The sky outside the carriage turns cloudier as they rode toward the most luxurious castle in Agios. Rose and Dominic had came alone as Lord Salem and Lady Catherine decided to stay at the mansion and let the children greet the King on their own, believing they need their own time to get their questions answered. Before they had left, Rose saw Dominic who had talked with his grandparents, whispering with a faint frown between his forehead before he left the mansion. Now that they were alone, Rose curiously questioned, "What did you talked about with your grandparents?""A little about Andrius, I heard he wouldn't be able to come due to previous arrangement but I convinced them we could meet the King alone and it shouldn't be difficult," Dominic felt Rose's eyes that lingered and continued, "They also told me about Starvos and to pardon him if he had said anything that could offend us, since his words tend to be on the harsh side."Rose hummed, recalling her conversation with Starvos,
Rose was glad to see the King to be a man with an understanding and politeness. He seemed to be open handed on receiving their arrival and even seemed interested in Dominic, his cousin who he had just first met. She breathe in relieve as her first worry had been solved. They continue to the sitting room where maid quickly rushed in after them to offer them the pretty blue teacups and refreshment. Although the food looked utterly delicious, Rose wasn't in particular mood to eating, feeling nervousness creeping up from her finger when Aleks look at her. "A human," he hummed, seeing Rose. "Have anyone told you the probability of human species in Agios?"Rose shook her head, wondering to herself if humans were more compared to werewolves, or was it the opposite. "It is 2 out of ten," he answered, looking back at Dominic, "It's unusual for werewolves to decide on spending the rest of their life with a human. Not that because they share different beliefs but also the fact how mates bond
Dominic for a second thought and imagined how his father would despair if he was to know how the things he works for would be destroyed in front of his eyes. He also could tell how his father had always hated losing, which was one of the reason he still kept his mother confined in the castle despite not having a single feeling toward her anymore. Rose for a moment wondered if deep in his heart he had regret to his father and perhaps still want to mend the broken relationship between him and his father but upon looking at his firm gaze, she doubted the thought. All this time, the Duke watched as he was killed. He never intervened, he never cared about his existence, nor did he ever loved Lady Elizabeth.If he did loved her, would he had drove her to taking her own life?For someone to be driven to the edge to the point where they wish they could leave the world means there must have been something deep that the Duke had done that had truly left a deep scar to Lady Elizabeth's heart. H
The informations which was given by Starvos wasn’t a lot but it meant more than knowing nothing about the sorcerers. She pondered a little why the sorceress still lend her help toward the humans if they were clearly using her. It seemed odd how she only use her power when needed as though she was pushed to the corner. She then looked back at Starvos, “What was the food she couldn’t eat?”“Something along the line of herbs that are always used in Agios. While it’s not famous in Essex, it appeared that she once visited Agios to eat the dinner, deciding to whether agree with the peace talk or not, I didn’t know how the King managed to invite her but she did came,” continued Starvos before he sighed, giving a bad sign, “But all of a sudden after a bite to the food that was given, she began to coughed up blood,, showing signs of being poisoned. She said something about the herbs being dangerous to her and accused the King for wanting to kill her under pretense of forming a peace treaty.”
After a long while, Dominic didn’t came back with Starvos. Rose, who was alone, had decided to take a stroll inside the castle as the King had allowed her to. As she did, she met the servants who smiled upon meeting her gaze and she noted how they were much more friendlier compared to the servants back in the Duchy’s house. Not knowing where to go, she had decided to admire the paintings that were settled on the gallery. In contrast to the red wall was the beautiful paintings of people and landscapes. Not long after, Dominic stood beside her. She lifted her face, turning and tilting her head as she couldn’t find Starvos near him.“He said he needed to talk to the King,” Dominic continued, having her to nod. “How did your talk went with him?” She carefully touched the topic as she found he admired the paintings after her. “Did you talked about your mother?”Dominic shook his head, “I didn’t ask. I thought when I saw him, I wanted to ask about the side of my mother that I hadn’t seen
Away inside the forest, darkness filled all edge of the land as the sky had turned dark. Most people had fallen asleep, even those people who were busy and slept late had retired to their houses that night. The guards in the castle gave a yawn as they were too tired to stay in front of the castle’s gate. Shawn stood in front of his mother who was lying ill. He only stared at her, frighteningly studying her chest that moved up and down. When the door to the room opened, the servant was startled by his appearance as the darkness didn’t allow for her to see who was present in the room. Shawn didn’t comment, watching how the maid slowly came beside Lady Ashley, giving her food. Lady Ashley quickly savored what was given to her, as though she had been starved and desperately needed the food to enter her stomach. Even though he was there, his mother couldn’t see him anymore. Even though he knew the maid had worked under Dominic for a long time and was giving poison to his mother, he didn’t
