Morten landed first before Moss, Morten felt relieved that the old woman who lived in the woods was still alive he knocked on the door as it swung open inwards letting out a huge gust of air out "What does your master want now Morten? I'm busy being a mentor to that kid behind you..." she said with a sneer before continuing her cooking.
"How pretentious are you gonna be old hag? you vampires don't even gain any sustenance from human's recipes." the old lady Annete clicked her tongue as she composed herself before turning to the young demon "your tongue is the same as your owner... garbage..."
Morten can't help but laugh it off "My master has a message for you Madame Annete. let us not have any more friction between our parties... I would rather not handle the clean up between you and my master..."
the lady just stared down at the young demon as she snatched the letter from his hand when Morten presented, she placed it over the table as she waved her hand over the letter in a gentle fashion, her palm glowed blue as it turned red eventually, the blank letter slowly contorted upon itself before then as the paper shreds and repair itself upon layers on itself.
a small black orb was formed, the old lady Annete crushed it with her index finger, her eyes widened in terror as she received the letter through the orb's intricate spell directly being delivered into her mind.
The old lady grabbed the young demon by his throat as he slowly start crushing it "this information is not something the likes of your master can throw around SPILL WHO TOLD YOU TO DELIVER IT TO ME?!" The young demon was shocked as he tried get the old lady's grip off of him, having no clue on what she had seen.
"MOSS GET IN HERE!" The old lady yelled as the green haired boy stepped in not knowing what was happening. "I finished skinning the boar... what do you need old hag..." he asked innocently not knowing what was happening between the two, he just gave Morten that was being choked to his death a look before giving the stare at his mentor.
"Should I step out again?" Moss asked walking back out to the door. "No Stay..." she exclaimed before letting go of Morten "Morten who asked you to deliver the message..." the old lady Annete grabbed a halberd of blood before pointing it at the boy's neck "I know we have a treaty but I am not scared to kill anyone within my territory..."
Morten gulped as he raised his hand while he kneels on the floor "I received the letter directly from my master, I have no idea what you saw Madame but I assure you the letter was never tampered..." The old lady gritted her teeth as she slowly slices the boy's skin letting black blood drip out "then swear it in your name..." Morten looked down as he sighed "I swear... on my... nam-" before he even finished it.
chains made out of blood that seems to have runic inscriptions has formed to shut him up, a blast energy with a red hue sent both the old lady and Moss flying to the wall, Morten stood up as he stared at the old lady and Moss "a higher entity made me swore already... I can't speak of this person I'm sorry."
the old lady clicked her tongue as she stood up "Moss take my grimoire all of the spells I have written is in there... this person will be accompanying you to a journey you are not permitted to decline." Moss' eyes widened in disbelief as he spoke up "I do not intend to be accompanied by someone conspiring to have me killed behind my back old hag."
The old lady rubbed the bridge of her nose "Moss please don't disappoint me..." Moss took a step as he was thrown out of the house by a strong gust of wind "You are no longer welcomed to my forest Moss... go with this person." Morten smiled at Moss and the old lady as the old lady slammed the door behind them.
Moss held onto the grimoire with the insignia of the great kingdom of the vampire queen Asphodel it was an 8 winged creature with 2 pairs of legs and a head of a snake.
Morten looked at Moss with confusion "Why aren't you binding your mana with the book?" Moss looked at Morten with confusion as he spoke "What do you mean bind?" Morten looked around to see if what he is hearing is real "so have you been casting magic without a catalyst?"
"I don't think blood magic needs a catalyst to begin with..." Morten groaned as he grabbed the book and slammed it against Moss' chest "Connect with this book through your heart and pour all your mana into it..." Moss just stared at Morten as he took the book again.
"I think I can just do that later..." Morten groaned before he rolled his eyes away from the green haired boy, he stared at his compass just as continued marching to the direction he needed to go with Moss following him around "We need you to meet the demon king of the north..." Moss tilted his head just as he asked "How long will this adventure even take?" Morten looked up at the sky and the leaves "Winter is coming soon so... more or less 5 years depending on how pathetic you can be when it comes to travelling..."
"can't we just fly through the mountains?" Moss asked in which Morten laughed at on just how ridiculous Moss' idea was "if it was an option we would have been there in a month but no... the winds of the north are not to be trifled with." he said as he looked at Moss with ridicule whilst he stare at him from head to toe. "maybe 5 years and a half we will get there eventually."
Moss rubbed the back of his head, he held the book in front of him before he skimmed through the pages and saw notes from his mentor on how to live as a human once again, and how to alter a part of his appearance in order to blend among them better "Morten... how will you blend in with the humans."
Morten laughed before he smiled at Moss that was walking behind him "I'm a male variant of the succubus clan which is a bit rare... I can change my form as much as I want... the form you see right now isn't my true form but then again it could be... I have long forgotten what my true form looks like anyways."
