Lost in a Lost World
The group is leaving the princess' homeland for the last time. She looks the spaceship fading away from her sight with mixed feelings. The last events had taken its toll on her. She was far more introverted and rational than she used to be.
"Farewell, home... it is time to move on to new ventures... but I'll never forget all the memories I had in this place... Good or bad, it doesn't matter... now they are only part of my past..."
The purple-haired girl notices that the old vitality is missing on the princess. She is accustomed to the dark and somber mood of the golden-haired girl, but the dark and somber tone of the princess scares her. She feels a need to help the princess, but she doesn't know how, her social skills are not the best as she was obliged to avoid human contact through almost all her life. But her instincts tell her she must try something, lest she may lose the princess.
"Marlena... are you feeling sad? Don't cry, dear." Under the spell of the telemental, she can barely move, so she moves slowly her hand trying to reach the princess head and caress her. "It ain't easy to leave behind the place you have lived all your life. Do you really intend to never return?"
"I don't know, Nei..." The princess chokes a bit on her tears. "I... I don't have anything else, neither there, nor anywhere... I just want to... help the telemental... then... I don't know..."
"Oh, princess, you have me." the purple-haired gives a shy smile to the princess.
"Oh, Nei... you are so sweet... the sweetest person I've ever met..."
"By the way, princess, why do you help the telemental? I mean, you didn't have to go through all this..."
"I know, Nei. Sometimes I wonder why I do these things, but I just felt I needed to help. It was like that with you... with Anna... and now."
"And what about the telemental?"
"I really don't hate him, but I'm somewhat... scared of him. He is a jerk as a person, but I don't care too much about that. The problem are all those... mysteries..."
"Yes, I'm somewhat scared too. What will you do when all that is finished? I mean, when you revive this last person."
"I don't know... I don't have anything in mind... I don't know if it will be worthy keep living for nothing..."
"Don't say that, Marlena! If you have nothing else in mind, please, stay with me."
"Thanks, Nei. Well, when the time arrives, I'll think about that..."
The princess closes her eyes and remains silent. The purple-haired girl is more worried than ever because the princess looks depressed. She tries to remove unpleasant thoughts from her mind talking to the telemental.
"Looks like we are traveling faster than the first time."
"We are, indeed. The sages helped me with the spell, so we are traveling much faster than I expected we would."
"Where are we going, anyway?"
"I don't know."
"How can you say that you don't know?" The golden-haired girl joins the conversation already angry. "Have you gone mad?"
"I don't know, I'm just heading to the place where I feel the energy of the last person coming from... I've never been in that place."
"And who is this person, Mr know-it-all?"
"I don't know well either."
"Oh, my God, we will starve to death trapped inside this bubble because the mad man there had the great idea of searching a person he doesn't know who is in an unknown location. It must be some craziness of his own mind."
"Don't say that, Anna. It is a task most important. Remember that if it was not me, you wouldn't be here."
"And maybe that would be better. I'll try to get some sleep. If I have to die again, that it be when I'm sleeping."
The journey kept on going for some hours. The telemental was focused on the spell, so he stayed quiet all the time. The golden-haired girl decided to sleep. The princess remained silent, motionless, staring blankly to a random spot. The purple-haired girl felt lonely and deeply worried with the princess. She knew something really strange was happening with the princess, but there was nothing she could do. So she went to sleep, worried by the princess' mental state, praying for her.
After some hours of inactivity, the princess felt in a trance.
The brown-haired girl has fell on the floor, blood pouring from her back and belly wounds. Her green eyes are open, but lifeless.
"It's over"
"No! Don't die!"
"My energy can't be held anymore... I must go... forever..."
"Don't let that happen! Now that we are almost there..."
"I just can't... there is a time for everything..."
"I will not let you die... I won't... I won't..."
"..."
"No, I won't... I'd rather die myself."
"You must live..."
"You too. I won't let you... I won't..."
The plasma bubble reduces its speed dramatically, throwing everybody to the upper extremity of the plasma bubble, that almost bursts.
"What was that?" The purple-haired girls wakes up in panic.
"What are you doing? I've almost broken my neck!" The golden-haired girl is wakened by the impact too.
"The energy... the energy... is gone... is gone..."
"What does it mean, man? Say it!"
