Elmira Sielstone: The Empress

Chapter Seventeen

“Let us enter this damn room!” They have already controlled the situation inside the Academy, as Gemus were getting Qaraths from Hazzles without their permission. They have been told to just wait for them to give them Hazzles, but they have lost their temper.

Elmira was inside the Palace when that happened so they were forced to get all Hazzles and Gemus inside the dungeon, and separated them from each other, so Elmira could get out freely when she was needed. She managed to put everyone in their cells and provided them with what they’ll be needing when she arrived from the Palace where she had saved the Queen from the explosion inside their office.

Elmira has been inside the Academy ever since the explosion happened in Crymph, trying to set everything right. She’s constantly checking everything in Harzenia while she’s inside a room in the dormitory, using her mind to see everything. And once there was a problem that she needed to fix, she’ll be always concealing her pain and will be out to fix it on her own.

And when things could be handled by other people, like those in Palace and in the Academy, she would just be staying in her room, trying to survive the pain she was always feeling ever since she had inputted a dust inside all the Gemus' bodies.

She’s now in her room, lying on a bed, feeling so worn out when Sid, Sinn, and Savvy, who are outside her room, started to make a fuss outside, trying to get inside to see her condition.

“Stay there.” Elmira had raised a barrier so they couldn’t even get inside, just like what she has been doing in the Palace so no one can enter the room, as she is not in her very best condition and she doesn’t want anyone to see her being slowly killed by her own doings.

“Then we’ll stop them from getting their Qaraths.” Sinn said, trying to threaten her.

“Sinn.” Elmira called him in her unusually cold voice, “You now have the audacity to threaten me Gemus. Do you want to hear the best threat in your whole existence?” She said, standing up to get water just in her room. Her throat was feeling so dry, but she’s still trying to talk to them in her normal voice even though she's really having a hard time speaking.

When she got on the table where the water was, she grabbed the glass to pour water on, but her hands were trembling and didn't have any strength to hold it. It fell on the floor and tore into pieces of small glasses.

“What happened? Era! Open this f*****g door!” He’s trying to ruin the door by his forceful knocks outside. They have already tried to enter the room by all means using their Qarath, like teleporting, getting through the walls, but they didn’t succeed as Elmira’s Qarath was stronger even though she's not in her best condition.

“For once Sinn… Can you just shut your mouth?” Elmira was being so pissed now, as she should have been resting this moment, but they were all stressing her out more. She picked up the glass without kneeling down, and as it goes nearer from her hands, it’s slowly coming back to its original shape and appearance.

“It’s time for you to provide them food in the dungeon. It’s your responsibility, remember what you have done in Crymph.” She poured water on the glass when she totally fixed it and successfully drank it without breaking the glass again.

“We can’t leave you here in that condition.” Sinn said again, while the other two were just listening on how he pleads to Elmira to let them in.

“Then, should I feed them, myself?” Elmira held on to the wall nearest to her to support herself, as she was so dizzy. Her vision has become so blurry so she closed her eyes to decrease her dizziness.

“Gemus Ken… Ley… Din… Gil… and Prim, had reached their limit.” Elmira said, informing them in their minds as she couldn't already speak verbally. She was bathing in her sweat, trying to survive the pain she was feeling as five Gemus had reached their limits at the same time. Her skin color whitened as it became so pale, and her eyes were intense red.

“That’s… a lot.” Sid commented

She fell on the floor as she doesn’t have the strength to stand anymore through her own feet. She’s losing all her strength as she laid flat on the floor as their Qaraths that they have gotten were entering her body at the same time. It was so painful and it’s draining her energy. She nearly couldn’t hold the pain when the very first Gemus had reached his limit, what more when five Gemus reached their limit. She wanted to just faint so she couldn’t feel it anymore, but she can’t. She can only sleep when the transfer of Qaraths has been done.

“Let’s go.” Savvy said and held the two on their shoulders and teleported them inside the dungeon, where they have put all the Gemus inside each cell with Hazzles in the same cell as where they are, so they could get them their Qaraths.

