Chapter 19: Emotional Upset

  

"Please stop this! Stop it now!"




Sairek stood at the doorway of the room with the altar, the doors shoved open as he leaned on his side against it, still not feeling very well and he had to run to make it in time. He looked at the three demons who were bound to stakes in the middle of the altar itself. The Abbot stood in front of the three demons looking at Sairek.

"Prince, we haven't even begun yet." The Abbot answered quietly to Sairek.

"...Then why do I hear screaming...?" The Prince asked with a stern look on his face. He pushed himself off of the door and made his way stepping slowly in the room while holding his staff tightly with both hands as a walking stick.

The Abbot shrugged slowly at Sairek. "I don't know... When they woke up, they began spouting random nonsense. That was only a couple moments ago... They began shouting about something about promises and pleading for mercy... And now, as you can see, they are still screaming; I haven't even said anything to them yet."

Sairek looked as he watched Triss, Palid, and Natalia shouting begs of mercy and forgiveness. The child tightened his staff tighter as he watched them.

"What...? What's happening to them...?" Sairek muttered to himself quietly.

"That old man... he is after you, boy...!" Natalia screamed out, as she thrashed and squirmed in her stake, staring straight at the Abbot, who only looked calmly back at her, but with a confused look.

"This is ridiculous... release them...!" Sairek let out. He began moving up to the stakes; but the Abbot grabbed him and pulled him back. "You must not Prince! I'm sorry but it is too dangerous! We cannot possibly release them when they are going crazy like this!"

 

Sairek had to admit the Abbot kind of had a point there. It was not good to let three derranged demons on the loose like that. Especially when all three had tried to harm him and his friends not even less than an hour ago.

"He is after-- AAAAUGGHHHHH!!"

Sairek tugged and pulled against the Abbot trying to wiggle himself free from his grip and step back as he watched in horror. Thankfully for his own mental state, the Abbot stepped back holding him with him. A black shadow figure appearing out of the altar floor. It seemed to expand gradually as the three demons writhed and pulled to try and get free. All three screamed in unison as the black form soon expanded enough and collapsed on top of all three of them; as it swallowed the three at once. Almost instantly the sounds of their screams were silenced, as the black cloud soon turned towards Sairek and the abbot -- there was no description as to what the creature was as it was pitch black, except for two large milky eyes that stared at the two. Sairek's face paled and his eyes widened in horror at the site as the Abbot and him instinctively stepped back together again at the stare. Despite the Abbot still holding him that he had been struggling against to be freed from before, Sairek was now pushing more into the Abbot's form.

 

"What... is that thing...?!" Sairek let out in a quivering voice.

 

The black cloud didn't take any action towards the two. It instead soon shrank back, sinking slowly back into the altar floor until it was gone completely.

"What.... what...." Sairek could only stutter out in complete shock. He wasn't even standing up on his two legs; all of his weight was leaned onto the Abbot as he stared at where the three demons had just been; the stakes still existed; even their clothes remained on the floor, slunk in a pile, but the demons themselves were no longer there.

"That was a Black-Jet Cloud..." The Abbot whispered quietly.

"...And just what is that...?" Sairek asked through frightened pants.

"...It is... a spell... a conjuration spell of a beast of the underworld... It is a spell that necromancers use... That thing probably had sent them back there. There have to be very, very specific conditions for a Black-Jet to swallow living beings like that to send them directly to Nifelheim..."

"N...Necromancy...?!" Sairek shouted out, breaking his grip from the Abbot and turning around to face him. "B-But who... what... why... how, even--" the Prince broke off knowing he was rambling incoherant fragments and instead just opted to shake his head to show his confusion and panic.

 

"I don't know, Sairek..." The Abbot admitted quietly as he put his hand to his chin. "I don't even know how it has to do with us, even... But a Necromancer's magic should not be able to break through the wards of the Monastery, unless..."

 

"Unless...?"

 

"They are very close by... Or, are simply very powerful of course."

 

"...H-How close...?" Sairek asked quietly to the Abbot.

