Technical Difficulties

Login 5: Verity

“Well?”
Oblivion looked at the poor stuttering minion with coldness and dislike as he knelt before her, his lips still trembling.

“I… couldn’t look into the matter too deeply without getting caught,” He swallowed. “I got the information you wanted, mistress, but before I could look into it some more, the guards were returning, so I couldn’t completely retrieve all of it or I’d have risked getting into serious trouble—”
He caught her look of displeasure in the selfishness of his words and quickly added, “I meant— serious trouble for you, my mistress.”

“And?” Her voice remained steadily chilly. “Do you have what I asked you?”
He swallowed again. “Yes, most of it.”

His two legs wobbled as he walked up to her and presented a few pieces of tattered parchment that seemed to be torn out of a book. Then, he returned to his kneeling position on the floor before her to avoid any possible physical wrath.

Scanning it briefly in her hands, her lips curved into a smile of satisfaction. The stern expression on her face turned into a face of gentleness- something most of the servants could only dream of achieving with the Grim Reaper of the Darkness.

“You’ve done well, Bartholomew.” She congratulated him benevolently.
Feeling relieved, Bartholomew added, “Y-yes, those scriptures were quite hard to obtain…” He said in an attempt to further his praise.
“Hm…” She looked back at the pieces and started reading.

Of all the dark arts in the world of Element, the Unbreakable Seal may be considered as one of the most infuriating. Whether it was cast upon another as punishment, or cast as a sign of loyalty to another does not matter. The main purpose of the seal is to bind two or more people to each other.

In order to perform the Unbreakable Seal, the caster must first have an extraordinary sense of knowledge in the Dark Arts, and must acknowledge the dire consequences if expectations for the enchantment are not met. After the verbal incantation of the spell and the drawing of the Bonding Circle onto the earth, one must draw blood from themselves and step into the circle. Then, the blood must be offered from the other participants, whether forced to or not. The consumption of blood is considered one of the greatest acts of loyalty and is also said to be the most tedious and somewhat gruesome acts of Dark Art performances (for those who are non-vampire, that is).

The strength of the bonds lay in the heart of those who are bonded. Even the strongest of player cannot successfully perform the bond if they are unable to prove their strength of mind and heart, as well as determination. (Be aware that in the case of the victims being forced to draw and consume the blood, the strength of the bond lies in the one who commands such acts)

“Um, mistress?”
Her reading was interrupted and she looked up.

“Yes, Bartholomew?” She answered with a slight hint of irritation she didn’t even consider hiding.
“Y-yes,” he swallowed. “Well, it’s about…the payment for my- my services.”

She looked at him in amusement.
“Your services?” She smiled. “What of them?”
“W-well, you promised to pay me 10 Judes if I did what you asked. And, well- I have.” He said with tremor, his body shaking. “So…”
She raised her eyebrows. “So? I’m supposed to give you your service’s worth, am I right?” She sneered malevolently.
“Y-you promised.”

“Yes, I did.” She replied, making no move to give him anything. “But I can also tell the council how a little minion like you snuck into the Restricted Library of Dark Arts.” She acted like she was thinking hard for a moment. “I wonder what they’ll do to you then? Perhaps render you out of the clan? Out of a job, or maybe worse…”
“B-but! I did so on your orders, ma’am!” He yelped.
“Yes, which you have done very well, Bartholomew.” She said with a cold smile. “Didn’t I say I was pleased with the results?”

A moment of silence followed, and he stammered into the silence, “Please, I need the money…”
She looked at him, bemused. “Don’t we all?”

“B-but, mistress, you can’t—” He looked at her and she stared back with her cold eyes.
“Well, who do you think they’re going to believe? You- a useless underling, or me- the second highest of the Council?” She asked back. The smile creeping upon her delicate face matched no more than sunflower would at a sandy beach. Her brilliant looks were much to deceiving.

He swallowed and said no more. All was lost, and he had finally understood that he had been used at her expense, and was getting paid in nothing but humiliation for his stupidity.

“I guess it’s true what they say— Never strike a deal with the devil.” He thought bitterly.
“You may leave.”

He nodded regrettably and left the room, closing the French doors behind him.
She turned back to the papers in her hands with a smirk on her face.

