Dawn- An age of Darkness

Turns out, as long as you had permission from the dark elves, you could basically come and go in the forest without worrying about anything and that included flying. 

But the dark elves didn't just hand over permission that easily. If that was true then the people of this country wouldn't have had to carry around those magic balls just to get around the forest. 

Apparently, there were some deep secrets within this forest and that's why the elves kept all the secret places, well, secret. 

Ve kind of beat all the dark elves into submission though and hence she could move freely. So, technically I had a cult of dark elves following me around without even noticing. Of course, that was only true as long as I was inside a forest. And some dark elves could even use something called forest-shadow magic allowing them to travel from one forest to another- within a set amount of distance. I didn't know why but that sounded like a totally broken skill: I wanted it. 'I'll have to make friends with them later.'

I sighed but I had to admit, having Ve as an ally really made my life easy. 'Guess I'll thank that flying lizard the next time I meet him.' I didn't want to meet him though.

And for once I didn't actually lose allies. Which was both good and scary. What if something bad happened next? My life always kind of got messed up whenever I felt like life wasn't so bad. 

'Maybe I should bid them farewell once I get to the friend of the geezer.'

After all, no one really had any reason to stick with me. Ve perhaps was ordered to by her father. Biteria was attached to me and she was my bunny. But Alisa and the half-elf didn't have any reason to stay with me: I'd bid the half-elf farewell after getting that land in Destoa. 

Alisa on the other hand didn't have any need of me anymore. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself and I was going to have to challenge the demon emperor in three months anyway. I didn't want my companions to be with me at the time and die. 

I couldn't ask that much of them. I couldn't ask them to die.

Actually, come to think of it, why did my companions follow me? 

"You seem rather quiet. Did you finally get rid of your fear of heights?" Alisa tapped me from behind. 

Which reminded me. 

"AHHHH!"

***

We reached Saram by noon. Ve, after a long while finally stabilized as we hovered over the castle-manor thingy. 

My companions all gave me blank stares.

I wasn't sorry for having my fear of heights, no sir!

There were plenty of people out in the streets and some were waving rather nicely at us. I could see them well enough. My vision really was amazing. 

I was definitely not boasting.

Anyway, we got down, went to the throne room. The earl had somewhere from being amused to a nervous smile. 

Alisa gave him a brief report, omitting all the juicy details. 

Finally, after sighing he stood up. "So, she's really passed on, huh? I did relay it to father and he kind of cut the communication immediately. We later got the info that he was preparing for another war. But Marcus kind of took care of everything and father seems to be calm right now: he finally accepted that his favorite daughter is dead." He shrugged with a snort.  "Let's take this chance and just get the mystic stuff from the treasury." He winked. "And some extra ones too." He double-winked. 

Wait, wait, hold up!

Who the hell is Marcus! 

And didn't these guys know that she was a vampire and technically died because of me? Now granted, even I didn't know, but that didn't mean I wasn't responsible. And this was the perfect chance for them to blame me?

So, how come they weren't?

And why was I disappointed that they didn't!?

Alisa cleared her throat and elbowed me. "So, now we're heading to the capital?"

I was kind of in the clouds but the stabbing pain in my stomach brought me back to reality. 

"Yes."

And so, another round of screaming began.

***

The capital was kind just like how I last saw it. People were going about their day and looked pretty jolly, just like we'd seen them before the whole war fiasco. They didn't really care about their royals I guess. 

But the heat- yeah, my skin was burning. Just screaming around wasn't going to get me anywhere. So I started to sigh and groan too. 

When we got down, the dark knight- or rather, Marcus came to pick us up. He didn't say much but apparently, the king would grant us an audience. I kind of had a bad feeling but after coming this far, I couldn't just turn tails and run away either. 

The palace was kind of different though. People had heavy moods and some were even shedding tears here and there. Probably crocodile tears but I couldn't be too sure. 

"Hasn't it been already more than a week?" I whispered to my right. 

"Dwarves mourn their dead for fourteen days," The earl whispered back. "My sister was really beautiful and loved." His voice was kind of flat. 

That was news to me. 

Once we made it to the throne room, we saw the king. There weren't many nobles in here and the soldiers didn't number much either. So far, they showed no sign of hostility. 

The king was kind of glaring at me but he didn't say anything.

We all bowed and exchanged pleasantries. They weren't that pleasant though. 

"Just take whatever and leave. We wish to have no relation with you or your country." He was almost crying but his voice was rather steady. Once he said that he got up and started leaving.

I'd seen enough lies and political ploys but this was probably the most convincing one. It was almost as though he mourned his daughter's death. 

"Saves time then. Thank you." I bowed. "I did try my best but I'm sorry my powers weren't sufficient enough. I tried my best."

With that said, I turned around and headed for the door. 

I heard a sigh from the guy but he didn't say anything. 

Once outside, Alisa proudly grinned. "Looks like you've grown."

Even my own mother was never this proud of me.

***

Two soldiers and the dark knight led us to the treasury. 

When I talked to him about what he said to the king, he replied, 'What was needed.'

I did not get the guy at all. For the time being though, he wasn't my enemy. 

But I was glad things were working out. Of course, I never trusted any of them and I didn't let my guard down either. I wouldn't have been surprised if there happened to be an army just waiting inside the treasury to attack us or something. 

It was stupid, yes, but people were stupid anyway.

The doors started to open and with a gulp, I prepared to imbue my body: I had my trusty knife and I was confident in my skills. I could only last for 3 minutes but it was better than nothing. My armor was still being cleaned but I really wanted it right now.

Just as I was about to take my fighting stance, I saw it. A shining gauntlet in a sea of gold. There were jewels, weapons, and armor everywhere. But among everything, just one thing caught my eye and that was a gauntlet giving up a faint silver light and a bunch of other small different colored glows.

Apparently, there weren't any armies inside the vault. 

***

"So that's the item?" I actually thought it'd be more of a weapon but this one turned out to be a gauntlet. 

I for once was glad because this way at least I wouldn't have had to learn how to use something new. 

"Let's go inside."

The minister and Zack stayed behind while, Alisa, Ve, and the Earl entered with me. Bringing the minister kind of didn't work out though. After all, if Dqaram didn't want to do relationships with Xylax then was what the point of him being here?

The duke did show interest though, so maybe…

Even the soldiers weren't permitted in apart from the royals of this palace. Which meant, there really weren't any armies inside. Meaning, my being inside, was also kind of breaking the law of this place. 

I didn't care though. 

"Try it on," Alisa said. 

The earl tried to get the thing for me but he couldn't lift it. 

But the moment I touched the gauntlet- it glowed brightly. There was a white gemstone in the middle and the whole gauntlet was made of shining bluish silver. There were also five different colored smaller stones on each finger. 

Just by lifting it up, I could tell, this wasn't just a typical mystic equipment. There had to be more. I could feel Trerortra's mana but there was a lot more than just that.

'This is incredible!'