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muinaru-novel-blog · 7 years ago

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Chapter Fifteen - Typhoon

The sign suspended over the door from Jones’ Bakery’s door was swinging erratically, as gales of wind blew through the town, bringing with a chilling rift of gloomy clouds. The brewing storm on the horizon had provoked the town into a frenzy of shopping, with villagers running from store to store for supplies.

Corphe carefully rode her horse down the road towards the bakery, navigating through the bustling crowds of shoppers, who carelessly ran out into the roads, until she finally arrived at the bakery. She trotted to the side of the bakers and looked through the window. She saw Herax conversing with Terrence, who, once he caught sight of Corphe, rushed out, bursting through the doors with his arms out wide. Herax called, “Corphe,” with a big grin, “haven’t seen you in weeks. How’s it been going?”

Corphe jumped down from her horse and replied, “I have been good; however, I’ve come back to find that Zelesa has be up to mischief.”

Herax nodded, “Isn’t she always. Where is she anyway?”

“She is packing; punishment for her recent indiscretion.”

Herax expressed disappointedly, “That’s a shame, I thought she’d like to meet this boy again.”

“Who?”

“Erik, the boy with found at the fortress.” Herax explained as took the reins of Corphe’s horse and guided it down towards the back of the bakery. He instructed as they walked, “Just go up now, I’ll join you after I secured the horse. Lirish is up there waiting for you.”

Corphe nodded with a shrug and walked to the back door. She made her way up the narrow staircase and knocked methodically on the door, where she stood straight and waited patiently by the door, holding her arms across her back.

Lirish called from inside, “Who is it?”

Corphe replied, “It’s me, Corphe.”

Immediately the door swung open and Lirish yanked Corphe inside. She dragged Corphe passed the heaps of technological junk to the back room, where Erik sat over Kingdom’s book in the light of a small window. He was intensely studying the book, transcribing the minute text onto the blank pages of another note book.

Lirish smiled and urged, “Look, see what Erik can do.”

Corphe approached Erik and peered over his shoulder. She looked at the Kingdom’s book, seeing nothing but incomprehensible scribbles. She turned her gaze to Erik’s writings, which he wrote in clear English. Confused, she enquired as she leant over Erick, “What is it you’re doing, boy?”

Erik looked up and was taken a back, “Erm,” he gulped as he gawked at Corphe’s strange hairless skull, “I’m, erm, translating the book.” He continued to flick his gaze up at her head but kept retaining his gaze away, trying to avoid being rude.

Corphe snapped her fingers and informed, “Yes, earthling, I am different.” She stood behind her back and asked, “How are you translating the book. Is this an earthling language you can read?”

Lirish quickly answered for him, “No, of course not. He can see the text hidden within the scribbles. Only an earthling can see the book.”

Corphe hummed and asked, “So, what does this mean?”

Lirish smiled, “The book holds information about Muinaru, among many other things.”

Corphe enquired, “Muinaru?”

Abruptly, Herax’s voice interposed, “It is a mineral that can produce great amounts of electricity.”

Lirish nodded and added, “We have struggled to construct a city on the level of causorians. We have too little energy and of that we can produce with the dam, a great preponderance of it is used up on the expulsion of these shades. Muinaru is the answer to everything. We can generate an unbelievable amount of energy with it.”

Herax sighed, “But we don’t know how to locate the mines.”

Lirish nodded and explained, “But the causorians had mines and used the muinaru to generate energy. The locations are, no doubt, in this book, somewhere.”

Corphe smiled an asked, “So, this could bring an end to the shades.”

Herax nodded, “Of course, no longer will I need to harvest lightning to refuel our weapons. We could travel deep into the heart of that darkness, and drive the shades out in to the sun, where they will perish.”

Abruptly, the light of the room quickly dulled as thick clouds drifted over the sun, shadowing Kingdom’s Book. Lirish swiftly lit a few candles as she divulged, “I could also finally have a laboratory like the one’s described in the causorian books.” She positioned the candle’s around Erik and added, “My ideas can be recognised. I could be a real scientist.”

Corphe nodded and said, “Well, sounds like interesting stuff. Be sure to tell me how it all pans out.”

Herax smiled and shook his head, “We know the mine will be farther to the north, so will require a good crew for the expedition, which means I need an expert at navigating caves and mountainous landscapes. Like yourself.”