Unbreakable Seals can only be broken by the power of an extremely rare mineral called Rescinea, found in the depths of the molten volcano, Fir Agra, located near the city of Anglund, Element commerce central.

However, Fir Agra is filled with explosive molten rocks and surrounded by a ring of fire. After getting through the ring of fire and avoiding the molten rocks, in order to obtain the Rescinea, one must present to the Lava God at the peak of the volcano, one of the rarest items called the Celestial Moonwater, which is a gem that can only be forged once enough feathers from a angel are gathered, as well as the additional Glacial Shard.

Needless to say, the act of undoing an Unbreakable Seal is not only a tiring and tedious thing to do, but it also requires a long amount of time, and even with the required items, passing through to the Fir Agra Volcano will be extremely difficult. One would be strongly advised not to attempt it.

She looked up as she heard the sound of scuffling footsteps coming up the stairs onto the upper floor.

Standing, she carefully slipped the parchments under the chair she sat in, and took out the book she had been reading from the table beside her. However, she had suddenly realized that she had made a foolish mistake that would not have been made if she hadn’t been so excited about the scriptures Bartholomew had been presented to her.

“Well, it’s too late to go back” She thought. “I guess I shall have to attend to him later.”

The doors pushed open and in walked the Dark Lord. A breeze of cold wind brushed against her legs and she stood to welcome her master with a devious smile on her face.

“Welcome back,” she started, getting up form her seating. “How was it?”

He glided over to her as the large doors creaked to a close and then he sat at her chair.

“Not as I expected,” he answered as she poured him a cup of tea. “The army is in even worse shape than before with their general gone. All the other regiments cannot take any more soldiers, so they’re to need a general, yet I cannot find anyone who is wise enough to manage such a group. Their chief Commander still lacks a few concepts, otherwise he would be fairly suitable to manage his group.”

Oblivion smiled as she handed him the cup gracefully, which he took gratefully.

“What should we do to provide them a stand-in?” She asked.

“I’m not too sure,” He replied after a swallowing. “Where to find someone strong and determined…”

Trying to think of the one person that fit that description was easy for her, but many of the candidates she had in mind were either busy or too foolish to perform such a tedious task. She had quickly narrowed down the selected few to suggest.

But then, with her acute hearing abilities, she perceived the sound of the rushing footsteps of just the person she knew to be ‘strong and determined’. And so, she suddenly thought of something clever.

She smiled deviously.

“My Lord,” She started as the footsteps grew nearer, and the sound of a young woman’s voice could be heard outside the doors.
“Perhaps the person we need—”

The doors burst open.

“My lord!”

A rather thin, drained woman in her early twenties rushed in, her face red. She tied her silky, blonde hair up into what that seemed to whip around with a horse’s tail.

“I have got an urgent report from the other side!” She said, her voice shaky from her running. Then, looking up to see Oblivion, her tired and absorbed nature instantly changed.

Glaring at Oblivion menacingly as if to dare her to talk, the girl bowed down elegantly to change her faltering performance from before.

“Yes, Verity?” The lord replied with no excitement whatsoever. “What is this news that you have? I was hoping it would be good, but since it is from the other side, I can deduct that it might very well be deemed otherwise.”

She swallowed, “Well, I’ve heard that they’re sending more dispatchers into our area, but to no avail. But the plan is that they will engage in battle within a week from now.”

The room was silent, and Verity obviously continued glaring enviously at oblivion, who had the honor of standing beside his lordship for the time being.

Stuck in his thoughts, the lord seemed to find himself in a little tough situation. Noticing this, Oblivion slowly leaned forward to talk to him in the ear, which, she noticed out of the corner of her eye, seemed to make Verity cringe in fury.

“If you don’t mind,” She whispered with a smile upon her face. “Why not temporarily leave the job of organizing the regiment to the hands of our strong and determined ‘Herald of Sin’?”

He looked at her in a questioning look.

“Just temporarily,” she said softly. “Once the chief can manage the team on his own, everything will fall to place.”

He nodded in agreement and turned back to Verity, whose eyes did not stop glaring at Oblivion.

“I have a proposition for you,” the lord started.
“Yes, my lord?” Verity looked immensely pleased, but then her face dropped slightly as she remembered that this was probably one of the joint ideals of her lord and Oblivion.
“I’m sending you to do a temporary job.”

This definitely did not sound good.

