Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis

[You have failed the quest.]

Ileana's eyes shot open, as her chest heaved up and down in high panting. A moment ago she was in the last place she would have wanted to be, and reliving her moments of enslavement once again. The moments she would never want to recall, but the harder she tried the more, it draws her back in the end.

First, it was in the tournament against Katherine, when she had to live far worse of the actual enslavement for hours before giving away, and then one night she woke up founding someone on top of her, beating her senseless, before turning her into a slave. That treatment was not any better either.

Through some luck, she got herself free again, only to get troubled by these awful nightmares. For one thing, they were in quest now, unfortunately, she failed royally to even do something.

Breathing deep and slow, she tried to calm her breathing, which was not so difficult, but calming the burning indignation in her stomach was another case. She shot up off the blanket and crept out on the deck. The night was still deep; the ocean was calm, contrasting the other day that brought in a storming upheaval.

She paced forth to notice, Mopher was doing his usual business of night watch, silently, watching over the Redhead princess who was pacing around the deck, sometimes raging, sometimes whimpering in annoyance.

They felt her presence as the redhead princess was the first to open his mouth. "Leanie," she said, "So you had those too. I am telling you, I won't suffer any more than this. How dare they put me through all that?!"

So, it was something about her again. Ileana sighed inwardly as she stood leaning against the metal wall. Scarlett never listened to anything if she thinks otherwise, well, she was not a terrible person, and quite likeable, but she had terrible flaws. For something, Scarlett was no less than a child. Well, she does a little more wit than Katherine and that's it. She reckoned it was what happens when you are grown up with too much pampering like a princess. Well, as a matter of fact, she was a princess, and from what she heard, she was quite a big deal.

"Are you alright?" Mopher asked. As much as Scarlett was inconsiderate of others, Mopher was the exact opposite.

Ileana nodded. "Did you go through those as well?" she asked.

"Yes," Mopher said pessimistically, "unfortunately, I failed."

"I, as well," Ileana said as her finger dug into her palms.

"Looks like none of us passed today," Mopher added, giving a look at Scarlett. "Perhaps next time."

"There will be no next time," Scarlett yelled at the very moment. "If there was, I will burn this place down."

"Your highness, you can't do that," Mopher added passively as it was his duty, not that it would be off any help. And he knows it too. "It's ocean everywhere. Fire will do little to it."

"Then I will boil and vaporise the entire ocean of its water," Scarlett yelled back, not admitting defeat.

"You are not Emperor Ashoka, your highness," Mopher added again. It appeared he was not in that bad of a mood failing like her, and seemingly making fun of his highness' trouble.

'Well that was odd,' Ileana thought. "I am with Scarlett in this," she said. "I don't actually want to be there, much less pass it. All I wanted to be is free of that."

"It must have been a pretty bad memory for you to say that," Mopher said, eyeing her sympathetically.

"Yes," she said, "As a matter of fact, you two probably saw it."

Mopher and Scarlett looked at her as if they had no idea what she was talking about.

"It was the other trial," Ileana said slowly, sighing. "The first time when I was introduced to this broader world. Well, I always wanted to be in the broader world, that's why I took the entrance test to the Guardian school, but who knew it would be this broad?

"On the very first day of my introduction to the broader world, my dream shattered. I got captured and worked like a slave for more than 3 days. I know it was not that much, but was enough to crush all my dreams . . ."

"You are talking about that guy capturing you and using you against your friend?" Scarlett asked, eyes blinking.

Ileana nodded, and Scarlett laughed off instantly.

"Leanie, seriously, that was your nightmare?" she asked, still scoffing. "That mentally challenged fellow was your nightmare. Seriously, you can do better."

"Still, it is better than your nightmare, your highness," Mopher added as a side comment.

"Huh!" Scarlett snorted at the knight. "Tell that to on her face if you will, Mopher, then I will acknowledge you."

"I wouldn't dare," Mopher said instantly. "Besides, your highness, I don't think she's your nightmare, but it's the studies."

"Oh please, do you think I would not know what my task is, and you would know it better?" she snorted again. "I know my mother, Mopher. She's really frightening, though I must reckon the nightmare did some justice to her image."

"What are you talking about?" Ileana joined, not getting the point of their conversation.

"It's about her nightmare," Mopher could not stop from grinding this time. "Do you know what it is? It's studying, she's an utter disgrace at that, and her mother was too strict about it, though she failed to do anything about it."

"Huh, huh, very funny," snapped Scarlett. "Now stop it."

"Seriously, your nightmare is studying?" Ileana's eyes widened at the revelation.

"You don't know those things. History, geography and literature are alright, but those math, sciences, those weird shapes were no less than a nightmare, then there was my mother," Scarlett said in indignation.

"Really," Ileana said, "I really envy you there. I would have passed in no time if it were just simple studying."

"You wouldn't have said that if you knew my mother," the princess said wryly. "Sometimes I thought she came straight from the abyss."

"As I said, your highness, your mother was not your nightmare, even if it were, it wouldn't come so early," Mopher said. "Do you fear studying more, or your mother more?"

"You know the answer pretty well, Mopher."

"Then you should get what your task was this time," Mopher smiled and, seeing the contemplating face of his highness, his smile widened. He finally convinced Scarlett of something, or at least nudged her head in another direction. He knows her for over a decade and he was pretty sure if she held onto something for once it would be damning hard to push it to something else.

Even if he made her contemplate her choices, she would still have her mother in the way of the task.

"Wait, I have an idea," Mopher said suddenly. "Your highness, why don't you get help from your new friend Leanie? Well, she came from a different world, but science and math is all same all over the mother universe, she doesn't look like she will have any trouble with her understanding and that is she is willing to help you, who might fail in the multiplication of three-digit numbers."

"Ha ha," sneered the redhead princess, "For your information, I know multiplication."

"So, you are willing to learn from your new friend?"

"I am considering it," Scarlett said, and looked at Ileana. "Perhaps I should give it a try, and if it turns out my nightmare was my mother all along, then you will pay Mopher."

"Sure," Mopher said, muttering under his breath; 'As if I am not already paying enough.' He coughed to say again, "But first you have to consider your new friend too, see if she wants to teach you or not."

"Why wouldn't she?" Scarlett said, ignoring Ileana's standpoint. "But since she's Leanie, I will help her in return as well. You are having trouble standing against that mentally challenged fellow, right?" She did not give Ileana enough time to nod as she continued, "Then I will help you learn to stand up against an adversary that is far stronger than you."

Ileana looked at her with utter bewilderment, but Scarlett pulled her arm next. "Common now, we will start with you. Let's see if you have grown any balls so far. Opps, silly me, we don't have those. Let's start with your spirit." 

Ileana sighed in acceptance. Since Mopher was helping her so much on the survival, he being here for Scarlet, she wouldn't mind helping someone study.

"By the way, please don't tell me your studies only go till the debit multiplication," Ileana asked as they got inside the room. 

"Ahh, I can do more digits too, but it had to be simple digits, like the ones with zeroes or less than 3," Scarlett laughed warily.. "don't tell Mopher, but I might fell to do some third digit multiplications too.