"Sorry... girls... the other person... is gone... forever..."
"And what happened to us here?"
"I've lost the focus... if it wasn't for the sage's energy, we'd be dead now..."
"You rascal, you almost got us killed!" The golden-haired girl readies her slashers.
"Calm down, Anna! Killing him now will do no good for us..."
"I don't know what to do... We have failed..."
"Shut up! Take us to a safe place, mad man!"
"Hey... Marlena?" The purple-haired girl turns her attention to the princess, who was forgotten amidst the confusion.
"I won't... I won't..."
"Marlena? Are you feeling well?"
"I won't... I won't..."
"What's up with the princess? Has she gone insane?"
"I will be here with you..."
"Well, where do you want to go, girls?"
"Nowhere! Shut up and keep on moving!" The princess barks at the telemental.
"What?"
"Keep on moving! Now!"
"But that person..."
"Now!"
The plasma bubble starts accelerating again, as the telemental focus again on the teleport spell. He is scared with the princess' reaction. "Has she gone insane?". As he doesn't know what to do, he just follows her orders.
"I won't let you go... I won't let you go..."
"Marlena? What is that? What are you saying? What are you feeling?"
"Not now, Nei. Not now!"
"Alright..." The purple-haired girl feels embarrassed and saddened at the princess' angry tone.
"I will stay with you... I will..."
The group keeps on traveling to an unknown destination.
"Anna, I'm scared."
"Me too."
"Look at Marlena! What happened to her?"
"I don't know. If I used to be afraid of the telemental, now I'm even more scared with the princess. We know he is mad, but we also know she isn't..."
"Look at the fire in her eyes. Looks like she is possessed by the devil himself!"
"Don't say that, Nei! Do you think Dark Force...?"
"I don't know, but I hope she knows exactly what she is doing. I don't want to miss that lovely girl we learned to love so dearly as we did."
"Yes, I've never met anyone so amazing as she is."
The trip to the unknown destination kept going for an indeterminate amount of time. The telemental was already feeling weak, the girls dead bored and, even with their metabolism slowed down by the telemental spell, weak by the lack of food and water. Only the princess was still on the same trance as before, muttering the same words, with her eyes on fire. Suddenly they approached a planet very fast and when they realized what was going on, they were in a rocky desert. The plasma bubble had become smoke. They had arrived their destination.
"Whew! Finally! We have made it!"
"Thank God! I'm so weak... I'd not resist for much longer..." The golden-haired girl starts moving freely as the telemental releases her from the spell
"Yes. Where are we?" The purple-haired girl was also released from the spell.
"Well, I don't know, but we must have reached our original destination..."
"I'm here! Where are you? I'm here..."
"Oh... oh... this love... find me..."
"I swear you I will... I will..."
"Marlena? Are you OK, Marlena?" The purple-haired girl is deeply worried with the princess.
"I'm going to do what I have to do. Will you come with me?"
"Oh, I will, but we need to rest..."
"I have no time for such things!"
"If we don't get some rest now, we will die. The same applies to you..."
"I just can't! Please, go on with your business. Eventually you will find me."
The princess starts walking north. She leaves all the things she is carrying behind and advances to a place only she knows where it is.
"Where are you going, Marlena? Don't leave us!"
"There is a village to the south, get some rest there. Now, leave me, Nei!"
"Marlena..."
"Let her go, what can we do?"
"I don't want to leave her alone..."
"We can't do anything about her right now." The telemental seems resigned.
"Marlena..."
The group starts moving south, after the telemental takes hold of the possessions the princess has left behind. The purple-haired girl is very sad and walks reluctantly, her eyes filled with tears.
"I'm afraid we will never see her again, Anna?"
"Why?"
"She has left us. She is acting so strange. She is weak as us..."
"Let's hope she will be fine."
"We are lost in this world. If we lose her, we may never be able to see her again."
"I know, Nei. You know, I'm not much emotional, but I feel the same as you do now."
"Oh, Anna. We can't lose all that love..."
After some walking, the group arrives at a village, which looks more like a junkyard than a proper village. Lots of waste are scattered through the village, sometimes forming walls of junk, sometimes blocking the streets. There are some tents and small wooden houses in the village. Some people roam around. They don't care about the strangers who had just arrived.