Explaining it thoroughly to his loyal messenger, the dark lord gave Verity the specifics to her job. Meanwhile, Oblivion stood beside his lordship, enjoying Verity’s changing face of rage and spite that was, without a doubt, directed at her.

“But- my lord-”
“Yes, Verity?”
“You cannot possibly send me to do such a amateur’s task!” She started. “I’m a messenger, not a trainer! I cannot possibly accept the job of being a stand-in for one of the regiment groups! This job is simply not made for one of my status!” She exclaimed.
“Your status?” He said, amused. “You status would be nothing if it were not for my being here, don’t you agree?”
“Yes, I do, but—” She glared at Oblivion once more. “I don’t think this job is suitable for—”

“I think that is not for you to choose, Verity.” He said coldly. He raised his eyes upon her, glaring at her, as if to dare her to oppose him any further. “That is the end of it. I will hear no more; you will attend to the matter starting from tomorrow and will report to me the improvements daily.” He said.

“Yes, sire.” Verity replied quietly under her breath and sulked angrily.

“Good, then I’m glad you’re in cooperation.” He said calmly. Then, as an attempt to make his messenger feel slightly better, he added, “I expect you’ll have what it takes to run them through the drills and make them ready within a few days.”

However, this did not make her feel any less inferior than she felt at the moment as she bowed her head and acquiesced. “Yes, sire.”

“Ah,” His hand flew to his forehead in troubled thoughts. “I need to rest for a bit. But thank you for your unchanging service, Verity.” He stood up and headed off to his bedchambers, leaving the two girls by themselves in Oblivion’s chambers.

Standing up quickly after he left, Verity glared at her rival angrily.

“How dare you!” She spat.
“How dare I what?” Oblivion replied calmly, gathering the tea set onto the tray.

Storming over next to Oblivion, Verity angrily swiped her hand in the air. The tray on Oblivion’s hands crashed onto the red carpet floor, and the tea splattered over the elegant designs, but Oblivion’s smile did not falter.

“You bitch, planting those ideas into his head! You deliberately made me go to this lowly assignment for you own enjoyment of making me look like a fool!”
“Now, let’s not start with the second-grade name-calling, Verity my dear. Moreover, why would you think of something so horrible of me?” Oblivion answered dramatically. “Besides, why would I need to do that when you can perfectly manage to make a fool out of yourself so well already?”

“You…!”
Glaring in fury, Verity flung her palm at her. But Oblivion caught her wrist perfectly.

“Too slow.” She smiled malevolently. “As usual. You haven’t changed at all, Verity.”
Wrenching away from her most hated equal, Verity stared at Oblivion in deep resentment and loathing.

“One of the days,” She swore, “I’ll make you feel so pathetic, you’ll come begging to me to make you feel better. Remember that!”
“I’ll look forward to that day then.” Oblivion said sarcastically. “Now you better go hop to your job; you don’t want to be late.” Oblivion crackled.

Turning away in anger, Verity’s hair swung around like a whip, almost catching Oblivion in the face as she exited the chambers, slamming the doors behind her.

“What a fool,” Oblivion thought as Verity’s shadow disappeared around the corner and the doors shut her vision of the hallway out. “In the end, even she doesn’t understand how she is being used.”

---

Why is it that most people view darkness as the evil that prevents all from achieving ultimate happiness?

What would happiness be if one didn’t understand all the trouble and work that had been done to get there?

There has to be communication to attain peace, there must be conflicts to achieve desired results.

Those who do not understand must be shown this truth, this reality. One cannot live blind form it forever, for that would be a waste of life.

I will be the one who makes sure everyone sees that concept.

---

Reye sat in the field full of lush green grass in front of the duck-pond, flipping through the pages of his newest purchased book. Sapphire and Amethyst had gone off to venture through the valleys of Rahaven.

For such a small town, Rahaven had an amazing field of wheat, and grassy meadows filled with beautiful flowers and herbs. Seeing this as an opportunity to gather more ingredients to sell in their shop, Amethyst and her sister had gone off into the deeper areas of the valley to gather a few rare herbs.

Reye, who had no interest in herbs or anything of that sort, decided to sit in front of the pond and guard their personal belongings while the girls went on their search.

Instead, he was flipping through random areas of World of Element Vol. II.

