Chapter 12

Ethan wakes up to the sound of a phone snapping. He sits up and rubs his eyes, and he sees Emily holding out her phone and taking pictures.

Hadrian was jolted awake when Ethan woke up and sat up as well.

"Rise and shine, love birds," Emily said in a sing-song voice. She had already finished taking the pictures she needed. "You two are so cute. Don't forget to use me as your best man in five years," she said, singing, as she ran away.

The situation hadn't fully clicked in Ethan and Hadrian's brains until Emily had already left. "She took pictures!" Ethan exclaimed, standing up in a hurry, nearly tripping when he bumped into the edge of the chair when he began running after Emily.

Hadrian still sat down there. He wants to return to sleep, but unfortunately, he can't; the sleep has left his eyes, and he can only get up.

"Give it!" He heard Ethan shouting from the kitchen and Emily giggling like a maniac.

"Never!" she said, then she ran to the living room.

They heard a knock on the door, and Emily opened it without asking who it was. In front of her was a young man who looked to be in his early twenties. He was a half-elf, half-human man with short, slightly shaggy, brown hair, and green eyes. His ears weren't fully pointed, and this showed that he was a half-elf, along with his brown skin. Elves usually have flawless, fair skin and have this unusually elegant aura surrounding them.

He was wearing a suit, so he had that aura around him, but it wasn't as elegant.

But this was enough to make Emily blush a bit. "Hello," she said, shyly. His aura is just her type. Hopefully, his character isn't like Ethan's.

Ethan ran straight into her, pushing her forward. When he saw the man, he didn't recognize him, but the man recognized him and bowed a bit. "Good afternoon, Ethan," he said. "Taegen asked me to come and pick you and your friends up."

"It's afternoon already?" Ethan said in surprise, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. He looks at Emily and sees that she is fully dressed in a white sundress with sunflower patterns and a pair of heels.

"I was already ready to go after we came back from the cafe yesterday," Emily said to Ethan.

Ethan sighed. "I just woke up. Could you wait for, like, fifteen minutes? My other friend and I would be ready by then."

"Of course," the man says, and Ethan goes back inside, leaving Emily alone with the man.

"Hello," Emily said, shyly again.

Ethan returns, pulls her into the house, and closes the door.

"Simp," he commented before going to her room and locking the door.

Once Ethan and Hadrian were done getting ready, Emily took her bags from her room, and they were set to go.

According to Emily, Sun City wasn't far from the city they were in, which was Barkly City. They would only spend about two hours on the road before arriving.

By the time they got to Taegen's house, Ethan had already returned to sleep on Emily's shoulder, but she put Ethan on Hadrian's shoulder, just because she could.

She got to watch Hadrian gently wake Ethan up, and she felt like something inside her had been awakened.

It felt so sweet watching Ethan sleep on Hadrian's shoulder. She was internally screaming.

"Are you alright?" Ethan asked when he saw Emily acting weird.

The house Taegen was talking about was located in the most luxurious parts of the city, and it was incredibly beautiful.

They parked in the garage and got out of the car.

Ethan's legs felt a bit stiff from sitting in the car for too long.

He stretched and heard his joints crack as he did so. He's never sat down in one place for that long before.

The man who transported them got out of the car, took Emily's bags out of the trunk, and said, "Taegen is currently inside the house waiting for you."

Ethan's face brightened a bit.

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In the Dark Realm

"We still have to wait?" A black haired man with golden eyes slammed the table with force. He had a sharp jawline and a cleanly trimmed beard. He is meeting with the other elder in the meeting room, since the third elder was just put to death two days ago.

"Patience, Claude, baby," another elder said. She had a pair of wings on her back, long white hair, luscious skin, a pair of black horns on her head, and dark green eyes with lips as red as blood. She also wore revealing clothes. "The Master's word is not to be disobeyed. You know what she can do; just ask Vella," she said, then remembered. "Oops, I nearly forgot he was dead," she said, then began to laugh.

The elders were the oldest and most powerful in the Dark Realm. They were divided according to their races, all under one ruler.

There are three major races in the Dark Realm. The demon race, the vampire race, and the dark elven race. There's a leader for each of the races. Lucifera, the Demon Lord of the Tribe of Pride, controls the seven tribes of the demon race; Claude, the Vampire King, controls the clans of the vampire race; and finally, Vella, who was the ruler of the Dark Elves, was killed by the master for disobeying orders.

