Coronation day - Royal Castle of Ceadric at the capital Cedra

"So the day is finally here! You could not believe how long I waited for this." the prince looked at himself in the mirror. He was wearing a royal red tunic with white leggings. Lindzie was by his side, looking carefully any small details, wrinkles and such on the prince's outfit.

"We all have your Majesty!" the human girl smiled at Charles.

"Please Lindzie! Just stick with Charles as always! It's awkward to have you call me that." implied the Prince.

"You are now a symbol of authority and respect. Although I am your childhood friend,.. No! Especially because I am your friend, I must show them that you are the king, my king." affirmed Lindzie.

"You are more than just a friend to me Lindzie." said Charles.

After a short moment of silence, the girl finally understood what the prince was implying. They were friends since birth and she was always the first to understand him. But perhaps now she wished she did not and could just ignore what he just said. Still she could not.

"You Majesty....I... I don't know what to say!" Lindzie spoke haltingly.

Her cheeks were now redden as she tried to turn her head away from the prince's gaze.

"Wow! Out of all the time to confess, you just have to do it now! I never understand how royalties think." a young voice spoke.

The voice, as if a bell rang to bring these two persons back to reality, reminded them that they were not alone in the room. On the couch sit the two girls and a young boy whom the prince recently recruited to their side. Perhaps 'recruit' is not the right word. It was more like a mutual interest between the two parties.

Alastor turned to Helmund and the others who were also in the same.

"Well at least the future of Ceadric seems to be ascertain." joked Alastor.

"Not until we deal with Archduke Veldor!" proclaimed Helmund.

"Today will be the most crucial day. It's his last chance to interfere with Charles. But honestly I don't see how he could it. Even if for some reasons, he managed to assassinate Charles, he still has no place to the throne. I just don't see why he would do this." Ikarus explained her anxiety.

"You are right Ikarus! And there is the matter of the scroll I gave to you prince Charles! Why would he let such an important piece of evidence in the hands of a few bandits? And the spies we caught all have something that can be easily traced back to the Archduke. It's like he is intentionally trying to be caught. That just makes no sense.

Whatever the case you have to be extra careful today. Me and Stella will be accompanying you by your side as your bodyguards. Ikarus will check from the sky area and she should have a clear vision of everything. Helmund, Lindzie and the others will be among the guests, making sure to root out possible threats.

Charles, during the ceremony Veldor would be at his closest to you. Although I highly doubt that Veldor will dare to openly attack you in front of millions of people, you have to watch out for him. He might has some tricks up his sleeves." said Alastor.

"Of course! And I want to thank you Alastor, for upholding your promises. Ceadric will forever remember your help. I will make sure of that!" said Charles. He slightly bowed his head to Alastor to express his gratitude for the boy who saved his lives so many times for the last few days.

"No need to thank me, your Majesty! We have a common enemy and I merely give you my assistance. You just need to uphold your part: leave the Archduke to me!" exclaimed the boy.

Then someone knocked on the door. "Your Majesty! It's time for the ceremony!"

Now that everyone was ready, they began to move out. The prince walked out of the room, followed by Helmund and a few others guards. As Alastor stood up and began to leave, Lindzie held his hand back.

"Alastor! I still don't trust you one bit. We know nothing about your past and where you even come from. But right now you are the only person who can protect Charles. So I ask you this: please protect him with all you can! Because if something happens to him, I will chase you down to the end of the world! Remember that!" affirmed the human girl.

But Alastor did not answer. He simply smiled at the girl before moving out.

.....

.....

.....

The coronation took place inside the main court room, assembling all nobles from across the country. A grand extravagant red carpet lay in the middle of room, leading from the gate to the throne above the stairs. Two maidens in white walked through the grand hall, spreading rose petals as they passed by on the two sides. A young man walked right behind them with two of his guards, who were none other than Alastor and Stella with Alastor in a black attire and Stella in a white one.

At the end of the path, an old man was holding the crown, standing right in front of the throne. He was a member of the Council of Ceadric who served as the personal advisors of the king. They were also in charge of ensuring the passing of the crown to the next king, following the last king's will and making sure that the true heir would be sitting on the throne.

Beside them stood the Archduke Veldor. An old man who could barely stand up by himself with his cane. One look at him could tell that he was already one feet into the grave. What could he possibly want with a throne where he barely had a few months left to live? His eyes followed carefully as the prince walked up to the stairs toward the throne. The prince knelt down before the old man holding the crown.

