Apart from Jevon and Luna, nobody else dared to enter, but luckily when they reached there, Jevon was somewhat prepared.
Luna looked around her; it was all bones and stones, with no trace of life around. The wind was so strong they hardly kept sticking to the ground. What was more terrifying was the red moon above their heads; that moon looked like a monster's eye seeing through everything.
Luna was staring at the moon in the sky and almost lost her balance, but luckily he caught her hand right on time. He held her between his arms and took her under some rocks to take cover from the wind. He whispered in her ears,
"Wake up."
"Huh?!...What happened?" Luna cleaned her eyes and looked around her again. "How did we end up here?"
Jevon tapped Luna's forehead. "First rule when coming to the demon realm: never look straight at the moon…put on your glasses."
Luna put her glasses on and started looking around them in confusion.
"Where the hell are we?"
"This is your first time in here, right? Welcome to the demon realm," Jevon said, but he received a hard hit over his head.
"Ugh… why did you hit me?"
"Do you think it's time for your sarcasm? Hurry up and get to work."
Jevon placed his hand over his head in pain and said, "The cloth I have given you is supposed to protect you from the dark magic in the air. Are you sure you're not affected?"
"I am completely normal; actually, I feel lighter than usual. The mask is also really good." Luna replied.
"That's good." After making sure Luna is okay, JeVon took a compass and a map from his backpack.
After placing the map on the floor, he placed a spiritual stone over the compass; it started working right away.
"Oh! It worked....What are you doing exactly?"
Luna asked Jevon, but he was so focused on what he was doing that he didn't hear her, so she called onto him again, but he jolted in his place, surprised.
"Jevon"
"Huh... what's the matter?"
"What are you doing?"
"Oh…this is...I am trying to figure out where we landed."
"How exactly?"
Jevon looked at the ground and started explaining what he was doing. "The compass in the demon realm is special. Unlike other realms, it shows you which region you are in. You see, this realm is divided into 11 regions; each of them falls under the control of one of the elite demon lords. Once you are in their regions, you must follow their rules or you die."
Luna looked at Jevon in confusion.
"Rules?!...What rules?...I mean demons have rules?!?"
"They do, and don't disturb me again...got it?" Jevon calmly said, "Rules in a region are absolute, but that's not the case between regions; they often go into wars with massive casualties. If there was trespassing from other regions, you can imagine the outcome."
"So exactly are we on the bad side or the good side?" Luna asked.
"Let's see, foxes are considered under Asmodeus's protection, and apparently we are in Belial's territory."
"So We're fucked."
"Yes, we pretty much are.... but maybe we still stand a chance." Jevon got up from the ground and extended his hands to Luna. "Hold my hands tightly to avoid getting swallowed again."
"Okay."
Luna didn't even think about it before grabbing Jevon's hand tightly, although her tight grip was hurting him, but he still kept her hand tightly wrapped around his. Even if she appeared strong on the outside, she was still worried about facing such a situation.
'Forget it... as long as you are safe,' Jevon thought.
After a few hours of their aimless walk, they finally reached a place with life in it.
Jevon adjusted her hoodie, wrapped his arms around Luna's shoulder, and whispered closer to her ears, "Make sure your mask and glasses are properly on, and under no circumstances take them off. Stay close to me all the time, got it?"
Luna gave him a slight nod, understanding the meaning; he took her under his arms and passed through the crowd.
For Luna, that was the first time she met this amount of demons; she was tense and scared. 'It was suffocating.' Suddenly a hand reached and grabbed her hand.
'W…who is it?...Did they discover me?...What should I do?' Her thoughts were a mess at the moment; her body started shivering.
"Calm down."
Jevon's calm voice came as a ray of light snatching her from her sea of dark thoughts. She turned to look at her hand; she found it was Jevon's hands that were holding her. Only then did she take her breath again. "Thank God it's him."
Jevon suddenly stopped walking, surprising Luna.
