Hell it's been a long time. I don't have any excuse for the absence I guess despite being busy with school and lacking motivation at night to write...

As you could have guessed by the update, the story isn't abandonned but I will certainly need some time to readjust myself to writting.

Hope you'll enjoy it and don't hesitate to leave a comment!

* * * * *

Within the heart of a certain forest, the moon’s light gently illuminated a woman’s figure whom eyes remained closed as she lied on the cold grass. A little breeze caressed her cheeks and her hairs move back and forth as she harbored a faint smile.

In normal times, whether it was during daytime or nighttime, a certain degree of noise would be heard… Yet, apart from the sound wind blowing against the trees and grass, not a single sound could be heard.

It was as if the whole forests had fallen asleep, not a single bug, bird or other animal made a single noise, afraid of disturbing the woman.

Any passerby would probably think of it like some kind of fairytale, but the truth was very different.

The woman’s eyes slowly opened and glanced at the starry sky. Nobody knew what she was thinking as she silently observed the sky with her sharp eyes.

*Fuuu*

Releasing her breath, the forest was suddenly filled with activity. Whether it was insects or the small animals living nearby, they all looked in her direction with shock before scattering.

Her presence had vanished as if she had become invisible, but a double of her had appeared and scared the whole forest.

Mystel looked at the double for a few minutes with sharpened eyes, not only analyzing her double features with her eyes but also scanning her with her aura before nodding.

“Humu~ Something of this level should be able to even fool Arsal if he doesn’t pay much attention to it.”

Harboring a sly smile on her lips, Mystel waved her hand and a small paper appeared in front of her. After tracing a few words on the paper with her fingers, the paper floated toward the double and entered its body.

“Kukuku~” Mystel laughed as she made her way into the house.

“Let’s get started”

* * * * *

*tap tap tap*

The sound of footsteps resonated in the house’s corridor and stopped in front of a certain door.

With a wave of her right hand, the door silently opened as Mystel stepped inside. The very moment she stepped inside, the sound of her breathing, as well as her footsteps, had disappeared as if she had become a ghost.

It was a simple bedroom with a closet, a desk, and a large bed if one ignored the various weapons, arrow and various other girly accessories lying here and there.

Mystel’s eyes rested on the giggling small figure innocently sleeping on the bed.

Approaching the sleeping Shina, Mystel smirked while she slowly brushed her hairs, afraid of waking her up.

Sitting beside her, Mystel’s white hand landed on Shina’s cheeks who seized it, appreciating this newfound source of warmth.

Mystel remained speechless. A lot of thoughts crossed her mind as her face turned reddish as if smoke was going to come out of her ears.

“Uhhhh~ She’s so CUTE!”

Is what she wanted to scream to the world, but she barely managed to hold back.

Trying her best to calm down, Mystel took a few breath in and out before removing and carefully taking the sleeping Shina in her arms.

Shina’s body curled up like a tiny animal in her mother’s arms, probably seeking some warmth as she was taken out of her lukewarm bed.

A dark portal opened in front of them as Mystel enjoyed watching her reaction. With a childish smile, she vanished into the portal, leaving a sadistic laughter as it closed behind her.

*Huuh*

Letting out a small groan, Shina slowly woke up. Raising her hands and leisurely rubbing her eyes, she quickly realized after opening her eyes that she wasn’t in her room.

The place was deadly quiet. She couldn’t hear the sound of birds or even the wind as if there was nothing but death in this place. There was in had no roof yet no sky. In fact, there was nothing else but a black ghostly road in this red area.

The surrounding reddish color was became darker as time passed. Adding in the ghostly road, it made her think of a road to hell where demons lurked.

Perhaps it was because she had just woken up and was unable to process what was going on, but Shina didn’t feel any kind of fear. Curling up in the warmth surrounding her, her eyes slowly opened, looking at the warmth sources.

“Mom?...”

Lowering her hand, Mystel smiled as she caressed Shina’s hairs.

“We are almost there but you can go back to sleep if you want, I’ll wake you up.”

Shina shook her head as she tried to get on her feets. Swaying left and right showing she was still disoriented after waking up, she finally managed to regain her balance after seizing her Mystel’s hand.

“Stay close to me and be careful not to fall.”