Corphe gracefully smiled to the offer but shook her head, declining, “I’m not going on a long mission. I’m away from Zelesa long enough as it is.”

Herax chuckled, “Take her with you. She’s old enough. She’ll be safe with me and my crew and she’ll learn more on the journey than she will at the academy.”

A shower of rain began to patter against the window as Corphe stood in silence, lost in vacillating thought.

Suddenly, Erik cried, “Hey, I found something.”

Zelesa stood still in the secret study, watching the window above. She pressed a button on her quiver and out sprung an unusual looking arrow, which she swiftly loaded into her bow, before she began moving around the walls, towards the exit.

All the while Zelesa kept her eye on the window above, when, just as she reached halfway, the window above shattered, and the glass rained down into the room, bringing with it a torrent of wind. She shielded her eyes with her arm as the glass landed and kept herself low to the floor.

There was a sudden loud thud and a ghastly smell entered the room. Zelesa immediately peered over her arm and saw a shade collapsed on the floor. It was dazed from the fall but was quickly recovering.

Zelesa quickly drew her bow back, which whirled with a winding churn, and released the arrow on the shade. The arrow didn’t leave the bow, instead the base jammed at the end of the bow and a bolt of electricity was driven out like a bolt of lightning, striking the shade.

The shade howled and cried in pain as the electricity infused into its body, however it was vanquished only weakened. Zelesa quickly drew the arrow back again and fired another bolt, which struck the shade again and again it screamed in pain. The accumulative energy was too much for the vile creature and within seconds it broke down into ash, which dissolved away in the wind.

More howls of shades echo from above and Zelesa quickly rushed to the stairs. As she descended the steps, another shade appeared behind her, she drew her arrow as it lunged at her, and quickly she released the arrow. The bolt was strong enough to freeze the shade in mid-air, dropping down in pain. However, even as it writhed in pain it reached for Zelesa’s ankles. She quickly jumped back and drew the arrow back, executing the shade as it crawled towards her.

Several more shades appeared at the top of the stairs, hooting and howling like ravenous apes as they caught sight of Zelesa. Swiftly, she fired a barrage of bolts at the top of the stairs as she walked backwards. However, the top of the stairs was soon bustling with dozens of shades; all fighting to passed each other to get to Zelesa, undeterred by the dangers of the bolts of electricity she fired up at them.

Once Zelesa reached the bottom of the stairs, she quickly fled towards the window she had entered through, however, as she neared close, she saw a few shades were sculling around the area, inspecting the sections between the rows of bookcases.

She halted to an immediate stop, but it was too late, the heavy stomp of her run footsteps had alerted the shades to her presence. They ran towards her with howling screeches, but quickly Zelesa fired at the shades, dropping them to the floor electrified pain. However, they continued to drag themselves towards her, hauntingly screeching.

Zelesa fired again, and silenced the chilling howls, but it was too late, the dozens of the shades she had fled quickly gather behind her. The situate became even more dire as dozens more flowed in from the open window.

She thought fast and quickly, jumped onto the table before leaping up onto one of the bookcases. The shades tried to follow, but they weren’t the most intelligent creatures, and, rather than use the table to follow her, they slowly and laboriously clambered up the book shelves, which made them easy targets for Zelesa to fire upon.

Continuously, Zelesa fired upon the shades, but it was having little effect, as more shades seemed to endlessly join the frenzy, clawing up the shelves. Her arms were also beginning to tire, allowing the creatures to progress up the shelves.

Then, suddenly the book case began to tilt. To many shades had climbed on side of the bookcase and the within seconds the whole thing fell over, dropping down towards the bookcase next to it.

Zelesa quickly jump to the next one, but as the last case crashed into it, it too tilted and was slowly pushed over. Like dominos, the book cases continued to fall, and Zelesa continued jumped from one to the next. The shades ran a long side, hooting and howling down the library, as the ran after Zelesa.

Eventually, Zelesa reached the last book case and was thrown to the floor, as the bookcase struck the wall and shatter a window. The glass sprinkled down beside and Zelesa and a gale of wind blast through the building.

Quickly, Zelesa picked herself up and rushed to the fallen bookcase, resting against the broke wind. However, just as she grasped the edge of the bookcase, snatched by a shade. It wrapped its arms tightly around her waist and yanked off with a firm tug, turning her around to face the horde of approaching shades.

