The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

With the business deal concluded successfully, Mana was quite pleased with herself. They signed a magical contract, and then Raven cast a special spell on the map where the old Mayor had shown them the boundaries of the desert lands that they had bought.

The boundaries on the map glowed brightly for a moment and then faded.

The old Mayor stared at Raven in shock. "Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom, what did you just do?" he asked.

Raven blinked innocently at the old man.

Mana looped her arm through her young fiancé's. "He cast a spell to protect the boundaries of the land we bought, of course," she said. "After all, we just spent a lot of money to buy these lands and we would be developing them and growing our business – isn't it logical for us to protect our own property?"

"Yes, of course," the old Mayor said, taken aback. "It's just that I have never seen any magic like this…"

Mana chuckled. "Our Raven can do loads of things no one has seen before," she said proudly. "That's why he is the heaven defying magical genius that comes by only once in a millennium."

Raven flushed a little, but he was used to Mana's extravagant praises where he was concerned by now.

The old Mayor nodded in agreement. He had just seen with his own eyes that Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom possessed hellfire – and, of course, someone who possessed hellfire could only be extraordinary.

Mana and Raven spent a little more time explaining what they wanted and how they wanted things to be done, and not only the old Mayor, but even the other people in the room were astonished by the sharp business acumen of the two young children, and then became even more excited to work for the two of them. After all, the more the business prospered, the more they would gain by association, wouldn't they? Perhaps they could become rich, too, if they were loyal to Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom and Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom!

Thus, both sides parted happily, and the group bid farewell to Red Brick Town and proceeded on their journey towards the imperial capital of the Amber Kingdom.

"Papa, we got a good business deal," Mana boasted to King Jaren soon after they started moving.

King Jaren chuckled indulgently and patted her hair with not a small amount of affection. "Really? Do tell, my dear," he replied.

Mana told him the details of their deal with the old Mayor and the locals, and King Jaren nodded approvingly.

Grandpa, on the other hand, frowned. "What will you do with so many dates?" he asked. "That kind of low class fruit isn't worth serving at your fancy pastry shops, Mana."

Mana grinned at Grandpa. "Don't worry, Grandpa, I can definitely make something high class out of them," she said. "Also, dates are good for health."

"Let the child do what she wants," Grandma said to Grandpa, swatting his arm lightly. "Little Mana has more business sense in the little finger of her left hand than your entire family put together."

Grandma and Grandpa began to bicker softly, and Mana could only shake her head and smile helplessly.

King Jaren quickly cast a privacy around himself, Mana and Raven.

"Hellfire?" King Jaren asked Raven, raising an eyebrow.

Raven shrugged. "It's just the normal rainbow fire I have," he murmured. "I didn't know that it was called hellfire."

King Jaren sighed. "Don't expose it too casually," he said, patting the boy's shoulder. "And never, ever mention that you have inherited the hellfire dagger to anyone, especially in the Amber Kingdom, all right?"

Raven nodded. He knew that the hellfire dagger was extremely poisonous to anyone who had the fire magic of the royal bloodline of the Amber Kingdom, and this included Mana and Big Brother Jules. It's not like Raven would ever use such a dangerous thing and risk hurting two of the people he loved the most in this world.

In fact, Raven had wanted to destroy the hellfire dagger originally, after the entire incident with Queen Sora – but Mana and Jules had talked him out of it.

Mana frowned at her Papa. "Is hellfire linked to the hellfire dagger somehow?" she asked.

King Jaren nodded. "The last person known to have possessed hellfire was the ancient master who forged the hellfire dagger and bestowed it upon your Grandpa's ancestors," he replied. "Why do you think that the royals of the Amber Kingdom always make sure that someone with the bloodline of the Duke of Flames is always married into the royal family? It is to make sure that the hellfire dagger won't be used against them."

Mana frowned. "Is that why King Orion is so eager to marry Astra off to Mars? But Astra doesn't even have fire magic," she murmured.

"But she has the blood of the Duke of Flames," King Jaren pointed out. "In any case, they think that the hellfire dagger has been destroyed, and it is in our interests to let them continue thinking that way." He shot a meaningful glance at Raven.

Raven nodded. "Yes, Papa. Understood," he said.

"Good," King Jaren said, ruffling Raven's hair with one hand and Mana's with the other. Then he dissolved the privacy barrier.

The group marched on peacefully, until they reached another city by sunset. This city was much more prosperous than Red Brick Town, and it seemed that the city guards were already aware of this distinguished group of people and their impending arrival at their city during their journey to the imperial capital city of the Amber Kingdom.

Mana shivered suddenly as they passed through the city gates.

"Something feels wrong," she murmured, taking Raven's arm.

Raven's figure, however, vanished into smoke in front of her eyes, and so did everyone else.

Mana was stunned. How could the entire group disappear? What was going on?

She looked around fearfully. The bustling city that she had observed from outside the gates had disappeared completely. All she could see now was a dead town, with broken, ruined buildings and not a single living soul in sight. Let alone humans, she could not even see any stray dog or stray birds!

"Hello…?" Mana called softly. "Is – is anyone here?"

Only silence greeted her.

Mana stood rooted to the spot in shock, looking around wildly, not understanding what was happening suddenly. Hadn't everyone been right here by her side just now? How could they just disappear like this without a warning? There had to be some kind of magic at work here. Perhaps she was trapped in an array? Perhaps there was something like an illusion spell at work here? In any case, she had to get out of here and meet up with her family again!

"Don't be afraid, Mana," Mana said to herself, patting her own cheeks. "Just think calmly and you will be able to figure a way out of this mess. You have to go back to Papa and Raven and Big Brother and everyone else!"

Mana closed her eyes and breathed deeply for a few minutes, calming herself down and thinking about her next course of action. Should she move from her present position, or should she continue to stand here, in case the array or spell was linked to her position? If the latter case was true, then moving from her position would mean that she may lose her chance of locating the array or spell again, and that might lead her to be trapped here for a longer time. On the other hand, if the way out of this array or spell was elsewhere, then standing here without doing anything would not be of any help to her at all – instead, she would be stuck here for a very long time.

The decision was taken out of her hands rather abruptly.

A howling noise caused Mana's eyes to snap open, and she saw a gigantic hound bounding towards her. Its fur was a gleaming black, looking almost luminescent in the hazy and desolate surroundings, and its eyes were a glowing red, like charcoal embers. The dog was rushing towards Mana, barking furiously.

Mana quickly jumped away from the hound's path – but the huge dog stopped where Mana had been standing and sniffed the air curiously, its head tilted. Then it started moving towards Mana's current location unerringly.

Mana backed away slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible, and she even tried to hold her breath as much as possible in order to avoid being detected by this scary looking dog. Mana didn't want to be reduced to dog food, even in a nightmare that may or may not have been induced by an array or a spell!

And where had this dog come from anyway? Hadn't this entire area been completely empty and abandoned just now?

Mana's back hit a wall soon enough, and there was no place left for her to run.