 

The elderly man his smooth chin, rubbing it thoughtfully with his fingers for a moment as he thought. “Summoning a creature like with a ritual being ready would be easier then just flat out summoning. It is just the underworlds' method of banishing. While the two are similar, they both serve the same purpose, although the underworlds' banishing is... as you can see, a bit more... traumatic. Also, a Black-Jet can be summoned using Ethereal, or without. It is a Underworld spell but is linked between both worlds so it can be used in both ways or even a combination. Rituals make any magic much easier to use and this necromancer used the creature to do the thing the ritual magic was to be for… To do that, the Necromancer could be quite a distance… As I said, very specific conditions must be met for Black-Jets to be able to swallow anyone, at least in our world… That said, I am of course greatly concerned because that means somebody was watching who is from the underworld, but is not banished here…”

 
Sairek barely dared to ask how. He licked his lips afterwards, because of how dry they were. "How can one do that...?"

"We could do the same thing, we would just die in a couple of hours Sairek. The magic is extremely difficult to preform though. It is like a teleport spell, except instead of going from location 'A' to location 'B', you are going from realm 'A' to realm 'B'. And of course, teleporting larger distances is of course much more taxing. You have to be very powerful to pull such a task off. So a Necromancer being here to banish them could easily be very powerful."

 

“At least I'm sure those things can't do anything to me then..." Sairek let out with a shaky breath as he closed his eyes, trying to shake out the frightening image of the creature. He wasn't having much success, and opened his eyes halfway as he looked towards the Abbot again. "It is required you have done crimes in a realm to be banished... but...why were the three saying it was you…? I don’t see how the leader of a Monastery can be a necromancer…”

 

The Abbot once again shrugged. “Perhaps the magic was making them see an illusion; maybe they believed that I was the culprit? Or perhaps the culprit to them was standing in front of us, or in place of me. It is easier to project an illusion using something already there then out of scratch. Either way, let us stay away from those kinds of rituals from now on. Somebody wanted them gone, but wanted the pleasure to take those three out for whatever reason. Do you know what they were after Sairek?”

 

“…Me… they were after me, Abbot…”

 

“Then you should take comfort in that fact--“

 

“What?!” Sairek let out in a raised voice, slamming his staff down as he clenched his teeth. “How can I possibly have comfort when--“ Sairek paused and cleared his throat realizing he was yelling now. “I'm sorry…" He began. "...How can I possibly have comfort in the fact that I am being hunted down by a Necromancer, Abbot...?’ He said in a much quieter tone.

 

“That is not what I meant Sairek. You see, this Necromancer sent people after you. Why would a Necromancer do that and not do the job on their own? They do that because they cannot get the job done themselves; this Necromancer is incapable of harming you directly. There is something it fears from you. I believe it knows what it is as well. Also, aside from that, Necromancers can go to and from our world and the Underworld like I said, however, to do so they have to follow very, very certain rules with us humans.”

 

“What… is he afraid of...? How can a Necromancer have anything to fear from me? I am only but a child...” Sairek let out quietly. The Abbot moved his right hand over and lifted Sairek’s jewel on his hood up with the tip of his index finger. “This. This was your mothers' and your mother was a very angelic individual, I’ll have you know. This jewel will protect you greatly from underworld magic. It is blessed by Yggdrasil itself. Your mother is a guardian angel Sairek. You are blessed with one as she had loved you so dearly that even through death she is still watching over you, no matter what you do even if it is considered wrong. Aside from that, this jewel has a great amount of magic with it. Not only is it blessed with the divine protection of your mother and Yggdrasil as well, it can also be a very power shield, or a very dangerous weapon.”

 

Sairek let out a long but quiet sigh as he looked away from the Abbot and closed his eyes. “…What have I done…” the Prince muttered quietly. “I should have never wandered out of the castle like this… I shouldn’t have made a decision I didn't completely understand the risks of… and now I run the risk of my friends being threatened by the flaming underworld...!

 D****t… D****T! I am such an IDIOT!!”

 

“Sairek, wait, please--“ The Abbot began but Sairek wasn’t listening. He immediately sprinted off from the Abbot, shoving the large double doors out of the way. He let out a slow sigh; but was unable to hide the faintest of all grins.

 

“…This is truly going to get very interesting…”

 

 

 

 

 

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sairek lifted his head from his arms that were resting on his knees as he looked up at the door which he heard open. He was in Cyial’s room, and the boy himself had just entered the door; the blood from his robes was washed off. Cyial frowned at the state he saw Sairek in however.

