Quiet tension enveloped the second underground cave.
After the fight with the angels, Evanthe, Sierra and Drayce were terribly exhausted. Not only were they injured, they had squeezed out their powers to the last energy. Their overall combat ability was pitiful with only the elf Yorian to protect the group until they recovered.
Meanwhile, Seren was even in a worse situation due to the outburst of hellfire, and though her body did not show signs of damage, no one knew what her true state was before she woke up.
Since they had to be careful of their enemies, they decided to stay in that cave for a day more. Moving to a different location would have made more sense, and with that being the obvious choice, if more angels were to descend on the mortal realm, they would probably set an ambush in their routes of escape. No one would think they were near the collapsed ice cave.
Staying underground would be safer for the meantime.
The two knights took the responsibility of scouting on the surface. Donning clothes of hunters, whoever saw them would think they were merely chasing prey deep in the forest. As humans, even if there were divine beings who spotted them, they would not find their presence suspicious.
Yorian, on the other hand, took the role of guarding the place, keeping an eye if there were any movements either from divine beings or other supernatural beings.
An entire day passed by quietly.
When morning arrived, there were still no other attacks from the enemies. It seemed all the angels fled back to the heavenly realm.
Sierra went to the stone chamber where Evanthe was resting.
"How are your injuries?" At this point, Sierra had changed to a new set of clean robes, but her appearance remained hidden by a low hood.
"Nothing that won't heal in another two or three days." Seeing Sierra standing without saying a word, Evanthe asked, "What's wrong?"
"Seren is still unconscious..."
Evanthe had a thought and chuckled. "What? You don't dare visit her on your own? You still need me to come with you?"
Though Sierra did not respond, Evanthe knew her long enough to understand her reluctance. Not wanting to tease her more, she stood up. "Alright. Let us check on Seren."
The two went to the stone chamber where Seren was resting. They were not surprised to see that Drayce was with her.
With their arrival, Drayce stood up from Seren's bedside and made a way for them to check on her. Evanthe could not help but silently sigh. Her son's face was pale, and he looked like he didn't close his eyes even for a moment the entire night. He could not be blamed. How could he rest when his wife was obviously not fine?
Sierra sat at the edge of the stone bed and held Seren's wrist. She closed her eyes for several minutes. "It is still the same. Since her body had suffered from a power which did not belong to her, she will naturally take a little more time to recover. We could only wait."
Evanthe looked at Drayce. "We will stay by her side. You should rest."
"I am fine," he replied politely, making his intentions clear of not leaving his wife's side.
Evanthe didn't insist and passed a bottle of potion to Sierra. "You can give this to her. It will help her body recover faster."
Afterwards, Evanthe offered another bottle to Drayce. "Take one as well."
Drayce was going to reject it, but before he could, Evanthe spoke, "Don't be stubborn. You are currently in a weakened state. At least, you need to have the strength to escape with your wife in case there is another attack."
Drayce accepted it without a word and drank it, not wanting to be an inconvenience if enemies were to truly seek them once more.
With Sierra's worries soothed, the women left the stone chamber of the King and Queen of Megaris.
There was a man waiting for them outside the door, pacing with uneasiness, only to pause upon seeing them exit the chamber. It was King Armen.
He went to Sierra, and Evanthe tactfully excused herself, leaving the two by themselves.
"She is still unconscious?" he asked. When he saw her nod, he probed, "What will happen once she wakes up?"
"We are not sure. We have to wait for her to wake up first. Till then, we can only pray that her pursuers do not return," Sierra answered.
The middle-aged man massaged his temples. "I understand. I reckon you will not come with us? Once we go separate ways, will you follow our daughter back to the palace? Will you also follow her back to Megaris?"
However, he saw her shaking her head. He felt dismayed by her response.
He could not help but remark, "Her pursuers will sooner or later figure out her identity as the Queen of Megaris. With her identity out in the open, it will be easy for them to find an opportunity to target her once again. Won't Seren need your protection and guidance? Since you two already met, why don't you--"
"Celia will accompany her as before and I will keep visiting once in a while to check on her. Rest assured," Sierra answered.
Though Armen trusted Sierra, after hearing what happened inside the ice cave, he did not want to be recklessly optimistic.
