The Lower Spiritual Planes, Void Plane.
Henry floated in complete darkness; it was an invading darkness that penetrated his every sense. But for some reason it also felt normal, like how it was normal for the Mortal Realm to be filled with sunlight and vegetation, darkness was the norm in this plane and anything else would be wrong. Or at least that was what it felt like to him.
The darkness had invaded every part of him, he found it hard to move and even breathing was done by instinct. Sometimes he would forget to breathe and end up gasping for air. And after floating in the dark for hours he could feel his sanity slipping, even with the mind-numbing effect of the plane.
'Wait, has it been hours?' Henry thought, muddled. There was nothing in this plane he could use to tell the time, so he just made an estimated guess of an estimated guess.
The only benefit of being in this plane was the fact that he couldn't hold a thought, the pain he felt vanished after a few minutes of being in the plane, and every worry he had erased. He couldn't even channel his magic to use [Spatial Movement] because he couldn't remember how to, he couldn't do anything apart from floating in the never-ending darkness.
But then suddenly, a change happened.
A dim purple light appeared on Henry's side, although it wasn't bright it still temporarily blinded Henry who had seen nothing but darkness all this while, he blinked rapidly and waited for his eyes to adjust to it. Even though his thoughts were fleeting the light was constant and couldn't be ignored, so he lazily turned his head toward the source.
What he saw was a giant woman – or female creature with human-like features – whose entire body glowed light purple. She looked like she had ripped apart the void to get there because half of her body couldn't be seen, the tip of her ears was long, and her purple hair reached her waist and covered her entire chest and torso. She was a beautiful creature, even with her eyes closed.
Henry looked on dully as her body began enlarging bit by bit – wait, no, she wasn't getting bigger, he was floating closer to her. He was being drawn to the giant purple lady by an invisible force, he felt like he should be afraid, but he could barely think of anything.
Soon, he got close enough to the giant lady that he could see some significant strands of air, then her eyes opened. Her eyes were as black as the plane Henry was in, she had no sclera, only deep darkness.
Henry's heart palpitated at the sight and a trickle of fear formed in it. He had a vague idea to channel his magic, but the thought flitted around his mind like a butterfly, and he couldn't catch it. So, he decided to focus on something easy, praying. He grasped onto the thought as a drowning man would hold onto a floating log and said the prayer every follower of the God of Origins knew from the bottom of his heart.
'In the name of the God of Origins, I pray for new hope!'
Immediately after he said the prayer a bright light descended into the plane and unto him, oddly enough the light wasn't blinding and was warm and comfortable, but the giant purple lady didn't think so. She opened her mouth and let out a silent scream, her beautiful face twisting into a grotesque horror. The small trickle of fear Henry had multiplied until it filled his entire being, under the golden light his magic channeling was smoother than ever, so he quickly opened a spatial passage.
The spatial passage hung in front of him, out of his reach. The plane was keeping him afloat but he couldn't fly, but the fear he felt made his brain work at super speed. Instead of moving his body, he moved what he dubbed the spatial door to him, it swallowed him and brought him back to the Mortal Realm.
He instantly regained control of his limbs but was a bit wobbly so he stumbled and fell, his face digging into the grass. The smell of the grass assaulted his nose, and their blades tickled his skin. Henry felt a sense of belonging and stability, unlike the natural rejection he felt in the other plane.
'Speaking of which…' he looked back at the spatial passage that was still open, only inky blackness could be seen, and the giant purple lady had disappeared. He stared expressionlessly at the passage before waving his hand and closing it, then he opened another one – a normal one this time – and followed the map back to the place where he was before, where Jolene died.
There was a huge patch of eroded land from the fireball the skeleton dragon had shot at them, most of the vegetation around him had been trampled by the undead. But the body he was looking for wasn't there apart from the dried blood on the ground, Jolene's body wasn't there.
Damon knelt heavily and stared despondently at the blood, a familiar feeling of loss welled up in his chest but his dry eyes shed no tears. Even though they had only known each other for just a short while Henry couldn't help but think about what could have happened between them if she had stayed alive.
But staying in the plane devoid of light had taught him how to shut off his thoughts and feelings, so he did just that. He would think about all these things later, but as for now, he needed to prepare. According to Sarah's vision, the Overlord's City would still be attacked by the undead, and he had a strong feeling the person who killed Jolene would also be there, and he would be waiting for them.
With a dark expression, he opened the Space Between and jumped in.
…
"Hold! Don't let them get through the gate!
"Use enchanted arrows and bolts, regular arrows don't do anything!"
The peace of the Dragonstone Castle was disrupted as suddenly as a bolt of lightning, the unprepared Sword Knights were doing their best to protect the castle but the knights stationed at the castle weren't nearly enough, all they could do was wait for the knights in the private fortress to arrive.
Half of the castle gates had been burned through by the earlier fireball, the Sword Knights had managed to hold the undead off at the entrance through cooperative slashes but the bones of the skeletons were too hard, only a few of them had died so far.
"What are the archers doing?!" The second commander yelled, an attack slipped past his defenses but bounced off his Aura. With a growl he slashed the skeleton, it was blasted backward but was otherwise, unharmed.
He once again glared at the battlements before turning back to the fight, but the archers on the wall couldn't be blamed for not responding, they had their hands full with another type of undead.
Up in the air, Skeleton Mages flew in the air and shot Rot Bolts and Necro-Flames at the knights on the battlements, the knights responded by blasting enchanted arrows at them with their strong bows. Although the Skeleton Mages were easier to kill, they were numerous, they flew around the walls of the castle like flies.
As they fought the undead the knights would occasionally glance furtively at the Skeleton Dragon above, but after the initial fireball, it didn't attack them.
