Exgreia fell into chaos; every place was filled with destruction. Dead bodies were scattered everywhere. The vast land tore itself apart into smaller continents. The floating island collapsed from the sky and sank to the deepest part of the ocean. The other realm became visible to the naked eye.
Demons roamed the world, and the other races turned into their food and slaves. The world became a living hell for other creatures to survive.
All of this would happen in the blink of an eye once the Gate of the Underworld had been opened by the child of blue flames.
. . . . .
Augustus was reading the letter sent by the Celestial Seer from years ago. It contained a prophecy about the destruction of the world and the fall of mankind.
He was inside a large hall that resembled a library. It contained shelves of different kinds of books regarding the history of Exgreia, magic spells for each element, fighting techniques, and other things of importance. It was the Empire's most treasured place—the Royal Archive.
Then, he stood up from his seat and walked to the section that contained books regarding demons. He scanned the book titles with his eyes and stopped upon seeing an odd book.
'Records of the General,' he read its title with his thought.
It was not like the other books that have the word 'demon' in their title, and it caught his attention. He knew that the Demon King had four generals, and they were called the Darkness Generals.
Each of them protected the Forest of Nightmares in four different directions. The vampires, with the Crimson Eyed Melody as their leader, covered the east, while the Orc Lord, known as the Battle Hungry Demon, led the orcs and guarded the south. Then, the Undead Summoner patrolled the west with his undead legion, and the White Fur Alpha, whom they killed first during the war, guided the lycanthropes to survey the north.
However, the title of the book he found was written in the singular, meaning it referred to a single person. He grabbed it from the shelf, and the first thing that he noticed was that it was worn out; the back of the book cover was ripped, and the front was half burned.
Then he opened it, but the words were already faded, as if it had been soaked in water for a long period of time. He flipped the next page, and it was faded again, but there was an illustration, and Augustus concentrated his eyes to depict the pictures on that page, but all he could see was two squares with faded words under each of them.
"S-Sixfold Arsenal? Q-Quintessence C-Cage?" he uttered while trying his best to read the faded letters.
"What are these?" He asked himself.
It was his first time hearing those, and he couldn't guess their relation to the two squares. Then, when he was supposed to flip the next page, a palace servant approached him.
"Your Majesty, the saintess has arrived," the servant said while bowing her head to him.
"Guide her to the conference and prepare a meal for us," he said after he nodded.
"Yes, your Majesty," the servant said, then she bowed once more before she left.
Augustus scanned the remaining pages to look for something readable, but all he found were faded sentences. So he decided to put it back where he found it and left the archive to meet the saintess.
However, he didn't notice that the book was inclined in its placement the moment he returned it. And after a few seconds, it fell from its shelf, opened to the very last page, and a faded text was written at the bottom part of it.
'Mess with the Demon King, but never with his general.'
. . . . .
A few moments ago, a white carriage pulled by a horse entered the gate of the imperial palace, and then a woman wearing a white dress stepped down from the passenger seat.
The people inside couldn't hold themselves from stealing a glance at her. She was a sight to behold; her glamour gave brightness greater than the moonlight.
"Thank you," she said to the guard after he escorted her to the front door. The guard just bowed at her and got back to his station.
She walked with elegance, then a female servant came up to her and bowed.
"This way, saintess, the emperor will follow soon," then they walked into a small passage with large portraits of people hanging in the wall.
Each of them was wearing different kinds of crowns, but the golden phoenix design was present in all of their clothing. Some were embedded directly into the dress, while others were wearing a sash containing the crest. They were the past rulers of the Embercrown Empire.
After a minute of walking, they arrived at a conference that had a long table that had thirty chairs on each side and was three meters wide. Four guards were standing in the corners, and then a throne smaller than the one in the main hall was placed in the deepest part of the room. And behind it was a large painting of Augustus in his younger years.
Then, the servant bowed at her and left. She walked and slid her hand along the table before taking a seat in the chair nearest the throne.
It was not her first visit to this place, but the intricate curvings of a phoenix on the wall and ceiling didn't fail to amuse her eyes every single time.
Then, a moment later, the emperor entered, and the Celestial Seer stood up to pay her respects.
"Greetings, Your Majesty," she said while bowing and slightly raising the helm of her dress on both sides; her right foot was placed behind the left.
"It's an honor that the Saintess visits my palace; take a seat," Augustus said, before he went to the opposite chair facing the seer.
Ave Gayle sat as soon as the emperor was seated.
"So, what did you see this time?" The emperor started the conversation and went straight to the point, but it never bothered the woman in front of him.
