Lindyss gasped as frigid air rushed passed her face. She plummeted towards the sea of white below her and gritted her teeth as a translucent blue membrane enveloped her body. Her hair fluttered behind her as she fell through the clouds. She frowned when she saw the land beneath her. Did Exzenter send me to- No… What did Vur do this time?

A fang shaped rune appeared on her forehead and it, along with her eyes, glowed with a purple light. A pair of translucent violet batwings materialized in the air behind her back, spanning the length of two grown adults. Her wings flapped as she hovered in the air, observing Niffle. A trail of destruction started from one end of the city to a collapsed crater on the opposite edge. A few charred and collapsed piles of wood were all that remained of buildings on the line of destruction.

Lindyss sighed and flew towards the crater, while rubbing her temples.

###################################################################

“This aura…,” Stella muttered and frowned as she floated in the air. She was watching Vur experiment with the lightning elemental when her eyes narrowed and she raised her head towards the sky. “It’s her.” She clenched her hands as her eyes turned blood-red. Her horns let out a black glow and her clothes rippled around her.

“It’s Au-,” Vur said as he raised his head and instantly lowered it again with a groan. The hemisphere of mist around Vur and the fairies trembled before dispersing. Lindyss descended in front of Vur, separating him from Stella.

“What did you do to him?” Lindyss asked while baring her teeth as lightning crackled down her arm.

Stella snorted and a tendril of black smoke flew towards Lindyss. “You should worry about yourself, witch.”

Lindyss pointed her arm towards the smoke and lightning flowed to her palm.

“Silence.”

The lightning in Lindyss’ hand dispersed and her vision went white as a piercing pain drilled her head. The black smoke enveloped her, causing her to cough and hack before she fell to the floor.

“Did you forget my specialty after four hundred years of lazing around?” Stella asked as she descended to the ground and sauntered towards Lindyss. “I didn’t forget. I will never forget that day you took everything from me. Every day, I’d curse you in my head, even as the demons tortured me.” Stella emanated a black mist as she loomed over Lindyss’ body.

Lindyss clutched at her throat, trying to grasp the smoke around her neck to no avail. Her face turned red and veins bulged around her neck. She looked up at Stella with wide eyes.

“Stop! You can’t hurt Auntie,” Vur said. His eyes glowed golden and a faint image of a blue dragon head materialized in the air above him.

Stella turned her head towards Vur and raised her arm. “Sleep.”

Vur’s eyes widened and his body grew heavy. His head drooped and his shoulders twitched as he struggled to stay standing. He took three steps forward before falling forward.

Stella turned her head back to Lindyss. “I’m not going to kill you,” she said as she smiled and the black smoke receded. “That’d be too merciful.”

Lindyss shivered as she looked into Stella’s blood-red eyes. She gasped for breath and propped her upper body up with her elbow. Stella placed her palm on Lindyss’ forehead. Lindyss convulsed as a red glow flowed into her body. Her eyes rolled up until only the whites were showing and she let out a low moan. Her eyes turned pink, then red as saliva dripped from her mouth.

Stella smiled as she took a step back and turned towards the fairy trio. She extended her hand towards them. “Come, let’s enjoy the show.” Her eyes were no longer red, but her horns still shone with a black light.

The trio glanced at each other and trembled before nodding. They floated behind their mother as she flew into the sky. Yella glanced back at Vur and let out a sigh. She waved her hand and a hemisphere of smoke enveloped his sleeping body. Lindyss let out a howl and red batwings flared up behind her.

###################################################################

“Father died?” Loffel asked. His eyebrows were furrowed as he frowned at the man in front of him. Loffel and Gabel sat on a couch in a red carpeted room. A man and woman, both wearing black clothes with purple crossed horns embroidery on their front pockets, sat across from the princes. The man nodded as he placed his elbows on the table and propped his chin up with his knuckles.

“He was killed by Chad of the Black Hounds,” the man said and let out a sigh, “and neither of you are strong enough to lead the nation.”

“Bring him back,” Gabel said and glared at the man. “How am I supposed to prove my strength if he’s already dead?”

The woman frowned and narrowed her eyes at Gabel. She opened her mouth to speak, but the man raised his hand in front of her face.

“We tried. His soul was thoroughly dispersed. Even a phoenix down couldn’t bring him back,” the man said, ignoring the woman’s glare. “For now, the general populace doesn’t know, but we can’t hide it from them forever. W-“

“Then who’s going to be the demon lord?” Gable asked, interrupting the man.

The man’s knuckles cracked. “Not you,” he said and smiled. “It’s-“

Boom!

The earth shook and screams pierced the air. More thunderous reverberations echoed through the capital and the windows shattered. Lightning flashed, illuminating the room every two seconds. The walls cracked and dust cascaded from the ceiling. The four demons looked up with mouths agape.

“What’s going on?” asked the man as he stood up and stepped towards the window. Black clouds with coils of red lightning snaking through them blotted out the sky. The city was ablaze and a woman with translucent red batwings hovered in the air above the royal library. Lindyss turned her head towards the castle and stared at the man. His chest tightened and his palms started to sweat. He dove to the side as a blood-red lightning bolt struck inside the room, leaving a crater in the floor and lighting the carpet on fire. The woman cursed as the occupants scrambled to their feet and fled through the door. Guards and mages bustled through the hallways shouting at each other.

The man grabbed a guard and said, “Tell me the situation.”

The guard wrinkled his eyebrows and reached for his sword, but relaxed when he saw the horned emblem on the man’s clothes. “The corrupted one is attacking the capital. Orders have been given for us to put out the fires and try to direct citizens out of harm’s way as the demon lord prepares himself to combat the threat.”

The man’s expression stayed the same as he pat the guard on the shoulder. “Take the princes to a safe area,” he said and turned to the woman. He nodded at her and the two of them left as the guard blocked Gabel and Loffel from following.

“Step aside!” Gabel said. “Don’t you know who I am?”

The guard frowned, but didn’t move. “Their orders precede yours, First Prince. Forgive me.”

Gabel gnashed his teeth, but didn’t say anything.