Queen Of Adis

"Stand up! It's not the right time to spout nonsense. Go with Zen towards the teleportation tower," Adis commanded.

Ilyas wanted to protest, but based on his sorry state, he would definitely just hinder his friend. He nodded as Zen helped him to stand up and walked to the tower. "I will be waiting for you there."

"Mn," Adis' quick reply before casting multiple magic circles around the monster.

"Big brother, what should we do?" Aquarius turned to ask him. "We are not as powerful as our father to seal him back, but we can't also leave the monster here. It would just be a matter of time before it reaches the mainland. My magic is not enough to kill it."

Adis was silent for a moment as he had to think fast before the monster recovered again from Aquarius' attack. Then, his eyes suddenly lit up and turned to his brother. "Aquarius, fill this room with freshwater. I will seal all the entrance and exit."

"But big brother, would that be enough?"

"Enough for us to plunge Eremus to the depths of water," he simply answered.

"What?! We are not going to save Eremus?" Aquarius looked aghast at the discovery.

"It's beyond salvation now. Nuckelavee's cold curse had plagued the sand and oasis of Eremus. If one dared to live here, he would catch a cold and spread an epidemic in the neighboring countries. We must prevent that."

"I understand, big brother. Please leave it to me." Aquarius nodded resolutely and multiplied the azure magic circles in the room.

Adis swiftly moved out of the room while his fingers were busy painting every wall, windows, and doors with dark runes, creating invisible barriers, on his trail. He had gone to the teleportation tower and advised Zen and Ilyas to enter the gates as he briefed them with his plan. His eyes flickered in sympathy as he saw Ilyas' face became tormented at the news of his kingdom's destruction.

Adis encouraged his friend by firmly shaking his shoulder. "I will help you build your new kingdom from scratch, just like how you helped me build mine. Don't give up and don't you dare close your eyes. I'll be right behind you to push you forward, remember?"

Ilyas smiled despite the tears welling up in his eyes. He nodded, "Don't you dare die on me."

Adis just smirked before he turned around and left the tower.

The monster's wailing became louder as it slowly drowned in water. When Adis was finally out of the palace, he saw Aquarius was right behind him. He raised his hands to the sky and called forth rain clouds. Aquarius shot magic spell inside the rain clouds and torrential rain poured throughout the country.

Adis made a long but soothing whistle and in seconds, the sky darkened by the shadow of a colossal dragon, Einhart. The two men rode the back of the dragon and as they flew to the sky, they saw the frost wraiths were slowly dissipating in the air.

Adis' body was enveloped with dark mana as he cast a strong and huge magic circle on Eremus. On the four corners of the country, black smoke seeped out from the sand, then it slowly formed a barrier. A sturdy and thick skeleton wall gradually appeared from beneath the sand and towered over the desert. The barrier stood tall, almost reaching the dark clouds, and on its walls were endless dark seals. All openings were shut to prevent the water from leaking out as the entire country became a huge aquarium to a malicious species.

Below, they saw the marvelous palace exploded and water flooded the street. The nuckelavee was twitching as it crawled out of the water. Long dark hair stuck to its hideous face as it looked up in the sky, meeting Adis' undaunted gaze. It gave another long screech and pointed its trembling claws towards the Demon King. "D-Delacroix... I will... kill you!"

Adis scoffed as he arrogantly looked down on the monster. "My father had once sealed you, but this time, I will put an end to your damn life."

Aquarius also made an enormous summoning circle and called forth one of his powerful familiars, *Leviathan. His familiar drew a huge wave and plunged the entire Eremus in the depths of water.

Afterward, they flew back to the Dark Palace in haste as the barrier Adis created will only last three days, or even less, before the monster broke out of it.

As soon as Einhart reached the palace, Adis and Aquarius went straight to the infirmary to check Ilyas' situation.

"Your Highness, I have successfully delayed the cold curse from spreading to your body, however, the only way to finally be free from it is death. Either you die or the one who cursed you die."

Adis stopped at the door when he heard Fenghuang's diagnosis. A grim expression was all over his face as he clenched his fist.

"How many days?" Ilyas asked coldly as though he already accepted his fate.

"Three days."

BANG!

The door of the infirmary was harshly opened and the King of Umbra emerged. "I will kill it in three days. I promise!" He stated with so much conviction.

Ilyas gave his friend a peaceful smile as he nodded. "I believe you."

"Your Highness!" A panting two-tailed cat with silky white fur and protruding stomach suddenly appeared on the door. Her eyes welled up in tears as she saw her husband was alive. She ran towards him and Ilyas immediately met him halfway.

