Children of Elisium
Chapter 17: Unexpected Allies

Golden eyes came into view as delicate eyelids fluttered open. Sadly, no one was there to meet the captivating gaze of the demon who was staring at the ceiling like a philosopher who was musing about the meaning of life.

Astaroth could feel minute vibrations traveling through the wall. They were weak and failed to make the chains on his body clink and sway yet, the demon knew that the vibrations were getting stronger. If he focused on the sounds that were contained in the levels right above him, he would be able to hear alarms roaring at every corner in Elisium. But his golden irises didn’t contain a single shred of surprise. The Duke of Hell had seen this coming. If he used his powers, he knew he would have been able to see a chaotic scene filled with destruction as well as the two children who were the root cause of Elisium’s ongoing pandemonium.

The demon breathed out and continued to feel the tremors running through Elisium’s structure. He could sense the pulsating energy signatures in the floors that lied above his secret chamber. Even 373’s life was flickering like a candle’s flame that could go out at any second. His sculpted lips arched to a frown.

“Truly... for a child to court death like this…” The demon’s smooth tenor trailed off. He had multiple conversations like this – conversations where he spoke, and the walls were the only listeners. What was the point of him talking when he had no audience?

The flow of magic beneath the gigantic cross where he was mounted on was slowly weakening just as 373 had predicted. Because of the little girl’s efforts, he was slowly regaining his strength. If he waited for a few more hours, then he would have enough energy to break out of the artifacts that kept his body locked in this room. He only needed to endure a few more hours of silence and he could set his body free.

Astaroth stared at the ceiling and wondered how the girl with brown hair was faring. Another sigh escaped his lips.

He was a powerful demon who understood the intricacies of fate. He had seen all of 373’s possible futures. He had seen all the choices that 373 could have taken. The girl could have ignored Michael Caelum’s disappearance. She could have chosen to wait in the library before heading off to bed. 373 could have chosen to run away by herself at the sight of Michael Caelum’s prone figure. She could have chosen to flee – to not lift a finger.

Instead, she chose to fight.

The quiet girl decided raise her fists and bit the hands that once fed her. She wasn’t a solemn but ignorant angel. She was a violent spitfire that was ready to summon hell upon the earth when provoked.

’Humans are truly interesting creatures,’ Astaroth thought. His mind wandered and he recalled what he had said to her before she had been captured. A low hum escaped his lips.

Instead of telling the girl she had to fight her battles, maybe he should have said something else? Something less suggestive?

Yet, even if he did say something else, Astaroth couldn’t imagine 373 doing something other than fight.

He was a demon who had the power to see the past, the present, and the future. And the moment he had decided to give her his mark, Astaroth had already unearthed the secrets in her body not even 373 knew.

She had a soul that was older than its body. Her body contained a small amount of miasma which was enough to kill an adult human being. But instead of decaying, her body grew accustomed to the miasma. Even the amount of miasma in the secret room didn’t affect her. Her future contained an interesting plot twist he hadn’t expected when he met the child. It was a future he was rather interested in seeing for himself.

Astaroth couldn’t help himself. He was captivated by her deep gaze that was shrouded by innocence yet seemed to contain the secrets of the stars.

He wanted to see how the small girl with eyes as deep as abysses would turn out.

He wanted to learn more about her.

But if she was left alone at the state that she was in right now, then the girl would either die or replace herself tangled in a fate much worse than death. Those obsidian orbs would never look up to him again and he would never replace another girl who would ignore him as much as she did.

An interesting idea formed in the demon’s head. 373 was going to disappear from his grasps if she was left alone. But what if she wasn’t left alone?

What if a demon decided to intervene and change her fate?

As if sensing his thoughts, the shadows below him stirred excitedly. His body was kept in place by the artifacts on the wall yet his soul was another thing. With his power slowly returning to him, his soul could easily slip out of his body and into the body of another human being.

He could return for his body another time. The body of a demon lord like him wasn’t something easily destroyed.

“Since I have already vowed to be hers, it would be unjust to let the child die when she has fulfilled her part of the deal,” The demon said in the silence of his room. The smile on his face was playful. If she stayed alive, he would have someone who could listen to him talk. And he would take his precious time in making her understand what it meant when a man became ’yours’.

