RED EYES
The destruction begins

"Why come to Wiender? Why work with the prince at Garde to kill your people?" I asked Eric when I was in front of him.

His red eyes began to look at me. He began to remove the spoon and fork he was using, his hands cross-legged in front of his chest. The look told me that he didn't like my question very much.

There was no sound of spoons and plates or any other sound. The dining room in the palace became quiet. Dibble. It was just me and Eric, Eric bewitching the waitresses around us to sleep because Eric didn't want to be watched.

"You don't have to answer." My speech. I went back to eating the food in front of me.

"Because I want to kill that evil witch. Lives are paid for with life." Eric answered.

A lot of questions popped into my head after Eric answered one question. Maybe next time I'll ask you that. I didn't want him to get angry or look at me with a creepy look.

I started to look at his face again, ignoring the food in front of me. The look we met. If that was the only answer, he shouldn't have looked at me sharply. I also hate that sadistic witch, even though I don't want to interfere with this strange world problem.

"I'll support you." I retaliated.

"Are you sure?" Eric asked with a sharp look.

"Sure, I'll help you if I get paid by twenty bars of gold." I'm not kidding with my words.

"I'll pay ten times as much. May you keep your promise." The reply. He also made a smile that seemed to underestimate me.

He went back to eating and I went back to eating my food. Enjoy the food at the dinner table. But this is not a romantic thing. This is a rest period after seventeen hours of exercise. Erasmus's? he is busy with his work.

'Prang!!!'

Eric and I kept quiet and looked at each other. Shut up, we tried to hear another voice.

'Prang!!!'

Eric immediately ran over and pulled my arm. He invited me into the kitchen. Eric's face looked very agitated. Eric opened a chocolate cabinet in the kitchen. The cupboard was filled with different types of pans. Eric immediately took out the pot without a sound. When the closet was empty Eric forced me to enter the closet, before long he also entered the closet. Very cramped. Eric's face that was too close managed to make me feel awkward.

"He's coming!" His whisper.

"Who?" I don't understand.

"The witch." Answer's short.

My hands started shaking. Of course I'm afraid I'll get killed. I regret coming to this scary fairyland.

Eric started to hold my trembling hand. He smiled at me. Is he trying to signal me not to be afraid?

"We have to get out of this palace and find Erasmus. Cover your face with this napkin. Don't make your face visible! Remember, from this moment on your name is Hera! Don't trust anyone but me and Erasmus!" He began to give me a warning in a little panic.

Eric changed his form, but his eyeballs were red. He wore black clothes and was coated with some steel.

He opened the closet door and walked out. His eyes looked around the kitchen. After he made sure the situation was safe, he asked me out. We walked quickly through the back door of the kitchen. It's very quiet here. The corridor was very quiet and the lighting of this place was very dim as it only illuminated a few burning abors. Unlike each part of the palace, the walls of this place are just like an arrangement of red bricks.

In front of us was an old closet. Eric pushed the old closet. I didn't think there was a door as high as my chest behind that closet. Eric opened the door quickly, it was unlocked. I can't see the contents of that room. The place is too dark.

"You must get out of this palace! This door will take you to the river, just below the bridge in front of the palace. Wait for me by the river, Erasmus and I will go to that place!" Eric Pinta.

"Can't we go together?" My toot.

"No. Who's gonna push this closet? If this door is seen, we'll have no survivors. We can't leave without Erasmus, I have to save Erasmus, too." The reply.

"In the end I was forced to hide, even though I had done dozens of martial arts exercises." I complained. Eric silence.

"I don't want you killed. I also have to find Erasmus." The reply.

"Make sure you actually meet me and keep your promise to give me gold." I entered that place, another way.

Eric gave me a torch. Without saying another word, he closed the door. Starting to sound the friction of the closet with the floor, Eric had already covered this road.

Very dark. Only a torch gives light. I stepped forward with certainty. This place was indeed frightening but getting killed was a more frightening thing.

This street looks like a hidden passageway. Only my footsteps and the swift water of the river could be heard. The air feels moist. Every now and then I smell a foul scent, I don't know what that scent is. There's nothing. Only the hallway was dark, damp and filled with dust. I don't think this place has ever been passed by anyone.

Step by step I went through. The louder the river I heard. I hastened my steps. Trying to get out of the hallway makes me very uncomfortable. Stepping, then walking quickly, then running slowly.

Now I'm at the end of the hallway. In front of me was a locked door. Damnit damnit! Eric didn't give me a key before entering this place.

I put a torch on one of the torch hangers on the wall. I took ten steps back, then ran towards the door and deliberately hit my right side of the door. Vain.

I broke the door a second time.

Vain.

I'm doing it again.

Vain.

I'm doing it again.

Vain.

I still do, even though my shoulder is starting to hurt.

Wastefully again.

I tried again.

In vain!

I'll try one more time.

Damnit damnit!

Please, this is the last time.

Uninfluenced.

Please, please, make it easy. I tried again too.

The door starts to break.

I hit and kicked the door a few times. That door is open too.

I opened the door while enduring the pain of my right shoulder and right hand.

I just opened the door, just a few centimeters away to let my left eye make sure it was safe.

I can't believe what I saw.

