Apart from Jevon and Luna, nobody else dared to enter, but luckily when they reached there, Jevon was somewhat prepared.
"So this is the demon realm?!!" Luna said
She looked around her; it was all bones and stones, with no trace of life around. The wind was so strong they hardly kept sticking to the ground.
The night sky tore open to reveal a weeping, crimson orb that bled light into the clouds . It didn't just shine ;it stared ,piercing through the windows and into the minds of everyone below, making them feel exposed, judged, and utterly helpless under It's unblinking gaze.
Under the red moon's influence luna lost all strengthin her body. In the middle of that storm her powerless body was nothing but a frail paper, but luckily jevon caught her hand right on time. He held her between his arms pushing through the storm till he found a safe spot under some rocks to take cover from the wind.
He leaned closer and whispered in her ears,
[Excitare]
"Huh?!...What happened?" Luna cleaned her eyes and looked around her again abd finally noticed where they are.
"How did we end up here?" She asked in confusion
Jevon tapped Luna's forehead. "First rule when coming to the demon realm: never look straight at the moon…put on your glasses."
Luna withlught any hesitation put her glasses on and started looking around them with pure surprise.
"Where the hell are we?"
"This is your first time in here, right? Welcome to the demon realm," Jevon said, but he received a hard hit over his head.
He tried touching his sour head but ended up with grinding pain all over his body ,
"Ugh, that one hit of yours is really something … why did you hit me thought?"
"Do you think it's time for your sarcasm? Hurry up and get to work."she said
Jevon helplessly shoke his head and said, "The cloth I have given you is supposed to protect you from the dark magic in the air. Are you sure you're not affected?"
"I am completely normal; actually, I feel lighter than usual. The mask is also really good." Luna replied.
"That's good." After making sure Luna is okay, Jevon took a compass and a map from his backpack.
After placing the map on the floor, he placed a spiritual stone floating over the center of the compass; it started working right away.
Everything around luna was still new to her so she was watching everything jevon was doing carefully like a little a child,
"Oh! It worked....What are you doing exactly?"
but he was so focused on what he was doing that he didn't hear her, so she increased her volume and called him once again ,
"Jevon!!"
this time he heared her call but frightened he jolted in his place looking around him in daze,
"Huh... what's the matter?"
"What are you doing?"
"Oh…this is...I am trying to figure out where we landed."
"How exactly?"
Jevon pointed at the compass on the ground and started explaining what he was doing,
"The compass in the demon realm is a special device. Unlike other realms, it shows you which region you are in. You see, this realm is divided into 11 regions; each of them falls under the control of one of the elite demon lords. Once you are in their regions, you must follow their rules or you die."
Luna looked at Jevon in confusion.
"Rules?!...What rules?...I mean demons have rules?!?"
Dumbfounded jevon rubbed his temples feeling helpless all over again,
"They do, what era do you think we are in?.....and don't disturb me again...got it?"
Jevon calmly explained, "Rules in a demonic region are absolute, but that's not the case between regions; they often go into wars with massive casualties. If there was trespassing from other regions, you can imagine the outcome."
"So exactly are we on the bad side or the good side?" Luna asked.
"Let's see, foxes are considered under Asmodeus's protection, and apparently we are in Belial's territory."
She stared at him with dead eyes and bluntly said ,"So We're fucked!?"
"Yes, we pretty much are.... but maybe we still stand a chance." Jevon got up from the ground and extended his hands to Luna. "Hold my hands tightly to avoid getting swallowed again."
Luna didn't even think about it before grabbing Jevon's hand tightly,
"Okay."
-hold-
although her tight grip was hurting him, but he still kept her hand tightly wrapped around his.
'Even if she appeared strong on the outside, she was still worried about facing such situation again...Forget it... as long as you are safe,' Jevon thought.
"Let's go" he said walking in front of her leading the way, but along the way he never forgot to check on her every now and then
After a few hours of their aimless walk, they finally reached a place showing signs of life in it.
Jevon suddenly stopped moving forther, but his sudden move startled her into pumping into his back,
"Ugh!....why did you suddenly stop?!"