The old man carefully and slowly placed the crown on the prince's head. With it he proclaimed.

"Sirs and Madams, I here present unto you: king CHARLES NOCTUGAL, First of his name. Wherefore all you who are come this day to do your homage and service. Are you willing to do the same?"

Everyone inside the court shouted and clapped their hand in joy, showing their willingness and allegiance to the new King. The guards blew their trumpets, echoing the entire castle. This showed that the ceremony has gone without obstacle and a new king has been appointed. The people gathering outside the castle, the commoners screamed the name of their new king. A happy scene indeed. Until it was interrupted by an explosion inside the castle.

A dagger was thrown toward Charles but it was caught by the hand of a child, Alastor. He quickly threw it back to where it came from, stabbing the neck of one of the assassin hiding among the crowd. Blood gushed out as he fell to the ground, dead.

Several men in black jumped inside the court room. A few of the knights were stabbed in the back by one of their own. They were men of the Archduke disguised as the royal guards.

The royal guards quickly ran to protect the Council and their King, separating them from the crowd. Some escaped immediately. Others stayed trying to find out what was going on.

Chaos ruled the atmosphere inside the hall as the screams of joy were not replaced with fear and terror. Alastor quickly sent several orbs orbiting around the prince. These elemental orbs would provide him with protection against mages.

"Today I will be the new king of Ceadric. Bring me the false king's head!" the Archduke shouted to his followers with all of his pitiful force, making everyone looking at him.

"You dare!!!" roared the royal knights and the Council."Guards! Capture him!"

But Veldor smashed the ground surrounding him with a single strike of his cane, breaking a portion of the floor and bringing down the knights with it.

"None shall stop me!" he screamed as he raised his cane and cast another spell. This time it was a lightning spell in the form of a spear. He threw it toward the prince, only for it to be destroyed by the orb floating around. He tried a few others but none of them worked. Strangely he did not panic but simply grinned menacingly.

Three assassins dashed toward Charles from three directions, drawing their blades. But they were easily stopped by Helmund and Lindzie. The third one was pierced in mid air by Stella and fell down on the floor. Seeing their comrades falling easily, the others assassins abandoned what they were doing and all targeted the Charles.

As Lindzie and the others were keeping the prince inside a human barrier, Alastor simply stood there motionless. From an outsider's point of view, it could be misinterpreted as a child who was too scared to move from his position. But Alastor was no common child. What made him puzzled was the Archduke's actions. He did not expect him to do something this openly. And the assassins were too easy to deal with. Sure they might lose a few men and guards but none would be able to reach the prince. The duke surely must have learnt that by now considering he lost so many men at Helios. But then why?

"Something is not right!" he mumbled to himself as he looked at the old Archduke.

From his sleeves, the archduke brought out an old lantern with a blue flame inside.

'What is that?' thought Alastor as he observed what that object was and why would the archduke bring it here? But his thought was interrupted by Stella.

"Alastor! Stay away from that lantern! It will absorb your soul into it!" yelled the doll.

"What? How do you know about it?" asked a confused Alastor.

"There is no time to explain! Now we need to keep the prince away from it!" answered Stella after killing one of the assassin.

At that moment, Alastor understood everything. Why the archduke did not even try to hide the evidences. Why he would dare attacking the prince in broad day light. It was all because of that lantern. The archduke was not after the prince's life. He was after the prince's body.

The old man raised the lantern and pointed one side at himself and the other at the prince. Then he murmured: ""

A blue flame came out of the archduke. As the archduke's tiny flame fly toward the prince's body, someone pushed the newly appointed king out of the way. It was Alastor. He made a promise to protect Charles and a promise was a promise.

As the flame entered him, both the Archduke and Alastor fell down unconscious.

* * *

Inside the Abyss

"Where the hell am I?" an old man was lying on the ground, surrounded by a black mist.

The archduke thought he was inside the prince. He thought he already succeeded his plan. But then he remembered that a boy has pushed the prince out of the way. Did this mean that he was now inside that boy? Then what the hell was this place?

"Damn it! That brat dared interfering with my plan. I will make sure he never woke up again!" he grunted.

An old man he might be, he was still a master of magic. He has done a lot of research on the soul for this plan to work. He has even tested the lantern on several servants to see how it worked.

For every time, he just needed to find and destroy the soul of the body owner before he could take it over. And he could use the lantern again to come back to the original body.

