Chapter 12

"My queen, who is this young lady?" Diavinx asked with a smirk behind his glass.

"She is Akirexer. My pupil and possible heir." Queen Sharaina answered and everyone started murmuring.

Whitney couldn't keep her jaw up at Sharaina. 'Her heir, is this why she helped me? What is she up to?'

Sharaina ruled Dark Star ever since she was 90-years-old. This was after she defeated the then ruler; King Meelzib, who was a ruthless tyrant. She put an end to the worst civil war Dark Star ever had in all of its history.

Sharaina banished Meelzib to the deepest pits of a dark and cold dimension where he could never escape under the arrest of the Lunar beast. She went on to rule without an heir.

The Enchanted Seven expected one of them to be the next ruler so this announcement caught them off guard. None, however, dared to question the queen.

"Akirexer," Sharaina began. "to your opposite is Commander Ouman. He is the commander of the army in South America." Sharaina was referring to the big guy with the facial dragon mark. He nodded his head at his introduction.

"The lady next to him is Commander Yolin. She is in charge of Antarctica." Sharaina glared at her. "She will put out her cigarette now." she commanded.

Yolin immediately put out the cigarette. Sharaina turned her gaze away from her and pointed at the man that was reading a book earlier.

"He is Commander Zentz. He is in charge of Europe." She said and he smiled at Whitney. "Next to him is Commander Ronitte, and she is in charge of Africa. Opposite her is Commander Diavinx of North America. Right next to him over there is Commander Philanda. She is in charge of Australia." Queen Sharaina completed the introductions.

Philanda was gazing into empty space as usual with her dull pink eyes. It was as though she was trapped in a trance. Sharaina shook her head sideways with a smile.

"She is always in her world." she explained to Whitney who gave a slight nod. "Anyway, as you know, the person sitting next to you is Melonina. She isn't a commander but a vice commander." Queen Sharaina clarified and Melonina smiled warmly at Whitney. Her smile made her feel a little comfortable.

"Melonina is under Commander Naraygeous. He couldn't make it here for he is held up with his duties in Asia." Sharaina added took a sip of her wine. With a silly grin, she continued, "Akirexer, before you are six of the powerful darkas gods who make up the Enchanted Seven. Vice commander Melonina is also a gifted and excellent warrior." She added and Melonia's cheeks turned a shade of pink.

"Well then, now that we know each other, let's eat." Sharaina mirthfully clapped her hands to which smiles were exchanged.

The awkward lunch lasted another hour and when it was finally over, Whitney was relieved. To her surprise, everyone abruptly got up and bowed their heads. Not wanting to appear odd, Whitney stood up and dropped her gaze.

She listened to Sharaina getting up from her chair and dropping her napkin on the table. What followed next was the sound of her heels on the floor. As soon she was out, the commanders headed out whispering to each other. They walked past Whitney paying little or no attention to her.

Commander Zentz, however, stopped and turned to Whitney. Due to the light reflection on his glasses, Whitney couldn't see his eyes. He towered over her and she felt so little. What a height he possessed. He could have been 6'3 or so.

The sight of him pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose reminded her of Steve. Whitney's tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth and her shoulders tensed. She immediately faced away in disgust.

"It was a pleasure meeting you Akirexer." Zentz remarked and with a warm smile he left.

Whitney watched him leave with dropped brows of guilt. She didn't mean to be rude him. Whitney sighed to herself and pushed her chair back in.

"Wow it appears Commander Zentz likes you." Vice commander Melonina suddenly said to Whitney and put her hand over her shoulder.

Whitney stared at her baffled by her sudden closeness. She was one who valued personal space and didn't take too kindly to those who violated it. Whitney shrugged underneath Melonina's arm but Melonina didn't take it off. She instead ignored Whitney's look of surprise and smirked at her.

Waving her finger at Whitney, she advised, "Do not fall for him though. It is a dead end." and ended with a nod.

"Forgive me vice commander but I must take my leave now." Whitney coldly said and walked away leaving Melonina feeling awkward by herself.

"Why I'm I so awkward?" she face palmed with a groan.

****

The girls from the market got into their self-contained single room apartment. It had a one double sized bed and a single bed. In the corner was a gas stove and a cupboard packed with dishes.

Not only were they tired but also sad. They took off their coats and sat on their beds with frowns. Sana laid down and faced the stained ceiling. She heard her sister sigh and turned to her.

"At least we managed to serve our soup to one person today." she remarked and flashed a faint smile. "One who knows the queen." she added and received a glare.

"Sana you know her highness can never eat from us. We are outcasts because we went against her order." Sanuika angrily said and tossed a pillow across the room.

Sana sat up, tucking her short dark hair behind her ear with both hands. "I know but we can always hope. Her highness is kind and so was that woman. Maybe she can –" Sana stopped when she met Sanuika's glare.