Jevon turned around and carefu adjusted her hoodie ,and lowered his head closer then started talking with a faint voice, "Make sure your mask and glasses are properly on, and don't take them off under any circumstances understood?!"
Luna nodded without making a sound . Once jevon got her respons he wrapped his arms around Luna's shoulder,
" Stay close to me all the time, got it?"
Luna gave him a slight nod, understanding the meaning; he took her under his arms and passed through the crowd.
For Luna, that was the first time she met this amount of demons; she was tense and scared. 'It was suffocating.'
Suddenly a hand reached and grabbed hers scaring the shit out of her.
'W…who is it?...Did they discover me?...What should I do?' Her thoughts were a mess at the moment; her body started shivering.
Jevon's calm voice came as a ray of light snatching her from her sea of dark thoughts,
"Calm down."
She turned to look at her hand; she found it was Jevon's hands that was holding hers. Only then did she release a big sigh feeling relived. "Thank God it's him."
Jevon suddenly stopped walking, surprising Luna.
"Why are we stopping?"
"We're here."he said
"Here?!"
Luna looked ahead of them; it was a three-floor inn, but the appearance of the people in front of her wasn't really comfortable.
She held onto his arms tightly and asked,
"An inn?!...Why are we here?"
Jevon noticed her concern and didn't shove her away immediately instead he replied calmly,
"We will be staying here."
"Huh!!??"
She didn't have time to think about anything when Jevon dragged her into the inn ,
She tried to resist the idea but jevon was as stubborn as a thick wall pulling her inside,
"Ha...w...wait...isn't there any other place...can't we stay somewhere else?"
"No can do, and we're already here."
Luna was struggling and didn't realize she was already standing in front of the front desk, and he had already gotten a room for both of them.
"Huh!!?"
"Huh!!?"
After Jevon closed the doors, Luna angrily demanded an explanation from Jevon.
"Explain yourself." She said
Once she turned around, her eyes widened seeing Jevon leaning on the doors gasping for air till his body gave up and he ended up lying on the ground, hardly breathing;
"Huff,huff,huff "
"What the!!?"
she ran frantically at him trying to help him up.
"What happened to you?"
Jevon was out of breath but endured the pain saying,
"Huff...huff...j...just help me to the bed."
Jevon leaned on Luna to help him up; once he lied down on the bed, he opened his shirt's buttons trying to cool down abit but his body was in so much agony
"Huff...huff...huff"
His stomach suddenly felt so stuffed he couldn't take it so he leaned beside the bed and started throwing up blood.
"Gu-buagh...cough...cough....bleegh....gu-agh.....cough ...cough..."
Luna got so frightened upon seeing his sudden shift that her mind short circled for a while there,
"Hey, are you okay?! Don't scare me like that."
Luna started patting his back trying to comfort him, but he grabbed her hand tightly; his eyes were gazing at her intensely with a vivid red color radiating from them.
Luna saw his gaze as pure liqid electricity, heavy-lidded and intensely focused every time she looked up her luminous green that seemed to capture and reflect every ray of light seemed to absoub the glow in his eyes
Her lips suddenly parted making a sound ,"What a strikingly beautiful eyes."
Those words seemed to have snapped jevon out of his daze helping him regain his sanity; Angry of what he was unconsciously doing he punched himself right in the face.
-bang-
"Ugh."
The sudden noise finally woke the hypnotized Luna but with a tormenting headach,
"What happened?!..."
She blanked out for a few seconds the only thing she remembered was the sultry breathless depth to his sky blue eyes ,looking like ice caught in a sudden blaze.
didn't just observe ,it possessed, shifting with a quite ,masculine charm that felt both disarmingly warm and intensely seductive, dominating the entire room without saying a single word.
'It's been quite a while since i saw that man that i forgot how incredibly hot he could be .....for a second there i forgot we were divorced ' she started fanning on her face trying to calm herself down
She finally turned at him but seeing Jevon was bleeding panic hit her almost instantly,
"Oh my god, why is there so much blood on your face?"
She tried touching his wand, but he shoved her away almost instantly.