Black sky. Lonely, invisible to any Wiender occupants. There were no animals, birds hiding from the sky. Some trees fell. I saw some people in foreign clothes. They wear black clothes, long broad sleeves and clothes that also cover their legs. Their faces were covered by masks that were like they were made of iron. They also carry bamboo.

The thing that pisses me off more is that there's no stairs to get off this place. I looked down at the mouth of this door. If I jump, I can die from being hit by rocks on the edge of the river or die from being carried away by such a large river current.

There's no other choice. I have to wait here.

....

I'm used to living in a dimly lit room, not a dark hallway. I'm afraid of the dark.

I hid behind the door. Opening the door is about 3 cm wide so that I don't feel afraid in this place, the hallway is dark and never inhabited. It was getting darker as the flames on the torch had started to dim. The cold night wind pierced my skin. Only the sound of the stream of water I heard.

I peeked out from behind the door, and saw that some trees had fallen. I also started to see thick smoke coming from the middle of the forest. From a distance all the plants look very withered. Wiender is also not crowded and quiet as usual. Let alone the Gardes, I don't see any animals or insects at this time either.

I only know a small part of Wiender's state, not knowing the state of other areas that are invisible from my eyes and I also do not know the state of the palace. However, from that small part I know that Wiender is not safe. The Wiender began to disintegrate and lost its beauty.

I don't know how many hours I've been waiting in this place. Ever since the sun turned into the moon, I waited for the two men in this place. I don't know if Eric and Erasmus have been waiting for me, or are still waiting for me, or may have left me.

I still don't dare to jump. I also didn't find any tools that could help me get down. Just shut up, sit down and hope Eric finds me in this place. Although I know that just expecting someone in this situation is a bad thing.

I began to hear footsteps echoing in this hallway. I'm trying to turn off the torch so there's no light. I don't want someone bad to find me. But this place is getting darker. Damnit.

His feet are getting closer. Getting closer and closer. My brain started thinking hard. It felt like there was only one option if the person who came was a stranger who had red eyeballs, I had to jump to avoid that person.

I opened my eyes wide. I saw someone wearing the clothes of the palace guards approaching me. His face was covered by a face shield made of steel iron. Clothes made of iron and leather. That guy keeps stepping closer to me. I can't see the color of her eyeballs because it's too dark.

"Claire!" Male voice. He called my name slowly, but it echoed in this hallway. I know that voice.

The man removed the face protection from his face. That man is Erasmus. I saw his pale face littered with dust. On his forehead were wounds and blood that had dried up.

"What's going on?" My toot.

"The witch squad is coming. I don't know how they got into Wiender. Many guards died, Garde residents and other animals are in hiding." Erasmus explained.

Erasmus began to pull out the rope he was carrying on his back. He was busy stalling his rope. He also looks very rushed.

"How are the kings and queens?" My toot.

"It's time I told you our family secrets." Now both his eyes are looking into my eyes. His green eyeballs were clearly visible in the darkness.

"The king and queen have been dead for two years. No one knows but the royal secretary. I replaced and did all their work. The whole palace only knew the queen was sick and the king was taking care of her in a human environment, the people no one knew about it." He explains.

This was the reason why Erasmus was as busy as the King, even though he was only a prince.

"Why don't you tell us everything and all your people?" My toot.

"It's not that easy, Claire. The king and queen had been killed by the evil witch. How do I explain to the Wiender residents? If they knew the cause was a witch, there would be a war and I would be the leader of that war. The witch was too powerful to defeat Garde. I do not want all the inhabitants of Wiender to die, the kingdom to be destroyed and Wiender to be destroyed only by defeat. Besides, I'm not ready to be a king against witches." Erasmus explained with confidence. He was still busy with the rope in front of him, I was too lazy to help him.

"You also choose to lie. In the end the war happened just like it does today." I did not like Erasmus' choice of making himself a cowardly king.

"The king never started a war." Reply without looking at me.

"But always ready for war." I reply quickly. Those are the words from my favorite movie, Thor.

Erasmus stopped talking and began tying the mine with a few torch hangers on the wall. I hope the torch-hanger and rope are strong enough to get me out of this place.

"How did you know I was here?" My toot.

"You're not where we're supposed to meet. Eric asked me to pick you up here. Now he is waiting for us. We have to get away from Wiender." The answer.

"What about your people?" My toot. I don't understand Erasmus' brain. Can he think like a royal family? Does he know he is a king?

"The witches know you're in this place. I told you that Garde nobody knows about you. We've been given ten days to hand you over to the witches, on condition that we don't destroy Wiender and its contents." The reply.

"Then you'll hand me over!?" I accidentally screamed. Making myself a victim is not ordinary.

If I were to be made a victim for Wiender, I'd kill Erasmus and Eric. How could he let me die just for a place I just found out about?

"I lied to them just to buy time, Claire. I'm not gonna give you up. There's something we need to do. We don't have much time, or the earth will be destroyed." The reply.

Erasmus stretched the rope out the door. The rope was quite long and looked enough to help us get down.

I didn't know whether to believe Erasmus' words or not. But right now there is no other choice.

"Don't move much and make your feet step on the wall! Hold this rope tight! Don't look down!" Erasmus orders with eyes that threaten me.

"Where are we going?" I asked with a sharp look at Erasmus.

"Dark Point."

....