"Pine green?"
What an odd hair color!
The tortoise clan were identified mostly by their dark melanin skin color, black hair and dark eyes. Their dark skin was more than just a color; it was an essence symbolizing the root of their creation.
But she had pine-green hair, very strange.
It took the setting sun's gaze to remind him that he had spent so much time staring at her. Its radiance, clashing against his golden hair, shone brightly and he kindly accepted defeat. Of course there was no way he would win a clash of radiance against the sun, but he at least wished it would rather remind her how much time she had spent asleep or, better still, wake her up than halting his long stare over her.
However, he needed the pause. Otherwise, he would have almost forgotten an important promise he had to fulfill today.
The demon realm was currently under attack by both Moist's army and Elisha's army. That was no surprise to him at all. He had already predicted that Moist would more likely go after Sheba once she awoke from her coma than come after him, and just like he thought, she did so.
"Stupid Moist!"
On the bright side, this was the perfect opportunity for him to launch an attack on her. With her attention shifted and a great amount of her resources focused on the war against the demon realm and Sheba, as he had promised Lucifer, he was going to handle her properly and perhaps even kill her finally like he always wanted.
He had made a move already: he had sent two well-trained flame sparrows to spy on Moist in her holy sanctum and report to him immediately should she make a move personally against the Demon Realm.
This was a job he would have handed to his Hand if he had one, but he was yet to pick someone suitable for the position. He missed Drucius dearly and wished he would find someone at least half as capable as he was.
No rush anyways; he wanted to take his time with it. For now he focused on more pressing matters, and by the time the air would be clear, he would certainly find someone near perfect to succeed Drucius.
He had waited so long for their news and decided to go check on Vesper, not expecting to spend long hours staring at her sleeping face.
She looked so at peace. That peace was what he wanted to restore fully in the Spirit Kingdom, the main reason he decided to talk to Lucifer about leaving after Elisha's visit, hoping he would totally understand him. Luckily, he did. Not only did he completely understand, he had also decided to leave on his own. This was the very reason that prompted him to make the promise of helping him out—not only for the pleasure he would derive from burning Moist and sparing her relics for the humans to keep worshipping since they loved their dear goddess so much.
He remained patient for hours and now the sun had reminded him that enough time had passed; he decided to summon the flame sparrows himself. He felt very uneasy thinking that Moist had really done nothing so far other than sending her army and priests out. It was barely hours till midnight and she was not someone he knew to possess restraint.
At his single call, the sparrows appeared, bowing before his grace and greeting in unison.
"Speak," his tone was heavy with aura.
"Your grace, the human goddess is yet to make a move against the Demon Realm after this dispatch of her army and priests," the first flame sparrow began, his head still bowed.
"Yes, your grace," the other added. "We have had our sight all day and she has not even left her throne for once. She simply sat there unmoving—seems like she has already accepted defeat, or maybe she is yet to completely heal and rather chose to save her strength." A hint of amusement was heard in his tone but Aliadam rather ignored it. The first sparrow noticed and shoved him with his elbow in an attempt to call him to order.
"True, your grace," the first one began again. "The only unsettling thing is that her head priest left her unguarded at some point, but she herself remained unmoving on her throne."
"Holy Zebedee left her alone in the throne room?" Aliadam asked again, believing there was a possibility that the sparrow misspoke.
"Yes, your grace," both of them affirmed.
'Strange,' Aliadam clenched his jaw. "How long has this been?" he asked again.
"About two hours," the first sparrow answered.
'Holy Zebedee left Moist unguarded for two hours?! Impossible!'
"He had escorted a human female that had come to visit the goddess in her throne room and did not return again."
"Are you sure?"
"We swear on our lives, your grace." Both of them quickly went down on their knees, but that did not reduce Aliadam's doubt.
No matter how powerful Moist was or how much she must have healed from her injuries, there was no way Holy Zebedee would leave her unguarded for two whole hours—especially not now that the Spirit King already posed an open threat against her life. That was a risk he would rather die than take. What exactly was going on? he clenched his fists in deep thought.
