single remorse. “Shut up!” With seethed anger, he turned around and viciously punched him in the guts.

“Ompfh!” Tyler reel over and fell onto his knees. He was reeling in pain from Jasper’s obnoxious strength for someone so small. A couple of bystanders went shocked at Jasper’s strength.

“You don’t like me?” Salphie was disappointed at Jasper’s quick answer. Her finger was twiddling against each other in nervousness. “I-I know I can be a great wi-i-fe, better than…” Her voice trailed low and her gazed rest at Silver.

Silver wasn’t paying much attention to Salphie’s gaze and didn’t much of it as a whole. Instead, Salphie went back to looking straight at Jasper with a huge smile. “W-we are destined lovers! I foresaw it in our future!” She spat out words that made Jasper twitch.

“I don’t know you.” Jasper raised up his hands. “I’m sorry, I have to decline.”

“Oh.” Salphie was downcasted, but she put up a smile right after. “It’s okay. You’ll get to know me later on.”

“Salphie, I don’t think you should impose on the brat.” Ren gave Jasper a glare. For a moment, Silver thought she could see laser beaming out of Ren’s eyes, telling Jasper to stay away from his sister.

Jasper shot Ren back a glare, stating that he didn’t want to be Salphie’s husband. This infuriated Ren, and he was about to move forward to put Jasper in his place.

“Now. Now. Children.” Tyler was up, rubbing his stomach. He was trying to calm down the burning fire that was blazing into an inferno. “Let’s all be calm. We don’t want to fight in this inn do we?”His head swung back and forth between Ren and Jasper, trying to get message across.

“Please do not fight.” Archarziel voice was stern with a hint of intimidation that brought chills to everyone who heard it. “I do not condone violence in this inn.”

“Well you heard the lady. Let’s get back to business.” Tyler clapped his hands, ignoring the tense atmosphere that was once there. “Hey, Silver.”

“Yes?” Silver glanced up wondering what he wanted to say.

“I was wondering if you could lend me some of those monster skins, scales, and bones that you collected.”

Silver tilted her head not understanding what he wanted to do.

“I got the blacksmithing skill. My family was into traditional blacksmith for weapons and armors. I thought I’ll give it a try and see if I can make a couple of things with what we got. That is if you don’t mind.” Tyler was rubbing his hand at the back of his neck.

“Sure. I’ll drop it off at your room. I also need you to fill  a couple of my magic bullets with your magic if you don’t mind.”

“Great!” Tyler stated excitedly. “And no, I don’t mind at all. Well then  with all business concludes let’s get some rest.” He clapped his hands together.

“Who died and made you leader.” Jasper kicked him from behind, making him stumble forward. He was still pissed off at how Tyler tried to hook him up with Salphie.

“Hey kid that hurts.”

“I’m not a kid. Plus, you were going to marry me off to a kid that’s under my age by what ten years!” Jasper wanted to throttle Tyler for even bringing up the idea of marriage to someone so young.

“Wait, how old are you?” Ronald slowly asked, a bit taken aback at what he just heard.

“17!”

Everyone went silent except Silver. She nodded her head in understanding at everyone’s stunned expression. At first, she too was in disbelief, and even still she had a hard time believing,  Jasper’s age, but the undeniable truth was on his card. It just was hard to believe because of his adorable appearance.

“You kidding me. Right?” Rose shrieked. “I’m twenty-five and this kid look like he’s ten!”

Tyler gave Jasper a strange expression, and he was mumbling underneath his breath. “With that look?”

“Your genetics is quite frightening.” Ronald stupidly replied. “I’m only 19. Ren is 17 and Salphie here is twelve.”

Yep. Yep. Silver thought as she shook her head, agreeing with Ronald’s statement, but when she heard Salphie’s age, she frowned. She knew that Salphie will have a very difficult time surviving these games. All she could do was tell Salphie straight out what could happened, and if she wanted Salphie to survive she needed to tell her the truth.

Silver squatted down and faced Salphie squared in the eyes. “If you don’t get stronger, you’re going to die.” She bluntly stated.

Salphie froze up from Silver’s words and shuddered under her intense gaze. Softly, she spoke. “I-I-I know.”

“Hey! What are you saying to my sister!” Ren came over and roughly pulled Silver up by the collars. He was seething in anger at what she said. “That’s a child you just said that too!”.

“Calm down.” Tyler came over and tried to meditate the two. “She only wanted to inform of what could happen if she can’t get stronger. Especially because she is a kid, the chances of her dying is higher. Right?”

“She needs to know or she won’t survive. If she stays weak and sheltered than she becomes a burden. Do you really think the games are simple as you think?” Silver peeled Ren’s grip away as if it was nothing. “The last major game that Kushiel brought up, caused a good portion of us to die. They are creatures out there that are stronger than us. If she does not have the resolution to fight, then its only prolonging her death, better that she dies now without facing the horrors to come than die horribly by a monster’s hand. It doesn’t only pertain to her, we all need to get stronger fast. This is the absolute truth.”

“Why you.”

“Stop brother!” Salphie cried out, she held onto his clothes to stop him from pouncing on Silver.

Silver didn’t flinch. She knew she could take him on, but she didn’t think it was even worth her trouble.

“She’s right. I know what the future holds, and it’s not sunshine and daisies. The next game- ugh.” Salphie hunched over, holding onto her heart. Her small body was curling up into a ball, making Ren run over with panic. He picked her up into her arms worried sick.

“Salphie? Salphie?” Ren called out in fear of losing his only sister.

In that moment, a strange scene befell on all of them. The room became eerily quiet, and the only sound one could hear was their own breathing. An oppressive feeling spread out throughout the lobby as an omnipresent voice spoke.

“Five stars shall fall in line, heralding the beginning of the massacre. Gates shall be opened, and the horns of the nine reapers shall welcome the herald of the dead. Five seasons, five horrors, five chances to turn the tide. The first shall come with blazing stars, hailing from the sky. The second will begin when the ninth bell rings on unwelcome ground, the third shall rise when the dragon’s sings, the fourth will only open on midsummer’s eve, and the final chance shall arrive when the battle maiden slays her sin. For the great evil that slumbers shall once again rise again, bringing with it the herald of the end.” Salphie’s voice creepily echoed into a low raspy voice as her eyes roll backwards. She then begins to twitch, until she finally stopped.

Even Silver felt really uncomfortable hearing the prophecy first hand. It had an electrifying feel that would make anyone on edge. The voice was even unearthly to the point, Silver had to wonder if such voice was even possible for a young girl to make.

The whole room was deathly quiet. No one was able to say anything for the fear that they would upset the balance if they spoke. Salphie fell over as she was caught by Ren.