The Crown's Entrapment

[Second day inside the Element forest…]

To her surprise, Xenia woke up in a very comfortable bed. It almost made her not want to leave, but she knew she still had work to do. As soon as she got up, the door swung open, Saha greeted her with a warm smile as she stood by the doorway.

“Come, Princess. Join me for breakfast,” Saha smiled as she signaled for her to follow.

With no other choice, Xenia followed, but at the back of her head she thought, ‘This basilisk clearly has the habit of fattening up her prey first before eating them.’

Well, it was something she should be thankful for, at least; feeding her well and letting her have a good rest before killing her later. ‘How considerate!’ It was nice. Kind of funny too with how much she could entertain herself just by talking to herself inside her head like this.

Still, it would’ve been nice if she could hear her mate’s thoughts at times in this manner, but then, it would simply be better if they wouldn’t communicate and stay blocked from each other for now.

“Sit,” Saha offered, gesturing her to join her at the table.

Xenia did as she was told, but when Saha signaled for her to eat, she hesitated. The Basilisk probably noticed how she suspiciously stared at the food before her, so she quickly defended. “Don’t worry, there’s nothing in that food that will affect your body as you go through my trial.”

Xenia stared at Saha, but then her creepy yellow full-colored eyes were still as unreadable as when she first saw them. “Do you swear that you didn’t put anything in this food that will affect my body during the trial?” she confidently asked.

“I swear,” the Basilisk almost sighed. “Now eat so that we can begin.”

With the reassurances of the guardian, Xenia began eating her fill while also conditioning her mind on what was to come later. When she was done eating, Saha spoke again.

“I hope you have a good answer to my offer to you last night,” the Basilisk warmly smiled. “So tell me, Princess… Will you give me your eyes and spare yourself from the hardship and potential death from facing my trial?”

Xenia gulped at the question. Even so, she straightened her back as she looked straight into Saha’s eyes as she replied, “No, I won’t lose my eyes, Lady Saha. I’ll pass your trial by all means and get out of your territory… And no, I’ll be able to get out of this forest in one piece no matter what happens.”

Hearing her reply, Saha laughed. “If that is what you wish then, Princess,” she giggled. “Just don’t forget that you only need to call me and surrender if you feel like it…”

It was then that Xenia felt the ground shaking underneath her feet. Once again, the floor beneath her opened up, eating her wholly into a dark abyss. Only this time, she didn’t lose consciousness as she found herself falling to the deepest depths imaginable.

Landing without the expected impact from it at all, Xenia dusted herself off as she noted the increase in heat around her. From where she stood, she could see lava flowing below her, multiple towers of rock jutting out from it all as she looked around.

‘Am I in hell?’ she inwardly thought as she slowly got up on her feet.

The sight before her was horrific. From what she could see, there were multiple narrow rock tower everywhere, their width of which could only fit two to three people her size. They were separated from one another by gaps just enough for her to jump from one tower to another. Looking down, Xenia gulped as again, she saw the rivers of lava that would surely burn her alive should she fall into them, if not completely melt her body till nothing remained of her.

Gathering her bearings, she could finally get a grasp of her supposed trial. She looked around, studying every angle and detail she could get, some even far beyond her eyes could supposedly reach.

“Here’s your supposed trial, Princess. Find your way out without being roasted alive,” Saha menacingly told her. “Oh, and please just scream my name and let me save you and your beautiful eyes if you’re about to burn alive. It’d be a waste if I wouldn’t be able to at least take it from you…”

“I see,” Xenia commented with a smile. “Well, it’s been a privilege meeting you, Great Saha…”

Shrugging, Xenia knew she had to look positive and unaffected. Seeing the ravens flying up in the sky, She was sure that Darius was watching, so she should show him how confident she was. She didn’t want him to worry much more than he should.

Taking a deep breath, Xenia snapped herself back to the task at hand as she quickly searched for a possible exit for her to take. Looking up, she seemed to be confined in a circular space with a small hole up above her, giving her a glimpse of the outside sky.

‘I really wish I have wings right now,’ she humorously thought out. ‘What’s the use of having angel blood when I can’t even fly?’

Despite it being a stray thought, she still wondered if it could be even possible for her to fly. She knew her mother had them, and she also said that they could inherit them too if the angel blood in them were stronger than their human blood. Unfortunately, none of her and her siblings showed any signs of progress in having them.

While looking for a possible exit, to her horror, the rock towers suddenly shifted up and down. And the terrifying part was that some parts of the towers were sometimes submerged in the lava before it would go up again.

“Just when I thought things could be easy,” she murmured with a frown as she started analyzing the rock towers’ movements. “This isn’t good…”

To her chagrin, the towers’ movements seemingly picked up speed in their constant movement. And there were so many of these towers that Xenia knew she had to make her way through them carefully. She should at least reach the safe side of the circular rocks covering the area from the sides. From there, she could hang and hold onto them, maybe even climb her way up from there if there were opening for exits on each side of the area.

Having decided that she had seen enough, Xenia started to move, knowing that the tower she stood on would start moving down based on the rhythm of movements she picked up on. Quickly gathering her bearings, she moved backwards before leaping, jumping towards the nearby tower that was just about to move up from below the lava.

In the distance, the Basilisk curiously watched her as she fed on the insects crawling on the walls.

“I think I fed her enough… Then again, I probably shouldn’t have done that seeing how full of energy she is right now,” Saha mumbled with a cunning smirk. “Such beautiful eyes… They’ll look absolutely good on me once I get them. Also, maybe I should use that one project of mine for this Princess…”