"And now? What will we do? We don't have money, we don't speak they languages, we don't know anybody in this planet." The golden-haired girl asks with her usual somber tone.
"I may cast a spell that will make us understand their language. Let's try to discover where we are."
"This village is disgusting! Look at all this junk! I've never imagined people could live in a place like that."
"Well, Nei, when I was young, I've lived in a place which wasn't much better than that."
"Really, Anna? Sorry to hear that..."
"Don't worry, it is part of the past. Let's try to discover something, anything about this planet."
The telemental approaches a middle-aged man who is smoking a pipe, seated in a chair outside a tent.
"Hello."
"Hi."
"Could you give us some info?"
"About what?"
"About this city..."
"Our village? There is nothing interesting going on here."
"Anyway, we are starving and deadly tired."
"Is it an Inn what you need? There is one just at the end of this street."
"Thanks."
The group start moving towards the Inn. The telemental looks the sign hanging on the entrance of the small wooden house, but he can´t understand what is written there. His spell works only for talking.
"People in this planet don´t seem to be very friendly..."
"Yes, but I´m sure we will eventually find a place to rest."
"I hope so, telemental."
"Marlena... I can´t believe it..."
"Don´t cry, Nei, everything will be alright."
"I really hope so, Anna..."
The group enters the Inn. The clerk eyes them suspiciously. They are clearly foreigners, specially the girls, dressed with the gorgeous dresses of the princess, who were very uncommon for the planet.
"Please, Mr, is this an Inn?"
"Can´t you read the sign outside."
"In fact I can´t. We have been traveling from a far place..."
"What do you want? A room?"
"Yes, besides that we are starving."
"I see. That will be a hundred."
"There is one problem, Mr."
"What is that?"
"We don´t have any of your money with us..."
"If so, buzz off!"
"Isn´t there anything we could do for you instead of paying the fare? We really need some rest."
"Now I understand. Here we don´t have any use for your goods, but there is a city to the east which will make good use of your things. Just three miles from here."
"Oh, my, we are dying. Three miles?"
"Yeah, now go away! Beggars are not welcome here."
The group abandons the Inn.
"It is being harder than I thought. Maybe we could sell some of Marlena´s jewels."
"No! Never! They are her property."
"But we are starving... dying, Nei."
"I´d never betray her. Let´s get moving."
"Oh my..."
The group exits the village and start walking eastward. The desert turns into a forest, which provides at least some cool shades for them. After walking half a mile, they hear the sound of a water stream. They stop and refresh themselves, drinking and washing off a bit of the dirt in their bodies. The purple-haired girl demands a time for a rest. Though starving, they all agree with the short rest. After some minutes, they resume walking.
"Anna."
"Yes?"
"I can´t take Marlena out of my mind? Where has she gone?"
"I don´t know, Nei, but she looked like she was confident and sure of her destination."
"For me it looked like she was under a spell. I regret not going with her, leaving her alone..."
"Me too."
________________________________________________________________________________
The princess walks through the rocky desert. She is deadly tired, with her feet hurt, her whole body aching. She is starving, exhausted, but she doesn´t seem to care about that. She just keeps mumbling to herself. "I´m here to save you... I won´t let you go..." After walking some miles alone, under a scorching sun, she is seen by a group of men. The group approaches the princess, talking in a strange language..
"Who are you? What a beauty like you are you doing here, alone?"
The princess ignores the men and keeps walking.
"Hey!" One of the guys hold her arm. "Where do you think you are going, pretty girl?"
The princess pulls her arm with violence and frees herself for the hold.
"Short tempered? Guys, let´s 'tame' this beauty."
The group of man starts running after the princess. She is very tired and is not able to run. Soon, one man embraces her from behind and holds her tightly. She jerks her body, but she is unable to free herself from the strong man´s grip. The other men arrive and push her to the ground, holding her arms. She tries to kick herself free, but it is useless. Soon they immobilize her legs as well.
"No! That can´t be! Leave me, save yourself!"
"I will not leave you!"
"You cannot die, majesty! Not because of me! Save yourself. Leave me to die!"
"No! I´d rather die than let you die!"
"The universe cannot lose a love like yours. Please!"