 

“…Sairek…?” The boy muttered quietly with concern in his voice. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

 

“I’m going back home, to the castle tomorrow morning...”

 

“Huh? Cyial let out in surprise. “Why?” The Acolyte asked as he walked up to Sairek slowly.

 

“I am an idiot. This whole thing was a stupid idea for me to even have attempted to do. I’m putting Nayleen and you in danger. I put myself in danger. I will get us killed, it isn’t worth it. I can’t bear with that--“

 

“Sairek--“ Cyial began but the Prince kept talking.

 

“...responsibility,” Sairek continued. “I can’t bear with the fact I have a Necromancer now after me. I will let someone else do this; someone more fit for this task.... I will let--“

 

“Sairek…!” Cyial called out again, still the Prince continued. “…someone else who is better than me handle it. I understand why father wanted me to stay at the castle. I’m such an idiot. I can’t handle anything... how could a worthless child like me possibly--“

 

 

*SMACK!!*

 

 

Sairek’s head jerked to the left along with Cyial’s hand as the boy had slapped him across the face with his gloved hand. A look of shock was across the Sairek's face. He bit his bottom lip as he slowly turned his head back towards Cyial. His eyes looking up into Cyial's own. His eyes were quickly filling with water and soon began to drip down his cheeks. Cyial’s own eyes began to fill with water too, but he held them in.

 

“Sairek…” Cyial spoke softly again. “Please… stop trash talking yourself like this… you are not an idiot. Fixing Yggdrasil is not a stupid idea. No, you are not putting us in danger, we are volunteering with you to do this, because we not only care about this world. Sairek, we care about you. We want to come with you and aid you, because it is a great responsibility that we know you can't do by yourself... Sairek, we want to help you, not burden you. I will happily sacrifice my life if it meant keeping this world safe Sairek, despite what others think of me as. When I said I wanted to come with you, I did so accepting that I may not may not see the results of our struggles... I am sure Nayleen felt the exact same way when she went on her own to go and find you. She trusts and believes in you Sairek.

"What you are experiencing is fear. You have not had to experience it for real before because of you staying in the castle. This feeling you are experiencing... that is what your father has been keeping from you... I know what it is like to be afraid. I have been scared all the time for my entire life. Scared of other people, afraid of what they would do to me just because I’m not like them, afraid that I would have to live alone and hungry... You taught me to embrace that fear Sairek. I’ve taken that fear and used it to strengthen me; to embrace it and change that fear into strength. That is how I was able to fight Palid and win… I remembered why I was doing this. For me, for the world, for us… you need to embrace your emotions, Sairek. Yes, someone may be after us, but didn’t you always believe it was a possibility that someone did something to Yggdrasil? What makes it all different now from before?”

 

“I didn’t think the culprit would be a necromancer d****t!” Sairek shouted out. He then closed his eyes tightly as he shook his head. “My… my mother… may have been killed by a Necromancer… the very same one hunting us down for all I know… it makes sense… the increased acceleration of her insides… it may have very well been a necromancers curse…! If my mother couldn’t do anything, then how the hell am I going to be able to stop one?!”

 

“Your mother may have tried to do it alone, Sairek. You now have your mother with you, along with Nayleen and I… even the Abbot too. You will eventually have the entire kingdom’s support as well. Everyone wants you to succeed Sairek... and, I believe we can do it. You said it yourself, right? That age doesn't matter?”

 

Sairek was silent as his eyes were still closed. Eventually, he moved from the bed, getting up on his feet. His eyes were still closed but he walked around Cyial and moved his way towards the door.

 

“W-Where are you going…?” Cyial questioned quietly.

 

Sairek didn’t pause as he moved towards the door. He opened his eyes slightly as he spoke. “I’m going to talk to mother…” he answered in a near whisper, as he opened the door and walked out, leaving it open to let Cyial stare at the opening in silence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Father Abbot… I don’t know what I should do…” Cyial whispered quietly.

 

“It would seem things are truly getting interesting." The Abbot said.

 

Cyial raised an eyebrow at the Abbot. "...Interesting? Father Abbot I don't think 'interesting' is the proper way to describe the situation..."

