“Louloúdi the most beautiful flower in all of Migica. It is the first artefact, and I know where it is,” said Evanthia as she led Ijan towards the vault “It was created in the garden of the greatest potionist of all Migica, Panacea, the goddess of healing. It can cure any disease with its infinite pollen grains. It was meant for the public, as the healers from all over Chóra-Fys came to get its pollen grains and used them to heal the poor for free, and became very famous. It cured many diseases, but after the Panacea left, the human Louloúdi was used by the rich to gain more money, making its access for a hefty price, and the poor started to suffer. So, the poor started a revolution for their right to health. To maintain peace, the ruling body of the region, now Chóra-Fys at that time, made a law that the poor only shall get a year of accessibility of the Louloúdi and then it shall be locked up in the care of the palace, inaccessible to the world.” I said while Ijan just said, noted in his way, oddly acknowledging what people say, and then he added the usual, “However, I already possess the knowledge of what you stated.” Then I would reply, “Yeah, but it was useful to know, right?” But this time he said, “It is beneficial to know anything; it is also advantageous to know that the tricephalic hound Cerberus reside over here, as…….” Then he was interrupted by a loud and angry growl that thundered through the room. The air was humid; then a puff of hot air blew over them, and a drop of drool fell on Ijan's shoulder, which made him panic and scream. I pulled him down and covered his mouth to quiet him down, and both of us looked up to see three dog heads with yellow glowing eyes.
Cerberus towered over both of us, growling; maybe we had disturbed this doggy while he was napping. I tightened my grip on Ijan, but he tried to pull away from my grip, rude. Cerberus lifted one of its paws to squish us, but they dodged it. Ijan, between breaths, said, “To escape the wrath of this tricephalic beast, we need to be virtually non-existent.” “What do you mean by virtually non-existent?” I asked, still confused on whether this person was speaking in Skyish or Lónganess, probably Qamariyyah, for he is a Qammari. “In lea-human’s terms, we should be completely invisible to the beast.” He translated. “How are we to do that?” “First, visually, with my invisibility precipitate; then, to tackle its gustatory and tactile senses, we just need to maintain a reasonable distance from it, it’s auditor senses could be escaped if we stay quiet; and lastly, the most difficult, olfactory, we ned to diffuse our scent or trick it.” “To diffuse our scent we could do this…” I responded as she pulled out five close flower buds, and Ijan looked at them with a puzzled expression, which I noticed. So, I explained, “These are scent bombs. I made them from the Ekriktikós flower; it has a sweet scent and explodes when touched as a defence mechanism.”
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“I question the angle in which a burst of fragrance is employed as a defence mechanism” “Well, the sweet smell is usually very strong.” “Right then, employ them.” So, I dropped all five of them down. A sweet smell spread about the room, then Cerberus, who was searching for us, was confused by that sweet, strong scent and both of us passed by easily.
After passing through the first level of the security system, we reached the guards' room. We crept through and reached the first password-protected door, and with the help of Ijan’s illusion, we opened it without being noticed by the guards. We now had to pass through many boo-bi traps to reach the vault. I entered the code as my grandmother had given me. She would tell me, “Use them in a time of grave danger, my dear.” Then kiss my forehead and make me cookies. Oh, how I miss her. She was always fond of Ijan and never thought he was weird. She would smile and say some kids are spatial, which I never understood.
As we entered the vault, I used one of my potions to turn all of the guards into stone covered and Ijan used his illusion to make them not look so much like statues. We entered the vault, crossed the even more booby-traps and came face to face with the first artefact, the Louloúdi. In its magnificent purple with a shade of pink, then yellow towards the centre, its pollen grains floated over its anthers, glowing with a golden glow. By then Ijan’s invisibility spell ran out, but we did not notice it, and I went forward and was about to take the Louloúdi when suddenly the door slammed open and Mom and Tera both entered, both of them wearing matching expressions of furiousness.
Mom came up and took the Louloúdi. “Evanthia, what is this nonsense, saving Migica, stealing the Louloúdi and harbouring an immigrant?” She said the last, looking directly at Ijan, whose jaw clenched as she said that, as if she could make him disappear with those words. “How can you become a responsible future queen if you can’t control your feelings for an impossible thing?” She continued, “And for you, young man; Tera, you know what to do”, she said to Ijan, whose expression did not change as Tera drew her spear. Which made my stomach drop. Is she really going to kill him? The thought hung in my mind. So out of fear, I cried, “No, don’t do that. He is the only friend I have; he is not like the others; he is good.” Ijan just looked at me; his cold eyes softened for a second the became frost-cold again. “What if he is a terrorist?” Mom asked, making Ijan’s expression drop slightly. “Please don’t hurt him.” I pleaded, tears rolling, but Tera moved forward with her spear pointed towards Ijan. His face was stone; he did not fear what was going to happen. My heart lurched, so I did something I never thought I would do. When Tera was going to throw the spear, I turned her and then Mom into stone, leaving the Louloúdi unharmed. I simply took the flower from Mom’s stony hands and left the chamber while Ijan followed me, making us invisible again.