Alaric had never flown on Garuda before and it was an experience itself. When the beast came to him some 7 years ago he was shocked to see it. He met Garuda in Australia while fighting a rather large army of rouges and banishing Oni’es who were attacking the Kingdom of Alturia. Alaric had gone deep into the woods chasing a Nephilim when he felt the beast’s presence and was distracted by it, giving his attacker time to strike him. It hurt like bitch and he went down which gave his attacker another golden opportunity to strike again which probably would have knocked him out but Garuda appeared from nowhere almost crushing the Nephilim to a pulp. While Nephilims had excellent healing powers no one in this realm could ever recover from that.
He had looked into the beast’s eyes and saw it shrinking from the size of a mountain to the size of a horse. He had wondered how no one saw it before when it disappeared right before his eyes. Alaric was shocked and looked here and there to search but it had vanished in the air. As he got up dusting himself and thinking of going in search of the beast, it once again appeared in front of him startling him.
“So he can cloak himself and disappear.” he thought.
The beast trotted towards Alaric and though he wanted to back away something made him hold his ground. It sniffed around him turning into a circle and then stared into his eyes. Its head was still taller than Alaric’s 6’3 height and its grey eyes seem to pierce his soul.
After many moments of simply staring at each other, Alaric gingerly raised his hands towards its head. On seeing Alaric’s gesture, the beast leaned down and connected its head to his hands. As soon as they touched, Alaric felt an electricity jolt going through his body, and an awareness spread inside him. He could feel the connection between them taking root in his mind.
As soon as the thought registered in his mind he felt a poke of Beast’s sharp beak, It did not like being addressed as ‘it’. Ok ok, I am sorry”. He could feel the bond but it felt like something was lacking in it. Nevertheless, he knew this being was going to be with him forever. That knowledge came to him very simply along with the name of him.
“Garuda” he spoke fondly.
Since then Garuda stayed with him hidden in the encampment for both of them knew the world was not ready for his discovery yet. Garuda wanted to wait for something or someone and Alaric obliged. He also refused to heed most of Alaric’s commands or his training. The beast was very intelligent and self-sufficient so Alaric left him to it. This was the first time he felt the pull from the bond between them and thus was caught unawares.
He has never seen Garuda so agitated and now it was flying at lightning speed towards what he could identify as Ireland. Oh, he was going towards the Kylemore castle with his wings flapping wildly creating large gusts of wind.
As soon as the castle came into view, garuda let out an incredible roar and swept towards the dome. They were very high in the air but Alaric could see the smoke, fire, and evidence of an explosion from above. As they neared the ground, he could see several beings running here and there, with some fighting and bodies thrown here and there.
A rage was building in him seeing the destruction below. How dare they attack the portal city!!!!! it was like declaring war on the Royal family itself. They went in a circle once again and now he can see many people huddled in the portal room from above the dome. Garuda made a few turns searching for someone when he suddenly took a wild turn and swooped in frightening speed towards the woods at the ends.
Alaric felt a little tug on his mind and understood what Garuda wanted him to do. He stood up a little, balancing himself on its back, and took a wide jump in the air landing on his one knee with a hand held high, in front of two figures one of which was slumped on the ground with the other above him. He assessed the situation at once seeing the Fae Prince’s bloodied face, lying on the ground as Garuda landed next to him. He wasted no time in summoning his gold dagger and throwing it at the demon. The dagger hit the demon right in the chest as he turned to face the newcomer and its body sizzled with black liquid flowing from it. It tried to grip the dagger but its hands burned from touching it. It fell screaming and hissing and Alaric was about to decapitate him when Garuda swooped in with his talons and ripped it apart. Quiet literally.
Alaric shook his head and turned towards Dae Bong only to find him on his knees trying to stand while extending one hand towards Garuda who was merely watching the prince.
Time stood still when Dae Bong got to his feet smiling a bloody smile, groaning, and calling out “You came, my friend.”
Garuda made no motion of moving either towards him or away from him and kept watching the approaching prince. Alaric tried to feel the bond but it felt like he had been shut off. He watched as the prince who had almost reached the beast, stumbled and was about to fall when Garuda moved and caught him on its neck.
Dae Bong broke down and hugged the beast, bending to his knees. Garuda too laid down and let the prince hug him. The scene was so surreal and emotional that Alaric felt like he was violating their privacy so he moved towards the courtyard leaving the two.