The group of men start trying to tear off the princess´ dress. She is not very conscious of what is about to happen to her. The men start arguing who will have the pleasure to be the first. After a short dispute, it was decided that the leader of the gang would have the "honor". Two strong men force the princess´ legs open.
"No, not with you! I´ll seal all the evil that may happen to you, even it that costs the last bit of energy I´ve have left."
The leader of the gang was trying to rip the lower part of the princess´ dress when he suddenly fall, completely paralyzed, like dead. All the other men of the gang, one by one, fall on the floor as well. The princess feels a sense of relief to be free again. She regains her conscience by a short instant.
"Thanks Laya for this miracle!"
"I would not let that happen to you!"
"Whoever you are, I owe you my life."
"No, I owe you my life. I´m only alive on your love."
The princess leaves the group behind and resume walking. Soon, she is under the same trance again. "I´ll not let you go... I´ll save you..."
_________________________________________________________________________________
The group is walking towards the city the Innkeeper recommended to them. They are deadly tired and the purple-haired girl almost fainted twice of weakness. Finally, after one hour walking, their eyes meet a dark and dirty city, a bigger version of the village. The sun has already set and they can notice an excess of lights everywhere.
"Yuck! All the cities in this planet are disgusting." The golden-haired girl shows all her disgust towards the planet.
"Let´s hope there are people more friendly here."
The group enters the town. As usual, they are eyed suspiciously by the passersby. The telemental tries to talk with two strangers, but they just avoid the group. He then approaches a young man who is searching something under a pile of junk.
"Excuse me, we are travelers. Where can I find a place to rest?"
The young man eyes them suspiciously.
"Please, help us."
"Why don´t you try the Inn? Do you take me for a fool?"
"No, it is not that, we just don´t know where is the Inn."
"Stop fooling around. Look at that big sign. I-N-N."
"Thanks."
They turn their attention to the Inn. It is a wooden house, but much bigger than the Inn in the village. The Inn also looks better, as it doesn´t look like it needs desperately repairs. There is a big neon sign on the wall.
"I hope they treat us better here."
"I doubt. I´m getting scared in this place." The purple-haired girl looks worried.
The group enters the Inn. The customers in the bar just ignore them. The telemental goes straight to the clerk.
"Please, Mr. We are travelers from far-off lands. We need a place to rest for the night."
"That is two hundred."
"Alright sir. Unfortunately, we were robbed by rogues in the desert. We are short of funds..."
"I can´t do anything for you. Now, leave my Inn, we don´t want people like you hanging around this place."
"Couldn´t we pay the fare another way?"
"Hmmm, now I understand..." The clerk measures the girls with his eyes. "But I´m not into this kind of business. Go to the Sleazy Club, at the end of the street, past the general store."
"Thanks."
The group leaves the Inn and heads to the club.
"Sleazy Club? I don´t have a good feeling about that..." The golden-haired girl is angry.
"What choices do we have?" The telemental shrugs his shoulders.
"But, with this name, you know what kind of club it must be..."
"Well, let´s check out. I will not hurt us."
They enter the Club and the security guards stop them at the entrance.
"What to you want?"
"We were robbed and we are penniless. A man on the Inn told us we could exchange something else than money for a place to rest today."
"That same old excuse."
"Hey, look at his eyes..." Another guard points to the telemental.
"Do you think he is..."
"Maybe he is or was..."
"Better not meddle with them..."
"Very well!" The first guard who barred their entrance turns to the telemental. "Come on, our boss will like to make business with you."
The group was taken inside the club. Two guards led them to a private room on the back of the building. While crossing the main hall, the golden-haired girl´s suspicions were confirmed. The Sleazy Club was a men´s club. All the women inside were wearing sensual clothes, including some almost naked. Some were dancing to the customers, some were whispering things in their ears. There was not one woman who was not dressed like that or seated on the tables acting like the customers. They all seemed to be prostitutes.
"Hey, let´s get away from here. Look what kind of club this is!" The golden-haired girl whispers in the telemental´s ear.
"Be calm. Maybe they want you to dance. Or to clean the place. Maybe it is not too bad, we need the money, there is no choice."
One of the security guards look at them with a reproaching look because they were talking in an unknown language. As they reach the room´s door, one of the guards enter and exchange some words with a man who is inside the room. Then, they are ordered to enter the room.
