A Mysterious Arrow

Chapter Five: The Red Walls

    "Don't talk to a single man there, even when spoken to, understand?" Cora nodded as she watched Galleous button her cardigan. "Abbigial will take care of you," Cora furrowed her eyebrows. "Aren't you coming?"

    "I cannot," Galleous explained shaking his head. "I have a meeting with the Aurelian Masters about the issue." this was the most confused Cora had ever been in a long time. Galleous had refused to elaborate why The Queen of The End wanted to meet her in The Nether of all places. Her parents didn't even believe in such a thing. "Abbigail thinks that her powers can be connected to the arrow somehow. But it won't leave your sight so you have to go to."

    "I don't think I want to go without you," Cora admitted while Galleous handed her her bag. "Neither do I, but I trust Abbigail, I have for nearly two decades,"

    ~~~~

The moment Galleous went to drop Cora off with Abbigail, she didn't leave his side. Even if she didn't act like it publicly, Cora was rather shy. The moment Abbigail saw Galleous alive and well, without a sense of agony, she looked like she would faint. "Abbigail-" Before Galleous could finish his thought, Abbigail pulled him in for a suffocating hug, nearly lifting him off the floor. "Abbigail, please, my back," Galleous said between laughs. Abbigail let go. "I never thought I'd get a letter back. I thought you had died!" Abbigail turned her attention to Cora. "Is this Cora?" she said kneeling to her level. "Oh, yes. Cora, this is Queen Abbigail of The End." Cora had never had a positive image of a woman before. Even her mother had her as an alcoholic, but when she looked at Abbigail, she didn't she a single flaw. "You're very pretty." she didn't expect that to slip out. She never complimented people. "Thank you," Abbigail said with a smile and a soft chuckle. "Keep her with you, alright?" Abbigail nodded before Galleous left. "I wish we could meet under different circumstances," Abbigail said leading her through the halls of The Nether Palace. The entire dimension reminds her of hell itself. Her neighborhood was severely Catholic, and never believed in anything but it.

When they walked into the conference room, the only one who was there was Vulcannus. Cora was shocked about the fact he was already expecting her. "Ms. Provenzano," he said in the most professional way that Cora had ever been used to. "Welcome," he said holding out his hand. Cora hesitantly shook it. "This is King Vulcannus,"

    "Are you one of the bad men Galleous warned me about?" Abbigail laughed under her breath. Vulcannus awkwardly smiled. "I hope not," he answered. "Where's the council?" Abbigail asked. "Handling Civil War," Abbigail furrowed her eyebrows in confusion but Vulcannus didn't elaborate. "I know it might be quite personal, but what was your nightmare about?" Vulcannus asked Abbigail. "It was a voice, telling me that I'd always be alone. And that I'd die with the arrow in my chest." As soon as Abbigail mentioned the voice Cora's head shot up. "I remember," she said. Suddenly, the arrow grew longer in her pocket, in a way to get her attention. Core winced in pain before taking the arrow from her pocket. It was glowing again. "Odd..." Vulcannus said to himself. "Where did this come from?" Cora shrugged. Vulcannus thought for a moment. "Well, I'll take it up with the ancient texts, it might be thousands of years old for all I know. Butt that will require you staying here. Are you alright with that?" Cora hesitantly nodded. She couldn't help but think Galleous was overexaggerating about the men in the Nether. She noticed he was very polite. She always noticed that Abbigail loved that. Vulcannus left, leaving Abbigail and Cora alone. Abbigail watched as Vulcannus turned down the hall and vanished. Cora held down a laugh. "What?"

    "You like him don't you?" she teased. Abbigail's face flushed, hoping Vulcannus was far enough away so he couldn't hear. "I- no!" she pretended to be disgusted by the fact, but she wasn't very good at acting. "Yeah, you do," Abbigail rolled her eyes in annoyance and embarrassment. "Alright, that's enough," Abbigail said. "We have work to do."

    ~~~~

While Abbigail and Vulcannus tried their very best to figure out the origins of the arrow, Cora aimlessly wandered around the Netheran Palace, even though she wasn't supposed to. After a while, Cora heard whispering, but she couldn't decipher whether it was the voice from her nightmare, or something completely foreign. "C-ora," it breathed. Cora whipped her head behind her but didn't see a soul. "Don't be shy," now a bit annoyed that she was being teased, Cora called out to the voice. "Hello?" she exclaimed, her voice echoing off the red walls. No reply. Cora walked down a few more halls before remembering what she had found a few days back. The silhouette under her bed. Was that what was calling out to her? Had it followed her all the way to hell? Cora turned the corner to see a glowing bow lying on the brick floor. It was green, purple, red, yellow, and blue and had designs carved into it. "There you are," the voice whispered. She was right. Cora hesitantly picked up the bow with both hands and stared at it. Her life was always confusing, she didn't understand a bit of it. She wanted to go home, she wanted to see Galleous again. He promised he wouldn't leave her, and to poor little Cora, he did.

Cora felt her forehead warm up and her breath get heavy, suddenly a duplicate of the arrow came out of nowhere and pierced the wall in front of her. Cora jumped back in surprise. What was she getting herself into?