CHAPTER 14:

  Haru looked up at the seemingly never ending grass field, the sun was casting brightly, and the wind was gently caressing the blades of grass

  It felt like a normal place, not another reality

  “I'm still amazed at how he was able to pull this off”

  “Pull what off exactly?”

  Said Sylvia in response to Haru

  “This whole dimension, I can't tell if it's a spell or really another dimension”

  Ten Sylvia turned around to glance at the never-ending field, her face now turning serious

  “It's probably just an illusion spell”

  “What the hell is an illusion spell?”

  A sweat ran down Haru's face as he spoke, embarrassed to say it out loud

  Sylvia furrowed her eyebrows without even looking at him

  “it's literally in the name dumbass, get your head out of your arse”

  Haru ran a hand through his hair, sighing

  “Sorry that I don't know much about magic, but still, a spell of this caliber should be almost impossible to pull off”

  “You're right, but I sense that this spell doesn't use Mana. He tricked our brains most likely into thinking that we are in another dimension”

  “Or at least that's my theory”

  Haru walked past her, turning his head slightly to glance back at Sylvia as she walked

  “You can theorize as much as you want. We will find out about it later anyways”

  Sylvia huffed and started walking on the grass

  “I know that, but did you really have to be so sudden…”

  They both walked through the field aimlessly

  It did not help that not only did they know nothing about this place, it looked the same in all directions

  They ended up making circles without even knowing it

  At last, Haru sat down on the grass. With his back, he sat down and sighed

  Trying to catch his breath while laying down

  Sylvia stopped walking for a moment, looking down at him with a grim expression on her face

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “I'm relaxing. We've been walking endlessly, give me a break”

  Sylvia adjusted the smartwatch on her wrist, tapping it slightly to open. She rummaged through her contacts

  Haru slightly lifted his head up from the ground to look at Sylvia

  “What are you doing?”

  Sylvia furrowed her eyebrows, her gaze still fixed on the smartwatch

  “I'm trying to contact Lana. The key word is that I'm trying, I can't seem to find her number in my database”

  Haru's eyebrows furrowed upwards when Sylvia spoke

  “Lana? What for?”

  ‘To help us, use your brain for once Haru”

  “I can guess that much, but I mean, how is she gonna help us in any way?”

  Sylvia continued to rummage through to no avail

  “Were facing the ark of the covenant here, it can lock away any ability in a golden sarcophagus for the remainder of the battle”

  Haru slowly lifted himself up to the point where his elbows supported him

  “That's cool and all, but how the hell is Lana supposed to help us in that situation?”

  Sylvia at last found Lana's number on her smartwatch, almost instantly her face brightened up

  She turned her gaze towards Haru before speaking up

  “Normally if the ark of the covenant tries to seal any of the holy relics, an anomaly would rise up and distraught time and space itself. That's why that use is forbidden”

  Haru's gears were turning in his head, thinking where Sylvia was going with this

  “And?”

  Sylvia sighed before answering, albeit a bit annoyed that she had to spell it out

  “If we can distraught space and time here, then that means that this Dimension will cease to exist”

  Haru left out a soft “oh” of realization, admitting that it was a clever trick, but there was still one question in his head

  “Ok, that will probably work, but again, the question is as to why Lana of all people wasn't answered”

  Sylvia stayed staying, letting Haru piece it up on his own

  Haru, seeing Sylvia's expression, knew that she wasn't going to answer

  “Wait, all the others we have, it's just Lana that we don't have, she's the penultimate piece”

  Sylvia nodded her head in slight pride

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Haru, getting up from his grass, he slowly walked towards Sylvia

  Sylvia contacted Lana on the phone

  Having a little chat, with Lana agreeing….

  Haru was still reluctant about the idea, but he knew that he couldn't complain about it

  “Did she at least tell you about when she will show up?”

  “She has some stuff to take care of, rest, then she will join us”

  “...”

  (Should I be worried?)

  With that, they began to walk again through the field

  Wandering endlessly for what seemed like hours

  For the better or worse time seemed to at least have slowed down in this dimension

  Through sheer luck, they found a small hut in the middle of nowhere

  The hut by itself was not special

  It was small and made out of rocks wood with glass windows and a rocky roof

  The chimney blew owe black smoke slowly into the sky while small animals ran around the garden

  Things like squirrels, worms, honey badgers and cats

  As they walked towards the hut, the both of them huffed and panted for their breaths

  Utterly exhausted and beat, Sylvia put her hands on her knees and bent slightly

  Haru looked at Sylvia, from the corner of his eyes

  Cold sweat running down from his face, this time it was genuine

  “We finally made it, this must be it, or else, we're fucked”

  Sylvia while trying to catch her breath responded

  “At least, we made it”

  They looked up when they saw a girl, tending to a garden in front of the hut

  The girl was younger than them, maybe by a year or two younger

  The mysterious girl wore a hat to protect from the sun, an elegant yet plain dress, with patterns of flowers on it

  Her long brown hair fell over her back as the sun radiated on her face

  Her ears perked up at the sound of talking

  Turning her head around, to see two strangers, exhausted and sweating all over

  She stood up, placing a hand on her hip for it not to fall from the wind

  “Hey you two! You come inside my place, I can offer you two some rest”

  She smiled innocently at them, the smile was as radiant as the sun's light, brimming with joy and energy

  Haru looked across at Sylvia, before he looked back at the strange girl

  They most likely have just stumbled across the holy being that they were looking for

  “If you're offering, how can we deny you, before we head inside, mind telling us your name?”