 

"Necromancers are indeed a scary thing, but at the same time, they are only dangerous, in our world at least, if you allow them to be.” The elderly man replied to the young Acolyte, as both were slowly walking down along a hallway.

 

“I don’t understand what you mean, Father Abbot.” Cyial admitted.

 

“Those three demons must have formed a pact with the Necromancer. It must have also known that should they have failed, that Sairek would demand a ritual to rid of them… or perhaps it was just rather lucky our Prince ordered it as so. In any case, Necromancers generally either let undead minions do their dirty work, or they do it themselves. It’s rare they get a living creature for their plans. They have no direct control over a living being. Right now, the fact this Necromancer has been hunting Sairek is instilling fear into him. He’s attacking him mentally since he can’t get to him physically. The fear is what he wants… This Necromancer wants to stop us somehow; and he doesn’t care how. If Sairek stops in his tracks, then he will not bother him. If Sairek continues, the Necromancer will more likely become more aggressive to dissuade him.

 

We all must remain resilient and press on. A necromancer cannot do very much in the mortal realm compared to the underworld. We have the home advantage and the only way the Necromancer can really harm us directly Cyial, is if we are fooled such as making a pact by accident like those three demons had. A Necromancer cannot lie directly in a pact. The person who is agreeing to the pact must fully and completely understand what they are agreeing to.”

 

“But Abbot, I do not understand why the Necromancer can’t harm us directly. Why can’t he just come at us; right now?”

 

“A Necromancer’s power is far weaker than in the underworld. Where all is death and decay and little to no life exists at all, our world is blooming with life. All demons in the Underworld are weakened, and the Yggdrasil tree also allows them to enter the world, but only if they follow several conditions. Any demon that is visiting that hadn't been banished to the underworld must follow that pact Cyial; with the exception of that being you.”

 

“Because I am not 'visiting', but I was born here, right?”

 

“Yes. The tree recognizes you as a resident of our world. As far as a demon's power goes compared to you, that would be from the Ethereal in the air. Demons take a very long time to become accustomed to it. You however, have existed on this realm since you were a newborn. Your body has become accustomed to it so much that you can actually use it to cast spells with it, compared to a normal demon’s blood magic. You’ve learned to detect it just like a normal human. I wouldn’t be surprised if your body intakes Ethereal into your body naturally by now; although it has no real use for it other than the preparation of spells, and of course it will sting but what stings to you could make a normal demon become nearly deathly ill. To any other Demon, or undead creature, Ethereal in the air may as well be poison floating in the air. Ethereal in its liquid state may as well be poison in a liquid state as well. Food is normally poisonous to them… There is no way this will of course kill them unless it is such a large dose it inflicts shock on the body, but otherwise makes them extremely sick, that is why when they are banished from the Underworld to here, it is like a punishment. A demon forever feels that sickness, it will be a very very long time for somebody who wasn't newborn to become used to it. In the event they would be getting used to it, the demon would probably die from old age. It is the opposite effect for a human without Ethereal in their body for long periods of time… On one exception between Demon and human is…”

 

“A human cannot go on forever without Ethereal in their body. They must intake at one when they run out or they will die, while a demon could forever be exposed to Ethereal, but still be granted the ability to live... yes?” Cyial responded.

 

“Yes. That’s exactly right. It would feel like a very, very slow suffocation to the human. The symptoms at first are having difficulty breathing, until the human eventually begins choking. Our bodies slowly die without that energy source to fuel it. The body collapses and shuts down; first being the lungs or the brain. A body that shuts down would have to be revived with being soaked in Ethereal in liquid state; and only in minutes before the person dies. The brain or lungs are inactive; so you wouldn’t be able to simply breathe it in, and you certainly can’t swallow it like that. It needs to naturally soak in. You would drown the person if you tried to force them to drink it, ironically enough.

 

“But a Necromancer isn’t necessarily a demon or an individual…" Cyial muttered. "They are not dead but are also not necessarily alive... They are undead, yet can still 'die' if their bodies were to expire. How would Ethereal energy possibly be negative?”

