"Love...! Sophia!" Arthur shouted as he sprang up and sprinted out of the room, dashing through a narrow corridor where two guards lay on the floor, after noticing that the pressure had dissipated.
As Arthur ran, the two elders remained seated on the ground, their eyes and expressions revealing their fear.
Arthur was clearly worried about the two most important people in his life, but he couldn't attend to them both at once—and all his senses indicated that they were far apart. Alice was in the leaders' training room (he knew it well, after all, he was the one who had placed her there). Still, he trusted his daughter and believed she would be fine; after all, if nothing had happened to them while they were pinned down by that pressure, it was highly unlikely that anything would occur now that they were free.
And, unlike Sophia, in her current state, Alice couldn't take care of herself; Arthur feared that something might have happened, so he decided to look for his wife first.
He quickly swung open the enormous stone door. Being so far away, the weakened presence of the phoenix had little impact on the people in the city.
Upon entering, he immediately searched for Alice and, upon finding her, let out a deep sigh of relief. So profound was that sigh that it seemed the room itself had shielded her from the effects of that strange pressure—otherwise, had she been exposed to it during her meditation, Arthur could neither imagine, nor would he ever want to imagine, the consequences.
---
"What was all that about?..." Sophia asked as she got up and adjusted her clothes.
After dusting off her garments, Sophia glanced toward the direction from which she had heard a strange noise—a sound of something falling. When she looked back and saw an unmoving body on the floor, she was clearly surprised and deeply worried about the person there.
Approaching the body, she knelt down and asked,
— Hey... are you okay?
For several moments there was no response; the body remained inert. After that long silence, Sophia gave it a slight shake and repeated,
— Hey...
Yet again, there was no answer. Taking a deep breath, she sighed and turned the body over to face her. Realizing it was merely a boy—apparently a little younger than herself—and noticing a small dagger lodged in his stomach, Sophia covered her mouth with her hand and ran from the place in search of help.
A few minutes later, Sophia returned accompanied by two guards: one with black hair and black eyes, and another, blond, also with black eyes.
"What happened, miss?" the blond guard asked.
"Come on, look at this and tell me if you can help him or not, because I don't know what to do," Sophia said anxiously, pointing at the boy's body.
"Alright, miss," both of them replied.
The blond guard knelt down and, after examining the dagger for a few seconds, stated:
— I can help him, miss.
"Really? So…"
"But first I'm going to need a…" – he said, glancing at the boy's clothes. Noticing the small blue bandana tied at his waist, the guard continued:
— No, I already have everything I need.
He removed the bandana from the boy's waist and then immediately withdrew the dagger.
"Are you sure he'll be alright...?" Sophia asked, surprised at how the guard had extracted the dagger from the boy's stomach without hesitation.
"Of course, miss," the guard replied. He tore off a small piece of the bandana and pressed it against the boy's wound, saying:
— Apply pressure here.
Hearing this, the other guard quickly knelt down and held the wound in place. Then, he took the rest of the bandana and wrapped it around the injury.
"All done. Do you need anything else, miss?"
"No, but… Are you sure he'll be okay...?"
"Absolutely. He should wake up in a little while. Now, how long it will take—I don't know; it might be just a few hours or even days. And, excuse my indiscretion, but may I ask what happened to this boy...? Is he perhaps a friend of yours, miss?"
Sophia shook her head and said,
— No… to tell the truth, I don't even know who he is…
"You don't know…?" the guards exchanged looks, sharing a common concern. "Miss, I believe it's best we take him to a cell first… If he was here with a dagger in his hand, and on top of that, in a place close to you when that strange event occurred, there must be a reason for it. It isn't safe to leave him here."
Sophia looked at the unconscious boy on the floor—she hesitated, even though she knew the guards were right.
"...You may take him," she said hesitantly. "I'll call my father to see what he thinks we should do with the boy first."
"Alright."