Although each person had a different space, usually he would just end up right in front of the victim' soul. However in this case he ended up in an unknown place with nothing in sight because of this black mist.

"" the old man floated in the air and decided to fly toward a direction. He started to lose his patience as it has been hours since he came here but still nothing. Then he saw someone coming toward him. It was a beastman in an armor. He was accompanied by several shadowy entities and a beautiful elf woman. Then they saw him.

"Hum I don't recognize you from around here. Asmodeus you know who this guy is? He seems to be in his true form but I have never seen Alastor with him." asked the beastman.

But a single glance from the woman and she changed her attitude. What seemed to be a graceful expression on her face previously now turned to a grim one.

"No! He is not one of us! I know everyone Alastor met in this place. And he is definitely not one of them." the woman confirmed.

The shadows looked curiously at the confused old man. Inside his head, he could not understand what was happening around him. First he ended up in a strange desolate place. Now there were creepy peoples all around him. Each of them had a terrifying aura, especially the woman.

"Get him boys!" shouted Beelzebub.

The shadows all dash toward the old man. Lucky for him, he managed to evade them in time by flying on air.

"What the hell are those things? They are...dangerous. I must get away from here!"

But to his disbelief, he now saw hundreds of shadows floating on the ground right under him, each with two shining eyes looking at him. And now they were flying toward him.

.....

All kinds of different spell were targeting the poor old soul. If he did not receive an incredible boost from the lamp for his soul form, he would be dead by now. But then.

A large burning rock fell from the sky and hit the ground. In an instant everything was blast away, including the shadows and the old man.

"Nyx! Do you want to kill us too???" shouted Asmodeus at the wizard.

"But you did not didn't you?" laughed the old sage.

The archduke tried to stand up again. He was lightly injured since he cast a barrier in time and the explosion was far from his position. The shadows were now dispersed thanks to the blast. It was his chance to move.

But now that he realized it. He was blast againt something. Something hard. But he could not see anything in front of him. Until he looked up. A shadowy dragon was staring down at him.

"So we have a rat sneaking around here! Perhaps I should use my power!" the dragon grinned looking down on his tiny foe.

"NOOO!" every shadow around screamed at Xenes.

'A dragon. There is a freaking dragon in front of me' Veldor's thoughts started going wild at the mere sight of the beast. He tried to run away, only to find himself in front of a cliff.

But he did not have a choice. Staying here would just get him killed. He could use to reach of the bottom of this cliff. In any case, it could not be worse than staying here. And so he jumped down.

"See ? Now he got away because of you!" Asmodeus said angrily.

"No need to worry! Did you forget what is down there?" Nyx said calmly while brushing his long white beard.

"Ah shit! Now I feel pity for the guy!" said Beelzebub.

* * *

After hours of free fall, the old duke finally reached the bottom of the cliff. Thanks to his spell, he managed to land safely on the ground.

"What the hell was that? A defense mechanism of the soul? Could this boy be a Soul mage?" he asked himself, remembering the horror he saw above.

To protect themselves from others soul mages, a soul mage often implanted several defensive spells inside his mind so the intruder would not be able to reach or interact with their soul. But the archduke has never heard of something like this, not at this scale: an army of shadows inside a realm of darkness.

And again he found himself in another unknown place. The mist was even thicker down here. He could barely see what was in front of him.

But then he found it. A giant gate in the middle of nowhere. This was what he was looking for. Every soul was protected, usually hided behind something in the form of a door. The door could not be opened in normal case but with the lantern, the passage was clear.

He pushed it with all of his strength and the door opened a bit and shown a glance of what was inside. From the crack between the doors, he could see a giant bonfire, burning intensively in the middle of darkness.

"Incredible! This boy' soul is huge!" but his joy was cut short sighted by a creaking sound.

From behind him, the sound of armor clacking against each other could be heard, followed by the sound of something heavy being dragged on the ground. The old man could feel the chill on his spines.

Fear. That was what best described what he was feeling at this time. Intense fear of death. He looked back and he saw the source of the strange sound: a walking armor with no face. Then it spoke to him in an inhuman voice.

"You...do NOT... BELONG HERE!"

The knight roared in a scream of anger as black smoke poured out of the faceless helmet. He sprinted toward the old man, continuing to drag his great sword on the ground. With a single lift of his arm, the old man was blast toward to sky. Luckily Veldor was able to remain on air thanks to his spell. But he did not escape unharmed. It seemed several of his bones were broken just from the hit.