However, Zelesa wasn’t ready to give up. She jerk violently from side to side, loosening the shades grip, when suddenly the room burst with the loud crackle of electricity. Zelesa looked up and saw several streams of electricity pulsating across the room into the horde of shades.

Immediately, the shades stopped in their tracks as the electricity burnt through them, breaking them up into cloud of ash, which swirled about the library with the wind.

Zelesa looked over to her side and there stood Groke and a legion of guards. They moved closer to Zelesa as they concentrated the stream of electricity on the shades, which continued to clamber forward, trying to jump at Groke and the guards, however the shades were too few to pose a threat.

Zelesa finally shifted out of the shade’s grasp, throwing it against the bookcase. It tried to climb the shelves but Zelesa quickly grabbed her bow and fired on the shade. It collapsed to the floor writhing in pain. Zelesa drew back the arrow again slowing and fired on the shade. As it dissolved into ash she remarked, “That was a shocking turn around.”

Groke laughed as he stood behind her. It was a deep laugh, which he kept contained behind his closed lips. He scoffed, “That was a shocking turn around?”

Zelesa smiled, “You have to have say a cool send off.”

Groke grinned and ordered, “Ordered, come with me, it’s not safe to be out on your own. The shades are arriving under the cover of the clouds.

#Muinaru #chapter #fantasy #advneture #novel

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muinaru-novel-blog · 7 years ago

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Chapter fourteen - Secret Study

Whilst standing in a cold and old elevator Zelesa brushed her arm as she waited for Groke, who was fiddling with the metal gate. With a grunt he dragged it across and it locked with a loud shuddered. He sighed but it wasn’t your typical sigh but a deep grunt like a bull ready to charge.

The elevator jittered with a painful screech and slowly it shuddered upwards ascending through the floors until eventually it finished at the top floor.

Groke opened the gate forcefully. He grasped Zelesa by the shoulder with his large hand and pushed out of the elevator, taking her down towards a solid burgundy door.

Zelesa remained still as she gaze at the door, until finally Groke ordered, “Well, knock on the bloody door.” She did as she was told and yanked down a dainty lever on the wall to the side, which pulled down upon a string, ringing a small bell inside of the apartment.

A light voice from within called, “Just a second.”

The door swung open and there stood Corphe. She was dressed in a long-sleeved tunic over a pair of trouser, and her hands were gloved with decorative bandaging. She crossed her arms and gazed down at Zelesa, who kept her head down abashedly.

Groke grumbled, “I believe this child is yours.”

Corphe smiled and informed, as she waved Zelesa inside, “Yes, that’s mine.” She looked at Groke’s disgruntled expression and apologised, “I’m sorry she evaded your guard again.”

Groke scowled, “She disobeyed the law.” He looked over to Zelesa, who had retreated to the sofa in the centre of the room, and explained, “Luckily, I caught her before she was seen by any earthlings.”

Zelesa chirped, “Actually, I was seen by Erik when I was there.”

Corphe questioned, “Who?”

Zelesa elaborated with a grin, “The boy that Herax found,” and added, “the one who had the book.”

Groke scorned in a deep tone, “I won’t go around mentioning that book. And you need not look so proud, being spotted is not accomplishment.” He sighed and added, “However, the boy has seen more than just a girl, so I won’t report he saw you sneaking around as well. Nonetheless, there are still consequences for your actions.”

Corphe enquired, “Nothing too harsh I hope, she’s still a child. I’ll make sure she’s disciplined myself.”

“It would be wise you do, but her discretion will cost her some liberties. I am to make you aware that the council has already decided to banish her from city central and from stepping foot within one kilometre of Kingdom’s palace.” He grunted and added, “You should suspect an official message tomorrow.”

Corphe nodded, “I understand. We’ll be leaving soon anyway, so it won’t happen─”

Groke interrupted, “If it does happen again, and if she enters the city central, I will be forced to arrest and charged her. I cannot make exceptions.”

Corphe offered a contrived smile and nodded, “Sure.” She proceeded to close the door but Groke quickly stopped her, placing his hand on the door and pushing it back open firmly.