The sound of the fight, which had been silenced for a few minutes after their arrival, once again resumed, but now it was mostly of people running. Alaric’s super listening sense brought him to the scene, and he stopped abruptly, coming across the carnage. He saw two demons running out of the castle, and rage filled him. He unsheathed his sword and ran, jumping and landing before them. He infused his blade with fire energy and in few quick but precise swipes, the demons were reduced to ashes. Two wolves were fighting a dual sword wielder in one corner and Alaric leapt towards them, landing in the middle. He parried the incoming strike of the wielder and pushed him back using brute force. The sword wielder flew back and landed on the ground, making his mask slip.
“Cambion” Alaric smiled maliciously and immediately launched multiple attacks without giving an inch to the fallen cambion. The man tried his best to defend but soon his head rolled on the ground, spraying blood everywhere.
Alaric turned to see the wolves had changed back to human form and were cowering from him. They were merely pups trying to defend themselves and Alaric felt a slight tinge. He was about to speak when he heard a crack and Aemon appeared out of thin air with his personal royal Guards.
“Ofcorse he will not listen to me”, Alaric grumbled and turned towards the boys “Run along Pups. Get inside to safety.” He then turned towards his brother who was looking at him with troubled eyes.
Earlier, when he saw that Garuda was heading towards Ireland, Alaric had sent a mental message to Aemon, directing him to send Silas, with his battalion, to Kylemore castle. He should have known that Aemon would follow, too, even though when he had strictly told him not to.
“Did I not tell you to stay put? You are the crown prince; you cannot endanger yourself”.
He growled and gestured to Silas, who was standing next to Aemon. Immediately soldiers ran in all directions and took control of the situation.
“Yes, yes, I heard you and chose not to hear you. I am not going to leave my little brother in the lurch, can I”. Aemon smirked at him, making Alaric sigh once again.
“Why did you teleport to the middle of the courtyard instead of the portal room. I believe some people are hiding there”.
“The portal is jammed or something. It wasn’t opening, so I called her.” Aemon shrugged, all the while avoiding his brother’s gaze.
“Please tell me you didn’t.” Alaric closed his eyes and prayed to whatever entity out there to give him the patience to deal with this situation.
“Oh yes, he did, Your Highness. The soon-to-be crown prince literally dragged me out of my room, demanding I take him and his guards to Castle Kylemore. Believe me, I am as thrilled as you are.” a raspy but sharp voice spoke from behind him, and he turned to face the Royal witch.
“I assure you, Siobhan, I had no intention of disturbing your beauty sleep. You can leave if you want. No one is forcing you to stay here.” Alaric replied coldly while glaring at her.
“Ahh ha ha, let’s calm down, OK. Siobhan, it was me who told you to come here. I swear Alaric did not tell me to. You can go. Please thank you for your help, but before going, can you please look at the portal? I need it to work so the royal army can come through.” Aemon spoke in a conciliatory tone.
“As you wish, your highness. It’s not like I have a choice. Do I?” the witch spoke scathingly and left.
Aemon watched her go and then looked around. “My god, what happened here. Why did they attack here, Alaric? It makes no sense.”
Alaric walked towards him, also looking around. “Yes, it’s weird. No unauthorized person can use the portal, and demons cannot even enter the portal room. This castle barely has any strict security and is only used by younglings to travel to the magical realm. It leads me to believe that today’s attack was aimed at Fae Prince Dae Bong Kwon.”
“What??? Oh yes, I forgot he was here. Where is he ?” Aemon looked around once again to see the Prince emerging from the woods, almost limping. Most of his weight was supported by the beast which walked next to him.
Everyone stopped and stared in their direction. Aemon couldn’t believe this was the same creature he had seen a few hours ago. Its size was almost half now, like a horse, but majestic nonetheless. When Dae Bong reached them, he clapped on his back and laughed, “There you are, my friend. Looks like they beat you up pretty well. You are literally banged up. Getting Old, eh??” Dae Bong looked at the Elder prince once and flicked his hand, catching Aemon unaware and flinging him to the ground.
“I am good, thanks, Your Highness” Dae commented lightly.
“That’s not Fair, Twinkle Toes. I am the Royal Prince,” Aemon grumbled while getting up and coming face to face with Garuda, who gave a low growl.
“OK, OK, I was kidding, yeah” Aemon put up his hand and moved back while looking over at Alaric.
Alaric smirked briefly but hid his smile turning to survey the Fae Prince. He was banged up pretty bad but he seemed to be recovering. Only his hand had a nasty burn which wasn’t healing, and his eyes had a red-blue shimmer like someone had punched him repeatedly. Both these wounds should have started healing by now, but they seemed as angry as ever. Especially the burn wound. Alaric could swear it sounded like the burn was still sizzling, burning the Fae’s blood and flesh. Only one thing could hurt a divine creature like that....
