CHAPTER 333: THE ONE YOU HAVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR

(Author’s POV)

"I was the one who asked, so~ ... YOU~ .... ANSWER ME," Elisa pointed a finger and lashed out as she tried to search for the source of the voice.

In return, the voice~ .... it only scoffed, mocking her, "Hahahahaha~ .... How audacious of you. You came to my home, and now you are asking, Who am I. Should I call you bold or are you just plain stupid?"

Elisa’s eyes widened in shock, hearing the reverberating sound. She looked at the dark space and muttered under her breath, "Home? What does it mean? Is this the~ ...." She filtered out the other words.

"What are you muttering, huhh?" the voice asked.

"Are you~ .... somehow~ .... related to the Compendium of Enigma? Do you have it with you? Are you the guardian? Is it in your possession?" she asked, a flurry of questions but with extreme caution.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA~ ... So, you are the latter, plain stupid one, huhh. Still didn’t figure it out?" the heavy voice mocked her openly.

The choice of words thoroughly pissed Elisa. For her, the sand was slipping away to the lower glass bulb, and so was her lifeline. She couldn’t afford to waste time on this absolute nonsense.

She yelled again, her voice authoritative, "I~ am the Queen of Demons. Now that you know who I am, tell me, where is the Compendium, and in return, I will spare your life." She tried to sound confident. Her face was etched with defiance.

"OOOoohhh~ .... The Demon Queen, her majesty, herself has come here, in my tiny abode. How magnanimous of you and how lucky I am," the voice echoed, the tone exaggerating. "Stupid one. Just return to whichever world you came from. You aren’t worthy to possess the Compendium."

"I am not worthy? Says the one who doesn’t have a face himself," Elisa mocked the voice back. She then resorts to threatening, "You dare to look down on me. I have the backing of the Marquis as well as the King of Hell, Aamon and Ramiel."

"And? Am I supposed to be scared? What can those two even do to me? Unleash their hellfire? Hahaa~ ... guess what, I am already surrounded by fire," he didn’t take Elisa’s words seriously. "Try something new."

Seeing that her threats were making no difference, she had no choice but to use her trump card, and that was~ .... playing the perfect victim. She threw in her ace, her eyes instantly rimmed red as she started sniffling, "I beg you. Please tell me where the Compendium is. My life depends on it."

"Ohh really~ .... Your life depends on it? But aren’t you the demon queen?" he sounded interested all of a sudden.

With a choking, heavy voice, Elisa started, "I am~ ... but I lost a part of my powers to some vicious creatures. He didn’t just take my powers away but also killed many of my comrade. I have to avenge them and restore what I have lost, and for that I need the Compendium." Her sobs came at the perfect point as she sounded heartbroken.

For a few moments, only her cries were heard. Apart from that, there was absolute silence, but Elisa didn’t break character. After all, she knew the ins and outs of her ace. This trick always works.

"It’s really sad. That such a terrible thing happened to you. I sympathize with you," the voice said after a long pause. "You want the Compendium so badly? You need to perform a ritual to activate it."

Elisa’s eyes glinted. Just like those hundreds of times, this trick has worked again. She asked, "Tell me, what do I have to do? I am willing to do anything."

"Very well, then. Do you see the purifying golden water around you?" he asked. Elisa nodded, but she had a bad feeling about this all of a sudden as he continued, "You just have to bathe yourself in it for five minutes, and then the Compendium will itself appear. Simple, right?"

Elisa went utterly speechless. No words came out of her mouth, ’Bathe in this molten lava? Is this person crazy?’ Truth be told, if she had her original powers, she could have done that with minor difficulty, but her powers were borrowed by Aamon, and it had a time period. If she did this, it would result in her hands and feet getting charred.

"What? Why aren’t you answering? Don’t you want to avenge your people? Aren’t you desperate? Pufffhahaha~ ... or was this another act of yours?" the voice asked. He then stated, "Too bad. The Compendium doesn’t want you here. GET OUT."

