Chapter 3

Aurelia's POV

I slowly opened my eyes, the first thing I notice is the unfamiliar room I'm in. It's large and different from the usual room I'm locked up in back in the lab. That prison was plain and simple with white walls and a single bed, that place doesn't hold any interest of some sort. While this room I'm in, it has so many unusual things.

The wall is a light shade of cream, with actual furnitures everywhere. The center of the room has the bed where I'm currently laying, there were also two bedside tables on either side of the bed with two lampshades. On the left side of the room, there's a set of couches, a coffee table and the walls are filled with book shelves. While on the left side held two doors, a vanity table and a big glass doors which the sunlight passes through.

"You're finally awake." That same deep voice of a man from before caught my attention. That's when I noticed him leaning on the wall beside the glass doors with his arms crossed at his chest.

Pushing myself to sit I asked, "Where am I? Where's my brother, Axel? How is he? Where is he?"

"Calm down, you're currently at Viradale. Your brother's in the next room outside. He's perfectly well, although he's still resting." Came his nonchalant response.

I breathe out a sigh of relief for once.

"Why are we here?"

"Because the both of you are now my responsibilities. We saved you. I helped you. You two will stay here at Viradale Academy and would be given free and proper education like you should've gotten years ago."

My gaze fell on my hands that's resting on my lap, "Why?"

"Why, you ask?" He questioned with one brow rising.

"Why did you save us? Why did you help me?"

"Simple," he said with an amuse look in his eyes as he pushed himself off the wall. "It's our job to save our people."

I looked up at him confused, "Your people?"

He nodded, "We're no different from you, Aurelia. Just like you and your brother, we hold the same power the Government is so fascinated with?"

My eyebrows rise in shock, "Same with us? Then... You're no different from the monster they think we are..."

He chuckled, "We're no monsters, Aurelia. We're different. Gifted by the Gods and Goddesses themselves. It's not our fault that they're born... ordinary."

Removing my gaze away from his silver eyes, I look down on my lap once more. "Then what are we, exactly?"

"People like us are called Enchanted. We live in a world called Vlatka Lilura, we Enchanted don't belong to the human world because of our differences. It's really quite unfortunate that the both of you ended up in that world. Our Elements are too great for them to understand."

"Elements?"

"Yes, the power you possess. It's called Elemental Magic here on Lilura. You have the Element of Ice. While your brother has the Element of Time."

"Element... So that's what this curse is called."

The corner of his lips twitched, "Curse?"

"Yes, a curse!" I suddenly burst out laughing, shocking him for a moment before it returned to his collected reaction. "Someone like you who didn't suffer the same faith as me wouldn't understand."

He remained silent as he watched me under his silver gaze. I must've looked crazy in his eyes, laughing wildly until it turned down.

Before I knew it, my shoulders were already shaking, tears rolling freely down my cheeks. "I just want to be free..." I choked back a sob.

My form stilled when I felt smooth gentle fingers held my chin, raising my head to meet his silvery gaze.

"What do you want?" He murmured in his strong and deep voice.

There was something about his eyes that made me submit to him, made me tell what I actually want. His silver gaze makes me calm my nerves for the slightest. With tears still rolling down my cheeks, with a broken whisper I said what my heart had been longing to do for years.

"I want to see the world outside..."

He nodded before gently releasing my chin, he reached down to grab both of my hands that's clenching the sheets.

"Come, I'll show you the world outside of these walls." He smiled as he pulled me up to my feet. He looks really good when he's smiling, I can see the dimples on his cheek clearly, unlike when he's talking where it can barely be seen.

This man in front of me, who I only know of as 'Captain' since that's what they call him. I know in my mind that I shouldn't trust him. Humans lie without a second thought. But are we still even human? Can I really call myself that when I'm clearly different from them? He said that we're called Enchanted. People who were blessed with Elemental Magic. My mind keeps telling me not to trust this man, and I know I won't. But there's a part of me, that's willingly trusting him for a slightest bit and I'm determined to not let that trust grow, I will crush it before it has a chance.

"Close your eyes..." I felt his warm breath on my ear, my hands clenching on his own, my head flinching away immediately. Of course I didn't do as he says, I didn't trust him one bit.

But I'm glad I didn't.

My eyes grew wide when I saw tendrils of darkness with a tinge of purple encircled around the both of us, the darkness swallowing the both of us in an instant. My breath hitched on my throat when I couldn't see anything but darkness for a minute. Is this actually it? Another betrayal I had to go through? Another pain? Where will this lead me this time? If so, I'm glad that I'm alone to suffer this. I don't want Axel to experience the same pain ever again. If I'm going to die today, my only regret is that I wasn't able to see--

My thoughts stopped twirling inside my mind the moment the cocoon made of darkness slowly retracted away. The scene in front of me made me take a step backwards.

All around me, fresh green grass that covered all the ground, trees that are taller than me, the leaves dancing with the wind that keeps on blowing my raven hair away. We were on top of a hill, where I could clearly see everything. Houses all over the ground not far away from this hill, there's a lot of them. From this distance the people looked like ants on how far away we are from them. The sky is a mixed color of orange, yellow and red.

I didn't notice the tear that rolled down my cheek. "So this is what the outside looked like... It's so vibrant... It's far more than my imaginations could ever think."

"I'm glad you like it." He stood beside me, "It isn't right to get your freedom taken away from you. So, from now on, under my command as the Captain of the Lunar Eclipse. You, Aurelia Winter, are now free."

For the first time I looked at him clearly, he's really different from the rest. He doesn't have any attention to harming us. He's looking straight into my eyes as if to get his point across, that I'm actually free.

