A ray of sunlight has struck the window, giving a warm welcome to the morning sky, and the scent of herbal medicine and dust covers the air, giving off a calming grassy smell of field inside a room where Garion can be seen wearing a long white blouse with his daughter sleeping peacefully on his lap.
"The knights were already prepared for the battle; are those verendus playing hide and seek with us?"
Khalid had spoken as he sprinkled the dust off of his fingers, standing in front of the window with all their eyes locked up on him as he began to speak.
"It can't be. I'm sure they were plotting something!"
"I cannot be wrong!"
Garion demanded with a confused expression written on his face.
The room was covered in silence when the two started a conversation. Three of Khalid's knights can be seen sitting on the empty bed, watching the two with a serious expression painted on all their faces, while Erwin had his eyes on Dal, who was quietly looking at Khalid with distress in his eyes.
"It's been a week, Garion; my patience is waning. I'm tired of waiting for the prey."
He replied, looking at the big-built guy who couldn't seem to look straight at him in the eyes.
'I don't know why the verendus aren't showing up either, but I'm sure that they were after our lives... I can't be wrong.'
He thought without looking at the boy as sweat dripped down on his body immensely.
When all of a sudden...
*Baam!*
A man wearing the old uniform of a knight barged in, looking like a drenched puppy with his sweat dripping like a broken faucet, wearing a worried expression on his face as he ran towards Khalid.
He bowed down as he began to speak.
"M-milord, t-t-the verendus has already made a move and started to attack the northern part of the neighboring kingdom; many lives have been taken, and the land has turned into bloodshed!"
He was panting ceaselessly while stating the information with a stuttering voice.
Khalid looked at him as he left a smirk on his face.
"Oh~ are we playing tag now?"
He spoke undisturbed in a situation, grinning immensely like a predator that was scheming something, grasping its prey on the neck with the palm of his hands.
"Y-yes?"
The knight confusedly asked while the others left unspoken, wondering what was Khalid's thinking.
'I'll end this game.'
His smile leaves all the people inside the room shuddering while the hair on their skin straightens when Khalid lets out a powerful display of an ominous aura on his body.
"MILORD, W-WE CAN'T B-BREATH-"
Reinhardt stated out of breath as they could feel their chest tightening, as if they were drowning in the darkest pit of the ocean, leaving a choking feeling in their throat.
*Cough! Cough! *
Even the child, who was peacefully sleeping on Garion's lap, started to choke aggressively.
Khalid's eyes widen as he calms himself down; he coughs awkwardly and spares a look at the child when she suddenly speaks.
"Are we going to see Mommy now?"
She rubbed her eyes as she looked at her dad, though Garion couldn't seem to spare a glance at her.
"M-milord, help me find my wife!"
He pleaded, but Khalid didn't reply.
His attention was caught at the door when a woman wearing a white uniform, holding a medicine kit, and a bandage bowed towards him before he walked straight to Garion.
"How long does it take to heal?"
He asked as he watched the nurse change the bandage.
"The wounds are completely healed, and the patient can be discharged within two days."
She replied as she continued to run a check on Garion, looking so desperate for his answer.
"Reinhardt."
"We will depart in the next three days. Inform all the knights to prepare for the battle."
He demanded, which left him with a luciform smile on his face but left Reinhardt confused as he suddenly blurted a question out of wonder.
"Milord, if we depart with all the knights, then we will catch all their attention!"
His deep, tough voice echoed.
Surprisingly, it just left Khalid chuckling before he looked at him in the eyes.
"Did I say something like that?"
He tilted his head.
"Then, am I misunderstanding something?"
Just then, Khalid laughed, leaving all of them puzzled by his act.
"Garion and I will be departing in the next three days; it's up to you if you want to come, but I'll be leaving all the talented knights—ah, I mean all the knights in this land."
He bluntly announced, leaving them unspoken.
'Just…. What is he plotting inside of his mind?!'
All of them wander as they watch him walk outside the room when all their attention suddenly shifts to Dal when he stands up out of nowhere.
"Could I tag along?"
He cautiously asks without looking while facing the wooden floor of the room.
Khalid sighed before he replied.
"Who said you can't?"
His words made Dal bounce up and down like a child who was permitted to go on a trip while wearing a wide smile on his face. He was overjoyed by what Khalid had said, but soon his smile faded and his face turned bleak when he caught Erwin's gaze.
