Seren felt like she had fallen into a horrifying nightmare she couldn’t wake up from. After she was captured, that woman called Zaria had cast several spells on her, ones that made her unable to use any strength in her body, even urging her to fall asleep, but she was resisting those all using pure willpower.

As she was being carried by these mysterious hooded people towards who knows where, she feared that no one would realize she’s gone until it’s too late, that no one would ever find out where she’d disappeared to…that she wouldn’t be able to return home.

‘Dray, I’m sorry…’ She couldn’t help but imagine how he’d react once he returned, only to discover that she was missing. ‘I only wanted to see you sooner…I didn’t know…I should have noticed the signs… What if, what if he thinks I ran away from the palace? That I abandoned him? I don’t want to go away—’

Warm tears rolled down from the corner of her eyes and as if responding to her fears, a flash of lightning appeared in the night sky. The woman leading those hooded figures halted in her steps, causing the entire group to stop. Rumbles could be heard overhead, the initially quiet sky filled with stars now covered by thick thunderstorm clouds.

Zaria had collected all known intelligence about this young queen, and she was aware of the ominous tales circulating within this woman’s homeland. The sudden shift in the originally fine weather only meant it was caused by this young queen.

She turned to look at Seren who was hanging powerlessly in an upright position midair, her hands and feet stiffly bound together by invisible chains. Those purple eyes flinched with fear upon meeting her gaze.

“My dear new friend, shedding tears will only make things harder for both you and me,” the woman said calmly.

She was aware that stirring up any emotion inside this little witch would cause trouble. It was best to exhaust her, both physically and emotionally, and that was why she opted to tire her first rather than anger her. She also cast a spell that would continue to eat away at Seren’s physical stamina, inevitably causing her to feel weaker and weaker as time passed by as a precaution.

Just as she wondered whether she should use a sleeping spell on her, what seemed like a flash of golden lightning was thrown their way.

“What—”

Zaria and the others sensed the strong power approaching them and dodged out of the way out of reflex, but it was neither lightning nor an attack aimed at them. It was a golden figure moving at such speed others mistook it for lightning, and before they could understand anything, the tall figure got hold of the bound woman.

A pair of strong arms wrapped around Seren with a firm grip as that energy binding around her broke, and those majestic wings with golden steel-like feathers stirred the air around them to disturb the flow of magic.

“Halt!”

The robed woman let out a loud shout as she felt one of her spells forcibly dissipate, causing her to raise her staff and activate one of the hidden spells she cast around Seren. With the veiled woman in the centre, a bizarre black fog appeared around the area like a dome, causing a strange fluctuation in the air that made the newcomer stop in his tracks.

His golden orbs glared at the hooded figures below. He wanted to flee as fast from them as he could, but he knew it would no longer be possible as he could sense the strong black energy surrounding this place connected Seren to the hooded figure holding a staff.

Realizing the danger they’re in, his hands firmly gripped around the frail woman who’s trembling in his embrace, holding her like she weighed nothing, while his majestic wings continued to flap slowly as if warning them to not come closer.

With foreboding calmness akin to the eye of a storm, everyone looked at the full form of the winged person holding their captive in his arms. It was a young man with hair and eyes the colour of liquid gold, his bare upper torso painted with simple runic lines that showed his lineage—a shapeshifter from the feathered race. His wings were surrounded by a strong pulsating power emitting the gold-like radiations,

“Oh, what a surprise, an unexpected guest,” the woman called Zaria exclaimed as she let out a sound of fascination. “I didn’t know this witch had such a handsome young companion. If we knew you wanted to come, we would have invited you along with us, our Divine Eagle friend.”

She turned to look at one of her companions. “Isn’t he the lost child we were searching for?”

That robed figure replied with a gruff voice. “I am sure it is him. Look at those pathetic untrained wings that are wasting away their divine power. Such inefficiency. Only the descendant with the purest bloodline of his generation could afford to become such a wastrel.”

Zaria laughed. “With such a child hiding his identity to avoid us, it is understandable he has never had the freedom to be in his true form, much less put any effort into using his divine power properly. I believe this child never got to meet an adult shapeshifter to teach him the ways of his barbaric tribe.”

The young Divine Eagle glared at them. At this moment, all he had in his mind was to protect Seren. He didn’t know who these mysterious people were and why they were taking Seren, but looking at those hooded figures, a forgotten memory flashed in his mind. The day he lost his mother,  mysterious hooded people attacked them and their magic gave off a strange dissonance that irritated his senses, similar to what he’s feeling from them now.

The more he observed them, the more convinced he was that they belonged to the same group.

“I seem to remember you saying his mother’s dying words were his name,” the woman said in a conversational tone to one of the hooded figures. “I recall it’s a pretty name…”

“Aureus,” the gruff voice said.

The moment he heard them talk about his mother and mention his real name, seething anger rose in that pair of golden orbs. All he wanted was to kill them all but…

“Who…?” a weak voice asked him. He lowered his head to look at that veil-covered face. Those half-lidded purple eyes were looking up at him with confusion and fear.

He realized it was not the time to get angry and lose his mind as he needed to protect Seren.

“Who are you?” she asked more firmly this time as she tried to get away from him.

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