Astaroth’s golden orbs shone with an enchanting light. The intricate pattern on 373’s chest glowed. No one could see how the demon’s mark seemed to come alive. The Duke of Hell’s eyes closed as he felt his consciousness being pulled out of his body. When he came to, the body he was occupying was swaying to the ground. And for the first time in a long time, Astaroth felt what it was like to fall.

Astaroth moved the body he was occupying and stopped it from crashing down on the ground. Gravity was something he normally defied but now it was pulling him down. It was an exhilarating sensation. He checked the body he had managed to use and found a rather familiar silver ring hanging around the body’s neck.

A feminine laugh escaped from the body’s lips.

Astaroth had managed to inhabit the body of an eight-year old girl. To be precise, he had inhabited the body of the girl he was trying to help.

373 was a girl that made him experience too many new things. Getting involved with her was truly interesting!

A barrage of lighting and flames broke his chain of thought. Astaroth moved out of the way. A mystical kind of heat invaded his senses. Before the demon could fully gauge his situation, a palm came out from nowhere. Without batting an eyelash, he dodged. With 373’s small hands, he caught the hand and broke the bones on his attacker’s out stretched arm.

His assailant’s scream ricocheted through the halls. Astaroth didn’t blink. He observed the battlefield while taking note of the state of 373’s small body. Her consciousness had temporarily lied dormant due to the amount of stress the girl had encountered in the last two days. However, Astaroth didn’t found her body empty of energy – she had an almost unlimited reserve of magic stirring inside of her.

It had been decades since Astaroth had last possessed a living being. Thanks to a certain blue-haired disciple and her master, he had been chained stiff on a crucifix for years with nothing but his boredom. He was itching to move. This time, he was going to wreck as much havoc as he could.

A smirk appeared on 373’s face. “Please consider this as my retribution.”

The girl’s lashes fluttered coquettishly as she surveyed the opponents in front of her with a half-lidded gaze. A frail-looking arm extended towards the adults who were too busy dealing with Leon’s flames. Energy circulated around the girl’s body and a thousand lances of lightning materialized behind her small figure. A spell escaped the young girl’s lips.

“Fulmen Spicula. Mille Spicula”

With these words, the lances of electricity crashed down on Elisium.

Jeorge Marcus Grin stood at the amphitheater’s stage, his unshaved face the perfect example of why some men didn’t grow beards. Beside him was an inconspicuous mop of short brown hair that belonged to the girl who had a pair of bright black eyes that glimmered like opal.

He stared at the mob of dazed researchers that stood in the audience seats with blank expressions on their faces. His voice was terse and slightly edgy after another sleepless night. “What are you trying to do exactly?”

The girl looked up at his haggard face. “Destroying Elisium.”

Bob scowled. “From the looks of it, it seems that you’ll destroy your brain first and suffer from your Talent’s backlash instead of getting what you’re trying achieve. You’re using your Talent too much and stretching it beyond its capabilities-”

“Beyond your capabilities”, he emphasized.

The female child blinked at him innocently. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t act dumb.” The man scratched his chin and glared at the kid. “You have the Talent over memories, not the Talent over mind-control. You’re manipulating people through their memories but your body’s state is telling you to stop.”

When Jeorge Marcus Grin saw red liquid dripping from the girl’s nostril, his gaze turned even harsher. “See what I mean!? That’s what you get for controlling someone like Silas Fidi and Asha Claire and for modifying the memories of everyone here in Elisium! Even after this, you’ll just be a kid in Elisium and you’ll probably be killed off like everybody else.”

The adult man huffed like a six-year old. “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever witnessed in my eight years here in Elisium!”

The child wiped the blood off her nose with the sleeve of her shirt. “Then why aren’t you stopping me?”

Bob looked away and tried to hide the surprise from his face. He cleared his throat and straightened the wrinkled white coat that hung loosely on his bulky body. “I’m too lazy for that kind of stuff.”

“You’re not lazy,” the girl rebutted. “You just enjoy the challenge of doing things on a deadline.”

