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❝  𝗜'𝗺 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗜 𝗺𝗲𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗿. 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗽𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺.. ❞
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Overandoverandoverandoveragain, it just kept gushing out from the abyss inside her, and maroon, black, and red rivers flowed and seeped in and became one with the earth below. The world was spinning and images were fading from her view only to be replaced with a dark screen. Seconds later there was a soft warmth flowing in from white light.

Is this what dying felt like?

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"Do you ever wonder what devils are like?"

A small frown crept onto Sila's face. "No, why should I?"

Lydia shrugged. "Don't know, it's strange. Why do we have to fight a devil just to get them to work under us"

"Probably because it's a devil" Sila stated like it was common sense. "They probably won't listen otherwise. Besides, we've seen how strong a devil makes a human" Lydia quickly picked up that she was referring to Vanica and her brothers. "So the only way to get the devil to bow down to you is through power and forcing them to see you're stronger than them I guess"

Lydia hesitated for a moment, "...would you willingly become the host to a devil?"

Sila stared at the other girl as if she saw someone kill an infant. "Why would I ever willingly become a devil host?" Silalynn wanted to scream at Lydia for asking that question but composed herself as best she could. "Lydia, everything I do here is to survive, if being a devil host gets me that goal then I'd do it, but that doesn't mean I wanted that"

Lydia stared up at the ceiling. "Right sorry, I guess it is obvious". An uncomfortable silence found its way in between them. Silalynn sighed and threaded a hand into her hair, "Lydia is too kind" she stated.

"What?" Lydia stared up at her in confusion.

"You're too kind, it's not always a good thing, especially here" The royal crossed her arms. A few seconds later Lydia didn't do what Silalynn expected her to do. Normally Lydia laughs it off and teases Silalynn ain't being worried for her, but not this time. She just blankly stared at Sila with an almost saddened expression on her face. "Do you think being nice is a hindrance to my survival?" the periwinkle-eyed girl eventually spoke. Sila hesitated for a moment before nodding. "I see, Shiruko thinks that this will hurt me in the end"

The abyss of silence was created once more.

"Well if sticking to my ideals and morals of being kind kills me then so be it-" within seconds Sila cut her off and looked like she would kill Lydia if she spoke like that again.

"Your ideals and morals mean nothing here" Sila fisted her hands. "In the end, you'll get killed because you decided to follow them. That's why I did the smart thing and let go of them days after I got here"

Lydia didn't miss the anger in Sila's eyes. She wasn't angry at Lydia, she could never be, but she was angry at the thought that Lydia could die. Lydia held Silalynn's hands and looked at her with the same look. A bitter but saddened laugh left from Lydia's mouth, "Shiruko, you didn't let go because you were smart" Her smaller hands caressed Sila's knuckles, sometimes Lydia acted too much like a mother and this was one of those moments. "As harsh as I make it sound, you let go because you were a coward"

"Me? A coward? Impossible, if I was a coward I wouldn't have survived this long-"

"A coward can survive longer than anyone else, Shiruko. They simply have to stay a coward." Silalynn bit her bottom lip, contemplating what to say next. In a weak voice, "I'm not a coward," was all that came out.

Lydia frowned. She didn't want to call Silalynn that, knowing that she wouldn't react well, but at times, things you don't want to say have to be said. Yet the music magic-user stopped herself, "of course, you aren't" Lydia mumbled. And the conversation ended there, it feels like recently every conversation they have ends up like this.

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"Sila, you were a part of the Magic Knights, right?" Today was another day where they just stayed inside Silalynn's cell and talked for hours upon hours, however, neither of them wanted anything they talked about today to end up horribly.

Silalynn's ears perked up at Lydia's question. Sure Sila hadn't been a Knight forming but the time she had been one was so freeing for her. "Yes, I was a Magic Knight for a few months before getting here"

"Mm," the dusty brown-haired girl hummed in thought. "What was it like?" her next question came out almost immediately. Sila's mouth went dry, this was...new..she hadn't expected Lydia to even know about the Knights. "It was.." The royal drew in a shaky breath, "The time I spent as a Magic Knight was the most fun and liberating feeling I had since I was born. My Magic Knight Squad, while I never directly talked to most of them, seemed like kind and unique people" Sila twisted a strand of hair between her fingers, playing with it. "I even made my first best friend there, he's a hopeless flirt but I suppose that's what makes him, him"

Lydia smiled, Sila's face brightened up as she talked about her time as a Magic Knight, which in turn made her a little happy. "Lydia?" the white-haired girl's voice broke into her thoughts.

