Chapter 98: Chapter 98

As he flied back to his friend’s camp, the shadows’ lord thought about the whole plan, it was rather sneaky and even devilish, to keep the Two kingdom's armies busy on the borders while the demons invade their capitals, the battle at the borders was an inevitable one, for the sake of the usurped villages and lands, and to send a strong message to the other human kingdoms wanting to follow Manrast and Katara's lead, Especially that one called Buskeen, which had borders with the fire edge, and which they still needed to deal with yet.

Eren didn’t think twice before aiding his friend, for he believed that it was his way for redeeming some of his mistakes, by making the world a better place before time came to leave it and hopefully, join his fair lady in the afterlife, he believed the human king and the ice queen would do great in ruling over the humans and demons, they both had not just the strength but the right amount of empathy, he believed in them and for them he was willing to extend his miserable existence in order to help them build a better world, let alone the fact that he needed to clear some things with his friends.

The three of them weren’t granted with a chance to rest or even meet after returning from the center, the human king returned to find out that his parents were still missing, his brother escaped, his kingdom was invaded and his people were divided,  some enslaved, some killed, his sister had to endure all the threats and pressure, the demon lord and queen, on the other hand, were faced by destroyed lands by none other than the fire nation, their strength had grown significantly in the past two years and many demons from both the dark forest and the frozen edge had joined to their cause, like Geraldine’s father or Rima’s rivals, not that it came as a surprise, for he knew that, beside the desire of revenge, many demons were against coexisting with the humans instead of making them pay for their old betrayal.

And as if their hands were not full already, they still had to worry about the missing Gods, Eren tried before to track down Nov’s smell but failed, the bastard covered his scent very well after escaping the center, which was the same with the other three deities.

There was also the matter none of them had the right words or the right timing to initiate, with the curse lifted, the demons didn't need to kill to survived, a small amount of blood was enough, and it could be obtained by offering something else to the humans, without the need of attacking them and feeding on them by force, especially if they didn’t use the dark magic, with that being said, it was senseless and pointless for the demons who fought to save both races to stay in the edges of the world, close to the death and dark energy, it was a very legitimate requisition, the three of them knew it, that victory was the demons’ more than it was the humans, they had the full right to live in safe lands, it was just not that easy to work out, the humans wouldn't accept it in a thousand years, especially with the other kingdoms invasions, everyone were kept busy with the mess they had found but they all knew there would be a time where they needed to sort that matter out, the human lands had to be shared and that was the main purpose of this plan.

While Henry lead his army as well as a good amount of disguised shadow demons and few ice demons toward the borders, the shadows’ lord, with barely fifty demons headed toward the Manrast capital while Rima led her troops toward the Katara's capital, Henry gathered all of his forces to ensure that there were not much soldiers left in the enemies capitals, both kingdoms fell into the trap and sent most of their forces to the borders and left merely few thousands to protect their capitals which made them very easy to conquer, with Eren's powers, the Manrast capital which was the biggest fell before the sunrise, things were not as easy for Rima with her weakened body, nevertheless, the Katarian capital was hers in less than a day, both the royal families were taken captives, the capitals were locked and secured with the soldiers either executed or disarmed.

Two kingdoms, with vast lands, conquered by demons, where presented to them to be their new homes.

“Are you going to stand there until the end of the day?” Eren asked, planning to get up but was directly stopped by a half screaming Henry who strode inside the tent only to grab some clothes and throw them at his shameless friend, “Have you no manners?!” despite his earlier annoyance, Henry couldn’t help but smile, happy to see his friend.

“You look like you enjoy the sight and that smile looks more than inviting, plus, don’t talk about manners while you haven’t even hugged your dear friend!”

“Not before you put something on!” Henry faked a scoff at his friend’s words even when he was happy to see him again, his eyes though didn’t miss the hallow of his sadness that surrounded his friend, the red eyes didn’t flash with their usual mischief, he wasn’t smirking and something about his general posture told him that his friend, even if he looked intact from the outside, was broken on the inside.

''The Manrast’s capital is now ours, and I had received words from your pretty lady that she did the same with Katara's capital, those scorpions turned out to be more than handy!" Eren gave Henry the juicy news directly once he was fully dressed, if this was the old him, he would have made fun of the human king for a while, burn out his nerves and patience with fake knew until he couldn’t take it anymore and then tell him, but he was no longer the same person, he didn’t have that kind of energy anymore.

"What? Wait! What about the hug you told me about? Don't tell me you didn't miss me and was just bluffing?" Henry tried to joke around a little but only got himself a raised brow from the shadows’ lord, sighing, Henry walked to the table where a bottle of strong wine was resting, pouring the red liquid with the strong scent into two cups, he offered one to his friend, hoping a drink would get him out of the shell he isolated himself within.

“I quit drinking long ago, for it almost made me commit the worst crime.” Was the explanation Eren provided when he received a questioning gaze from his friend.

"You look miserable..."

"Thanks"

"And dull"

"Thanks"

"And you sound like a fifty years old peasant who just allowed another man to have his way with him in exchange of a bottle of cheap wine"

"Flirting will get you nowhere", Henry cracked a smile while hearing this, it was the kind of reply the old shadows’ demon would give, it didn't have the usual cockiness but it was enough, Rima had already told him that Eren wasn't himself anymore and no one really knew why.

“So, were you fortunate in your query?” Henry knew the answer, and saw the hurt flash in his friend’s eyes before he his it, his body was stiff, unlike the relaxed state he was in before, nevertheless, he didn’t answer the question.