Hazzles’ Qaraths and energy became the Gemus foods as they didn’t need anything to survive in the land. They just need the flower of Middlemist Red to survive longer in Harzenia, and the Qaraths to feed their hunger and their greed, but not the kind of food Hazzle’s were consuming.

“We’ll first transfer the Gemus to Emerald and we’ll clean their mess after.” Savvy said as they were walking towards the cells of the Gemus in the Dungeon.

Every cell that they are walking past, has Hazzles. They were all looking at them as they passed their cells. They’re attracting attention as they are the only ones who can freely walk between cells, and as the Hazzles inside the cells were all curious about the three of them.

Savvy stopped in front of a cell, and because he was in front of the two, they also stopped from walking.

“At your right side Sid. A Hazzle’s getting a Qarath from her company. Get her.” Savvy said through their minds. Sid and Sinn looked at that cell and they saw a lady, getting a Qarath from the other Hazzle inside that same cell.

Every cell has beds, and comfort rooms and it is full of things that Hazzles need for their day to day life inside the dungeon, so they can live comfortably while they are staying there. They are not prisons, but they must not leave their cells until they are allowed to.

“But she’s not yet recovered.” Sid replied, talking about Elmira who hasn’t been recovering well from the things happening in Harzenia.

“She needs that to recover fast.” He said. “Get her now, so we can already transport those Gemus back to Emerald.” Sid was still hesitating, but because it is their job to get every Hazzle who is getting Qaraths from another, so he still did it.

He opened the gate of that cell in front of them and got the Hazzle as quietly as possible. As he’s getting her, all the other Hazzles inside that cell was looking at him. He just smiled towards them and removed her from the cell to make the others safe.

They transferred her to the other cell on the other side of the dungeon, where the Gemus are staying, and let them drain her Qaraths from her. It was an easy task for the Gemus to get her Qarath as they were all so thirsty for it. It didn’t even take them a minute to finish getting her Qarath and killed her eventually. The Gemus’ cells were well protected and sound proof to not let others hear what they are doing, and so they couldn’t get out of their cells. As well as the cells of Hazzles.

They didn’t wait for them to finish getting her Qarath, and get to the cells of each Gemus who had already reached their limits. They arrived there only to see them all holding at their wrists, kneeling, sitting on the ground as they’re enduring the pain they were feeling in their wrists.

“What’s this, Savvy? What’s happening?” All of them had been removed from their original cells and were gathered to an empty cell, so they can be together and so that their work will get easier.

“Because you’re already here, you should know that you have reached your limit.” Savvy said, meeting their eyes. They were all shouting in pain as they couldn’t take it anymore.

“Limit? What’s that?” One of them asked.

“It’s your mark.” Sinn answered them, trying not to sound as irritated as he is now, because they've been causing Elmira her pain ever since, and as he couldn’t take to see her suffering, that’s why they had planned the bombing in Crymph to lessen her pain because the Hazzles their had become so greedy and they couldn’t let her suffer more, but they didn’t know that they have caused her another pain. Because when a Hazzle died, all their Qaraths will get back to her, and that is something they have no knowledge of.

“Here’s the plan. As we couldn’t get them all in Emerald at once, we’ll take two of them first and the others will be next. Same plan. We’ll teleport them above, I’ll open the portal, get them inside Emerald, put them in the dungeon under the Castle, and get back as fast as you can. I’ll be waiting for you outside.” They all nodded as Savvy gave them instructions through their minds.

“We need to make this fast, as we still need to get the bodies of Hazzles who died, and we still need to feed the other Hazzles as what she had ordered us.” He reminded them and started finishing their tasks, as they were the only ones who had been entrusted with these tasks in Harzenia, and as Elmira’s relying on them the most.

After they were done with getting the Gemus back in Emerald, they have proceeded to getting the Hazzle’s bodied, and feeding the other with their prepared meal from the Academy’s Cafeteria. Everything inside the Academy was still working well, except for the classes as the Palace had ordered them not to function for a week, and Elmira didn’t let anyone get out of the Academy, except for Rebecca whom she had teleported inside the Palace for Alexis.

