Book 3. Chapter 26
“The Beginning of the Darkness” Part 2
Despite having raised her mental barriers to not feel sorry for the warrior in front of her, Kalysto couldn’t help but be thrilled to see the notification window of a system in front of her again.
Even when it was black and a much simpler and more plain version of the one she had before.
A quick glance told her that there wasn’t even a tab for the map, as there was in the purple system.
And she didn’t notice the skills tab either.
Where the heck are they? She thought as they reviewed the data in the status window, But before she could press the small button at the bottom right of the window, which she had overlooked, Rezhor groaned in pain, hunching his muscular body as he coughed, as if she had punched him hard in the stomach.
At the same time, a gentle pressure, like a burden, settled in the former saintess’ heart.
A debt. She immediately recognized the sensation, and without wasting any time, she approached the demon.
“Is your wound properly disinfected?” she asked, and the demon nodded.
“Yes, madam. It is,” he assured her as he straightened up again, not wanting to show weakness to anyone present.
Then Kalysto removed the bandage from his arm and dropped it on the floor.
Regeneration! Regeneration! Jhil! She thought, concentrating on letting out the energy of the first skill in greater quantity than the second, but as the demon king had assured her earlier since she was a half-breed, her skills were compatible with different races, which would never happen with a pure human.
Not wanting to think about the possibilities of what this could mean for her and her bloodlines, she concentrated on finishing regenerating the warrior’s arm. Whose eyes were bathed in tears as he saw that he had fully regained the lost limb.
“Now you can help build a home for your family.” the demon fell to his knees in front of her when he heard those words.
“Thank you, thank you! I will be eternally grateful to you, my lady! Anything you want from me or my family, please don’t hesitate to ask me. Thank you!” He sobbed with tears of joy streaming down his cheeks as he could now properly hold and embrace his unborn daughter, the little girl he had long dreamed of having.
Kalysto instinctively recoiled, but this time, it was not due to his closeness. It was the sudden and very unexpected arousal she felt at having a man on his knees in front of her.
Even more unexpected was the sudden surge of magical power and pressure that came from Aegir.
“Leave now!” The warrior, noticing his king’s anger, bowed in respect.
“As you command, my lord. My lady,” he lowered his head again and without taking his eyes off the ground, he advanced to the door.
“Don’t forget your reward,” growled Aegir between his teeth, throwing a bag full of precious gems to the warrior who left immediately after picking up the bag and bowing his head again to the king.
Aegir approached Kalysto, who was now too shocked by what had just happened. It was the second time something like that had happened to her, and she had attributed the first time to both her and Sakura having been too drunk. But this time, she had been completely sober.
Shit, I hate it when Sakura is right! She thought, remembering her very experienced friend’s insistence in assuring her that what she liked was to be in control.
“I didn’t know it turns you on to have a man on his knees in front of you,” Aegir whispered in her ear. Making her nervous and making the former saintess’ heart ride madly against her chest.
She swallowed saliva before answering.
“Well, we all have our preferences,” she replied, turning away from him and starting to walk towards the door.
“Running away?” asked the king, half amused by her reaction. Tempted by the rosy hue on her cheeks.
“Not at all,” she replied as she opened the door, putting distance between them. “I just have other things to do,” she added, trying not to show how nervous she was. But just before she left, she stopped.
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A tentacle of darkness rose from her shadow, clutching a small bottle of holy water.
“By the way, I forgot to tell you, but there are no potions on Earth. So now that you have an experienced potion master, it would be very convenient for both parties to trade them in exchange for food for your kingdom and of your brothers. I’m sure the hunters' agencies of various governments would be more than happy to trade with you. Especially if you add this into the negotiations,” she commented, causing the tentacle of darkness to extend halfway across the room, where he was standing, and handed him two delicate, enchanted glass bottles filled with holy water. One of low quality and the other of medium quality.
Aegir did not hesitate to examine them as soon as he received them. Surprised by the gift.
“So, this is what you’ve been doing every afternoon after our training sessions?” She just shrugged her shoulders in response, and just as she was about to finish leaving the room, Aegir appeared in front of her, his face just inches from hers. “May I kiss you?” He asked, enjoying watching her fidget and the increasing intensity of the color in her cheeks.
“...No,” she replied, fading into a swirl of shadows.
The king’s loud laughter echoed down the hall, but still she did not return.
