Triiffic-Soul: Can I Be In Control?-Chapter 58 – Where to next?

Chapter 58 – Where to next?

The room Elly took Anlesa to was a small room, with a window that let light in, and the only piece of furniture was the small table with two chairs. From Syrus’s guess, this was a private writing room.

Anlesa sat on the opposite side of where Elly was going to sit.

However, once Elly sat down, she sighed, got up, and said, “Give me a moment.”

Elly walked back to the door in the side room and opened it slightly. “Please, can you lay down and get some sleep? You guys need it, I’ll join you once I’m done organising things for tomorrow.”

Three children had huddled towards the door, and a few more were further back. Anna saw Leah among the children who were huddled against the door. Like the rest, she did not look good. Life had been stolen from her eyes.

From what Anna knew, they shouldn’t have seen anything, but they probably heard the screams and pieced events together.

[Was there a way to save everyone…?] (Eva)

[No. There never is.] (Luna)

Luna regretted being unable to help people many times. In her case, it was usually orders that prevented her, but she still felt guilty. Which led to her blaming herself or the church, depending on her mood.

[In that instance no.] Syrus, who had a long history of being involved in conflicts, had a more reasonable stance on the subject. [Maybe, in a different situation, but with the tools and knowledge we had, or even realistically could possibly have gained, there was no way to save everyone in the village.]

While Elly dealt with the children, Anna made sure not to react and just let Elly deal with the situation. Eva wanted to say something to them, even though she barely ever talked to the children. She wanted to say something that could make them happy, but she believed there was nothing she could say that would do that.

The kids went away, some were still curious, but they left without complaint. As if they were all too worn out in any way to stay around and try to sneakily listen to the conversation.

Elly sighed and plopped back down in the chair, dark bags hung below her eyes and she looked up towards the girl in front of her.

She didn’t know what to think.

Who is this?

What do they want?

Are they telling the truth?

How did they know where I was?

How did they know about Anna?

Are they Anna, no, how could that be?

Did Jen or George do something to get this person to me?

Did anyone make it out of the village before we visited it?

Elly was already dealing with a lot of stress which wasn’t helped by the lack of sleep. Anna looked at Elly worried, she was missing her usual confidence, hard demeanour, and energy.

Syrus kept her ears open, “They are gone.”

“Huh?” Said Elly.

“The children, they have walked away.”

“I… see…” Elly gripped the table to maintain her thought process. “How… and who…”

Luna was the one who talked. “The name is Anlesa, that’s my full name given by my parents.”

“Hmm?”

“But I normally go by Anna… but while I’m now like this, besides this moment, I prefer to go by Anlesa.” fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

The insane theory that Elly created was aligning itself. Due to the similarities, she felt like they were Anna, but that could just be the tiredness tricking her. They were of completely different age and appearance. Anna was a short child, but the person in front of her could pass for a hard-working adult if she styled her appearance correctly.

“Please keep quiet, but yes… I am Anna.” She stood up and walked next to Elly. “Sorry for worrying you.”

“You… you… Anna… you made it…” The revelation only added more confusion, but it did manage to knock some of the tiredness out of her. Tears began to fall, “I’m so glad.” She shakily raised her arms, “I’m… so glad.”

Anna knelt down and embraced Elly in a hug. Eva whispered, “Thank you.”

They stayed hugging for a while longer before Elly finally signalled for Anna to let her go.

Once she did, Anna walked back to her seat to sit.

“Did anyone else… no you don’t have to answer that, I know no one else did.”

Luna asked, “How?”

“We did have a close call on the way out.” Elly’s hands trembled remembering the moment. “After we left the cave… the kids were a mess, they heard the blood-curdling screams of their families and the sound of fire burning. So, after we left the tunnel some kids were still in a state of panic, and after we tried walking further away, some ran back towards the village.”

She continued, “I was terrified they were just going to die, but… I couldn’t leave them. So, I left the kids who were willing to stay behind in a safe space and I ran after the ones that went back. I told the kids, that if I’m not back by sunrise, leave and follow the direction I gave them to Ihere.

Elly's expression darkened, “I wish I did a better job stopping them. They got back and found the village up in smoke with blood littered everywhere. Some even saw their parents' corpses.”

“...I assume most of them aren’t okay.”

“That’s putting it mildly, but most are keeping it quiet. The ones who saw the village no longer wanted to rebel and followed instructions to a tee out of fear. They had all experienced loss to some extent before, with the beast attacks, and understood the possibility of danger thanks to where they grew up. Those factors have helped them not completely break down, which was good for the situation we were in. We needed to move fast, but as time progressed, the adrenaline wore off…” Elly didn’t have to finish what she was saying for Anna to understand.

The kids were not in good shape. That was evident by their appearance which ranged from deeply sad to nearly dead inside. Those hollow eyes saw things no kid should’ve had to see.

Anger built up in Syrus, [Bloody bastards…]

A determined resolve flared in Luna, [They won’t get away with this…!]

