Inside the dark place lightened up by fire torches, down somewhere inside something of a cave-like lair or a hide-out underground. Hermes was imprisoned, he was chained and guarded by a couple of vampires, sick and knees were weakened. So pale and his clothes were ripped off as he was tortured by Lilith's brutality of her being materialistic.
"It shouldn't be gone like this if you just told me the translation of this FUCKING RUNES!" Lilith yelled at him as she beats him with her whip of thorny vines again and again every time Hermes didn't answer her question.
In the other scenario in Atlantis, Arielle was so mad again. She got frustrated because Luther was hiding from them when they were about to begin their searching for Hermes. "Somebody get that pirate out in the bathroom, why is he spending too much time in there? We need to go back to AnglerPort right now."
"He's not here, I mean, he's completely gone. I don't know why?" Dante said, when he forcedly opened the bathroom's door where Luther was. Hiding there for so long that gave Arielle a suspicious feeling about his weird behavior recently.
"Oh! there he is." Alister said as he pointed his finger outside. Seeing Luther fleeing from them for unknown reasons.
The hangover Luther ran away as he was chased by Arielle, Alister and Dante. Luther shape shifted into an agile horse. He bumped to everything that was in front of his way like fruit stands as if it slowed down Arielle and company who were chasing him. Arielle shot him with her ice magic from a part that made Luther's horse feet to freeze but he just quickly shifted into a snake so that he can get out from being trapped from Arielle's ice magic then after he got out, he shifted back into a human and he tried to run again but Arielle was so mad at him that she froze his whole body except for his neck and head.
"Alright, alright... I'm sorry! I'm the one who sold the Amulet to that bitch! please just let me out." Luther said, apologizing to them.
"Yeah, let's forgive him...but, in one condition. He will go with us and help us find Hermes, FOR FREE! We're not going to pay him with his service to us." Dante suggested to Arielle.
"Wait! what? that doesn't seem like a fair deal." Luther reacted to Dante's suggestion.
"I agree with you Dan." Arielle said.
"Oh come on?" Luther yelled.
"You don't know how big the danger that we're put into. If you refuse, then I'm going to tell these two to kill you right now INSTANTLY! They don't care, and so do I." Arielle said.
"Can we do that?" Dante whispered to Alister about what Arielle said as Luther looked at them. "Yeah, yeah we can do that." Dante said with a deep mocking voice.
Luther doesn't have any choice but to agree with them. They released him and they went back into their ship to head back to AnglerPort. All the things that they needed on their way are completely set. Their ship was fixed again and ready to go. Their food supplies such as barrels of beer and wine and alive animals for Dante and Alister were already loaded on the ship by Peebles. They still have a few of their golds and pearls left, maybe enough for their long journey. They raised the anchor up, untied the rope from the dock, and released the rigs as the wind blew to it and took them towards the direction on where they were heading, way back to AnglerPort.
When the night came, it was a full moon which lightened up upon the wide ocean. The night sky above was full of twinkling stars as the waves in the ocean were completely calm and the mild breeze of the wind pulled the rigs. Luther was in the cockpit, sitting with Peebles playing his beloved violin. The soft pleasant sound of melodies as he sang a beautiful poetic song about being the hero of the broken.
<"🎶🎶When I was, a young boy, my father took me into the city, to see a marching band.
He said son when, you grow up, would you be, the savior of the broken, the beaten and the damn?
He said, will you, defeat them, your demons and all the none believers, the plans that they have made?
cause one day, I leave you, a phantom, to lead you in the summer, to join the black parade!🎶🎶🎶"> Luther sang his song in slow and soft wonderfully in a perfectly pleasant tone of a raspy high-pitched voice together with his violin while Peebles was listening behind him.
"I didn't know that you're quite such an artist. You remind me of the girl I loved once. She sang beautifully, that hooked me up into her." Dante said as he interrupted Luther from singing.
"I was born an artist." Luther boasted, arrogantly claiming some title as Dante complimented him. "Feeling sick right now?"
"No, I'm good. The water is calm." Dante replied.
"Hey, can you play a happy song for just once? Cause I'm sick of hearing your sad songs." Arielle said, she suggested Luther to play another song but she wanted a happy song, so, Luther played a happy song with his violin.
"What kind of song was that, where are the lyrics?"Arielle complained.
"Oh, it was some little kids' lullaby song. I don't remember the lyrics but I know the melody." Luther answered.