"Hey, please, enter the room. Take a seat, Mr."
"Thanks."
"Looks like you came here for business."
"Yeah."
"Let´s see..." The boss, a fat and bald man, lifts from the chair and start examining the girl´s bodies. "Good stuff you have here... I guess they are not experienced."
"What are you talking about?"
"This petite thing with funny ears is charming and has an exotic beauty. I give you four hundred for her. Now, this blonde... this blonde... what a woman! I´ll give you six hundred for her. Is that fine for you?"
"Hey!" The golden-haired girl shouts in anger. "What do you think we are? Let´s get out of here!"
"Don´t be offended. I double my offer for you."
"Enough! You are a disgusting man! Let´s go away..."
"Anna?"
"Can´t you see he is trying to buy our modesty, stupid telemental? Let´s leave this damned place now!"
"Hey, once a pretty woman enters Don Capri´s room, she never leaves it unscathed." The boss says so with his eyes burning with desire.
"If you want to leave the room with your head attached to your neck, just let us go!"
"Do you wanna fight? Oh well, stupid girl, so be it. Guards, take the girls!"
In a few seconds several toughs enter the room and advance to grab the girls. Faster than them, the golden-haired girl hits the ribs of one of the toughs with her elbow and then knocks him down with a punch on the face, which breaks the man´s nose. The purple-haired girl rips her claws through the arm of another tough who was trying to hold her, making him immediately release her. The other toughs get somewhat scared of the purple-haired girl´s weapon and draw their guns, but with a clever movement of hands, the golden-haired girl repeats the performance with her slashers she had done with the androids and, before they could realize what has happened, all their guns had been sliced. The toughs stay in shock for some seconds, trying to understand what had just happened. Then the purple-haired girl turns her anger to the boss and rips her claws through the man´s groin.
"Gahhhh! Help! Look what this girl has done! Ahhhh!"
"Let us go if you don´t want to share the same fate as this crook!"
"What will be of me now! Ahhhh! She cut off my most precious thing! Ahhhhh!"
"You deserved that. Now get out of our way!" The golden-haired girl shouts as she shakes her slasher as a warning.
The toughs get out of the way, frightened, trembling. The girls go away running, causing some confusion in the main hall of the club. The telemental, still stunned, follows the girls.
"What have you done? Are you mad?"
"They deserved what they have got. Now shut up your mouth and run."
"But... but... what was so bad about their offer?"
"Ask your mom, jerk!"
They reached the door, which was blocked by three guards, but they all refrain from blocking the fleeing group way at the sight of the purple-haired girl´s bloodstained claws. The group exited the club and ran through the streets, mixing themselves with the crowd. There was a commotion in front of the club, with people entering and leaving the club in despair, causing a small riot. The group took advantage of the confusion and hid themselves into one of the dark alleys of the town. An old man, who was looking through his window, noticed the strange group and stopped them.
"What is all this mess? What has happened?"
"Something in the club. I don´t know exactly..." The telemental stopped to answer.
"Who are you? You don´t look from here."
"We are travelers looking for a place to rest..."
"Well, my house is on ruins, but I could help you if you don´t mind..."
"Of course we don´t mind."
"So let´s get in."
"Thank you so much, Mr."
The group enters the wooden house. The house is pretty simple, consisting of a living room, a small kitchen, a small bathroom and one bedroom. The furniture of the house is mostly old and somewhat worn out. There is a large TV set on the living room, two ragged and dirty couches and a small table. The furniture is covered by a thin dust layer, the floor desperately needs sweeping and cleaning. As a first impression, the golden-haired girl feels a disgust for the place, but as they don't have any better choice, she is resigned to spend a night over there.
"Please, please, drop your things at the corner and take a seat."
The telemental and the girls leave their packs at the corner of the room. The telemental sits on the same couch as the old man. The golden-haired girl looks at the other couch with disgust, but to not make things worse, she finally sits beside the purple-haired girl.
"Well, well, strangers... Where are you from?"
"A distant continent."
"Which continent?"
"It is a far-off land."
"Hmmm... what business do you have here?"
"We came to look for a person..."
