Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

"Are you sure you should be with us?" Zanris questioned, crossing her arms, with a childlike pout.

"You are the one who needed my help, and Arsene is not picking up. I figured something happened to his Shadow." I listlessly told with a heavy heart.

"it's only been a week since he has been silent." Said Elsa narrowing her sharp eyes, " I am sure he is fine. Unlike a certain someone."

"Falis is fine," I loosely said,

"Fine? That bastard may have corrupted our baby brother." She exploded with a fiendish shimmer.

Releasing a sigh, I did not even bother to acknowledge such a foolish statement. The boy was a killer that knew nothing aside from how to slaughter.

"How about this? I tell you about Falis if we learn something about what Arsene has been up to?" I said as our ship landed at the coast of Sa'ar.

"Or I make you tell me now?"

Holding her within my sights, I stepped past her and into the jungle with Zanris and Silvia by my side. I had not wished to tag along, but Arsene was not responding to any of our communications. While this was not a significant issue, it became one when I learned of Ashna's involvement.

Father would carry out any types of missions in regards to the nine realms, and I have already informed Freya to meet us here on this island. She was pretty lucky Arsene had recalled her, or she would have definitely been dead.

"Can any of you feel his Aura?" I asked, turning to his two devils.

"No," Zanris devilishly muttered beneath her breath. Soaking the skies with killing intent, her Carmel skin began to ooze a black qi that sent a deep chill down my spine.

"He was only a spirit Realm shadow. We could not expect much from him." Said Silvia, placing her hands upon her shoulder. "Let us complete his mission till he returns."

"Agreed. but it worries me that..."

Covering my mouth. Elsa narrowed her eyes that would shift between scarlet and Azure. Nevertheless, the air turned chilly and lifeless all of a sudden.

"Come out," She commanded under heavy malice.

"I was told you all would be here." A deep voice said, stepping out from the shades of the trees, "I am Eric Skoll. Which one of you is Zanris?"

"Are you here about Tala?" She asked with a long face.

"Yes, Arsene said you would be here for her. However, I was expecting a smaller party."

"That was before we lost contact with Arsene," I said, watching the man suddenly beam with delight.

"Did that devil get what he deserved?"

Faintly smiling, the temperature fell till the very trees began to fade into dust. Slowly fox-like ears started to take form from above her head, returning her to a form I had known within Pendragon. Holding her Azure eyes upon the man, she spoke.

"Believe it or not, I could obliterate this entire island. SO please go ahead and insult our ladies husband." She swiftly said, with razer sharp eyes, cutting through the man trapped within her sights with a piercing glint.

Curling his lips downwards, his wolflike expression soon became downcasted. "Forgive me," he faintly said, coming to his senses.

"Should we look for Arsene?" Silvia asked.

"No, "I said, "He was just a shadow, and you nor Zan can sense him. Worse that happens is that his Shadow returns. Let us simply continue his mission. Eric, is it? What can you tell us of Arsene's plans?"

"He needed a ship. Same as you all," He said, knowing that those that brought us here were gone. "I told him I needed a month. So he asked about Ashna, then vanished heading towards the Mirrored Lake."

"So we have about two weeks or less. Then shall we kill this Tala?" I said as Zanris lifted her lips. "I am sure Mr. Eric will know where they are."

"They are in a large group, so if we rush, we can cover a two-week journey in one. All of us here are within the realm of World, so it shouldn't be an issue."

Gesturing to proceed, Eric turned away silently without a word, leaving behind a shadow of the faded image. Following behind the man that resembled a wolf, a deafening silence gripped our minds.

I truly wanted to worry about my nephew, I honestly did, but from the moment he said that blasted woman name. A searing flame would have me covered in sweat in the dead of night, remembering that faithful moon. We were weak back then. Some would say, kids.

I could still remember the taste of steel in the air, the amber of the setting sun, and the screams of my love. They say the innocent are the ones that hold the deepest evil within them. I had disagreed with her long ago in regards to that.

Naive to even argue about such a thing, but she was right. What I was and what I am is completely different. Devil is what they call Arsene in the shadows of Midgard and Asgard behind closed doors. They fear him, daring not to even call upon his name.

I had once told him that we soul benders feel far more than most. We are in tune with nature far greater than anything I have ever seen. We can comprehend and sense matters most cannot even begin to grasp, but we also have the most to lose.

Arsene, I am trying, but if I see Asna in her new form, I am afraid I will become like you. And I know she will not want that. You were, forgive me for saying this, but you were born evil. That I know, it was apparent from the first day I laid my eyes upon you. You were a cunning brat than driving by something sinister, and now you are being driven by the same insanity as i.

I am afraid of this price I will need to pay. For I know that if I follow through with it, all of us will suffer. The lives of seven of the purest lifeforms known to the Bed of Chaos, A tear from a pure heart, and finally the soul of what I hold most... My father.

I am afraid to be like you, Arsene, but I know I am already there. To have her back, I would rip out his heart without hesitation and sprinkle it over the flames. I read this entire tome over and over, not daring to show father what lay within it. Arsene knew, but he still handed it to me. A bloody bastard, he is.

So it comes down to this. The love for my family, or her. Are you testing me as I did you? Then I am afraid I have failed. For, I will kill your grandfather... my father for her back. Nothing else matters; were I to become a monster like you or not, I will have her back.