"Doors of Destiny: The Perilous Journey Begins"
Room Dinner (3)
We all arrived in the dining room that was talked about by Merikh.The long table that adorned the room looked very majestic and full of luxurious food. The food was beautifully arranged on shiny silver plates. The food on the silver plates looked very tempting and made us hungry.
However, what stole our attention was the presence of seven individuals sitting around the table. They exuded a powerful aura, combining a sinister and charming impression at once. Their faces are covered with masks of all shapes and motifs. Each mask reveals a different personality, creating an impression of deep mystery among them. Their eyes, hidden behind masks, gave off sharp glances and looked at us with deep interest.
We carefully entered the room, and our gaze immediately fell upon a man sitting at the end of the table. The mask he was wearing had the shape of a goat head with an upright horn standing up, creating a terrifying and mysterious impression. His sharp eyes looked at us with full presence, as if he had the power that ruled the room.
The man gestured to Merikh, ordering him to give us a seat. The obedient Merikh and immediately fulfilled the request, leading us to the benches that had been provided. After we sat down on our respective benches, I saw Merikh returning to the bench where he should have sat and put on a plain mask with carved white feathers on the left side of the mask, and the wide smile that was plastered was clearly on the mask that Merikh was wearing.
“Ouhh, ALL OF YOU HAVE REACHED~.” There was a scream coming from the dining table.
“Nyx?” Maemi frowned, trying to clearly see the whereabouts of the one who shouted that.
Nyx waved her hand filled with a wide smile. Loh, how could Nyx be here? How long has he been waiting for us here? Nyx approached us all happily, she ran straight into Neera. Neera hugged Nyx back, then clasped her head slowly.
“Nyx, where have you been? You know we're all worried that suddenly you just disappeared.” Neera looks very worried to Nyx, “Moreover the Koen noh.”
Nyx glanced at the direction Koen was. Clearly visible on Koen's face, he was already looking at Nyx annoyed, and Nyx could only chuckle softly while apologizing. “Hehehe, sorry.”
The goat-horned masked man patted her hand gently. As if he was in control of the room, the atmosphere around the room immediately became silent because of it, no sound came out making noise in the room. His face hidden behind the mask turned slowly towards Neera, Neera who felt herself in the face by the masked man immediately goosebumps in fear and Neera again holds tightly to my hand which she had let go to hug Nyx. Then the man bowed his body slightly giving a loyal salute to Neera. Once again we were uncomfortable with his view of Neera, just as Merikh did.
A soft and beautiful voice came out from the mouth of the goat-masked man, breaking the silence around. “How is the trip? What's fun?” the goat masked man asked all of us.
I was a little amazed by the voice that the masked man made. I'm sure behind that creepy mask is a very handsome face, and the women will definitely be crazy about this goat masked man. Wait a minute, Koen also did not lose his good looks, right? I turned towards Koen watching his face closely and yup, handsome Koen. Her clean white face and sweet smile definitely made the women around her go crazy with Koen. Now then, why am I even thinking about the handsome face of Koen and the masked man?
“Not fun at all, the waiter or your friend is constantly touching our friend very impolite.” Koen answered questions from the masked man.
“Is that so? Then forgive our friend this, I'm sure our friend Merikh is very enthusiastic to meet our Queen.” The man replied to Koen in a relaxed tone. We could feel her smiling, even though her face was covered in the mask she was wearing.
“We have a lot of questions, of course Merikh said if we can ask anything when we got here. Right?” Nyme reconnects from Koen and the masked man.
“Of course you can ask anything, I will listen to all your questions and answer your questions. After we ate together.” Said the masked man.
We all have no other choice. We were also very hungry, especially Alora who had been whining continuously from when we reached the great hall earlier. We also received an offer to eat with all of them. I saw those who lifted their masks in half, only exposing their mouths to eat. Even their mouths are very beautiful all, I am sure they are all beautiful women and handsome men.
While others eat quietly and voraciously. Neera nudged my hand and whispered to me, “for sure you were thinking about the handsome face of the masked man earlier and compared it to the face of Koen.” Neera chuckled softly, smiling sweetly.
You finally smiled. “Hehehe, you know what I think. How do you think?” I whispered back to Neera.
Neera slightly nodded her head while humming. “We don't know his face yet, but in the masked man's hair is icy blue with the left in the short braid,” Neera looks at me.