“You, you-! Stop looking into my head!” Bob turned around and gave the female a scathing look. “What did I just say about overusing your Talent, huh?!”

When the brown-haired child didn’t move, Jeorge Marcus Grin decided to rapid fire. “Erasing your data and making everyone forget is easy. I already erased as much of your data as I could. I even went out of my way to fabricate the surveillance camera’s data!

You already made everyone forget. But how do you plan on getting out of Elisium, huh? As I said before, you’ll still be stuck here and you’ll be lucky if your memories are the only things missing. Your brain might stop working and your body might lose its basic functions. What makes you sure that you’ll survive, huh?”

“It’s fine if I forget,” the girl murmured. “And I’m sure I’ll be okay since you’re here.”

Jeorge Marcus Grin stared at her with eyes the size of saucers. His incredulity was written all over his face. He could only spout a single syllable. “HUH?”

“You’ll help me, won’t you,” she said. Although it was posed a question, to Bob, it sounded more like a statement.

Dark eyes looked at him. No matter how hard he squinted, couldn’t see the flow of her logic. He couldn’t guess what she was thinking. He cleared this throat and adjusted his collar. “I won’t.”

The girl’s black orbs twinkled with a knowing light. “You will.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha…” Bob laughed in an exaggerated and mocking manner before his face turned serious. “No, I won’t.”

“You will.”

Jeorge Marcus Grin was irritated. His bushy eyebrows knit together. “Brat! What makes you sure that I will, huh?!”

“Because unlike Maria Caelum, you never liked this place,” she explained. “You’re just too lazy to destroy Elisium on your own. You’re waiting for a perfect chance that will ensure Elisium’s destruction…”

Her voice trailed off before she added, “And I also know you took up Alchemy with a Major in Research because it had the shortest lines during enrollment.”

His face flushed. His thick yet half-assed beard wasn’t able to hide how his cheeks looked like tomatoes. “You- you…! That secret, err… I just left that to fate! Fate!”

Her black orbs were laughing. “Then, I’ll leave it all to fate, too.”

He stomped on the floor like a kid throwing a tantrum. “For the last time, I’m not helping you!”

The girl ignored his statement and wiped the blood away from her nose. She smiled. “Thanks, uncle!”

Jeorge Marcus Grin could feel the veins in his forehead twitch. His already red face turned a few shades dark. In the loudest voice he could manage, he yelled:

“Aria! Who the hell is your ‘Uncle’, huh!?”

Jeorge Marcus Grin’s eyes snapped open. His butt suddenly slipped from his seat and the resulting momentum made him crash into a glass container his body was leaning on. His head slammed into the side of the transparent storage tank with a loud thunk.

“Ow! Fu-”

The man cursed. By now, he was fully awake from his dream. The spacious container van’s shiny interior focused into view. He could faintly hear the blaring alarms resonating throughout Elisium. Bob rubbed his cleanly shaven jaw and massaged his forehead. A lump was beginning to form on the side of his head. His lips twitched.

He massaged the tender part of his scalp and summoned an ice spell on his fingertips. He didn’t need an incantation. Ever since he learned he could cast spells without uttering their names, Jeorge Marcus Grin decided to save his saliva and summon all the spells he knew without muttering a single syllable.

The male savored the cool sensation on his head and wondered just what the girl with black orbs was doing right now. Because of boredom, he decided to research on a way to wake her up. And since he had no way to get her out of Elisium, he sneakily placed her in Elisium as a student called 373 and left her there to fend for herself.

As expected, she woke up with no memories.

She was lucky enough that her body was working fine with no signs of brain damage. The genius she had lost with her memories quickly resurfaced. On the other hand, he set up the betting pool. Bob knew that some of the meddling scientists would do something to delay her relocation to the lower levels of Elisium. He might have played with the surveillance footage every now and then. But that was beside the point. He wasn’t doing it to help the brat. He was doing it because he was bored and it seemed fun.

Or at least, that’s what he told himself.

In the course of two years, her talent reawakened, Michael Caelum had come to Elisium, she had managed to make friends with the golden-haired boy called Salamander, and had managed to throw Elisium into utter chaos.

