The city was slowly losing itself in the madness. It only took a single night for everything to fall apart, especially the political structure.
That night with Tiyanak started a downward spiral that had the city of Marcos divided.
There were people who hated the king for the families that never returned thanks to the mass execution, then there were those who wanted Emberle and Ernid dead, as though they had invited Tiyanak.
The black knights were now frowned upon, and then there was the issue of the missing children. The light never seemed to shine on the city. More and more children had been hearing melodies and disappearing into the woods. None who went ever came back.
Fear had created tension, tension created division, division confused priorities. What were the people's priorities now? To selfishly protect their own against those in power...or join the war.
The knights had formed search parties to find these children of course, but the two days spent going in and out of the forest had yielded no results.
Meanwhile, Emberle and Grey took a walk in the woods searching for something on Emberle's map. It had been three days since she started following her map.
In those three days, Grey left to work as a glaive in the morning and returned to a meal prepared by Ernid in the afternoon, at least when she wanted to cook. Otherwise they went to a nearby cafe. Life felt pretty normal despite everything that had happened.
Emberle's searches usually ended in dead ends before midday and she would return to the castle. Then Grey was allowed to leave and spend more time with Ernid until he was called on for the princess's daily dose of blood.
However, today was different. It was already a few hours into the afternoon, and she still hadn't given up, so he finally felt inclined to ask.
"Hey, princess," he called from behind her, "I know I should've asked you this three days ago when you first dragged me out here but...what exactly are we looking for?"
"A piece of my life before Eve?" Emberle replied, with her eyes still glued to her map.
"uhm... that's not a very clear answer." Grey said as he pushed some of the low hanging tree branches in their path.
Emberle sighed and finally decided to explain, "When we fought Tiyanak I overused Eve's power and somehow weakened her hold on me, which allowed to me see a piece of my memories in a dream...kind of." she said, "I'm not sure exactly if it was just a dream or a memory but it felt. Nothing like that has ever happened before so...I'm looking for the cliff in the dream to be sure."
"So...you really don't remember anything before Eve?"
Grey already knew this, because if she did then she would remember him. But it somehow still felt unreal when she finally said it herself.
"Well it's not that I don't remember," she replied, "It's more like none of it ever happened or existed in the first place. For me, my life begins the day I opened my eyes and heard a voice in my head saying feed me."
"Okay , that's extremely sad and... slightly disturbing," Grey added, "But you do realize that dreams are...well...dreams ,right?"
Why couldn't he try to help her get her memories back? He was actually torn between that, because it would complicate things. For him and his sister's safety he needed to find a way to leave the city as soon as possible before the king decided to use Ernid for something else, like he did his daughter. If Emberle remembered then he'd have a reason to stay and then he'd sooner or later be forced choose. Ernid or her?
"You think I'm crazy?" Emberle asked as she had begun judging herself.
"*yes.*"
"Absolutely not."
Grey's response was of course not helpful.
"I can still hear your thoughts, you know?"
Back at the castle, Marcos had started feeling the pressure of the people's backlash ever since the execution.
There were even rumors of ideas to dethrone the king. Marcos entered the throne room in a rush ,followed by Johnathan.
"I told you this would happen." Johnathan said, "The people have completely lost their faith in the black knights, hundreds of people are leaving the city everyday and the king of Ignatia is the most hated bastard in the entire bloody kingdom!"
"What did you expect me to do? leave dozens of ghouls to feast on my people!?" Marcos pushed back.
"There were a hundred ways you could've dealt with this!" said Johnathan, although he had nothing to support that statement.
"No, there were not." Marcos said as he calmed his voice, "I had three options. One, kick them out of the city and let them roam free ,in which case they would've come back to hunt us. Two, lock them up in the underground chambers like my ancestors where they would've starved to death anyway. Or three, kill them before the hell of it and protect the kingdom at the same time! Those were my options! If you think I chose wrong then give me a better alternative!"
"What about Babylon?" Johnathan immediately suggested. Babylon was an underground city of vampires. It would have been a good idea if not for one minor detail he had forgotten.
"You could've asked Greed to look after them or even take them to Fiera. I'm sure the queen could've kept them at bay long enough for Merlin to-" he continued, but Marcos cut in.