"Tsk, don't touch me...stop playing around." He said
Seeing him so drained she didn't press any further ,"Okay, okay, but you still need treatment."
"I know...but I might need your help for that." He said
She didn't understand what he said so she had to ask ,"Help?!.....i am not a healer .how can i even help?"
Jevon took out a bottle of white serum from his bag and handed it over to her.
"Take this!"
"Why are you handing me this?" She asked
"Help me apply it."
Jevon sat properly on the bed and took off his shirt completely, and Luna covered her face with her hands feeling embarrassed.
"Wh…what the hell are you doing?"
Jevon saw her embarrassment and a soft smile instantly was drawn on his face and he couldn't help but start teasing her,
"Why are you all shy? It's not like you haven't seen the whole thing..."
Luna hid her face into the ground afraid to even look,
"B…but still...it...it's not right…"
The pain in jevon's body was gettingworse by the minute that he had no choice but to take actions,
"Oh, come on, stop bullshitting with me already."
Jevon forcibly removed her hands from over her face.
"W...wait?"
She slowly opened her eyes, and the previous embarrassment turned into the biggest nightmare of her life ; his body was as pale as a corps ,bright red veins covering his whole body that seemed about to burst at any second.
The shoke of the scene in front of her eyes made her unable to react,just staring blankly at his body,
"!!?"
jevon gathered what was remained of his power and said a few words,
"Apply ...that serum ...over...ugh...my spine…"
And immediately after saying that his chest was caught in an unbearable pain .he placed his hand over his heart and grinded through it with his fingers, biting on his lips afraid to make a sound and passed out from the pain.
"Wa...wait, what the hell!?"
Luna was frightened at the sight, but still held him in her arms and started applying the serum on his spine just as he asked.
"What the hell is wrong with you?...Couldn't you fucking at least give me a heads up before surprising me with this shit?...You better wake up, or I will really be angry."
After applying the serum her clothes were drenched with blood,noticing his wonds she took out a potion from her bag and poured it all over his wonded chest but nothinghappened even after pouring three bottles.
'what the hell man!...holy potions doesn't work on you ! ..how am i supposed to heal you now?!' She thought feeling so desperate seeing his wonds keeps expelling blood nonstop
"What should i do?! iam here to save my daughter but ended up needing to save the father as well.....wait serenity!"
Middest her daze she suddenly remembered serenity also is someone whose body is unresponsive with holy potions so she took out the special potion serenity normally uses
"Hope this acually works otherwise i have no idea what's next"
After applying the potion she bandaged him then crashed on the ground beside him waiting .
she reached out to hold his hands desperately praying for a miracle,
'When are you going to wake up, Jevon?...Wake up soon, please,'
When she was holding his hand she felt some rough edges on his usually smooth hand which mad her panic again,
"What happened here?"
She opened his palm to take a careful look and found traces of her nails piercing into his palm.
"This!!?"
She recalled holding his hands tightly when walking earlier. 'You never change... idiot,' she thought and started bandaging his wounded hand.
"It was at that time...."
Jevon suddenly woke up and glanced her way .he saw her pouting teary face and felt hurt inside ,'she must have been frightened after all that happened '
In an attempt to lighten up her mood so he started teasing her but ended up real bad,
"I am sure you didn't forget to curse me when I was out."
The sudden voice freaked her out and ended up hurting him. Luna hit him on his shoulder as a reflex, without paying attention to her strength making it turn bright red on the spot.
"Awawaw…that still hurts…you realize I am a patient, right...?!"
It was already too late when she realized what she did but as embarrassed as she was she turned her head away, sulking,
"Humph, I don't care."
Jevon grabbed his shirt and got seated to wear it but didn't forget to talk with her,
"Come on, be merciful. I still have duties to attend to when we go back; I can't go missing an arm, can I?"
Luna turned the other way and started complaining ,"Work, work, always work—is there anything inside that head of yours except for books and work?"
"Can't help it; that's just who I am." He said
Luna covered her ears refusing to listen any further ,"No need to tell me; maybe in this wide universe I am the only person who knows you best."