"I always knew Vella was never cut out to be an elder," Lucifera said, walking around Claude.

Claude ignored her and refused to face her, but she pulled his face toward her. "What's wrong, Claude?" she asked. "Don't you want to know what I found out about your beloved friend?"

Claude scowled, and Lucifera smiled, knowing she had angered the vampire king. She lowered her voice and whispered in his ear. "You need to be careful of your actions, Claude; you don't want to anger the Master."

Claude shoved her off him. "I know that," he said, glaring at her. His eyes were glowing a bit. Then stood up and left.

"See you when the new elder is assigned!" Lucifera spoke, waving as Claude left.

She smiled, "I love those eyes," she said. "I wish I could add them to my collection."

She snaps her finger, and a little demon appears on her shoulder. "Watch him," she whispered to the demon.

"Yes, my lord," the little demon said, bowing before disappearing.

Lucifera's eyes became serious. "I can't let him disrupt my Master's plan, now can I?"

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Taegen had prepared a feast for Ethan, Emily, and Hadrian; however, Ethan wasn't happy with one thing.

"It's nice to see Ethan making friends," Reginald said.

What is he doing here?

Right now, Taegen is apparently dating his least favorite teacher, who was worried about him and decided to follow him to see him.

This is like one of those cliche movies where the main character finds out their father is dating someone and they suddenly want to do everything to prevent it from happening.

Except Ethan isn't going to try to do anything to stop Taegen from being happy. He just wonders about a few things. Like, how long? How did they end up together? They are complete opposites, so how?

Worse of all, Emily is getting along so well with Reginald. "I've been friends with Ethan since freshman year," Emily bragged. "Although, at first, I had a crush on him, which I'm currently still cringing at," she said, shivering a bit.

Taegen and Reginald laughed a bit.

Through it all, Ethan was burning glares at Taegen, who was trying not to meet Ethan's gaze; unfortunately for him, though, Ethan was sitting directly opposite him.

When he met his eyes, they were not happy.

Hadrian noticed this and nodged Ethan a bit. "Eat; you haven't eaten anything today," he whispered to him.

Ethan looks at Hadrian angrily, but the serious look on Hadrian's face makes him pout angrily. He muttered something angrily and began to eat.

After dinner...

The man who had brought them there, whose name is Finn, a person who Taegen had saved many years ago and is working under him as a butler, was asked to take Ethan, Emily, and Hadrian to their rooms to sleep.

Taegen and Reginald slept together in the master's bedroom.

Taegen sighed in relief once they were behind the door. "I thought I was going to die with the way Ethan was staring at me throughout dinner," he said to Reginald.

Reginald nodded in response. "It was surprising that you were the one he was glaring at instead of me like he usually does," he said.

"That is because Ethan wasn't angry at Reginald; he is angry at Taegen."

They both shouted in surprise. Ethan was sitting on their bed, his arms folded and his legs crossed.

"Gods, you scared me," Taegen said, holding his chest to calm his heart.

"I should have scared you enough to make your heart fail then, since you don't deserve it," Ethan said.

"That's cruel," Reginald said.

"I know," Ethan said.

Taegen and Reginald looked like children about to get scolded until Ethan asked, "So when did you guys get together?"

"About three years ago," Reginald replies.

"What?" Ethan said in disbelief. He could have sworn that a year ago, he stalked this man, trying to find something bad on him to get him fired. "I was stalking you for three months; how did I not notice this?"

He looked at Taegen and realized. Taegen was his favorite person in the academy then, so he told him everything. "Betrayer," he said, unfolding arm and leg and walking towards the door, which Taegen and Reginald were in front of.

They were stiff for a while. "You are in front of the door," he said.

"Oh,"Reginald said.

"I'm not bad enough to tell Taegen how to live his life; I'm not his child or mother, and he's free to do whatever he wants. But don't do this to me next time. I'm too embarrassed right now," he said, slamming the door behind him, and Reginald could hear Ethan running away from the front of their room.

"That went well," he said.

"Yes, it was a good thing he found out this way rather than randomly teleporting to my location in the middle of night, like he was about to do two days ago," Taegen said.

"But that was when—" Reginald said, then realized something. "Oh my gods, " he said, blushing in embarrassment.

Taegen laughed and grabbed Reginald's waist. "I'm in the mood for it, if you are," he said.