  The girl locked eyes with Haru, her eyes made her look that she wouldn't even hurt a fly

  “It's Zoe, nice to meet you, I assume you two have names too?”

  That made Haru chuckle outloud

  “Everyone has a name you know, my name is Haru it's nice to meet you, and over here it's sylvia”

  Sylvia looked at zoe too and smiled, she didn't smile very often, but when did she did, it was beautiful

  “You can come inside you know”

  Zoe turned around and started walking towards her house( the hut)

  Without words Haru and Sylvia followed her, walking through her garden

  It was clear that the garden was very cared about, most likely she tended it to it every day, with genuine love

  The atmosphere overall, was very calm

  around the small area of the hut

  Zoe opened the door of the house and walked inside, the windows of the house were already opened, letting air in as well as sunlight

  Both Haru and Sylvia entered the house, their eyes wandering as they took a look on the inside

  It was neatly tidied and clean, at the time being such a small space

  “Sit down please, should I prepare coffee or tea?”

  “I'll take the tea”

  Haru responded first

  “I'll take the coffee”

  Sylvia blurred out

  Zoe nodded kindly, heading to the kitchen to prepare the drinks

  Haru and Sylvia sat down on the couch for a bit

  Haru put his arm on his chin, with his arm on the arrest of the couch

  Sylvia looked down at the floor

  Silence filled the room as both of them knew exactly what needed to be said, so they didn't say it

  They realized that Zoe seemed to have no knowledge of the stuff going on with the holy beings, she's been kept guard in this dimension for a long time

  In a few minutes Zoe would return with a silver tray, with hot coffee and hot tea on it

  She set the silver tray on the table gently, still smiling

  “Thank you”

  “Don't mention it! It's no trouble at all”

  Zoe would chuckle softly at the end of her sentence

  Sylvia reached down for her coffee as Haru reached down for his tea

  Both the tea and the coffee were well made, balanced in sweetness and temperature

  “This is quite amazing Zoe, I have to admit”

  Zoe's cheeks flushed red at the compliment, she didn't mind it either

  “Ahaha, I usually do everything tentatively, since I was taught from a young age, that I should always be careful with whatever I do”

  “And who taught you that?”

  “My mother did, she always cared after me, after father died in an accident”

  Sylvia's elven ears perked when she heard about the accident

  “Our condolences for your father”

  Haru nodded as Sylvia spoke up on his behalf

  Haru shifted his gaze towards Zoe

  “Unrelated but, what year do you think that it is?”

  “It's 1962, why do you ask?”

  Haru's face fell a bit, his theory now confirmed, N had indeed trapped her in time

  Sylvia herself looked shocked, the thought of keeping a person imprisoned for so long sickened her to the stomach

  Zoe furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, she could not comprehend why they looked so down when she mentioned the year, it seemed that her body stopped aging along with her mind

  “What's the sudden shock about? I didn't say something wrong did I?”

  Haru shaked his head, trying hard to keep composure, know that he knows the truth

  “No, you didn't say anything wrong, it's just that I remembered something, that's all”

  Zoe's face brightened again as she heard the reassurance

  “Speaking of remembering, just yesterday a man dressed in weird clothed took me inside his tend to show me his stuff, it was pretty niche, although I don't know what happened in between there and how I ended up here”

  Both Sylvia and Haru were now looking at Zoe, their faces even more grim as they realized that N has been tampering with her memory

  Zoe stopped to think for a moment, then she turned around and walked towards the fireplace, she got on her knees in front of the wooden floor

  “It's been a long time since I opened this up, but I guess showing it will do no harm”

  Haru and Sylvia looked at her with concern on what she was doing all of a sudden, but deciding to stay quiet

  Zoe moved her hands towards the hard floor, she tentatively moved the edges of it

  The wooden tile was lifted off the floor, revealing an old dusty space underneath, there lied a golden sarcophagus

  Zoe gently lifted the golden sarcophagus off the space and placed it on the floor next to her

  The golden sarcophagus was a golden box with Hebrew letters carved on it

  “The weird man gave it to me, I don't know why, he said that it was pretty important and that I should guard at it all costs”

  Haru and Sylvia stood up from the couch, now alarmed

  “By all means do not activate it!”

  It was the first time in a long while that Haru shouted

  Sylvia's eyes faltered for a second, hearing Haru scream, she quickly composed herself

  “What are you talking about Haru?”

  Hearing the words Zoe's voice was full of confusion, she had unknowingly done something grave

  Before anyone could utter even a single word

  Suddenly Zoe's eyes turned bloodshot read, her head throwing back as she gasped for air

  Her head whipped back into place, she stared right at them

  Sylvia's eyes widened as Zoe changed, she knew the spell very well

  “N, you fucking bastard!”

