The Avallon Chronicles (BOOK I)

16 | The Stranger's Mission

The stranger, still wearing a hood since he arrived, aided Cithara back towards the garden. All the audiences who were paralyzed were getting better one by one. However, some of them were still frozen.

From a distance, the knights who roamed the labyrinth could be seen assisting the people by giving them potions. As soon as they came, Clevor, who was one of them, came towards Cithara.

"Did I... Did I do this?" Cithara asked the stranger.

"Before you became unconscious," answered the stranger, "yes."

On their way, their attention was caught by something shiny lying on the grass. Curious of what it could be, the both of them came near.

There, they found Cithara's bow and her empty quiver. "Oh, no. What have I done?"

"My lady, Cleia, you are now awake!" Clevor lilted, somehow interrupted by the lady's emotions reflecting on her face. "Is it about the Liberians hating you?"

"Maybe, yes," Cithara whispered, "but somehow I am more concerned about -"

"- the sudden disappearance of the other participants, Sire," the stranger finished.

"About that," Clevor sighed, "we didn't find any signs of where they could be."

"How did that happen?" asked Cithara.

"I don't want to alarm the citizens, my lady, but I do have a strong feeling that they -" Clevor spoke, interrupted by Cithara.

"The demons!" she shuddered.

"What do you mean?" the stranger asked. "You saw demons?"

"While we were at the labyrinth, I saw a demon in its weak form," Cithara explained.

"A meduren!" the stranger gasped.

"How did you know what it's called? I already searched every book here in our tribe but I didn't find that book that contains a lot of information about demons," Cithara asked curiously.

"I got many books in our land," the stranger answered.

Seeing the stranger's penannular brooch on his cloak, a strange idea came into Cithara's mind. Judging from its astonishing dragon design and from the material it was made from, which was a rare crystal, there was something strange about the stranger in front of her.

Cithara grabbed his hand. "Excuse me for just a seale (second), Lio," she spoke before clutching the stranger towards an isolated place where no one could hear their conversation.

"What's the matter?" the stranger asked curiously.

"You are not from here, are you?" Cithara asked knowingly.

"What... What are you talking about?" the stranger answered quickly. He didn't want the young lady to get the idea of what he was truly hiding.

Meanwhile, because of their hurry, the brooch on the stranger's cloak fell to the ground. Seeing a shiny peculiar thing on the ground, Clevor came towards it and picked it up.

"I knew it! There's a creature from another kingdom lurking here in Liberia!" Clevor spoke. "A creature from another kingdom is here!"

"Is there an order from the Sandre, Sire? Does she know about this?" one of his knights asked.

"No, she could have told me if she knew," answered Clevor. "But I know where to find that creature!"

By the rules of the Dream Weavers, no one from the other lands should enter Liberia without any permission from the Royal Family or without any Liberian blood. Any non-Liberian roaming the hidden kingdom shall be caught and punished, for it is considered as a disrespect to the ancient traditions since they sequestered themselves from the others. They promised to stay out of their kingdom, and the other realms also promised to never bother them as well.

"Knights, search this spy at once and bring him to me!" Clevor ordered, aware that the Hadea was with the stranger whom he thought was the creature he was looking for.

Before Cithara could even speak another dialogue, she was startled by Clevor's voice echoing towards the garden, ordering his knights to hunt the stranger down. "Oh, no! They're after you!"

"What shall I do?" asked the stranger. "Are they going to... kill me?"

Having a strange feeling that the stranger had something to do with the things happening that day, Cithara's mind was suddenly filled with questions of whether she's going to help him or just surrender the stranger to the knights.

"Follow me! I have an idea!" Cithara spoke, grabbing the stranger's hand once more and towards the forest of Liberia.

However, on their way, they met several Liberians with blazing torches and angry souls marching toward the castle. She was about to ignore them when she suddenly heard a loud shout coming from one of them. "That's Hadea Cithara! She's escaping!"

"What's going on?" Cithara asked, her heart filled with terror and sadness about what she was witnessing.

"You're bad luck to our kingdom!" the people shouted angrily.

"You do not belong here! You belong to the outside lands!"

"You must be banished from here!"

Teary-eyed and her heart wounded by the sharp words that came from her fellow Dream Weavers, Cithara continued to run away. Deep inside, she knew what they truly meant and what she had to do to make things right.

"Where are we going?" the stranger asked as they ran, "I just... I just got here!"

Cithara just remained silent, looking at her crystal-gem necklace. At the time they reached the end of the hidden cloaking shield of the whole of Liberia, Cithara took her necklace and touched a big tree surrounded by mystical fireflies, like what her aunt did when they went to Everdaile.

The moment the crystal gem and the mystical tree touched, the way toward the other lands appeared in front of their eyes.

"Goodbye, my dear Liberia," she whispered, watching the shield fade away after going to the other side.

"They're... gone," Clevor spoke sadly, seeing what happened to the hadea, which he treated as the younger sister he never had.

The sun slowly rose towards the Eastern Enchantria. Soon enough, the light of the moon and the stars would fade and would be replaced by the bright light of the morning sun – the start of a brand new day.

"As far as I know, you are a royal blood. Why did you leave your kingdom when you have a higher rank than those peasants?" the stranger asked curiously.

"I... I'm just... like they said, a stroke of bad luck. And maybe... maybe they're right. I... I don't belong there," Cithara replied, her tears continuously falling down her rosy cheeks.

A moment of silence followed, accompanied by the soothing sounds of nature itself.

"I came to Liberia for an important mission," the stranger spoke, breaking up the silence.

"What mission?"

"Cithara, I am assigned to gather the chosen warriors of Enchantria. I managed to go to Liberia after getting lost in the woods," the stranger grinned, slowly taking off his hood.

Cithara's eyes widened as she realized who was the one who came for her. "Y-You?"

•○GLOSSARY○•

⚔️Cleia!
- Enchantrian word: Thank goodness!

⚔️Lio
- Elven word: Brother

🗡Meduren
- weak form of a demon

⚔️Sandre
- Liberian word: Future Queen

⚔️Seale
- Enchantrian word: Second