A commotion appeared among the knights as a man wearing golden armor and wielding a steel broadsword walked out of the castle, beside him were two boys, one was donned in armor while the other wore the sorcerer's robe of the Emerald Crow magic society. They were the king and princes of the Dragonstone Kingdom.
"Your Majesty! Your Highnesses!" the Sword Knights on standby saluted the royals when they saw them.
The Skeleton Dragon suddenly let out a strong flare, it flapped its flame wings and dove at the knights on the battlements. Emerald flames shot out of its bone maw and burnt the knights into puddles, then it perched on the walls, its flames settling on its bone body. The Sword Knights became agitated when the Skeleton Dragon attacked, they steeled their Aura and readied themselves for another attack, but nothing happened. Even the skeleton army had stopped moving, but that made them feel even more apprehensive.
A chilling, almost crazed laughter sounded came from the dragon. Everyone looked up to witness a man standing unharmed within the flames that caressed the dragon's bones. He wore a filthy cloak and carried a bag oddly at his back, he looked thin and malnourished like he'd been starved. No one could understand why he showed himself or why he was attacking the castle, no one but the king, who walked slowly forward and stared at the man in trepidation.
King Roman IV opened his mouth tentatively, his lips trembled and pursed, like it was hard for him to form the words he wanted, "Logan?" He finally said, his voice heavy with disbelief.
The man on the Skeleton Dragon – Logan – smiled down at him, "Hello, brother."
Silence ensued after those words, the princes stared at their father in shock, the knights had to watch the undead army in case of a sudden attack but that didn't stop them from glancing at the proclaimed brothers and found a resemblance between the two. Although Logan's hair was matted atop his head and his skin made him look like a corpse, he did slightly look like a sibling of the king.
Logan glanced at Roman's head and nodded, "I see you aren't wearing the crown, good. You don't need to bear it anymore, now that the rightful heir to the throne is here."
Someone gasped, and the princes' jaws dropped uncontrollably, even with the silence it was obvious that everyone's curiosity had been riled up by that statement.
Roman's brows creased, he stomped forward and said, "You were never the heir to the throne, father decided not to give you that position after he saw how vile and vindictive you were! He believed that you would bring woe unto the kingdom if you ever ruled it, and from what I can see, he was right."
Logan shook his head, "You mistake me, Roman. I never said I would be taking over the throne."
"What do you mean?"
Logan ignored Roman's confused face and stared at the princes, then he chuckled maniacally. The princes shuddered when his crazed look focused on them, his laugh continued for almost a minute before stopping. He let out a sneer at the princes before turning his head back to Roland.
"I will kill you, and your children," he spoke resolutely like he was stating a fact, "then my son would be the only heir to the throne."
He took off the bag from his shoulders and carefully kept it on the dragon's back, then he reached into it and brought out a baby. The baby's skin was grey and covered in pulsating blue veins, the sunlight didn't affect his vision even though he had just come out of a dark bag, he instead stared at his surrounding with curiosity.
Roman was appalled, from his side it looked as if Logan was carrying a dead body, "What sort of abomination is that?"
Instead of answering, Logan nudged the cheeks of the baby before placing him back into the bag and carrying it on his shoulders. Not once did the baby cry or fuss during these actions.
"That," Logan finally spoke, "is my son. And as the eldest child that makes him the heir to the throne, not your children." He sighed heavily, like making the decision was hard on him, "I would have loved it if you agreed to this without a fight, but I know you well. So, unfortunately for you, you and your family had to die to give my son a chance."
His voice hadn't ended when the skeletons struck, with swings of their strong bones they impaled the knights in front of them with their bone spears, killing them instantly. The Skeleton Mages flew over the castle wall and bombarded the knights with rotting magic.
"Charge!" The second commander bellowed and led the Sword Knights to fight the undead that had already entered the castle's compound. Coordination had been discarded, turning the battle into a sort of haphazard street fight. Some skeletons would cling to the bricks of the walls, then explode into vibrant flames, leaving wide holes in the walls for more undead to flood in.
Roman glared at Logan and he glared right back, neither of them had moved since the battle continued. The princes stared warily at their father's figure, and a group of knights surrounded them to create a protective circle.
The battle continued, most of the knights had used their Aura's second form and were hacking fervently at the ghastly undead, some brave ones leaped high into the air and tried to attack Logan but were melted by the Skeleton Dragon's flames mid-air. The Skeleton Mages above formed groups, then gathered their magic together to form huge flames and tossed it down to the frazzled knights.
Blasts and screams mixed, the once glorious compound had been reduced to shambles, the walls wrecked beyond recognition. Roman still didn't take his eyes off of Logan, despite how much he wanted to hit him he would never be able to reach Logan while he was on the Skeleton Dragon. He glared at Logan and sent him a silent provocation.
'Come down here if you have the guts, you coward!' His eyes said.
Logan smiled and nodded slightly, 'As you wish.'
The Skeleton Dragon flapped its fire-encased bone wings and sailed into the air, then it curved its body and dove straight down at Roman. Roman roared lowly as he activated the second form of his Fifth Aura straight away, the force knocked his two sons backward but the knights stood firm, ready to assist at any given moment.
The Skeleton Dragon was halfway toward Roman when it abruptly stopped, its whole body hung mid-air like a hanged decoration, then it barreled backward faster than it came.
Logan groaned and grabbed the bones of the Skeleton Dragon tight while he controlled it to dig its claws into the earth to slow itself down before they fell into the moat that surrounded the castle. After they stopped Logan glared at the castle ahead, being a sorcerer himself he could sense that he was hit by a very powerful elemental spell.
He growled and flew back to the battlements and sure enough, floating in front of the king was Xavier Thrope, the Head of the Emerald Crow magic society and the Principal of the Emerald Crow magic school, and the strongest sorcerer in the Dragonstone Kingdom.