If a player joins a certain army, whether it is on the side of dark or light, that army will address to him or her, the maximum number of failures resulting in forced logout. In short, the maximum number of times a player can killed during army battle (not personal battles), based on each rank.
The ranking for the army positions are as follows:

Scout- max. 15 death failures
Novice- max. 10 death failures
Junior Officer- max. 9 death failures
Senior Officer- max. 8 death failures
Chief- max. 5 death failures
Commander- max. 4 death failures
Chief Commander- max. 3 death failures
General- max. 2 death failures

Not all regiment forces may have a member of all the ranks listed above. Naturally, however, the advancements of these ranks will be determined by the performance of regiment members and decided by the Chief Commander or other seniorities.

In addition, armies will not judge players based on gender, age or race. Entrances will be based only on the physical strength and natural abilities a player possesses. The entrance fee will naturally be 2025 Judes, any other amount asked by regiment guards should not be accepted and should furthermore be reported immediately.

“Reye!”
From the distance, Reye turned from his book and looked the direction Sapphire’s call came from.

Grabbing his bow and arrows, he readied himself for battle and ran towards the dense, bushy fields.

[Engaging in Battle… initiated.

[Type: Ground Element (Grade D)
[Area: Rahaven Fields
[Level: 65
[Strength: 49hp/ht
[Magic: 73hp/ht
[Element: Earth
[Weapon: none
[Rarity: 29

It was a bulky, rocky creature made of nothing but boulders. The two blue glows behind the cracks of the boulders seemed to make up for its eyes, which glared at the party heatedly.
It quickly aimed a punch at Reye, and shot a long line of hard rocks towards his way like a whip.

“Whoa!”
“It doesn’t quite like it when we tried to use it as a footstool…” Sapphire said sarcastically.”

“You SAT on it?” Reye looked at her, half bemused. “You couldn’t just tell that a thing that big wasn’t a rock?”

“It was curled up and half hidden beneath the earth!” Sapphire tried.

At that moment, Reye realized the gigantic hole in the ground. Rocks were splattered over the battleground, and half a dozen trees were knocked down or destroyed thus far.

“How was I supposed to find out? I can’t just ask, ‘oh hey, do you happen to be a elemental fiend that throws rocks at people’?” Sapphire told him sarcastically as she ran from the big boulder hurled towards her head.
“Well good job- you found out- after he spit out of the earth and stated firing rock cannons at you!” He shot back.

“Uh, guys?” Amethyst’s voice came from the other side of the big monstrous element. “A little help would be nice right about now.”

“OW!”

His shoulder was bleeding now. Dodging the huge boulder that might’ve probably squashed him into pudding, Reye had moved swiftly away and made it just barely toward Amethyst.
But the wound was the least of his worries right now. Aiming his arrow at the rocky element, he fired at the fiend, only to find that his arrow did barely anything more than a long slashing scratch on its back.

Evidently physical attacks weren’t all that useful in this battle, magic was the way to go. Meanwhile, Sapphire was losing a lot of HP. Her Magic Points would run low soon too. Being the only elemental member of their party with magic other than that of healing, she had proved to be the only offensive member in this battle so far.

However, the only attack that served to damage the bulky figure a lot was Sapphire’s Water Cleave I, which was a low-grade magic attack that only took off one-tenth of the Ground Element’s HP.

A loud crash came from his right side as Reye realized he was almost hit a second time by the giant stone whip in the bulky fiend’s hands (if that was what the little pebbles stemming from its arm was called).

Frantically searching through the roomy pockets of his trousers, Reye looked for a certain item swiftly as Amethyst positioned her staff before her and softly uttered, “Curae meum amici”.

Green light glowed from beneath their feet as half one-fourth of their HP was restored. Reye felt his wound lighten a bit and some of the pain subsided.
Of course, this could only do so much since each blow the fiend dealt could take half their health away, making them still lose health fast.

Still rummaging frantically, Reye found what he had been search for. In his palm now lay a tiny aquatic gem that glimmered under the evening sunlight.

“My magic is running low, someone toss me a Illusia!” Sapphire shouted from across the field as she ducked the huge boulder that flew across her head. Her blonde hair turned into a blur in Reye’s eyes.

“Geezus, it’s not as if I meant to sit on you mister!” She shouted at it as she ran from its deadly whip. One more hit and she’d be out.