"The thin white line that passed through the empire a few hours ago, have you seen it?" The saintess replied with a question.
'Hmnn, I and Ren were not the only ones, I suppose,' Augustus thought before he spoke.
"Yes, I've seen it, and if I'm not mistaken, it came from the mountain range." He conveyed the same answer he gave to Ren.
"It really was." Ave Gayle affirmed, and the emperor placed both of his elbows on the table and his hands to his chin.
"As soon as the strange line passed by me, I used my legacy and saw a man looking in the direction of the empire, and he was smiling. And I think that he saw me looking at him," the saintess explained.
"Did you see his face?" Augustus said, but Ave Gayle shook her head in an instant.
"I think I saw his face but when I passed out, I couldn't remember a single thing regarding his features," she replied.
"Then behind him, I saw a hundred different corpses of beasts laying on the mountain grounds," she added upon seeing that the emperor was deep in his thoughts.
"Hmnn, did you see his weapon?" He asked, associating the man with the culprit behind Cadaver's death.
'Maybe he's one of the two we're looking for,' he thought, but he got dismayed upon seeing the saintess shake her head again.
"I think he's one of them," he said, which made Ave Gayle knit her brows.
"Cadaver was dead. A report came earlier. The Undead Summoner was killed in his castle together with his army," he continued.
The Celestial Seer dropped her jaw upon hearing his last sentence. She didn't know what she would feel: relieved because the remaining general was dead or troubled because of the unknown killer.
Then, several palace maids entered and served different kinds of meals that were pleasing to the eyes. The two of them shared the food placed on the table, and Augustus filled Ave Gayle with details about Cadaver's death.
"Oh, there is this one thing that I need to tell you," the saintess said after she sipped from a glass of water.
"Go ahead," the emperor replied while savoring the taste of the dishes.
"How sure are you that Cinhard Beelze is the only one who uses blue flames?" She asked while her hands were busy cutting the steak made of lamb meat on her plate.
Augustus laid down his utensils and replied. "Why?"
"I'm still dreaming about the prophecy." Ave Gayle said with her round emerald eyes staring directly at the Emperor. Then, the large conference room was filled with silence.
. . . . .
In the next few days, when the sun was scorching hot, a man with a worn-out hood was walking down the street on the outskirts of the town that was under the reign of the Herish Kingdom. He was looking side by side as if looking for something.
"Selling armors, swords, and spears for only twenty coppers each." A man with a mustache was yelling on the side of the street.
"It's expensive for a cheap-looking design," a passerby commented upon hearing what the man had said, but the seller ignored the comments.
Different weapons were displayed outside every shop. Some merchants even approached the hooded man to offer him armor upon seeing his tattered clothes, but he ignored all of them.
Then he stopped at a small boutique with different kinds of clothing.
"Good day sir! What can I—" the owner of the store couldn't finish his greetings because the man tossed something that radiated a shining reflection in his direction, and he caught it with his hands. His eyes sparkled upon seeing the gold coin on his palm.
"Give me the best set you can provide, but the coat must be maroon in color, and a pair of leather boots if you have them," the man said after taking off his hood. His silver hair caught the attention of the other customers, then he swept his hair at the back, revealing his good-looking appearance.
'It's good to know that the currency is still the same as before.' he thought.
During his journey, Zeno learned several things by listening to the stories of strangers. He heard what really happened to the Forest of Nightmares and how many centuries had passed after he was released from the seal.
The owner of the store ran as fast as he could while bringing a pair of leather boots. He placed it with utmost care in front of Zeno, then ran again towards the wardrobe of the shop. And after a few seconds, he returned with several clothes, including black pants, black sleeves, a black vest, and a long coat with buttons on its right side; its color was maroon with a touch of black, like what Zeno had requested.
He went to the changing room and got dressed. Then the ladies in the store stared at him with awe the moment he was done changing clothes.
'Is he a noble?' The customers asked in their minds.
"Thank you, sir! Please come again!" The owner bowed with gratitude when Zeno stepped out of his shop.
He was walking towards the center of the town when he noticed that several individuals were tailing him, and then his lips formed an upward curve the moment he turned into a small pathway.
A group of six people ran to get Zeno upon seeing him go in that direction. Each of them had a black metal ring on their forefinger. They knew the town like the back of their hands, and that pathway was leading to a dead end.
However, their heads were detached from their bodies and rolled on the ground as soon as they entered the alleyway.
"Only the time has changed, but the greediness of humans is still the same." Zeno said before he walked out of the passage, leaving a pile of bodies soaked in their own blood.
. . . . .