"Are you certain about this, Lord Ascian?" The Dragon Lord Yevhen, queried standing beside him.
"Yes, I am. I need to leave so that I can find out who is responsible for this?" Ascian sighed, looking at the now empty rostrum.
The moment the judgment had been passed and approved, the other Arrans had left one by one, the Demon Lord being the first to leave. The others followed him immediately after, and when the Angel Queen Charmaine walked by, she stopped in front of him for a split second, questioning him silently, the answers to which Ascian did not have. Her red eyes shone with tears, and he was distressed to put her through such misery.
Among the eight supernatural creatures, the angels were considered to be the most sensitive ones, and now, seeing her cry for him put Ascian in great anguish. However, he could only stare at her, apologizing to her secretly. The angel watched him for another moment before she walked away.
Unlike the Arrans, Yevhen did not leave immediately. Instead, he stood beside him with a helpless smile, and Ascian too did not blame him, for Yevhen had done everything he could in his capacity to prove him innocent. "Did you find out anything?"
Ascian shook his head, his lips pursed while he thought about it. "I tried to read their minds. But nobody gave away anything. Except you and Queen Charmaine, everybody else had controlled their thoughts." The Vampire Lord had the gift to read and manipulate thoughts. However, he could only manipulate the thoughts of people who were weaker than him, and the seven royals did not fall in that category. Ascian could only read their thoughts and emotions, for they too were as powerful as him.
"This is bad." Yevhen pushed his dark brown hair, running his hands through them in frustration. "With you away from Arran, how are you going to find out the one behind this?"
"I have you." Ascian's reply was instant, and Yevhen narrowed his eyes, glaring at him for making him do all the work.
"Impossible. Why will I do the tedious task for you? What will I get out of it?" Seeing that the vampire was unaffected by today's episode, the Dragon Lord too relaxed and teased back, only to receive a chortle in return.
"What could I, a banished Arran, give the great Dragon Lord?"
Yevhen did not miss the sarcasm in his friend's words, and he rolled his eyes at him. "Shall we get serious for once?"
"Definitely." The man winked, and Yevhen gritted his teeth, vexed at the vampire's playful nature. Ascian was the most mischievous Arran, and it would take a lot for anyone to get him in control. However, that did not mean he was insensitive. Among the eight royals, he was considered to be the most rational, while Yevhen was the mature one.
Seeing the dragon all riled up, Ascian smiled. "I am going to miss this."
"What?" Yevhen could not understand what the man was talking about. He was lost, thinking about how to stop Ascian from leaving Arran, his home where he belonged.
"Your irked expression. I am going to miss it." Yevhen decided not to comment about it allowing his friend to have the last say, and Ascian too stopped teasing him. "Although I could not read their thoughts, I did sense negative emotions being radiated in the room." Ascian's smirk vanished, and he stared hard at the ground, his expression solemn.
"Do you know who it was?" Yevhen asked, curiosity raising in his mind. He was at the Vampire Lord's ability. However, sometimes he hated that the man could read minds. It made people vulnerable, and that included him too.
"I am not definite about it. But it was either from the Demon Lord or the Queen of Sorcerers." Ascian frowned, remembering how there was a sudden surge of negative emotions filling the Council Hall during the proceeding, and it came from the direction where the Demon Lord Veles and Queen Inara were sitting.
"Demon Lord, you say? Understandable. The man loathes you for a reason I don't know yet."
"Neither do I," Ascian added, recalling the way the man's bitter expression whenever they met in the past.
"Do you think it was he who put you in this trouble?" Yevhen tried to connect the dots. Although the Demon Lord had all the reasons to frame Ascian given his hatred towards him, they could not confirm it to be him. There was no evidence, and blaming a powerful Arran without any valid proof was against the law.
"Maybe, maybe not." Ascian shrugged. He had been thinking about the matter since the day the incident had happened. Although it was not he who was responsible for it, he and his army were held guilty, and they were put under trial.
For a moment, Ascian even doubted Veles to have lied before the Council. However, he could not ignore Charmaine's words, for the woman was the epitome of honesty. As far as he remembered, the Angel Queen had never lied, and why would she do so suddenly to frame him? This was a well-devised plot aimed to destroy him, and the unknown enemy had succeeded at it brilliantly.
"What are you going to do now?" Yevhen was worried for his friend. He was banished from his home, from Arran, and that was one of the biggest decisions for the Council to make.
"How long do I have?"
"Until sunset. You must leave before dusk."
"I see." Ascian had already made plans for himself and his army, for he had expected this outcome long ago. He knew the Council would decide to exile him as there was no other punishment fit for him. Killing him was not an option as the law was against it. Killing a royal in power would only lead to imbalance, and the only way to do so was when Arra, the mother of the Arrans decided to do so. However, the woman had vanished the moment she had created the land of Arran, and nobody knew where she was.
"I have very little time then." Ascian continued and Yevhen nodded. The two men started walking, each lost in their own thoughts. The moment they stepped out of the Council, they saw a large mob waiting for them.
All the habitants of Arran knew what had happened. The moment the last seal was imprinted on the manuscript, the judgment was displayed on the judgment wall outside the Council for everybody to see. All the vampires were visibly disheartened by the turn of events. However, they had expected the result, for their Lord had informed them about the possibility.
Lord Ascian took slow steps, his demeanor not changing even though he was now an exiled Lord, and the crowd parted, allowing him to leave. Nobody dared to disrespect him, he was still the Lord of the vampires. Banished Lord was still a Lord, and he still had his powers with him. Although the man proven guilty for one of the horrendous incidents the land of Arran had ever witnessed, more than half the population decided to trust Ascian, even though the circumstances were against him.
The Arrans bowed before him one last time, and Ascian smiled at them, grateful for believing him and supporting him before he departed with his army to the land of the unknown.