The Princess of Krystallos

An Unexpected Helper

The next time Alba woke up, they were all sleeping except the man who was guarding the door. Alba closed her eyes and tried to generate whatever her hand could, but the flesh over her power source had been burned and even trying to use it was extremely painful. After trying for a while, she gave up.

The stress was making it unable to think straight. Her heart was pounding and all she could think was, how she will save the kids from this abyss. She knew she couldn’t give up, if not for herself then for grandma and the kids. They had placed all their trust in her. She closed her eyes and focused. She had taken the pain of her flesh getting cut, this was nothing.

She clutched the teeth from pain as she ordered her powers to produce fire. Placing the hand little far from her body, she started melting the iron. The fire being generated from her wounds seemed to be killing her as tears flowed from her eyes and sweat dripped from her forehead. It took a long time for all of it to melt, and the pain was excruciating, but her hands were free. After what felt like an eternity, she managed to get herself free. But when she got up her legs were numb, making it impossible to walk at the moment. She crawled to the kids, when Crimson got up. Alba stopped there itself, scared to even breathe.

“My lady, are you okay?” her eyes were gentle, like her old self.

“Crimmy! What the heck is happening?” Alba asked, unable to believe.

“I made a big mistake in the spur of moment. I will tell you later. I will get the kids out, check on that sleeping man. You got to get out of here before she wakes up and takes over me.”

Crimson removed their chains in no time. The other man was woken up due to the commotion but Alba hit the left side of his neck, making him lose consciousness. The karate lessons she had been forced to take were finally paying off.

“My Lady, did you learn how to fly?”

“Umm... No.” Alba shook her head in reply but then hugged Crimson.

“You must be so scared. Don’t worry; Blaze and I will solve whatever is wrong with you. Don’t give up Crimmy!” she said as Crimson patted on her back before separating. Crimson rechecked if the man had gotten up before going to meet the guard outside.

After a while, she beckoned Alba and the kids, who had been waiting patiently for her.

“The tunnel there will lead you to the outside. Go fast, the guard may return! Remember, always trust your guts, your soul knows more about things than your brain does and beware, my counterpart is a creation of somebody else.” Crimson said, shoving the old witch diary in Alba’s hand.

“Whose creation? Are you not coming?”

“I can’t tell. No, I will wait for you to come save me from her!” Crimson smiled. Alba nodded in reply.

The tunnel was dark, long and dirty. Alba crawled in the front, clearing the way for the kids by removing all the insects and spider-nets. They stopped crawling for a minute for her knees and elbows were all scratched. Two fireflies suddenly appeared in front of Alba, lighting the whole tunnel. Alba turned to see Riza smiling at her. With newly gained motivation, Alba started crawling again. Once they reached the tunnel, a man’s leg were visible. Alba stopped and signaled the kids to do the same.

She placed a finger on her mouth and the kids placed their hands to not make any noise. The man suddenly sat on all four in front of Alba and grinned, raising his eyebrows and licking his lips. Alba gestured the kids to go back, before crawling out of it.

A total of five men were standing there, looking like they would pounce on her any moment. One of them held her arm forcefully and pulled her towards himself. Alba held his hand using her free hand and twisted it, before taking out the knife she had hidden in her socks and placing it on his neck.

“Muffins, come out! And you keep the other hand in your pocket, or my hand may slip.” she said, piercing the knife deeper into his neck as she covered for the kids to come out safely.

As she was checking on the kids, a fire ball hit her on her right shoulder, allowing the man to escape from her. Anger and fear came over her, when a man with grey wings, his face unrecognizable due to the darkness and his cap came down.

“Hurting anybody is a horrible act. And if they are this beautiful, it is unforgivable sin!” he said before producing a mini tornedo that threw them in all directions, breaking all their bones. She bowed to him in gratitude.

“Thank you!” but before she could say any further, he had left. Alba sighed.

“Muffins, let’s go! If my wings could listen the same way, it would have been nice!” Alba held out her hands, but stopped as she felt a strong tingling sensation at her back. It felt like a block of ice on a cold windy day had been placed on her back, followed by feeling like she was being burned, and then she felt all stiff. She fell on the knees, trying to support herself as she felt like something was creeping from her back. And then the wings became visible. Alba turned her head to see, though the entire length wasn’t visible, it seemed to be turquoise colored on top.

“Kids, am going to try flying so we can fly back.”

After falling down more than thrice, she imagined the wings as her hands that she was opening and closing, which ended up as a success. She held the kids and flew; the winds were her biggest enemy, which seemed to be obstructing her. After slowly flying through the town, she finally spotted the palace. But then she realized her biggest problem. She did not know how to stop.