Elven Empire
Priya was pacing about her room unable to sleep as her thoughts about Sloane, refused to fade away and her worry grew. Finally unable to take it anymore, she grabbed the library key and bolted out of her room as she headed for the great room
Opening the doors to the great room, she noticed that almost everyone in the group was already seated there, passing bottles of wine around
"What are you guys doing here?" Priya asked
"Couldn't sleep" Clark said
"Your pacing about was making the rest of us overly nervous" Jerald said
"Want a drink?" Alexa asked as she raised a bottle of white wine and Priya glanced around the room
Priya noticed that the kids in the group weren't there, Timothy was nowhere to be found, and Mary was the only one reading a book. However, what stood out to her, was the larger than life black wolf laying on the floor, by the window simply basking in the moonlight with an oddly dark red tattoo glowing on it's back that was letting out steam.
"Is that-"
"Oh. That's Nathan" Alexa said as she dropped the bottle on the floor while turning around
"He was here before the rest of us. Suddenly, something smelt like fried chicken and when we came to check, he was stuck in that form and smoking like a chimney" Christian said "The smoke's reduced at least"
"My guess is, he's reacting to Sloane's spirit seed" Clark said "She must be in a lot of pain for even Nathan to be feeling it"
Priya clenched her sleeping gown as tears fell down her eyes "It's all my fault. If only I had stayed with Sloane" she said
"And what would you have been able to do?" Virginia asked as she walked in with Rielle and Timothy "The level of those demons is a rank, Demon General. Even if you were there, you wouldn't have been able to keep them from Sloane"
"Lady Virginia...Lady Rielle" Priya said through sobs
"Did we wake you guys up?" Allen asked as Rielle walked over to Priya and placed her hand on Priya's head
"Sleep" Rielle said and Priya's eyes rolled back and as her body swayed, Timothy caught her "Tim called me. He said to do something about Priya before her thoughts cause some mental damage" she said before glancing at Priya who was asleep in Timothy's arms "He really wasn't joking about it. Just a little more mental torture and the damage would have been severe. Priya's mental health was never stable to begin with, after all"
"What did you do to her?" Virginia asked
"I force the cells in her brain to momentarily shut down" Rielle said "She'll be out until the day after tomorrow. Hopefully, Sloane will be back by then"
"I'll put her to bed" Timothy said "We'll need her at a hundred percent by the time we return" with that, he dashed out the doors
"I don't see Mackenzie around" Rielle said
"She's been asleep for a while now" Mary said "She seems to be having nightmares but other than that, she's fine"
"You guys should go to bed too" Virginia said "You don't have to worry about Sloane"
"That's not what Nathan's body is telling us" Christian said as he gestured to Nathan who hadn't moved an inch
"Even so, Sloane's safe. That I'm sure of" Rielle said "Despite their size, those tiny or basic spirits are of the same rank as those demon generals when it comes to magic. And they're the most common spirits which number in the billions. The intermediate level spirits are like the demon knights who fight alongside your princes of hell and number in the millions" she glanced at Nathan "According to Priya, Lord Hyacinth, the third strongest spirit is with Sloane. And he is an advanced level spirit which numbers are only twenty and are like your princes of hell since they are direct descendants of the Spirit King. I'm sure Sloane is safe in the Spirit King's library"
"Hyacinth can't fight due to him needing his magic to stabilize Sloane" Clark said "If they had sent the second strongest spirit-"
"Sloane is the second strongest spirit" Virginia said "She's the eldest of the children of the Spirit King....or the spirit in her is"
"Then...in Nathan is-"
"The second strongest demon or devil" Rielle said "Once Sloane fully merges with the spirit seed, the demon seed will be forced to match it in strength and Nathan will become one with it. Dante said he saw this long ago and never told Nathan. If they're to use that power at its fullest, both of them will be rejected by the human world"
Just as Rielle finished, Nathan's body lit up in flames and everyone turned to him. Nathan growled in his wolf form and Brianna rushed with water and poured it on
him. The flames extinguished and smoke was released
"It worked" Brianna said
"Not exactly" Natasha said "I bet Sloane is no longer in pain"
"At least for now" Cassandra added
"Damn it" Nathan let out as he passed out and began to revert into his human form
"Blanket" Clark said and Cassandra tossed the one wrapped around her on Nathan. As soon as it touched Nathan's body, it opened up and covered the whole of Nathan as steam released from his body along with the smoke
