"The princess was brought down here due to our negligence. She was the only one that was never bound by the contract. A contract that does not allow darkness to truly spread their hands in the human world, the same as us. Just that we were careless not realizing the then dark king added a curse on the clauses he added on the contract. We were left helpless."
Jiro sighed, he could understand that it was an unexpected turn for these entities.
But what shocked him the most was the fact that Nathalia wasn't given the light ability instead, she was the light ability itself. It only became pronounced after she became Vermilion Bird's host.
The power lying dormant resonated with the power of Vermilion Bird.
"I can see that you are a smart one. It's just..."
"What?"
"We could not feel the presence of the princess."
"WHA-...!!!"
It was a good thing that Jiro had closed his eyes as soon as he opened them. If not then he would have been burnt completely by the brightness of these entities.
"I told you not to open them," the same voice reminded him.
"Then what do you mean by what you just said?" he asked as he endured the pain in his eyes
"Despite her entering the dark world, as the princess we would still feel her presence albeit slightly but at this moment there was none."
"So what? Are you going to give up on her? Just like that?"
He could hear some sighing while the others continued being silent.
But he can also feel the grief they have, that is why even though he wanted to lash out, he couldn't.
"Then let me go."
"!!!"
He could feel all their eyes in him, he could feel their shock at his suggestion.
"I am not there to kill my way to find her. Instead give me enough strength to move around in that place without becoming a prey to them."
"You are saying that..."
"I won't fight unless necessary. I am tired of it. Instead I just want to find her. She had been lonely more than enough. You can't enter their place but I can and with your support I will surely be able to find her."
"To find her you say."
"She is your princess right? Don't you want her back? Doesn't her father want her back?"
As he spoke of Nathalia's father, the king of the light entities.
Rumbles echoed all over the land as thunder roared in the sky and the ocean's current turned violent.
"M- My king."
Jiro heard these entities speak with reverence and fear.
"Human."
Jiro coughed up blood, the pressure from that voice was enough to make his insides burst.
"..."
Then he felt his body going light and the injuries from that one word was healed.
"I had forgotten to adjust as your words caused me to realize that there is a way to save my daughter."
This time Jiro could hear the voice without it causing him pressure.
"You sent her down on her own without anything to go from. She doesn't know her identity and was made to fight the darkness."
"As you have said, I was incompetent both as a king and as a father. I accept all of it. But now that we have broken free from the curse they placed on us. I desire to see my daughter again. I had been searching for her the moment we woke up but to no avail. And so, upon hearing your suggestion, I came down to accept your request at the same time, make my own request. Please get us back my daughter."
To be honest, Jiro could understand the reason why they had sent down their princess. It was to protect the humans, to protect them.
It is also no wonder that Nathalia continued fighting even though she was getting tired of it. It was already engraved in her heart.
"Once you find her, as our princess, we will be granted permission to enter their world for they have taken one of our own. If you can hold on until then…"
"I will," he replied with conviction.
'It seems this is goodbye for us,' Jiro spoke to Qirin.
'I guess I'll be meeting Vermilion Bird soon,' Qirin replied.
'Take care now,' Jiro sighed.
'Don't go dying down there. And I hope you'll get to save her as well.'
"It seems you also understood that if we grant you the capability to live there, your accompanying beast will no longer be able to stay with you," Jiro heard the voice of the king once again.
"Let's do this," he replied.
"Then... I hope you will succeed. I really do," that was the last he heard before he started feeling changed on his body and the next thing he knew, he was already in the dark world.
He started his journey acting like air in order not to get attention from the dwellers of this place.
He would drink and eat from time to time but because of the support of the king of light, he can withstand not eating for days or weeks.
It doesn't even matter if he eats or not.
Just like that, he roamed the dark world in search of Nathalia, who actually had given up the day he had met the light entities.
(End Of Flashback)
Despite the tiredness from the battle, Jiro knew it won't be long before they were to reach this place. Especially when Nathalia had received back the power of light from her other half.
Not long, but it seems that it won't be long as well before they are to be killed by all these dark forces.
Soon, both of them are surrounded.
Instead of continuing to fight, Jiro pulled Nathalia to him and hugged her tight.
"Jiro?" she whispered in shock.
"It's fine. It will be fine."
She wrapped her arms around him as well, "Yes, it will be fine."
Jiro meant that seconds from then, the light force will be coming while Nathalia meant that it is fine if everything ends here, it is fine. She had reconciled with her past and realized that Saphira was right. She was wrong all along to think that she was alone.
"Close your eyes, Nathalia," he whispered.
She did, not knowing that he did because the light force has finally arrived.
"How dare you?!?!"
It was a voice that caused the earth to quake and the air to feel suffocating.
Nathalia furrowed her brows but as she tried to open her eyes, Jiro covered them with his hand.
"Don't worry I am here. We will be fine. Everything will be explained once the business here is over."
She was confused but she trusts him.
Yes, the thing she couldn't do before, with just a few words from Saphira and what she had witnessed as she spent time with Saphira. She knew this is what she lacked the most before.
Trust.
And now, she completely trusts Jiro, the one who had been with her all along, just that she was too far for him to reach and she had succumbed to the darkness before they had the chance to meet.
"Wha-"
Another voice came, they both knew that this voice was not from the dark force that was playing around with them. Instead it came from someone who has just arrived in this place.
And the pressure he emits, it was of the same pressure as that of the king who spoke first.
Though it was only Jiro who had this line of thought for Nathalia just thinks that they emit that same pressure that she feels.
"You are breaching the contract!!!" the second voice roared.
"Am I the first one? You all placed us in a slumber in order to run rampant in the human world. And you even brought our kind to this place. You are the first who breached the contract. You brought our own in this place," the king argued back.
Jiro and Nathalia could feel even more pressure.
"My king, please allow us to bring the princess and the man away from here," another voice.
"Princess?" the dark force asked.
"King of the dark world. The contract was witnessed by both forces. And you know that breaching it is the same as forgoing half of your power. The one whom you took from the human world was my child."
Silence engulfed the place.
"You take them away from here," he said to the one who suggested that Nathalia and Jiro be taken away.
"As you command."
Jiro had no desire to know what the two kings are going to talk about. Though he did find out that breaching the contract between the two forces is the same as forgoing half of their power. For the dark force who had been running rampant in the human world for so long.
Getting half their powers meant they will have to stay away from the human world for a long long time.
"Both of you may open your eyes. You are granted permission to see us now."
"Ji... ro?" Nathalia was as confused as ever.
"Open them Nathalia. And everything will be explained to you."
She did and the first thing she saw was his warm smile.
Then what followed was the complete contrast of the world she had been in for a very very long time.
A place filled with life and brightness.