He could not take on this knight in close combat. Staying on air would be the best strategy against him. From above he cast several ice lances toward the knight. But the chevalier did not even try to defend or deflect the lances, he took it all on his body. His body, now pinned to the ground by the lance, was fulled of wholes. Yet he did not bleed. Only a black smoke was pouring out from the whole, accompanied by a painful and enraged growl.

"" the knight murmured.

The knight shook his body, breaking all the icy lances in an instant. The black smoke that came out of him now started to come back to his body.

"What kind of monster are you???" shouted in terror Veldor. He continued bombarding the area with numerous spells but the knight just regenerated in the end.

"Are you...done? Then die!" as he said, the knight raised his great sword above his head. The sword grew bigger and bigger before it became a twenty foot sword raising toward the sky made of darkness and gave a purple glow.

Veldor could not believe what he was seeing. But this was no time to be amazed by your opponent. The sword now was much higher than where he was on air and it was starting to fall down on him. The old man cast a barrier to protect himself. Could he resist against this attack?

As the sword collided against the barrier, an wave of dark explosion blast away everything around the old man. But he did not escape unharmed. The attack has pierced the barrier a bit and he was heavily injured by it. If not for his barrier, he would have been disintegrated by now. He lay half unconscious on the ground. All he could hear was the sound of foot steps and clacking armor coming closer to him. With his feeble hands, he tried to crawl away. But it did not last long.

"The flame...must...go on!" the knight raised his great sword and stabbed the old man in his chest.

"ARGHHH! It hurts!!!! It hurts!!!!" the archduke screamed in pain. But one could not simply die in soul form. The only way to get out was taking control of this body.

Thanks to the lantern he could still stay alive but the pain was real and it stayed. But now because of it he was trapped in this place. Not even death could help him escape from here.

The knight lifted his sword and placed it on his shoulder, still with the old man impaled on it, screaming in pain. He walked toward the door and fully opened it.

The flame burned even more intensively. Perhaps it sensed that it was in danger.

"You...are...safe now... little flame!" Said softly the knight. He turned back to the man impaled on his sword. The knight moved his sword right above the flame.

The old man's robe started to catch the fire under him. The fire spread from his legs to his body. Now His entire body was on fire.

"ARGHHHH! Hot Hot! It burns!" the old man screamed as his entire body was burned inside out. Even fire cam out of his mouth. He struggled as hard as he could to pull the sword out and it did not budge. He could not do anything but move his limbs aimlessly until there was nothing but the ashes left.

"The flame...must..go on!"

* * *

"ALASTOR! Please wake up!"

Alastor could hear something shouting at him. His vision was a bit blurry. But he could feel his body being heavily shaking by two beautiful girls.

"Ah this must be paradise!" he mumbled with a grin on his face.

"Stop joking around! You make us worry too much!" something wet dropped on his face. The celestial Ikarus was using all of her power to heal him but when it did not work she panicked and started crying. Now seeing him alive and well could not bring her a better joy.

Stella was also by his side. Although she did not cry, perhaps because she was a doll, she showed a distressed expression on her face. She finally gave out a relief breath, seeing that her master was fine.

"What happened?" Alastor asked.

"Veldor tried to use the Anima Lantern on the prince to take over his body. But when you pushed Charles away, it hit you instead." Stella murmured to my ears. "I thought he took over your body but I guess a demon lord's body was too much for him".

"How do you know about that lantern Stella?" Alastor asked. He remembered that the girl knew what that was even before the archduke used it.

"It was one of the Artefacts father created. As one of his creations, I obviously know about it." Stella explained.

"Father? Do you mean the Artificer?" Alastor emphasized. He knew the Artificer was responsible for the creation of many wonders in the world but this. This was something he did not know at all.

"Yes. But it's not important right now. I have already taken in using the chaotic situation. We can have as much time as we want to study it later. But now we have some unfinished business." Stella pointed to a trembling old man hiding in the corner, surrounded by the royal knights.

It seemed that ever since the Archduke awoke, he was screaming as if he was in pain. But no one could understand what he was talking about. Dragon, demons, shadows. Who could know what they were inside a mad man's mind.

Alastor stood up. He still felt a little sore but it was manageable. Then someone came over to him.

"Alastor! I am glad you are okay! When I saw you fell down, I thought it was it. But now look at you! Good as new!" said the now king of Ceadric Charles the First.

