*****************************

Archdemon Empress Luna

*****************************

"Mother said that you seemed possessed by another entity, and you were not yourself. You weren't cognizant of her actions when she tried to stop you from killing your own father." The summer faerie elaborated as she observed him from the corner of her eye while her attention was on Luna.

Luna was quick to amend her statements. "Empress Ourania was right. It wasn't the Vampire King. but the Blood Beast."

Like a good husband, Apollyon didn't approach them when Luna warned him not to.

She couldn't trust her husband that he wouldn't bombard this young faerie with questions instead of keeping his aerial barriers in place from the Spring Court's attack.

Apollyon was exhausted, and this girl revealed her identity at such an inopportune time, which made her husband distracted from his task.

Nevertheless, Apollyon's sister's tense shoulders relaxed when he kept his distance, and Luna understood why.

Her husband had thrown the girl murderous looks after she stirred his resentment towards his detached mother.

This bitterness flared up out-of-the-blue as if his sister had poked the sleeping dark dragon in his heart for fun.

Crossing his arms, he scowled at her sister. "I didn't remember anything, and I didn't recognize anyone. I am his son!" The volume of his voice rose with every sharp word. "She shouldn't have been there for me when I needed her the most."

"I was alone." Apollyon's mouth pinched as he murmured, yet his tone was merciless. "The truth is she just wanted to deny that she left me because she wanted to save her hide and start a new life—start a new family-- in the Faerie Realm because she hated my father and me."

As if his sister had also sympathized when she saw a glimpse of vulnerability in his eyes before he went stone-cold again, she whispered. "You have to see her for yourself in the Summer Castle, brother. Empress Ourania and our grandparents wanted to see you."

The young lady stood in front of Luna and settled her small, caramel hands on her outstretched palms.

It wasn't the compulsion magic that gave her the courage to walk towards her, but she desired to let his grandfather and Empress Ourania meet her older brother.

She was risking her life coming here to send them a message, and she was grateful for that.

"Are you ready, sister?"

"Yes."

"Close your eyes, sister," Luna ordered before letting her eyes fall shut, expecting the girl to do the same. "Think of a specific place in the Summer Courts where you wanted us to land and project this thought towards me as if you are sending a telepathic message."

The summer faerie obeyed. "Yes, Empress."

Luna's eyebrows knitted in confusion when she was shown three locations at the same time as she probed the girl's thoughts— an old woman with her dark hair tied up in a bun in a lilac dress as she played with the sparkling waves by the seashore, a child flying a monstrous kite as she ran through the rolling green hills with tall pine trees on the edges and a young man in the middle of the woods--who Luna thought was a Prince of the Summer Courts based on the gold accessories adorning his forehead, his ears, his neck, and his wrists—as he meditated, sitting on top of the stone while the water fell down his back.

The last image with the waterfalls was the clearest vision she sent through her mind, but this girl should make up her mind.

Luna sighed in disappointment. "I don't want you to think about anything else aside from one location. You have to concentrate, or we might get stuck somewhere else." Luna's tone was blunt but with a hint of affection. "I need your cooperation since this will be the first time I am doing this."

The summer faerie swallowed hard.

"You don't want to be trapped in a limbo full of demons with us by accident, would you?"

Luna's consciousness began to fixate on the memory of the summer faerie, which showed her the final location on where they would land, but her husband's anger kept on clouding her mind that she couldn't focus.

"Husband." Her heartbeat thrashed in her ears when she could sense from the back of her mind that Apollyon's barriers were starting to weaken. "I could sense your dark rage overtaking my mind. You have to learn how to curb them, or we wouldn't get anywhere."

"I apologize, wife." Apollyon gritted his teeth. "I would fight my anger until we arrived at the Summer Courts and meet my lovable mother. When I found out that Empress Ourania was alive, now I was determined to go there myself. There are some things I need to tell the woman who gave birth to me."

The summer faerie couldn't resist speaking to her brother. "I'm glad that you are warming up to the idea of going to the Summer Courts. It's time for you to meet your family."

"Alright." Her chest heaved as she pushed down Apollyon's bleak emotions to the background. "Quiet your mind for a minute."

She opened her eyes when she finally got a clear image of the waterfalls by the woods.

"Atria. Introitu. Aestatis." Four golden orbs floated in the air at the waist level.

The four shining globes were connected by glowing silver lights, forming into a large diamond rotating around Luna and the summer faerie before it embedded on the floor, cutting through the wooden floorboards.

Luna pulled the summer faerie's wrist without any warning and positioned it at the center before slashing one forearm, allowing her blood to drip five times on the ground.

She let out a shocked cry of pain before Luna cut her own palms with her claws and let it trickle.

The Archdemon Magic was now complete.

Luna and Apollyon's sister was now surrounded with dazzling lights as if they were standing on top of a star for a few seconds before the floorboards crumble.

Luna screamed when she fell into the water.