Zerath's lips parted, stunned. "You want to imply that somehow…I'm the Sovereign? Despite cousin Astaroth being born as one, I hold the same blessing and power as him?"
Silas tilted his head. "There's something strange about you and Princess Clairette. She's not the Harbinger, yet she was able to bring spring in Nethermoor. You're not the Sovereign either, yet alone, you were able to stop the ice tide. How can someone other than the Blessed be able to wield those powers? And…"
His eyes squinted further. "The Blessed invoke their powers through their dance. Is it a coincidence that both you and the princess are extremely talented in dancing? You were known for your performances all along before you got adopted. Swordsmanship came later."
His logic felt like the missing part of the puzzle, which Zerath was tempted to believe in as well without any fallacy. But the mere absurdity of there being two Sovereigns in the Demon Realm was beyond his comprehension.
"I think it also explains why you two stumbled upon that cave this kid was in when no one else could find it in the past twenty years. Yes, his mother's spirit magic might've gotten weakened over time, but I feel…"
An inexplicable tension ramped up the air with jitters.
"That somehow her protection magic was able to sense you two. It's God's blessing, after all and as a nature's spirit, you two and her mana simply synced with each other. Her magic sort of..allowed you two to find the cave because it innately felt safe enough to reveal Eurus to you."
A strange tug pulled in his chest, and Zerath clasped the hilt of his sword, unsure.
Silas raised a brow, smiling. "I'm just saying if I could put two and two together, then someone else in the royal palace could too, particularly Sir Draconis. If my theory is true then being the Sovereign would raise your status beyond the limits of sky, but also make some great enemies for you."
"The Blessed is never born out of the Great Three."
"Do you think your limited brainpower understands the world in its entirety, Zerath Rudaheim?"
He couldn't respond to that.
"Whatever. A no-name child from the streets will become the future Demon King and is also the Sovereign? People will start to have digestion problems, especially nobles," he snickered.
Zerath closed his eyes for a long moment, then opened them back. "For now, please keep this theory to yourself. There're just too many matters going on right now, and I don't have the time to get into this crossfire."
Silas gave an almost bored look. "I'm not interested in ruffling any unnecessary feathers unless those feathers dare to come poke at me."
"My lord!"
Gressil urgently waved his arm at him, and without a delay, Zerath rushed to his side. Curious, Silas followed too, Eurus trotting behind him.
"Go follow him, not me," he grimaced.
Eurus stubbornly kept himself closer to Silas as if a *poof!* and he would disappear.
Zesath asked, "What happened?"
Arzan, Draconis's disciple, now looked deathly pale. His hands were pressed on his chest, struggling to breathe.
"My lord, we've found a strange underground entrance. It seems to be some secret entrance."
Zerath walked past the knights and found a large metallic door, partially covered under leaves and twigs. The edges had become rusty over time, and just one look at it was enough to tell a tale of its own.
"Th-The mana…" he gasped, "is v-very dense and e-evil here…! I c-cannot even breathe…"
Zerath stared at the entrance, a strange eerie jolt rushing down his spine like a bolt of lightning. His brows furrowed faintly, trying to make sense of such a mysterious door's presence when Silas spoke his thoughts out loud.
"He's right. I don't know about mana and all, but there's something unnerving here. It's forcing my spidey senses and defenses to go all high."
Zerath glanced at Gressil. "Open the door. No matter what is lurking underneath, we need to find what's going on."
The entrance spiralled down into a long stretch of stairs that led to a narrow pathway. An uncanny wariness tickled Zerath's senses, silence feeling far more terrifying than sound. Darkness washed before his eyes and moments later, the smell of decay twitched his nostrils.
"When was something like this built?" Zerath murmured, brushing his fingers against the moss-bloomed stone arches.
A haunting gust of wind nudged his ears, its echo feeling like a disconcerting cry. The lamps with their dim torchlight the knights held were the only source of brightness in the otherwise pitch black cave.
"We had no idea something like this existed near Nethermoor's boundary," Gressil said.
Zerath looked down, finding Eurus firmly clinging to his side. He looked as colorless as Arzan, as if something unknown drained away their very vitality.
"We should take him back and let a knight guard him."
Eurus prompted at once. "Mother!"
"I know you want to find your mother, but it shouldn't come at the expense of your health."
"Mother!"
Zerath pressed his lips. "You're stubborn."
As they ventured inside deeper, his gaze fell onto the far side of the wall where an ominous stain lay painted upon it. Nudging his lamp closer, he recognized a handprint that illuminated crimson.
"Blood…" Gressil whispered.
Zerath touched the dried blood with the tip of his finger, a shiver erupting on the back of his neck. The earlier spookiness only lodged deeper into his bones. The handprint pointed outward as if the imprisoned demon of the past desperately ran to escape this hell. He looked at Eurus, only praying in his heart that nothing here connected to his mother.
The narrow path then opened to a wider area, giving them the much needed breathing space. However, relief was too soon of a notion. Their eyes stretched wide as they came across prison cells lined on either side. The metallic bars were old and rusty, and empty shackles lay inside, hinting to something cold and unspeakable.
Zerath's golden eyes scanned the dark and desolated space that screamed of distant torture.
"Was someone keeping slaves here?"