Saying this, a ball of fire came straight at Elisa and landed just a few inches ahead of her feet. Elisa screamed, "NOOOOOO~ I WILL DO IT. I WILL BATHE~ ... IN THE PURIFYING GOLDEN WATER. I will do it."

’It’s just my hands and feet. When I restore my powers, they will be back to normal. For now, I have to get my hands on the Compendium,’ Elisa repeated in her head as she glanced at the vibrant yellow and orange sea surrounding her on all sides.

"As you have agreed, let me make the arrangements," the voice said in a matter of factly tone.

Out of the blue, the lava started floating, dancing in the air as it gathered in the centre, making a pool of itself. As it finished, the voice said, "There~ ... all done. You may~ .... proceed, the demon queen."

With a determined look, Elisa stepped closer and closer to the pool; the extensive heat radiating from it was enough to burn and melt anyone. She clenched her fists as she entered it, a sharp, piercing yelp escaped her mouth, "Arghhh~ ..." but she didn’t back down.

She could feel her human flesh burning. The sharp, prickly pain made her feel like she was lying on pins and needles. It was intense, it was gruesome, it was no less than hell. But she had to endure, after all, she had no choice.

After those hellish five minutes were over, the pool of lava blackened on its own, indicating her misery was over as well. Elisa was on the verge of passing out, her face ashen, her hands and feet totally burned to a crisp. With whatever strength that was left in her, she said, her voice breaking, "Now, tell me~ .... where is it~ .... the Compendium?"

At her words, the flowing lava parted, and a glowing, almost ethereal figure walked out. Elisa looked at the figure walking towards her, and her brows wrinkled.

With elegant steps, he or rather she, the source of the voice, was in a mesmerizing golden attire, glowing from head to toe. Her shiny black skin made her look all the more radiant as she approached Elisa. As she moved, the aura around her was sparkling.

"Who are you?" Elisa questioned. She was stunned by her divine beauty. She had never encountered anyone like that before.

"Stupid one," the male voice came out of the female figure as Elisa’s mouth agape. Then the voice changed, shifting into a female one, "I am the one you were waiting for. I AM THE COMPENDIUM OF ENIGMA."

______________________

"Yelena, why is Myra’s face red? William questioned when he saw them enter the house.

Yelena made a guilty expression and clicked her tongue as she said, rubbing her forehead with one hand while she supported Myra with another, "It’s all my fault, Uncle. I took her to a festive event and she, by mistake, ended up drinking alcohol."

He then came close, took Myra from Yelena, and Sandra asked, "Did something happen? Myra has been drinking an awful lot lately. She isn’t like that."

At his words, Yelena gulped. She refrained from saying anything about the matter as she said, "It just somehow ended like that. I should have been more careful."

"We are not blaming any of you. But this is really out of character for her. Are you sure you aren’t hiding anything from us?" Sandra inquired. A concerned expression filled her face.

"Aunty~ ... everything is fine," Yelena lied through gritted teeth.

Actually, after dancing for a while, Myra’s mood seemed to have improved, at least that’s what Yelena thought at that time. She made the mistake of excusing herself to the restroom, and when she came back, Myra was sitting, her head flushed and slumped, three empty bottles of strong booze surrounding her. She was totally knocked out.

William wasted no time and took Myra straight to her room. He laid her down carefully, removed the shoes and covered her with a quilt. He then pointed out the time and said, "It is already very late. Yelena, you should return to your room and rest as well."

Though Yelena wanted to stay by Myra’s side, she didn’t want to alert either William or Sandra. They would again start asking questions, and she didn’t want to lie to them. She exited the room quietly.

William and Sandra glanced at each other and then at their daughter. No matter how much Myra or Yelena tried to hide, they could tell that something was definitely going on. Something or someone was troubling their daughter, and they wanted to find that out.

To Be Continued . . . . . .