Another minute had passed before they walked out of the scene, following Khalid outside when he entered the carriage. Dal quietly followed behind with his tail on his legs and was about to take a seat beside him when Erwin whispered something in his ear while walking past him, leaving Dal with a deadly grave look in his eyes.
"Don't forget what we've talked about."
He whispered, leaving him unspoken.
As the carriage headed straight towards the palace, Erwin could be seen sitting beside Khalid, facing Dal, who was fidgeting his hands with his head down.
"Weird."
Seeing it, Khalid seemed to clock out his odd behavior as if he were avoiding him for a while; that wasn't like him.
"Dal, does something matter?"
He asked with a cold voice and expression. It was always like that as if he couldn't feel a thing at all, but he wasn't stupid enough to act like a blind person without noticing what was happening.
"I….c-can I-"
Dal was about to respond when Erwin simply cut off his words, striking out of their conversation while wearing a smile on his face that left him in silence.
"He was just simply nervous for the sudden departure, Milord. hahaha~"
Erwin laughed.
"Right? Dal…"
He continued to smile, looking at his face, but he knew that behind those galad smiles was a nefarious threat from him, as he could feel the gates of hell on his innocent mask.
He couldn't do anything but smile awkwardly, nodding his head in response.
"If you say so."
Khalid quickly replied and locked his attention outside the window, but he could feel unease every time he caught Dal's cautious gaze at him.
It was then the sun put to sleep when they arrived at the palace; the moon had slowly started to give off light to people; the breath of the wind was cold; and the blanket of stars started to show at the Caelum night.
Khalid found Dal in silence as he avoided him and walked straight towards the annex. He looks at Erwin as if he were simply watching Dal's back before taking a look at the moon from afar.
"The full moon is coming."
He mumbled, which made him frown.
As soon as he arrives in front of the door in the southern part of the palace, Dal quickly locks himself in the room. He closes all the blinds on the curtains and covers himself with the blanket, tucking his knees to his head and hugging himself with his hands trembling like a frightened cat.
His eyes widen as he tightly grips the blanket covering himself in the dark, remembering the words that Erwin had said flashing right before his eyes.
"The moons will start to form."
Erwin looked at the man tightly tied with chains, both his hands and feet groaning in pain as he sat in the chair in front of him.
"It wouldn't take days; I can control it!"
He shouted, facing Erwin with his head resting on his palm.
Dal could feel the death in his stare as he looked at him in the eyes. It was the first time he saw Erwin with a different expression; it was so scary that he wasn't like him at all. His naïve smile and bubbly appearance, when he was in front of Khalid, were different from the way he looked at him. Now he wondered if Erwin had acted like this in front of others like Reinhardt.
"Tssk! one day~. Right, that one night is enough to bring calamity to this land."
Erwin's words left him unspoken. Dal wasn't expecting to be caught by Erwin, as he thought that he could hide everything from himself. Now he was facing him with a disgusted look on his face.
"It's not like that!"
He shouted as he stuttered before Erwin cut off his words.
"Soon you would be feasting on people's flesh and soul! Do you think you can control it? I have precious people to protect Dal!"
He affirmed as he put his palm on his head in great disapproval.
The room was covered in silence from his words. Now that the cat was out of the bag, Dal couldn't do anything but dance on Erwin's palm.
He quietly watched him as Erwin stood up and turned his back before walking out of the scene.
He even stopped as soon as he was in front of the door, flicking his two fingers as the chains that were tying up Dal slowly vanished in the air like they didn't exist in the first place.
He sighed and continued to speak, but he didn't spare a single look at him.
"Nothing can be done; the ball is in your court. Don't forget that I did warn you."
Erwin reminded as he walked outside the room, leaving him kneeling on the floor with tears trickling down his eyes.
Three days swiftly passed, and the day of departure came without Dal; even his shadow was nowhere to be found.
Garion was fully recovered and could now be seen holding a child in his arms while his two knights were busily packing up things on the vacant wagon.
Khalid looked around, but he couldn't feel the presence of Dal.
"Milord, everything's ready..."
"It's time to go."
Reinhardt insists, but then Khalid looks back at the palace as if he were waiting for someone.
Minutes passed, but no one showed up.
"One of my knights is missing..."
He stated that he left the two unspoken.
Erwin could be seen biting his lips as he gritted his fists.