“Hellfire!!”
Alaric realized he had spoken out aloud when both Dae Bong and Aemon stopped laughing and turned to look at him.
“What!! Hellfire!!! Where? I don’t sense it.
Alaric pointed toward’s Fae Prince who was looking at his burn wound. Aemon immediately caught hold of Dae Bong’s hands and hovered two fingers above the damage, making it sizzle a little.
“Damn Shit!!!”
“But how is that possible? All gateways and portals to hell have been closed, and the council itself put a seal on each one of them.” Aemon spoke, clearly agitated.
“Me and your brother just fought a cambion, Aemon. The one I fought had a sword infused with hellfire, and he threw some powder in my face, which burned my eyes. I have never come across anything like that.” Dae spoke, cupping his injured arm with the other. “and believe me, it hurt like a bitch”.
“But hellfire is not something easily accessible, nor can it be wielded by just anyone. While I agree a small amount of it can be infused with a sword but to fire a ball of pure hellfire with Intensity to burn a Fae like that means only one thing.” Alaric said, pointing towards Dae’s injury.
Dae calmly watched the Hybrid prince pondering over his statement when it hit him like a truck, “A Nephilim”.
“Nephilim, a fucking Nephilim. How is that even possible, Dae? All the Nephilim were hunted down and thrown back into Nephiros realm before the doors were sealed. Are you seriously going to stand here and tell me that a fucking Nephilim is on the loose?” Aemon almost shouted.
He cannot believe this shit. Once long ago, two main species which ruled this realm were Faes and Nephilims. While Faes were divine creatures descended from Gods, Nephilim were born of humans/or any other supernatural entity and demons, mainly of poor unsuspecting women used for breeding by demons. In the many wars that followed, it was the Nephilims who inflicted most chaos and destruction. Long before his time, his grandparents fought a major war along with werewolves, faes and gryphons and hunted down all the Nephilims. Most of them were killed, and the rest were stripped of their power and cast into Nephiros,a realm especially built for imprisoning demons and their spawns. It was made with great scarifies of many Oni’es and the gates were sealed from one side. Only the Royal Family members can open another side of the gate. It was preposterous to even imagine how any vile creature could escape.
“Calm down, Aemon. I will personally investigate this. They are not as extinct as you like to think.” Alaric replied to his brother’s outburst, his mind going back to when he found Garuda.
“What do you mean?”
“This is not the place to discuss such matters. This attack is going to raise a lot of questions. Let’s discuss this in the strategy meeting, yeah!”
Aemon thought of protesting, but he understood Alaric’s point. If the news of a Nephilim on the loose gets out, chaos might ensue in the kingdom. Alaric’s voice brought him out of his musing
“For now, take Dae Bong inside to your witch; I am sure, given her afflictions to dark arts, she must have a solution to this though his injuries seem minor.” Alaric spoke, all the while looking at Garuda, who was constantly staring at the castle door. As Aemon and Dae Bong left, he reached out to his connection with Garuda, trying to understand just what was it that was bothering him. Garuda snapped his eyes to Alaric and they seemed to glow a little. Alaric's concentration was broken by appearance of Silas and he decided to approach the matter with Garuda later.
"My Liege, all hostiles have been subdued as per your orders. Only one fled but our soldiers are giving chase as we speak. The sanctuary is secured and other than the fight in courtyard there does not seem to be much damage."
"Its strange, isn't it!"
"Yes, My liege. Very strange. I do not understand the motive of attack. "
"I believe it was to capture the Fae Prince. This last batch of younglings was delayed due to several reasons and ideally this place would have been empty lest for the servants. The Fae prince is known to have lax security especially here at the castle. I think the attackers did not expect to find so many people here ready to defend. Did you see the body there?" Alaric pointed towards the Cambion's headless body .
"Yes, I saw it. I thought at first it was another Oni'e but the marking on its body gave away its status. These Cambions are getting courageous day by day Sire. Now they have started to attack Royalties. I think you should tell the King and Prince what you have been doing these past years. Its bound to come out sooner or later."
"Yes, I know Silas but they will not be happy, especially Aemon and they will not understand why I did what I did." Alaric heaved a sigh. He would have to eventually come clean in front of his brother but it can wait for now.
"take the body to Solange's Lab. Tell her to keep it safe and I will visit later to decide how to tackle this. "
Silas bowed once and disappeared again leaving Alaric alone with his thoughts.
ns 18.68.41.141da2