"Hai…hai, stop arguing, my adorable little kitten." He said and stopped talking focusing on buttoning up his shirt.
The atmosphere was starting to get strange around them since nobody was making a sound, so Luna had to change the subject.
"So what happened to you?" She asked
He pointed at his bandaged hand and joked about it trying to make her laugh.
"Oh, you mean this? Didn't you do this yourself? Why ask me?"
Luna already went through alot and couldn't possibly take any jokes at the moment making her voice sound like that of a roaring beast,
"JEVON"
Luna gave him a firm look; he knew right away it's not the time or place to be joking. He straightened his face and started to turn serious.
"Oh , you mean those marks?.. Remember I told you before about the power increase we suffer from when entering the demon realm." He said
Luna looked at Jevon as if she wanted to kill him. "Yes, but I also remember you telling me you will take precaution against it."
Jevon went to laye flat on the bed while talking clearly his body was still exhausted,
"I did take percussion, but I stopped once we entered this room."
Luna seemed visibly stunned upon hearing his unreasonable answer,
"What does that mean?..w..why?!"
"Look at my neck..." jevon pointed at the small transparent glassy bottle tied to a thread on his neck ,"see that necklace? It has a spiritual red gem in it. A protective barrier was drawn on it using my blood and his majesty's. I asked his majesty to make it for me back when I first came here, turns out it would be of great help for me in the future"
"That's great and all...but what does it have to do with your almost dead state?!" Lana asked ,from the tone of her voice one could tell she is completely unconvinced.
"It's simple: the gem being red means the barrier is activated, but it turns blue when it's not, and just now I forcibly stopped the barrier" he placed his left hand over his wonded chest," what happened to my body just now was going insane as the side effect from removing it."
Luna tried her best to stay calm as she asked,
"And why would you do that?"
He smiled saying ,"I wanted to make use of the increase and send our location to my comrade out there "
"Comrade?..waht comrades? " luna jumped from her place upon hearing that news but that news was clearly good since she couldn't hide how her face beamed with light afterwards.
Jevon looked at her expression and smiled while explaining,
"Before coming here i aranged for a team to follow us inside the demon realm in case we need them"
"Ooh..That's so thoughtful of you, but What's the use?" she said and crashed onto the ground with a disappointed face and quickly clung to his bed fully charged, "we still have no idea where she is..."
"Stop with the sarcasm, i may know where she is" jevon said
Luna full of excitment instantly jumped near his face; they almost kissed,
"What?!..where?!"
Her face turned red immediately and the embarrassment made her back away immediately while apologizing to him.
"I...I am sorry, iam sorry ,i didn't mean to...."
Jeavon clunched onto the cheets under him and tried to calm the awkward situation,
"Don't worry about it."
After saying that, Jevon adjusted his position to sit on the bed. "I did find her location, but we can't go there in our current state; we need to wait for the enforcement team to come from Avalor before making any moves."
She regained her calm almost instantly and turned to him asking ,"And when exactly are they coming?"
"72 hours at best"
Luna stood in shoke ,her face was fuming with anger,
"What the hell, 72 hours, you say.... Can my daughter take it until then?!"
Jevon grabbed her hands tightly. "There is nothing we can do. When I scanned the place around her, there was about a hundred demons over there. Us two alone can't help much. With my magic trapped and yours alone we can't do much in this realm, unless you want to die ,that is."
Luna shoved his hand away, complaining about the whole situation. "How on earth did we end up in this kind of situation? What did a kid even do?"
"Still serenity's situation may be worse than i expected" Jevon murmured to himself.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing," although he said that, but his mind was wandering elsewhere. 'I swear I felt a human presence near my daughter. If someone really instigated this whole kidnapping, I am afraid of what might happen to my kid…not to mention serenity herself.'
Jevon looked at luna who was already so deep in thoughts and felt pity ,'we might need to have a serious talk regarding the kids when we head back'
Till the enforcement team arrived, Jevon and Luna kept staying at their room for Jevon to get recover his health and for them to rest and save their energy.
After 72 hours had passed, the enforcement team arrived outside the city, and with Jevon and Luna joining them, the rescue mission started.