"The only way we will make it is if we go to Earth. We have nothing but hatred here. Even though the queen hasn't said anything against dropouts, the vast majority idolize her, so they feel betrayed by our decisions. We can't continue living here." Sanuika said with bitterness.

"Making it on Earth is harder. Where will we sleep? None of our kind will help us, and we don't have any money. The last we had was used for ingredients." Sana voiced her concerns.

Maradina abruptly got up to Sana and Sanuika's surprise. She walked across the room with so much caution. Her eyes narrowed down at the bathroom door. Without turning back, she held out her hand to the twins to stay back.

The toilet flashed.

The twins stood up annoyed at that whilst Maradina clenched her fists. The door opened slowly without a creak. Stepping out of the bathroom was a blonde man with a lollipop in his mouth. Sticking out on his neck was his dragon mark. He wore cargo shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. Covering his sharp eyes were green sunglasses.

Maradina relaxed her fists at his face. She could clearly see his breathtaking gaze through his glasses. She parted her lips at his strong arms and broad shoulders. Her cheeks took their expected color when confronted by princely appearances.

The twins, however, maintained their anger. "How dare you break into our house?" Sana growled with her fangs out.

The sound of her growl brought Maradina back to her senses. She thrust herself at the man with full force and threw a punch. The wall of the house broke down with a bang. The three girls found their way out of the house searching frantically for the intruder.

"Looking for me?" the man asked whilst standing firmly on a branch.

Sanuika ran after him with full speed, lunged up and swung her leg, but he dodged her kick. He grabbed her leg and with a strong thrust, threw her forward. She bashed over ten trees.

Seeing her sister getting beat, Sana wasted no time and charged at him screaming. She lunged in the air and opened her palm. The dragon mark in it glowed and out came daggers. The man did his best to dodge them all but in a blink of an eye, he saw Maradina aiming an arrow at him. She released the arrow and it went through his stomach.

He bent over and groaned. Before he knew it, Sanuika gave him a punch under his chin that sent him flying upwards. Sana and Sanuika threw daggers at him while he was still in the air. He plummeted to the ground with daggers sticking out of his flesh.

The girls landed beside him in a triangular stance; each pointing their weapons at him.

"Give it up, intruder. You have lost!" Sana yelled but to their surprise he started laughing.

"I knew that you girls are talented." he whispered.

A strong wind came and brought a thick cloud of dust. The man rose up in the air with wind circulating around him. In his hand was a scythe that he swung side to side.

"Destroy him girls!" Sana exclaimed.

Unfortunately, she was silenced when he, with speed she had never seen before, hit her with the end of his scythe. With a scream she fell to the ground.

"He is so strong." she whimpered and rolled over in pain.

Maradina ran after him, lunged up and shot arrows at him. To her dismay, he blocked them all by spinning his scythe. He drew closer to her and gave her one hard punch that sent her flying towards Sanuika who was getting ready to fire daggers at him. The girls laid beat on the ground.

"I didn't want to raise my hand at little girls but you left me no choice." he calmly said with a chuckle at the end.

"You bastard," Sana sneered at him.

"Now, now, there is no need for such terms. I am not your enemy." he insisted with his hand up.

"Try telling that to people you haven't wounded." Sanuika spat only to moan after.

"Hey you started it, attacking me when I was on my way out of the bathroom. Talk about having no manners." he complained and shook his head at them. "Either way, that aside. I have a proposal for you. I want to hunt down a vampire and steal a precious ornament from it. I need talented girls like you to help me."

Sanuika scoffed. "Strong as you are but you failed to steal something from a lowly vampire. You should be ashamed of yourself."

The man nodded his head. "True, so true. However, you must know that this vampire is no ordinary vampire. It is a vampire so strong that even I got defeated."

"And we should care because?" Sanuika asked him and Maradina sat up holding her injured arm.

"Well, I know that you are dropouts of the Great Academy hence you are outcasts because of it. You did so because you believed that your place wasn't in the army. You have big dreams of owning your own restaurant one day but because of refusing to serve the queen, everyone hates you. Your own families disowned you."

"Someone did their homework." Sana sat up with a wince. "Look, we don't have all night. Just cut to the chase."

The man rolled his eyes. "The ornament is the Infinite Medallion."

Jaws dropped and eyes widened. "You mean the one that went missing during the civil war?" Sana gasped.

"Yes the very one. The one that has a bounty of six billion pearls." the man added with a mischievous grin.

"Six billion pearls?" Sana and Sanuika gasped.

"Five percent should be enough to buy you a restaurant and a big house considering that you have destroyed this one." he eyed their house in rabble. "So what do you say?"

The twins grinned at each other. They knew what they had to do. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Finally, they had the chance to make their dream come true.

"You got yourself a deal." The twins said together and Maradina nodded.

"Great!" The man exasperated and his scythe vanished into a bright red light. It went to the man's neck and turned into his dragon mark.

"Who are you by the way?" Sanuika asked him.

With a grin he said, "I am Waxx Sevilon."

Thank you for reading. More updates are on the way. ❤