SSS-Ranked Evolution: Worlds Unbound-Chapter 23: The Escape.
"Dammit!" Ren cursed as he stumbled through the secret passageway the beasts had built in case of emergencies like this one. One question raged his mind, why? They had been hidden for so long and yes he did have a feeling they would be tracked, but it happened too soon.
Luna let out a gentle howl, urging him to get to his feet as he had slid against the wall for support. The left side of his face was on fire since the assassin burst his eye. He didn’t want to lose the vital organ, but that was the least important thing. Everything had fallen apart. Luna let out another growl and when Ren looked up he saw a tiger with a torch in his hand, he too was covered in cuts but had some bandages around his body.
"My lord, the queen sent me to you. To guide you." his voice faltered when he noticed Ren’s eye and his battered self, and deep down he was grateful he found him in time because if anything happened to him, Reina would have his head. He rushed to Ren and helped support his weight with his body, "it is good to see you made it great warrior...many of us didn’t..." his tone lowering.
Ren gritted his teeth together, during the battle with White Rose, the emblem of the empire could not be mistaken, and he was sure those greedy bastards had sent her to capture Reina. She had sent many tigers to a frozen Neverland, halting them with ice only to shatter their bodies later on. She was brutal and the thought of her gave Ren shivers, but he swore within his heart that he would avenge the fallen ones.
"How are they? Rami and the queen?" with a grunt, he forced himself to walk straight, only to snake his hand around his torso that ached. The tiger wanted to help him but with a raised palm, he politely declined. He wanted to walk by himself.
"The commander is unconscious, she lost a lot of blood but not her life. She has been stabilized, and we wait for her to wake up." He gave Ren the details as they moved through the tunnel, it was long, and they would be walking for a very long time, but it was safe. Luna was ahead of them, leading the trail while Ren dragged alongside the tiger, "the queen however..." he trailed off, causing Ren to raise an alarm.
"What happened to the queen?" he demanded to know, and the young tiger couldn’t meet him in the eye.
"Her injuries are...different...she refuses to talk to anyone." his tone held grief, his hand tightening against the torch that illuminated the way. Ren’s heart dropped to his stomach, his emotions a mix of fear and great sadness. Oh he could only imagine the thoughts going through Reina’s head. Has the strong tiger beast queen finally broken?
Ren prayed not.
It took them two hours of non-stop walking to reach the new camp, it was nothing like the old one. The infrastructures were rushed, and the atmosphere was heavy with the scent of blood, disinfectants and a gloomy energy. The healers were taken care of the wounded soldiers, some had lost limbs and many had lost their spirits. When they emerged from the tunnel, two healers rushed to Ren, sitting him on the ground and tending to his eye.
Despite pouring a harsh spirit on his wounds, he didn’t move. After his wounds were cleaned, he was infused with magic to help speed up the recovery process as that is what healing magic does.
"It would take some hours, but soon you would be good as new." The healer tried to sound enthusiastic, but behind the mask, he could see she was breaking inside. He was quiet for a while before his lips parted.
"Take me to the commander." her eyes widened in shock but after a few seconds, her head bowed meekly. She rose to her feet and Ren followed suite, Luna wanted to follow him, "no girl, stay here and rest okay?" he rubbed her head ever so affectionately as she whined, protesting she wanted to go with him but ultimately, she stayed back to be checked by the healers for any injuries she might have sustained.
The healer led Ren to the commander’s room and as he got closer to the larger tent, he could hear her throwing orders around, many times, her men telling her to calm down only for her to shout back at them.
"My lady, My lord wishes to see you." the healer announced and immediately, Rami’s anger weakened and completely vanished when her eyes locked with his. From relief, to guilt, the many emotions that washed up on her face when she saw the bandages they had wrapped around his left eye.
"Ren..." the name flew out of her lips without reckoning, "leave us." she ordered and her men and her nurses left her alone with him. The moment he got close enough, Nagini sprung from the deserted corner into his arms, wrapping herself around him in a warm hug, her head under his chin.
"I missed you too." he rubbed the snake’s head before his eyes met Rami again. Now it was his turn to feel some form of guilt. Her torso was wrapped and despite the bandages being changed four times, her blood still stained them. She was the one everyone paid attention to, all the nurses did their best to preserve her life and it wasn’t easy.
"The queen doesn’t know I am awake yet." Rami made mention to him, and he closed his eyes with a heavy feeling in his heart, "she needs you the most." They stare at each other in silence as she slowly covers his bruised hand in hers. With a small nod, she urged him to go see Reina. Nagini slowly unwound herself, allowing him to stand, taking slow steps to the exit, he turned back to her, and with a small smile, she let him go.
It wasn’t hard to find Reina’s tent, there were more guards outside. After he entered it, the enclosure was so big it was segmented and there was a space that had curtains covering it. It was meant to be the entrance to her bedroom. His lips parted to announce himself, but no words flew out, sobs could be heard from the inside and sticking his head just a bit past the curtains, he could see the queen sitting on her bed, her head in her hands, crying.
Ren was frozen in place, he didn’t know what to do. Enter and comfort her or let her process the grief and loss she was feeling. After a tough mental battle, he decided to leave her be, promising to talk to her tomorrow.
Moving to his tent, he lay on the softness of the bed but despite how comfortable and welcoming it was, sleep couldn’t take him away so easily. He was trapped in his mind and what freed him was a sad whine, sitting up straight, Luna was at the entrance, her tail wagging gently as she swayed to him, dropping her weight on him. With Luna’s presence, it didn’t take long for him to drift to the land of sleep.
His dream world was a realm of darkness in which he floated aimlessly in. He felt nothing and craved to become nothing but too soon, he awoke to an unknown force. When he opened his eyes, Luna was still asleep and looking out of the space that was meant to be the window, it was dark. It was night. He slowly got up from his bed, and though she moved, she didn’t get up with him. His feet led him to walk around the camp before he sighted a figure.
The camp, lit by torches around, made Reina’s form visible to his one good eye. He approached her slowly, her back turned, but her senses alert, "you should be asleep Ren." She broke the silence, maintaining her original position. When he was close enough, he didn’t know what to do but engulfed her in a hug. Slowly, her shoulders slouched, but she bit her tongue to suppress her tears.
"So should you." he whispered into her ear, taking in the scent from her neck. A soft sigh escaped her lips, changing her position to look him straight in the face. Her lips parted as she ran her fingers across his face.
"How can a queen sleep when her people suffer?" it came from the bottom of her heart, "for many years we have been hunted, without rest, without enough time to procreate. We are on the verge of extinction and I can’t do anything for my people!" The sudden outburst sent shock down Ren’s soul, but he could feel the pain she felt, "and neither could I do anything for my sisters..."
The silence was so palpable, never had he seen her so broken. Exhuming a small knife from his pocket, he placed it in her hand, took a knee, pressing her hand close to his neck that the dagger almost cut his skin.
"I swear on everything I hold dear, I will restore you, your land and your people. And if I fail, then my head is yours to keep." swearing to her, Reina didn’t know how to respond to him. Her hand fell to her side, her knees become weak that she dropped to the ground and embraced him and sobbed in his neck. His hands wrapped around her body ever so tightly, he never wanted to let her go.
"Thank you Ren. Thank you.
