Chapter 123

Chapter 123: Chapter 123

Caedos appeared just as the portal dissipated, dissatisfaction on his face. He knew well by then that despite his repeated requests, if any of the others needed Dulce, he would leave.

He had been grateful to be rescued, eager to protect his savior in appreciation. In a short time, he would have to leave to begin his mission, and there was no telling how many years it would take him to complete it.

He just hadn’t expected to take Dulce’s absence so hard. It had him thinking that if being apart from the Vampire for a handful of days was such a terrible ordeal, then he wouldn’t survive the period of his mission.

It didn’t help that there were so many obstacles in the way. He hadn’t thought about returning previously before Dulce left his side, but now he planned to after his mission was complete.

Caedos never had any intentions of continuing his parents’ legacy but he intended to return home and live in the Deep Woods... now a distant thought. After all, his kind had fallen into captivity directly because of that. They had grown too reliant on their royal family, unable to fight back in the absence of a ruler.

He started in the direction of the oasis, unerringly walking in the right direction although the oasis was so far off it was completely out of sight. His carriage was relaxed, all the tension gone from his shoulders.

A mere companion was disatisfactory, since he couldn’t have Dulce by his side constantly and vice versa, he would find an alternative to keeping them connected.

He found Kath’tan standing by the lake when he returned, the Demon had his arms crossed, looking to have been waiting for him.

"I was just about to come after you," Kath’tan said gruffly, heading into the palace after making sure the Hellhound hadn’t lost his mind. He was also unsurprised to see him return alone.

He didn’t take Asael to be as petty as Ruoxi and take Dulce to the Hells with him just because, but the Demon kept finding his way back even when he should have been long gone, it was not as surprising as it should have been.

Caedos watched him saunter off, doing the same. He had grown fully accustomed to his body, he could request more spars but actual battles would bring him more growth.

It was almost time for him to leave.

-+-

Dulce woke up with a start, realizing that he had forgotten something incredibly crucial. He had sent off the servants before Asael returned - that was no good, he had to return.

It was still dark as it had been before he fell into a trance. It was difficult to tell the passage of time with the perpetual darkness around, the black mist timeless.

He quickly found that he was caged in by Asael’s arm, the Demon fast asleep next to him. There was no telling how long had passed but he didn’t rouse the Shadow Demon, gingerly extricating himself from his hold.

Dulce walked over to the window, peering out of the curtain. It was still dark out, a cragged hill covered in bioluminescent moss visible from the window. The moon was still out, it could have been anywhere from a few hours to a few days, he had drunk a lot of silver blood.

Asael was still fast asleep but he couldn’t remain there waiting until the Demon woke, worried that the others wouldn’t have sustenance. But then came his biggest hurdle, how would he find someone to open a portal to Earth?

From his view through the curtains, Asael seemed to be living far away from anyone else, and he couldn’t say if there were penalties for a Vampire in the Hells.

He could summon one of the Demons in his desert palace to come to him but his current location was dangerous. If he could find his way out of the black mist, then perhaps he could accomplish that.

Dulce glanced at the sleeping Demon on the bed, moving noiselessly. He gathered up some of the vials of blood, it would do him no good to get poisoned on his journey, when he was so far from Asael and the antidote the Demon specifically arranged for him.

Then he set about writing a note, ink and paper were easy to find so he left behind an explanation for his absence when the Shadow Demon woke up.

Stepping out of the castle didn’t do much to increase his perception. The mists caused limited visibility and all around was the eerie glow of nature.

Dulce wandered back into the castle, digging for information, perhaps a map. He found exactly what he was looking for from a simple search. There were several maps of Noctyrn in the study he stumbled onto, some detailed the terrain, others the plant life, and so on.

They were at the very edge of Noctyrn he found, while the actual city was miles away. He could see Asael choosing to live all by himself away from others.

With a map in hand, he was no longer moving blindly in the darkness. Uninterested in coming across another Demon if he could help it, Dulce elected to go around the outskirts.

Most of Noctyrn was hemmed in by mountains that broke through the clouds, he could see them in the distance. Their size was unsettling, they looked like the edge of the world.

Beyond the entrance into Noctyrn, past the mountain range were open fields, the grass black, the sky a thick, gloomy layer of clouds. That was Dulce’s destination, the mountains with no peak grew shorter as one approached the entrance into the mountain range.

His route looked simple enough on the map but it ended up taking several hours which was impressive for his sheer speed, it bespoke the great size of Noctyrn.

During his entire journey, Dulce didn’t run into a single soul. He saw hordes of creatures, each one stranger than the last but not a glimpse of a Shadow Demon. Even the entrance into the mountain range where he worried that he wouldn’t be able to get past, was completely deserted.

There was no gate, not even an inscription to indicate the world of Noctyrn, only the dark entrance into the mountain range, eerie and unwelcoming.