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The Empress Luna

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It was a long awkward flight with the Archdemon of Sloth towards his Kingdom.

Luna had ridden his winged horse in front of him so she had to straighten her spine so that her heavy Archdemon wings wouldn't touch any part of Sloth.

Her Archdemon wings were an inconvenience, and Luna didn't even know how to use them.

So, here she was, carrying these useless lumps of muscle behind her back.

It felt like she had two four-year-old kids attached to her back muscles from the weight of it.

Luna was like a cursed hunchback lugging around these burdens everywhere without utilizing it for its true purpose: flying.

The Archdemon of Sloth also handed her his 'gift' which he was so proud of: a large egg who changed colours.

Luna watched it with a curious gaze as it settled between her legs as she rode the Pegasus.

She wanted to crack the egg to see what was inside.

When she attempted to knock it from the top, Sloth reached out and pulled her hand away from it.

He had muttered along the lines of, "You shall not wake the sleeping dragon."

Luna narrowed her eyes at the rainbow egg before looking over shoulder. "Is this a baby dragon then?"

The Archdemon just shrugged and refused to answer the question.

"Are you sure this was a gift, or you just wanted to get rid of it?"

Oh great, Luna didn't only acquire Archdemon Magic and train herself to use it properly.

She had to take care of a baby dragon while learning how to open a portal secretly and escape from Hell and reunite with Apollyon.

+++

The fate of all the Upper Realms was in her hands.

She had opened a portal connecting Hell to the Vampire Realms.

It would probably be easy for her to do it again.

Luna shouldn't let these wicked Archdemons cross portals and dimensions to destroy creatures from other Realms for the sake of power and enslavement.

The murals she saw at ceiling…

She knew that it was the Archdemon's mission from the beginning of time: to destroy the world and let the Archdemons reign, erasing all the creatures that would fight against them and turn creatures who had sworn their allegiance into demons.

That wouldn't be so far from the future if she weren't careful.

Luna must prevent that to restore the balance in the Otherworld.

She might be an Archdemon, but her loyalty will always lie towards her husband and the Vampire Realm.

But if Apollyon knew that Luna had turned into an Archdemon, where will Apollyon's loyalty lie?

Would it be the Vampire Realm, the Kingdom he had sworn to protect or would it be Luna-- who became one of the creatures he hated because one Archdemon had possessed and taken a huge timeline of his immortality?

Luna had to make a decision right now.

Where should her loyalties lie?

What if the moment her husband realized that Luna became an Archdemon the moment they see each other again, he would kill her like he had killed Catriona—no questions asked?

She was considering her next step on how to forge ahead with clarity in her mind.

Luna was determined to succeed and come back to Apollyon, and if he didn't like what she had become, then so be it.

She was doing this to protect the Upper Realms, and she will claim the rewards from the gods and the goddesses.

While she cultivated the Archdemon magic bestowed on her to open portals, she should appear strong when she was weak and appear weak when she became stronger.

Luna will become more powerful with grace so as not to alarm them of her hidden plans.

Her head dropped as she covered her face in her hands in disappointment while the Archdemon of Sloth droned on and on about his Kingdom to which he called it 'The Land of the Storms'.

He mentioned that the travel would be longer since it was at the deepest parts of Hell.

The Archdemon of Sloth had lived on the 'Seventh Circles'.

Luna had already seen Ravin's Dark Castle before which was located on top of a cliff while fierce and almost maniacal flames of blue and orange burned below.

She was in Luxen's Kingdom just recently with the hailstorm and arctic snow, similar to the icy Vampire Realm.

Luna was grateful that the Archdemon of Sloth was pretty talkative to fill out the awkward silence.

He overshared how lightning and thunder made him feel energized and alive every time he saw them.

Sloth also said that it made him feel high and his body feeds of that vitality.

Her brows knitted in confusion. "Storms are disruptive and can cause damage, Sloth."

"I'm lazy to do anything." He grumbled. "Sometimes, I just go outside my Castle and wait for the lightning to strike me so that I can be fully awake."

"So did you get struck by lightning before your grand entrance at the throne room?"

"Yes, the electricity in my system is starting to fade, but I can't sleep yet and leave everything to you. At least, I didn't fall asleep and just dropped from the sky out-of-the-blue." He replied. "It happens all the time."

"You are a weirdo."

"An unconscious weirdo who sleeps everywhere--literally."

+++

Luna looked forward towards the dangerous horizon in a calm, steely gaze.

The Archdemon of Sloth wasn't joking when he said it was the Land of the Storms.

Their winged dark Pegasus had a perfect vision despite the dense, black fog as it pranced around the sky, navigating with expertise as it chose to move into the thin smoke with confidence.

The Pegasus clearly knew what it was up against.

The wind currents were too strong that her face was whipped a hundred times by her silver strands.

There was a sudden flash of lightning just in front of her, and Luna screamed simultaneously with the sound of the thunder, hugging her rainbow egg tightly.

She was afraid the lightning would hit it by accident, and the baby dragon might die.

It had started to rain.