"A cousin of mine." Interrupted the golden-haired girl. "He has asked me to come because we have some family business to solve, an uncle's inheritance. Nothing big, but you know, I had to come. So I brought some friends with me."
"Hmmm..." The old man looks suspiciously to the faces of the telemental and the girls. "I know... I know..."
"Unfortunately we had been robbed, so we are out of money. We wanted to reach our destination today, but there are several miles left, so we had to stop here..."
"I see..."
"Well, can we rest here at your home?"
"Look, I'm an old man who has nothing to offer you, but I'm experienced enough to know that you are lying."
"No..."
"Don't interrupt me, please! You don´t look dangerous, so I may let you rest here for today, given the girls..." The old man coughs.
"Oh, no, not again..." The golden-haired girl puts her hand over her slasher.
"The girls... help me cleaning this mess a bit. And you, man, you could help me fixing my wooden stairs. I can't get to the upper floor anymore."
The golden-haired girl sighs in relief. "Is that all? Deal done."
"Good. Then you can sleep on the couches this night."
"Would you mind if we do that tomorrow. We are deadly tired and starving."
"No problems. You may use the bathroom if you want. I'll put some extra water on the soup."
The telemental and the golden-haired girl are relieved. Finally they would have some rest. They didn't know how they managed to go so far without resting, but now their worries would be gone, for at least one day. The purple-haired girl still looked sad.
"What is it, Nei? You look so sad?" The golden-haired girl looks worried.
"Marlena..."
"Oh, Nei... Marlena..."
_________________________________________________________________________________
The princess kept walking, now through a forest. The sun had set a couple of hours before, everything was dark and it was very dangerous to walk in the forest at night. She didn't know anything about the wildlife of that planet, whether it was safe or not to walk in the forest, she didn't have any directions, she was deadly tired, with her body aching, her feet wounded, feeling cold, but still she resisted as if she was immune to weather, environment and even her own pains, tiredness and starvation. She kept mumbling "I will not let you go... I have come to save you..."
She advanced very slowly through the dense forest, but nothing could stop her. She felt a strange scent of lilies, which she used to direct her to her destination. She ignored all the menacing sounds that came from the woods. She just kept walking, walking... "I will not let you go..."
The princess found a small stream of water on her way. She knelt down automatically and drank some water. The water was refreshing. She was thirsty, but she didn't feel any pleasure in drinking the water. The only thing she noticed was a faint aroma of lilies while drinking the water. She entered the small stream to bathe herself, without taking out her clothes. As she exited the stream, her dress and underwear were completely drenched, but she didn't seem to care. Her movements were slowed by the extra weight of the drenched dress, the cold breeze made her shiver, but she just kept walking. "I'm here! I'll not leave you." Her feet were so badly damaged that they have become a mass of blood and flesh. Even so, she kept walking. "I'm here to save you!".
After many hours, as the sun was rising again, the princess reached the sands of a beach. There was a sea between her and her destination. She kept moving until she hit the water. She started acting madly, trying to discover a way to cross the ocean. Suddenly, she felt the scent of the lilies coming from another direction. This time, the scent came from the west. She started walking towards the origin of the scent. As her feet were washed by the salted waters of the sea, she felt a strong pain, but she kept moving on.
After a dozen minutes, she comes across a small harbor. Many small boats are anchored on the shore. She moves towards the first boat and starts making gestures, asking for the sailor to take her to the direction she pointed on the horizon.
"What do you want, girl?"
The girl gestures with her hand a ship sailing, and points to the direction she wants to go.
"Do you want me to take you there? You are mad!"
The man turns away. The princess advances to the next boat and asks the same question.
"What do you mean? Can't you speak?"
The princess just makes the same gestures.
"Well, how much will you pay?" The man takes a coin out of his pocket and shows her, but the princess just shakes her head negatively.
"Then stop wasting my time!"
The princess follows the scent of lilies and discovers it is originated from a small boat. Inside the boat there is an old man, with white hair and beard, smoking his pipe and lying on the sun, with his eyes closed. She climbs up the boat and touches the shoulder of the man. The man opens his left eye to see what it is and is somewhat surprised to see a young and pretty woman inside his boat.
"What is it?"
The princess gestures as if she was deaf.
"Can't you listen to me?"
The princess points to her ears and shakes her head.