Free to do whatever I want, free from pain, free from the suffering, free from everything that's been keeping me locked up.

I can't keep up with his silver eyes anymore so I looked away, his eyes held so many promising words that I couldn't name.

"T-Thank you..."

A moment of silence passed between us before he spoke again.

"The sun that's going down over the horizon, it's called a sunset. It only happens at the end of every day. It's the only time of the day where everything would be covered with it's golden rays." He said while pointing towards the sun that's already setting over the horizon.

"A sunset... It's beautiful."

"Indeed, it is wonderful."

Our eyes met, his silver gaze connecting with my midnight ones.

"Thank you, for getting us out of there. Thank you for showing me the world."

He smiled once again, that smile that made me feel something strange inside of me. "This is only a glimpse of the world, Aurelia. There's still so many more for you to see. I can show all of that to you, but only if you agree to stay at Viradale. You have the choice to choose, you're free to do whatever you please."

"Viradale... What is that?" I cocked my head to the side.

"It's a school, Viradale Academy. It's where Enchanted people like us go to study. Viradale helps us to know more about our Element and to control it properly. They also give proper education."

"A school huh? That would be nice. I've never been to one."

"You can stay, you know. Viradale isn't that bad, you can study there as much as you want and you can know more about your Element. Viradale can be your home too like how it is also my home."

"A home..." I recalled having one before. My home that got burned. I don't know if I'd like to have one. What if my home gets burned once again?

"Elements aren't a curse, it's a gift that enables us to protect those special to us, Aurelia."

"How can you say that?" I scoffed at the thought. To me, this power isn't near a gift nor a blessing. It's a curse that led me to where we are.

"Elements aren't just some power. If used properly, it can save those special to us. Just like how you saved your brother countless times. Just like you, I also use my Element for others. In fact, my Element brought us here to this wonderful scene."

Pursing my lips I didn't respond. I don't know what to think of with that response.

He sighed when he noticed I had no plans of responding. "We should probably head back." He turned, already walking away.

"W-Wait!" I grabbed the back of his coat gently, he seemed surprised at my actions. When he turned around, I didn't meet his eyes. "C-Can we stay a little bit l-longer?"

When I finally raised my eyes to look at him, I found his silver eyes already looking at me softly. That small smile appearing on his face once again.

"Alright."

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Patricia's POV

"Oh, you're already awake." I quickly looked up from the file I've been reading. Samantha's leaning over the bed where Axel Winter's sleeping peacefully.

Pushing himself to sit with one of his hands covering his left eye, he looked around the room confused. "Where am I?"

I set the file down on the coffee table, approaching him with a gentle smile. "You're at Viradale, Axel. Don't worry everything's alright now. Both you and your sister can finally be free."

"Aurelia, where is she?" He looked around in panic, searching for his sister.

Samantha put her hand on his shoulder to calm him, "She's in the room next door, still sleeping."

"Are you alright? Is your left eye in pain?" He still had his hand over his eye.

As if only realizing what he's doing, he let his hand fall on his lap, "Y-Yes, I'm fine."

He looked up towards me, his eyes widening a bit, making me see his golden clock eye clearly. It's really fascinating to look at. "I remember you, you're the one who helped me."

I chuckled, "Indeed I am."

"Y-You saved us didn't you?"

"Not just her, it's us." Across the room, James interjected with an aloof grin on his face.

Axel blushed lightly, "My apologies. I really want to thank all of you for saving us. I'm in your debt."

"It's no problem, it's our job after all." James replied, his cheeky grin still present in his face.

"The person who deserves your thanks more than us is Captain. He's the one who arranged the mission and made it possible after all." Samantha pushed her glasses back up her nose.

"I see, I'm truly grateful. If not for any of you... My sister..." Axel's shoulder shook lightly as he tried not to cry. "She would've still continued to suffer. I don't want to see her in pain anymore."

"Axel, do you know what happened years ago before you two were brought into the lab?" I know that their wounds are still fresh, but we need to gather as much information as possible for the both of them, that's the only way we can help with their situation.

He shook his head, "No, ever since I've been a toddler we've always been in the laboratory. Aurelia and I grew up with the same white walls everyday, same lab gowns, apparatus, injections, and the same painful experiments everyday."

"What are these experiments, Axel?"

"It's when they try to do things with our body, it's always painful when they do that. They would get into our minds, or try searching for the source of these strange powers that we have. Although I don't often get to have those experiments, they would always do research about my left eye. Their attention wasn't divided equally, they would focus a lot more on my sister because I lack any signs that could progress their research." He clenched his fist, a tear rolling down his cheek. "I always hated myself for that, because of my lack of progress, Aurelia had to suffer."

"I can still remember when they would drag her inside one of those glass rooms and forcefully do things to her body. They tried many things, even going as far to torture my sister. But she's always so stubborn, she never uses her powers unless I'm in danger. It was her weakness that we desperately tried to hide. Everyday, I could see the dead look in her eyes, as if she's fed up with life and just barely hanging on. That's why I'm truly grateful for each and everyone of you. I hope that someday, the warmth in her eyes will finally return."

I moved closer towards Axel, pulling him towards me on a comforting hug. The corner of my eyes was already wet, such pain that they had to suffer through and it aches my heart. He sobbed on my shoulder, returning my warm embrace.

James and Samantha are also looking down on the ground, I know they can feel Axel's pain through his cries.

How unfortunate that they still have a long way ahead of them, still full of suffering.

But this time, as the Second in Command of the Lunar Eclipse, we will make sure to be with them through every step of the way.

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