[...] (Eva)

Elly then explained how they reached Greenvale. As explained by Bree before, she did reach Ihere first where she asked Bree for help and explained part of the situation. Then she stole a cart because there was no one to buy one from and she was scared that buying one would cause trouble.

“To be honest, that was the first time I had publicly stolen something, and I was worried about being caught and dragged by whoever attacked the village. I know that was a wild thought because I was just in Ihere, but at the time I was worried about everything.”

“That’s completely fair, as I chased after you, I felt the same. Worried something happened at every step of the journey.”

Elly knew Anna kind of acted mature for her age, but having that mature attribute with her new form felt weird. Like that something had gone horribly wrong.

“Did you find out I was here from Bree?”

“Yes, I would recommend leaving her alone after just confirming your safety, looks like she doesn’t want to worry about the stressful situation any longer.” Syrus then sarcastically huffed. “Oh, the guards also said it was a fire.”

“...” Elly nodded and then bit her lip, “I’m sure that’s not going to be the actual story once they investigate the situation.”

“Not that the actual story will be any closer to the truth of events.”

Luna switched the topic back to travelling. “How were you able to get a whole building so fast?”

“I’m pretty trusted, I made a bunch of the props used here in this city, so I was well known enough by the businesses who have asked for ornaments for their shops. I got money stored here as well, so I was able to buy one of the older properties. Thankfully there were a few to choose from so the process was easy, if not costly.”

Now it was Elly’s turn to ask some additional questions, “What… happened to you?” The vast physical difference was hard to ignore.

“Attribute awakening… a painful one. I wasn’t lying about the name either, Anlesa, it is my actual name… and now that I look like this… I would prefer to be called that.”

“That’s fine Anna, but are you sure you aren’t forcing yourself to separate the names?”

“No, Anlesa is… personal in a way only Jen could make it.”

“I see…” Elly looked out the window at the sky. “That sounds like Jen.”

After a few moments of pondering, Luna asked, “What is your plan now?”

“Take care of the children.” Elly looked behind her at the door. “I can’t just leave them to the orphanages, not now, not like this…. I never thought I would do something like this.” Elly turned back to Anna. “Those children deserve better…”

Eva spoke, “Agreed, I hope the children will be able to recover.” She didn’t want them to drown like she had done. The only thing that could help them was that they had each other who experienced the same thing. She was begging that they wouldn't be stuck in the muddy dark ocean of their emotions. That didn’t mean they would fully recover, but she hoped they wouldn’t be stuck.

Elly added, “Yeah, now with you around, maybe the children will be a little more happy.”

[Yep, I knew she was going to say that.] (Syrus)

[...] (Eva)

[It has to be done, Eva.] (Syrus)

[I know, that doesn’t mean I’m any less pained by it.] (Eva)

[Lilly…] (Luna)

Syrus replied, “No, I’m not planning on staying here.”

“What…” Elly paused, her voice nearly raised in shock. “If it’s just because your appearance has changed, then don’t worry, we can explain it to the children.”

“No… there are a few things I need to do.”

“But..” Elly wanted to yell, but held herself back.

Luna quietly said, “I know who caused this.”

“How…”

Anlesa answered, “I didn’t leave the village by hiding away, I removed them all, and what you see now is a part of the price I had to pay.”

Elly didn’t know what to say and just mumbled something out. “Where do you plan to go…?”

“Far away, I may have a target on my back after all. I already know what job to do, and if you don’t plan on moving out of Cancole, I can send money to you.”

“Anna…”

“The preparations have been made, I just need to make it there.”

Anna didn’t actually have a place they wanted to go, but they did have some ideas. Eva had one idea in specifics where she felt like it would be best.

[Arisea Station.] (Eva)

[Lilly?] (Luna)

[Remember when I said I had an idea? That is where we should go.] (Eva)

[It’s far away, but close enough, but will it do for our business?] (Syrus)

[Yes, it involves a lot of hunter work, and it’s a trade point between countries. It also doesn’t have any big involvement with Aurora Church, and it’s farther away from Nevald Kingdom. From what I read in geography it has a mixed culture which means we would be able to disguise our forms better.] (Eva)

Arisea Station was an independent city nation, formed south of Cancole, the area surrounding it was unclaimed by any one country due to dangers.

Elly begged, “Anna, you don’t have to do this.”

[...] (Luna)

“You can just stay here.”

[...] (Eva)

“There’s nothing wrong with that.”

[...] (Syrus)

“It will help the kids.”

“Please, don’t harm yourself, you're just a child.”

Eva spoke, “I appreciate your kindness, but nothing will stop me anymore.”

Elly continued to cry, but there was nothing that could be done. She wanted to stop her, but she was exhausted and her heart and mind were telling it would be impossible–everything was already too much to take care of.

Anna was allowed to sleep in the side room for the night, but tomorrow, she planned to be gone again.