Ember Elliot Elysian

Throughout our entire journey to Kozania, there wasn't a single time I saw the King's men or guards looking for me albeit I was aware of my surroundings. Just what were father and Ira thinking?

Did my and Keith's plan work? Did they really fell for that trap that I'd set and this was the reason of their delay?

Before reaching Kozania, to buy more time for us, we made sure to take the long route and leave hints on the short route, making them think we used that route and not the long one. But despite being misleaded, they would've still reached Kozania by now. 

Why hasn't anyone found me yet? Father and Ira must've figured out where I'm the night I left.

A sudden thought hit me and I looked around to spot people who might be the King's men actually, but found none. They were all just commoners. They looked too real to be disguised. I sighed, running a hand through my natural hair. I'd a bad feeling about this. We'd to finish our work and leave immediately.

"You look like you're constipated, what's wrong?" Keith's concerned voice brought me back to reality.

"Don't you think there's something queer going on?"

He grumbled. "Don't tell me you're still worried about not getting caught. I don't get it— do you want to get caught or not?"

"No, no, it's not that!" I said immediately. "It's just that I find it disbelieving that they fell for our trap. And even if they did, don't you think they would've found us already? I mean, we've wasted a lot of time,"

He stared at me with a disinterested look as I shrugged, pursing my lips. He sighed and said, "Even if they find us, we'll be fine. I'm an air mage, you're immortal—"

"Temporarily immortal." I corrected as he nodded and rolled his eyes.

"Does she know?" he asked, his voice suddenly quiet in the loud place we were in.

I knew what he was talking about as my eyes landed on the girl who was dressed up in a maids' clothes and was busy admiring everything around her. Everything seemed to fascinate her and I couldn't help but chuckle about that.

Just like her, everything about Kozania — the capital seemed to fascinate me, too. Kozania was so much more bigger and mesmerising than Edyn that I couldn't take my eyes off of everything around me. The town was fancy and enriched in natural beauties. Everyone looked wealthy and were busy with their lives that they couldn't spare a moment to see the three people that had come here to infiltrate the place that they called the Imperial Palace.

I barely saw any Ezèrian here, most of them were renèi possessors — the Red Wing Possessors had crimson wings that flapped while the Black Wing Possessors' wings were fluttering in the sky as they literally flew like birds. But they couldn't fly more than a minute and I knew it why. Black Wing Possessors are the weakest among Wing Possessors -- like Ace.

I looked around to find a White Wing Possessor and found none.

I saw some kids who were Body Possessors and were constantly swapping their bodies with each other in a fun way as they laughed whenever they'd make their friends do silly things. I noticed a Mind Possessor who was making money by reading some Naughts' minds. The Naughts were amazed and some even praised the Mind Possessor and told them how they'd wished to become a Power Holder like them.

"Know what?" I asked Keith once I was done sightseeing while being oblivious. "There are too many things she doesn't know. Which one are you talking about?"

"Does Amber know that you're protected by your mother's spell and you're practically immortal until it breaks?"

I shook my head in denial.

"Then does she know that your Ezèrian power lies within her and you won't get it back unless the curse breaks?"

I again shook my head in denial.

He graoned in annoyance. "What does she know, then?"

"I'm planning to tell her everything once I'm done with the amalgamation," I pointed out.

"Does she knows about the mark, then?" he raised an eyebrow as I absentmindedly pulled down my sleeves, suddenly feeling guilty for hiding so much from Erin.

She deserves to know the truth.

" When else are you going to say it?" he asked, bewildered.

"She'll go. . . feral or perhaps wild," I imagined her reaction and couldn't help but just shudder at the thought.

He took a deep breath, exhaled and inhaled and the spoke again. "If you haven't told her anything, what have you told her, then!"

"Nothing. She's discovering things by herself,"

"Let's finish this first," I finally said. "Let's get Vivianne on our side, let's break the amalgamation."

He sighed. "Fine. But just so you know, if you're waiting for the right time and opportunity to tell her everything, it won't come unless you make it."

***

"Oh, muah gawd. This fing is sow good," I heard Erin mumbling inaudibly while chewing food.