“I never thought a Element fiend would be here.” Reye thought loud.
“They’re everywhere.” Amethyst said as she bestowed the MP potion to her sister.
The bright gleam showered Sapphire and my MP was restored, for now.

“I don’t think we can take this. We’re going to have to try escaping.”

“No, we can do it. Just wait a moment until I get a clear shot.” Reye said as he took out another arrow and slowly nudged the gem onto the tip of the sharp weapon until it looked like a small cheerio cereal piece and made sure it would stay on the tip of the arrowhead.

“You can’t- physical attacks-” Amethyst started.
“Don’t worry, just watch. It’s just a idea.”

Positioning his arrow in midair and aiming at the monster’s skull (if it had one), Reye pulled the strings back. Then, with one eyes closed for the aim, he let the arrow go. The strings vibrated strongly against his fingertips.
And as it did, the arrow glowed a misty blue color and looked almost like a meteor. It stuck itself onto the creature’s back. Although it was a bit off from the head, it still worked.

The blue mist traveled from the back and seemed to explode within the creature, letting the frosty mist leak from the cracks of its boulder-built body. Groaning in its demise, the creature turned around to face Reye, ready to strike its final blow.
But suddenly, it’s HP had been lowered a great amount, and if Sapphire could only perform one more Water Cleave…

She did so, and the creature fell to the ground with a thud, and later disintegrated into rumble, pebbles and other who-knows-what on the earth. The misty blue glow died out slowly until it was gone, and its last screech sounded like a soft yawn.

[Concluding Battle Results…Complete.

“Well, maybe you’ll learn to look before you sit.” Reye joked as he and Amethyst joined Sapphire in the meadows in front of the remains of the Element fiend.

“Ha, very funny.”
“Well, I AM a very funny person.”
“Right,”

Walking down the narrow walkway back towards the duck pond, the trio was seemingly tired from this event.

“Well, at least we got the experience.” Sapphire said appreciatively.
“What are you talking about?” Reye pretended. “That was a waste of a Frost Gem to me!”
“Oh, so THAT was what you fired at it,” Amethyst started. “I was wondering—”
“A waste of a Frost Gem seems worth it to gain that amount of experience!” Sapphire cut in. “I have a few more points until I gain another level!”
“That’s you, not me…”
“Then it’s your fault for not leveling up faster!” Sapphire stuck her tongue out childishly.
“Be more mature, why don’t you?” Amethyst said, laughing.

The made their way back to their base in front of the pond and gathered their belongings, ready to get going.

The sun was almost setting, and they needed to move before it happened. Moving in the darkness of the night was extremely dangerous, especially with yourself, witch the party was extremely glad did not go for them, even though it was still not a good idea to wait any further to start walking.

Glancing around the place to check if they forgot any valuables, Sapphire picked up a pretty white feather from the ground. It gave off a diamond glow of a pearl and looked tremendously soft.

“Hey, isn’t this pretty thing yours, sis?” She asked cheerfully. “I thought you had a bunch of them,”
“I do,” She checked herself. “Oh, it IS mine, I guess it fell out from my cloak just a while ago.”

Reye examined the pretty white feather of pure light. It glowed under the light, and seemed to emit a kind of colorful gleam that can be found in bubbles floating in the prairie skies.

“It’s really beautiful,” Sapphire and Reye looked at it, enchanted.
“What is it?” He asked.
Amethyst looked abashed and her face kind of red. “They’re Angelic feathers…” She replied quietly.

“You fought an angel before?” Reye looked at her, his face surprised and astonished. Amethyst didn’t look like one that would anger any of the angelic characters, let alone get into a battle with one of them.
“N-no! I didn’t fight one!” She immediately retorted, even more red. “I-It was a gift to me.”
Sapphire giggled. “Oh, I know.” She started. “From your lover, huh?”

Amethyst turned redder while Reye’s stomach turned into an uncomfortable knot.
“Let’s get going,” He said to break the uncomfortable silence.

He fetched the feather from Sapphire’s hand and gave it back to Amethyst, not wanting to talk about that anymore. But the feather wasn’t all looks; it really did feel immensely soft and fluffy. For a moment of touching it could make anyone feel light and happy.

Reye looked as Amethyst fetched it back and put it into her pack along with the others she had in a glass jar.

