Chapter 5.
"For our victory!" Luciano exclaimed as he raised a toast to everyone present.
At some occasion, he invited Joanne and others over for party. They were enjoying the dishes served on a long table. There were a lot of varied food and beverage right in front of them. the moment Luciano said those words, all of them raised their glass and then drank at the same moment.
In the end, Luciano worked with Vampire folks who used to be the enemy of the kingdom. No one knew what became of the Cloud Armor people who still left after being ruled by Luciano.
Days had gone by since that dark sorrow. Now, every day in the Cloud Armor felt like hell. Whoever tried to rebel against Luciano, they would be killed without hesitation. It became worst when the vampire folks ruled over the kingdom.
Ever since Luciano casted down the previous king from the throne, most of the kingdom's alliances declared open war to him and the vampire folks in order to bring peace once again to Cloud Armor. However, they could not bring their enemy down since they were easily overpowered by the vampire. Thus, the war won by the vampire folks and Luciano.
But there were not little of alliances that pulled themselves from the war and did not intend to meddle with the vampire folks. They fully realized by now that swaying a sword to them was the same as knocking on death's door.
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Thousand years had passed since the bloodshed in the Cloud Armor and the world was not the same as before. The wall that divided between the human realm and Eternal realm had crumbled, thus causing the collusion between the two realm which eventually merged into one over time.
Many of vampires folks and wolves folks lived among human, while stay hidden in the world of living. Especially those from wolves folks who ran away in order to seek protection. Baron Magnus was one of them. He and his wife, Fanny AF Dracas along with Lars had lived there since the assault in Cloud Armor, trying to blend in as much as they could.
That said. Lars who used to be mere a forty days old baby now turned into eighteen years old. He grew up into young fine boy. He was so handsome that all girls who saw him would immediately charmed by his look.
The life in human world was not the same as their own realm. One thing that stood out the most was the pace of time which passed slower than in the eternal world.
If in the realm of eternity a thousand years have passed, then in the human realm it was only eighteen years. This gap time caused those from both vampire and wolves folks looked so young compared to their real age and that was the case for Baron Magnus and his wife too.
"Lars, wake up! You have to go to school today, don't you?" Fanny shouted from the kitchen.
Since Lars did not respond to her, Fanny emerged from the kitchen and walked to Lars's room. When she entered his room, she saw Lars who still lied down on bed and covered in blanket. His room was also still dark.
"You're slacking off again, aren't you? When will you stop act like a child? You are eighteen years old now so get rid of your childish behavior. You're not gonna keep going like this until you're old." Fanny nagged at Lars who had not woken up.
She walked toward the window and pulled the rose-patterned curtain. the moment the curtain removed to the side, the morning sun immediately filled the room which was previously covered in dark.
She then turned back to Lars and said, "Come on, you have to wake up now!"
Fanny pulled out the thick blanket that covered Lars' whole body. The young man seemed still had not satisfied with his sleep time as he hugged his pillow tightly like he did not want to separate from it. He only moaned like tiger as a respond to Fanny's nagging.
"Hmmph, just a minute. I still want to sleep, mom." Lars mumbled while turning his back to his 'mom'.
Fanny gave irritated expression. She brought her hands to her waist and grumbled, "Fine by me, but if you keep gonna act like this and skip school then from now on, I won't let you sing again. How about it?" She said with surprisingly sharp tone which sounded like she was threatening him.
As soon as she brought up about that stuff, Lars immediately got up from the bed and turned his head to face his mom.
"Mommy...don't do that!" Lars whined like a child.
Fanny still did not take her eyes off Lars and rather gave serious looking expression at him. She was so terrified that Lars had to reach out to her hand and held it tightly.
"I woke up now, you see? so please allow me to keep singing for the rest of my life." he begged with a smile on his face. As he spoke he blinked his eyes over and over and bite his lips like he frequently did when he asked for something to his mom.
Fanny looked away, and at that moment, a faint smile formed on the edge of her mouth.
"All right, all right. I'm just kidding, you know. I would never stop you from singing. How would I do that when that was the only thing you like, my dear boy." She stated with calm voice while stroking Lars's hair and then squeezed his cheeks.
Lars's smile brightened, unable to hide his happiness when he thought about his parents who always support him to pursue his carrier.
"I love you, mom. I really do." Lars proclaimed as he came to Fanny's arms.
Fanny quickly embraced Lars. As they were in each other's arms, Fanny could not help but thought about her son's future. There were still many questions which crossed her mind. What would happen when he found out about his real identity? She knew one day Lars would knew about his identity soon or later.
Other that that, there were several things that still bugging her. Especially the news that spread across the country she lived in which said that most of the vampire folks had blended in and acted like ordinary human. Their arrival was none other than to look for Lars's whereabouts.
Fanny tightened her hug and stroked her son's hair while imagining about the chaos that would occur due to the upcoming war. Somehow Lars could sense something different from his mother this time, as if he knew that Fanny felt restless. However he did not dare to speak his mind and kept hugging her like usual.
Baron Magnus and Fanny lived their life like normal human. All these last eighteen years they lived peacefully without any trouble at all. However, as each time passed by, they always haunted by the fear as if it came to remind them about the the threat out there.
They felt anxious the whole time when they thought about the vampire's attack or Luciano who would try to capture Lars and take him away from them. Those images kept coming to them and haunted them.
"Do you hear about the vampire folks who come to the human realm? I heard that some of them had showed themselves in public and caused fear among the people." Fanny asked as she looked into her husband's eyes.
Baron Magnus shook his head slowly and then sighed, "To tell you the truth, I'm not sure whether their arrival here is a good thing or bad one. We can only prepare our self for the worse situation that might happen. Maybe the war will happen as soon as they find out about Lars's whereabouts and if that really happen, then Lars's life was threatened. We have to strengthen our self before it happen. I hope Lars have obtained his own power before the war begin." Baron Magnus said with unrest in his voice.
As a protector of Cloud Armor, protecting Lars was his responsibility but how long would he able to keep protecting him?
After the bloodshed in the Cloud Armor, Baron Magnus and Fanny never set their foot again in the realm of eternity. These last eighteen years, he had spent his life to protect Lars and kept him from harm, making sure that he was always safe and sound. He and his wife always went through all the trouble to raise him as their own son. However, bigger trouble would definitely come to him and his family in the future and when that happened, Lars had to be able to protect himself.