"Don't talk when you're eating," I smacked the back of her head lightly as she ignored me.

It was evening and we were still making our way to the Imperial Palace while also rested whenever Erin felt like her feet was about to give up, how she felt like she was dizzy because she didn't eat anything, how we were being so cruel to her for not giving her enough time to eat and this was just another break time.

"We can never reach the imperial Palace if we keep resting after every ten minutes," I sighed as I ran a hand through my fake hair.

She ignored me again, too busy in consuming the sweets she'd bought by bargaining.

When she was finally done, she brushed her palms together, wiping the crumbs and faced me with a curious look as I wondered what might be going on in her mind.

"I've noticed something," she said as I tried to ignore her as well but failed. "When I was buying these heavenly sweets someone told me something very strange,"

I raised an eyebrow, gesturing her to continue.

"When I extended my hand to take the packs of sweets, they saw the birthmark in my arm and you know what they said?" suddenly, her voice was quiet and the atmosphere around me was serene. Abruptly, she leaned closer to me, taking me off guard and when she was close to my ear lobe, she whispered:

"They said, "Oh! Just like you, I have transferred powers as well!'"

My eyebrows rose as I craned my neck to see her, only to find her smiling like a goof, her cheeks flushing red, her eyes sleepy and she looked like she'd doze off anytime. Because of our closeness, I didn't have to sniff and realise that at this moment, she was anything but sober.

"Erin, you're drunk— what did you drink?" I sighed as I stood up and looked for the beverages that she was drinking non-stop.

"Did you just call your childhood sweetheart a junk?"

I ignored her question as my eyes landed on the empty bottles that were lying behind her. I ran a hand through my hair in disbelief. "Don't tell me you drank all of these— how did you even buy them in the first place!"

Expecting an answer from her was foolish of me as she kept slurring her words, making it incomprehensible. I sighed and began to investigate the matter and it didn't take me much time to realise that Erin had sold a royal pandent to buy herself drinks.

"Erin, do you know what have you done?" I asked as I noticed her missing pendant, despite knowing I wouldn't get any answer from her.

She just giggled and said, "There are three Embers in front of me— which one is legit?"

I sighed. "Get up, we need to go. Keith must've already cleared up the path for us,"

"Can I have some more of these?" she pointed to the empty bottles with her index finger.

"You've drank seven of those," I said sternly. "Come on, stand up. We need to go." I crouched down and gently dragged her up. "Can you walk?" I asked once I saw she was wobbling around clumsily while singing a song.

"Of course! I can run and fly too!" she exclaimed confidently. "Do you want to see?" she grinned before hiccupping.

"No, no!" I said immediately as she pouted and sighed. "For now, let's just walk."

Fifteen minutes. I'd had to tolerate her nonsense only for fifteen minutes and then we'd reach the Imperial Palace. In the middle of our walking, she suddenly started whining about her outfit, making sigh for the hundreth time.

"What is it now?"

"This shit is too hot! I've to take it off!" she began to tug the hem of her clothes, thinking this was how an outfit is suppose to be taken off. "Jesus Christ, why am I even wearing this dumb dress!" with that being said, she started to stomp her foot on the ground.

This keeps getting worse.

"I'll tell you what, once we get to that palace, you'll no longer feel hot," I smiled, trying to persuade her.

She gave me side look, narrowing her eyes, staring at me suspiciously before smiling like a drunkard again. "What are we waiting for, then? let's go!" she began running while spreading her hands and using them as her wings. What was I going to do with her?

Although it took more than fifteen minutes to reach the imperial palace, after a lot of struggles, answering her childlike questions and pushing her forward everytime she was about to fall, Erin and I made it without attracting anyone's attention and were waiting for Keith to finish his work. As we waited for Keith's arrival, I tried my best to shush Erin but her singing would just increase, leaving me with no choice but to let her sing.

A few moments passed and the main entrance of the imperial palace opened slowly, revealing Keith who had a smile on his face and a pair of imperial guards' uniform in his hands. The fact that he was getting out of the palace using the grand entrance was enough to make me realize that he'd taken care of all the guards by himself.

