Taking the first gulp of my beer, I spat it out inside my cup, wiping my mouth with my hands. Oh, God! Does beer taste this bad? How did Aunt Inara handle the taste? I threw my beer inside the sink and poured myself a glass of water, washing down the bitter taste lingering in my throat.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4iQ4zG12q
Cassie burst out in laughter as she wiped her happy tears, holding her chest. I gave her a death glare towards her, crossing my arms. "Very funny, Cass. I bet your reaction to your first alcohol was even worse than mine."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvfpr34tA77
"You're supposed to swallow it straight away, silly," she nudged my elbows, finding it hard to contain her laughter. "This is the funniest thing I've ever seen in my entire life."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZjRrxiQRrs
"Now you tell me," I rolled my eyes as I stormed out of my quarters. 700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl1BIXU1hWR
Cassie stopped herself from laughing as she caught up with me, walking beside me. "Are you mad?"700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9V5lfQHtDQ
I bobbed my head. "Of course I am. This is my first beer and you're laughing at me."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTYpuy1fH4F
"I'm sorry," she placed her hand around my shoulder. "I didn't mean to make fun of you, really."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuV9E8JTxwo
My lips curved into a smile as I shook my head. "I forgive you, Cass."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG535XmXBzz
We laughed along as we headed to the training room, getting into our lines and faced Sergeant A'tynn with a straight face. "Alright cadets," he spoke. "We have a new mission. There have been reports of mass hysteria in the village of Ionis. We will be sent to investigate the issue. Am I clear?"700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewcDcmTdOD
"Sir, yes, sir," we saluted in unison as we prepared our weapons and wore our armour, walking towards our horse stable, ready to depart to our destination.
Arriving in the village a few hours later, we were greeted with hostile glares from the villagers as we got down from the horse. Their houses were painted with yellow paint and their roofs were made out of cemented tiles instead of straw. The villagers were well dressed with the ladies wearing ruffled blouses and midi skirts made out of linen while the men were wearing suits and ties.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1qZCwNWBbs
This must be a rich neighbourhood where everyone is well-off. Unlike Surfis and Lavinia where the people were mostly farmers and shopkeepers, the people in Ionis worked in white-collared jobs such as bankers and businessmen. Their chief, Tanin greeted us with a handshake and led us inside his gated mansion.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZbGKSBrrOX
As we sat down on his olive green, velvet sofa, his servants served us a cup of Vanille d'Orage tea inside a ceramic cup. I thanked the servant as I took a sip. Oh wow, I smiled to myself. It tastes like the vanilla cake my aunt usually sells at The Little Owl Coffeehouse. And it smells like vanilla too.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkUj0d9E8m
"So when did this mass hysteria happen?" asked Sergeant A'tynn, sipping his tea. 700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYyLkI0CcNW
"It started out a week ago," Tanin told him. "At first, we tried to treat our patients with the medicine they were prescribed with but then it's gotten worse. There were complaints that they saw some creature lurking in the corner of the room and that it tried to attack them."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGN82INWJbv
"What does this creature look like?" I asked, putting my cup on the saucer. "The creature was reported to be green, short, skinny, and has sharp teeth."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLzothbJBjN
"Sounds a lot like a terrorlich," Nat commented. "Yeah, but we conducted a search on them, there was nothing to be found. Usually, if the terrorlich is here, some of your things will be missing."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcKvs2ykS0D
"Terrorlich will usually steal your money and gold and jewellery for their owner," the sergeant explained to me. "They also leave footprints around the house that looked similar to a child."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDyxlsiMP8O
"Anyways, that's the reason why I called you here. I need all of you to investigate the cause of this hysteria before it gets out of hand."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQe3y7A7I5B
"Understood," he nodded as we were led into our rooms. I had to share a room with Cassie, Nat and Gatsby. Cassie's a great roommate, always makes her bed and folds her blanket after she's awake. Nat, well, how do I begin? He hates my guts and is super stuck up whenever he sees me. As for Gatsby, well, I barely know him at all. We hardly talk at all.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVRqNzjj62o
As the night falls, I decided to pass my time by reading faerie literature titled 'The Mother of Demons' while Cassie knitted herself a woolly blanket just for herself. Meanwhile, Nat was resting his eyes on his bed as Gatsby rolled his eyes and drew on a piece of paper with a pencil.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSh6C79FzPI
"Aren't you supposed to keep yourself focused on your task?" Gatsby scolded his friend, not looking at him. 700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHiJYclXBj7
Nat scoffed, his eyes still shut. "I'll know when there's hysteria, don't worry."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7v2u0UomX
I rolled my eyes at his ridiculous claim. "It might happen when you're deep asleep and you won't know it."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzBjojxTSul
"I'm a faerie unlike you, so yeah, I do what I please."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1jJQsZJb9
"Just ignore him, Bugsy," Cassie retorted, ignoring our arrogant comrade. "He's just a lazy bum."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSVMfOq7e0l
"Tell me about it," Gatsby laughed, as he focused on his drawing. "So, I see you're reading about the Mother of Demons."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOOfRqhu3g2
I nodded. "Yup, I just want to know about her. I heard this name from Prince Thadeus before."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5pIAUV8bo
"Woah," her eyes widened. "You met The Crown Prince of Angelis?"700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Tcfawph5b
"Yeah, I did. He's the one who brought me to Angelis in the first place."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYBCf8FtTO
"I'm kinda jealous of you," Gatsby laughed. "You, out of all people get to personally meet the handsome Prince Thadeus."