"Safe" Natasha said
******
Sloane's Subconsciousness
In the reliving of her life, Sloane had just experienced the moment her parents died when she was five and now, she was on a hospital bed staring at the ceiling
'When is this...going to end?' Sloane wondered while looking through the eyes of her five year old self
Went the doors opened, her five year old self stared at the doctor who walked in with James and just further back, Kathy and Laura stood outside the door
"Sloane...do you remember me?" James asked
"Where are my mum and dad? I want to see them" Sloane asked "If you don't come with them, I won't talk to you" she said as she turned away from them
"Princess...your parents...are no more" James said calmly "I'm your dad's friend. I'm to take care of you if something were to happen to them" he said and Sloane sniffled
"Liar! Leave me alone" Sloane shouted "There's no way my mum and dad would leave me alone. They're strong"
"Deputy James, she...will come to understand in due time" the doctor said "Maybe you should take things slowly with her"
"Sure" James said and he left with the doctor and shut the door
The rest of Sloane's days in the hospital, was to sleep, wake up and eat, sleep, wake up....in continuous successions that Sloane herself could feel the pain of having to wake up every morning without seeing her parents. One day, Laura came and sat beside her
"Hey...how are you?" Laura asked and Sloane turned away from her and started crying "Will you...come home with me?" she asked
"Will you take me to see my mum and dad?" Sloane asked "I don't get why they'd just leave me"
"Sure. We'll take you to see your mum and dad" James said while walking in "Will you come home with us?"
'No...I don't want to go' Sloane thought 'I don't want to see this anymore'
Leaving the hospital, Sloane was bandaged up and taken to the cemetery by James and Laura. As though the clouds knew she was in pain when she saw the tombstones of her parents, it began to pour heavily and Sloane refused to move from her parents grave.
"Sloane, let's go to our new home" James said as he carried Sloane while she passed out from his warm embrace
'Everything went black again' Sloane thought as the eyes of her five year old self opened and she saw the Connor residence in Greenwood Springs, through the car window
"Sloane, we're here" Laura said as she opened the back seat door and smiled at her "I won't allow anything to happen to you"
'What a liar' Sloane thought 'If that was so, you wouldn't have given me that letter and tried to leave town and all your responsibilities, with Kenzie'
Laura led her into the house where Scott and Elias were seated on the stairs waiting for their arrival
"Ah. She's blonde" Elias said in surprise and Sloane covered her hair with her hand
"Is that how you introduce yourselves?" James asked "You do know she is the princess of the kingdom you both come from"
"Nice to meet you. I'm Scott Connor" Scott said and she lowered her head
"I hate it here" Sloane said
"You just got here and you hate it?" Elias asked "Aren't you just being a brat, your royal highness?"
"Elias" Laura called out
"Is she gonna cry?" Elias asked "Crybaby"
Sloane raised up her head and ran right passed him and up the stairs
"It seems like we're not gonna get along" Elias said ironically
"What was that about?" James asked
"I lost my parents too. Yet she's crying like it'll bring them back" Elias said "Like i care what she thinks of me"
She could hear their voices even from all the way upstairs as she ran into the nearby room and sat on the floor. Before she knew it, she fell asleep there
******
Beginning And End Library
Underground training room
"It's probably morning outside" Hyacinth said as he stared at his orb which hadn't gone halfway with merging with Kathy's
"This is the second day" Xavier said before glancing at Sloane "She's sweating a lot and hasn't stopped crying"
"Absorbing the devil's bloodline must be torture" Kathy said as she looked away from Sloane
"I wonder how you can be so unfazed when the Princess who is someone important to you, is suffering right in front of you" Hyacinth said "The spirits behind me are a different case"
"I underwent constant training just for this moment" Kathy said "Even if it hurts me to the point it feels like my heart is bleeding...I have to perform my role and comfort her later" she said
"Then, why are you crying?" Hyacinth asked as he turned to the spirits behind him
"Princess Kenzie and the others are still waiting for the Princess" Pam said
"The Princess always finds a way to sneak biscuits into the palace for us" Pint said "We need to do our best too"
"I see" Hyacinth said
"Xavier, increase the barrier by two more tails" Kathy said "She's about to enter overdrive"
"Got it" Xavier said
'And here I started out giving the orders' Hyacinth thought with a chuckle