I know what Neera thinks, and Neera knows what I think. We both chuckled softly while chatting as usual everyday we chatted and gossiped about something that was on our minds. This is Neera I know, no pale face, worry, fear and so on. I won't make that sweet smile fade, I won't always be by His side, protecting him. Because I love him as my best friend.
After we all finished our meal. Starting a question and answer session, Koen who led this journey began to ask some questions, such as where we are, the history of this world, then the little girl we met at that time, and why if you want to travel to the next place must pass through various doors. The masked man then answered all the questions asked by Koen, but the part of the little girl he passed by, saying they did not know at all about the little girl, and if they know they won't tell us, because it's definitely a sensitive question. We all listened carefully, as if we were listening to our teacher explaining the lesson.
“And another one, why are you so interested in our one friend, Neera?” Another question came out of Koen's mouth.
The masked man chuckled softly and was silent for a moment. He stood up and told a girl with a mask decorated with pink flowers with tree root tendrils to stand with him. Feeling that something was strange, we were all immediately on standby to escape in case something happened. It felt like ever since we were in this strange place, more precisely in this world, we became wary of our surroundings.
“Why are we interested in your friend, with our Queen. Because he is the future for all of us, Neera is Destiny for all of us. The queen who created great destruction for this world, and certainly for your world too.”
We all started to let out cold sweat, our hair was also standing goosebumps. He said our world too? Our world, Earth. They know about the earth and want to destroy the earth? They're crazy, aren't they? How they know about the Earth. Wait a minute, when Merikh said they waited for Neera hundreds of years. When I woke up, the more scared I was, the more goosebumps all over my body. They've been waiting for Neera since before Neera was born? Without a second thought, I pulled Neera's hand and ran away from the dining room. Seeing me and Neera running away, the others also ran away from the dining room.
“Pursue them.” The goat-masked man gave the order to the flower-masked girl.
Without coming out a word, the flower-masked girl chased after us very quickly. Roots sticking out of her body chasing us, the tendrils slipping and snaring Verna's legs as they tried to escape, Verna screaming in pain and falling over. In a state of panic, Verna fell down and screamed in pain. Nyme, who heard the scream, immediately stopped her run and turned to save Verna. Unfortunately, Before Nyme reached Verna, the flower-masked girl threw Verna very hard towards the front of them running, Verna was hit hard forward, making her fall to the floor. The clash caused Verna to faint and the head to be severely injured, with blood flowing out.
“VERNAAA!!” Koen shouted Verna's name, quickly approaching Verna.
Nyme, who was unable to save Verna, suddenly felt her strength run out. His body felt limp, while cold sweat drenched his entire body. Tears poured down his worried face. "For God's sake, Verna... Is... did he die? Ver-verna. A-ahhh." whispered in a hoarse voice. His breathing became heavy and irregular, in reaction to the events that shook him.
“NYME, NYME LET'S NOT STAY HERE.” Kasumi Shouts at Nyme who is already sitting down to cry. “VERNA IS NOT DEAD AT ALL, VERNA IS FINE. YOU DON'T WANT US TO GET CAUGHT, DO YOU? COME LARII.” Kasumi pulls Nyme's hand, Nyme who is still crying starts running back with Kasumi.
Koen who approached Verna immediately checked Verna's pulse, he heaved a sigh of relief because Verna only fainted, but panic still did not relieve himself because Verna's head was bleeding. Koen immediately lifted Verna's body and ran back to escape. And I certainly still ran ahead with Neera.
“IYA BUT WHERE???” Reply to Vanya while shouting.
“A-I HAVE THE KEY.” Nyx replied Lyubov, “I found it while walking around by myself, I also found where the door is.”
“U-Uwahh..apparently you are useful also yes.” Alora commented.
Hope is open to us. Koen, who heard Nyx's words, immediately told Nyx to run ahead to show her the way. Nyx followed Koen's words and ran ahead. Roots keep chasing us nonstop, sometimes the roots try to block our way and pull Neera's legs, and luckily we manage to avoid the root tendrils that are creeping away trying to catch us. We continued to run along the large hallway avoiding the attack from the little girl, it had been two minutes more we ran, and were tired enough of our legs to keep running.
A door with waves-like carvings and clam ornaments appeared in front of us not far from us running. “ITU!! THAT'S THE DOOR!!” Nyx shouted while pointing at the door that was in front of us.