She left it to fate. He wondered if that was really the case. His eyes studied the contents of the glass tube. He leaned back on the the cold surface of the car and muttered to himself. “Is this the work of fate then, kid?”

Michael Caelum was sound asleep in the tube filled with a viscous liquid. Wires were hooked on to his bare body and a set of machines were connected to the preservation capsule kept him alive. The electronic devices filled the transport’s interior and made it too cramped. Bob tapped on the glass’s surface and imagined the red-head opening his eyes. His fingers froze.

“On second thought, let’s not. I’m not in a horror movie. That would just be…Gah...” Bob didn’t continue and instinctively shivered. “Ah… I just hope Asha Claire doesn’t figure out I tampered with the surveillance footage in Elisium. Now that would be scary.”

Beside the transparent container was a black coffin that was chained to a gigantic crucifix. It was sealed with multiple artifacts Bob didn’t bother to look at. Nobody knew what was inside the black case except for Silas Fidi, Asha Claire and him. The Apothecary’s successor would probably be livid when she realized that the demon’s body looked more lifeless and inanimate than a lamppost.

But that was none of his concern. He already had a lot on his plate. He didn’t want more work.

The sirens continued to blare outside the van’s walls. Two hours had passed since Elisium’s pandemonium had started. By this time, the researchers in Elisium should have started evacuating the building and loading all the equipment and children into the other transport vans. Bob expected the van to start moving in a few moments. But to his surprise, the noise outside got stronger.

Unintelligible screaming and cursing started to ring in his ears. The senior researcher could sense spells being summoned continuously by approximately forty people. He got up from his seat with scrunched brows and left the confines of the vehicle to see things for himself. His white coat fluttered as he jumped out the doors. As he did, a stray fulmen whizzed past his head and almost slammed into the van he had just dismounted.

“What in the world-” Another spell hurtled towards Jeorge Marcus Grin. With a flick of his hand, the spell whittled down into harmless sparks that dissipated in the wind. He walked faster and found himself walking into a battlefield. Although some of his colleagues were busy shoving children into the rectangular compartments inside the moving vans, a handful were currently dealing with a group of kids that were all casting basic to intermediate spells against them.

Bob recognized the faces of the thirty or so children. They were the classmates of 373 from the class Aquarius. They weren’t wrapped and packaged like the rest of Elisium’s research materials. The male tried to deduce who the culprit was. His brain creaked and clanked as he thought. His usually bored gaze lit up.

There was only one answer : it must have been Aria.

Jeorge Marcus Grin stood there like a spectator enjoying a show. Sadly, he was lacking a bucket of popcorn, a can of cola, and a comfy upholstered recliner. He watched as the children were slowly surrounded by the white-coated adults. The male and female researchers advanced towards the children step by step with restriction spells on their hands.

Suspense gripped at Bob’s heart. Attack spells flew out one after the other. The girls and boys of the Aquarius class took small steps and huddle together, like a flock of sheep being rounded by aggressive hounds. Yet they didn’t falter. They refused to give in.

Jeorge Marcus Grin hid behind an adjacent van and pressed a big palm on his forehead. What exactly was he doing right now? He didn’t need to get involved with these children. Why in the world was he watching them from the sidelines? Shouldn’t he mind his business, head back to the van and go to sleep?

The senior research was about to turn around and head back when measured footfalls echoed in the hall. A very familiar energy signature made him halt. Bob stared at the fifty-man team of specially trained high-ranking Spellcasters that were running towards the group of children who had managed to grab hold of a metal cannister. Brandish - Silas Fidi's personal guard marched at the front of the men.

The Spellcasters were wearing glittering combat suits that were plated a dark gray slates that covered their vital parts. Silas Fidi was in the ranks of the combat unit. His lab coat was immaculately clean and without a single speck of dust. His orange upturned eyes were bloodshot. His gaze was enough to make even adults shiver in their boots.

“Child, put that tube of Aurum Fulminans down,” the Great Apothecary yelled. The Spellcasters surrounding him quickly replaced the white-coated researchers in surrounding the children of Aquarius. In front of the children, a single boy with a big build was holding up a barrel of Aurum Fulimans over his head.