  Sylvia greeted her teeth, it was one cruel spell of manipulation, one that would rob the hosts conciseness and replace it with the spellcasters

  Haru looked at his side at Sylvia

  “You know what's happening?”

  Before Sylvia could explain, another voice could be heard, that of N

  “I'm impressed, kids, you made it far, far more than I had anticipated, I suppose that this will be the end of the road”

  It took Haru a few seconds to realize, putting all the pieces together in his head

  As Haru and Sylvia were prepared to combat her if needed, Zoe or rather N, took the initiative

  The ark of the covenant activated, the golden top of it being removed

  Out of nowhere, a person appeared in between Haru Sylvia and Zoe, it was Lana Rossi

  Lana stood proudly, her face completely serious, snapping her fingers, a large wooden cross would appear in front of her rising from the ground

  N who was in control of Zoe had no control over the Ark of the covenant when it activated ,so the spell went on to “capture” the true cross

  Zoe's body slumped as her eyes turned back to normal, that could only mean that something happened to N

  The ark of the covenant completely engulfed the wooden cross, magically shrinking it and sealing it in

  Space and time would start to break slowly in this dimension as the intense energy that was released, caused the wind to rile up

  The reality around them seem to slowly shatter like it was glass

  What left behind the broken pieces was an endless void that could be seen

  (So this is what happens when holy relics clash? Well since my powers didn't fully activate, it didn't count?...)

  However, Lana didn't seem to fazed by that and stood in her place

  Haru and Sylvia put their hands up in order to defend themselves from the wind

  “Haru! Get a move on already!”

  Sylvia shouted, barely being able to even stand, her petite body was mainly to fault for that

  Haru despite the wind, would find the strength to dash upwards, above Lana and landing in front of Zoe

  His knees hit the hard floor as he bent over to pick up Zoe in her unconscious state

  She was lighter than expected, so he lifted her up and placed her on his shoulder

  Sylvia seeing that the dimension would collapse at any moment, dashed towards Haru and grabbed him by the wrist

  Then she transferred him with her, dashing to Lana, only this time it was more difficult because Haru was carrying Zoe

  “Geez, you tire out quickly”

  Lana said as she placed her hand on Sylvia's shoulder, teleporting them out of this dimension

  Ending back up at N’s tent, which was all messed up for some reason

  The ark of the covenant and the true cross were right beside them, both on the floor this time

  Haru took a moment to catch his breath, laying down Zoe against a desk that was nearby, then he stood up

  Sylvia opened her eyes, after all that which happened and she looked up at Lana who had landed, rather perfectly

  Sylvia stood up groggily

  All three of them now could see N trembling with fear and cold sweat running down his face, on the floor, his entire body was shaking

  Haru and Sylvia raised their eyebrows in comical perplexity

  Lana on the other hand didn't seem fazed by N's behavior, rolling her eyes

  Haru in particular took note of Lana's face

  The previous time that they had met, Lana wasn't anywhere near this close to serious

  He could only assume that what happened to him on that day seriously had shaken her to the core

  “Get away from me you monster!”

  N shouted at the top of his lungs, now utterly terrified and petrified because of Lana

  Lana scoffed, earlier she had managed not only to find him easily, but also to mess him up psychologically just as easily

  “Cowards get what they deserve, don't blame me for that N”

  “So he was a con artist all along?”

  “Pretty much, his true colors were shown when I confronted him”

  Haru turned his gaze towards N, slowly walking towards the table

  “I have no reason to speak with you anymore, I'm just gonna ask this one time, will Zoe be okay after you controlled her?”

  He put his hands on the table as he spoke

  N breathed frantically as he tried to explain himself

  “She should be completely fine! I swear on my own soul!”

  Haru looked back at Zoe who was laid down, a hint of concern passed through his eyes, before he shaked that thought away

  “You're disgusting for that N, one of the most despicable people that I have met, and that's saying a lot”

  N didn't even try to deny it, at this point, he'd do anything to stay alive

  Lana stepped forward, looking in N's soul through his eyes

  “Haru, would you mind stepping aside?”

  Haru glanced back at Lana before stepping aside, brief curiosity in his eyes

  Lana extended her hand and so did the true cross stand up like a puppet from the ground, which it was laid next to the Ark of the covenant

  The true cross would be dismantled quickly into thousands of tiny slitherings and then on command pointed them at N

  “No, don't do it! I beg of you!”

  Lana didn't care if he had said his final words or not, he was a disgusting pig to her no matter what

  So the pieces of wood picked N apart slicing through him all at once tearing his skin apart and then his muscles

  In no time he was turned into a giant pool of blood that sprayed all over the tent

  The true cross took the form of a cross again now sinking into the ground as it was no longer needed

  Sylvia's expression hardened a bit but this wasn't the first death that she had seen either, still it hit her in the stomach somewhat hard

  On the other hand, Haru didn't seem fazed at all which was understandable, he had seen his fair share of blood and gore throughout this journey although he was used to seeing his own blood, rather than the blood of others…