"Nothing," Khrom replied.

Kadyn looked at the two tired faces in front of him and rubbed his temples. Then he lifted his gaze. "Alright, Start searching again in the morning. We've two more days in Orddono. But the last day is quite important and I would need everyone's help in the shop. That means we have just tomorrow to search for the boy." He paused and then said. "You'll take Elora and Zelie with you tomorrow, which will increase the probability of finding the boy. Alright, you can go now."

After the duo left Kadyn remained sitting on his chair, thinking. "Where did he go?" He thought out loud. Then he stood up and started to push the shelf from one side. The entire potion-shelf slid in the opposite direction, revealing a room behind the wall. Kadyn entered the room and closed the shelf again, leaving the dark, cold, silent, and eerie shop behind.

——

"Uhh, hey there," Slyff looked at the newcomer and said awkwardly while still hugging Nefia. Then he slowly separated from her, blushing embarrassedly. Nefia rolled her eyes at him. He was even shier than her.

"Wha… what the hell…"

"Shhhh!" Nefia suddenly vanished from beside Slyff, turning into a cloud of smoke and appeared in front of Cecilia, closing her mouth with her hand. "Do not make a sound." She said with a hushing voice.

Cecilia calmed down and nodded. Only then Nefia took her hand off her mouth and sighed in relief.

"Who the hell is he?" Cecilia asked after a brief silence, pointing at Slyff, staring at him like a predator.

"Uhh," Nefia turned red at her question.

"Oh, hey, I'm Slyff." The boy replied.

"And?" Cecilia stared at him and Nefia with a suspicious expression.

The duo flushed, but the boy collected his courage and said with a determined face. "And, I'm her boyfriend."

"Holy shi...ummm." Nefia once more closed her mouth, suppressing her scream. "I told you to keep silence." She said with an annoyed expression.

"Wow, at last, you got yourself a boyfriend." As soon as Nefia took her hand off her mouth, Cecilia jumped like a dolt and looked at the princess with shining eyes. Then grinned. "Though I never thought that our princess was this secretive, huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Nefia flushed red in embarrassment.

"Hehe, nothing." She grinned and examined the boy in front of him curiously. "Hmmm… handsome face, nice height, oh, beautiful eyes; though you look pretty weak to me."

"That's enough, Cecilia," said Nefia. Then she turned towards Slyff and said. "You need to go before anyone else finds out about you. It won't be good. No one would dare to do anything to me, but..." she looked at the boy with a pleading expression.

Slyff nodded. He looked at Nefia and then Cecilia and sighed. It seemed he had something else to talk to her about. Now he could wait for their next meeting, but he had no idea when that would be, poor guy. He climbed on the windowsill — and looked at the girl he loved — before jumping down.

"Careful!" Nefia said and dashed towards the window. There was a tree outside from which Slyff was going down. The princess sighed in relief. Slyff gazed up after going down and sent a flying kiss towards her. Nefia blushed and also did the same. And then the boy bolted away and vanished into the misty night.

"Awww, so sweet," Cecilia spoke from behind.

"What are you doing here?" Nefia turned around and asked. "It's already past 12 o'clock in the night."

"Happy birthday, princess," Cecilia said. "I thought I would be the first to wish you. To think that someone has beaten me in this."

"Thank you. It means a lot. Thank you so much." She said as she hugged the girl.

"Do you love that boy, princess?" she asked.

"More than anything," Nefia replied without thinking.

"But your father and brother…"

"What about them?" she snorted. "They never cared about me. Why would they care about this?"

"These kinds of matter aren't easy to handle, mistress." When she saw an impatient look on Nefia's face, Cecilia sighed and replied. "Alright, you need to rest, princess. I need to go back."

As she said she glanced towards the window and something flashed inside her eyes. There was a pain on her face, a few tears fell from her eyes; there was a struggle inside those misty pupils, but then her expression became determined.