Groke warned, “Let me illuminate to you the precarious situation in which you have found yourself. If you cannot handle the girl, her guardianship maybe reconsidered. What she did is very serious to the people here.”

Corphe looked worryingly at Zelesa and stressed, “But I’m her only family. They can’t─”

“They can, so don’t let it happen again,” Groke removed his hand and immediately Corphe closed the door, leaving Groke standing by himself outside of the apartment. He shook his head and mumbled to himself, “Years of combat training and I end up doing the work of child services.” He rubbed his face and huffed, before walking back from whence he came.

Inside, Corphe loomed over Zelesa, with her arms crossed, tapping her foot agitatedly before bursting out, “Argh! You were meant to wait at the academy.” She struck the sofa with her fist and emphasised, “You were meant to wait there!”

Zelesa replied timidly, “You were late.”

“I was late by what … twenty minutes?”

Zelesa informed timidly, “It was an hour.”

“Even if I was, I spoke to your teacher. You’ve skipped lessons, your always late, your disruptive, and … and … I’m sure there’s another thing, but the first three are bad enough.” Corphe finished with a wag of her finger.

Zelesa snapped, “But it’s stupid! I don’t want to go; I don’t need to be there.”

“Urgh! You’re acting like a five-year-old. What’s the point of coming here if you don’t go to class? Do you want to be stupid?”

“No.”

“Do you want to be taken away from me?”

“No.”

“Then, please …” Corphe fell silent and dropped onto the sofa, placing her head into her hands. She gently rubbed her cheeks and groaned, “You’re such a pain.”

Eventually, Corphe rose her head out her hands and looked upon Zelesa, who was sat very quietly by her side. Corphe smiled and plucked Zelesa’s hat off from her head, laying down on the sofa, and began, “So,” she exhaled audibly and asked, “what you were doing at the palace then?”

Zelesa grinned and delightfully explained, “I found out where Mr Kingdom’s book was hidden.”

Corphe tilted her head and sceptically asked, “How would you know where Kingdom’s book was?” But before Zelesa could answer, the telephone interrupted her, and she left, holding up her index finger as a request for patience.

Disgruntled, Zelesa huffed and sank into the sofa, looking over towards the balcony. As stared out into towards the sky, she saw in the corner of her eye a bow laying on top of a sack leant against a chest of drawers.

Zelesa rose up and walked over to the bow that she habitually grasped into her left hand. She held the bow out and pulled the string up to her cheek, testing the tension. The string strong as was the bow, which was made from a robust but light wood and painted in a vibrant orange vanish.

Zelesa placed the bow down and began to unfasten the string that tied sack. She reached inside and lifted out an ice axe that was sheathed inside a thick but scuffed leather cover. The was axe designed for climbing icy and rocky hikes. The handle long of the axe allowed greater reach and the slender head, tipped with many teeth, could grip firmly onto the surface of ice and rock. The paint of the axe was a little scratched and the teeth were a bit worn; clearly it had seen heavy use, but nonetheless, it was still very sturdy.

Abruptly Corphe remarked, “I see you found your stuff.” Zelesa was startled and quickly shot up, dropping her axe. Corphe explained, “It was a real struggle to get those things back.”

Zelesa smiled and jumped in for a hug. She muttered, “I don’t want you to leave without me anymore.”

Corphe smiled and stroked Zelesa’s hair as she consoled, “I can’t teach you everything, you need school …” however, she quickly added, “but you’re right, I will try to return more often and for longer. But I still have to leave ─”

“Take me with you, I’m ready.”

Corphe smiled and nodded, “Soon,” but abruptly she announced, “But right now, I have go. Herax has discovered something interesting in the book, apparently.”

Zelesa enquired, “Interesting?”

Corphe elaborated, “Something about a substance called muinaru.”

Zelesa’s eyes shot open and she parroted, “Muinaru?”

“Yes, I’ve never heard of it either, but apparently Lirish believes it is important.”

Zelesa pleaded, “Can’t I come too?”

“Nope. As I said to Groke, we’re leaving. You need to pack; I’m not packing your things for you. If you didn’t waste time getting in trouble you could come, but you made your choice, so accept the consequences.”

“But ─”

“You’re not getting out of it. Pack!”

“I know about─”

Corphe commanded, “Zelesa, stop it.”

“I know what that muinaru is.”