"Idiot! Why are you running? Didn't I warn you countless times not to run or jump while you're pregnant." Ilyas softly chided Millie as he buried his head in the crook of her neck.

"I was so worried! I thought I'm not going to see you again. Don't ever do that, please!" Millie bawled out as she hugged him tightly.

"Shh, hush now, my love. Crying is not good for you and our child. I am here, safe and sound." He coaxed her to stop crying by gently patting her head and stroking her back.

Hannah approached them while her tears were silently falling on her cheeks. "If you pull that stunt again, I will personally break all your bones." She reprimanded him and slapped the back of his head to vent out her relief.

Ilyas did not take offense and just softly laughed. He grabbed the back of Hannah's head and pulled her in his arms, too. After his close encounter with death, he realized that the precious things in life were having his two princesses in his arms and his friend standing beside him. At the moment, nothing seemed to matter anymore.

******************************

The next day, Adis and Ilyas buried themselves in a pile of ancient books to research on how to kill a nuckelavee. They couldn't just seal it away as the famine and the cold curse would not cease to exist.

As Adis was randomly scanning the title of every book in the royal library, his eyes inadvertently landed on a black book. In the eyes of ordinary beings, it was just a normal book, but in the prying eyes of Adis, he could see an overwhelming aura around it. He pulled it out and saw that it was a book without a title, only a familiar seal of a Delacroix. Adis cautiously observed it before he finally unsealed it with his blood.

A strong gust of wind swept the papers inside the library despite all the windows being closes. Adis could hear ghost whispers against his ears as the overwhelming aura of the book intensified.

"Adis, what happened? I can sense ghosts in the atmosphere. Did you unleash your demon?" Ilyas walked closer to him as he was looking around as though he could see numerous specters drifting in the air. "Huh? What is that?"

"I don't know. I just felt its presence, hence I unsealed it," Adis simply replied.

"What? Don't you know that because your clan loves to unseal things that it brought nuckelavee to us? Geez! Your blood is really wretched." Ilyas snatched the book from his hands and scan its content. His eyes grew wide and his lips trembled as he read the ancient letters. "Oh, gods! Adis, it's a collection of different monsters in the history of Trium Regum."

Adis furrowed his eyebrows and took the book from Ilyas. He looked into the list of monsters and they both gasped when they saw the nuckelavee species on it. His fingers softly brushed through the name of the author -- R.D. "It's father's initial? But why is it here and not in the royal study? If he had an idea about that monster, why did he pretend that he didn't know anything about it?"

"Look, there's an introduction about the book. Give it here, I'll read it." Ilyas volunteered and started reading the content.

'To my future son,

By the time you are reading this book, my once immortal life must have expired. I hope that you will find this book in good faith and that it will help you before it's too late. The blood of the Delacroix had been cursed due to a grave mistake made by our ancestors.

A long long time ago, our ancestors met a beautiful demon and ra**d her for days. After they i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.ed her, they threw her out like trash. Her family disowned her and due to despair, she lost her child. She sold her soul to the angel of the abyss and cursed our entire clan; 'A sacrifice must be made as a means to find your fated mate.' Once in every one hundred years, the gates of destruction will open and it will spurt its most malevolent and powerful being. It will wreak havoc to the land until it received the life of someone important to you in exchange for your true mate.

In my time, a nuckelavee came and it wants your mother's life. That's right, your mother is not my fated mate, and yet, my heart refused to accept that fact. Killing the monster means killing my queen. And so, I decided to hide the truth and seal the monster. To my future son, your father is truly despicable and greedy. I have sacrificed my legacy to buy more time for a woman that already belonged to someone. In your time, you will be facing not just one, but two catastrophes. I only pray that you will come out of these adversities victoriously. May our ancestors be with you.'

With trembling hands, Ilyas flipped the pages of the book and saw a rough sketch of the said monster. "Is... is your old man serious? You will have another problem like this again?!"

"I think... the first one has already passed," Adis whispered with melancholic eyes. He was just standing in front of the window, with his back facing Ilyas, while carefully listening to his friend.

Ilyas furrowed his eyebrows. " What do you mean?"

He slowly turned around and finally declared. "I passed the first calamity... when I killed my own father."

Ilyas rigidly turned to look at the book again. "So... you need to kill another one to pacify the curse for another one hundred years? But who would be the next sacrifice? I can only count on one hand the people you cared about; Grandfather, General Triton, Zen, Aqua and..." his counting trailed off when a realization sank in, "...me?"