Amethyst looked so happy whenever they mentioned her virtual lover form another country. If only he could’ve been the one to make her smile like that. But he knew he couldn’t. Sure, maybe there was a time when he had the chance, but that chance had long passed by, and there was nothing left of it.

Walking down the narrow pathway once again, Reye noticed Sapphire smiling mischievously at him but looked away from her as they made their way onto the main road.

Passing the Rahaven Lake, they were on their way to the town of Cerulean Bay, the port of all aquatic goods, obviously.

Their hopes were to make their way towards the bay by nightfall, and to get their rest and go onward by wagon towards the city of Starlet, where they hoped to find Morgan and her performing arts performance.

After that, they decided to make a U-turn and run the circle back towards the town of Charlene, where the sister could check up on their shop, Trityrst.

However, even with the overall optimistic feeling they mostly had on their part, they were unaware of the long line of events that were scheduled to line up during their long trek.

---

“That bitch!”

Walking down the red corridors with her brilliant blonde hair trailing behind her, she passed guards of the mansion feverishly. Almost everyone that she had passed could be well aware of the fact that she was indeed extremely pissed off.

She had passed through the long corridor, and thus far, the only thing she had said repeatedly was ‘that bitch’.

And if anyone who had just entered the castle grounds didn’t know, most of her anger was always directed towards her would-be nemesis and rival, Oblivion, although Oblivion herself had never announced or admitted herself as anything similar to that, or anything else Verity called her.

It wasn’t as if Verity had any less status than Oblivion. The two girls were relatively on the same level of status in the darkness realm. However, Verity had always been hotheaded, and continually wanted Oblivion out of the picture so that she alone could serve the dark lord, which Oblivion had pointed out to be her ‘unattainable, unhealthy obsession’. And evidently, the news of this complex had already spread to thousands of ears throughout mansion grounds; everyone now referred to it as her ‘unhealthy obsession’.

Moreover, most of the servants and workers in their domain had developed a more respecting attitude towards Oblivion, which furthered her fury.

Why, she had been with the lord since long ago, and had been that person that was respected secondhand to the dark lord! Yet, Oblivion had suddenly taken part of the spotlight, and Verity loathed her so because of it.

If anything, the spotlight should’ve been rightfully hers. She would share it with no one but the dark lord, whom she had developed undying devotion and ‘unhealthy lust’ for.

Walking down the corridor towards her chambers, Verity gritted her teeth, trying to think of what to do, and how to get her anger out of the way. Obviously, her strength was not as strong as Oblivion. Neither was, she suspected, anything else. But she would not accept defeat just yet.

“That bitch, that bitch, that bitch, that bitch, that bitch, that bitch!” She thought bitterly as she swung the double doors to her chambers open.

Her room was decorated with darkly royal blue wallpaper and consisted of a single bed of black covers and drapery. Above her head hung a dusty chandelier that hadn’t been cleaned or turned on for ages. Her personal maids had been slacking off their duties, she noticed.

Taking off her black cape, she revealed the long, red robes that she wore, tightly clipped with golden clasps at the shoulders.
“Just because I constantly run errands around Element and am rarely here as a result from duties doesn’t mean they can slack off their duties!”
She muttered something about respect after that. No doubt that this had added to her anger.

Pacing around the room to calm down, she let out an angry groan and screamed.

“TINY! DES!” She screeched. “Get out here!”

A crack was heard from behind her as she sat down on her soft bed, her blond hair trailing past her hips as she twisted the pin holding it together and let her hair flow freely onto the bed.
Behind her, she felt the increased weight on her bed as a small child of no more than twelve with brown pigtails sat on the opposite side of her on the bed. In front of her, a robust, dark-skinned man appeared almost as suddenly with a crack as the girl had, and knelt before her respectively, which made her slightly happier.

“Is there something you need?” Des replied in his usual grumpy voice, as if he woke up on the wrong side of bed, again. His eyes remained hard and he wore the same frown.
“Yeah, because if you weren’t, I was busy braiding my hair at the salon,” Tiny whined, showing her master her half-braided pigtails.

“Never mind that!” Verity waved her off. “Why haven’t the servants been tending to my chambers? Look at the dust here! I go off for a month and this is what happens!”