"Why are we stopping?"
"We're here."
"Here?!"
Luna looked ahead of them; it was a three-floor inn, but the appearance of the people in front of her wasn't comfortable.
"An inn?!...Why are we here?"
"We will be staying here."
"Huh!!??"
Saying that Jevon dragged her into the inn forcefully,
"Ha...w...wait...isn't there any other place...can't we stay somewhere else?"
"No can do, and we're already here."
Luna was struggling and didn't realize she was already standing in front of the front desk, and he had already gotten a room for both of them.
After Jevon closed the doors, Luna angrily demanded an explanation from Jevon.
"Explain yourself."
Once she turned around, her eyes widened seeing Jevon lying on the ground, hardly breathing; she ran frantically at him.
"What happened to you?"
"Huff...huff...j...just help me to the bed."
Jevon leaned on Luna to help him up; once he leaned on the bed, he opened his shirt's buttons to allow in air and leaned beside the bed to throw up.
"Gu-buagh...cough...cough."
"Hey, are you okay?! Don't scare me like that."
Luna started patting his back trying to comfort him, but he grabbed her hand tightly; his eyes were gazing at her intensely with a vivid red color radiating from his eyes.
"What beautiful eyes."
Hearing those words, Jevon regained his sanity; he punched himself right in the face.
"Ugh."
"What happened?!..." She blanked out for a few seconds before finally regaining herself and realizing Jevon was bleeding. "Oh my god, why is there blood on your face?"
She tried touching his wand, but he shoved her hand away.
"Tsk, don't touch me...stop playing around."
"Okay, okay, but you still need treatment."
"I know...but I might need your help for that."
"Help?!"
Jevon took out a bottle of white serum from his bag and handed it over to her.
"Why are you handing me this?"
"Help me apply it."
Jevon took off his shirt, and Luna covered her face with her hands from embarrassment.
"W…what the hell are you doing?"
"Why are you all shy? It's not like you haven't seen the whole thing..."
"B…but still...it...it's not right…"
"Oh, come on, stop bullshitting with me already."
"W...wait?"
Jevon forcibly removed her hands from over her face. She slowly opened her eyes, and the previous embarrassment turned into a huge fright over him; his body was full of huge red veins that seemed about to burst at any second.
Jevon vividly said before he clutched his chest and passed out, "Apply ...that serum ...over...ugh...my spine…"
"Wa...wait, what the hell!?"
Luna was frightened at the sight, but still she adjusted him on his stomach and started applying the serum on his spine just as he asked.
"What the hell is wrong with you?...Couldn't you fucking at least give me a heads up before surprising me with this shit?...You better wake up, or I will really be angry."
After applying the serum, Luna crashed on the ground, waiting for him to wake up.
'When are you going to wake up, Jevon?...Wake up soon, please,' she thought and reached out to hold his hands.
"What happened here?"
She found traces of her fingers on his palm.
"It was at that time...."
She recalled holding his hands tightly when walking earlier. 'You never change... idiot,' she thought and started bandaging his wounded hand.
"I am sure you didn't forget to curse me when I was out."
The sudden voice surprised her. Luna hit him on the shoulder as a reflex, without paying attention to her strength.
"I didn't."
"Awawaw…that still hurts…you realize I am a patient, right...?!"
She turned her head away, sulking, "Humph, I don't care."
"Come on, be merciful. I still have duties to attend to when we go back; I can't go missing an arm, can I?"
"Work, work, always work—is there anything inside that head of yours except for books and work?"
"Can't help it; that's just who I am."
"No need to tell me; maybe in this wide universe I am the only person who knows you best."
"Hai…hai, stop arguing, my adorable little kitten."
The atmosphere was starting to get strange around them, so Luna had to change the subject.
"So what happened to you?"
He pointed at his bandaged hand and joked about it.
"Oh, you mean this? Didn't you do this yourself? Why ask me?"
"JEVON"
Luna gave him a firm look; he knew right away it's not the time or place to be joking. He straightened his face and started to turn serious.
"Oh , you mean those marks?.. Remember I told you before about the power increase we suffer from when entering the demon realm."
Luna looked at Jevon as if she wanted to kill him. "Yes, but I also remember you telling me you will take precaution against it."
Jevon replied, "I did take percussion, but I stopped once we entered this room."
"What does that mean?..w..why?!" Luna asked.
"Look at my neck...see that necklace? It has a spiritual red gem on it. A protective barrier was drawn in it using my blood and his majesty's. I asked his majesty to make it for me back when I first came here," Jevon said.
"That's great and all...but what does it have to do with your almost dead state?!"
"It's simple: the gem being red means the barrier is activated, but it turns blue when it's not, and just now I forcibly stopped the barrier, and what happened to my body just now was the side effect from removing it."
"And why would you do that?" Luna asked as she tried her best to stay calm.
"I wanted to make use of the increase and send our location to my comrade out there "
"Comrade?..waht comrades? "
"Before coming here i aranged for a team to follow us inside the demon realm in case we need them"
"Ooh..That's so thoughtful of you, but What's the use we still have no idea where she is..."
"Stop with the sarcasm, i may know where she is"
"What?!..where?!"
Luna jumped near his face; they almost kissed, but she backed away immediately while apologizing to him.
"I...I am sorry."
"Don't worry about it." After saying that, Jevon adjusted his position to sit on the bed. "I did find her location, but we can't go there in our current state; we need to wait for the enforcement team to come from Avalor before making any moves."
"And when exactly are they coming?"
"72 hours at best"
"What the hell, 72 hours, you say.... Can my daughter take it until then?!" Luna stood up in anger.
Jevon grabbed her hands tightly. "There is nothing we can do. When I scanned the place around her, there were about a hundred demons over there. Us two alone can't help much. With my magic trapped and yours alone won't change much in this realm, unless you want to die ,that is."
Luna shoved his hand away, complaining about the whole situation. "How on earth did we end up in this kind of situation? What did a kid even do?"
"Maybe there is more to this," Jevon murmured to himself.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing," although he said that, but his mind was wandering elsewhere. 'I swear I felt a human presence near my daughter. If someone really instigated this whole kidnapping, I am afraid of what might happen to my kid…just be safe till we come get you.'
Till the enforcement team arrived, Jevon and Luna kept staying at their room for Jevon to get better and for them to rest and save their energy.
After 72 hours had passed, the enforcement team arrived outside the city, and with Jevon and Luna joining them, the rescue mission started.
Jevon was the one leading the rescue team since he was the one who knew where she was, inside a mountain cave about 500 meters southeast from the city. They paved their way, killing every demon standing in their way, and finally reached the room where Serenity was chained.
BACK TO THE PRESENT
"When I finally held your sister in my hands, her body turned to that of a human right in front of my eyes. Till now, I still can't believe what I saw...it was a hard hit. Her magical physique vanished, and her bloodline became as thin as air. I was quite afraid of her reaction when she woke up."
"That girl was so proud, but maybe it was sheer luck she lost her memories; the effect of that blow wasn't that hard." Queen Luna had a sad expression on her face recalling those memories.
-But Mom... why did the demons kidnap my sister? - Astrum asked
"Oh...that. Your father tortured those of them who survived, and all they said was that they kidnapped anyone on their way to spite the 'DIVIANA' people. It just so happened she came their way…it was just an accident."
-Why didn't you ask Serenity about that incident? -
"Were you with me on line when I said she lost her memories?"
-I know, but...-
"Stop with the games. Tell me, what do you have in mind, kid?"
- Mom, I suspect Sister might have regained her memories. -
"What makes you say that?" The queen was confused hearing him say that.
- She knows things and people she shouldn't. -
"Things she shouldn't?...Like what?"
-...-
"The silent treatment...I got it.…it's related to your work." In the queen's eyes, Astrum's silence was an answer in itself.
-sorry about that-
"No worries...I was used to it when I was married to your dad. You're a spitting image of your father in personality at least, but that's to be expected; one of you ought to be like him."
-Is that a compliment? -
"It is...my tongue may be a bit out of control, but I would never curse at my kids." She was happily bickering with her son to the point where a big smile was unconsciously drawn on her face.
- She wants to know the information I have about something for her to tell me what she has...but I don't wish to get her involved in this kind of work...so what do you think I should do with Sis? -
After a moment of thinking, she said, "Just tell her…if Serenity really did regain her memories, then you ought to know that hiding from her is pointless. What she wants to know, she'll know one way or another...so if it's through you or through anyone else, she will know,..an advice ,if I were you, I would just tell her to avoid her dragging herself into unnecessary danger."
-Okay then, I will do it. Thanks, Mom.-
"Anytime, baby boy, I will always be here as your beloved mother, and the same for your siblings."
-Umm, I will take my leave then; talk to you next time.-
"Next time then, bye."
-bye-
Teet-Teet-Teet
Once the call ended, Queen Luna placed the phone over her desk.
"So you regained your memories, huh..."
Her smile faded away as she rested her head over her chair, thinking about something. A few minutes passed, and she suddenly slammed the disk and stood up from her chair. The room turned into a strong ice-filled space, and everything got covered in piles of snow. Assistant Liu, who was standing outside, felt the cold aura. He opened the door to get inside and see what happened.
"Bang"
"Your maj—"
The words couldn't just get out of his mouth; the soldiers who came in behind him were shivering, not from the cold but from the fright of seeing her eyes, that of a monster who's staring at his prey.
Assistant Liu seemed used to seeing her like that, but he still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that consumed him at that moment. 'What in the world did she hear in that call that made her turn that way?'
The queen suddenly called over him, dismissing everyone else.
"Everyone except for Assistant Liu, get out"
"!!?"
As she called back her magic and the ice started melting, the room ended up with both her and Assistant Liu alone in the room; she had a serious expression, ordering him,
"Assistant Liu, tomorrow morning at best, you must hand something over to Serenity in person."
Although Assistant Liu was surprised it was the first time she used that tone of order on him in something other than work, he couldn't help but ask,
"May I ask what it is that requires my personal delivery?"
Queen Luna took out a box from her dimensional ring. The box had a special ice dragon engraved on it. The box itself had a rectangular glass build. Even though you couldn't see what was inside, Liu was dumbfounded by seeing it till her majesty finally started talking.
"This is something I prepared for my daughter myself; it's perfect for her body state right now. Using this, no one will dare look down on her for having a weak magic."
"Excuse my rudeness...but if you had something like that, why didn't you give it to her before? Why now of all times?" Assistant Liu asked.
"You're excused...answering your question is actually quite simple, even if she is the daughter I adore and gave birth to, but the previous her simply didn't deserve to take this chance." Queen Luna placed her hand over the box, thinking,
'Maybe I picked up some bad habits from Jevon without realizing it.'
"Anyway…take this box secretly to Serenity. I will give you a dimensional sack full of stuff...remember, never open it, and never try to open this box. If you do, I will kill you myself."
Assistant Liu felt scared of Queen Luna for the first time in the decade he worked under her; he just nodded his head.
"Remember tomorrow morning at best. If you're late, don't blame me for what happens next. You may leave now."
"As you wish," Assistant Liu took everything into his personal dimensional ring and headed to REGIS to meet with the princess with only one thought 'there might be a major change in this world soon enough '
The queen was standing on her balcony watching the sunset. 'Serenity, my dear child, only you, who regained her memories, will understand what that box means. I will never allow you to feel inferior to anyone; I will be your wings so you can fly high into the sky with no limits.'