"Well, I was lucky," I shrugged. "Besides, I already have a boyfriend back home."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZUc2Lpuqt
Before Cassie could open her mouth, there was a loud shriek coming from the house right next to us. All four of us rushed out of the mansion and ran towards the sound, only to find a purple-eyed woman screaming on her bed, with her black-haired husband trying to calm her down.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcZtHgwOkQ
"What happened?" Cassie asked as she tried to calm the woman down. She glared at Cassie and continued screaming as she pointed at the corner of her room without saying a word. 700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZkl2B45A88
Her husband rubbed her back as he was sweating profusely. "I don't know what's happening to Greta," he hailed. "It's been like this for days now."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1uaur3t6j
Then, we heard another howling coming from another house, prompting Nat and Gatsby to run out of Greta's to handle another patient. I opened the window and let in the cool wind that blew into the house, hoping to calm her down. "Bugsy grabbed a sample of food and water," Cassie ordered. "The sergeant wants us to bring them over to the doctor for more information."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8OLxD56nJ5
"Got it," I answered as I grabbed two small bottles and filled it up with both pieces of bread and water, respectively. Placing the samples inside my pocket, I helped Cassie to restraint the woman as she kept questioning her. "Why are you screaming? What's wrong?"700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO7R1IpWpeV
"There's a terrorlich at the corner of the room," Greta shouted, pointing with her finger. "Can't you see it?"700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJwPWa0GBp
I raised my eyebrows. "There's no one there," I told her. 700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVU1v4DqgEe
"It's there, it's there! Can't you see it? Are you blind, human?"700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pf457sbDx
I glanced at Cassie, who shook her head. "I don't see anything either."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQV9k8jHIFH
Greta hollered at my face as she bit her husband's hands, slamming herself at the corner of her room. Cassie and I grabbed her hand and held her tighter as I began to hear her husband screaming along, knocking his head on the wall. I groaned in frustration as I ran towards him and stopped him from hurting himself further.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTH5myTCiSE
The medics rushed into Greta's home and helped Cassie to lay her on the stretcher, clamping both her hands and legs with a cloth. They did the same with her husband and took the couple away from the house, placing them inside a large cart, which was full of other hysterical patients.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4t8r78aGDe
As they rode towards the hospital, Sergeant A'tynn gestured us to get on our horses. "Come on, we need to get those samples to the doctors," he barked. "There's no time to waste."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTWeZFqTZQ
Hours later, he was pacing back and forth as we waited in the hallway, his hands locked behind him. Then, one of the doctors walked out of the testing room, glancing at the sergeant. "We have news about the samples."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDTj7v6JJs
He took her hand as he stood closer to her, and his breathing quickened. "Did you find anything? Is it contaminated?"700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQC7vSCz0yu
"Calm down, dear," she told him, caressing his cheek in a gentle manner. "The results are negative. The food and water aren't even contaminated at all."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpuTeu38rwC
"Then what caused this hysteria?"700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXNSeRMMizw
"I don't know. We're trying to search for the source right now."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIQV78l2yQ
Sergeant A'tynn sighed and gave a peck on her cheek. "Be careful, my love. Don't overwork yourself."700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM9yDbOZVDx
She smiled as she walked back inside, leaving us alone in the waiting room. "So what do we do now?" I asked, my eyebrows drooping. He stroked his chin as we looked at each other, uncertain about this mission.
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