NOVEL NEXT Chapter 49: Trapped
"Arghhh!" Maria roared in frustration and hurled the book across the room, pushing back the strands of hair that had fallen to obstruct her vision. She was now in her dorm room, and just as she had expected, things weren't going to be easy. She glanced once more at the book she had thrown away.
Blank.
The pages were all blank.
"It seems he placed some rune on it," she muttered, biting her nail in frustration. She had suspected he would place some sort of protection on the book—after all, it contained future knowledge of this world. It was supposed to be their plan B, designed for a specific scenario: if a future event occurred and something happened to him, she would be able to read this book, understand everything, and recreate the plans he had already made with the others.
But instead of the distant future this contingency was prepared for, they found themselves in exactly that situation now. Something had indeed happened to him.
After his expulsion from the Academy, he was supposed to wait for her and the others at a certain place on the outskirts of Elfame—that was where they were meant to rendezvous. They had planned to use a particular relic to reconstruct his face, and with her help, he would be readmitted to the academy for future 'arcs' (as he always called them).
But for some reason, he hadn't gone to the meeting point. Not only that, but everyone he had bound to himself—those who were supposed to regain their hidden memories with his permission—had forcefully remembered everything all at once. She was among them, and that could only mean something had happened to him.
He wasn't dead, though. That fact was unquestionable. After all, if he were, she would feel it. The connection she shared with him would shatter, and she herself, along with the others, would die. This was the cycle of their lives, after all—an eternal bond. They were connected to him at a soul level, which was why he had been able to make them remember... their past.
But for some reason, he always kept the future hidden from them, and this book only served to further vex her about the situation. It seemed the book bore a time rune, readable only at that specific point in the future they had agreed upon—but that wasn't really her concern at the moment.
She simply wanted to know what had happened to him. Something unexpected must have occurred for him to deviate from a plan they had been crafting for so long. He wasn't dead, so perhaps he had been kidnapped?
She sighed deeply, then heard her teleric ringing. Standing up, she walked toward it and glanced at the contact ID.
"Tasha," she muttered with a frown, then picked it up and answered.
"I saw him," came the voice on the other end, and Maria's eyes widened.
"What?" Maria's eyes grew wide as she grabbed her jacket, swiftly putting it on before rushing out.
"But... he's changed," Tasha continued, causing Maria to frown and stop at a corner.
"I clearly felt the connection—I know it's him—but he doesn't look like himself. He doesn't even recognize me. It seems his alter is in control... I really don't understand it." At this, Maria bit her lip.
"Where did you spot him?" she asked.
"At Elfame."
.
.
.
.
"O...kay?" Asher said, blinking as several figures materialized from no where. They were dressed entirely in black, their faces hidden beneath dark hoods.
"Asher..." He turned to find Natalia's face drained of color.
Despite her considerable abilities, she clearly wasn't confident about defeating this many opponents. It made sense, really—her condition left her at a significant disadvantage. Even with enough raw power, being unable to move freely put her at their mercy. What made it worse was that she obviously hadn't expected Asher to be strong enough to protect even himself, let alone both of them. The burden of defending them had fallen squarely on her shoulders, a responsibility that should have belonged to her friend if she'd been here instead.
"What?" he asked, not bothering to look back at her.
"Get behind me," Natalia said through gritted teeth, her hair beginning to crackle with static electricity.
"Calm down, nothing's going to happen," Asher replied with surprising nonchalance, reaching into Annabella's ring to manifest the last remaining weapon in there—a elegantly carved wand that seemed to hum with latent energy.
"Hm, a mage," observed the figure at the front of the group. The voice was distinctly feminine, and the moment Asher heard it, his brow furrowed in recognition.
He was absolutely certain he'd heard that same voice before, though he couldn't quite place where.
"What do you want?" he asked, his tone carefully neutral.
"Everything. Hand over all your belongings," came a gruff male voice from behind them. Asher glanced over his shoulder, realizing with a sinking feeling that they were now completely surrounded.
Belongings? That was interesting. He carried virtually nothing of value—in fact, from the moment these figures had appeared, he'd noticed exactly where the apparent leader's attention was focused.
Natalia's bag.
But that didn't make complete sense. Would they really deploy such a complex magical array just for a bag whose contents they couldn't even be sure of? The level of preparation this had required suggested they were after something specific.
"Asher—"
"QUIET," he snapped. Natalia immediately fell silent, clearly taken aback by this sudden change in his demeanor.
"You..." Asher said slowly, studying the lead figure more intently. "You're that lady from the restaurant."
"What?" Natalia's eyes widened. "Eve?" The name tumbled out automatically—it was the first possibility that sprang to mind given Asher's words.
The hooded figure remained conspicuously silent, neither confirming nor denying the accusation.
"We'll do this the hard way if you refuse to comply," threatened another male voice, this one belonging to someone standing just beside the suspected woman.
'One, two, three, four, five, six,' Asher counted internally, though his external expression suggested panic. The truth was quite different—he wasn't panicked at all. Not because the situation didn't warrant it, but because he understood that panic would do absolutely nothing to improve their circumstances. His true emotions remained carefully restrained, locked away behind a mask of calculated calm.
'This was planned well in advance. It seems I have some remarkably strange luck,' he realized.
There was literally no way this ambush had been set up on the spot. Laying down such an intricate magical array required a series of complex magic circles, and that was something that would take considerable time to prepare—unless their group included a high-level rune user. But that possibility raised even more questions. Such a person would almost certainly be affiliated with the Arcane Legacy, the sort of utopia for all races where the academy was located. Someone with that level of rune mastery would normally be found in such prestigious circles.
If his deduction was correct, this meant the attack had been planned far in advance. For them to walk into it without noticing also required an insane level of preparation and surveillance. And if his suspicion about the lead figure really being the server from the restaurant was accurate, then it could only mean one thing—they had been specifically targeted.
No, not them exactly. Natalia and her friend had been the real targets. The server had apparently been planning this for quite some time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
'But what could they possibly be after—oh.' The realization hit him like a lightning bolt.
Her ID card.
He realized.
"How about..." Asher began, and suddenly an intricate tattoo blazed to life on his right hand, glowing with otherworldly energy. A brilliant pink magic circle materialized before his wand.
"No."
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!