"Babylonians are vampires who can't feed on human blood, they want nothing to do with us." he responded, stating the minor detail. Vampires and humans did not get along. They couldn't feed on human blood anymore and therefore grew even more resentful, as this made them weaker. Plus the scent made them sick.
"Not to mention ghouls eat vampire flesh, and Fiera doesn't allow men in her kingdom. What would I have done with the rest?" Marcos added, "I really didn't have a choice... Johnathan."
Fiera on the other hand was a city inhabited by female dragonites... exclusively. Strictly no men were allowed.
Marcos fell on the throne and placed his palm on his face as he exhaled sharply.
Johnathan then turned to leave as there was nothing more he could say. Although his conscience would not let him accept it, Marcos did make sense.
"Then I can offer nothing else but wish you luck with the aftermath." he said as he walked out the room.
Like that ,Marcos was left alone once again in the throne room, and again ,only queen Maria came to see him.
On the other hand, the knights continued searching for the missing children in the woods until the sun finally went down. As usual, they had no luck.
They split into teams of five to cover more ground as they walked around with lanterns, calling the names of the few they knew as loud as possible.
"Ugh, we've been out here all day. Three days without luck is worrying." one of the knights said.
"Mm, it's getting harder to convince myself it's not another demon." another knight said.
"Yeah-" the first knight agreed.
As the two knights prepared to rejoin the others they heard a rustle in bushes. "Did you hear that?"
When they turned their lantern around, the light fell on the bushes and a bat sprung out of a tree straight at the lantern and knocked it out of the knight's hand. "DAMMIT!" he exclaimed.
He kicked the ground hoping to kick the bat but he couldn't see anything as he no longer had any light. "bloody pests!"
"Wait... what's a bat doing out here?" the first knight said, sounding concerned.
"What do you mean? it's dark, of course there'd be bats."
"Yes but if it's in the trees around here then there's probably a cave nearby. Perfect place for shelter." he implied.
"hmm, you might have a point. Report?"
As they turned to leave, there was another rustle from behind. One of them turned around and saw a dark short figure, walking slowly towards them through the trees.
The other stopped and looked back when he felt his partner had fallen behind. "what are you looking at?" he asked.
"One of the kids." the other replied.
"Wait ,real-"
When he got a closer look, he saw the kid holding a long sword in his right hand. Only his shiny red eyes visible under the cover of night.
"Where...is...he?" the young boy spoke.
The knights were surprised, they didn't know how to react to being threatened by a child who was clearly being controlled.
"Have you seen...him?" the child continued as he got closer and closer.
"He's in limbo, what do we do?" inquired the first knight.
"Mark this place on the map and let's move. We're not killing these children. I can't go through that again." said the partner.
The child clutched his sword tighter and charged faster than they had anticipated. "Where is daddy!" he shouted as he swung his sword.
He clashed swords with one of the knights who blocked with his blade and pushed him back. "He's stronger than a 13-year-old should be. Should we restrain him? It's just one kid."
"Considering the number of children that went missing, I doubt whoever is behind this would be stingy enough to just send one." the partner explained, "It's probably a trap, we have to go!"
The knights jumped onto trees and leaped from branch to branch, hoping the kid wouldn't be able to catch up. But when they turned ,they saw him leaping even farther and faster than they were.
"Shit! Move! Move!"
Now more concerned about getting away from the child behind them, they forgot to keep watch of their surroundings.
As one of them swung on a branch and sprung ahead, he noticed another child lying under the tree with a crossbow aimed at him mid jump.
"oh, fuck."
The arrow shot straight under his chin and stuck out the top of his head as he pummeled to the ground. Now only one remained.
"CARLOSSSS! AAAAAHH!!" he screamed.
He moved and leaped over branches and past the trees as fast as he could, but it was still not enough. The kid was catching up regardless.
He saw the light of a bonfire up ahead and knew it was possibly the camp site. A soft smile formed on his face as he got closer and closer.
Until he finally jumped out of the trees and landed in front of his fellow knights with a clear smile and a sigh of relief. "haaa, I ma-"
Before he could finish, the boy had already leaped from behind and decapitated him so swiftly that it seemed as though he was floating as he landed in front of the knight.
His sword bled as he set his sights on the three knights who had just gotten on their feet in alarm.
"...which one of you...knows...where he is?" said the child.
More red eyes flashed in the darkness of the trees surrounding them. Too many to count. They knew then that their fate was sealed.
"I just want daddy...where...is he?"