When they were done with their tasks, the three of them came back again to Elmira’s room to check her conditions.

“We’re done with our tasks. And we’re here to give you food to eat so let us enter, please.” As she couldn’t argue now with him, he let them enter her room by opening the door for them while she was laying down on her bed.

As soon as she opened the door, the Three came in. Sid and Sinn came rushing towards her but Savvy just walked casually at his normal pace and closed the door behind him. He didn’t even come closer to Elmira’s bed and just sat on a chair across from her, seeing her from afar, as he couldn’t take it to see Elmira’s condition.

“How are you feeling?” Sinn asked her, seated on a couch next to her bed, while Sid just stood behind him, and after he saw how her condition was, he shut his eyes closed and walked towards Savvy so he couldn’t get to see her.

"I'm fine." She said, but it was so obvious that she is not.

"You've been forcing yourself too much. We can just stop them for now." Sinn was beside her, looking at how she was suffering from what was happening all around Harzenia.

She was all around Harzenia for the past hours, trying to fix what had been damaged due to the massive explosion from Crymph, trying to cure everyone by her own Qarath, and as all the Gemus were hindering her to get her work done as they are all getting Qaraths from Hazzles, but she still insisted to just let them be.

"And then what? Wait for the situation to get worse? I couldn't afford to see Harzenia being ruined by anyone, anymore Sinn. you know that." She said in between pauses as she was having a hard time breathing, and as she was enduring the pain.

"But we couldn't take it, seeing you like that. Look at Savvy and Sid, they couldn’t even get near you as they don't want to see you suffering."

"Then close your eyes, Sinn. Sometimes it's best to just close your eyes rather than seeing what's hurting you." She said, but it didn't even help him to lessen what he was feeling towards her.

"Why did you even try to save that place? We had planned that for your own benefit, so it can lessen what you're feeling when Gemus are getting Qaraths. Why didn't you just turn a blind eye, Era? They deserve that after all." He was getting angry, and pissed, remembering how they had planned the bombing in Crymph. And they were not even feeling a single guilt about what they had done.

Elmira sat down on her bed, looking at him. Everyone can tell that she's in so much pain as she was all sweaty, her lips have become so pale, her skin color turned whiter than ever, eyebags can be seen under her eyes, and her eyes were in intense red, a sign that she was in real pain, but she was enduring everything, as she has things to do.

"I didn't ask you to do that, Sinn. And you were trying to kill everyone. There were innocent Hazzles in Crymph and they must live. And look at what you've done. You didn't want me to suffer but you made me this way. I told you to just go through as planned, but you didn't even listen. Now we're all suffering." Elmira was aware that they were the ones who planned the explosion in Crymph. She had seen it, and that's why she tried to stop the explosion, but the bombing was well planned as she failed to stop it from exploding.

"I was trying to conceal how the Gemus was affecting me since you had entered the Academy. And then the meeting happened, I saw her. That day I was really trying to get better so I endured everything. But as I was too occupied, I've never seen what you were doing. That midnight, Sinn. I was so thankful to feel that danger. And I was so thankful that I have saved those Hazzles… with your help."

"And we're thankful that we have saved you, before you have lost your consciousness." He said.

Elmira had known about the explosion beforehand. An hour before it happened she had already felt the danger since she had already slept for hours and regained her little energy that she had used up all day as Loisselle had entered the Palace and she needed to watch her closely and be very alert about what she may do.

That night, she had chosen to save the people of Crymph as she couldn't even do anything to stop the bombs from exploding. She had stopped the time in Harzenia for a moment to save those who deserved to live. While stopping the time, she had called Gemus Sinn, Sid, and Savvy to help her and let them move during the frozen time.

"Leave it be. Let them all die as this land is full of sinners." Savvy said as they arrived in Crymph with Elmira trying to get everyone out of danger.