"Well... well..." The old captain stands up. "What do you want, dear?"
The princess makes the same gestures to the old captain she has done before to the other sailors.
"Do you really want to go there?"
The princess just keeps repeating her movements.
"Well." The old captain shrugs his shoulders. "I can take you there. It is not that far and I have nothing to do today. Besides, a beautiful company like you will do no harm."
The princess is confused, as she didn't understand the man. The old captain starts raising the sail. The princess kneels down in front of him and bows, thanking the man.
"Oh, pretty girl, that is nothing. Just take a seat and relax. You look so tired..." The old man keeps staring at the princess' eyes. There is something in her eyes he will never forget.
_________________________________________________________________________________
The purple-haired girl wakes up, her body aching, but she is feeling much better. Ten hours of sleep were not enough to make all the tiredness go away, but at least she was not weak anymore. Her mind, though, was uneasy. She couldn't stop thinking on the princess. She was really afraid that the princess could be dead at that time.
She stands up and leaves the living room, where she, the telemental and the golden-haired girl were sleeping. She walks noiselessly to not wake up her companions, but that is not a hard task for her, given her nature. She arrives at the small kitchen.
"Heh, you all sleep too much."
"You'd do so if you were awake for two days."
"Well... what is that with your ears, girl?"
"None of your business. As we promised you, I can start cleaning your kitchen now."
"Oh well, please, do it. And do it well."
"You can leave that to me, I'm used to that."
The purple-haired girl starts cleaning the kitchen, washing the floor, the table, the stove and the refrigerator, dusting the shelfs. With the noise, the golden-haired girl wakes up.
"Hey, Nei, are you doing it all alone?"
"Well, I let you sleep a bit more."
"Oh, Nei, you shouldn't."
"I couldn't sleep that well."
"Of course, these couches are hard as stone."
"It is not that, Anna, it is because of Marlena. She is lost in a lost world. I'm afraid of whom she may have met on her lonely journey."
"Don't tell me, every person in this planet is weird. I will help you in order to get us out of here as soon as possible. Then we may start looking for the princess."
"I hope we can find her..."
"Aha, look who is wake!" The old man enters the kitchen. "Will you help your friend, pretty girl?"
"Yeah, I'll clean the bathroom."
Anna leaves the kitchen and starts cleaning the bathroom. It is not that bad because she has cleaned it a bit the day before, in order to use it. It takes her half an hour to get all the things clean. Then she fills a glass of water, goes to the living room and throws its content in the face of the telemental, who was still sleeping.
"Wake up!"
"Wha... wha... what is that? Anna?"
"Wake up, it is already late. I have to clean the living room and you have to fix the stairs."
"Oh, let me sleep more. I'm deadly tired."
"I'm deadly tired as well, but did you forget something?"
"What?"
"Marlena."
"What is with her? Uh... oh... now I remember."
"So lift your butt from the floor and start working."
The telemental slowly rises from the floor and yawns. The golden-haired girl pushes him out of the living room and start taking the things out of the floor in order to get it cleaned. She looks with disgust at the dirtiness of the floor and the objects. "Well, I´ve fought harder battles before." The telemental goes to the kitchen where he finds the purple-haired girl finishing cleaning the kitchen.
"Good morning, Nei."
"It is already 1p.m."
"Really? Did I sleep that much?"
"Yes, you did. And Marlena spent the whole night and the whole morning away. Who knows were she may be now?"
"I don't know, but it was her choice. She has gone mad, what can I do?"
"Don't ever say that again of the princess! The only mad person here is you!"
"Alright, alright. Where is the old fart?"
"In his room, probably."
"Alright. I´m still feeling drowsy. It is so strange..."
The telemental leaves the room. Soon, the purple-haired girl joins the golden-haired girl in cleaning the living room. Meanwhile, the telemental and the old man start fixing the stairs. After the girls finish the room, they head to the old man's bedroom.
"No, no, don't go inside. You can leave my bedroom as it is."
"Why? Wasn't the deal to clean the house?"
"Yes, it was, but my bedroom doesn't need cleaning."
The golden-haired girl eyes the old man suspiciously. "I will decide if it needs cleaning or not."
"No, no..."