No! Something was wrong somewhere, and he must go to the Holy Sanctum to find out what it was.
"You are both dismissed," he waved at them, still trying to figure out the plot behind this very strange occurrence. He held the thought for a while and finally it dawned on him: Moist had tricked them.
He anticipated flaws; Moist discovering them and even attacking them, her smooth maneuvering and fooling them was not something he saw coming. She had really beaten his expectations and for two long hours she must have attained a level of influence in the war going on. He must leave at once to stop her and fulfill his promise to Lucifer.
In no time, he appeared in her throne room and intently stared at her unmoving figure sitting calmly on the throne.
"Moist?" he called calmly, but she remained motionless.
Why did he even bother calling? His presence alone would have made her react if she were truly here. His suspicion was right—she had truly transferred her consciousness into the human female Zebedee escorted out earlier and left her body here to fool the sparrows and keep them from reporting to him and making him launch an attack.
'Smart indeed,' he must agree. However, he now saw through her tricks and would not let her have her way anymore. With one gout of fire, he struck her body and immediately she began wailing in pain. Her consciousness returned at once and she was definitely not happy with Aliadam.
"You!" she groaned in pain.
"You really outwitted your limits this time, Moist," he began calmly, slowly drawing near. "It's a pity; I still got to find out. I will not let you attack Lucifer!" he declared firmly.
"You are still as naïve as ever." Moist forced a laughter. "Who said I was going to attack Lucifer? I love Lucifer and nothing is ever going to make me go against him—not you, not Elisha and most especially not Sheba!"
"You know, for a high goddess like yourself, I think you are rather very stupid. Lucifer loves Sheba, not you. So the sooner you snap out of your fantasies, the better for you!"
"Is that concern I hear you slip, Aliadam?" Moist chuckled a bit. "Save me your concern; it is no business of yours who I love and who I do not. Are you not here to finish me off?! Well go on with it!" she yelled at him, breathing hard and trying to hold back the pain she felt from the strike.
Aliadam set his gaze on her as he made to slam her again with a burning hand, but he hesitated a bit.
"What now?" Moist noticed his hesitation. "Cannot bear to do it?! Of course you can't! Believe it or not, you still love me, Aliadam. Your feelings for me were temporarily sealed by your heavy wrath against me when you returned and I can swear you could not sleep peacefully thinking of how hurt I must have felt and the pain I had to bear after you attacked me."
"Stop spewing nonsense, Moist!" He clenched his fists.
"You dare not hear me say it because you know it is true," she continued, satisfied by how much her words affected him. "Your heart aches so much right now hearing that I love Lucifer and not you. You wish I would belong to you, that I would love you, that I had not betrayed you, that I was not in love with another! Ha ha! Well I guess you are the one that must wake up from your fantasies and not me!"
"Shut up, Moist!" Aliadam ordered again but she kept on laughing, knowing how much torture she was putting him through.
"I said SHUT UP!" he could no longer take it.
He dropped the intent of slamming her with his burning hand and rather walled her in blazing flames. A cage designed to restrict her powers and keep her in place till it naturally wore off after a whole day.
"Let me out this instant, Aliadam!" she yelled but he simply ignored her and vanished.
She was right—he suddenly could not bear to hurt her; unsure why. But he still could not let her disrupt Lucifer's plans. He promised to handle her and he was sure the blazing flames would do just fine.
He reappeared in his Emberbloom palace, his expression mixed but with a higher level of sadness.
'Could he really still be in love with her?'
No! he doubted deeply. He just needed some time to himself at the moment.
As he made his way to his chambers, he bumped into someone very unexpected.
Her brown eyes stirred a soothing flame within his hazel ones as his heart pounded ferociously against his chest.
He had never seen her eyes before and staring at them now, they were the most alluring set of eyes he had ever set his gaze on, and they had him hooked at first sight.
They stood there for a few seconds and just when he was about to say something, she spoke immediately, words he was very much stunned to hear.
"Were you kidnapped too?" she asked, her gaze still fixed on his. "Come with me, I will take you out of here safely." ...