Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth
Chapter 134: The end of the deal, start of a journey
Adrian moved his arms, stretched his legs, and even tried a few light exercises.
’I don’t feel anything wrong.’
He felt as though he had returned to the same condition as before the fight. He noticed that even the torn parts of his clothes had been restored.
Ralz’s voice came from the side.
"It seems that this will be the first and last time we will ever meet. Taking care of you for the past month and talking with you—those are certainly going to be fond memories for me. I hope that’ll be the case for you as well, child."
"..."
Adrian didn’t reply and instead continued checking himself. The vampire didn’t seem to have recovered his sword while saving him from the blast.
’Uh?’
In his pocket, he found a bronze nail covered in thick black rust. It was The Curse of Nortos, the fragment relic he had bought during that ’adventure’ with Evangeline. Since it was so small, Adrian had developed a habit of carrying it around with him everywhere.
To think he still had it with him...
Putting it back in his pocket, Adrian looked over his shoulder.
"This is the end of our deal; I am leaving."
The vampire smiled politely.
"Do you think you will be okay by yourself? Feralscar is a dangerous place, you know."
"It doesn’t matter." Adrian shook his head. "I don’t have much of a choice."
It was not like he could live in this wild land. He also didn’t think staying with this vampire in exchange for his blood was a good idea.
In the end, he had no choice but to find a way to return to House Ravenshade.
According to Ralz, this was actually the edge of Feralscar Domain, and he would be able to reach the empire’s borders after traveling a few miles.
Walking closer, the vampire offered Adrian his hand, as if asking for a handshake. Adrian stared at it for a bit, then sighed and shook the vampire’s hand.
But the moment he did, he felt a sharp, stinging pain in his palm, causing him to break the handshake instinctively.
"-Ah?!"
Looking at his hand, Adrian saw something squirming inside. He could see thick, red veins appear on his palm, pulsing continuously.
Adrian quickly jumped back to create distance as he sharpened his gaze.
But the vampire hurriedly raised both his hands up, as if in surrender, and spoke awkwardly.
"Wait, I wasn’t trying to harm you or pull anything shady. That’s a parting gift from me to you, and it can help you protect yourself."
Adrian paused, but he didn’t lower his guard.
"You can only use it once, so use it only when you are in an extremely desperate situation."
Adrian stared at the pulsing red veins on his palm for some time, then he sighed and turned away.
"I am leaving now."
He just had to travel towards the north-west, and he would reach the empire’s borders within a few days if he didn’t take many breaks.
And so, after spending an entire month in the cave, Adrian took a step outside for the first time. But before he could take the second step, he froze, and his eyes widened in shock.
"What... is that...?"
In front of him, the sky above was cracked.
Cracks, both small and large, were running across the blue sky. The sight was so unbelievable that Adrian even thought that it was a large mirror with a few cracks on its surface, reflecting the blue sky.
Just then, he felt a hand on his shoulder as Ralz’s voice entered his ears.
"Shocked, right? I have gotten used to this sight, but that still doesn’t make it any less strange to look at."
Adrian couldn’t move his eyes away from that sight. Looking at it felt as though he was looking at the end of the world.
"Why is it... like that?" He asked unconsciously. "The sky above the empire isn’t like this."
Maybe it was due to the dark clouds, but Adrian couldn’t understand how he had failed to notice something like this when he was first teleported here.
Ralz smiled.
"Nobody really knows. The sky above Feralscar had always been that way, and nobody knows what caused it to become like this. Still, there are some stories about it. They mention that when the lord created the world by shaping darkness, the darkness came alive as the lord’s brilliance touched it. It wanted to devour that brilliance entirely. And thus, the two clashed. It was a clash that nearly shattered the very fabric of reality. But in the end, the lord was able to slay the darkness. This shattered sky above Feralscar is the proof of that battle."
Then he added in a light tone.
"Of course, this is just a story, and even most of the lord’s believers don’t believe this to be true."
His words brought Adrian back to his senses. Still, he couldn’t get the sight of the cracked sky out of his mind.
It was as though that vision was constantly flashing in his mind.
Somewhat dazed, Adrian continued walking forward.
And just like that, Adrian left the cave and started his journey to return to the Aevithar.
***
Alisardarc sat on a large rock near the cave with its eyes fixed on the vampire.
The vampire was watching Adrian’s small back as the boy slowly disappeared into the distance. Ralz still had the polite smile on his face, just like always.
He remained standing in the same spot with his glowing crimson eyes still fixed in the same direction. His white hair fluttered gently as a light breeze brushed against him.
And then, under the black bird’s gaze, the vampire figure slowly began to fade. Moments later, his figure vanished from existence, leaving no trace behind. It was as though it had never existed to begin with.
For a while, Alisardarc continued staring at the spot where the vampire had been. And then, the black bird spread its wings and flew away towards the same direction Adrian went.
**
Adrian navigated through the maze of trees, trying his best not to lose his way and end up going in the wrong direction.
The forest was so dense that even sunlight couldn’t pass the collective shades of the trees, causing the forest to forever remain dark.
There were different kinds of trees in this jungle: some short with many branches splitting out, some long but not too dense with leaves, and some that had strange trunks. Adrian had even passed an absurdly massive tree.
Over the last five days of these past thirty days, Ralz had taught him about which fruits were edible and which ones should be avoided. He had gone as far as teaching him how to find the edible fruits. So Adrian was not hungry during this journey.
’He said that hunters and mercenaries also frequent the outer edges of Feralscar. It would be really good if I could find one of them. That would make things a lot easier.’
But of course, there was no way he would be lucky enough to have such an encounter.
But just then—
"RAGGGHHHHHHAAAAA!!!"
A deafening roar that shook the ground itself came from about a hundred meters or so ahead.
Goosebumps rose on Adrian’s back the moment he heard that roar.
’Well, talk about luck.’