"What do you mean they escaped?" King Fusis said in an irritated tone.
"They decided to turn back after one of the servants lost their legs. We chased them down but they were able to escape before I could capture one." Chief Chorian explained as he knelt with his head down in shame.
"I was given a report that made it to the Noblemen's Quarter. If they got so far, How the hell did you let them escape!" King Fusis raised his tone as he couldn't comprehend their failure.
"I apologize, my lord. I did all that I could to capture the master, he was surprisingly nimble." Chief Chorian said as kept his head down.
"Did you? If you did everything you could then you would've been able to capture that boy. He's a child, you could capture or kill a single kid? Let alone his retainers…." King Fusis was clearly perplexed.
"Be gone, I want to calm down now. Head back to your post. I will deal with this problem." He walked past the Chief.
"Apologies for my impertinence, my lord but what do you plan to do? They already left the Kingdom?" Chief Chorian slightly turned his head to him.
"Keep your head down until I leave." King Fusis said as he heard the sounds of his armor moving. "I'll send a small squad to them. Now tell me, who was the nomad that traveled with them?"
"It is Deiamos, the fallen soldier of Queen Aria. He drew his weapon on us around multiple citiz-" King Fusis had suddenly disappeared without a sound before he could finish his report.
[Just a few hours after Kyle and his retainers escaped, the Alfheim Kingdom with Deiamos.]
"If there other villages in Blutheim, why didn't they help in the war?" Kyle asked as they had finally exited the woods.
"Why? That's a weird question." Deiamos said before he explained. "The kingdom is the only part of Blutheim that interacts with the outside world. That goes for the other nations as well. The Blutheim Kingdom is the settled home of the Great King Alucard, where he came to power and where he was laid to rest. But think of the kingdom as the greatest armor he created to protect his people, the only defense to protect the lives he cherished. So the villages behind the Kingdom aren't to fight unless they need to, which is why they're far away from the kingdom. Throughout history vampires have always been on the receiving end of the sword so when he made the Kingdom, he also created the royal order for those who chose to reside out of it to not involve themselves. And if the Kingdom and Royal family were to fall, they were to remain in the villages and only protect the Ruby River. They couldn't fight alongside and we never even thought of involving them." Deiamos finished. "Well this time I suppose we pointed the sword…" he added.
"Did the other nations not attack the villages?" Kyle knew what he meant by that comment and didn't decide to pry as he thought about the conflicts back in the lower realms.
"No, that would go against rules set by their own great lord." Deiamos said as he looked in the distance. "It seems we are getting close to Blutheim's Territory."
"The grass is red and tall, is it safe to walk through?" Melissa asked.
"Yeah that's the King's garden, it's appearance is because it hasn't been maintained and the royal Decree is still lifted." Deiamos said as he started walking off the path. "The hole is this way, we aren't going through the gate. This is more or less a shortcut to the castle."
Not long after seeing it in the distance were they able to walk through the pretty blades of red grass. Turning a dark burgundy color as it reached the tip, it was swaying majestically. The moonlight shone down on the blades making it appear as if there were eyes in the ground.
There were small animals running through the glades. This night- despite all that happened in the morning, this night was the most peaceful time they had ever experienced in a while.
They walked westward off the original path, feeling as if they were circling around the border but after a while they had finally made it to the hole in the wall. However the grass on this side was much taller, with red liquid oozing from the leaves. The dirt was much more soft with small white rocks poking through the ground.
"Wait." Deiamos said before he looked around to see if there was anyone around. "This is where the soldiers of Blutheim gave their lives to fight. If it isn't any trouble to you, I'd like us to pray for them." Deiamos said as he stared at the ground.
"It isn't, are you guys good with that? We'll be praying to the Great King." Kyle asked as he looked at his retainers.
"You are mistaken." Deiamos said as he stepped forward. "We are praying for the dead. So we will pray to the Grand Empress since she looks over the souls that pass on to the afterlife. As vampires under the Great Kings rule, we don't usually pray for the dead. But just this once, in the presence of his successor, may he allow us to pray for the soldiers just this once, may he allow us to pray to the Empress to give them peace in the after life." He got down to his knees as if he was begging to the Great King himself.