The sorcerer appeared to have money and the men wanted him for it. To kill wasn’t a foreign thought for the men who wanted to survive in the slums as robbing was easier than making money which was impossible for them and no one agreed in giving people like them a chance to work. As deaths weren’t unusual and they had been pushed too far to the edge, they had no choice but to attack the sorcerer who was alone.The same first man stepped forward, putting his sharp knife out, “If you want to leave this place unscathed give me your money and belongings! Now!” He demanded as the sorcerer didn’t move. “You guys,” spoke the sorcerer who was not daunted by the fact there were five men who was ready to kill him if he had not agreed to their conditions. “Why would you want to rob? I will give you money if you decide to help me in my little plan.”The men were confused and startled of how he had given them an offer in such a time where they had planned to kill him and steal all his wealth. The
The gasps from the other sorcerers were hard to turn a deaf ear to. Although the sorcerer had expected this, he couldn't help but be surprised that he had been forgiven as the master was always the one who is strict with his rules, allowing no mistakes, and only demand for the best result."He is forgiven?" Whispered another guard to the first one."It is odd, what did you say to master?" The other one responded as he was confused of the choice that the master had suddenly made. The last time someone had almost exposed the existence of the sorcerers, the master had not only bestowed them a punishment of banishment, they were also found dead two weeks after leaving Essex, as if the master had killed him for his mistakes. "I didn't say anything! I only entered, and told him this guy had came," explained the first guard, "And master suddenly agreed to meet him.""Is that enough?" The sorcerer cut in between the conversation, feeling tired that they had not stopped talking and continued
The guests had filled the entrance of the castle faster than how a fire would spread. Colors filled the white walls as not a single place inside was missed from being decorated. Some of the guests gladly greeted Dominic and his wife, Rose. They had acknowledge her soon and even called Dominic “duke”. As soon after the incident, Dominic ruled out is father’s death and take over the duchy, being the new ruler of his fief. “Congratulation on your marriage, I apologize for being late with my words of happiness, Duke Dominic,” said one of the guest, Mr. Hanggs. “It’s nice to see you too, madam Rose.”“Pleasure to meet you,” Rose greeted the man’s words back. “How is the land now to you, Mr. Hanggs?” Dominic asked the wise man who seemed to be quiet. “It does feel different now. I gradually found people who could suddenly fill empty barrel with water as miracle instead of fearing them. I’m also glad to see how wise our King is as he had rooted off all the corrupted royals. Now Essex fee
The ground shook and the impact of the explosion launched both Dominic and Rose backward. When Rose couldn’t hold him tighter anymore, she almost slipped from his back and fell. Seeing that, Dominic changed to his human form, capturing her body even though he was on air and shielded her in a tight hug as they roll down across the cold floor with a harsh thud. Both Shawn and Gallahan was thrown backward. They tried to nail their feet on the floor to no avail as the extreme explosion would had destroyed the entire land if not because of the shield that Gallahan had perfected for years from his life. The entire world turn black for a moment and by the time it turn brighter again, Shawn saw Gallahan who had sprawled across the floor and Balbazor who had been reduced into a scorched human corpse. Even after that however, Balbazor didn’t stop moving. He crawled with his body like a snake, disregarding how his fingers had been turned into ash. No one could ever see his features anymore, o
Gallahan faced off Balbazor alone. It was a crazy feat to not even die after receiving the harmful attack that was made to eradicate humans and Gallahan’s performance so far have shocked everyone including Balbazor himself. “You are agile,” commented Balbazor. “But if this tentacles weren’t around me, I would have destroyed you in seconds by now.” “Making excuses now? When you killed my family with your curse, you were extremely silent. I’ll put that mouth of yours to rest too,” Gallahan quirked a smirked, urging anger and fuming Balbazor. The ancient demon opened his mouth again but this time, Gallahan had a smarter option. Rather than shielding himself, he rushed forward. Balbazor smiled, thinking how foolish this human is for coming on to him face to face but he was startled as he saw Gallahan had dodged his previous explosion attack. This time, Gallahan murmured a spell and a sharp blue light appeared from his hand which went straight directly to Balbazor’s thick neck. The an