"Milord, we have to go."
His words cut off with Khalid's cold rejection.
"No, we aren't leaving without Dal."
Hearing it made Erwin's forehead wrinkle, which Khalid had noticed, especially when Reinhardt looked at Erwin with a worried expression, seeing him walk straight at him with a gloomy expression.
"Erwin, I think you know the answer."
He stated it with a blunt tone of voice that left them in surprise when he started throwing tantrums like a child.
*Tssk!*
"Why?..."
"W-why? Why do you care so much about him?!"
Erwin complained, clenching his jaw as he gripped his fists, facing the ground.
"ERWIN!-"
Reinhardt had tried to warn him, but he was so enraged that he even cut off his comrades' own words, bursting all the pain and sorrow deep inside his heart out of his mouth.
"You met us first while he was just a stranger! How could you be so nice to someone like him?!"
He shouted, ignoring Reinhardt's call.
"You're so cruel, milord. How could you act so differently towards me but show kindness to a terrible monster like him?!"
He blurted in anger, which left their eyes wide.
It was already too late when he realized what he had just said.
Erwin's legs turned noodles while he was left kneeling on the ground, covering his eyes. When his sight turned foggy, he couldn't face Khalid after the words he had said, and it made his sight cloudier when crystal-like water flowed from his eyes.
"Y-you are so...
*Hic!"
-unfair, milord."
His voice cracked.
Khalid then approached Erwin, giving him a warm hug. He could feel the jealousy and sadness in his words, which made him feel guilty for not reading his knight's actions.
He could find sense in his words, thinking back that the two were the only companions he had before he met the others, and suddenly being kind to other people they just met makes it reasonable for Erwin to take a grudge against Dal.
"It's my fault; I'm sorry I made you feel that way."
Khalid stated that even though his tone of voice was as cold as an iceberg, everyone on the scene could feel the warmth of amity in his words.
Erwin sniffed like a child before he started speaking.
"D-dal was *sniff* in his room; he probably locked himself there. *sniff*."
His nose was covered in snot as he replied to Khalid.
It was then that the aurora started to visit the sky, giving off a fiery ball from above as a big, rounded moon shone brightly in the calligo of the night.
As they began to hear the howling of the wolves, a feeling of the cold breeze in the air passed through them, leaving all of them shuddering on their spines. It was the summer season, but the cold of the night was enough to bring terror to the people.
'You are a monster, a monster...'
A voice came ringing in his ears while he was being chained up inside the spacious, dark room where all the blinds and curtains were completely shut.
"Stop!-"
He shouted, trying to reach his ears with his hands chained to one another, preventing him from escaping.
"A monster is a monster, and you are one of them. Feast with people's souls, and you will be stronger."
He was left kneeling on the ground in front of the balcony, staring blankly at the ceiling, while the tempting words of the demon continued to ring in his ears.
Dal tried to calm himself as he began reciting a divine orason, murmuring by himself as he continued to groan in pain.
'It was useless.'
The voice affirmed, and Dal lifted his head as he quivered in fear like a terrified kid who had just seen a ghost.
When a strong wind blew a heavy breeze, it struck the door's balcony and left it wide open. It was too wide, which was enough for a fully blooming moon from above to give light inside the darkroom of Dal.
He then turned his head as he watched the three people standing at the door with weapons in their hands.
"Foolish."
Erwin spoke as they watched Dal slowly transform in the moonlight.
His porcelain skin, which was sleek like silk, has turned acantho like a thorn of flowers while smoke sizzles in his body.
He had turned into a vad verendus with a rough, dry, and ugly acantho appearance. He was completely unrecognizable, as they were staring cautiously in front of a beast with a long, thorny tail that covered his whole body and fairly sharp long claws and fangs, just like a monstrous basilisk. He completely lost himself with a curse that devoured the whole of him.
The three were left surprised while Khalid tried to approach him, slowly walking towards Dal, who was completely under the curse, while Erwin just stayed alert to guard at the back with a serious expression on his face.
'This would be cumbersome.'
He thought, looking at Dal gripping his sword tightly as he watched the whole situation.
In the end, something will happen. Is bound to happen. The ethereal beauty of Dal faded when the curse completely controlled his mind, leaving his soul unconscious in the dark. Now that another verendus has awakened, the place will soon be covered in the blood and cries of people, and it might be too late for them to stop the calamity from happening.