Graison gently lowered its body so Melissa wouldn't slip off, he bowed his head and closed his eyes to pray as well. Kyle and his retainers followed suit, which prompted Deiamos to start. As Kyle waited for him to start, a small gust of wind swept across the field, soon after he felt air bubbles build in his ears muffling his hearing just as Deiamos began his prayer. The air bubble only popped after Deiamos finished.
"I appreciate you greatly for praying with me. I'm fine to continue on now." Deiamos said as he walked towards the gate.
"No problem…" Kyle said as he looked away from the ground.
"Who is the Empress, I heard you mention her earlier?" Drey asked as he saw a small white rock poking through the green dirt.
"The Empress is the progenitor of the Elven race, and the ruler of the dead." Deiamos explained before he looked back at them. "This is common knowledge, are you trying to make a joke?"
"…Yeah, it was just a joke." Drey said awkwardly as he heard Melissa snickering on top of Graison.
As they walked through the tall red grass, they approached the hole in the border. They saw the rubble laying scattered across the floor on the other side of the hole, the overgrown and unkempt lawn, eerily showing the emptiness.
The Perron leading to the castle was covered in black leaves with deep burgundy patches and thorny vines while the castle itself had black vines as thick as a gorilla's arm growing all over the castle, with red thorns that were covered in black patches. The thorns seemed to sprout from the large white rose which had small black spots that gave it the look of rot. The rose was as large as the castle itself, having vines growing on the towers with small black rose buds.
"A whole century has passed since I last set foot in the kingdom. The entry to the castle is this way." Deiamos said as he walked towards the Perron.
"What the hell…" Kyle said as he stared in awe.
"A century…" Drey was astonished by the sight as he stared at the large rose bud.
"…" Melissa stared in shock as she took in the view of this sight.
When Kyle got to the Perron, the memory of his mother and her siblings heading down the stairs as if he lived through it himself, he felt the nostalgia. He can tell Deiamos was having similar thoughts as he seemed to be spacing while looking at the bottom. Drey walked beside Melissa and Graison, alongside the castle walls and windows seeing glimpses of the inside.
As they reach the middle and stand alongside Deiamosthey see the glass doors which were already due to the vines pushing inward. They can see the inside of the great chamber.
Deiamos walked up to the door but he only stood beside it, pointing inwards. "It'll be rude of me to take the first step into the castle after 100 years in place of the prince." He bowed his head before continuing. "So as a former Royal Guard, I welcome thee crowned Prince into the Castle Of Blutheim, home of your ancestors."
Kyle slightly hesitated but he stepped forward and walked through the glass door. Greeted by floral scent that vaguely lingers around Kyle, can see that the night of the final stand was the last time anyone had ever set foot in the castle as their covers all over the couches and chairs, some sliding off. Oddly enough some chairs were also flipped over as if they were thrown or pushed to the side.
As they noticed the mess, the retainer quickly went on high alert, as they felt that they weren't alone. Deiamos kept his hand Graison as if he was making sure his steed wouldn't get too spooked.
Melissa and Drey walked into the castle with Deiamos. They saw the dust laying all over with nothing to light up the room, it became draped in a thick gloomy atmosphere. As dust was scattered everywhere, Kyle slowly looked around wandering around to the other side, where he found large paw-like footprints on the floor. That was revealed because of the dust.
The moment he noticed the footprints he heard something rustling as if it was sheets mocking behind one of the dusk on the left side of the room.
Deiamos quickly looked towards him, noticing the sound as well.
"I think there's something here." Kyle said as he took a step back before something that was covered in sheets.
As it stood up, it towered over Kyle. Standing taller than the deer-like creature. The sheets slowly slid off revealing a large black bear with thick fur, it went down to all fours and approached Kyle slowly.
It released a deep growl as it smelled Kyle, "L-Leave or- d..die" It was intelligent enough to perfectly form words.