“Well, they said that you weren’t going to come back anytime soon, so they held off cleaning it out and went ahead to clean other rooms.” Tiny replied, braiding her hair, irritated.

“What other rooms? What other room can be more important that mine?” She raged on. “They need to learn to show respect to their superiors! Why, my room is second to his lord’s!”
“It used to be, you mean…” Tiny whispered.
Verity stood up and turned to the little girl angrily. “What did you say?”
“It used to be,” Tiny repeated. “It used to be second, but now it isn’t,”

Anger swelled up inside her skull.
“Don’t tell me, Oblivion—”
“They said that Lady Oblivion’s place had more of a need to be cleaned.” Tiny said in a nasty voice that didn’t match her adorable, young features.

Verity let out a loud screech and furiously knocked down the candleholders on her dresser. Both fell with a loud banging noise into the wooden plank floor.

Just as she was about to give a long, hard rant of how cross Oblivion made her, there came a knock on the door— a timid one.

“Excuse me?” The maid said, terrified. “I came to clean the room, Lady Verity.” She tried, aware of the fury Verity held at the moment.
“About time!” Verity barked as she came in, along with two other helpers.

It was obvious that they had heard of Verity’s screeching and realized how deep of trouble they were in. All of them knew there would be a high chance they were going to be scolded and, if her mood was really that furious, given a beating.

Moving out of their way, Des looked extremely tall and bulky compared to the five skinny, petite figures around him.
“So,” Tiny, still sitting on the bed with her hair properly braided with red ribbons, got up from her position to sit on her feet. “Why did you call us here anyways?”

“Yeah, I was wondering the same,”
“It’s a surprise you wonder anything at all,” Verity thought as she eyes the big robust man that served her.

The maids of the mansion wore simple black aprons of Victorian style and lacy hems, along with matching caps. Their stockings rose above the knees, concealed underneath the long, ruffled white dress. Each was required to wear the uniform during working hours.

Aside from their uniform, the maids cleaning in her room at the moment were extremely diligent at working their job. However, this was the least of Verity’s concerns, and she never bothered praising anyone but the lord and herself, not even her pets.

“You,” She motioned to the nearest maid who wore freckles, glasses and auburn hair in a tight bun. She seemed no more than 15 years old.
“Y-yes?”
Verity sat down on the armchair next to the dresser. “How long have you been here?”
“Um… a few weeks now, ma’am.” She said respectively her head bent.
“What time did you come in today?”

The other two maids looked at each other nervously, but continued to clean the room, although in a slower fashion.

“Seven in the morning, my lady.” The maid replied quietly.
“Then she must’ve seen him.” Verity thought. “The maids and servants are all station in the main hall throughout the mornings.”

Verity looked at the maid and asked with authority, “There was that knight or messenger person that entered the dark lord’s chambers earlier. What business did he have?”
“I don’t know.” The maid stuttered.
Verity looked at her disbelievingly.
Catching her gaze, the maid added, “R-Really.”

“I don’t believe you. All visitors are to pass through the main quarters of the mansion, where all of the servants are positioned. It is impossible for you not to know.” She said. “Now, let me ask you again: who is he and what business did he have with the dark lord at that hour? If you didn’t see him, you should’ve at least heard about it!”

“I really don’t know!” The maid begged. “Please, I really don’t.”
Behind her, Des was cracking his knuckles, his face filled with the notion that he desperately wanted something to take his grumpiness out on. The maid started crying quietly.

“Tell the truth,” Verity repeated.

“My lady—”
Another maid intervened at her own risk, scared for the 15-year-old girl. She was far older, around 20 at least, but younger than Verity. “If I may intervene,”
“You’ve already intervened,” Verity cut crossly. “I hope you know what that means for you.”

The young maid looked at her seniorities, tears streamed over her terrified face.

“The man’s name was Bartholomew, and he was visiting the dark lord’s chambers on a delivery. I saw him present his badge and everything. But since his lordship wasn’t there, he might’ve been told to deliver it to lady Oblivion instead.”

“What was he delivering?” Verity demanded. “Tell me! Tell me you know!”
“I don’t.” She replied quietly. “I-I’m sorry.”

Verity looked at the two on the floor irritably, standing up. She blew the hair from her face feverishly, and had her hands on her hips.