“Did anything happen to her? the hybrid girl?” by the time Henry finished his words, Eren was standing in front of him, his fist raised midair as if he battling himself not the snap his friend’s neck, he closed his darkened eyes, took a deep breath and released it, and without opening his eyes, he answered.

“Don’t call her that! As if she was nothing but that! She was much more than that, and she had a name, Henry, a name you are well aware of.”

“Sara” Henry whispered the name, his heart rate dropping back to normal, he wasn’t upset at his friend, for he understood the pain, and the way he talked about her in the past sentence only meant that she didn’t make it.

“Sara, and she was your brother, Henry, so please, give her memory that amount of honor, for she wished for nothing more than to be reunited with her family, she was…so pure and beautiful.” Eren’s voice turned small as he whispered the last words, closing his eyes again before stepping away from his friend, hiding his pain.

"So, now what?" after the long minutes of silence, Henry asked the question, trying to change the subject and the gloomy atmosphere that settled in the tent.

"You tell me, you are the one who came up with this plan." Eren answered while looking at the red liquid in the cup, tempted to take a sip, just one for the pain in his heart was unbearable, but he didn’t, he deserved the pain, he deserved the restlessness.

"I love to disappoint you; therefore, I am proudly admitting that it wasn't my plan..."

"I knew you were too soft to came up with this on your own..." Eren spoke as if he expected that answer, shaking his head at the amused Henry "So who did?"

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Henry and Eren rode back toward the Taghit capital where Rima and Nara were, as well as the mastermind behind the plan, all waiting for the gathering of the trio to finish the last touches and divide the conquered lands, the Katara kingdom was the closest to the frozen edge so it was obvious it would be the ice queen’s share, but only Taghit had borders with the dark forest realm which left them with a tricky situation that needed thoughtful discussion, the ride was quiet and almost boring with Eren's resentful and sad behavior, he wanted to get the human king by the foot and fly with him to his palace to get things over with already but Henry insisted on returning with the army, apparently his people needed to witness that victor's entry show for some reason, and therefore, the shadows’ lord found himself on a back of horse, riding boringly with the human king who kept on teasing him about everything.

The army finally made it to the castle, and as expected, the people, unlike the first time when they received him coldly, were hailing for their king and throwing roses at the soldiers’ feet, the human king saluted them with a wild proud smile and a raised arm, making the shadows’ lord more annoyed.

At the castle’s gate, the red headed princes stood in a gorgeous golden dress, the color of victory, her hair was styled perfectly and decorated with a small golden Tiara, she stood with a beaming smile, welcoming her brother, and beside her stood the ice queen, her usual white robe was replaced by a white dress, it wasn’t as sophisticated as Nata’s dress, and her hair wasn’t styled that carefully either, but she still wore her ice crown, he lips painted red, it was all Nara’s idea, and Henry couldn’t wait to get her out of that dress that showed too much of his woman, mounting off his horse, he walked toward the two beautiful woman, wondering whom he should greet first, but then he noticed something, his friend wasn’t following him.

"Het, come on you! don't need an invitation...." Henry wanted to tease his friend a little but when he looked at him closely, he noticed that the shadows’ lord had a weird shocked expression, like someone taken by surprise, he was staring at something unblinkingly, his lips slightly parted, not understanding what happened with his friend, Henry followed his line of sight and his eyes fell on no one but his sister, Nara, who was staring back at the shadows’ lord with bewilderment, pink tainting her cheeks.

Fuck!!

Henry, who knew his sister and her reactions, felt alarmed by the thought, after all he already lost a sister to none other but the man his other sister, his precious sister was ogling as if it was the first time she saw a man, not knowing what else to do he cleared his throat to get Eren's attention who descended from his horse right away and walked by his side, Henry introduced his sister to his friend considering the fact that he already knew Rima, he hugged his woman briefly and watched the duo next to him carefully.

Nara's cheeks were blazing red, her hands were shaking and her voice growing smaller until it disappeared and was replaced by an embarrassed smile, on the other hand, Eren, who exchanged few polite words with her looked as if he was searching for something in his sister's face, analyzing it, Henry was perplexed by his friend's weird actions that only kept in getting weirder, especially when he asked to head to the washroom once he was done with saluting the Taghit generals and councilors and exchanging pleasantries, and even more, he refused to be escorted.

Unknown to Henry, and to anyone else at that matter, Eren wasn't taken by the sight of the beautiful Nara, she was beautiful indeed in that beautiful gown, and reminded him of a special someone, but it wasn't her beauty but her smell, a faint smell lingering on her, the smell of the same someone who occupied every single thought of his, mixed with jasmine, the closer he got to her the more he noticed that the smell wasn't hers but of someone else’s, she only carried it, maybe because she made contact with that someone earlier that day.

That day!

Eren excused himself the moment he could to follow the faint smell until he caught it, it kept in getting away, as if the owner was running from him but thanks to his new powers and senses, he was able to follow it and eventually found it, in one of the corridors, trying to hide in one of the rooms.

A thin figure with short black hair and black clothes, the flawless skin had the scars Geraldine inflicted the last time he saw her, the beautiful clear eyes were clouded with so many emotions that showed on her tensed posture, anger, fear, hatred, more hatred, and even more and more hatred, it pained him but at the same time relieved him, he didn't know when tears gathered in his eyes or when did they started falling, he didn't know that he was holding his breath, all he knew was that those hateful eyes, they were the same, they were hers, and they were alive...she was live...

"Sara..."