Chapter 1. Awakening.
P13: We must visit hell.
It had been the next day, and Leyla was already in class in an overwhelmingly good mood.
"Hey Leyla," Cecilia greeted her.
Leyla faced us both.
"Good Morning Cecilia and Ilyas," She replied with a bright smile.
"How's your mother doing?" I asked her with a smile.
I already knew that the news had to be good given Leyla's positive aura.
"She is still not in full health but this morning she got out of bed to make me lunch for today," She responded.
"That's great to hear," I answered.
Edmar walked into the class to start the lesson for today.
"Morning class! Today I will teach you combination magic," Edmar said.
This method as the name suggested involved combining 2 or more spells into one for more power, however, it's not that simple.
It involved tampering with the spells' magic blueprints and one mistake in your data calculations would result in the combination to either fail or going berserk.
This was why the more spells you combine the harder it becomes to make it work perfectly.
"For the next session be sure to be able to show me combination magic," Edmar gave us homework for the first time.
The three of us left the class and Leyla insisted on going to the academy's garden.
"Let's have some lunch over at the garden,"
We arrived at the garden and the scenery was beautiful.
Flowers of all colours were planted in beautiful flower pots, and evenly cut grass in combination with the bright sun truly painted a stunning image.
We sat on the grass, and Leyla pulled out her lunch box.
She opened the lid and Cecilia and I were stunned at the food that was inside.
"My mom made egg rolls, and sandwiches with a green salad," Leyla explained.
"This looks incredible," Cecilia said, drooling slightly looking at the food.
"Please help yourselves, my mom packed enough for the both of you," Leyla held the box in front of us.
Cecilia and I tried the food.
"Wow! This is delicious!" Cecilia held her cheek and her eyes shot wide open.
"Your mother is truly gifted in cooking. Please tell her my thanks," I replied while eating a sandwich.
The food had rich and fresh flavours, you could tell that a lot of passion and love had gone when making the food.
"Thank you, I will tell her the next time I visit her she will be glad to hear the kind words," Leyla smiled this time not hiding her teeth.
We chatted about various things.
"Ilyas, are you alright?" Cecilia asked me.
I was deep in thought about a concern I had about both demon incidents.
"I'm fine. I'm thinking about the incident with Tipas and Leyla's mother—it's no coincidence that 2 demon possessions happened in quick succession," I told them both.
"Speaking on that front. How were you able to defeat a demon and restore a soul? I have never heard of anyone being capable of this let alone a first-year student," Cecilia asked in curiosity.
*sigh*
"I believe you deserve to know the truth," I told her.
Cecilia's curiosity increased.
"My name isn't Ilyas…My true name is Cassius Xeonos the true Vampire King who led legions into battle during the Tragic War," I explained to her awaiting her response.
Cecilias's eyes were filled with shock mixed with anger.
"Y-You are-are…The Malicious King…" She said breathing heavily.
Leyla moved closer to her.
"Cecilia, please calm yourself. I know it's hard to believe although I don't fully believe it myself just yet, it's clear that he possesses power and knowledge beyond any Vampire, but he is kind and helps the weak. Do you think someone like the 'Malicious King' would do that?" Leyla asked her.
"You knew his true name?" Cecilia asked in slight frustration.
"I did," Leyla relied.
"It was my decision not to tell you. I didn't want you to be afraid of me hearing my name," I calmly explained.
Cecilia took deep breaths and calmed down.
"I say this if your name is indeed Cassius Xeonos, then you are not the person being described in legends as the 'Malicious King'. With that said…I can't believe you are the King that would go against my family's beliefs and own who served Dracula for generations," She told me.
The outcome was better than I imagined, she wasn't afraid of me and did not cause a major scene.
"I will accept that," I told her.
With that out of the way, I got back to the main topic.
"Like I said, those 2 demon incidents were no accidents. Demons can't cross over to the mortal plane unless they possess individuals with immense negative emotions like despair, hate, sorrow and envy. Your mother Leyla given the despair she endured made it easy for a demon to possess her," I told them both.
"Does that mean hundreds of demons could just possess Vampires, Humans and Werewolves right now? Cecilia asked in anticipation.
"No, not every demon possesses enough power to do that, and also the ruler of demons forbade demons from ever doing so," I explained to her.
"You mean the ruler of hell?" Cecilia asked.
"The Devil?" Leyla followed up.
"Over the ages, the realm got many names, Hell, Underworld, Eternal suffering…and the ruler of hell was also dubbed many names…The Devil, Beelzebub, Saitan and many more but I know her as Neoma the celestial of reincarnation, and I need to visit her as soon as possible to see why Demons possess people," I explained to her.
Both of them went quiet. I didn't blame them because this much information takes time to process.
"Can you take me with you?" Leyla asked.
"Huh!?" Cecilia turned toward Leyla.
"It's too dangerous," Cecilia said in a concerned tone.
I looked at Leyla.
"She's right. Hell is not meant for the living the moment you enter hell your body will perish only leaving your soul behind for reincarnation," I told her.
Leyla looked at me intensely.
"Cassius. I almost lost my mother because of a demon…I have every right to know why this Neoma allowed that to happen. If you are truly the Vampire King then surely you can protect me from Hell's effect. Please," She begged with sincerity
I understood her completely, she wanted to make sure that this wouldn't happen again and seeing her commit without fear showed me that I couldn't stop her determination.
"Fine, but you will do as I say and stay close to me," I told her.
"I'm also coming along. I can't let Leyla show me up and besides I also want to make sure that demon possessions won't happen again," Cecilia said with the same determination as Leyla.
*sigh*
"Fine. I can't persuade you to stay anyway and I can't be bothered to listen to your complaints later on," I told her sarcastically.
Cecilia and Leyla, I never saw them this determined. I wished they had the same determination while training.
"Something obvious I want to ask, how do we reach hell?" Cecilia asked.
It wasn't as hard as she might believe.
"All we need is a huge mirror," I told them both.
Cecilia and Leyla looked at me confused.
"Then what?" Leyla asked.
"Then we will enter our journey to hell," I replied to her.
Hours later…
We were inside Leyla's dorm room since she had a mirror the height of a person.
"Here's the mirror," Leyla said.
"Before we do this are you ready for what is about to happen?" I asked them one final time.
Both of them nodded simultaneously.
We three faced the mirror.
"How does this work?" Cecilia asked.
"A mirror is not simply a tool to see your reflection, it also functions as a portal to hell…by casting an ancient spell your mirror can be turned into a portal to hell," I explained.
"Does that mean anyone can do it?" Leyla asked.
"No, to cross over the underworld using mirrors you need an endless amount of magic power," Now with the questions out of the way we were ready to begin.
I reached out my hand and an orange magic circle appeared.
The mirror began to form cracks of all sizes until it shattered forming a portal, there was no sound when the mirror shattered because of the spell domos I used which allowed me to manipulate and cancel the sound.
"Let's make our way to hell," I said as we entered through the portal.