The jet soon landed a few hours later in an airstrip outside the outer city of Lunegarde academy. Amaris opened her eyes the moment the plane touched the hangar. She had fallen asleep after lunch, quite different from what she imagined her first plane ride to be. There was none of the excitement she had fantasized about back in her dingy slave room in Bloodhowl pack. Perhaps, it was due to living in luxury in the Ice castle for the past two months, or it could also be as a result of Miss Meng's influence—her etiquette tutor.
Two hostesses came to her and carried down her two huge boxes, while she grabbed the smaller bag.
"Young miss, please follow me."
The two hostesses seemed to be gamma wolves, yet they wore pleasant smiles on their faces while talking to her. She nodded, and they led her out of the plane. The strange bodyguard who had accompanied her pointed to a direction.
"Lunegarde academy is that way. After walking for three hours, you should be able to find the main gate."
Amaris' brows furrowed, she looked at the three heavy bags, at the hostesses, then the guard.
"But fathe…I mean King Harvey said I will be escorted to the school gates, then I find my own way inside. Why are you guys leaving me here?"
The hostesses chuckled and covered their mouths, finally revealing the evil beneath their mask of pleasant smiles.
"She truly thought she's a princess."
The guard smiled derisively and looked at her; their height difference made her look small and insignificant.
"I'm sorry, your royal highness, we can only stop you here. This is the only airport in the outer city. The instruction was to get you past the barrier into Lunegarde city. Now, if you would excuse me."
"You…" Amaris was boiling with anger as she watched them leave with a condescending smirk on their faces.
She suddenly chuckled, then laughed, her shoulders shaking vigorously.
"Ah… Amaris, it seems as if you truly can't wash away the stench of a loser from your body."
She changed the small bag's setting in such a way that it took the form of a backpack and hoisted it on her back, grabbing the handles of the two big boxes.
"If you think this little trick of yours can crush me, you must be a joker." She muttered and made her way out of the airstrip.
Amaris walked for an hour without seeing another soul, making her wonder if she was on the right path. She brought out her phone and checked the map, but the arrow was steadily pointing before her.
"It's the right path. How big is Lunegarde academy? Just the empty outer city is so big that I need hours to get to the real deal. Fine, I'm already here, I won't back down."
After thirty minutes, she began to see wooden cottages with a mysterious silver netting, creating a cage around each building. She had counted more than a hundred wooden houses, yet there was no single person on the road, as if she had entered a ghost town. She brought out her phone again and logged into the website she had seen while filling the form for Lunegarde academy. The website claimed to have all knowledge about Lunegarde city. She typed out her question and her phone soon pinged.
"Island of the lost souls, holding imprisoned beasts who had gone crazy with bloodlust. They are people with the blood of thousands or even millions on their hands, monsters who have committed various atrocities in the world, making the strongest wolf kings and Lunegarde professors go after them and subdue them. Oftentimes, each encounter leads to a great bloodshed and losses of heroes, throwing the world in mourning."
"Dragons, faes, powerful wolves and even vampires are held down in the lost souls city. A cage weaved with potent magic keeps each prisoner in line. But once in a while, one of the caged monsters would break free from their cage, giving the Lunegarde academy students a chance to practice with live targets. The last capture of deviants was after the celestial war."
Badump! Gbim! Gbim! Gbim!
At first, Amaris thought it was her terrified heart making such sounds till she noticed the shadow to her right.
With dread, and a heart full of fear, she looked up at the source and a startled cry escaped her lips. She covered her mouth with her hand, shaking in horror, her eyes wide. Her bladder suddenly felt full—she barely had enough presence of mind to bite her lips and prevent the urine from spilling.
In the courtyard to her right, a mighty black beast had escaped from its cottage. No, it was still within the silver enclosure but it had left the wooden cottage. The unknown creature looked like an ape, twelve feet in height, a giant. But it was walking on all fours.
Sweat covered Amaris's body as she watched it sniff the air.
"Did they also imprison demons here?"
The unknown creature, probably a demonic ape, had caught the scent of a living being outside its prison, for the first time in years, which awakened its bloodlust and hunger, and it began to sniff the air for the source.
Amaris grabbed her boxes and quickly picked race, taking advantage of the ape's sight impairment. The beast roared, angry that she was trying to run and began to attack the enclosure in a desperate bid to get her.
Amaris who had felt exhausted after walking for nearly two hours suddenly found herself filled with supernatural energy, and she began to run faster than she had ever ran.
"Damn it! Is it going berserk? This noise would awaken other monsters being held."
She looked back for a while, to see if it broke free, but she had run several miles in a few minutes. Even the screams were getting faint. Multiple shadows suddenly surrounded her, and she skidded to a halt.
Amaris looked up, her heart pounding in dread, and saw a group of people wearing black hoodies surrounding her. At this point, she was totally exhausted, her clothes stuck to her skin because of the heavy sweat, making them transparent, her throat was parched, her vision blurry, her muscles weary. At this point, she was barely holding on.
"Yo! Isn't this the slutty daughter of the prostitute we were asked to anticipate?"
Amaris' eyes narrowed as she looked up at them.
"Who are you? Why are you blocking me?"
They burst into laughter, their shoulders shaking with mirth.
"Hahahaha. She wants to know who we are."
"Why don't you think about the person you offended?"
Amaris frowned. She had never offended anyone powerful enough to enter Lunegarde city. And most especially, one who has the power to command superior wolves to do his or her bidding. She just arrived here. How could she have made an enemy?
"You got the wrong person? I just arrived today."
"Exactly. Amaris, ward of the Alpha king of northern territories."
Her mouth opened and closed without making any sounds, and her heart sank in dread.
The one who seemed to be their leader took a step towards her with terrifying calmness. Unlike the others, he had not made a sound since they arrived. Their eyes met; the only thing exposed by his black nose mask and hoodie. And for a moment, she thought she saw pity in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, your journey ends here. Just close your eyes, it will be over in a minute. Even though we were asked to torture you, I don't have the time for that. I will make your passing swift and painless."
Amaris chuckled, his condescending tone as if it was a done deal made her heart boil with fury. Did they liken her to a lamb on the chopping block unable to fight? A useless figurine unable to do anything except look pretty, huh?
"Presumptuous!" Her voice was laced with anger and authority. Fear was no longer seen in her eyes, only fury. Raw, scalding fury. "You want to kill me? Dream on!"