They sat together jamming with Luther and spoiled the whole wonderful night until it passed. Drinking whiskey and wine until they passed out except for Arielle as she doesn't want to drink liquor.
It was a calm rainy morning, Luther had already woken up taking care of the wheel in the cockpit. While Dante and Alister were still down in their cabin. Peebles was with Luther, helping him on adjusting some of the rigs while Arielle was up on her favorite spot in the ship, the Crow's Nest as usual.
It took two and a half days after they reached the dock of AnglerPort without any hindrance in their way of crossing the ocean. Dante felt so relieved the moment he stepped on the land.
"So, shall we start now?" Arielle said.
"Anytime you want." Dante replied.
Arielle handed the used clothes of Hermes to him so that he can track his scent through smelling it. Alister also smelled it.
"It showed that you two were enjoying smelling one's clothes. How disgusting was that. It seems like it's like a weed to you two." Luther said, trying to mock them as they smelled Hermes' clothes.
"Shut up Luther!" Dante said to him in a mad manner.
After smelling Hermes' scent through his clothes, they finally followed the trail of it. They began from the town, the scent says that Hermes went to his shack but he didn't stayed in there for too long.
"I wasn't supposed to give strangers some information about it, but it seems like Poseidon was doing nothing about Hermes gone missing for days." the old man in Hermes' shack said. "One time, my worries made me wander outside of the town to find him. When I arrived at his Zeppelin, it was all destroyed. All of his crew were dead except for him. He was missing and somebody hijacked his Zeppelin." The old man added.
"Can you take us there?" Dante said.
"Sure my friend, please help me find him. I'm too old working for his shack." the old man replied.
"What the hell is he doing with his Zeppelin out there? he knew that out of this town was so dangerous." Alister said.
"He can't land his Zeppelin inside the town because it was too crowded that's why he made a landing spot on ahead outside of the town somewhere on a wide plain out there." the old man answered Alister.
The old man took them into Hermes' landing spot. When they reached the place, there was a wide plain full of scattered debris from the zeppelin's parts and some dead bodies of Hermes' crews. Corpses were already rotting for days.
"The blood of the corpses was completely drained. It was vampires." Alister said.
"Now, I just found another trail. I think this scent will lead us to the right place." Dante said, as he found a piece of ripped clothing that has Hermes' scent on it.
After that, they leave and followed the scent. From AnglerPort, they walked a few miles until they reached the boundary of Necropolis.
"Hey, hey stop! This is Necropolis. We can't just go in there and wander around. Vampires don't give mercy as long as there's blood running in your veins." Alister said. "Maybe I should sneak inside alone, okay? wait here for me until I get back, I know this place very well."
"Don't die my friend." Luther said to him.
Alister went inside the kingdom of Necropolis, his former kingdom. He followed the scent of Hermes in there. He passed through using the place's hidden and narrow passages that he used to play in there when he was just a kid. Until Alister reached the other end of the place, he hurriedly went back to his friends.
"Hermes wasn't there. His scent was still strong on the other side. Maybe she hid him somewhere far from here." Alister said.
"Did you check some dungeons?" Dante said to him.
"Of course, I knew every single Lilith's dungeons and hide outs in there. No Hermes." Alister replied to Dante. "We should go sideways to avoid contact with my kind and continue our track on the other side."
Everyone were thinking that Alister was leading them into a trap. Dante was about to confront him but he smelled the scent again the moment the reached out to the other side of Necropolis. They continued their searching until they pass through the Lushy Plains and the boundary of MoonGlade territory until they reached the WestPass of the Alliance Empire where Dante and Arielle just came from.
"Oh, fucking clever Lilith." Alister said, knowing that Lilith was so clever crossing her path inside the alliance.
"Is it a good idea to cross in there?" Dante said.
"Maybe we should try. I can feel it that we're close to Hermes." Arielle said with optimism.
"As if you are the one who's smelling this disgusting clothes." Alister whispered.
"What? What did you say?" Arielle asked him after she heard a murmur.
"Nothing, I said we should try, yeah we should try." Alister said.
"Okay, if Lilith has crossed here, maybe we can. Just trust your amulets, and avoid any contacts with someone you know. Stick straight to the plan. Follow the scent." Arielle said.
They did their plan of crossing in there. Peebles shape shifted himself into a horse using his necklace of shape shifting. Luther confidently acted like a merchant from AnglerPort that was about to sell his treasures inside the Alliance and the three were acting as his companions wearing hoods and shoals to cover their faces.
"Yo mate? I'm a merchant, I'm getting late with my business there and I hate my job!" Luther said.
