Chapter 62: Scroll, Pocket Watch, And Rag Doll

Distressing silence had floated inside the chamber. Guardian Aika kept the menacing glare at her kneeling disciple. After what felt like an eternity of upsetting contemplation, the guardian let out a deep breath and crossed her arms over her chest.

"The only quick remedy for him is a potion," she returned to her table and sat gracefully at the elegant chair. "My storage can provide some of the ingredients but I need three more items."

"Aries only has two hours," Gust straightened his back and looked up at his master.

"The more reason for you to hurry," Guardian Aika flashed an annoying smile. "I will give you all the things that you will need in retrieving those items."

"This better be not because you want to acquire rare ingredients," Gust was staring at his master with distrust.

Guardian Aika laughed then glared at her disciple, "Of course, this is a rare chance to make you gather precious items for me. I should make this a worthy trip."

"Two hours…"

"Yes, my dearest disciple," Guardian Aika unrolled a scroll and began to scribble things on it. "You don't have to open this. Just ask and the scroll will show you the answer. Of course, it can only reply to inquiries about the items you need to find."

She was done writing within a few minutes.

"Here," she tossed the sealed scroll at her disciple. "Next," she opened a drawer on her table and took a pocket watch. 

She covered it with both her hands and whispered a few words. The pocket watch was momentarily covered by a golden light.

"Take this," she also tossed the pocket watch at her disciple. "It will alarm every thirty minutes and will instantly pull you back in this chamber once the time is up. You have one hour and forty-five minutes left."

"Where will we get the ingredients you need?"

That question of Gust earned him a glare from his master.

"The scroll," she reminded her disciple. "Ask it, not me."

"Okay," Gust stared at the scroll.

"One more thing," Guardian Aika took another object in the drawer. It was a plain white rag doll. "You have to take this with you."

She vanished in a puff of purple smoke and reappeared right next to Aries.

"Your body is weak but your soul is not," Guardian Aika pressed the ragdoll at the bleeding wound in his abdomen.

Aries winced in pain.

"What…" he opened his mouth to speak but he blacked out and when his consciousness returned, his soul had once again drifted out of his body.

He found himself looking up at his unconscious body. He could also see Princess Pieffer, Gale, Gust, and Guardian Aika.

"Whose body…" he was stunned to hear his own voice.

"Look here," Guardian Aika said and Aries felt the ground moving and his vision swirled.

When everything stopped moving, he found himself staring at the mirror. He blinked and the image reflected in the mirror harmonized with his movement.

Aries gasped and yelled, "What is this?!"

There was a miniature Aries gazing back at him from the mirror. It was about two feet in height. It had the same crimson hair and eyes. There was also a horn sticking out at the sides of his head. Even the overcoat he was wearing was like the one his body was wearing.

"Aren't you grateful?"

The ground was not the one moving. It was Guardian Aika. She was tightly gripping the torso of the ragdoll Aries had inhabited.

"I let your soul possess my precious doll. If you don't want then…"

"I want it!" Aries quickly said. "I want to come with them. Thank you, Guardian Aika."

"You will eventually drift away from your body and come with them. At least, in this doll, you don't have to possess humans, especially your friends."

"Thank you," Aries bowed and it was surprisingly good that he could easily control his ragdoll body.

"Time is ticking away," Guardian Aika reminded all of them. "You should go."

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"Wait," Gust glared at Guardian Aika. "Why give us only one scroll? You can deploy us in different places. It will be quicker if all of us will gather the ingredients you need at the same time."

"Hey," the guardian gazed ominously at her disciple. "You begged for my mercy and this is how I want to do it. Are you trying to abuse my generosity?"

"Thank you for helping us, Guardian Aika!" Princess Pieffer grabbed Gust by his arm. "We will take our leave now."

"You should always stick together," the guardian advised with a satisfied smile. "The scroll and the pocket watch will only work within a one-meter radius from the person holding it. Leave now and be quick."

She tossed the ragdoll Aries at Princess Pieffer and warned her, "Take care of my doll."

Aries and Princess Pieffer nodded then Gust raised the scroll in front of his mouth and asked, "Where is the first ingredient?"

The scroll emitted a golden light that enveloped Aries, Princess Pieffer, Gale, and Gust.

When the light vanished, the four of them had been dropped into a deep and clear body of water. Fortunately for them, they knew how to swim. 

Princess Pieffer was tightly gripping the rag doll. Though Aries could not feel any pain, he could see creases at the part where the princess was holding his temporary and unusual vessel.

"Where…" Gust began to ask but his voice faded and his eyes widened when he saw a large shadow moving in the water.

It was quickly approaching their direction.

"Swim!!!" Gust yelled but before they could maneuver in the water, a giant white fish with glittering scales had surfaced.

It caused a huge wave that submerged the four of them a few feet deep into the water and when they managed to resurface, breath in some air and cough out water, a huge tail was coming their way.

They had no more time to do anything. The enormous tail splashed into the water and it caused a bigger wave that hurled the four of them a few meters away from the fish and brought them to the sandy shore.

Princess Pieffer, Gale, and Gust had coughed out more water. Aries was immune to physical pain but he felt dizzy as they had been tossed out of the water.

"Don't tell me that we need to take home that fish?" Gale asked and the four of them were staring at the colossal sparkling fish that was happily swimming in circles.

"I don't think so," Gust raised the scroll he was holding and it was pulsating a golden light that formed a shape of a scale. "We only need one scale… oh…" the glowing image multiplied into five.

"I think we need to get five scales," Gale said and they glanced back at the fish. The scales around its neck were pulsating a golden light that was in harmony with the scroll.

"Five scales around its neck?" Princess Pieffer clarified.

"Yes," Gust replied then summoned a wind vortex.

He appeared above the neck of the giant fish. Though his landing was gentle, the giant fish felt it and it quickly rolled into the water. Gust lost his balance and slipped but he managed to take one scale before dropping into the water. The huge tail of the sparkling fish had resurfaced and it waved intensely at Gust.

Gale immediately summoned a wind vortex and grabbed his twin brother by the collar. They successfully returned to the shore, right next to Aries and Princess Pieffer, before the tail had hit. It splashed into the water instead and splattered water at them.

"Hold this," Gust gave the scale and the scroll to Princess Pieffer. "Four scales to go."

Aries noticed that the pulsating image at the scroll had been reduced to four. He was astounded at how reliable that magical scroll was.

Gust returned to the neck of the giant fish. He managed to take another scale and he managed to escape before dropping into the water.

Gust repeated that step three more times. He avoided the water and the tail two more times, but in getting the last scale, the tail had finally hit him and the intensity of the blow had thrown him a few meters away. He would probably fly a few meters more if he did not hit a palm tree. 

But hitting a tree was not a good thing for him either. It knocked the breath out of him and he was falling fast into the ground.

Gale instantly pulled Aries and Princess Pieffer inside the wind vortex and he managed to catch his twin brother and the sparkling scale in time.

"The scroll…" Princess Pieffer muttered as the scroll emitted a blinding golden light that enveloped the four of them.

When the light vanished, they had been dropped into the scorching ground. They quickly realized that it was not just sizzling soil. They were at the peak of an active volcano.

Gust chanted a few incoherent words until a flurry of wind had formed underneath them. It lifted them a few inches from the ground that nearly burned their clothes.

"What do we need to get this time?" Gale wearily breathed. "Lava?"

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