The golden-haired girl storms into the old man's room. She feels extreme repulse for the state the room is in. The floors are dirty, the bed clothes look like they have not been changed for a year. There are many things on the floor, including empty beer cans and empty junk food packages and many, many adult magazines and videos all over the room. But she senses something else and starts looking for something hidden. She opens his wardrobe, his drawers and she finally finds what she was looking for under the old man's bed.
"The princess' jewels!" The golden-haired girl retrieves the jewels, grabs her slasher and leaves the room. A wheezing sound is hear on the living room and the old man only feels a short burst of air near his head. Then he looks down and see part of his hair on the floor.
"What is that?"
"Scoundrel! Return our possessions or you will taste the blade next time!"
"Oh, my... what is that?"
"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. Our jewels were under your bed!"
"I... I... don't know how they ended there..."
"I know, you took them there while we were sleeping. Now, return everything or you will literally lose your head!"
The old man, afraid, went to his room and started unfolding things he had stolen. Not only the princess' jewels, but also the girl's underwear was stolen.
"You old pervert! It is disgusting to think I've slept in this house..." The golden-haired girl is really angry.
"Please, please, take anything you want with you, just don't kill me!"
"Well, a bit of food would not be bad. Nei, go to the kitchen and take something for us."
The telemental then goes to the old man's room. He doesn't find anything useful. Then, he catches a glimpse of a magazine and takes it before leaving. As he exits the room, the golden-haired girl, who had finished packing their belongings again, is surprised.
"What does than mean? Are you taking this magazine? Are you a pervert too?"
"No, it is not that, Anna. Let's go, leave this old fart here."
"Hey..."
"Shut up! To think I have trusted a scoundrel like you..."
"Forget about him, Anna, we must find Marlena."
"Yes... Marlena... Poor girl. Roaming alone in this decrepit world. She is really lost in a lost world..."
_________________________________________________________________________________
The short trip is uneventful and, in less than two hours, the princess disembarked in the north island. She had eaten some pieces of bread offered by the old captain and had rested her feet, which were in a sad state. But she didn't get any sleep. She knew that, if she slept, someone would be gone forever.
She wordlessly thanked the old caption, left the ship and resumed walking north. She also resumed mumbling.
"I'll not let you die... I'll be here with you, no matter what."
"Leave me... you will die... you are exhausted... you need to sleep."
"If I sleep, you will die..."
"It doesn't matter, the universe needs you alive..."
"But you can't go..."
"It is better if I go than if you go. Please... the world needs your love... your are the personification of love, majesty."
"I'll not leave you."
Soon the princess reached a large canyon. She had to overcome the canyon to reach her destination and that was not an easy task, specially for someone wounded and exhausted as her. She kept following the scent of the lilies. At some point of the canyon, the princess was so exhausted that she couldn't walk anymore, so she started crawling. Many times she fell on the floor and many times she lifted up again. Nothing could stop her.
"No... you must not die. Leave me, I'm not worthy your sacrifice."
"You will not die! I swear it!"
"Please, forget me... I'm not needed in the world, you are. Save yourself, leave me to die."
"Never... never..."
Near noon, she finally left the canyon and reached a small forest. The princess used the trees to help her walk by pulling the trees in order to move forward, as her legs were almost useless. She took an hour to cross less than a mile, but eventually she managed to cross the forest in safety and finally she reached a city. The city was nothing like the cities her companions had been. It was like a huge temple, made of stone pathways carved on the rocky mountains, wooden buildings carved on trees and large crystal pieces, everything hanging over a lake. The scent of lilies was very strong. The princess was sure she had reached her final destination.
"I have made it! I'll save you now!"
"I can't believe you have made this far in such a state! Why did you sacrifice yourself?"
"I did it all for you."
"Why that? Please, leave me. You are about to die, you will not make it..."
"I'll never be at peace without you..."
"No, majesty... you are the one who must live! I sacrifice myself for you."
"I'll not let you go, no matter what."
She climbs the rocky and wodden ramps with a great difficulty. The city was empty. The princess drags herself to a small lake. The scent of lilies is stronger than ever. The princess takes almost one hour to move less than a hundred yards by dragging herself on the ground. As she finally reaches the border of the lake, she touches the water with her right hand.
"I promised you! I'm here!"
"Oh, queen Marlena, what would the universe do without your love?"
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