"Your Majesty, I am fine as you can see. More importantly what about the Archduke? Did he spill something?" asked Alastor.

"Yes. He wakes up before you so I have a little time to interrogate him. It was hard since the man seemed to be completely out of his mind right now but I managed to get a name: Terrick" answered the king.

"Terrick? Who is that?"

"A bishop who serves as the ambassador from the Church of Light in Cedra. I have also sent men to bring him in. You have nothing to worry about." reassured the king.

"Please tell me where he lives. I will go there myself!" said Alastor.

* * *

Bishop Terrick' residence in Cedra

A man in a white priest garb was running across his home. He wanted to destroy all the evidences that could possibly link him to the Archduke. As he rushed through all the documents, he continuously cursed the old Archduke.

"Damn that bastard! My plan was perfect! I even gave him all the tools he needed. And yet he failed, miserably. And that damn brat! How dare you interfere?"

Suddenly he could hear footsteps from outside the room. Could it be the royal guards were already here to catch him? No impossible. He left immediately after he saw that Veldor has been caught. They could not come here that quickly. But again judging from the footsteps, there was only one person outside. Why would only one guard come? Unless.

The door slowly opened with the creaking sound of the old wood. A pale woman walked in. She wore a curious set of cloth: a leather attire in black with a long coat covering her legs, a tricorn hat and two swords, each on each side of her garb.

Just a look at her made the priest gone grim completely.

"Maria? Is that you?" Terrick said with a trembling voice.

"Hello Father Terrick! It's so nice to see you again! How long has it been? Eleven years?" grinned maliciously the woman.

"What... are you doing here? I thought you di..."

"Died? I am hard to kill you know. Actually you should know. You make me this way Father!" the smile from Maria's face disappeared. Instead was an enraged look burning in her eyes.

"You...demon!" Terrick continued to walk back until he was cornered by the desk behind him.

"I wonder which of us is the real demon Father! But no more idle chatting. Tell me where he is! Now!" shouted Maria.

"I...can't. I don't know where he is!"

"Don't lie to me Father! If you tell me, I will make sure that your death will be painless. If not believe that I will make you regret the day you are born!"

"I....I can't"

"So be it!"

From outside the room, the scream of a man could be heard throughout the entire mansion. The scream was filled with agony and pain. He knew he would not walk out of this place alive. When he could no longer endure it, he begged to be killed. But Maria would not give him that small wish. She made sure he would have a taste of what he has done to her.

.....

.....

.....

The sound of something being stabbed on the table repetitively. Again and again.

"Milady..." a disembodied voice spoke.

But the sound continued.

"MILADY"

"WHAT?" shouted Maria.

"He is already dead a few minutes ago! Stabbing him won't do much now!"

Maria looked at the mess in front of her. What was once a human could no longer be seen as one. Now it was just a pile of bloody flesh. She took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. She tried to find her calmness.

"Fine! Did you find anything useful?" asked Maria.

"A few documents linking the Bishop to the Archduke and...." Scarlet stopped mid sentence.

"And what?" insisted Maria.

"And this milady!" from the shadow Scarlet took form. It was a girl in her twenties with long dark hair. What was most usual about her was her left eye: it was red as blood. Unlike the other one which was simply black. She handed a parchment to Maria.

As Maria read through it, she grinned her teeth in anger. When she finished it, she crushed the paper.

"Those bastards! They are still doing it!" she raged.

Maria looked back at Terrick's corpse on the desk, or what was left of it. She kicked down the table, venting her rage. But something fell from the corpse on the floor. It was a pendant. Scarlet looked at it curiously and took it.

"An interesting pendant! It won't be useful for him now so might as well take it!" she said.

Suddenly the two could hear the door at the entrance being smashed opened. As they walked out of the room in a hurry, the two finally met: Maria and Alastor.

"Stop where you are!" shouted Alastor as he prepared an attack.

When he saw Maria throwing something at him, he thought it was a bomb but it was only a scroll of paper.

"That would help you. Consider it a gift from me!" Maria smiled at the boy.

But Alastor did not pay attention to it. He ran toward the woman to catch her but when he did, the two women were covered by shadow before completely disappear.

.....

.....

.....

"That was close. I did not want for us to meet him so soon. Anyway did you take a good look at him Scarlet?" said Maria.

Scarlet carefully touched her red eye as if she wanted to confirm something. Then she spoke

"Yes. He also has it. The same as the villagers. The Curse of Memories!"