*rustling paper*
Amon hutches over the torchlight as he read the letter.
" Oh, this is actually very good."
Amon nodded approvingly at the letter.
" I know right!"
Darzirak chimed with a smile, his tail wagging furiously behind him.
" Just that why is it signed Shayna and Richard?? Also, why is it written in ink? Not that I'm complaining but I have never seen you write anything with ink before."
" The handwriting is terrible too huh? Reminds me of your handwriting when you were young."
Darzirak reminiscences as he let out a hearty laugh.
" Yeah... Hey! Wait a minute! If this is the letter that you left for Emma and Hector! Then what's it doing here??"
" Huh? That I left? This is the letter I took to show you terrible handwriting. I left an even better letter in place of this one! One with the most charming of all handwritings."
Darzirak patted Amon on the back as he reassures him.
" You!!!"
Amon growled at Darzirak when it finally clicks what kind of letter Darzirak left.
" Mr. Amon?!"
The shocked cry of a young girl echoes throughout the tunnel. From the darkness, two children stepped into the soft glowing orange light of the torch that lay on the ground. A small deer with muddy shoes and a dirty dress along with a slightly taller lion cub that was roughly in the same condition as the little deer. The lion's hand held a ball of blue yarn that was unraveling behind them.
" Shayna? And Shayna's friend?! What are you two doing here?!"
Amon voiced out in surprise.
" Unless..."
Amon almost immediately added as he turned to Darzirak with a hateful glare.
" Nya! Your expression, ahhhh! Keep looking at me like that and I might *shivering in delight* "
Darzirak lewdly purred. Amon let out an annoyed sigh as he looked away and covered his eyes with his hand.
" I really hate this."
Amon said through a heavy sigh before turning back to Darzirak with the sweetest smile he could muster. Darzirak immediately shot up to all fours as he hissed at Amon's face like an angry cat.
" You stole Little One from Shayna and Richard, didn't you?"
Amon questioned nicely. Darzirak immediately backs away from Amon and hides behind Richard.
" So what if I did!"
The demon barked out at Amon. Richard without any hesitation nor remorse. Kicks Darzirak back to Amon. Amon caught the little squirming Demon by the neck as he forced Darzirak to look at his loving smile. Darzirak hissed and struggled for a moment before disappearing into Amon's hand to avoid looking at Amon.
" Where did it go??"
The lion, Richard exclaimed.
" Mister Amon, what's going on? I don't understand. Why does that creature know you? Why?"
Shayna was about to blurt out each and every question she had but before she could Amon raised his hand to stop her.
" Firstly tell me the truth. Did you grab Little One and run into Shadow Territory? Even after you have given me, your mother, Hector, and Philomel your word that you wouldn't?"
Amon sternly asked as he rubs Little One's back, soothingly trying to calm him down.
" No, she didn't. I did. She just tagged along. I made no such promises to anyone."
Richard announced with a tone that would fit any fully matured lion, steady but slightly threatening.
" Shayna, you sure, you want to hide behind this excuse? Remember you're an older sister now, is this the kind of behavior you want to encourage in Little One?"
Amon questioned as his gaze returned to her with a blank expression.
" I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I just! I can't take it anymore! He was so sad! He cried and cried until his eyes turned red! He screamed and screamed until he had no more voice. Then he just lay there... staring out that window... I... I... just can't anymore!"
Shayna burst into tears and Richard immediately wraps his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his chest and letting her cry into his shoulder.
" You must understand, Mister Amon. It was utter torment for Little One. How can you expect Shayna to stand there as she watched her little brother suffer like that? How can you expect that from any older sibling?"
Richard questioned, Amon, seeing this, sighed.
" What you have done, will doom us all. This is Mountmend and now every dark creature within this place can sense Little One. They will come. You're lucky that Darzirak took Little One from you. Darzirak is able to hide Little One's scent but it takes up all his concentration."
Amon said with a sigh knowing that Darzirak would be too mentally exhausted to continue doing so after this.
" You mean that thing helped us? "
Richard questioned in awe.
" He stole Little One as soon as you entered Shadow Territory, right?"
Amon questioned as his gaze turns back to Shayna.
" Yes *sniffles* that's right. He stole the baby and threw us mommy's yarn. The end was tangled up on a thorn bush. We decided to give chase and use the yarn as a way to backtrack."
Shayna explained between a sniffle and wiping away her tears.
" As you already know Shadow Territory time moves differently but with a link back to normal time. You're currently forcing a phasing time zone to follow your time zone by that tied link."
Amon informs as he points at the yarn.
" Is that why we were able to find you and Mrs. Philomel, so quickly? Even though we left a long time ago?"
Richard questioned and Amon nodded in response.
" It's a very good thing Darzirak found you before you entered Shadow Territory. He must have been leading you two away from any harm and using his demonic powers to scare away any he can't avoid. "
Amon frowned at the realization and felt bad that he was hash at Darzirak when all the demon did was help.
" Wait but how did he know where you are??"
Shayna asked with a tilted head. Amon fell silent for a moment as he thought about how to hide the fact that he is a Dark elf. But he soon came to the conclusion that they would figure it out eventually since they did see Darzirak disappear into him.
" Can you two keep a secret?"
Amon asked with a finger over his lip. Both Richard and Shayna immediately nodded.
" I'm actually a dark elf. Darzirak is a demon I had formed a contract with."
Amon admitted and both children fell silent for the longest time.
" Is that bad? Bad that you're working with a nice demon?"
Shayna asks in a very confused tone.
" It... depends... Not many like demon race and doing so would often cause a conflict of opinions."
Amon did his best to answer.
" Ah... I see ... Don't worry Mr. Amon! You're secret is safe with us! As long as you don't force us to take back Little One."
Richard threatened Amon with a very joyful tone.
" Oh, don't worry. I won't. Without Darzirak, Little One has become a beacon for every last creature in this mine. Asking you to take him now would be a death sentence. Either way, you two are knee-deep in trouble. Darzirak."
Amon used the same tone back at Richard. Both children winched knowingly as Amon called his inner demon. Within a moment the black liquid of Darzirak oozed out of Amon's hand and into a puddle before him.
" Go away. I helped and you bully me."
Darzirak whined but Amon ignored it.
" Darzirak, I'm really sorry about before. Can you please take the kids back to the village? There's a door Mimic along the way that's willing to help if you feed it. Get them both back safely and I promise I'll let you eat my dreams for a week as a reward for doing a good job."
Amon begged, Darzirak immediately sprung to his feet at the mere mention of dream consuming.
" Leave it to me!"
Darzirak saluted.
Darzirak takes the yarn from Richard and buried it in the ground.
" Fewer chances of something noticing it and messing with your only guide home."
He softly explains to the lion.
" Here Mr. Amon, we brought along 3 bottles of milk and extra nappies since we didn't know how long it would take to find you."
Shayna informed as she passed the items to Amon.
" Thanks! You guys really planned this out, huh?"
Amon chimed as he takes the items from her and places them on his lap.
" Yeah. We had everyone share a milk bottle today, to avoid suspicion. And this is the candy, I and the daycare children plan on using to bribe you to take Little One. If no other method worked. We all pitched in a bit and some of us gave all our candy. Blake, Rehaa, me, and Richard this is all the candy we have. I hope that it helps lighten your mood."
Shayna informed as she opened her satchel bigger to show Amon that it was half full with different types of sweets and treats.
Amon's eyes almost popped out of its eyes socket. Never in his whole life had he ever seen this much candy in one place and he probably would never see it again.
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