Chapter 4.
"My dear!" a voice called out Baron Magnus's name.
The voice of the shadowy figure was that of a woman. She managed to break the silence around the forest. As soon as Baron Magnus recognized the owner of the voice, he immediately straightened his position. He then got up to face her but soon the woman held his shoulders and stopped him.
"You're hurt really badly. Please take a rest." The woman asked, her tone sounded like she was so worried, her expression was so gentle as ever.
Baron Magnus immediately did what she said and fell into her arms. Their eyes met and stared at each other in silence.
The woman's name was Fanny AF Dracas and she was Baron Magnus's wife. She was loyal servant in Cloud Armor kingdom.
The moment Fanny AF Dracas came closer to the baby and stared at him, Lars who had been quiet until now suddenly evoked a reaction. It was not because of uncomfortable or anything else. Something that the grown men around her could not able to see had made Lars cry out loud.
She immediately approached him and held him in her arms, trying to calm the baby down. In a nick of time, the little Lars stopped crying and acted like his usual. It was not the first time for Fanny to carry the little Lars in her arms since she had done it before when Lars was born into the world. In other words, Fanny was the first person whom Lars saw when he came out of his mother's womb.
"Good boy." She said while gently stroking Lars's hair as if he was her own son. She then turned her head to face Baron Magnus. "Tell me, what happen to the king Claudio and queen Contessa?" she continued.
Now her focus was on her husband who still caught his breath. Awhile after, Baron Magnus inhaled a deep breath as if to blow away his fatigue and any sloth that might try to control his body and started to tell what happened and explained the current situation in Cloud Armor castle.
Before the commotion happened, at that time, Baron Magnus had sense something bad that might happen in the Cloud Armor castle when he looked up at the sky that suddenly became dark. Black cloud enveloped above the Cloud Armor castle and blocked the sun, causing all the surrounding to hit by darkness. However, none of the people there realized what about to happen since they were too immerse in their party.
Baron Magnus was the one to realize it. Thus, he quickly asked Fanny to flee from the castle and headed to the eternal forest. Soon after she run away, Luciano's army penetrated the castle and blockaded the Cloud Armor from all over the corners.
When it happened, the king Claudio who was with invited guests in the room did not even know about the invasion. However, Baron Magnus was there, watching as all people of Cloud Armor being slaughter until nothing left. The guards who patrolled in front of the palace had forced to bend their knee by Luciano when he entered the castle.
Baron Magnus intended to tell this calamity to the king but when he was halfway through the palace he surrounded by Luciano's army in no time so he had no other choice but to fight them there. As soon as he successfully took down the troops, he rushed to the palace as fast as he could. Despite his effort, he was too late. When he came, all guests had lost their consciousness as well as the king Claudio and queen Contessa.
His arrival was too late so the only thing he could do was to save Lars and protected him. As he thought about this, he made up his mind to fight Claudio whose his current power was omnipotent. Though he managed to take back Lars from the enemy's hand, there was always a risk he had to pay and that was losing his own power as an effect of intense punch he received from Luciano.
"Is that mean the king and queen are dead?" Fanny asked with concerned expression.
Baron Magnus could only give a bitter smile as response to Fanny's question about the condition of the king Claudio and queen Contessa. As far as he knew, when he arrived at the palace, he saw both Claudio and Contessa still alive even though they were unconscious. However, after he managed to take back Lars, he quickly ran away so he could not tell about their current condition. But then again, Luciano was still there, so the possibility of the king Claudio and queen Contessa's survival was zero.
"I will take care of you from now on, my dear boy. You're safe with us." said Fanny while rubbing Lars' cheek. The baby fell asleep in her arms.
Baron Magnus turned his gaze toward Lars who had charming face even though his age was still forty days. His face radiated a great leadership aura just like his father, Conte Claudio Di Nosferas.
"Our duty now is to protect the prince from Luciano. There's a possibility that the vampire folks will look for him in the future. We can't let that happen. If the prince fell to the vampire's hand, there is no doubt that this world would perish and the peace between the two realms would collapse. You know what I'm talking about, right?"
Fanny gave a little nod. "Yeah, you're right. The people who thirst for power will definitely come for this little boy and will never give up their desire until they make this boy belong to them. Rest assure, I will give my life to protect the prince and I won't let anyone lay finger at him."
A determination settled in her eyes as she said those words. She kept watching Lars who fell asleep quietly. Suddenly she was breaking out in tears as she was imagining about the worse scenario when either Luciano Di Nosferas or the vampire folks captured the prince. Just like what Baron Magnus stated, the peace between two worlds will be at stake and that was too difficult to face when that actually happen.
Baron looked at Lars without said anything else. He had decided to protect Lars at any cost even if he had to risk his own life.
Fanny helped Baron Magnus to stand up while carrying Lars in her arm. Both of them along with the baby soon left the location and looked for place where they could keep Lars from Luciano and vampire folks.
In the different place, Luciano was sitting on Cloud Armor's throne which had been ruled by Claudio for hundreds years.
"Hallo darling. How are you? Do you miss me? Your king?" he said while touching the throne, talking to it. He was, for a fact, the real one who had the right to reign over the Cloud Armor and not Claudio.
"It has been quite long time we didn't met each other. You are supposed to be mine and not that ungrateful little brother!"
Luciano muttered while clenching his fist and a few seconds later, he threw his punch to the throne. When he thought about Claudio who sat on the throne, he felt burn sensation his heart and rage started to fill his head.
The more he mesmerized about the past the angrier he got. Who would not be so mad when for hundreds years he had been waiting to reign and sat on the throne that supposed to be his but the king at time made up his mind to choose Claudio as his heir.
Since then, Luciano had been trying to take back what belonged to him several times. However, his attempt always failed every time he tried until finally he decided to rebel against the kingdom and that was what made him label as traitor of the country.
"Congratulation to your victory, my brother. Congratulation!" a voice of a man echoed through the night sky along with loud clapping which broke the silence. As he said those words, he started to step into the room.
Luciano turned around and walked down the stairs to greet him. Soon after he was in front of the man, he wore his best smile and looked him in the eye.
"Congrats to you, my brother. You deserve the Cloud Armor's throne. I'm happy for you." the man congratulated Luciano once again while reaching his hand, giving his handshake.
The man whom his age was about five thousand years old wore big sized costume with a cloak that touched the floor and thick muffler that wrapped his neck made of fur. He came to the Cloud Armor to congratulate Luciano on his success in taking back the Cloud Armor's throne.
"Thank you. It all thank to your trust that you give to me my lord. Let me say my thanks to you, lord Joanne De Pyros." Luciano said while bowing to the old man, showing his gratitude.
Even though his appearance was like typical old man, Joanne De Pyros was the most feared figure in the realm of eternity. Every single living creature in the realm knew or at least heard about who he was as he was the ruler of vampire kingdom.
"You don't need to thank me. I only gave you a little power of our race. Besides, it was our pleasure to help you. Isn't that right?" Joanne said while shaking his head. Then he glanced at the man next to him.
His appearance was younger than Joanne. His body built was so sturdy with height of 6.3 feet. Just like Joanne, he wore big sized clothes and thick muffler in his neck.
"You're absolutely right, my lord. There is no victory without a big effort. This victory is all lord Luciano's effort. We, as vampire folk, only gave a little help to you." said the man who stood next to Joanne while showing his smile of victory.