Manifest War: The Weapons Within

Deep down in the dungeons of the Boundless palace sat Caleb, Sarah, and Rivell. Their cell was dark, dingy, and had a slight smell of mildew filling the air. Sarah sighed loudly as she jiggled the heavy chain wrapped around her ankle, annoyed that they were captured so easily.

“Man, this sucks… So much for our plan..” She softly said, not having the energy to speak louder.

“Yeah… And to make matters worse, they’ve got core blockers within these bounds. There’s no way we’re getting out of here…” Caleb replied, noticeably frustrated by their carelessness.

“And what about Carmen? Where did they take her? I hope she’s okay..” Rivell’s voice trembled as he spoke and fear started to take over the group. Sarah punched the ground in frustration and a single tear streamed down her face.

“Damn it… I’m so sorry guys. I just had to drag you all out here..” Rivell scooted over to Sarah and patted her on the back as she began to cry.

“Hey, don’t put the blame on yourself. You just wanted to save your family and we all willingly agreed to help you. No one is at fault here.” He said, trying to comfort her the best he can.

Sarah shifted her body over as she buried her face into Rivell’s chest, continuing to cry harder. He was surprised again by this sudden level of vulnerability from her and after a brief pause, he proceeded to hug Sarah, gently rubbing her back. Caleb remained silent as he crossed his arms, leaning against the wall and deeply trying to think of a solution to their current problem.

After a few moments passed, Sarah calmed down and fell asleep in Rivell’s arms, her short red hair brushing against his shirt. He stayed as still as possible as he looked over towards the rusty cell bars, wondering how long they would be down here for.

Within the tallest spire of the Boundless palace, multiple guards followed closely behind Homura as they escorted Carmen to her holding cell. The long, winding steps seemed to go on forever and Carmen was quickly out of breath by the halfway point. They finally arrived at a large wooden door that had multiple locks and runic symbols decorated on the outside.

Homura quietly stepped aside and allowed the guards to undo the bolts. Once the door opened, Carmen saw a fairly extravagant room with a queen sized bed, expensive furniture, and tall vaulted ceilings. In no way did this room look like a prison cell and this confused Carmen to no end.

The guards pushed and forced Carmen inside, guiding her over to the soft bed. As she took a seat, they attached a thick, silver shackle to her ankle. Once the clasp was closed and tightened, another guard connected a long chain to it that reached from the opposite side of the room. Despite the inconvenient binding, Carmen would be able to move about the room with little issue.

“This’ll be your home for the time being. If you need anything, just ring that bell over there. A maid should come to assist you.” Homura said with a slight smile, turning her attention to Carmen. As soon as their eyes met, Carmen shot a menacing glare towards Homura. The amount of justified irritation and rage behind her eyes caused Homura to snicker.

“Oh myyy, are you upset? Don’t worry, you’ll learn to appreciate the hospitality I’ve shown you today. I’ll be back later to check on you, okay?” She replied with another kind smile, not flinching an inch from Carmen’s freighting, red eyed glare.

Carmen gave Homura no reply as she simply turned her face towards the opposite direction, ignoring her captor’s statement completely. Homura chuckled again and motioned for the guards to follow her out of the room. They all swiftly exited Carmen’s cell and locked the door shut, the mechanisms loudly echoing against the walls as each one fastened.

Once silence was heard outside, Carmen quickly stood from her bed and looked around the room. She frantically scanned every corner and nook to hopefully find some kind of means to escape, but to her surprise, there was no such thing.

Carmen then gripped the long chain that dragged from her ankle and pulled it with all her might. The chain didn’t budge an inch from the wall and after multiple attempts, she eventually gave up.

“Ugh…… What should I do?” Carmen wondered as she took her seat again, now looking over at the single, frosted window on the opposite side of the room. She then averted her gaze towards her palm and tried to summon forth Graviton’s Eclipse. Nothing happened. These shackles had completely locked away her abilities and her Manifest.

At this point, Carmen began to realize just how helpless she now was and that there wasn’t anything she could do to get herself out of this mess. She sighed once more as she laid down, staring up at the intricately detailed vaulted ceilings. Fatigue started to overcome her and within minutes, Carmen fell soundly asleep, resting from such an impossibly stress filled day.

Back at Castle de Belouis, Nadine was making her mid-morning rounds as she tended to the guests of this royal establishment. As she got to the upper floors, Nadine noticed that things were unusually quiet.

“I wonder if the young miss and her friends are still sleeping. I’m going to have to give that lazy child a stern talking to, since she knows it is unbecoming of a lady to oversleep so often.” Nadine thought to herself, feeling annoyed by Carmen’s lack of initiative in the mornings.

She approached Carmen’s door and knocked with a hefty rhythm. Seconds went by, but no response came from the room. Nadine sighed as she opened the door, feeling annoyed that she once again had to act out her routine of waking Carmen up. She walked to the bed and noticed a bump underneath the sheets, laying still.

“Typical…” Nadine quickly and forcefully slung the sheets off of the bed, having done this same song and dance numerous times before. However, what she saw was not what she expected at all. Under the sheets were two pillows curiously laid out to look like a person. Carmen was nowhere to be seen.

“What? Where could she have-.” Nadine muttered before getting interrupted by another maid.

“Sorry to bother, Ma’am, but have you seen Lady Sarah this morning? I went to give her a clean set of clothes, but I can’t seem to locate her.” She softly asked with a bow. Nadine began to feel a bit uneasy and commanded the maid to gather the other workers on staff to search the castle for them.

After a thorough search was conducted, one of the maids returned to Nadine and informed her that they could not locate the two.

“We searched all floors and the grounds outside of the castle, they are not here Miss Nadine. Even the young master, Rivell, is missing.” She said, laying out all the details.