 

“Think of it this way; the Necromancer is the germs of a body. The body is this realm. Unfortunately for us, demons and undead are generally strong enough to survive our realms' white cells, but not without having pressure from it. Undead and Demons are not used to the energy; it's overwhelming. Necromancers may still be alive, but their bodies are cursed with this dark, undead energy. Ethereal is the opposite of this energy and in a way, it is like a chemical reaction. The underworld does not have this effect on us; we simply could not last there for long if our bodies were to go there simply because we need Ethereal to function, just like how all beings need food and water. To be in the Underworld alive for a period of time, you would require to bring a lot of Ethereal with you, probably in it's liquid state, and feed it to yourself over time. Of course, your supply is not infinite." Eventually you will digest everything out.

"The negative magic is what keeps their bodies functioning. They don't use a brain to animate, but use magic. Ironically, feeding a Necromancer something with a high concentration of Ethereal in it, like a tonic, may kill one. The body succumbs to too much shock. If you managed to capture a Necromancer, that would be all you would have to do to defeat one... most of the time. Like you Cyial, some may have some extreme resistance to the energy. If they do absorb it in like you do, Cyial, their powers may become far weakened, like an insulator of electricity. They wouldn't have to succumb to all of the stress though."

 

"So, what should we do?" Cyial asked plainly, and the Abbot smiled a little bit.

 

"Well first things first, we need to get our Prince back to his normal self and out of this fearful state of his. After we do that, you three should go to the forest tomorrow morning and find that cave."

 

"The forest?" Cyial questioned. "But there's rumors of undead beginning to arise around there... You don't think that has anything to do with the Necromancer, do you?"

 

"If any undead have awakened there, which it may very well be our Necromancer, they would be quite weak. The Ethereal energy in that forest is very strong, Cyial. I imagine, assuming this is our Necromancer we are dealing with, that he has set up that horde of undead to block the way. Making it harder to get through... delaying us. He wouldn't need to block the path, because it would take many days to get around. He would win automatically this way by timing us out before we got to the tree and found a way to cure it. We are up on a race against time here, Cyial. If we run out, the enemy wins... I fear we may already be running out and we have much of the way to go. Weeks travel even. It may take even longer due to this new problem. You cannot afford to waste much time taking long trips around mountains to avoid a day worth of trouble. I will still take the path, for I need to see if I can obtain any new information... That is required, no matter how long it takes."

 

"I understand, father Abbot." Cyial said, as he closed his eyes and bowed his head in a nod. The elderly man smiled once again. "Good. Now go find Sairek and Nayleen. Explain to them what we must do. I am sure Sairek will be able to pick up on the rest once he feels better with the comfort that there is not much the Necromancer can do. Especially with you around, Cyial."

 

"Me?" Cyial questioned curiously.

 

"You will understand sooner or later, my child."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Sairek?" Cyial called as he opened the door to the grave site the Prince had visited last night. He looked around only for a few seconds before spotting the boy at his mother's grave. Cyial quietly walked over, standing behind Sairek for a few seconds before quietly speaking.

 

"Sairek," the Acolyte repeated again, but with a different tone that wasn't questioning in any way. "I need you to come with me and help me to find Nayleen, please. The Abbot has given us a good plan that should help us at least reach into the caves of the forest and make our way through to the other end."

 

"There's no point. I'm not going." Sairek muttered in a bitter and quiet way.

 

"Yes, you are." Cyial said in a declaring tone. "Stop being ridiculous."

 

"There's no reason why a couple of kids should try to handle something adults are very capable of handling on their own." Sairek replied in a flat tone.

 

"This has nothing to do with age. This may have something to do with your family. This may have something to do with who you are today. This may have something to do with why you are sitting at this tomb stone this very moment." Cyial said sternly. "And I for one, if that 'something' is true, am against what has happened and I want to right the wrong that was done to you and your mother."

 

Sairek was silent as he stared at the grave, surprised by the tone of voice Cyial used at him, but he still gave no response. Cyial let out a soft sigh and spoke in a quieter voice. "...And... because, deep down inside, no matter how many times you deny it, you want to know the truth... You want to know what happened for sure. You are afraid to know, but you want to know. You need to know. It will haunt you for the rest of your life otherwise Sairek. Whether that be when Yggdrasil and the planet dies, or whether you live to be an old man. You have nothing to be scared of. Nayleen and I will be there. The Necromancer cannot do much to us in this realm. The Abbot has swore to me on his word that there is little he can do other than trying and slow us down to reach our goal. That is why there are undead roaming the forests; it is him trying to slow us down. If he could deal with us directly, he would have done so from the start and not send these minions or such after us. You know these signs are true Sairek, why are you denying the facts and making excuses?"