Corphe chirped, “Then the school is paying off. Now pack,” She turned away and added, “and I’m locking the door. You’re not going anywhere until I come back.” She explained, holding up the key as she walked out the door.

The locking mechanism clunked as it was turned, leaving Zelesa standing in the quiet room, but she didn’t look defeated, on the contrary, she smirked, before strolling out onto the balcony. She gazed out across the view of the lake over towards the distance, where Herax’s ship laid anchor. She retrained her gaze to her neighbour’s balcony. It was too far to jump, but still Zelesa strangely smirked as she gazed at the void between the balconies.

Quickly, she strode back inside to the sack, unravelling the sack. She placed her axe to the side and unearthed a small harness, which she secured to her waist and thighs. She returned to the sack, retrieving a pouch and three straps, two of which had an ascender attached at the end. The ascenders were small devices that clip onto a rope and had a handle to grasp onto. They hold onto the rope using small angled teeth, which, when attached to a rope, grip firmly when pulled down but slide easily upwards. She attached the pouch and two straps to the front of the harness and flung the third strap over her shoulder.

Next, Zelesa pulled out a metal cylindrical quiver, which was stocked with arrows that could be seen through small slots running down the side of the cylinder. She held the quiver up right, away from her face and twisted one of three different knobs on the base. Immediately a hole opened at the top and out jettisoned an arrow. It flew less than half a metre up into the air, allowing Zelesa to snatch it.

The jettisoned arrow was odd; the tip wasn’t sharp but instead it was a large round ball shape, the size of a golf ball. Down the sides of this ball shape were three sets of claw-like grooves. Zelesa wasn’t fazed by the design and routinely attached a length of rope, which she extracted from the sack, on the neck of the tip of the arrow.

Zelesa strapped the mechanical quiver to her back, attached her ice axe to her hip, and rested her bow over her shoulder before continuing out onto the balcony.

The sun was now progressing fast into the sky and the wind was beginning to pick up speed, but Zelesa wasn’t perturbed. She took a secure stance at the edge of the balcony, holding her bow firmly out in front. She loaded the arrow and drew it back, resting the soft feather fletching gently against cheek. As She halted her breath, her arms and shoulders froze, and, within a blink, the string whipped forward as Zelesa released her fingers.

The arrow was propelled across the building, dragging with it the length of rope as it slipped through the bars of the balcony. The arrow tip flowered out into a grapple as soon as it struck the balcony floor.

Zelesa hauled the rope back, pinning the grappled against the balcony bars, then began attaching the ascenders to the rope. Finally, retrieved the strap from over her shoulder and attached to the lower ascender. This left a dangling loop in which she slipped her foot and pulled down on the lower ascender, forcing the teeth of the clip to bite down hard onto the rope.

A cold breeze howled across the building, disturbing Zelesa’s balance as she attempted to swing her foot over the banister, but she quickly, gripped the railing and held herself steady. Zelesa huffed and muttered to herself, “A little windy,” but continued on unfazed, swinging legs over the banister.

Whilst holding the top ascender tightly, Zelesa unsheathed ice axe and looked over the edge. She was stood harrowingly high above rows of fir trees, which point up into the sky like spears. She gulped and murmured, “Alright.” before she leant forward and causally dropped her body over the edge.

Immediately, Zelesa stabbed her axe into the side of the building, scoring deep into the brick work. The friction slowed her momentum and reduced the height that she swung up on the other side. Again, she scored her axe on the brick work, until eventually she slowed down to a near halt, dangling below the neighbour’s balcony.

Another strong breeze provoked Zelesa, swaying her body along the wall. She rose her foot within the strap, to release the tension, and pushed the lower ascender up the rope, whilst the strap attached to the upper ascender held her weight. After which, she slipped of her foot back into the strap and moved the upper ascender higher up the rope, pushing herself up with her foot. She repeated this action and slowly she made her way up the rope, until eventually she reached her neighbour’s balcony.

Hastily, Zelesa clambered over the banister and fell to her knees. She rested for few seconds before packing her gear and running on through the apartment, rushing to elevator.

Zelesa carried on out of the building and down the street towards a stable, where a young man was lifting up a large plank of wood to be slotted across the stable doors.

Stood a little way to his side of the stable was a horse; saddled and tied to a post. Zelesa saw her chance and stealthily crept up to the horse. She quickly untied the reins and hoisted herself up with relative ease, considering her small stature.