"Who are these? may I see their faces?" the alliance knight said, guarding the Westpass gate.
"That was... uhmm, that was my wife and the two were my sons. You know, my wife was a little shy. She doesn't used to show everyone her lovely beautiful face." Luther said, as he kissed Arielle's forehead to show them a strong reason to make them believe.
"How about your sons, may I see their faces?" the knight said again as he was about to take off their masks.
"Yo mate? what's the problem with you mate! I told you my sons were shy too! Do you understand that? Do you have a brain!" Luther said in a furious manner, acting as if he's angry.
"Okay okay, HAHAHA! I'm sorry. Actually you sound like a bloody pirate from AnglerPort. HAHAHA, 'YO? MATE?' HAHAHA!" the Knight said making fun of Luther as his fellow knights laugh with it.
"Yeah, yeah, very funny. That was so stereotyping. Shall we go now?" Luther said.
"YO, MATE? YOU CAN PASS NOW MATE, HAHAHA." the knight said again.
They made to passed the guards from the gate. When they got inside, Dante saw his mother inside their house through the window so lonely, living there with his sisters.
"Remember, avoid any unnecessary contacts. Stick to the plan." Arielle said, reminding him with their plan.
"Yeah, yeah. I just couldn't help myself from worrying about her." Dante said.
"She'll be fine in there." Arielle said.
After that, they continued to follow the scent. From the Westpass Fortress, they walked a couple of miles until they reached the huge town of Cassemere Castle in the mid west region of the empire. The sun was setting down when they got there.
"Maybe we should take a rest, I can see Luther and Peebles were tired." Arielle said. " I know someone here that we can stay in."
"You said no unnecessary contact?" Dante said to her.
"Yes, but I know this one, and we can trust him." Arielle replied.
They went into something like a cathedral or a temple. When they stepped in, the place was so lonely for knowing that Khael was the only one who was living there alone. Huge chandeliers hanging on the walls lighten up the whole place inside. While they were wandering around the hallway watching the carvings that were wonderfully designed on the walls, Khael suddenly appeared on their back as he greeted them in surprise.
"Arielle my friend, what are you doing here. Alliance is no longer safe for you." Khael said, and he hugged her.
"Can we trust you Khael? I know you're sitting along with the high ranked rulers in the empire. Last time I needed your help, it didn't come." Dante said.
"I'm glad that Arielle took good care of you. You know, it was a very confusing time. Some of the empire's trusted rulers were betraying it. King Bryxton's son was found dead outside of the wall with severe wound incisions on his body and loss of blood. But I don't think that it was a demon who did it. It seems like somebody was trying to dethrone the old king." Khael explained.
"Can you cure me?" Dante asked.
"I'm afraid I can't, there's nothing I can do about your case. A people like you were collateral of the war." Khael replied. "Do the righteous things, and get a redemption in return." he added.
""What do you mean a 'war collateral'? And redemption from what? I don't understand. Can you tell us something we don't know?" Dante said.
"You'll know about it when the time comes." Khael answered.
"I think Alister and I should go right now while the night is long and we'll wait for you outside of the EastPass." Dante said to Arielle as she agreed with his suggestion.
Arielle, together with Luther and Peebles have passed their night in Khael's place while Dante and Alister have continued straight to their path heading towards EastPass. The Werewolf and the vampire raced their way towards as they ran at extremely high speed that they were almost invisible to the normal beings' naked eyes. Dashing through the woods as the essence of their bluish-dark auras blazing on their trails. On this night, Dante has just discovered the full potential of his super speed as a werewolf, yet, he has a lot to explore about his capabilities.
It was cold morning when Arielle, Peebles and Luther woke up. Autumn is coming. Arielle was sitting in the beautiful gazebo outside the cathedral, while she watched the cherry blossoms falling.
Staring from afar at the incoming horse steps of three hooded people riding on the horse. The burning looks of her redish-brown eyes seems to be so familiar to her. When they arrived at the cathedral, they took off their hoods. It was Edna, accompanied by two Alliance knights. Her heart was pounding hard as she was stunned of where she was sitting at for a moment. Arielle hurriedly rushed into the cathedral to get Luther and Peebles out of there. When Arielle was about to go in, she saw Khael talking with Edna, so, Arielle turned her way but when she heard Edna's loud voice arguing with Khael, she stopped and hid behind the wall that divides their room to seek some of what they were gossiping about.
"We knew what Dante was desperate to get right now and that was came from you. We need you to help us capture him." Edna said.