Fulminating Gold or Aurum Fulminans was a highly explosive mixture that was sensitive to temperature. Elisium had multiple gallons of the said mixture because scientists were trying to increase its destructive potential to be used in modern warfare. Unlike the Fulminating Gold ordinary chemists researched on, the gallons of Aurum Fulminans they kept in Elisium were much more reactive than the ones in ordinary laboratories. A beaker full of Elisium’s Aurum Fulminans was enough to obliterate a small room. A single gallon was enough to destroy a floor off a building.

The researchers in Elisium were probably in the middle of hauling the cannisters into the transport vehicles when the class of Aquarius arrived. Jeorge Marcus Grin guessed that the kids didn’t know what was inside the cannister. The big boy was clearly shaking in his clothes at the mention of Aurum Fulminans. Yet he kept his glare on his face and acted like he didn’t hear anything.

Silas Fidi glared at the child before his gaze stared at something else. Bob ducked behind the van and chanted a string of curses under his breath. He hoped his boss didn’t see him. He hoped his boss wouldn’t give him more work. His hopes were crushed with a single sentence that was said in a blood curdling tone.

“Jeorge Marcus Grin, deal with this situation within twenty minutes.”

This time, Bob really wanted to scream. Why in the world was he always getting involved in tiresome things!?

And why in the world was there a time limit?! Couldn’t Silas Fidi at least let him deal with the damn situation while taking his sweet time?

The senior researcher fixed his hair and pushed his thoughts aside. Jeorge Marcus Grin wore a goofy smile on his lips. He slowly revealed himself from behind the van and cleared his throat. “Hey, boss. Leave this to me.”

Silas Fidi’s sharp glare moved to Bob’s chin. “Did you shave?”

The other male resisted the temptation to raise an eyebrow. The smile on his face made his facial muscles uncomfortably stiff. “Uh… yes, I did. Do I look good with a clean face or should I try growing my beard again?”

The Magno Deorum didn’t waste another second with Bob. He gestured at his guards and headed towards Elisium’s complex hallways. Half of his elite force followed him while half remained. Silas Fidi’s elite guards waited for the senior researcher to issue his orders. 373’s face flashed in Bob’s head. He shook his head.

Jeorge Marcus Grin could feel his lips twitch as he stared at the kid who was holding the cannister of Aurum Fulminans over his head. He sighed. He remembered the boy’s name. It was no other than the troublemaker, Gabriel Fernandez.

“Hey kid, put that down,” Bob said to the boy. “I don’t wanna die yet. Make this easier for me.”

Gabriel Fernandez didn’t set the gigantic can of highly explosive liquid down and even held it higher. “Shut up! You can’t tell me what to do!”

The trained Spellcasters flanked the children from all sides and posed to start attacking should something go wrong. The senior researcher exhaled. “Ha… Just calm down, don’t move, and stay still.”

The children all glared at him. Some of them even when out and screamed at him.

“We’re not listening to you!”

Jeorge Marcus Grin didn’t have a beard right now. But if he did, he would have started tearing it off his face. He snapped. “Well, I’m not talking to you smelly runts either!”

The elite unit of Spellcasters all looked at Bob after the man’s outburst. The lazy-assed researcher didn’t give a damn. Energy swirled around him as he gave a sleepy gaze at the Spellcasters and summoned a barrier that isolated the children from the adults surrounding them. The children’s spells became absorbed in the wall of light. It became clear to them that there was no escaping the senior researcher’s barrier.

Jeorge Marcus Grin wasn’t done. He appeared right behind Gabriel Fernandez without a sound and wrenched the cannister of Aurum Fulminans from the boy’s hands. Bob disappeared only to reappear right beside a Spellcaster and set the huge tube of explosive liquid down on his feet.

The Spellcasters all breathed sighs of relief and assumed their jobs were over. But as soon as they turned to head to where Silas Fidi was, the ground beneath their feet glowed a dark blue hue. Their bodies were suddenly being pulled towards the ground by an invisible force they couldn’t break away from.