The young man remained oblivious as he was preoccupied with the large plank, which was causing him trouble. Zelesa shouted, “Hey, Olscur.”

Olscur turned smiled waved, but quickly his expression became grave as he shouted, “Hey.” He jolted forward but Zelesa quickly rode off. He cried, “Where are you going?”

Zelesa called about, “I’m going to the library, I’ll be back soon.”

Zelesa rode up and halted underneath a small window of the library and she looked through into the building. The place was empty and gloomy. The lights were off many of the large windows had been boarded up.

Zelesa crouched on the saddle and clambered upon to the windowsill. Her horse didn’t seem mind the commotion and calmly nibbled at the grass.

The window was made from two pains, which were attached to the side by hinges, and were locked together with a central latch. Zelesa took out a small knife from her pouch, which was protected in a small casing, and proceeded to slip the blade through the gap. She drew the blade up the gap and pushed the latch up, unlocking the window.

Zelesa chirped, “Easy,” as she opened the window and crawled inside.

The window gave access to the back of the library, where older books were kept in storage. Zelesa jumped inside and quickly rushed to large arch way entrance to the back room and gaze out into the large atrium of the building. The place was completely deserted and was quickly becoming dark, as the storm clouds push in from the horizon, masking the sun.

Zelesa walked down the hall and approached a separated room, where a sign read above the door, the Duchess Loraso’s archive.

Inside the archive, a fireplace sat on one side where above a crest was carved into the wooden structure of the wall. It was broken up into five equal segments arranged around a large emerald gem. In each segment of the crest held an animal: it began with an eagle owl, followed by a leopard, a cobra, an Oryx, and, finally, a large Bison.

On the opposite side, dim light streamed in through a narrow window and down upon a glass box, which encased some cloaked bulky items.

Zelesa lifted off the glass case and removed the cloak, revealing a magnifying glass attached to a stand and old hand mirror, as well as a few other trinkets. The mirror was spectacularly decorated with floral, bird and insect patterns cast into the golden frame.

Zelesa picked up the mirror, exposing the back, which read: To her Duchess Loraso, the rightful heir to the house of Mistrof from your humble servant Dr L. Kingdom. She positioned the magnifying glass and concentrated the light into a beam, which she then reflected with the mirror onto the glass bead in the centre of the crest, above the fireplace.

A loud metallic thud echo around the room and a clunking of cogs resonated out from the fireplace. Within a few seconds, the fireplace jittered and began to slide away to the side. Still the cogs clunked, becoming louder as the fireplace moved away, until it eventually stopped, dropping with a thud. The space behind, where the fireplace once sat in front of, was revealed to be an entrance to a dark staircase.

Zelesa gazed up into the darkness and began to breath heavier. Her hands quivered as she looked into the cramped, cold and dark climb. She placed her foot down and immediately her panted and she braced her hands onto the walls.

Despite her clear apprehension, Zelesa trenched on, moving up into the darkness of the staircase, treading carefully on the creaking wooden steps.

Eventually, Zelesa reached a dead end, blocked by solid wooden door. The handle was very large, made from iron and was bent into a decorative swirl. The handle screeched as she turned it.

The door swung in to a small but pleasantly bright room, illuminated by a large window on the roof. However, the increasingly cloudy sky had dampened the warmth of the room. Nonetheless, Zelesa was elated and wandered inside merrily, walking straight to the desk at the side of the room.

A candelabrum stood on the desk, holding a collection of melted candles, and sat next to it was a small leather book, much like the one Eric found.

Zelesa plunked the book from the table and pocketed it. However, as she turned to leave, the room became very dark and a strike of thunder roared through the sky. Zelesa jumped out her skin and gripping her bow tightly. She looked up at the window and watched a swelling of thick black clouds engulfing the sky, cloaking the room into near darkness.

Rain followed the thunder and pitter-pattered against sky light, which became increasingly heavier as she stood watching. She sighed and expressed to herself, “I guess I’ll stay here for a bit.”

Zelesa Looked down to a chair on the other side of the room, but as she stepped towards it, a solid shadow swiftly crossed the floor. Zelesa froze and immediately gazed up at the window above.

#Muinaru #Chapter #Adventure #fantasy #novel

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