"I'm guessing it turned out well?" I asked as he threw the uniforms and I caught it.

Just when he was about to answer, his eyes landed on the boozer who was dancing and mumbling something inaudiable. "What's wrong with her?"

"Long story short, she gulped down seven bottles of gin while we were busy talking," I explained.

"Ah, Keitha my friend!" Erin squeled as she walked towards him and gave him a giant bear hug.

Keith cringed the moment he heard his name being said wrongly and cringed even more when her smell reached his nose. He somehow, with a lot of struggle pat her back with a tight lipped smile and pulled away immediately.

"Remember me? I'm Amber Erin Anderson. I'm a college student. I'm majoring in law. I'm nineteen years old. I'm pretty. I'm broke. I'm jobless. I've been dumped thrice. I'm a nice—" she cut herself off as she pondered something deeply. "Wait, was I dumped twice or thrice?"

Keith stared at her before shaking his head. "How did she even buy alcohol?" realisation hit him when his eyes landed on her empty neck. "Don't tell me she sold a royal pendant just to buy alcohol," he was horrified.

I somehow nodded.

"Oh, Ember, you're in so trouble,"

"I know, I'll be in more trouble than her," I wet my lips.

"Anyways, I'll get in now." I sighed as I began to put on the guards' uniform hurriedly, making sure nothing was suspicious about me. Keith and I'd done this before— sneaking in and out of palaces was like a daily routine for us but for some reason, this time, I was nervous.

Since Erin was in no state of accompanying me, I tossed away the other guards uniform away but Erin caught it in time.

"What're you doing?" Keith asked before I could.

Just when she was about to strip, I snatched away the uniform. "Erin!"

"What? I want to get out of this stupid dress! And I also want to go with you!" she yelled.

"Lower your voice!" I chided, looking around to see anyone's presence.

"I'll scream louder if you don't take me with you," she grinned, hiccupping.

Taking you will be the last thing I do.

"Can you do something about her?" I asked Keith, desperate.

He shook his head.

"Anything? Can't you make her unconscious for a while?"

"I'm a Healer and an Air Manipulator, Ember." he reminded me as I sighed. "I can put on the same spells that I used on the guards and soldiers but they might have strong side effects on her,"

I returned my attention to Erin. She was pouting, her lips jutting out, clasping her hands together as she batted her eyelashes.

"Ember," she said, still batting her eyelashes as she grinned widely, her eyes barely opened. "I love you. Won't you take me with you?"

I stared at her, my mouth opening and closing. She didn't mean it, I knew it. She didn't even know what she was doing or saying but still, for some reason, I wanted to take it as a sincere truth.

"Never knew a confession of a boozer would make your cheek so red," Keith said, rolling his eyes as I cleared my throat.

"So, what do we do?" I asked, observing Erin as she already put on the uniform—in the wrong way.

"Take her with you, of course! There's no way I'm staying with a drunkard without taking air out of their lungs!" Keith grumbled as he watched her stunts with wide eyes.

"Take her with me? We'll get caught the moment we enter the Palace," I pointed out.

"And if she stays here, we're getting caught before we even reach the Palace's entrance door," he smiled sarcastically and added: "And all the things I've done so far will go in vain!"

I thought for a while. He was right. Erin was already loud. And if she were to be more loud, it would attract everyone's attention. Sighing, I agreed to take her with me as she squealed, still hiccupping and grinning while saying how much she adores me.

I walked towards her and fixed the busby hat on her head, making sure no hair was visible and tucked the hair beneath it. "You can go with me but you can't talk,"

"So that means I can sing. Gotcha!" with that being said, she ran off to the entrance of the Palace while I followed her, thinking about only one thing.

Please let us come out alive.

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next chapter will be on vivianne's pov! she's ember's soon-to-be wife by the way, in case you've forgotten xD

and hope you all liked this chapter? what do you think of  drunk amber lmao.

some things might be confusing for you, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! (≧◡≦) ♡

thank you so much for reading! really appreciate it UwU

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