Page 18 of A Requiem of Fire and Ice

I muster a brave facade while my insides burn with acid. I link arms with her, let go of Xavier and tell him I’ll catch up with him inside. The least scared of this—she’s been to the Kingdom of Cloud and Oria before—Sara moves to the line behind the green banner.

Kylie tells me she will show me how it works before stepping ahead of me in the line. My heart thumps loudly at the thought of being one step closer to entering the Kingdom of Flesh.

I’m finally here after two long years.

Other water elemny line up behind me, passports in their hands. As the line moves, I unzip my handbag and take out my passport and wallet that contains $50,000.

To my right, Xavier is chatting with two elemny also waiting in line. I watch their mouths as they talk, but after a few sentences about Xavier’s awakening, I look away and scan the crowd.

As I make my way down the ramp, my sea legs betray me for a moment, and I’m not the only one. Kylie stumbles a bit and turns to me. We both chuckle at our blunder as we straighten up and look ahead. Ebon Hall’s entrance dominates the main wall, and its sheer size is intimidating. Dipped in fiery coals that burn to the touch, it makes it impossible for enemies to infiltrate the Kingdom of Flesh. And even if they make it to the top, the guards will chop their heads clean off before they even realise what’s going on.

Kylie and I head towards the blue flag. Xavier gave me the heads up—but I already knew—about how the Kingdom of Flesh operates around here. Any elemny wanting to enter the kingdom has to come in through their weakness.

Mine isn’t earth (it’s actually a strength of mine), yet I’m pretending to be an unawakened water elemny.

Sara enters through the fire entrance on my left, and Xavier enters through the water entrance. If something happens to the guard, everyone must disclose their weaknesses.

I fix my gaze on the guard who oversees the banner that Kylie and I will walk through when anger stirs beside ours as we move alone in the line. Three guards move in front of Sara when a male breaks out of the line and races towards the entrance to the Kingdom of Flesh. One of the fire elemny guards tilts his head to the side, eyes the man, and, with an outstretched hand, snaps his fingers. Fire blazes up the earth elemny.

Kylie shies away, but I watch as the earth elemny’s flesh peels from his skin and his wailing cries tear through charred lungs until he’s nothing but ash. The clean-up crew has nothing to remove. They stand there, eyeing each other, but remain at their posts.

Kylie stands before the Earth Guard and hands him her passport. He then takes her finger and pricks it until blood wells up. She presses it against the print, and he smiles, telling her she’s done well. Kylie then makes her way into Ebon Hall.

I step toward Toma as a fire elemny approaches with a passive expression. I watch him closely, but his gaze is fixed on Toma. My insides churn, and my heart races as I grip my wallet and passport. Does he know? Have they compromised Toma?

“Oh, hey,” Toma says, smiling.

Toma raises a hand towards me, but the man shakes his head, folds his arms across his chest, and says, “I won’t take up too much of your time. I came here to say that you need to replace Kaneko indefinitely.”

“Oh…why? Is she leaving?”

“No,” he says, “I killed her. She’s been smuggling elemny within Flesh, so I dealt with her.”

Silence lingers between them as I wait for the fire elemny to leave so I can enter the Kingdom of Flesh.

Toma looks at him. His emerald eyes meet the bright, neon crimson-red ones. I’ve seen this look before, as Dad often directed it at underlings he found suspicious but lacked proof against. That’s the look this guy is giving Toma, and now I wish I had gone first instead of Kylie.

“Well, that’s unfortunate. She was a wonderful worker,” Toma says.

I keep my gaze down, noticing the boots he’s wearing. He doesn’t say a word and walks off, his boots disappearing from the edge of my sight.

Relaxing my pent-up breath, I straighten up, and Toma smiles at me. I hand him the passport along with the envelope. Without glancing at the envelope, he flips through my passport, hands it back, and takes my finger. Unlike what Kylie might have felt, there is nothing. He quickly guides my hand down to the print and adds the paper to the other stacks.

“Have a wonderful time in Flesh!” he says.

“Oh, I will!” I say. I step into Ebon Hall when someone bumps into my shoulder. “Fucking arsehole,” I mutter.

Sara, Kylie and Xavier are near the portrait of the former king. A wave of relief shows, hand on my chest, as I quicken my pace towards them. Xavier grabs my hips when a shiver of fright tingles along my right side. Shifting slightly away from him, his hand on my hip slips away, and a sense of comfort returns to me.

“Hey, baby. What took so long? Xavier’s gaze lands on my lips, and I understand his intentions.

“Someone came to talk to the guard,” I reply, brushing it off as if it’s nothing, but inside, my heart races so much it might explode. Was that man a guard? A knight? Someone close to the king?

Well, whoever they were, I’m glad he didn’t notice me, and I made it through the entrance unscathed. This might be my only chance to get into the Kingdom of Flesh.

But the way he looked at Toma suggested he could see straight through him. I can’t afford to fail now. I doubt Toma will be around the next time I come, and I’ll miss out on my free ride inside.

Sara wants to use the bathroom in Ebon Hall. Even with only seeing part of her face, I notice the pale look. Kylie goes with her, which gives me a moment to wave my phone in front of Xavier’s face and tell him I need to let my mother know I’ve arrived inside the Kingdom of Flesh. Understanding my “family situation”, he heads to the toilet, leaving me with their suitcases.