"Ah, sorry I zoned out for a second there" Lydia apologized. "What were you saying? I swear I didn't zone out because I was bored"

"I know you wouldn't ask unless you found a topic interesting" Silalynn quickly replies. The royal clutched her right wrist. "I just wanted to ask what your favorite color and animal was". Lydia thought for a moment. "Hmm, I guess my favorite animal would be a fox...and as for my favorite color..." The periwinkle-eyed girl removed her teal-turquoise and navy blue flower-like hair ties, her wavy dusty brown hair falling in the process. "it would be this" her smaller hands pointed to the teal-turquoise color on her hair ties.

Silalynn reached her hand out for a moment but slightly pulled it back, realizing that she was about to take Lydia's hair tie without asking. Lydia nodded, understanding what Sila was asking. Silalynn looked at the color realizing that it was neither teal nor turquoise, but bordered the two colors, she frowned.

"Don't frown it looks ugly on you" Lydia teased Silalynn. And usually, Sila would answer but she looked deep in thought while staring at the hair tie. "What a pity..." the white-haired girl eventually said, sighing soon after. Lydia raised a brow, "What's a pity?"

"I wish to become strong enough and form my own Magic Knight Squad, and each squad has an animal and a color in its name. So I asked you what your favorite animal and color were for that reason"

Lydia stayed silent for a moment. "So you wanted to name your future squad using my opinions? My oh my, I'm honored that her highness cares so much about-"

"Ok ok ok! I get it!" Sila's face burned in embarrassment as she quickly hid her face in her knees. "It's not like "Teal Foxes" or "Turquoise Foxes" even sounds bad, it's... it's pretty" the royal mumbled. "It's just that the color borders teal and turquoise so I don't know what to call it..."

Ah. That was the issue. Lydia merely smiled as attempted to get Sila to pull her head out of her knees. The attempt failed miserably but that's beside the point. "Shirukoooooo, it's fine if you can't figure out what color it is just lift your head out from your knees-"

"Fine" Sila grumbled.

Lydia let out a sigh of relief. "Phew, that didn't take too much convincing-" Ah that's right, "Wait, that's right, I had something to tell you" Lydia suddenly remembered a thought that would help Sila. As Sila handed back Lydia's hair ties and Lydia put her hair back up into her two high ponytails, Lydia started to talk about some information she found out.

"The devil ritual is taking place in the West Tower here" the music magic user explained. Sila's eyes widened and the Royal bit her lip. But she didn't interrupt so Lydia knew she was telling her to keep talking. "In order to summon the devil and do the ritual you need an relic linked to said devil. The relic and the devil are in that locked room in the tower, there's also a magic circle which keeps the devil in check"

Silalynn stayed quiet for a while trying to wrap her head around what Lydia just said and keep calm about it. "Silalynn, calm down, think about this with a level head" Lydia said.

With a shaky breath, Sila followed what Lydia said.

"Why did you tell me that?" The older girls' heterochromia eyes still had anger and panic burning in them.

Lydia leaned up against the wall. "Someday, Shiruko might need that information. Do you think I'm implying that you'll need to become a devil host?"

"Yes, I do think you are implying that I should become a devil host" Sila quickly replied. And to that Lydia had no answer.

"I don't want you to become a devil host.." the periwinkle eyed girl settled for that response. "All I'm saying is that sometimes we have to do things we don't want. And you should mentally prepare yourself if you have to become a devil host"

Sila couldn't get any words out for a little while, but with a shaky sigh, she answered, "You're right..I guess I should prepare myself in case it comes to that"

Lydia smiled and closed her eyes for a moment. "I hope it won't come to that". Sila nodded and let out a small smile, "Yeah, I hope so too"