Jevon was the one leading the rescue team since he was the one who knew where she was, inside a mountain cave about 500 meters southeast from the city. They paved their way inside It's tunnels, killing every demon standing in their way, and finally reached the room where Serenity was chained.
BACK TO THE PRESENT
"When I finally held your sister in my hands, her body turned to that of a human right before my eyes. Till now, I still can't believe what I saw...it was a hard hit. Her magical physique vanished, and her bloodline became as thin as air no trace of purity could be detected ,her magical abilities were zero. I was quite afraid of her reaction when she woke up."queen luna said
"That girl was so proud, but maybe it was sheer luck she lost her memories; the effect of that blow wasn't that hard on her.... " Queen Luna had a sad expression on her face recalling those memories.
'but that girl ever since she turned human i couldn't stop thinking that she is not my daughter....i guess my only reason for even looking her way was guilt over that day' she thought
-But Mom... why did the demons kidnap my sister? - Astrum asked
The queen kept tugging on her chair while explaining ,"Oh...that. Your father tortured those of them who survived, and all they said was that they kidnapped anyone on their way to spite the 'DIVIANA' people. It just so happened she came their way…it was just an accident."
Astrum asked -Why didn't you ask Serenity about that incident? -
"Were you with me on line when I said she lost her memories?"
-I know, but...-
Queen luna stopped him from going any further and wanted him to be clear with her ,"Stop with the games. Tell me, what do you have in mind, kid?"
He stopped pretending and laied it flat to his mother,
- Mom, I suspect Sister might have regained her memories. -
"What makes you say that?" The queen was confused hearing him say that.
- She knows things and people she shouldn't. -he said
She thought about it for a while but the surprise wasn't exactly that unacceptable for her but she still wanted to aquire moor about that matter ,"Things she shouldn't?...Like what?"
-...-
"The silent treatment...I got it.…it's related to your work." In the queen's eyes, Astrum's silence was an answer in itself.
She painfully thought about her past with jevon and an idea flashed by her mind ,'What can i say like father like son ....when It's work your lips are as tight as steal.'
Astrum couldn't help but apologize to his mother cause in the end he is still her kid and he didn't want to upset her,
-sorry about that-
Luna didn't take it to heart and brushed the whole matter,
"No worries...I was used to it when I was married to your dad. You're a spitting image of your father in personality at least, but that's to be expected; one of you ought to be like him."
-Is that a compliment? -
"It is...my tongue may be a bit out of control, but I would never curse at my kids." She was happily bickering with her son to the point where a big smile was unconsciously drawn on her face.
'Actually maybe astrum isn't actually the only one taking after jevon, serenity also used to have a bit of personality similar to his.....actually maybe she is the only one who takes after us bot equaly' she thought and this idea made a look of satisfaction take ove her face
Satrum opened up about his concern in front of his mother looking for consultation,
- She wants to know the information I have about something for her to tell me what she has...but I don't wish to get her involved in this kind of work...so what do you think I should do with Sister? -
After a moment of thinking, she said, "Just tell her…if Serenity really did regain her memories, then you ought to know that hiding from her is pointless. What she wants to know, she'll know one way or another...so if it's through you or through anyone else, she will know,..an advice ,if I were you, I would just tell her to avoid her dragging herself into unnecessary danger."
-Okay then, I will do it. Thanks, Mom.-
"Anytime, baby boy, I will always be here as your beloved mother, and the same for your siblings." She said but suddenly remembered something, " oh right!....one more thing i forgot to tell you.....when we came back with serenity your father told me he felt a trace of vox magic when he tracked her so maybe that was why serenity turned human in the first place ,to avoid certain death...so if she really regained her memories then her magic might reawaken as time passes ,don't worry about her and take care of yourself, my kids aren't to be trifled with"
Astrum seemed finally satisfied after talking to his mother and thanked her feeling a huge qeight lifting from his chest,
-Umm, I will take my leave then; talk to you next time.-
"Next time then, baby boy."
-bye-
Teet-Teet-Teet
Once the call disconnected, Queen Luna placed the phone over her desk.
"So you regained your memories, huh..."
