Crownless: The Fallen World - Chapter 37

The first thing that Hale noticed was the figure’s arms, coated in ice; it was like sculptured ice with intricate details, so beautifully carved.

He crawled more to get a better view of the male, his eyes never leaving the figure. Then, there he saw it, Aires’ whole body was frozen solid. Hale was too shocked to notice how the tiny hologram looked over at him then at the child clinging to him.

“Young man, what are you doing here?”

“Huh?” Hale turned over at the hologram, a middle aged man dressed in his lab coat with a questioning look thrown at them. It was, especially, looking at the child latched onto him. Upon noticing, like a habit, he covered the child protectively from the discerning eyes of the old man.

The man’s brow raised then he laughed, the volume was enough to even make the sound so mechanical, “Young man… don’t worry, the boy is just too familiar to me. Anyway, answer my question; what are you doing here?”

“That man, I’m his partner.”

“And my dad,” The little child interjected with a wide smile.

“I see… it’s perfect then. Can you go out of the room and do a favor for me?”

“And why do I have to obey you?” Hale scoffed then rolled his eyes, irritated at the man.

“Your partner’s life is at stake. Do me a favor of going out of this room; find a Liden descendant, it’s best if that person is an unawakened being. You only have 5 hours to take that person here or else he, your partner, will remain as ice forever. The tornado got a bit of the core’s energy and the ice became much more difficult to handle and this young man here has been battling it. An unawaken Liden, the so-called child of the ice, can only be a suitable vessel to contain the ice element.”

“As much as I wanted to do it; can I really trust you?” Hale probed further, not sure if he can trust this old man, though his feet were already itching to go out and find that Liden descendant that he didn’t even know of.

“Of course. This young lad here volunteered to be the temporary vessel of this core. I told him about the consequences but he still insisted, because he knew that someone will surely come at the right time to save him. Trust yourself more, young man.”

Hale bit his bottom lip, clearly touched by the words, and then nodded. He immediately set off, tightly grabbing the child in his arms, to go to the settlement camp of the Gavin City residents; passing through the tunnels they just took earlier, not minding the things that disgusted him.

After long minutes, which he knew were an hour longer, he arrived at the settlement camp. He was greeted by the sight of the people around several bonfires and some houses, tents, and even just simple grasses weaved together to sleep onto. Hale frantically ran around to search for Kassean to ask about this freaking descendant.

When he was at a certain spot, wheezing his exhaustion out, the voice he hated so much rang out just beside him, “What are you doing here?”

Hale let out a throaty chuckle, “Wow… that was the second time I heard that question.”

“… oh… kay? Shouldn’t you be with Seb? Did you find him?” Kassean inquired, but he only got a response that he never expected, it was too confusing to even be understood, “Like an ice sculpture. Do you know any of Liden’s descendants?”

“What? Well, I don’t know any of them. First time I’ve heard of it,” Kassean spoke calm words as he shrugged, “Wait, ice sculpture? What are you talking about? What ice sculp- UGH!” but before he could even finish, he received a hard slap on his chest that made him stumble back; his butt finally met the ground. Disbelief filled his face; his mouth agape, he looked at Hale, who looked so intimidating while holding a child in his arms, with widened eyes.

“Uh… Si-sir Hale, ahaha, what happened? Why did you just attack me?” He awkwardly scratched his nape, afraid to anger the younger male more. He, who beat up the most feared male in the High Order, shall not be pissed.

But then, Kassean heard the most melodic voice he ever heard throughout his life. It was the voice of his annoying co-leader ready to save his life. Well, not really.

“Hale? What are you doing here?” Indeed, Arya came to check out the commotion that made their citizens called out to her in horror when their Lord was attacked by this harmless male.

“Third time,” Hale said through a frustrated sigh.

“What?” 

“Nothing. Anyway, do you have any knowledge about Liden’s descendants?”

“Liden? Oh! There’s this royal family that has a Liden mixed in their surnames. Do you want me to take you to their quarters?” Arya motioned her right hand towards a bustling part of the settlement

“That will really help. Considering that you’re the Lady of the city, you’re more knowledgeable than the Lord itself. How disappointing of him, right? Should’ve known before I could even ask. Now, my frustration doubled because of some idiotic blond,” Hale said before he stepped forward and followed Arya who could only nod in strong agreement.

“…” Kassean blankly stared at their retreating backs, his butt still on the dirty ground.

***

Arya knocked on the door of a luxurious convenience house. After a few minutes, they heard quick paddings of steps and the next they saw was a beauty that Hale was so familiar with.

“Oh? It’s you! I thought I might never even meet you. Where’s Aires?” Her honey voice entered Hale’s ears, but he couldn’t help but compare it to the voice that Aires made when he was talking to the little child he was with right now.

“Hi. It’s just been a whole night since we never got to see each other, Sylvia.”

“Agreed, but because of what happened earlier, I thought that I would never get a chance since I never saw you two in the evacuating group,” She sighed as she thought of what happened that held a huge and deep wound in her heart. Sylvia shook her head as she tried to eliminate the scene from her head, she deeply inhaled before asking, “By the way, why are you here?”

“Fourth… kind of.”

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing…” Hale mumbled.

Arya eyed the two as her lips erupted into a wide grin. She coughed, never losing the grin, as she spoke, “Madame Sylvia, aren’t you one of Liden’s descendants?”

Sylvia tilted her head and bit her bottom lip, “I don’t know what you’re talking about but… I kind of knew that my mother’s line has them. I inherited my father’s blood, as they said. I’m sorry… it’s just… I’m the only one who was left after what happened earlier.”