Witch's Daughter And The Devil's Son

"You don't need to trust me if you don't want to, but the fact you're asking me that already proves you at least believe some of my words. You would have outright attacked me if you think I'm your enemy. If you want to keep me here to clear your doubts and suspicions, I am willing to stay, and if you want me gone, then I will go away. But for now, you should call Tyra to help take care of your wife."

"Tyra knows you?" Drayce asked with surprise.

"Other than your mother, she is the only other person aware of my existence in this human kingdom," Aureus answered but then…

Cough! Cough!

The winged man had a distorted face as he coughed out black blood before falling to his knees. He tried to hold back from showing his weak side in front of Drayce, but he could no longer hold out anymore with the black magic inside him acting like poison to his divine energy.

Drayce looked at the winged man who claimed to be his wife's savior with an emotionless gaze, and the next moment, he saw him collapsing on the floor and losing his consciousness.

Several seconds later, Drayce stepped towards him and kneeled on one knee. He could see the numerous scars on the man's body, but his attention was focused more on the strong divine power he could sense from this stranger. Precisely because he's injured and weakened, the power inside him was like a horse without reins, rampaging out as if to protect its master out of instinct.

Drayce put his fingers on the man's wrist to check his pulse which was weak, just like how it was for Seren. There were indeed traces of black magic inside him, and if what he felt was accurate, the damage this man received was ten times worse than Seren suffered through.

'A shapeshifter from the feathered race…

'Since he has divine powers, then he's a divine beast…

…I wonder which clan he belongs to?'

Drayce wanted to trust this winged man as he had mentioned his mother and he could sense no evil intentions from him. Still, it was not easy to gain his trust. For now, he decided to help him. As for other things, he could decide later. Though he was sure that this winged man was powerful, Drayce was confident in himself that he was much more powerful. Suppressing him shouldn't be an issue as long as he concentrated on using his powers on him.

'I can also ask Seren when she wakes up.'

As Drayce remembered the story the man shared, he decided to help this winged man. If everything was true, then he indeed was his wife's savior. It would be unbecoming of him to ignore the problems in his body.

After checking on his wife once more, Drayce had Aureus moved to one of the empty chambers nearby where Drayce called out for the darkness inside him just like he did for Seren.

"Erebus, I need your help once again. This person was someone our mother had saved once. We should save the one that she protected."

This time, Erebus appeared without any delay, as if saying their mother's name was more than enough to bring him out.

Drayce did what he did with Seren to that winged man, and after some time, all the black magic traces inside Aureus were sucked out by Drayce's dark powers.

Drayce looked at the unconscious winged man who didn't look like who would wake up anytime soon. The remnants of that black magic was poison to those with an attribute from nature due to the clash of the opposing attributes. If Drayce had not helped, those remaining traces could have permanently affected the magical core inside his body and it could have been deadly for him.

Drayce had read about these shapeshifters and divine beasts in the ancient literature books that his mother had left for him. He had also heard about them from his mother's bedtime stories. From what his mother said, divine beasts were the strongest supernaturals, and they were trustworthy who never had any ill intentions towards others, befitting the divinity in their bloodline. They mostly acted as the protectors and warriors of those more peaceful races.

As someone who mostly only moved within Megaris, Drayce had never met a divine beast. He recalled that the divine beasts had retreated from the human kingdoms and had hidden away from the people of the continent, their clans choosing to reside inside that mysterious kingdom called Agartha along with the other races.

"Agartha," Drayce mumbled, "that mysterious kingdom of those existences equally feared and respected by humankind. I wonder when I will be able to find my way there. Mother once said it used to be her home, a place she could never return to due to her grave sin. I need to know where Mother's homeland is. Maybe the people there can help me look for my missing mother…"

He stepped out of that room to go back to his wife as his thoughts were stuck at the kingdom he longed to see.

"...and Draven Aramis, the King of Agartha," he wondered. "What kind of person is he, the only other person I know who has the same red eyes as mine?"

-----

Drayce returned to his wife and chose to be by her side.

Time had come and gone, and soon, the servants woke up to start their daily tasks. Some of them were made aware of Drayce's unexpected presence as he instructed them to keep an eye on the person lying in bed inside the room next to his.

Great Lady Theodora was also informed of Drayce's arrival, and without knowing about what happened the night before, she hurried to his room thinking of having him join her for her morning meal.

​ "Dray, how come you are back without—"

The old lady with a cane lost her smile the moment she entered.

Drayce found his grandmother looking at Seren. "Why does she look so weak? Is she not well?" She observed the bloodstains on her clothes along with her pale face. "What happened? Who hurt her? Shall I call a physician?"

The Great Lady walked towards the bed where Seren lay immediately.

"There's no need—" Drayce told her what happened and also mentioned to her about the shapeshifter in the room next to his.

Great Lady Theodora listened without interrupting, simply sitting on a chair next to Seren while holding her hand. "Are you sure she is fine?"

"Yes, Grandmother. She will wake up soon," he assured.

She looked at Drayce and asked about the one who claimed to save Seren. "Is he really not a threat?"

"For now, we can say it's fine. I have ordered a servant to summon Tyra to hurry to the Crystal Palace. Once she arrives, we will know whether what he said is true or not."

"Those people, according to him, who tried to abduct Seren, why would they…?" The Great Lady had so many questions in her mind as she felt bad looking at Seren's situation.

Just the day before, they were having a good talk and now…she was lying here unconscious after going through something terrible.

"I cannot imagine what would have happened if she was not saved…."

"I would have killed them all," Drayce said. "It's not late yet. After I hear more from Seren's story together with the clues from that winged man, I will find them and make them pay for what they did to my wife."

The Great Lady didn't oppose this. "Should we also mobilize the royal knights? We need to know if they're aiming for Seren herself or you, and your wife was just dragged to this. It's better than waiting for their next attack. I don't want her to be in any kind of danger anymore… but from what you told me, those robed individuals are well versed in black magic. Though you are powerful as well, you cannot take them lightly. There is no invincible existence in this world. Make sure to be careful, Dray."

"Rest assured, Grandmother."

Something clicked in her mind. "How did you heal them? It's not easy to deal with powerful black magic. Don't tell me…" The old woman was aware of many things that humans shouldn't know as she always had Lady Tyra with her who herself was a witch.

Drayce's expression darkened. "I had to call for him. Only his darkness could absorb that black magic."  He didn't look very happy about it, but he had no other option.

"You did well," was all the old lady said as she knew Drayce didn't like to talk about it.