“Brother, are we not related?” Young Shawn’s voice echoed against his ears. Dominic looked down at the child that had overheard the conversation of the adult. Gently he wrapped his fingers around his brother’s little ones and gave him a gentle smile, “Does it matter? Nothing will change even if we aren’t related, you will always be my brother.”Back to the present, Dominic found himself yelling at Shawn’s name as Balbazor had thrown a powerful magic at them. Rose’s eyes snapped open, showing the glistening green eyes of her had changed into purple. At the same time she uttered her spell, the wall broke. Dominic took no chance. He jumped from the staircase, landing down his two feet as a wolf and ran after Shawn. Surprisingly, Gallahan had stood in front of Shawn, shielding them both from the explosion. “I told you to stay away child!” Gallahan yelled to Rose who had rebuilt the wall.“I can help you ease the miasma,” she said, convincing the man only to see him frowning in disagre
When Dominic and Rose arrived at the foot of the door, they found that the glow of purple light had stopped and was quickly greeted by the roar of a monster. “It’s Balbazor, the ancient demon,” Rose explained, jumping down from his body. Dominic shook off his fur and turned into his human form, standing right beside her fully clothed. Although there are other pressing matter she couldn’t help and pointed out, “You can be clothed now?” “Hm?” Dominic looked down on himself, “Right I got taught by the other werewolves how to do that the last time we met.” Rose smiled, thinking how surely the relationship between him and his father had evolved into something closer where they could teach and talk to each other eye to eye. Seeing the progress, she felt moved. “Well what is with this Balbazor?” Dominic pushed the door open for her, they both entering the mansion only to feel the ground beneath them shaking. “He is the ancient demon who had formed contract with the first sorceress. She
Gallahan wasn’t daunted by the fact that Balbazor was more than fifth fold of him, looking even bigger and monstrous. Shawn could feel that demon had no pity or hesitation on him, willingly killing anyone who stood on his way. For a moment Shawn questioned how he could ever kill this monstrous being in front of him, finding it abhorrent that his entire instinct yelled that killing it would be close to impossible. Even coming near the monster he could feel the brimming heat that would burn his skin. “Shawn,” Gallahan called his attention to make sure the younger man wouldn’t feel daunted and eaten alive by his own fear. Shawn then watched Gallahan who in comparison seemed to be eagerly waiting for this chance to come his hand. It was something he had been waiting for a long time… finally he could avenge the death of his family who all ended due this demon’s twisted curse! “I want to kill you, you won’t even believe how much I have been looking forward to this day. My heart is beati
Dominic’s silver eyes also noticed the swirl of purple glow from the black mansion and turned his head again to the view before him. “What did you and the Master talked about?” Inquired Dominic while they run through the forest. “I told him that I will do something about the demon inside Isaac if he could help me end my curse but then he surprised me by saying that he doesn’t need help.” Rose responded. “I trust him.” “I do think he is someone who wouldn’t hurt his fellow sorcerer, you weren’t wrong in trusting him,” Dominic encouraged her. “But that sound too good to be true. He always ask people for payment if he help them.” “He did ask for something, he said to continue fooling my demon, Babylion,” uttered Rose. “I asked him why and he told me so he could use Babylion to kill that ancient demon in response.”“So this entire charade is because of him.” Dominic narrowed his eyes. They can’t seem to trust the Master completely, that man would do anything if it means to fulfil his
Shawn’s eyebrows furrowed as he saw a bright purple glow appearing from the room where the master and Isaac had fought in. As the master’s hand had been touched, Isaac had fulfilled his promise to erase the curse that plagued the Master. This should have call for a celebration regardless of the Master’s wish of never leaving the cave. But by fulfilling Isaac’s promise, the demon in him finally demanded for his reward and that reward was… for him to manifest into the world inside his body!When something suddenly clicked in his mind, Shawn bubbled out of anger.“Damn it! Damn it!” Shawn yelled, finally realizing the big mistake that he made by trusting that damn sorcerer king! He rushed out of the room, questioning everything that the sorcerer had done. He first of told him to imbue his magic on the crystal ball as if doing that would help. He said that by calming Isaac, he could convince him to drive out the demon inside. He also claimed that he wouldn’t kill Isaac thus why he had
Rose could feel the dark magic that entered her skin, crawling in such a disgusting way that she wanted to hurl but she couldn’t. There was something that was stopping her from moving and she couldn’t understand it as it felt slightly different when compared to the demonic magic that he uses on her. “Rose, make my life more colorful, won’t you?” Whispered Babylion. “Now go and betray your beloved. I want to see his face twisting in pain. From your memories, he seemed to the most fun to mess with.” Rose wanted to say no, she wanted to yell and disagree with Babylion’s words but she couldn’t move. She then had the sudden idea to play by what Babylion wanted and nodded her head slowly, agreeing that she would betray Dominic while her eyes turning unfocused, looking exactly similar as to someone who had just been bewitched.“Good, now play with me.” Back to the present, Rose run through her thins hands between her hair and pushed the golden locks to the back of her head, she sighed hea