 

Sairek spun around suddenly as he looked at Cyial; almost an angry glare on his face. "Making excuses? Are you saying I'm trying to reason with you out of cognitive dissonance? You didn't see that awful creature like I had!"

 

"Quite much so." Cyial answered immediately. "Besides, I would think a man who was charging towards me with obvious harmful intent would not be much more of a frightening experience than a strange creature."

 

"Hrrgh....." Sairek groaned out at the response Cyial gave him. His face shifted a bit to that of annoyance. He knew Cyial was right; which was what made him even more annoyed.

 

"...I hate losing arguments..." the Prince muttered quietly, which made Cyial smile a bit. "You can't win an argument of facts with just opinions, Sairek; you can only give your point of view with them. You win an argument by dealing with the facts. But sometimes just trying to show the other person the point of view you have is better than trying to win one."

 

Sairek sighed as he closed his eyes. He stood up on two feet, pushing himself up with his staff. He sighed as he spoke. "Fine... let's go and find Nayleen, then..." The Prince soon looked back at the grave. He frowned slightly. "...I'll visit you again someday mother, I promise; despite whatever father may try to do to stop me..."

Cyial lead Sairek out of the room, where the two begun searching for Nayleen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sairek and Cyial eventually found Nayleen in the library; she herself was trying to study some books; which really surprised Sairek at the effort she was putting into this. They eventually all gathered at the table together, as Cyial soon spoke up, standing up from his chair as he spoke.

"There's a good chance that the enemy we are dealing with is a Necromancer." Cyial began. "Sairek, remember earlier today you asked both Nayleen and I to prepare a list of reasons why we should and shouldn't go to the forest, and why we should and shouldn't go on the path. However, with the risk of a Necromancer running around, the Abbot has said that it may actually be safer for us to go through the forest. Safer from the Necromancer directly, at the very least. Along with that, we cannot afford to waste anytime. We need to go to Yggdrasil as soon as possible. We cannot waste any opportunities that offer us to slice off large chunks of traveling time. This Necromancer is doing everything it can to try stop or delay us; we need to press on.

 

"Oh yeah... I asked you two of that today, huh...?" Sairek asked as he fixed a bang of hair from his left ear, pushing it behind it. "That feels like ages ago, but it feels like ages..."

 

"As the Abbot has said to me; we have a home advantage; a Necromancer's power is severely weakened on our realm; Ethereal itself weakens them and any undead they may be able to summon. The forest from what I understand has more Ethereal than normal; this means that not only would anything the Necromancer throws at us will be easier to deal with because they will be weaker; I, along with yourself Sairek would be stronger in the casting of our magic because it would be easier to draw in for spells."

The Acolyte soon slowly sat himself down on the table. "I think the choice is clear. Nayleen can navigate us through the forest with her experience and we have the advantage in the forest; despite the fact things are expecting us there. If we are lucky, we may have no ambush at all... but there is one thing we should be concerned about and that is camping... We should try to get through the forest in one day. The cave as well if possible. It would be too dangerous to camp, and if we are wandering in the forest at night time, it would be too dangerous for us as well. We should get to bed early; leave the city before sunrise and time the journey to the forest as the sun is rising. This will give us around twelve full hours to find the cave in the forest and try to go through it."

Cyial glanced at both Sairek and Nayleen for their response. Nayleen looked at Sairek, and Sairek looked at Nayleen blinking.

"Well I guess that settles that, doesn't it, huh?" Nayleen let out with a small grin. Sairek chuckled a little bit. "...I suppose it does." Sairek answered before looking back towards Cyial. "But there is one thing I am concerned about." Sairek started. "How do we know how much undead is there? The more undead we handle, the longer it's going to take to push through the forest. Are you sure we can do that? If it becomes night time, we may as well be as good as dead... There may be no turning back if things go badly."

"We will make it; trust me. I've navigated forests all my life." Nayleen answered. "I mean, the forest can't be that big that it would take us more than twelve hours to go through, especially when it's boxed off by mountains and only open towards the city."

"Are you sure? These forests in these lands may be a little different than what you are used to." Sairek warned her.

