CHAPTER 87: CHAPTER EIGHTY-SEVEN: SAVE MY WIFE AND I’LL BE YOUR LIGHT.

Earlier~~~

A long silence followed the woman’s speech. Damien thought hard on the floor about what she had just said.

Accept your demon. I had a demon in me the whole time?

That did make sense given the excruciating pain he had felt in the past. So that was just the demon forcing its way out?

He could somehow guess the repercussions of allowing that to happen: that demon would take complete control over his being.

He looked around him and saw Lio and Elyria staring at him with worry in their eyes. They turned out fine didn’t they? Or was it their demons talking the whole time?

His mind darted back to Elena.

Elena...

When he had first met her on the dance floor, his plan was to marry her and use her to cleanse his blood. However, whenever he wanted to take a bite of her, his body would freeze up. Even at the early stages of their marriage, there were several times when he wanted to just have her in one go but always ended up doing nothing.

It had frustrated him to no end until he realized he was in love with her.

Damnit.

He was confused. He had never wanted any of this or to even break past his limit. Then again, if he accepted it, then he didn’t need Elena’s blood to purify himself anymore. That is if he can put it under his control. But how sure was he that that would happen? How long would it take? What if his case is different and the the demon ends up taking over his entire mind.

He didn’t have a choice. These people had proven to him that he was their savior and the one sent to deliver them. What more was there to say?

Damien lifted his head and met the gaze of the elderly woman who hadn’t moved a muscle since.

"How do I accept my demon?"

The woman blinked.

"It’s no easy task, prince. The minute you let it into your body, there’s no going back. There’s no dying or passing away because its lifespan becomes yours completely."

Lio who had been silent throughout finally spoke up.

"Maybe we should give him sometime to think about this. It is all too—"

"The boy said he is capable." the woman spoke up in an elevated voice. "... let him decide now which path to take."

Lio bit down on his lip. He and the other dragons were born with their demons so it wasn’t that difficult to accept it at first. But he...he was different in so many ways.

He was cursed with it, had his blood corrupted with it and suppressed the corruption till it finally freed itself from his body.

"Speak prince. There isn’t much time left." she said after a while of silence.

"Your kingdom is under the rule of a king with a heart almost as evil as the one who enslaved our kind. If he finds what’s buried underneath the palace, then there is no more hope for our people or your kingdom."

That sentence alone made Damien jump to his feet.

"What do you mean Zerathane is under captivity?" he asked with wide-eyes but the woman just kept on looking at him.

"Evil king? Cassian?"

The woman still remained unfazed. "That depends. Do you think it is him?"

Damien shot the woman a side eye. How had she known about Cassian and how the hell did so much happen? What about the king? And Elena...

Dear god Elena!

He turned back to the woman quickly. "What about my wife?" he asked hurriedly. "You must be a seer to know these things so what happened to my wife? Is she alright?

The woman let out a deep breath, closed her eyes and after a minute had passed, shook her head.

"What is it?! Speak!"

Her eyes slowly opened, meeting Damien’s rather agitated ones. "Now is no time to think about your lover, prince. You just carry out the demon summoning ritual immediately."

Damien dropped his hand to his side then took it up to his head. Elyria looked at him in despair. Before Lio could stop her, she stepped forward.

"We’ll go to the human world to find her while you start the ritual. Just tell us how she looks like or where she is. I’m sure we should—"

"Quiet child!" Kiriat spoke up after being silent throughout the conversation. "You’re not only going to the human world, you’re bringing one of them back here. Do you know how dangerous that is? Besides, dragons can’t go to the human realm because of the war!"

Elyria bit her lip hard. Snap! She had completely forgotten about that damned relic.

Lio took her arm to pull her back but she wrung it away. "Right now, he’s the only one who can save us. If he refuses to give up his kingdom and lover then we really will have no hope of our kind returning. I’ll do it."

Her eyes shifted back to Damien who was listening quietly to her. "I’ll bring her back." she said, determination flaring in her eyes. Besides, since the wrong person is ruling, the relic’s power should be weakened no?"

Kiriat looked at her in surprise before snapping his fingers. "She’s absolutely right. The relic’s power won’t protect the kingdom if the wrong person rules and so we can easily infiltrate the palace." he said, smiling softly.

"Good job Elyria."

That was all she needed to hear. Before anyone could say anything else, Elyria spread out her wings, crouched with one knee to the ground and flapped herself upwards. The impact of her great wings sent sand whirring up from the ground around the others that stood there.

That idiot! She didn’t even wait to ask what she looked like!

Lio rushed towards Damien and gripped his hand.

"Tell us how we can recognize her at first glance."

Damien thought for a while then turned to him. "There’s a little pedant I gave her for protection. If that isn’t there then look for a small, dried up scar on her neck."

"And if that isn’t there?"

Damien frowned at the question. "Why wouldn’t it be there? Have you seen her?"

Realizing he had upset him, Lio clamped his mouth shut. "Got it."

He made to follow Elyria who was soaring higher and higher above their world but was stopped.

"You said you gave her a protection amulet?"

"And?"

Kiriat turned to Lio and slipped a smaller one of the same kind into his hand.

His eyes narrowed at the object. "How did you get that?"

"That shouldn’t matter to you." Kiriat then turned to Lio. "When an amulet is given, especially a protection one, it seeps an invisible air into the body without him knowing. That invisible air is what makes the person immune to being caught."

He glanced at Damien. "...even by a royal blood."

"If the amulet isn’t on her, you can still use the material. Protection amulets aren’t easily worn off."

Lio squeezed the little ornament in his palm. "Got it."

Flapping his wings out behind him, he too shot up and disappeared from their sights.

Once he was gone, Damien turned to the remaining dragons that stood beside him.

"Let’s start."

Kiriat beamed in happiness upon hearing those two words. "Follow me!" he said excitedly taking his hand and leading hik away.

’I’ll come for you, my love. Please be safe till then..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You don’t even know where the hell you’re going!"

"Damien is a prince from Zerathane. It only makes sense that his wife is in the palace too so this is the right path!"

"He also said the kingdom was under another evil ruler you dummy!"

Lio and Elyria landed gracefully in Zerathane. By the time they arrived, everywhere was shrouded with pitch darkness. Dragons didn’t have super eyesight so they had to conjure up a moving fire to light up their way.

Eventually, they ended up in front of the massive palace structure that had a huge gate with millions of bars barricading it from outside intruders. Behind those bars were endless rows of trees and bushes, far beyond what the eyes could see.

Did a vampire king really need that much protection? Elyria thought as they stood in front of it.

They flew over the gate without much stress and landed on the other side.

Elyria stopped walking. "Really? When?"

Lio shook his head before flicking her on the forehead. "How would you know when you acted all superhero dashing off like that?"

Lio walked ahead of her with a frustrated look on his face. This damned puppy always got the best of him.

Elyria ran up to him and linked hands with his. "I was pretty cool right?"

Lio shot her an angry glare that immediately sent her cowering before him.

"Focus." he said sternly, shaking off her hand and striding away.

Elyria scoffed at his moving back. "Geez! What a fun sucker."

She ran after him but kept a small distance between them. It wasn’t new to her anymore for Lio to get pissed by her behavior.

After almost half an hour of total silence, she heard Lio’s voice echo in the thick darkness.

By the time she caught up with him, in his arms was a pale woman with a swollen forehead. The pendant in Lio’s hand glowed sharply when he placed it on her bare chest.

He scoffed. "It’s like she came to us instead."

"Well that was way easier than we thought." Elyria added.