When we all got to the door a little bit more, I felt something was blocking my legs. The roots that kept chasing us caught me and took me backwards and threw myself far away. My body fell to the floor like Verna, it hurt so much, it hurt so much. I wanted to scream, but because of the pain that pierced my every body shut my mouth. Tears came pouring down my face, the voice shouting my name faintly.
After I fell down, my body was full of abrasions and blood flowing from my head just like Verna. I tried to resurrect my body, although my gaze was vague, I had to try to escape, I had to run away with the others, I had to protect Neera.
“A-Alice, Alice can still rise.” Koen's voice sounded a little shaky, “I WILL GLUE ALICE, YOU GUYS BRING NEERA AND VERNA INTO THE DOOR.” Koen hands the fainted Verna over to Nyme.
“O-OK.” Nyx immediately used the key and opened the door with the carving of the waves.
Maemi pulls Neera's hand, “Ayo Neera, we go in first.”
“T-BUT ALICE, ALICE IN PAIN, ALICE HURT. I can't just leave it.” Neera brushed off Maemi's hand, but Maemi still held Neera's.
“YOU KNOW THEY'RE CHASING YOU. KOEN WILL SAVE ALICE KOK.”
“Then what if Koen was also injured? Who will save them both?” Hearing Neera's words, Maemi let go of Neera's hand. He could not say anything because there was a point with the words of Neera, but he also knew if he released Neera, then the possibility of Neera being captured by the criminals was also great. He ruffled his hair crying not knowing which to do.
Neera ran, then she helped Koen who was helping me stand up to be able to run again. “What are you doing here? What if you get caught?” I asked Neera worried, even though she looked like the masked girl was still far behind.
“Then I left you just like that? After you protected me from the strange things that happened earlier? Of course I won't leave you, you said ‘You'll always be by my side’.” Neera Smiling looked at me, my tears falling back down my face. What a sweet word to hear in a situation like this.
The three of us continued traveling at a slower pace due to my injured leg. I looked at Kasumi who was still waiting for us at the door, while feeling the breeze and fragrant fragrance from the sea coming out from inside the door. Will the next trip be relaxing and enjoyable? After a terrifying incident where we were chased around by masked criminals, we were finally able to relax a little. We continued to step closer to that door, and I felt we were close to reaching our goal. However, the shadow of a splash of blood was visible on my left, making me immediately glance to the side. I saw the wounded Neera, the rootstrip that stuck on her shoulder until it pierced out. Sharp cries of pain rang out in my ears, and loud cries shot out from Neera's mouth. Neera fell down with pain on her shoulder, and although I wanted to grab her, she was pulled back by the root tendrils that bound her. I braced myself and ran as hard as I could to reach Neera's hand that was pulled backwards.
“NEERAAA!!” I cried very hard.
“ALICEEE!! ALICEEE!!” Neera's cry returned my call.
My hands are held by Koen, “ALICE! THE DOOR CLOSES IMMEDIATELY, Nyx is already inside and we don't know where the key lies without Nyx.” Koen pulled me strong, forcing myself to go inside.
“NEERAA, NEERA CAUGHT, I HAVE TO SAVE HER. I have to save him.” My tears continued to flow in an unstoppable cry.
"We're going to save her, so calm down, Alice. It's not too late for us." Koen held me limp, and we all left Neera behind, letting her be caught by the masked men.
...“Neera, I'm sorry.”...
...☆...
I was abandoned, left alone here. Please save me, I'm not ready to die, Alice.
My body was limp lying on the floor with blood flowing from my shoulders. Footsteps sounded closer and closer, and it was faintly seen someone dressed in a black corset, a pure white shirt, and a large black robe covering his body. Masked man? Yes, he was the goat masked man that just now, approaching me. He lifted my body, hugged me tightly. I could not escape, my body felt weak, even my fingers could not move.
"They left you, Neera. They don't love you."
You lying. They'll definitely be back. Alice will definitely come back and save me. I'm sure it is.
"Take me here, with me. Forget those who left you. You're willing to save your beloved friends, but they won't save you."
Alice is hurt, my friends are hurt. Can they save me quickly? They must have a good reason, right? Ah, dead I think my eyes are so heavy. Tears still running down my face.
"Rest and don't think about anything else. I'll take good care of you, and love you more than your friends who go running for you." The goat masked man hugged me tightly, and I could see a faint sincere smile from him before I closed my eyes and fainted in his hands.
...I'm sure they'll be back tomorrow, sure. Because we are friends....