"There were innocent Hazzles that might get killed, Savvy. And I couldn't afford to lose them. Not with this kind of killing." Elmira said as she was busy teleporting others to the dungeon inside the Academy.

"But leave those who had sinned to me, and to their fellow Hazzles. Let's proceed with your plan, but save those who are innocent. That's my only wish, so please grant it. And also, get their Governor and other rulers out and send them to the dungeon. "

They hesitated to help her that night as it was their plan to kill everyone, but because Elmira was there, they considered helping in the end.

She was the most important person to them, and it doesn't matter if they'll kill everyone just to save her. But because of her wish, they couldn't do anything but to help her. They Teleported the Hazzles into the dungeon as the time was still freezed.

When they were already done with evacuating Hazzles from Crymph, Elmira brought back the time to its normal pace and minutes later, bombs were exploding in front of her as she tried to lessen the impact of the explosion of each bomb, as when she couldn't do it properly, Crymph won't just be the only place in Harzenia that would be wrecked.

She had succeeded for the first bombs, but she was so drained even before all bombs had exploded. Her energy was being so drained as she was already exerting a lot of Qaraths just to control the explosions, and when it was time for the very last bomb to explode, she already couldn't hold it in, and her body failed her again.

She regained her consciousness inside the Academy, in a room inside the Academy's dormitory, and found out that Savvy, Sinn and Sid had helped her to escape, even before the last bomb exploded.

"I just wish you won't take another risk for my own benefit. You know how I hate it when my people don't listen to my orders right? So stop going against me, and just proceed as planned." She said as she was looking at him intensely, giving him warnings for what they may probably think to do next.

"I know you're listening, Sid and Savvy. But mark my words." She said, preparing herself to eat the foods in front of her in her bed table that Sinn had prepared for her.

"Look closely at the Governor and rulers of Crymph for me, when I'm still here. They have sinned a fortune, and I should be the one to punish them, myself." She said, eating the porridge they had prepared. She doesn't have an appetite, but when she doesn't feed her Hazzle Body, she may be totally ill as her body couldn't get enough nutrients which she can only get through foods.

"About Tarfelli." Sinn started, as he couldn't let the opportunity pass him. Elmira has been so busy and they couldn't even ask her for something.

"Innocent Hazzles were suffering, and dying because of her. What should we do with her?" Elmira stopped from eating, as she remembered her, as she can now enter the Palace with her acquired Qaraths.

"Spare her and Tarfelli. We must not provoke her, as I still can't face her with this condition." She said, while getting the spoon full of porridge inside her mouth.

In the middle of eating, Elmira stopped again and suddenly stared in the air as if she had seen something.

"What have you seen?" Savvy asked, now beside them. Sinn was just looking at him wondering how fast he had walked to be there beside them in an instant.

"The Palace is done looking for all the bodies in Crymph which were buried alive from the explosion." Elmira said, still looking out of nowhere.

"What's the problem with that?" He asked again out of curiosity.

"Nothing. You have another task to do." Sinn and Sid sighed as they heard her talking about tasks again.

"Hazzles need to get back to Crymph and let them fix their homes. And I need you to get every single Hazzles who has sinned and do not let them go back there." She said, shaking her thoughts away.

"What about their Rulers?" Sid asked, walking towards them.

"They'll stay here. But do not give them to Gemus." She said, finishing her food.

"That's not the only one you have seen. What is it?" Savvy asked her, not directly through her mind as no one could get through her mind, but he knows that Elmira can hear her so he still had spoken in his mind so Elmira could read it.

Elmira sighed, before drinking the water included in what they had prepared.

"The border between Pyrisium and Vainussei's on fire." She said towards his mind. Trying to be as calm as possible, as there's another problem rising in Harzenia. They haven't even finished the other problem and another one was already arising.

"You'll be opening a portal just in front of the gates of the dungeon so Hazzles can get back to Crymph on their own." She said towards the three of them.

"Do it today after I inform the Palace." She said, forcing a smile in front of them.