——

The moon hid under clouds and mist. The weather was cold and foggy and the wind whistled, hitting the face of the walking silhouette under the streetlights. Even with streetlights, it was hard to see beyond ten meters in front of him. The rustles of trees would sound as the gusts of winds would pass. The occasional barks of dogs, and the weird noises of insects.

"Damn, it's cold." Slyff blew the warm breath over his hands occasionally and then folded them around himself. In the silent road, his footsteps echoed as if he was walking inside a closed tunnel, and the cobblestones under his feet screeched, rolling this way and that, from his unintentional kicks.

However, at this moment someone else's footsteps started to sound. Slyff stopped. He examined his surroundings and said with a little fearful voice. "Who's there?"

No one replied. There was a spooky silence on the road that sent a chill through his spine.

He peered this way and that but found no one. He sighed in relief and continued to walk. However, after walking just over ten meters, he again started to hear footsteps. He felt cold in his heart when he realised that someone was following him.

He had heard rumours about demons, vampires, changelings, and all kinds of creatures, who work at night, sucking blood, eating flesh and brain. Some even could take the form of the victim, roaming around the city after killing him. As he thought about it, his heart felt a terror-stricken chill.

"Fuck, I'm useless. Why can't I have fire, lightning, water or other kinds of elements? Why did I get this useless element, about which I've never even heard off?" he muttered and clenched his hand into a fist.

He suppressed the anxiety and fear. "Show yourself!" he shouted. "I know you are following me, demon, or whatever you are, I'll take you on. Come on!"

There was a shadow standing about twenty meters away from him, but he couldn't see it due to the mist. However, strangely it seemed as if the shadow could see him clearly. The shadow held a long sword in its hand and its body was covered in black, head to toe, completely. It peered at Slyff — who was shouting in the middle of the road like a maniac — then sighed and walked away, fading into the mist.

"Hey, why the hell are you shouting like a dolt in the middle of the road?"

Slyff froze in the middle of his shouting. He turned around and eyed the dark silhouette in the darkness. There was only a shadow, no shape, no face. As soon as he saw that eerie figure, Slyff was frightened out of his wits. "Holly shi-shi-shit… who-who are you? Listen to me, I don't have much flesh over my body even if you want to eat me. Furthermore, I have eaten rotten food since I was young. My body is definitely filled with poison. It won't do you any good."

"Bro, did someone hit your head or something?" The shadow walked out of the fog and stared at Slyff with a strange expression. "Do you think I'm some kind of ghoul or something? To think that you would take me as some kind of man-eater… dude."

"It's-it's you!"

"Of course, it's me. Who else?" Khrom replied. "Do you know how much time I wasted just searching for you? Now, come with me. My boss has some work with you."

"Come with you? Come where?" Slyff asked in confusion. Why does he want me to go with him? He thought and his expression hardened. I've heard the man raping man thing quite a few times. Is it something like that? He paled as soon as he thought about it. I'm handsome and have soft skin, nice body. Damn, why didn't I think about it? He must be that kind of a man, or why would he stroll in the middle of the night. Would Nefia accept me after the rape?

"You stay right there!" he shouted towards Khrom who was walking towards him. Khrom halted. "What?" he asked, eyes filled with confusion.

"Please, let me go. There are lots of handsome men around here. You can go find anyone, why me? Though I look handsome, my body is filled with acne. Leave me, please." He said with teary eyes.

Khrom stared at the boy with a blank expression, he couldn't understand his meaning, but when the words sank into his head, his face turned red and anger flashed in his eyes. "You fucking paranoid bitch!" He cursed. "What do you take me for?"

"No, no, stay away from me…"

Whoosh!

Bang!

Khrom didn't waste his time. He hit the boy on the back, and Slyff fell unconscious. Khrom put him on his back and walked towards the shop. He sighed in relief and muttered. "My luck isn't too bad. If I had gone to bed I would have never found this lunatic bitch. I don't know what Kadyn wants from him. He is a complete creep. To think this bastard thought that I…" he sighed and continued to walk.