Moss remained quiet just staring at Morten listening to his ramblings
"I suggest you just change your eye colors... to what they were... or black since people don't take too kindly to people different from them." Morten exclaimed just as his hair turned from white to brown and eyes went from red to green, Moss' eyes sparkled in awe "Effortlessly doing the magic I struggled for months replicating." he said where Morten laughed at.
"Shapeshifting is my hereditary trait... just like how blood magic is yours... but not all vampires can perform such magic without a catalyst like the grimoire you have there behind you... its either a super strong vamp turned you... or you were born under the blood moon's blessing... but blood moon vamps are much stronger than you... so you're probably a turned one aren't you?" Moss just shrugged from his question.
"can you even control yourself?" Moss tilted his head in question "What do you mean by that?" Morten scratched his head "we'll be staying in a human settlement to hitch a ride to the northern path... if we walked to there it will take us 3 months but with a ride I believe a single month will be enough... so I'm asking can you control yourself?"
Moss shook his head "if I go berserk... I just lose control of myself... maybe from hunger or from pure unadulterated rage..." just as they were talking Moss' eyes widened, he was smelling something from nearby, he dropped his grimoire to Morten before he launched himself up in the air, he looked around and saw a group of humans camping in the middle of the forest.
Moss' eyes glowed with a huge grin painted all over his face he lunged towards them but Morten kicked Moss down back to the ground still far away from the humans, but the impact was so big that it has alerted everybody nearby.
"Just what the hell do you think are you doing you insane grass haired prick?!" Moss growled as his mouth drooled from the sight of humans "THOSE WERE MY PREYS HOW DARE YOU STOP ME?!" Morten knocked Moss out cold, then he heard the running footsteps of the humans to their direction.
Morten hid behind a tree with Moss on his shoulder "I think we will be walking up to the northern path... you sir can't handle your bloodlust." Morten spat on the floor as it starts producing a black fog that hides all of their trail, he ran away from the human's camp site in a blink of an eye nowhere to be seen.
several hours passed ever since the altercation Moss woke from his concussion, he groaned but Morten immediately dropped him to the floor, "Get a grip of yourself prick... I don't plan on babysitting you all the time we are together... I can't guarantee that we will reach the northern kingdom if you will keep pouncing on every human you see..."
Moss just stared at him with indifference and confusion but mostly giving the other an expressionless face "I don't intend to be babysat either... I know I may be young compared to your kind but I don't like being treated that way either..." Moss stood up and continued following the other silently.
"I don't like you grass hair... and I never will... but the contract from the higher ups stops me from acting on my own accord." Morten groaned before he stared at his Grimoire again "aren't you really gonna bind with that thing?"
"I don't know how..." Morten made strings made out of mana as he connected the string to the grimoire's pages and then he proceeded to stab his hand through Moss' chest, Moss coughed up as he stared at Morten with disbelief, without air coming into his lungs he couldn't speak but he mouthed at the other guy 'What are you doin?!!'
Morten just stared with annoyance "Just stay still for fuck's sake..."
Morten connected the mana strings to the smallest fibers of Moss' heart "I did a forced binding on you..." He pulled out his bloodied hand off of Moss as the green haired boy dropped to the floor again passing out from blood loss.
Morten groaned again as he saw the other boy passed out again on the grass floor, he stared at the forest around them and decided it would be best to make a camp for now...
"vamps like you heal better at night BUUUT not me... I still need my rest." Morten grabbed the passed out Moss over his shoulder then he began looking for a cave where he can rest for the meanwhile, he saw one but saw there is also a human settlement in it... maybe campers Morten thought to himself.
he groaned but he begrudgingly went in the area anyways, he saw that the people in the camp was people from the adventurer's guild in the town 15 kilometers over, Morten composed himself as he greeted everyone
"Hello... I-I'm looking for a place with my relative here... we were trying to escape our owner who wont stop abusing us." the adventurers looked at the two with a raised eyebrow "I don't know how real your stories are but don't you looked too clean to be abused?"
Morten looked at Moss who was laying on his shoulder he laid the boy down on the stone floor with everyone looking, he showed them the scar on his wrists but it was first time seeing that there was also a huge scar on his chest.
"S-see? we are being severely abused! please help us!" the old man in the party was the one speaking for everybody, there were two identical looking members... both are male with brown hair, a girl with black hair and purple eyes and a priest with green hair...
they were all suspicious of the pair but they reluctantly took both of them in anyways
"you two will be out by day break..."
Morten nodded as he laid Moss down on the futon in a tent.
the mage woman with black hair walked towards Morten "so little man where were you two from?" hey eyes seems to glow with a faint reddish hue.
psychological magic? no she's trying to force the truth out of me. she's using demonic magic against a demon? pathetic.
"we're from the forest down south... we never expected that we'll be able to meet such kind people like you." the woman rolled her eyes and walked away when she got the answer, the green haired priest was still wary of the two but just sat in front of the campfire reciting prayers...
the prayers are weaker that Moss and I easily broke through... did something happened to the zenith of the holy kingdom?
the party leader which was the old warrior was resting sitting up with his sword in his hand.