What had been delivered? The dark lord had arrived after the messenger, so what could possibly have been going on? No doubt, Oblivion was in the room at the time, but as trustworthy as she was to his lord, he wouldn’t actually have let her handle his delivered items, would he?

As she remembered, he never let her handle any of his delivered items, so the same should be told with Oblivion. Yet, there could always be some chance…

“But he said he was visiting the chambers when I met him outside the mansion territories, not the lord himself,” Verity thought. “And I saw the carriage of his lord in front of me for a good 5 minutes after he crossed my way.”

Although the lord was the only one who walked into the mansion from the back doors to evade staring, it was still accurate to say that the messenger was not there to see the lord.

Surely, something was wrong here.

“Are you sure you don’t know?” Tiny was asking in a bratty, pushy voice, her eyes squinting at the ladies. “Because if you don’t…”
“We don’t! We don’t!” The ladies begged. Evidently, their comrade had gone off somewhere out of the room in the heat of the moment, no doubt to escape the horror that might’ve been inflicted towards her if she didn’t get the move on.

Sitting back down in her comfy armchair with the two ladies kneeling before her.

“Alright,” she said, “then answer this last question before I let you resume your cleaning: where was Oblivion when this Bartholomew fellow visited the chambers of his lord?”

“Lady Oblivion?” The maids looked up, surprised. They rarely heard Verity talk about Oblivion to them, because they knew the rivalry Verity felt for Oblivion. “Mistress X was in the chambers at the time, reading a book and drinking tea, I heard.”
“You heard?” Verity raised her eyebrows, questioning this information’s truth.

“Yes, I heard some of the maids talk when they were making tea for her in the kitchens.” She informed. “Lady Oblivion was in the lord’s chambers at the time the delivery came.”

“Really?” Tiny said cautiously. “You aren’t lying?”
“I swear!” The older one tried. “Really!”
“You better be saying the truth,” Tiny said in a bratty voice as she poked the maid on the forehead. “Or else,”

Verity stood up from the chair once more.
“Alright, I‘m satisfied with those for now, so you can both get up and resume the cleaning,” she said as she motioned for Tiny and Des to follow her out of the bedchambers.

So that summed it up pretty well.
Oblivion was trying to do something without the dark lord’s noticing, and it all had gone well, except now Oblivion didn’t know that Verity had found out about Bartholomew.

“I’ll win,” Verity said to her pets as they glided behind her closely. “I’ll show her.”

If Oblivion was trying something, Verity was going to make it her top priority to find out what was going on.

---

Even from the chambers on the other side of the building, Oblivion could still hear Verity’s angered shrieks and yells with her acute hearing.

Making her way towards the oak doors, she quietly shut them and bolted the locks.
Setting her book down on the table, she made her way to the small room that branched off the main room into the dark lord’s room. Of course, the divider had been pulled the previous night to serve as the wall between the two rooms.

Tiptoeing, Oblivion snatched a glance at the lord, and watched as he stirred slowly in his sleep.

“Still awake?” She whispered as she came down close to him, touching his cheek lightly.
“As awake as you are,” he replied, removing half the covers on the bed. “Care to join me in my afternoon nap?”
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry, I thought you were off to bed because of a headache.” She said teasingly. “Or was that just an excuse?”
He smiled, and pulled her towards him so she sat beside him on the royal bed.

“It was an excuse,” He confessed as he nuzzled at her bare neck. “I wanted to be with you alone.”
“Did you?” She said in dramatic surprise.
He smiled at her humor, and asked, “How are you feeling?” as he played with her hair.
“Not so different from before, actually.” She said, pretending to give it some thought. “Nothing different from before at all.”
“Then your devotion to be is true.” He leaned close to her. “And from now on, I’ll keep you by my side, always.”
She nodded as he snuggled close to her, his arms tangled around her waist and his heart beating slowly against her.

Moments later, she slowly moved and stirred in the bed, covering him with the thick blankets as she slipped from his sleeping grasp and made her way to the main room of his chambers.
Reaching for her book on the table, she closed the curtains tightly so that he would not be displeased when he woke from the sunlight, and carefully took the pieces of parchment from beneath the armchair she sat in before.

Folding the papers twice before slipping it into her novel unnoticed, Oblivion quietly unlocked the oak doors and slipped back to her own private chambers to hide the valuable documents.

Then, when done, she would have to tend to a more devious matter.