The Spellcasters that were proudly standing fell to the floor. As if that wasn’t enough lightning rose from the ground and paralyzed the group of trained casters. Metal planks from the floor warped and moved, almost like they had a mind of their own. They turned into hands that grabbed on the group of elite Spellcasters keeping them firmly planted on the ground.

The leader of their squad thrashed against the energy and yelled at the top of his lungs. “Jeorge Marcus Grin! What are you doing?! You’re going against the Great Apothecary! Do you understand the implications?!”

“Blah blah blah blah blah. You talk too much! Besides, I said not to move, didn’t I? Who told you not to listen to me? Jesus Christ…,” Bob muttered. He took a step towards the squad captain and stepped on the soldier’s outstretched hand. The senior researcher continued to whine.

“Jeorge Marcus Grin this… Jeorge Marcus Grin that… How many times do I have to say it before people get that I want to be called freaking Bob? Sheesh.”

Jeorge Marcus Grin opened a transport van filled with materials and began emptying it. Once there was nothing left inside, he dispelled his barrier and pointed to the van’s open doors. “What’re you brats waiting for? Get in!”

The children gaped at him with loose jaws and open mouths. Bob’s eyebags felt heavier than osmium and the lump on his head was throbbing. The adult male stomped his feet on the ground like a toddler having a tantrum and began pushing the children in the spacious vehicle. “Well? Get in! I’m taking you out. Or do you want to fight the rest of Elisium, huh? Come on. Haul your asses! You understand me? Of course you do. Hurry up! Ahhhhh… I just want to sleep right now. Hurry up already! Go go go go go….!”

Bob pushed and shoved the children in while automatically flinging a spell to knock out any fools who were trying to get in his way. His eyes met with the Silas Fidi’s elite guards and started murmuring unintelligibly.

His career as a researcher was screwed. Never mind replaceing another job, just existing was going to be difficult thanks to the unique beings called Asha Claire and Silas Fidi. Bob sighed dramatically and looked around. He froze when he saw the cannisters of Aurum Fulminans that were lined up neatly against the wall.

There were about fifty gigantic cans in the loading dock where all the cars were currently parked. His hands itched. He suddenly wanted to scatter the cannisters of Aurum Fulminans around the foundations of Elisium like interconnected beads of a rosary. If one of the cannisters exploded, the explosion would trigger the explosion of the other containers.

Jeorge Marcus Grin checked his watch and noted he had less than a minute to get things done. A mischievous grin was spreading on his face. He wasn’t doing this to help the brat named Aria. There was no way he liked doing things at the last moment because of the excitement. He was doing this because he was bored and lazy. And since his career was going down the drain, Bob might as well go down with a literal bang.

One by one, the cannisters of Aurum Fulminans disappeared until there was none left. The senior research flickered back into the vehicle dock with a look of satisfaction on his face. He checked the contents of the van, did a head count, and made his way to the driver’s seat.

His eyes landed on the vehicle where Michael Caelum and the Demon’s body were placed in. He thought about Silas Fidi and the girl called 373. The happy look on Jeorge Marcus Grin’s face disappeared. He clenched his hand. Bright red light shined as energy gathered in his fists. When he opened his palms, a small red bird appeared and chirped. The bird looked ethereal and mystical. Although it was a fragile-looking thing, it held a bit of his energy and his memories in its small form.

“Tell her what I saw and what happened here,” Jeorge Marcus Grin whispered, his gaze serious and steely. “And remind her that the Talent over memories… is a terrifying thing.”

The bird took flight and headed to the girl with dark unfathomable eyes. The researcher took one last look at the where Michael Caelum slumbered. For a brief moment, his thoughts wandered to the boy’s mother – to the woman with emerald green orbs and flaming red hair that had once caught both his attention and his heart.

Jeorge Marcus Grin ignored the pangs of grief that assaulted his heart. He quickly hid the regret the flashed in his eyes and averted his gaze which seemed to change color in the dim lighting of the car.

“We’ll meet again. Maybe.”

With a wave of his hand, Jeorge Marcus Grin cast a spell which destroyed the parking area’s mechanical door. Without looking back, the man left Elisium and drove towards the dunes of Ara desert and towards the safety of Myron City’s borders.