NoGift 189 ANTHEA'S THOUGHTS

The three women of the Blackbourne family were left alone inside the shuttle.  White took Black out to give the three some much needed privacy.

"I guess you found the code that I left," Anthea said.  "I believe I warned you not to come.  But it seems like you still did."

She was at the Northern continent when that man with a domino mask suddenly appeared.  One moment she was still surrounded by snow, the next she was suddenly in the middle of a forest.  She knew right that she'd been teleported someplace else and the culprit was that masked man.

She fought and got away somehow.  As she was escaping, she noticed the beeping sounds and the red light that the bracelet she's wearing was giving off.  That's when she remembered what Argent told her when she gave her the bracelet.  That when she's in danger, the bracelet would release a distress signal that would be sent to Argent.  So she would know immediately that Anthea was in danger.  

She wasn't really sure how it worked.  She just knew at that moment that she couldn't let her daughters find out that she's been taken.  Because somehow, she just instinctively knew that she's definitely in a very dangerous situation.  Something that she'd rather not have her daughters be involved in.  But she didn't know how to stop the distress signal.  

So Anthea took her sPhone out to send a message to Argent – to tell her that the distress signal was just a false alarm.  But before she could do that, another masked man appeared.   The man wanted to capture her.  So of course, she fought back.  During their fight, her sPhone broke, even the bracelet Argent gave her was destroyed.  In the end, she lost the fight and was taken again.  Losing consciousness in the process.   

When she woke up, she was inside a small room.  She was surprised to find that she wasn't tied or anything like that.  The people who took her probably didn't expect for her to wake up so soon.  When she stood up and walked towards the door, she accidentally heard the conversation of the two people outside.  The voices belonged to the man with a domino mask and that other masked man.

When she heard the contents of their conversation, she was shocked beyond belief and she immediately realized why they took her.  So they could get to her daughters.  Because they needed someone from the direct line of the Blackbournes.  It's in line to the things she just discovered about her husband's disappearance.  So she escaped.  But soon, she was found again.  

She fought with all she got.  But in the end, she still lost.  However, before she was captured, she made sure to leave a warning for her daughters.  For them to not get themselves entangled in this big web of conspiracy.  She could only leave a code so as to make sure that none of those people who took her would destroy it even if they accidentally saw it.

Anthea knew that once her daughters received the distress signal from the bracelet and then discovered that they couldn't contact her, they would immediately look for a way to find her.  Knowing Argent and her many strange inventions, she knew it wouldn't be long before she found the location where she left the code.  Considering how smart her eldest daughter was, she was confident that she could easily decrypt the code she left.  

And then after that, she was hoping that she and Aurum would not be blackmailed into doing the bidding of the enemy.  

That was the end of her memory of that time.  When she regained her consciousness again, she was already inside this shuttle with both her daughters no less.  Which could only mean that her warning didn't do any good.  But Argent and Aurum still managed to somehow get her back.  Although she's not too sure at what cost.

"Mother, surely you didn't think that we would abandon you?" Argent said in a scolding tone.

"How could you even think that, Mother?" followed by Aurum who was looking at Anthea as if she just slapped her.

"Seeing that you managed to get me back, I believe you're already aware of the danger.  I just didn't want the both of you to encounter those dangers." Anthea smiled helplessly.  "But I guess that's already useless now."  

"It's been useless from the very beginning," Argent said, matter-of-factly.  "The moment you were kidnapped, it was already a given that we would do everything to save you." 

"Brother is right!" Aurum seconded.  "Mother should just thank us."

Anthea shook her head.  She should have known that with the character of these two, there's no way they would heed her warning.  She spread her arms and hugged the two.  "Yes, thank you for all your hardwork."   

Feeling the warmth of her children, happiness filled her heart.  She's back, she's alive, and both Aurum and Argent were safe.  That's all that mattered.  At least for now.

"Does Mother know the people who took you?" Argent asked after a while.

"I don't.  I just know that they're after the three ancient artifacts." But her children managing to get her back from those people meant that they already knew who those people were.  "Who are they?"

"They're the evil minions of that evil Pope.  Everything was planned by that bastard," Aurum answered, not caring if her mother heard her curse.  Even after what they did to the Holy Temple, she still felt like it wasn't enough.

A deep frown appeared on Anthea's face.  "Then everything was done by the Temple of Gaia?"

"Not necessarily.  In my opinion, it's all planned by the Pope," Argent said.  "The minions that Aurum mentioned are called 'Apostles'.  They're especially trained people that's directly under the Pope.  They only follow his orders."

Anthea's frown became even deeper.  Could the Pope's goal be the same as Dorian's?  That's the only reason she could think of why he would personally want those artifacts.  Then a sudden thought crossed her mind.  If Argent managed to take her back from the Pope and his, as Aurum called them, evil minions, then that could only mean one thing.  

"Did you perhaps manage to get the sword of the dragon king and then gave it to the Pope in exchange for me?"

"No, Mother.  There's no way we would compromise with that asshole," Aurum said.

Anthea temporarily ignored her younger daughter's constant cursing.  She was more interested in knowing if they gave the sword away in order to save her.  But after hearing that they didn't, she became even more confused.  "Then how did you--?"

"How did we get Mother back?" Argent finished what she was about to ask.  "It's a long story that I think will need a very long discussion.  Mother also has a lot of things to explain to us, right?"

Hearing that, she remembered all the things she discovered during her trip while looking for Dorian.  "Yes," she smiled a bit helplessly and also with a tinge of sadness.  "Quite plenty, in fact."  

"Shall we go back to brother's island?  I think it's better for Mother to take a much needed rest before we have that much needed talk," Aurum suggested.

"Before that, I think Mother needed to meet someone first."

"Ah, yes.  That one," Aurum said as if realizing who Argent was talking about.  "Then I call him here."

She stood up and walked out of the shuttle.

Anthea looked at Argent, a bit confused as to who they meant.  

"I think Mother will be surprised when you see this one," Argent only said.

Soon, Aurum went back.  The elf was walking behind her.  

When Anthea saw the child with white blonde hair and green eyes, her eyes widened unbelievingly.  And when she saw his pointed ears, she became even more shocked.  A scary conjecture appeared in her mind, something that she wouldn't even dare to think if she never saw this boy.

  "Shit."

That's the only verbal reaction she could give.  And the only thing she could think of was; Jaxon would definitely lose his mind once he saw this elf.

Chapter end