Chapter 58: A Time Ago…

“Quis veran, Celestra-vae, mol naep keth yu vordain”

[Translation: Please forgive me Goddess, I’d never dare to disobey you]

A woman with long dark hair knelt on the ground, her face pressed against the earth in desperate submission. She wore a simple white sleeveless dress with a straight-cut top and pleated mid-calf length skirt, paired with brown leather ankle-strap sandals. Her entire body trembled as she begged for mercy.

“Yu kethran mol vordek, sae noru yu velm thar grimvek. Yu lorvain quis vetha mor lonest keth yu seran mor dethak nael dethak noru kai velmor…”

[Translation: You disobeyed my orders, and now you will suffer the consequences. You’ll live a life so long that you shall beg for death but death won’t come…]

The voice that responded was cold and merciless. The kneeling woman slowly raised her head, revealing herself to be Ophix—though from a much different time than now. Terror filled her eyes as if witnessing her own doom unfold.

Before Ophix stood the figure she asked for mercy, a silhouette of a floating woman in a gown with long flowing sleeves. There was no clearer view of her, yet it felt like she radiated with so much power.

Then Ophix jolted awake from her unintentional sleep on one of her sofas. The dream faded, but as her vision cleared, she spotted Yaela tiptoeing toward the front door. Ophix had released the girl from the mind control spell over an hour ago, and now Yaela was attempting her escape.

A smile crossed Ophix’s face as she watched silently. Yaela reached the door and tried to leave, but her body slammed into an invisible barrier. The impact sent her stumbling backward, and she pressed her hand to her head, trying to muffle a squeak of pain so she wouldn’t wake who she thought was still the sleeping, Ophix.

Ophix herself struggled to contain her laughter as she watched the girl bounce off the protective force shield surrounding her house. Yaela tried again with the same result, but this time couldn’t hold back her cry of “Ow!” as she spun around to check if the noise had woken Ophix, only to meet the woman’s amused gaze.

Ophix wore a devious smile and casually waved. “Hi…” Ophix said, as if she hadn’t just kidnapped the poor girl. Yaela scrambled backward in panic, with flames erupting from both her hands as she rapid-fired questions: “Where the hell am I? Who brought me here? Who are you? Where’s Liam? Wh—”

“Oh come on! That’s a lot of questions, love,” Ophix interrupted, cutting through Yaela’s stream of panicked inquiries. “But to put it simply, you’ve been kidnapped.”

The word “kidnapped” triggered something deep within Yaela, some trauma from her recent ordeal. But this time she had powers and wasn’t going to let it slide easily. “Let me go or I’ll burn this place to the ground,” she threatened, as her flame magic blazed brighter with each surge of determination in her eyes.

Ophix rose from her seat, gripping a staff topped with a glowing orb. The movement made Yaela retreat further, wary of her captor, and as Ophix took another step forward; without warning, Yaela stretched her hand forward to release flames.

However, before the fire could travel anywhere, Ophix lightly tapped the floor with her staff and the flames instantly died before they could become any threat. Yaela stared at her hand in shock, wondering where her flames had gone, and with another tap of her staff, black bangles with gold accents materialized around both of Yaela’s wrists.

Immediately, Yaela felt her mana drain away. She tried to summon flames again, but nothing happened, not even a spark of smoke. “What did you do to me? What are these?” she asked, examining the bangles on her wrists. She tried to pull them off, but they wouldn’t budge.

“Stop bothering, they won’t come off. At least this way you won’t burn my house,” Ophix said, returning to her seat and motioning for Yaela to sit on the opposite sofa. Yaela simply stared, her expression making it clear she had no intention of following this woman’s orders.

Ophix sighed, realizing Yaela was being stubborn. “Listen, love, if I truly wanted to harm you, I’d have done it already. Come sit,” she said, motioning again toward the sofas.

Yaela slowly walked over, keeping her eyes fixed on Ophix. She eventually sat down and immediately demanded, “Where is Liam? Please take me back home. I’ve done nothing to anyone.”

“You will go home, just not anytime soon,” Ophix replied.

“Why?” Yaela asked, confused by the senseless situation.

Ophix sighed, unsure how to explain it to the girl. “We had to take you away from Liam to give him the motivation he needed to fight against the Family Heads.”

“Huh? Fight who?” Yaela asked again just to be sure she heard that right, and once again Ophix replied, “You heard me right, the Family Leaders”

Yaela chuckled softly, almost forgetting she was kidnapped. “Look, I don’t know what rumors you may have seen on Reddit or Twitter, but I can guarantee you, that’s insane.” The whole idea sounded ridiculous to her. She had only just discovered that Liam was stronger than she thought, and maybe he had fought some strong people, but anyone thinking he could fight Family Heads was just plain stupid or being too much of a Liam fanboy.

“Truth is, child, I think it’s funny too, expecting your brother to do all of that…” Ophix said

“Then why go through all this trouble in the first place?” Yaela asked, trying to make sense of it all.

“Because a certain foolish man believes it could work,” Ophix said with a shrug. “Besides, if this goes as planned, I’d finally be free.”

“Free from what?” Yaela asked, still trying to piece everything together. Ophix smiled and stood up from her sofa. “Don’t worry about that, child. But in the meantime, you can tour the house. Don’t touch anything that looks spooky—it might kill you, and pick whatever room you want; there are plenty. But don’t try to leave the house, whether by doors or windows. It’s been sealed by a spell that even ranked visors can’t break through easily.”

Yaela was shocked by the last statement, but Ophix continued, “So settle in, because we’re going to have a lot of fun.” She concluded with a devious smirk as she retreated into her study, leaving Yaela alone to herself, as she stared around the house, wondering what the hell she was going to do.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep