Umm hey there guys~
Eeep! Keep away the pitchforks now...Lets settle this in a civilized manner haha...
well sorry bout the late update, honestly wanted this to be earlier.
Now then people~ Go ahead! On with the chapter~
"So where are we going now Freud?" Afrien asked, after arguing about it for a long while, Freud managed to get the dragon to stop saying 'master' or 'sire' and just his normal name. Freud thought about it as he saddled Afrien and watched with amusement as his apprentice along with Mir struggled to get the supplies on board the huge dragon. "Hmm we'll go to Ellinia then. An old friend of mine has told me about new interesting books he had found and wanted me to help him with it." The auburn haired mage then decided to assist his apprentice before the boy and baby reptile starts turning blue.
Although Mir had grown with a fast rate, his body had not been strong enough to lift Evan yet. Thus because of Afrien's large size, the onyx dragon king could fetch them together. "Are you talking about Grandpa Grendel, Master Freud?" Evan had met the wizard before and found him similar to grandfather he never had. "Yes that is correct, he also wanted to see you again." Grendel immediately took a liking to the curious boy on the first day finding his curiosity on different subjects endearing.
"Does he have food Master?" Mir asks excitedly while flapping his medium sized wings eagerly. "You can catch some food there. I remember there were blue slimes there somewhere." Mir's eyes twinkled with interest as Freud signaled the duo to get on board. Afrien stretched his large wings and took off, gliding in the air.
"Ah Freud, how nice to see you again." Grendel shook hands with Freud until Evan came hurling himself towards the old wizard "What about me Grandpa?" Grendel chuckled as he patted Evan fondly "Ah yes, how could I forget about you child. My you've grown quite a bit! I can't lift you at all now." Freud laughs and adds in "Not like you were able to completely lift him before."
Grendel decides to send a glare towards the still smiling mage "Last I checked, you weren't able to do it either." The old mage glances down at Evan who was still hugging him "Now now little Evan, don't be like you Master alright? He may look like a smiling saint now but trust me, inside is a snickering cunning fox!"
"Eh?! Really?!" Grendel nodded seriously. "No joke child. Once he was sent to me for a bit more tutoring and he nearly singed my beard off! He was smiling back then too." Freud then blushed a bit and turned away. "An innocent mistake that was. I was giving you a sheepish smile not a cunning smirk."
"Sureeeeeee you were." Afrien decide to cut in before they spill more stuff about their past. Grendel seems to finally notice the two reptiles as he gave a curt bow. "Ah apologies, got caught up too much in chatting. Where are my manners? I'm Grendel the resident mage in this village, pleased to meet you." Afrien returned the bow and Mir did a sloppy one "Pleasures mine. I'm Afrien, King of the onyx dragons and this is my son, Mir." If Grendel was shocked, he hid it well.
"I….see. Interesting. So Freud finally decides to take risks, I'm sure befriending you was a hard task. Come inside we'll have a chat." Afrien stayed outside near the window for obvious reasons and the group hurdled around a table near the huge dragon and they both exchanged stories. Grendel grumbles about the fact that it took weeks to get the books he wanted to study out from the library as the librarian there was fussy while Evan and Freud explains what they were doing up till now and the spirit pact.
"A spirit pact you say? Now that term hasn't been used in a long while. Not since the warlords reign…" Freud raised an eyebrow and gestured for Grendel to explain "I heard about someone attempting to force a spirit pact onto another powerful demon against its will. Sadly, it never worked and the intense magic backfired, killing the mage. No one else attempted it again as the risks were too high. Should you have not been truthful the same would have happened to you both!" The last sentence was somewhat shouted angrily at the two, when Grendel said risk he didn't knew that the first few ones the auburn haired mage took would be this high. Freud was usually very careful.
The duo couldn't say much and even Afrien was silent. "But still…. I'm glad that Master made one with me! Then I can be with Master forever! You're not gonna stop me old man!" Mir yelled childishly(and rudely) the whole group was shocked until Afrien nodded in agreement. "I have to agree. It would feel odd now if Freud was not at my side." The mages felt touched as Grendel slumped back into the seat "Fine do as you will, it is a known fact that Spirit pact cannot be severed once made. Honestly I'm too old for this."
"What about these 'warlords' you were talking about Grandpa?" Evan asked curiously as he hugged Mir. "Ah yes. Another term I have not heard in a quite some time. It was back then, around several centuries ago, the demon king had not risen yet and they were the usual terrors that plague the town, took whatever they wanted the lot of them. But fifty years ago, all of a sudden they just….stopped. Rumors say they were contracted to someone and the assaults on village ceased. That didn't last long though, they were the cause for creating the demon king, that was unexpected for them."
"Anyway they are still there but probably one or two are active I don't know about the rest though….." Grendel said with a cough. Freud stared at the old wizard with suspicion, he knew the mage wasn't the best liar ever and that he was definitely lying now. "Alright then, that's interesting trivia for Evan. But where are the books that you were talking about?" Grendel visibly flinched as he went for several books. Freud picked one of them up " 'Equilibrium' this is about balancing light and dark mana. Is there something that you do not understand about this?" Freud asked suspiciously.
"Ummm well…" Freud flipped through page after page, scanning it quickly before shutting the tome, glancing at the still squirming Grendel.
"Grendel old friend, what is it that you truly called me for?" Freud asked as Evan watched curiously "This material is something you normally would not browse unless necessary. What is your motive?" Grendel finally stopped squirming and looked up to meet a questioning gaze. "Well you see-" The door to Grendel's apartment burst opened as a girl frantically stepped in and scanned the room until her eyes landed on Grendel "What wrong Lania?" Grendel asked hastily as he stood up from his seat.
"Come quick! Lumi is struggling in pain! Please help him!" Grendel went to comfort the sobbing child as the group stared in confusion. "Child run back and provide as much relief as you can we will be there with help as soon as possible." Grendel ushered Lania out as he made preparations. "Are we going as well?" Freud asked as Evan and Mir stood up with him. "Yes, you asked the true reason I've called you here. You're about to find out as I've no time to explain."
The group arrived at a area surrounded with odd demons and beasts who were attracted to the strong dark mana being released forcefully. "Evan, Mir and Afrien. Do your best to prevent them from entering the house. Me and Grendel will see the source of the problem." The trio nodded and got to work, chasing away various demons who wanted to pounce on the house and others who wanted to attack by air. Grendel and Freud immediately dashed into the house to see a man wearing priest robes with slightly grayish hair barely reaching his shoulders. The man gasped and struggled in pain as his folded bird wings turned black then to white and the process continues the same with the man's robes and hair.
"That man is….! No, now's not the time, I see the problem now." Freud said as he assisted Grendel with the medicine, the auburn haired mage took down the reflective barrier and casted buffs to allow Grendel to come close and make the man swallow the pills. The effect was slow at first, but the dark mana eventually(and temporarily)became suppressed. Freud started casting healing spells and watched as the man eventually calms down, his breathing back to normal.
Freud then dash back out to see that the demons and beasts started scattering. The trio came in with minor injuries which was easily tended to, they sat around the now sleeping peacefully man. "I suppose I should explain." Grendel said as he sat down. "You see, this 'demon' is one of the warlords we were talking about. His name is Luminous. Shortly after he managed to flee from the demon king's attack, he was blown here, badly injured. Lania found him and took care of him." Said girl was passing some tea while her cat was at a corner licking itself.
"He used to be one who wields the power of the sun goddess, Amaterasu. However, after managing to escape from the demon king, he met his greatest rival. He who wields Tsukuyomi's power, the god of the night. They clashed and in the end they unintentionally fused together, the two now fight to gain dominance over each other."
Freud nodded as he filed away the story while Evan and Mir just stood there confused. "So you called me here to show that dominance isn't the answer and that if the both of them could achieve Equilibrium, it would be best for both?" Grendel nodded "Well that's the gist of it. They wouldn't listen to an old coop like myself so I thought you could have a shot at it." Despite the serious situation Freud gave a smile. "So you're admitting you're not young anymore?"
"Oh shut it. People age. Just hope I last long enough to taunt you in your old age." Evan was pondering about something for awhile until an odd question surfaced "Hey grandpa, what's their names?" Grendel felt confused and gestured him to explain "W-Well if two of them make Luminous then what are their names if they were separate?" Lania bounced in just then to answer.
"Oh that! Lumi's light half is called Sunfire while his dark half is Eclipse! He told me once." The girl giggled as she went back to Luminous's side. Mir's stomach growled then, drawing attention to him "Hey Master, Where are the blue slimes? I'm hungry~" The baby dragon nudged Evan's side until Afrien's head poked in through the door. "I just saw them awhile back. Freud you don't mind if I take Mir hunting do you? Just fill me in later." Freud gestured him to go ahead.
As the door shut close, Luminous began to stir and looked up sleepily at the group. "Lumi you're alright! Thank goodness!" Lania hugged Luminous happily while the man just looked shock at the sudden attack. He smiled before gently petting the girl. Evan whispered to Freud "And you would think he causes trouble with a title like warlord when you see him so gentle like that."
"Oh that. Apparently it was Eclipse who got the title for both of them as they are really similar without the colour contrast." Grendel elaborated and Evan gave the classic 'oh' gesture. After Luminous assured Lania that he was fine, he scanned the room to see Grendel who he gave a grateful nod too until his eyes landed on two different mages. Now Luminous had good eyesight, but at that time it was really blurry and he had acted without thinking after seeing a rather familiar silhouette.
"You!" Luminous yelled completely enraged while pointing at Freud, Luminous pushed the startled Lania behind him as he glared at Freud. The auburn haired mage blink in surprise as he turned to stare at the heterochromatic demon before pointing a finger at himself.
"Me?"
"Yes you! What are you doing here?!" Luminous growled as he grabbed his nearby shining rod and charged at Freud who looked confused and shocked at the same time.
Oh what could Lumi mean? (Is this counted as a cliffhanger...XD)
Anyway Please review~