28 Hemiporphs

Ace walked out of the tunnel, following the same path he took to come here. Right at the entrance are three people waiting for them.

"President!" The three declared.

"Are you hurt?" Leon asked, walking to him and checking his face over. He made eye contact with the boy on his back. "Why-?"

"Are you ok?" Grecia shoved Leon aside, eyes falling on the girl's body in his arms and the boy on his back. "Oh. Oh no."

"What's wrong?" Fria asked, walking to them with a slight lip on her feet. She stared at Ace covered with dirt and hair at odd angles. "What happened down there?"

"It's a long story." Ace said as Leon helped Leon to come down from Ace's back. "We … we need to do something."

He indicated to the body of the girl in his arms, not a hint of a smile on his face still.

"You know what I mean."

"I do," Fira said, furrowing her brows and looking at the girl. Her hands touched the bloody uniform of Ace and the girl. "I think we best do something about this first."

"Yeah. Wouldn't want to appear unpresentable after all." Ace chuckled dryly. "Make it quick."

"Just give me two minutes." She forced a smile on her face, turning to Grecia. "Care to lend me a hand?"

"I am always ready."

________________

Ding Dong.

Silas continued to tap his feet as they stood in front of a large mansion.

__________

It was a task to get through the front gate with all the little magical creatures that are loitering around the place.

He was not entirely sure what they were but they looked exactly like the pictures that were shown in the game. He unlocked a scene and the picture popped up after he was able to get the first heart from Ace.

I should explain the hearts thing first, shouldn't I? How many people reading this knows about these types of games anyway?

You see, in order to romance a person, you need to get a certain amount of hearts to fill up. And in order for those hearts to fill up, you will need to get their favour.

That can be gotten by selecting the options that cater to their interests. You can also buy and give them gifts, also interacting with them by tapping on their characters.

You will be able to unlock several side stories with the help of cards, which you use to win little mini-games to unlock the next story.

Then, depending on the most hearts you gathered, the story will branch off. Each main story is different depending on who you are with.

This is a pretty standard Otome Game procedure. But what was different about this, and Ace couldn't help but be a little bit confused with it.

The characters do not, necessarily, know each other. Most have never even met. Like Silas and Ace for example.

The two know each other because of his father but that is about it. They interacted once in the game but that was only for a split second.

Now, back to the scene that he unlocked, it was a garden filled with flowers and, what he thought was, fireflies all around the character Ace who had a dreamy look on his face.

He sat under a tree with his hands outstretched to the 'fireflies', some of which landed on his hands and others were twirled around him.

The flowers were of all kinds of colours with the warm sun behind him, a slightly blurred background, almost like a watercolour painting.

Something about that picture made him confused when he got it. That was not a card you could use to level up, nor was it used or brought up anywhere else except when he got that.

Also, he never saw that garden in the game, even after he finished everything, he was never shown the garden. So, where could it be from? And why was there even a picture, not a card because, again, it couldn't be used, there?

It was only when they entered Silas's compound that Ace noticed two things.

First was that the little creatures were not fireflies as he assumed, they were little creatures with the body of a horse, the head of a snake, the tail of a cat, horns of a boar and wings of a dragonfly.

That is freaky as hell. Ace couldn't help think as soon as they tried to get through the gate. It would not open at first, but as soon as they saw Ace, the gates opened without another hustle.

"Why are just opening up for you?" Silas looked at them, eyes still red from all the crying he did.

"I have no idea." Ace said, turning to him as one of them rubbed against his face, making some kind of happy noise.

Ace only smiled at it, trying not to freak out at the glowing mixture of a creature flying so close to his face

They all instantly took a liking to Ace for reasons he could not understand. In the picture, they were also flying around him, did I mention that it was a moving picture? Well, it is.

Is there some kind of history here that he does not know of? If so … what would it be about?

The second thing he noticed was that the garden at the front looked strangely like that picture. Why does he know so much about the picture you ask?

Because he was so curious of its origins that he multi-tasked his work and looked up on it as much as he could. Nothing could be found in the picture though, making it more of a mystery for him.

The details are so … uncanny. He thought, looking at the garden. What does he have to do with this though?

Carefully, they made their way to the house in the middle of the vast garden with fountains on both sides and little woodland creatures roaming the vicinity.

"This place is very … woodsy," Leon remarked though Ace already knew the reason why.

"My mother did this," Silas said, a smile breaking on his face slightly. "She and my sister loved gardens."

"I see," Fira said, looking at the place. "This may be intruding, but may I ask what they do?"

"My mother is in the court and my father is a commander of a portion of the king's army," Silas said, looking a little out of it still.

The three wiped their heads to the boy who had a slight smirk on his face, "Yes. I know his father. But … I don't think he knows me."

"After tonight, there will be no one that will not know you," Grecia said cheerily though it sounded slightly sinister to Ace's ears.

He didn't show any of that though and only smiled at her.

Ace's eyes fell on Silas who was staring at the girl in his arms and turned to him. "Do you wish to carry her?"

"No," he said, walking up to him and fixing a stray hair. "I would rather not."

"Why?"

"I could drop her." He said, pulling his trembling hand back.

"I see, well, no matter." Ace said as they finally saw the large, golden door with the crest of the kingdom etched on it. "We are here."

_____________

It was a bit of a blur, to say the least, of what happened once the doors opened.

A woman that seemed to radiate light opened the doors with a bright smile on her face.

That smile fell almost immediately when she saw the girl in Ace's arms, cold and completely still.

He didn't even need to tell her, she seems to already know what happened as tears streamed gently down her face. She managed a really good composure though.

Taking the girl in her arms she looked over at Silas who began to cry again and ran into her arms.

She smiled at Ace, "Thank you for bringing her back."

"I wish I could have done more." He said, voice solemn. "Silas can take as long as he needs to recuperate. Since he is now a member of the Student Council, he will be exempted."

He looked over at the boy, eyebrows furrowing, "Come back only when you think you can, Silas."

Leon nodded at them as Fira couldn't even force a smile on her face.

"Take care, Silas," Grecia said handing him something. "This will help when you need strength but just can't summon it."

"Thank you." He managed to choke out as the three turned away and took their leave.

As they walked away, those creatures came again and swirled around Ace, making the boy smile slightly.

"They seem to have taken a liking to you," Leon said, looking at them avoid him completely.

"I wonder why." Ace said, thinking. "I don't even know what they are."

"Hemiporphs," Fira said, looking at him from the corner of her eyes. "They are attracted to tragedy."