“Thank you, I'll inform Her Majesty at once. Return to your posts for now.” Nadine quickly made her way to Azhane’s office, feeling incredibly nervous about the news she had to relay.

Azhane sat in her chair, humming a tune softly as she read and signed documents. She had just gotten into a good work rhythm until she suddenly heard a loud knock at her door.

“Yes, you may enter.” The door opened as Nadine rushed inside with a look of panic upon her face.

“My Lady, please excuse my sudden arrival, but we may have a serious problem!” Nadine said, clearly overcome by anxiety.

“It’s alright, calm yourself Nadine. Now, what is the problem?” Azhane asked with a gentle tone.

“Lady Carmen and her friends seem to be missing. We’ve searched every inch of this castle and they are nowhere to be seen.” Azhane’s eyes went wide with confusion as worry started to shower over her.

“What?? What do you mean they’re missing???” She asked, trying to understand the words coming from Nadine. Just before her emotions got too riled up, Zalthia and Asiah of Three walked into the office, oblivious to the situation at hand. They bowed their heads to Azhane and Zalthia quickly noticed the expression on her sister’s face.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Zalthia asked, rapidly reading the mood of the room.

“Apparently our little sister and her friends are missing. No one has been able to find them this morning…” Azhane quickly replied with an anxious tone.

“Ughhh, where did that girl run off to this time??” Zalthia forcefully sighed as she rolled her eyes, feeling highly annoyed that she had to deal with this right now.

“I don’t know, but we need to bring her back and fast.” Azhane stood from her chair, ready to leave, but was suddenly stopped by Zalthia.

“No, you stay here. We’lll find her and bring them back. Asiah, come with me.” Zalthia responded before swiftly turning around and exiting the office.

“As you wish, commander.” Asiah bowed to Azhane and then followed behind Zalthia, not wasting any more time. Azhane reluctantly sat back down while sighing, now feeling even more stressed out.

“Can I get you anything, My Lady?” Nadine softly asked. No response came from the Queen.

After a brief moment of silence, Nadine caught the hint and quickly bowed her head before seeing herself out of the room. Azhane buried her face in her hands as she blankly stared at the documents on her desk, beginning to hit the absolute limit.

Zalthia and Asiah rushed up the stairs and went straight to Carmen’s room, hoping to find some kind of clue. They rummaged around and noticed that various other items were missing as well.

“Hmm, it seems as though they left last night some time. Carmen’s night gown is still freshly pressed and unworn from the prior evening.” Zalthia said while picking up the silky gown and examining it.

“Yeah and I don’t see her travel bag anywhere..” Asiah replied with a curious tone. They continued to search around, trying to find any evidence about her current whereabouts, however they found nothing of use.

“Damn it... Why can’t that brat ever just stay put?? She just always has to get into something…” Zalthia fumed as her irritation towards Carmen grew more intense, feeling worried and angry at the same time.

“Hmmm, I might have an idea on how we can find her.” Asiah stepped back as she extended her left arm outward, causing the tribal tattoo on her forearm to glow intensely.

“Come forth, Vera!!! Heed my call!!” Suddenly a large, white liger materialized from the ether and roared loudly, shaking the castle floors vigorously. Asiah smiled while she petted the beast gently on its head, warmly greeting her creature Manifest.

Asiah looked over to Zalthia and asked her to hand over the nightgown. Zalthia did so, allowing Asiah to hold it up closely to Vera’s nose. Vera took multiple deep breaths as she pressed her face onto the soft garment, absorbing every bit of scent she could. Moments later, Vera’s head jolted up and she immediately looked over towards the door before trotting to it.

Asiah and Zalthia followed behind Vera closely as she navigated her way through the hall and down to the balcony. Just as they got outside, she stopped and focused her gaze in the eastern direction that Carmen left from, signaling that she knew where they went.

“Is that the direction Carmen went?” Asiah gently asked her Manifest. Vera nodded and growled intently, showing that she was ready to pursue her objective.

“Vera picked up her scent? That was fast.” Zalthia approached the banister and looked out into the distance.

“Yeah, but there’s no telling how far out she is though. That direction is Olun Territory and if Carmen is there, that’s a little over a week's worth of travel with Vera. Hell, she could be anywhere in that direction. It’s too difficult to tell.” Asiah replied with a worried cadence, feeling unsure about how they would approach this.

“But how the hell did they even get that far over night?” She added, still wrapping her brain around the situation. Upon hearing this question, Zalthia immediately remembered the necklaces that Azhane had made. She sighed loudly while palming her forehead, now realizing what they had done.

“Ugh… I knew we should’ve never given those brats a teleportation pendant…” Zalthia muttered under her breath, shaking her head in disbelief. Zalthia took a moment to think things over and after another hearty sigh, she finally spoke up.

“Well, I guess we better get started then... The longer we stand here, the more likely danger will present itself. Let’s go.” Asiah agreed and then quickly hopped onto Vera’s back, motioning for Zalthia to join her.

She reluctantly took a seat and with a loud roar, Vera leapt upwards. The force of the jump was incredible, almost knocking Zalthia off of her back. Asiah quickly grabbed Zalthia’s arm while telling her to hold on tight.

As they reached their peak trajectory, Vera gracefully hopped in the air, as though she were jumping from invisible platform to invisible platform.

“I'll never get over how useful your Manifest is.” Zalthia quipped as she looked down at the tiny city below. Asiah chuckled while petting Vera on the head a few more times, showing gratitude towards her longtime partner.

“She can’t fly forever, so we’ll have to take multiple breaks. But, she’s locked in on Carmen’s scent. At Vera’s current pace, we should be able to find her in no time.” Zalthia nodded at the update and continued to be impressed by Asiah’s Manifest, admiring many sights through the wispy clouds.