Chapter 183 – Journal Entry 33: Pandora’s Ballad 3

The day after, I followed Pandora again. This time she did what she did like yesterday. Her schedule consists of walking around the island doing a one woman soliloquy. At the moment she is on the beach again watching the white sands being washed over by the waves. Her violet eyes watching a crab-like creature trek through the sands. There was a hint of joy in the Mistress, her laugh was quite lovely. But after that laugh of hers, she turned silent, cling to Grom’s arm. There the sad expression she wears while trying to sleep in her house appeared again, a lonely smile unbefitting of before she made that joyful laugh, almost as if she remembered something painful.

My heart wavers at the thought of spying the loneliness before me. It was painful to look at. Almost like a sad lonely child who lost her parents, unable to let go or a foolish teenager that has her first love fail. Her posture was quite bleak; there was no elegance to it compared when she faces other people.

She finally stood up after mopping on the white sands. She did her usual schedule without any hint of going to the ruins. Thus I retreated back to my fields and talked to Elena how she isn’t doing anything.

“Maybe she wouldn’t be going soon huh, well she usually tells us not to go to the ruins. So I will tell you when she goes.”

“I see, and then I guess I shall lay off in tailing?”

“No, please do it. Unlike you, I could never able to tail the Mistress without her blinking behind my back. Actually, I am pretty impressed that you haven’t been spotted yet.”

“I have my ways.”

I could only reply that. I could not just tell Elena that it is due to forgotten ‘instincts’ and ‘skills’ that I am able to do so. In fact every single day I regain my abilities. And seeing myself getting stronger without doing anything unhinges me badly, I feel like everything that I would try to touch would break. I feared it so much that I spent the entire night taking control, not daring to go beyond the limit of what a human can do.

“Are you okay?”

Elena noticed my suddenly lost in thought. I smiled trying to cover my bit of weakness while also holding her soft yet rough hand. She tried to pull it away but I was stronger than her. I could grip her hand never let it go. I am glad that I am able to hold her hand despite the slowly rising strength of mine.

“Hey. Let go...”

She was quite bashful but I see her not resisting that much. Somehow my instincts told me to just pull her over and embrace her. But I am a gentleman so I decided to hold it out. Of course, if there is anyone that tries to court her, then I won’t be passive anymore. Besides, I am still doing something for Elena. It can wait.

...

Pandora did nothing as of today. She merely sat on the island shrine so I went out to the fields plowing the land. It is a good day, and the mood around is still great. I was planning to just lie down on the grass but Elena arrives with her suit zippered down. The overalls of her full body suit use for smithing were tied around her waist. She visited again with her multi-tool rod. She chatted around with me in my fields.

After talking for a while we decided to roam around instead of just idling in the farm lands. Elena already knew of Pandora’s schedule so she decided to give me a tour of the ruins that Pandora visits. She wanted me to scour the location just in case I need some place to hide. The ruins are located on the back of the Island, about forty minutes away from my fields. The path towards the ruins are quite hazardous, but since Elena has visited before. She was used to taking the safe paths. I followed her but at the time keep my eyes open for any danger. When we arrive at the ruins I saw brownish like columns and a half open entrance. The arch on top of the entrance seems quite old. Well, that is to be expected of ancient ruins.

Elena then introduced me to the ancient ruins. From its history where it’s supposed to be a temple for the dragon priests that worship the arch-dragon that guards the island before Pandora took over. Elena was quite knowledgeable and at the same time, she told me how no one is allowed to enter the ruins without Pandora’s permission. Knowing that now, I questioned how I would be able to enter the ruins. Elena seems to forget about this and got worried about the plan to tail Pandora. Seeing her distraught I tried touching the barrier only to feel no restraint at all. Elena saw me passing my hand through without any resistance and put on a smile.

I like her smile, I really do. But, I resisted her charms for now. I wanted to have this task over first. So for now, I coughed and listened to her talk about the plan. And as she was talking, the world suddenly turn red, a shockwave made of red happened.

The red flicker came about again. I was shocked that I grab Elena over and grab her to protect. It took me seconds to realize that we were quite in a dangerous position. I ran out of the ruins while holding Elena carefully. She was quite noisy about but I didn’t let her go until the red flicker of the curse disappeared.

Out of the ruins, I made her stand. She was being bashful again, trying to be angry but it didn’t work on me. Instead, she thanked me, I said nothing and by the end, the two of us looked up the sky, wondering about the red flicker.

The red flicker was quite fast to happen. Unlike last time, according to Elena, the red flicker doesn’t happen twice in a month. But even so, the red flicker of the curse of Sanctus happened. And when we observe the sky further, Elena and I saw a red line of crack plastered upon the sky. As if the sky was a mirror, slowly breaking.