14

Ella stopped the magic, for silence to fill the room.

Ella chuckled, "I guess it wasn't really on equal grounds."

They all laughed, while Diana seemed to swim in her thoughts.

Suddenly Amina spoke looking at the ground, "It seems I own my son for bringing back my husband." She paused for a moment, "But that black cigarette, do any of you, know what it is?"

Ella and Diana looked at each other.

"I don't know, but ever since I met him he always had one at least once a day, and if I get closer while he smokes I feel dizzy," answered Ella.

Amina chuckled and raised her head, meeting Diana's eyes, "I guess you will have to hear the answer from him, my dear."

Diana was curious, but she knew it should be something of importance if even Ella didn't know.

"I also don't know," continued Amina reading her thoughts, making Diana confused about the matter.

"You gave birth to an amazing man," said Diana all of a sudden, smiling.

Amina looked at her deeply for a moment.

"He is not an easy man, It's going to be hard for you, my dear." Everyone could feel the sadness in her voice.

Diana smiled, "He deserves the world. He, lived through a lot," her voice softened.

Amina's eyes widened after she heard Diana's answer, her eyes became red. "Many ran off after meeting his eyes," her eyes slowly teared up as she spoke, "including me, I am sorry," tears fell down her red cheeks, "I just can't help it when I remember those eyes of his," her voice cracked, "they always smiled at me yet always looked in so much pain."

She raised her hands swiping the tears away, and took a deep look at Diana, "Are you not afraid, of the stories those eyes will tell?" she asked.

Diana thought for a moment, looking at the ground as she pondered, "I guess, I am afraid. I may not know much about him, but I know him enough to be sure, that he is a good man, a good man with a story." She raised her head looking at Amina, "I can't deny the fact that I have had feelings for him ever since I saw him smile. I may be a weird person myself, falling for someone I met once, yet felt like I knew for a long time and understood so much." She smiled, "At the end of the day, I chose to stand by his side. So, I will be there for him."

Amina and Ella stared at her in silence.

"You are different," said Ella with a smile after a while.

Amina sighed, "I guess, I will entrust my son to you." She stood up bowing, "Please take care of him."

Diana ran off to Amina's side, stopping her halfway. "Please don't do that, if anything I should be asking for your blessings moth-"

Diana caught her mouth.

Amina looked at her with a smile before laughing hard with Ella. "It's okay, it's my pleasure to have another beautiful daughter."

Diana looked away smiling in embarrassment.

---

Outside the palace, a figure was flying, staring at the window of the room where the three women talked.

Seeing such a scene it disappeared with the air silently.

---

Everyone was laughing and enjoying their time.

Suddenly Diana slowly looked out the window, her eyes flinched, confused not knowing what she felt. An image of Cayn appeared in her mind, she smiled, shaking off the weird warm feeling and engaged again in the conversation with the other two.

---

A few moments later in the forbidden forest.

The beast was running, holding in its mouth a big red snake by the neck. It suddenly halted on its tracks as it entered a big area uncovered by the huge trees. Rather, they were all destroyed, a figure of a big white dragon covered the entire scene.

The black beast put down the corpse of its mouth, and growled, "Really, big brother."

Cayn slowly appeared from the other side, his hands were covered in blood, "I was in the mood for some chicken wings. You cook," he said as he went to wash his hands.

The beast sighed, "Okay."

Cayn appeared at the nearest river and washed his hands clean. He took a moment to look at his reflection in the water before looking at the sky, taking a deep breath.

He reunited with the beast again and ate their fill.

Before they stood up to leave, the beast spoke, "Big brother."

"Hmm."

"What kind of woman is she?"

Cayn chuckled, making the beast surprised.

"She's stupid."

The beast looked at him confused.

"Really," he stared at the sky for a brief moment, "Shiro."

"Yes, big brother."

"She is amazing, and, beautiful. You will know," said Cayn as his eyes grew cold for some reason.

He stood up followed by the beast and walked towards the Capital.

--

Shiro, the black panther.

A mythical deity who only appeared in textbooks.

The books portrayed thousands of deities being born alongside the world, leaving only seventeen that stood tall after the war of gods took place. Three of them watched over the afterlife, seven stood with the humans and angels, while the other seven reined over the demons.

And one of them was Shiro. The god of darkness and the unknown.

They are immortal beings who blessed the world with magic.

In a world where humans, angels, and demons fought over territory, magic was something they all had in common. Even of the same family, these beings had different affinities to magic attributes, while some had an affinity to aura instead. Everything could differ because of the parent's inheritance, the person's body constitution, or personality. And while people could use magic other than their affinity they mostly focus on that one or more for some special cases and try their whole lives to master them.

Other than the three deities watching over the afterlife, who couldn't take direct action in the realm of mortals, the fourteen deities lived in the material world, while some closed themselves in their realms, just like Shiro who, in the textbooks haven't appeared since the first generation of the world after the war.

The Archion kingdom was built by the god of light Aither. The royal family was blessed by him, some even say they were his bloodline. A kingdom that sought knowledge of new magic, and research trying to find meaning behind words of the ancient texts.

The Leoryn kingdom was built by the fire goddess Helia, the queen of the Phoenix tribe whom the textbook described as a beautiful goddess. Rumors have it she sealed a demon god in her endless desert, disappearing after. They are amazing warriors known for their craftsmanship.

The Sylvia kingdom was built by the water god. The people of this kingdom were known for being brutal warriors, renowned for their ships and warfare on both seas and land, their axes and terrifying physical strength shook the demon world.

The Yamato kingdom, founded by both the earth god and sky goddess, the twin godly serpents who disappeared after blessing the peaceful and quiet kingdom with rain and fertility, its people focused on the land and agriculture, also giving birth to strong warriors who performed perfectly with the spear.

The Roz kingdom, being last, was founded by the thunder god, the mighty father of all dragons. Being the only god who's still maintaining direct contact with humans and guarding the land, known for their swordsmanship and their unusual one-edged sword, called the katana.

Each of these deities had churches all over the world worshipping them, whether these churches were politically involved in the affairs of the said kingdom or not.

Shiro, the god of darkness and beasts was worshipped by a few villages at the beginning of time, only to be long forgotten, and it seemed to be his wish as well.

But how did he meet Cayn? And why does he call him brother or lord?

Who is Cayn? Is he really but a human?