Chapter 57: A Letter
"Oh my God! Clair, come look at this!" shouted Benitha, a black haired girl with tanned skin. "This one looks like Tsundria."
This girl was one of those from Nexus Regions, the one Tsundria had weirdly introduced to Edmund that time when he extracted the Kawa sapling to get Movable Invisible.
Now, she was pointing at a canvas Peony had given them. It was a huge scroll that they were slowly unrolling, getting surprised each and every second by the thought that it was drawn by a human. Of course they did not believe Peony when she said it was drawn by a human, plus who she was friends with. If only they knew that she was the said human.
"Oh wow!" It was Clair. "She really looks like... no! Noway! She’s Tsundria! it’s her! I can bet!"
"It’s true!" Gillian joined the conversation. It had been two hours since Edmund and Tsundria flew over the chasm to check if the Dungeon of Desires was on the other side, two hours which she used to befriend both Benitha and Clair.
"Look at the eyes, look at the..."she continued.
The resemblance between the girl in the portrait and the real Tsundria was so undeniable that even Snake commented about it.
Everyone’s gaze lingered on the girl who mirrored Tsundria until Benitha unrolled another section. This time, they didn’t have to say that the girl there looked like Peony. It was her.
Sitting beside a man who looked like a god, Peony was adorning the same purple outfit, purple hairs on her head and sapphire blue eyes.
Everyone was too dumbfounded to say anything except Lynn.
"W-Wait!"
The guy was standing in front of both Benitha and Clair. This was a measure he took to make sure his height would not limit his sight.
"Do you guys see what I’m seeing?"
"Of course!" Benitha was the one who answered. "This is Peony. There is no doubt. She was friends with the one who drew this portrait, after all."
"Then what about Tsundria?"
Gillian didn’t wait to hear if anyone was going to answer the bald, half-naked guy’s question. She quickly ran toward Peony who was standing near the cliff. She was the one who could answer that question.
Did she and Tsundria know each other? Why did she look tense when Edmund was going to go with her? Was Tsundria evil?
Wait!
Wouldn’t that mean that Edmund was in trouble?
’She has to answer me!’
"Hey Peony!"
Gillian said when she reached her. Peony didn’t respond. She just continued staring at the horizon with a lost expression on her face. Gillian could tell by her expression that her assumptions were true. Edmund was in trouble!
"What’s going on?"
Gillian shook her by the shoulders to get her attention.
Peony gave her a confused expression.
"Uh... huh?"
"Is Edmund in trouble?"
Gillian could not see any reason to hit around the bush. If he was in trouble, she had to know it right now so she could see if there was something she could do about it before things reached beyond redemption.
Peony had been worried and didn’t want Edmund to go with that bitch Tsundria. Turns out, her worry was for real. If not, how could two hours pass without getting any updates from him? What was that bitch trying to do to him?
This is why while others were busy laughing and passing time by viewing her drawings, she was busy brainstorming ideas on how to save Edmund should the need arise.
Could she tell that to Gillian? No! No way! Gillian loved Edmund and she was still too young to handle the loss. Telling her that he was in trouble didn’t seem like a great idea... at least before even confirming if he really was in trouble.
What if he told her that he was? How was she going to explain the Venomous Beauties concept to her?
’Let keep it to myself for now!’
With this thought, Peony looked at Gillian and asked, "In trouble? Hell no! Where did you even get that from?"
"From your eyes!"
Gillian said this pointing at Peony, then at the horizon. "From where you’ve been staring. I can clearly tell that something is off."
Peony burst out laughing at her words.
"Oh my! I cannot believe that you’ve been stalking me. Don’t you see I’m just worried as you’re?"
This was true. Gillian, also, was worried... so much... Who would not be after he left for two whole hours without even sending a single word to tell them if he was OK? Maybe Kyron.
However, she could tell that the worry on Peony’s face was something more.
"What do you take me for? A kid?"
She shook her head.
"I can tell that you know Tsundria by seeing both of you in that portrait. That you know how evil she is and afraid that she might do something to him."
Gillian herself didn’t know what Tsundria could do to Edmund. Would she kill him? For what? Maybe because she enjoyed killing, right? There were a lot of reasons why to kill a handsome and weak guy like Edmund.
Peony turned in the direction of the horizon once again, wishing she could just peer into the fog arising from the bottom of the wide canyon to see what was happening at the other end.
As for giving a reply to Gillian, she didn’t have what to say to her. She was right about her and Tsundria knowing each. That she knew Tsundria was evil. Since she didn’t have any way to explain those phenomena to her, she just kept quiet.
’Edmund, I hope you did not tell her you have the Dreadful Dagger!’
Him telling Tsundria that he had the God of Desires sword was what Peony feared the most. She knew how Tsundria was power-thirsty, how she said she would try everything in her power to become stronger than Skylark. The sword was a shortcut for her.
Since Edmund had once used the sword to convince, she was worried that he would use the same technique on her. His death.
’I should have warned him!’
’Why didn’t I remember to do so?’
’I’m stupid! I’m selfish!
Gillian was about to confront Peony once again when she saw tears sprouting out of the corners of her eyes to roll down her cheeks.
She quickly hugged her and started crying, too. She felt guilty for tormenting her when, technically, she was the first person who could not wish anything bad to happen to Edmund. She was his wife and, on top of that, truly loved him.
"I’m sorry, sister Peony! I shouldn’t have tomented you."
"It’s... sob... not your fault! Besides, you were right... sob..."
She paused, pulled away from Gillian’s embrace and added, "He’s in trouble and we need to do something about it as soon as possible."
There was now a determined expression on her face.
Yeah! They had to do something about it. But what? They didn’t have any Legacy that could help them fly over the canyon. Gillian didn’t see any idea of what they would do.
Just as she was going to ask Peony if she maybe had an idea, Benitha yelled at them.
"A message! Edmund has sent a message!"
Gillian and Peony exchanged surprised glances then ran toward the group. Were they really worried for nothing?
The shimmering small circle lay beside Kyron’s feet. The guy stood straight like a bodyguard, his golden armor resembling the part of the scroll where Peony had drawn the entire army of Venomous Beauties together with the God of Desires.
"What’s written on it?"
Peony hurried to ask.
"We’re yet to read it."
It was Clair. These guys from Nexus Regions were also worried, but not for the same reason as Peony’s. For them, they wanted to know if Tsundria and Edmund had not encountered any monstrosity where Peony was worried about her being the monstrosity.
"Give it to me!"
The portal which Edmund had sent the. message through was produced by the runes drawn on a piece of cloth that Edmund had gifted Gillian as a way to communicate with her. When he left with Tsundria, Gillian lay the cloth where everyone could see so as not to miss his message.
Clair gave it to her and, like everyone, waited patiently to hear what it said.
The expression on Peony’s face became gloomy and gloomier as she muttered the contents of the letter to herself, frightening everyone. They could see how bad the news was just by that expression on hers.
"What does it say?"
When Benitha asked this, Peony just handed the letter to her before she could even finish it. She was clearly telling her to see for herself.
"Uh... sorry that I have kept you guys worried!" Benitha read it aloud. "It was impossible for me to stop the battle and draw a portal to give you guys some updates. Besides, I didn’t want to make you worried."
"The battle?" Gillian subconsciously asked this, getting closer to Benitha as if she wanted to read it herself.
’Why would Edmund be in a battle?’
"That’s not the worst part of it," replied Peony who had almost read the whole letter.
"Can you guys keep quiet and let me finish reading the letter?"