"Can Martha fend off angels? Could Seren return to her daily life without worries? Those beings already saw her and King Drayce. Maybe we should hide her elsewhere, somewhere with no people--"
"There is no need. The divine beings of the heavenly realm are prohibited from interacting with mortals, and those angels descended secretly. They will not employ the help of any human or supernatural being to search for Seren.
"The only way they can seek her is through their own people or other divine means like treasures to grasp the essence of Seren's power or that hellfire. We can trust the power of darkness that her husband possesses. As long as he stays by her side, his power can suppress her essence and stop them from finding her."
"Can a single supernatural being shield her on his own against angels and deities?"
"Her husband is not someone ordinary either. Otherwise, I will not feel assured to leave her on her own. He happened to inherit the powers of both his parents. What he simply needs now is time to master them well," Sierra replied.
Sierra knew Drayce's father was the Devil himself, and his mother, though no longer the Deity of Water, was the strongest witch in existence. As the offspring of those two, his ability against divine beings could not be ignored.
"I have no other option but to trust your decisions," Armen said with a deep sigh. Being human against otherworldly beings sure didn't feel good. He might have power and authority as a monarch, but neither his army nor his wealth could protect his loved ones.
Sierra soon went to find Evanthe in her chamber. The blond woman looked immersed in her thoughts.
"Are you leaving soon?" she asked, aware that Evanthe wanted to leave due to her visions.
However, Evanthe shook her head. "I am planning to leave for Agartha once everything with Seren is settled."
"Are you sure?" Sierra commented.
"My vision has come to pass. My presence there would not change a thing. I know what to prioritize." Evanthe said those words with a defeated tone,her eyes turning moist. "I wish I could escape as I do not wish to talk about the past with Dray as well... but given the situation here, I don't think I can leave right away."
"Hmm," Sierra agreed. "Chances are high that despite both parties acting discreetly, yesterday's incident must have alerted the heavenly realm. This time, not just one goddess, but the entire pantheon of gods would come after Seren. If they find her, we won't be able to protect her."
"Are they that cruel to harm a child?" Evanthe asked.
Sierra looked at her friend for a while as she thought, 'Evanthe, you also once suffered that cruelty from those heartless gods. You are fortunate that you cannot remember how callous those beings are.'
"Sierra?" Evanthe called out to her, seeing her go silent.
"In their opinion, they are the righteous ones while we are evil. They follow those so-called heavenly rules, and breaking them is the same as doing evil. For them, Seren' existence itself is a sin, and given the dangerous power hiding inside her, they will do anything to take it back, even if it involves sacrificing her," Sierra answered.
"Things will change for the better."
"What do you mean?"
"I know where the Deity of Fire is," Evanthe told her, which shocked Sierra.
"A-Are you sure?"
Evanthe explained to her what she saw in her vision, before saying, "She must be in Agartha. What happened with Seren, the reason why that hellfire went out of control, it had something to do with that deity being in Agartha."
Sierra stumbled on her feet as her eyes turned moist. She mumbled a name and something else which Evanthe could not hear.
".... she is back?" Tears rolled down Sierra's eyes as a light smile painted on her lips. "She has finally come back."
"Sierra, what did you say?" Evanthe asked.
The hooded woman got back to her senses, but her heart felt lighter than it was moments ago. She did not expect to hear news of a friend she had once lost. That person, she was as dear to her as a sister, similar to Evanthe.
"I said, at least one of us must go seek her out," Sierra lied.
Evanthe agreed. "I already talked to Yorian about this. Do you think it is fine if we ask him to return in our stead?"
"I am not sure either. Your elf friend is trustworthy, I believe? We can have him meet her first, and if Yorian can arrange for the three of us to meet, that would be great. It is best we personally meet her as soon as possible and understand her situation."
"Are you implying we cannot ask her to take back her power from Seren?"
"There are complications," Sierra explained. "Since you had a vision of the Deity of Fire's awakening, then the gods must be aware of it too. She is not safe as well, and there might be many gods alerted by her awakening who will take action against her. If we seek her out without prudence, we might implicate ourselves. We already struggled with one, we cannot afford to have the entire pantheon find us."
Evanthe understood and said, "That means it is safer to have Yorian act as vanguard. We can decide once we have more information. Still, with us knowing the deity's whereabouts, we have hope to save Seren."
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Note- the next chapter "The King of heaven" is the same chapter 419 in the second book "the Devil's cursed witch" If you had read there, do not unlock it here.
I had to do it for the readers who don't read both the books but I needed to introduce king of heaven to them as well.
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