"Oh, you mean you bait me? that wasn't a part of my field here in Alliance." Khael said.
"The Alliance wanted you to help us capture the fugitive but why can't you just simply lend your hands to get it done? You were supposed to be the Alliance's greatest asset!" Enda replied.
Arielle hurriedly gets Luther and Peebles to get out of there. When they stepped out of the cathedral, they met Edna outside kicking and beating some of Khael's flower pots as she released her frustrations of failing to capture Dante through Khael's cooperation. She was challenged to prove herself to make a big difference in the Alliance.
"I never thought Khael had some company." Edna said when she saw them that Arielle stunned for a while thinking about how to respond to her. "Your eyes looked familiar to me." Edna said again.
"Yeah, yeah, you too. Have we met before?" Arielle said, pretending to be calm.
"Maybe, I just don't remember." Edna replied.
Arielle, Peebles and Luther continued their way out to the EastPass. They met them there and they continued their journey following Hermes' scent into another terrain. The hot rays of the sun as they breathed the warm air from it. Dante and Alister aren't bothered by the hot weather for knowing that they have demon blood running through their veins and the guardian amulets that made them to survive any climate especially to Alister, a vampire, him without wearing the Amulet, the sun will burn his skin. Arielle saw Luther struggling with the climate so she made a thick and wide ice roof above them to block the hot sun rays. They followed the scent and traveled into the mazed dessert of Alcatraz where tall sand-stone brick walls were magically made by Zeus so that whoever dared to cross there will be lost, luckily Dante and Alister were a skilled tracker.
After they got out from the mazed dessert of Alcatraz, they sensed that they had reached the northeast region of GreatLand. It was a tundra climate that met them there, where the desert and the snow met up. There was a wide tundra plains and on ahead of it there was tundra alp and a valley where on the top of it, there were ruins of Elvatheas Kingdom, the former kingdom of elves.
"I can sense the strong scent of Hermes. I think he's somewhere out there." Dante said.
They went and they took the road on their way up to the top of the valley where the ruins are. When they reached it, they saw an underground path and they went to the inside of it. Lilith was there, sitting on a demonic throne holding the Glaive and there was a giant beast on her side guarding her. Dante beheaded the two vampire guards and he threw it in front of Lilith. Arielle froze and destroyed the cell where Hermes was imprisoned. Peebles and Luther took him out there.
"Are you feeling strong with that, huh? Now, try this my little pet." Lilith said to Dante after he threw those heads of her vampire guards to her.
Its red eyes opened up as the beast got awakened. A muscular, huge bull beast who can stand up like a human, a minotaur. Lilith summoned it with her dark magic and she made it her pet.
The beast charged in a great speed towards Dante using its devastating horns as it had gone berserk. Dante was thrown away onto the wall after being hit by the charging minotaur.
Alister dodges the minotaur attacking him. He evaded its attack with his vampiric speed, as the beast that attacked him with its horns, it hits the wall everytime it charges instead of its target Alister. The underground hideout of where they were, was shaking and slowly collapsing because of the minotaur.
His eyes turned dark, k-nine fangs and claws were out, wolf furs were showing out from his face as he halfway morphed into a werewolf. Dante stands up and then he charged towards the minotaur at a great speed with his dark aura blazing on his trail. He climbed up to its back and scratched the back of its head with his claws but the minotaur grabbed him and threw him down violently. Dante stands up again and he picked up a stone wall debris three times the size of his hand. He climbed up on the minotaur's back again and he bashed its head with the stone wall debris using his super strength until the dark magic that made it go berserk was gone that made it became unconscious. The beast was down. Lilith her hands with the sword and she made her fighting stance.
"Oh! can you quit fooling us. We knew you don't have the power of the sword." Alister said.
"But it was still a blade." replied Lilith. She draw the sword to them as Dante and Alister were evading her attacks. It was a hell of a fight, showing great haste and strength between demons. Dante pushed Lilith onto the falling wall debris as the underground lair was collapsing. Unfortunately, before Dante pushed her, Lilith had already stabbed the sword to Dante's stomach. The blade penetrated to him as he fell down and screamed in agonizing pain.
"Alister! pull it out, pull it out so that I can heal. Come on! hurry!" Dante yelled.
Alister pulled the sword put from Dante's body. Dante's severe wound was now healing. They quickly come out from the collapsing underground and grabbed the divine glaive with them. Then after that, they left immediately and head back to retrieve the glaive back to Queen Taneisha.