Nodding with her hand and sticking close to Mystel, Shina slowly regained her spirit and lucidity.

“Was yesterday fun?”

“Yup, I’ve been chased here and there, playing hide and seek with a lot of people. I’ve also made a new friend as well.”

Mystel slightly laughed as she remembered yesterday’s terror in the city. A large number of city guards were running after her all around the city and were beaten till the fact where they had many broken limbs.

‘That was indeed a nice hide and seek game.’

Remembering how she had ‘taken care’ of the guards who were ‘lucky’ enough to find Shina, smiled as Shina hadn’t even realized that in the game… She had been the demon and that the guards who were ‘found’ were dragged to hell by her mother.

“Oh, you made a friend?” Mystel said as she feinted a surprised expression.

“She’s pretty tomboy and cunning, we had some fun playing hide and seek together at the marketplace.”

*Cough Cough*

Restraining her laughter, a flashback of the scene of Eniel running for her life from the guards and trying to steal some fruits on the marketplace came back.

‘I don’t think it really went that way… If I remember correctly your friend of yours looked pretty terrorized, didn’t she?’

Shina’s smiling face suddenly vanished as a certain thought suddenly came across her mind and replaced the smile with a distressed expression.

“Ah, crap… How are we supposed to meet up again? I don’t know where she lives.”

“Is that a problem?” Mystel replied with a composure.

“Just ask some people around, there must definitely be some people who know where she lives.”

Shina shook her head with a difficult face. “Actually… Most of the people I ‘played’ with don’t really want to see me again.”

A ruthless smile formed on Mystel’s face and a small amount of killing intent emanated from her eyes as if it had taken a physical form.

“In that case, just be more persuasive. If you want I can even give you a hand.”

Knowing what her mother had in mind, Shina simply nodded and regained confidence.

Mystel didn’t know that Shina was just trying to tease her all along. From the beginning, she knew that one of her parents was following her, but after hearing Eniel talk about the disappearance of city guards and the bloody areas appearing everywhere in town, she definitely knew it was her mother’s work.

Would it have been her father, he would have done the act swiftly and given them a quick death before forgetting about them and wouldn’t have tried in any ways to hide it; probably using them to set an example.

She knew that her mother liked using method a tad more brutal.

Shina sighed, realizing that she had probably lost most of her humanity. Despite knowing that her parents probably killed hundreds of men that day, she felt absolutely nothing as if it didn’t even concern her.

“Shina?”

Flinching like a frightened animal, Shina quickly realized that her mother had called her several times before yet she hadn’t noticed at all.

“Are you alright?” Mystel asked slightly worried.

“I...am fine.”

Mystel made a wry smile while looking at her little daughter, more or less knowing what kind of thoughts were crossing her mind yet she was unable to help her at all.

‘This is something she has to learn on her own.’

Lightly smacking her cheek, Shina acted as if nothing happened and regained her usual cheerful expression as she looked in front of her, trying to see if she could perceive the end of the road.

“Where are we going?

Having been waiting for this question for a long time, Mystel’s eyes suddenly widened as she lightly laughed.

“Fufufu~ We are going to the ‘Darkened Realm’.”

“Darkwed Realm?”

“Darkened Realm…” She corrected with a small chuckle which made Shina feel slightly embarrassed.

“What is that?” She asked with round eyes

“It’s a place where all kind of demons, monsters, and gods gather, mostly composed of people who oppose your father”

As Mystel replied, a dark grayish light in the form of a door appeared in front of them and opened.

“It seems that we’ve finally arrived.”

Looking at the door, Shina harbored a strange look as she looked at her mother.

“You said it’s composed of people who oppose dad. It means that he doesn’t know about us being here... right?”

“Yup~”

Shina’s face slightly tensed.

“It also means that he is going to be VERY angry at us… right?”

“You bet~”

Recalling a certain event from the past where Arsal was angry at Mystel and almost destroyed the whole forest they were living in, Shina’s face became rigid as she took a few step back.

“Fufufu~ You can’t escape!”

Grabbing Shina from her back, Mystel pushed her into the door as she could already see Arsal’s reaction after he would discover the little message she left behind.

A very pure sadistic and evil smile formed on her face as she leaped into the door as well...