Her smile faded away as she raised her right leg and rested her head over it, thinking about what her son said ,'can she really hold it in without her magic?! Or rather what's her current bloodline state?....on whic side is the reawakening of my little baby going to be?!!'
A few minutes passed, and she suddenly hit her office splitting it to half ,
-slam-
-bang-
-crack-
She stood up walking from her chair. The air turned razor-sharp in an instant. Piercing frost shot across the floorboards like jagged lightning, crawling up the stone walls and locking the heavy wooden doors in a cage of solid ice.and the entire room froze midbreath, transformed into a glittering ,deadly tomb of blue glass
Assistant Liu, who was standing outside, felt the chilling cold aura coming from behind and looked back to see the deadly ice swallowing the giant door spreading all the way into the hall.
'Is there an intruder or something? ' having such an uneasy feeling he pushed the doors open to get inside and see what happened.
"Bang"
"Your maj—"
The words couldn't just get out of his mouth; the soldiers who came in behind him were shivering, not from the cold but from the fright of seeing her eyes,
She stood in the center of the chaos, her toxic, emerald green eyes glowing with a calculating hunger as she unleashes her power and a delicate, crystalized thin layer of ice grew rapidly over the glass
Assistant Liu seemed used to seeing her like that, but he still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that consumed him at that moment. 'What in the world did she hear in that call that made her turn that way?...Althought i can't put put my fingers on it but she feels diffrent from usual.....no!....she is diffrent...'
The queen suddenly called over him, dismissing everyone else.
"Everyone except for Assistant Liu, get out"
"!!?"
With a light wave of her hand she called back her magic and the ice started melting, the room ended up with both her and Assistant Liu alone .
Assistant liu couldn't even swallow his breath; the air in the room felt to heavy making him feel like a bird waiting for tje slaughter
Queen luna suddenly walked twards the windows drawing a serious expression expression over her face, ordering him,
"Assistant Liu, tomorrow morning at worst, you must hand something over to Serenity in person."
Although Assistant Liu was surprised it was about the ignored princess but more so because it was his first time being ordered using that kind of tone and worst about something other than work, he couldn't help but ask,
"May I ask what it is that requires my personal delivery?"
Queen Luna took out a case from her dimensional ring. The case was made of celestial, hyper-clear glass that defied reality.looking into it was like staring into an empty vacuum, as if the light passing through dissolved into nothingness; yet the box offered an unobstructed, vivid vjew of everything lying underneath, wraping the light just enough to give the floor below a surreal ,shimmering glow.
Liu was dumbfounded staring at the box unable to shake his intense gaze till her majesty finally started talking snapping him back to reality.
"This is something I prepared for my daughter myself; it's perfect for her current powers. Using this, no one will dare look down on her for having a weak magic. But that's only if she truly came back to being the one i know"
"Excuse my rudeness...but if you had something like that, why didn't you give it to her before? Why now of all times?" Assistant Liu asked.
"You're excused...answering your question is actually quite simple, even if she is the daughter I adore and gave birth to, but the previous her simply didn't deserve to take this chance." Queen Luna placed her hand over the box, thinking,
She had a weird calculating smile drawn on her face ,'Maybe I picked up some bad habits from Jevon without realizing it.'
"Anyway…take this box secretly to Serenity. I will give you a dimensional sack full of stuff...remember, never open it, and never try to open this box. If you do, I will kill you myself."
Assistant Liu felt scared of Queen Luna for the first time in the decade he worked under her; he just nodded his head.
"Remember tomorrow morning at best. If you're late, don't blame me for what happens next, and also you need to make sure she activate it before uou leave otherwise come back with everything you walked away with today ,You may leave now."
"As you wish," Assistant Liu took everything into his personal dimensional ring and headed to REGIS to meet with the princess with only one thought,
'Judging by the current advance of events, there might be a major change in the nine worlds soon enough '
The queen was standing on her balcony watching the sunset. 'Serenity, my dear child, only you, who regained her memories, will understand what that box means. I will never allow you to feel inferior to anyone; but you must prove you are worth beeing my daughter one again.'