The next morning, a magic circle was drawn near where the king sat having a meeting with several high-ranking nobles and his brothers. A black sphere, created at the tip of dark mana tentacles, emerged from the seal, revealing a wooden box filled with vials of low-grade holy water.
Contrary to how alert everyone else at the meeting had been to the unexpected appearance, Aegir let out a long laugh.
“Have you finally lost what little sanity you have left, dear brother?” questioned Whanda, queen of Forhemed.
But instead of answering her, the king of Desmond sent a short letter to Kalysto. Who did not take long to receive it.
“Are you ready to go?” Alice asked her best friend as soon as she saw her arrive. While she, Rozheinlo, three warriors and three hooded wizards were waiting for her.
“Yes, I had to take care of something before we left,” but just as Kalysto stepped out of the barrier protecting the castle, a cluster of shadows materialized beside her, and out of it came a folded letter.
Kalysto took it, recognizing the feel of Aegir’s dark mana magic signature.
‘I see you’re still hiding from me.’
‘P.S.: thank you for the gift. I’ll start preparing my thank you gift.’
Kalysto rolled her eyes, half annoyed at the last part. Being the nephew of the fairy queen it was more than obvious that he knew that fairies didn’t like to feel indebted to someone, and since he had been taking care of feeding her, Alice and her grandparents for the past few months, it was necessary to give him something in return. Especially since Alice flatly refused to return to Earth and expose her grandparents to the danger posed by Seth’s dark saintess, who she claimed was somewhere in London, and because Kalysto still hadn’t finished keeping her part of the deal.
“Is everything all right?” Alice worried.
“Yes, don’t worry,” replied Kalysto, burning the letter with black fire.
As the fairy champion approached the rest of the group, the three mages began their chanting, teleporting the group to the capital of the Zeer kingdom, where they rushed into the market and began to buy all the necessary materials to start mass producing health, mana, and revitalizing potions to start trading with the Japanese hunter’s association.
Kalysto took the opportunity to not only learn from her mentor, but to stock up on a nice collection of enchanted potion bottles of different sizes. And thus have enough material to duplicate later.
But after an hour and a half of walking around the market, looking for everything they needed, Alice was bored.
“Can we go buy some seeds for my grandfather to grow?” Alice whispered to her. Kalysto nodded and told the potions master.
“Don’t be long. We’ll leave in ten minutes. It’s not safe to stay here too long,” commented Rozheinlo.
One of the wizards went with them to the store that was diagonal to the one they had been in before, and Alice entered with a smile on her lips, excited to find something that was to her grandfather’s taste, and a couple of flowers for her grandmother to grow, taking advantage that they were in one of the few kingdoms that opened the doors to all the races of the other kingdoms in the continent, without any kind of restriction.
But just as they were about to leave the premises, a loud explosion sounded close to where they were.
“Take Alice with you!” ordered Kalysto immediately to the wizard who was accompanying them.
“But...!” began to plead the blonde, worried about her.
“Now!” The wizard obeyed her, taking the blonde away and returning with the rest of the group, teleporting them all back to the safety of Desmond’s realm.
Kalysto, however, remained.
Feeling a strange familiarity in the air, as if something was pulling at her.
Stealth! She thought, hiding her presence and pushing through the crowd of former shoppers who were fleeing the source of the explosion.
It was no surprise to find Arkhas again, along with an army of goblins and undead at the end of the street.
What did surprise her was to see the same black dragon that had come with them to Elinor when the summoning of the heroes happened. Although he was now undead, she could recognize the wound on his neck, in the same place she had seen it when she was on Earth.
On the dragon stood the same orc she had killed, and next to him, the same hobgoblin she had seen before, holding a huge sphere of black crystal.
I’m going to kill it once and for all, and this time I’ll make sure they can’t revive it again! She thought, her gaze fixed on the orc, but again the large black sphere caught her attention.
Forcing her to avert her gaze to the particular object.
The hobgoblin looked her straight in the eyes as he smiled.
“A pleasure to meet again, old friend,” he said, and this time Kalysto could understand his words. But just as she was about to attack them, her whole world was tinted with shadows.
And this time, it wasn’t hers.
“Persephone, give me back my body!” she shouted, annoyed by the sudden and unwanted interruption.
However, nothing changed. And little by little, her consciousness was plunging deeper and deeper into infinite darkness.
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