"I navigated the forests here and found the castle without any help, did I not?"

"Well, I suppose that's true..." Sairek admitted. "Although a castle sitting on top of a very tall hill is not that inconspicuous of a landmark than a cave on the low ground--"

"Are you doubting my ability?" Nayleen accused.

"Well, no--" Sairek stuttered.

"That's it! We're soooo going to the forest now! I'll show you!"

Sairek let out a small sigh. Peeping out a small "Okay..." at her demand. Cyial grinned a little. "Well, since it is... 'settled', I suppose... We all should really get some sleep. Yes? We will be waking up much early than normal and will be needing every minute of rest." He then looked towards Sairek. "...Especially you. It will take days for your body to have normal levels of Ethereal again. You should at least be able to walk properly again by tomorrow."

"...Alright, then I suppose we should." Sairek said, as he lift himself from his seat and soon began to walk off. Nayleen and Cyial rose too, but didn't necessarily follow Sairek. The two glanced at each other first.

"...He's still greatly afraid, isn't he?" Cyial asked in a whisper.

"I guess so... but I suppose it is also that the Necromancer may have been the one to have killed his mother too... that is troubling him a lot. Hopefully he will be feeling a bit less depressed after some sleep." Nayleen whispered back. After that, the two went out of the library, going to their own rooms, where Nayleen went to her own room and Cyial paired together with Sairek once again.

Sairek didn't bother to change in his pajamas, but took off most of the layers of clothing he had, going down to only where he was dressed in the blue pants of his complete attire. Since they were leaving as soon as possible, he wanted to spend the least amount of time getting dressed; but he didn't want to make sleeping uncomfortable either.

Cyial once again took off his gloves and boots, along with his robe, leaving the child only once again in his undergarments as his tail flicked around; it too which had been cleaned out and was no longer stained with the other demon's blood. Cyial slipped in under the covers after Sairek, and huddled close to the Prince; once again with resting his head on his chest. Sairek slowly blinked at Cyial as the Acolyte looked up at the Prince with a small childish grin.

"Is my chest really much more comfortable than a pillow?" Sairek questioned.

"Yes. You asked me the same thing this morning, remember? I said something about being with someone else this morning?"

"Huh..." Sairek quietly let out; almost in a suspicious tone.

"I'm being honest; it's... reassuring, somehow..." Cyial admitted quietly.

"You won't try anything, will you?" Sairek asked sternly.

"I didn't do anything last time, right?" Cyial said almost proudly.

Sairek mentally sighed as he thought for a few seconds. "Those dreams don't really bring confidence..... well... alright, fine I guess... You are letting me use your bed. But please don't try anything Cyial. It would not end well for either of us. I never would have the heart to say you did anything, Cyial, but I would be heartbroken that you broke my trust and I'm sure you would regret that." He warned, before pushing Cyial's head gently off of his chest. He glanced at Cyial seeing the Incubus's tail flick happily out of the covers on his side of the bed. Apparently it really did make him comfortable. Just seeing the tail even through dim lighting made Sairek break out a smile. It just looked... cute and comical for some reason.

"I am glad that I am able to bring him much joy by simply being present with him. Just the simple act of removing my shirt seems to make him happy because it shows that I care... but he is getting attached to me. Too attached. If he keeps this up, he may end up doing something he will regret. He will be what everyone has shunned him away for being in the first place and if he in particular does it to me... it would be treason against the crown...

But I don't have the heart to push him away either... I'm not attracted to him the same way he is to me; but I am indeed attracted to him. Attracted to him in a way that I don't want him to suffer anymore... but will me doing this will make him suffer more greatly in the end...? What should I do...?"

Author's Note

Chapter last edited on: January 31st, 2013

Changelog:

- More typo fixes

- Omitted a lot of the chapter, because with the current edits going on, the text no longer makes sense

- Better explanation between the two worlds and how they function


Changelog [Febuary 17th, 2012]:

- Edited the dialogue between Sairek and the Abbot.

- Edited dialogue between Cyial and the Abbot.

- Font color changing between black and grey randomly has been fixed

- Terrible spacing errors have been fixed

- All Dialogue has been tweaked (not necessarily edited like the first two)

- Made explanations of things hopefully a lot more clearer