I will taste you tonight

The old man muttered some kind of spell, and suddenly a bunch of fire appeared in front of the men who were chasing Camelia.

The men fell and collided with each other to avoid the fire that suddenly appeared in front of them.

The old man stopped the spell, and the fire disappeared.

The men who were chasing Camelia ran away when they saw the old man wearing white clothes.

"Run!"

"A mage!"

"We are not his opponent!"

They ran helter-skelter.

The old man turned to face Camelia, and said with a smile, "Done, young Lady."

Camelia exclaimed while covering her mouth in awe, "You are so great! Thank You!"

The old man laughed.

"I'm not great, but they are the weak ones," he said, "By the way, where are you going, young lady?"

"I want to go shopping for necessities. Ah, right. May I treat grandfather to lunch as a sign of gratitude?" Camelia asked.

"Hahaha. Of course. This old man just happens to have nowhere to go," the old man replied.

"Then," asked Camelia shyly, "can I ask grandfather to accompany me for a moment to shop? I'm afraid to see them again."

"Yes, yes," the grandfather nodded and they went shopping.

***

Atherion spurred Storm, his horse, at full speed.

Camelia's voice could no longer be heard, and he hoped Camelia was fine, but his heart remained uneasy.

They drove out of the city and headed towards a valley with hills surrounding it.

Suddenly Storm stopped, blocked by rocks blocking their path.

"Shit!" Atherion cursed and he got off his horse.

He approached the rocks and was about to hit them. But several people suddenly appeared in front of him.

Atherion gasped, he hadn't detected their presence.

The people stood on the rocks that blocked their way.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

One of the three men laughed loudly.

"Are you The Darkness? My name is Sarkan. And our Queen wants to meet you." said the man who had laughed earlier.

Atherion was shocked, he didn't expect anyone to recognize him as The Darkness. Even though he never told anyone that he was The Darkness.

And who was the Queen they were referring to?

"You have the wrong person," Atherion said sourly.

"Oho," said Sarkan, "We will see if we are wrong or we are right."

Sarkan came down and attacked Atherion with his sword. The other two men joined in ganging up on him.

Atherion parried and countered all their attacks. He managed to knock down the two men who were helping Sarkan.

"You are strong," said Sarkan with a laugh.

Sarkan then hit Atherion with his long-range punch. Atherion was hit by the punch. He fell to the ground then flew a dozen meter and hit a rock. Dust and gravel were scattered as a result.

"Hahaha, it turns out I'm stronger than The Darkness," laughed Sarkan.

But not long after, Atherion stood back up. The pupils of his red eyes turned vertical, and his fangs grew longer.

Sarkan stopped laughing and exclaimed, "Impossible. There's no way he could wake up from that attack. The Queen herself gave me her power."

Atherion walked towards Sarkan who now had a look of disbelief on his face.

"You're dead!" Sarkan shouted as he unleashed another long-range punch.

Atherion dodged the blow and very quickly jumped towards Sarkan.

Boom!!!

Atherion unleashed his long-range blow at close range to Sarkan.

"Aaarrrggggghhh!!"

Sarkan screamed in pain. His body was hit by Atherion's blow and was injured quite badly.

Atherion walked towards him and intended to finish him off.

But suddenly the wind blew towards Atherion. Atherion felt his consciousness starting to fade.

He saw one of the two men he had previously defeated, directing something like dust smoke from his palm towards him.

***

"Eat more, Grandpa," Camelia offered to Grandpa, who she was hosting at Gina's house, to increase his portion of food.

"Hahaha, no, that's enough," the old man replied with a laugh. "This old stomach can't take much food anymore."

"Hehe, okay," Camelia chuckled. She tidied up the cutlery.

The grandfather leaned back in his chair as he observed Camelia. Looking at Camelia, he remembered the description of the daughter of Duke Valois who was also The Light.

Long silvery white hair, green eyes, beautiful face, and named Camelia Valois.

'Is this girl The Light? But this is Eldrida, and entering this kingdom requires passing through Darkmire Forest,' he thought.

His hand stroked his beard, lost in thought, 'She lives here alone. If she was kidnapped, she shouldn't be alone.'

"Grandpa, Grandpa Theon?"

Theon woke up from his daydream. Camelia put the tea for him on the table, and sat in front of him.

"Sorry, I'm getting older and I tend to daydream," Theon said with a chuckle.

"It's okay, grandpa," Camelia replied with a sweet smile, "I just wanted to ask, where is grandpa's house?"

Theon thought for a moment and then answered, "I am from here, but I traveled to Valtoria since long time. Now I'm back here again, so I don't have a house."

"Oh, I see," Camelia nodded.

Theon just stared at Camelia in silence. He actually left Valtoria, because King Edrick seemed to be very angry with him and considered him useless, because he was unable to predict where The Light was.

***

Atherion wakes up in a cell with his hands and feet bound with chains.

He woke up with a slightly dizzy head and a weak body.

'The effects of the anesthetic are still there,' he thought.

He tried to remember what happened, and he was sure he was still at Eldrida.

Suddenly a fierce-looking man in black armor opened his cell door.

"Hey, you're coming with us now," he said as he ordered several knights in black armor, who then came in to drag Atherion out of the cell.

They forced Atherion to get up, and Atherion tried to push the men away. But he was still very weak, and finally he was carried by two people.

He was taken to a bathroom and forced to bathe, then several maids dressed him in a bathing suit made of black silk and embroidered with gold and red, showing off his chest muscles. They also combed his hair.

Atherion, in surprise, could only remain silent and let them dress him up.

After finishing, he was taken to a large room with a large bed.

The room was very luxurious with antique decorations. He was forced to sit on the bed, then the maids and knights left him alone. His hands and legs were still bound.

Not long after, the door to the room opened, and a beautiful black-haired woman came in. The woman was wearing very revealing clothes and certain parts of her clothes were made of transparent fabric.

Atherion just looked at the woman with a suspicious look.

The woman approached Atherion, touched his face, and bent her body down, showing her cleavage to Atherion.

"Finally, I can taste The Darkness tonight…" she said with a seductive smile.