9 The Avian Emperor

Alexander, finally finding himself a proper bed to sleep on after 2 weird yet exciting days, fell asleep almost instantly.

Lillian on the other hand, couldn't. She had a glossed look over her eyes, looking at the opposite side of the bed, towards the windows that reflected the starry sky and moon.

Looking closely at her pretty beady eyes, one could see many emotions flashing by; Hints of fear, sadness, and reluctance. But over all of that, what dominated was a sense of happiness and excitement, pretty much how Alexander looked like throughout the previous day.

She looked over to the young man that had mistakenly bound their fates together and felt that everything was surreal.

She didn't know how to feel about him. She met him just yesterday and while he didn't seem like an evil person; Her daddy told her to always be careful of humans as they are full of deceit.

Her thought process having reached to her dad, she winced a bit at how she escaped her home to explore the world, who knew what her dad would do when he found out? How would he react to her predicament with the strange man?

Shaking her head as if to delete that thought, she focused her gaze again on Alexander; She thought that while his background seems mysterious, him being ignorant about the basics is really odd. Even if his magical potential seems scary, not counting his unknown elements, Why would anyone keep him isolated from the world and not teach him to their advantage?

Who would leave such a talented individual ignorant of even the basic applications regarding Aura and Magic?

She left those thoughts to vanish as seeing how they are now stuck together, for better or worse, she would get to know his secrets and him, hers.

With that, she got closer to his loose palm and used it as a pillow, finding a comfortable position, she fell asleep.

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Far away, on the tip of a big mountain, stood a majestic castle, it was an enormous castle that would put even the royal families from the countries of the earth to shame.

Its exterior was a majestic silver color that when touched by the sun, it glittered like the stars in the sky. As such the name 'Star bathed castle' was given to it.

Currently though the moon was high up in the sky, that didn't discourage the castle from looking as majestic, it shone with a deep yet gentle silver light that gave it a picturesque tone as if it came straight out of a fairytale.

Deep within the halls of the castle, unlike the gentle outward appearance, there was a cold atmosphere, all the servants from the maids to the cooks felt a chilly yet fiery aura constantly touch them, making them shiver.

That aura was from the emperor of the avian species of this world, the Vermillion Emperor.

Everyone on the castle knew why their emperor was mad, his only daughter the royal princess vanished overnight, only leaving behind a note saying that she wanted to explore the world.

A muscular powerful looking old man could be seen walking on the hall leading towards the throne room, he was the emperor's closest, most powerful aide and also a godfather to the princess, he belonged to the thunder-hawk species.

His real form was an enormous hawk that naturally bathed in lightning, a casual strike from him can exterminate 1/4th of of an average sized village, leaving behind only cinders on his wake.

Magical beasts, upon surpassing the equivalent of a Grand Magus or Grand Warrior ranked-level person to the human system, gain the ability to assume a human form that depends on their age and species for it's appearance, some scholars argue that this is related to the origin of demi-humans.

That's neither here nor there though, as a powerful being the thunder-hawk old man usually emitted a powerful, electrifying aura to his surroundings, making anyone that even attempted to come close to him feeling numb.

Now this old man didn't dare to emit his aura, lest he makes his emperor unleash his rage on him.

His liege, the vermillion emperor is extremely angry. His beloved daughter had run away from the castle and the task of finding where she went had fallen to his hand.

He walked in front of the doors that led to throne room and stopped. Knocking on the door gently three times, he waited for a bit until a powerful voice fell to his:

"Come in."

He placed his hand on the enormous doors, pushing them and causing a squeaking sound, he walked on the crimson red rug and knelt after walking to the middle of the room.

After kneeling there for a few seconds, when he started sweating a bit due to the fiery aura his emperor naturally emitted, he heard the strong magnetic voice of the emperor talk:

"Sebastian, Lift your head and tell me; Have you found my daughter?"

The old man, Sebastian, Lifted his head and the majestic image of his emperor fell upon his sight.

On the dark red throne sat a man that didn't look a day older than 25, he had long straight blood-red eyes, a handsome face that would put elves to shame, his eyebrows were sharp like crimson swords waiting to cut their enemies but what drew the most attention was his beautiful dark orange eyes that looked like precious gems. His pair of eyes were capable of enchanting one's soul.

The old thunder-hawk, Sebastian took a deep breath and replied with his usual powerful, deep voice now sounding a little meek:

"Your majesty, I searched for 300 kilometers myself alongside my subordinates, I couldn't find a single trace of the princess, any further and we would breach the elves territory."

When he answered the emperor, he felt the fiery aura on the room increase, making his skin start getting a red hue. When he couldn't handle the heat anymore, he heard the emperor speak:

"I felt Lillian's aura fluctuate a bit on the soul crystal."

There was an eerie silence in the throne. Sebastian knew if any hard befell the princess , the emperor wouldn't hesitate to breach the elves terittory, starting a war.

Sebastian heard the emperor's with his magnetic voice speak again:

"You, alongside ten of our elites, will infiltrate the elves territory and beyond until you find Lillian, leave no stone unturned, understood?"

The old man bowed his head yet again and shouted with a powerful voice:

"Yes, your majesty!"

The emperor nodded and said:

"You may leave."

Watching his loyal subordinate retreat from the throne in reverence, the emperor looked a crimson red crystal ring on his middle finger and muttered:

"Lillian, Oh Lillian, if someone has hurt even the smallest of feather on your body... I will hunt every single individual of their species... until they are nothing but ashes."

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Unaware of what was happening on the faraway castle, Alexander was deep asleep until the morning rays hit his face, making his eyelids twitch.

He opened up his eyes slightly, seeing that day started to break he groaned a bit.

He wanted to stand when he felt a soft sensation on his left hand that rested near his neck, looking down he saw the little bird snuggling in between his hand and neck, making him smile a bit.

He thought:

'For how powerful and arrogant she acts all the time, she sure is cute when she is asleep.'

It was maybe because of the soul contract he thought but, the little bird had an entirely unguarded look to it. It looked like a normal bird seeking protection and warmth.

Feeling his movement, Lillian opened her beady little eyes and upon seeing how close she was to his face, froze.

Alexander, seeing how she has also woken up just gave her a "Good morning", making her widen her eyes even further.

She pecked his arm making him shout in pain and exclaimed:

"How dare you touch me so casually!"

Alexander being pecked in the hand first thing in the morning naturally felt angry so he shouted himself:

"You were the one using my hand as a pillow! How come it's my fault?!"

Lillian, feeling ashamed was about to refute him, when a knock was heard on the door making her pause, only giving him a harsh glare.

Alexander rolled his eyes at how arrogant the bird acted, he got up from the bed and reached towards the door, shouting "Coming!".

Behind the door was the waitress cat girl, she gave his sleepy expression a look and smilingly said:

"Good morning Mr. Alexander! Would you like breakfast? It's on the house."

Alexander gave her a smile of his own and answered with a grateful expression:

"Yes, I'd appreciate that just let me get dressed and I'll come down in a bit."

She smiled at him again and left with a wave.

Alexander closed the door and turned around the room, he picked up his new clothes and started to undress until he heard a squeak from the bird, making him give it a weird look.

Lillian seeing him undress in front of her so casually was stunned, Having never been in such a situation with another man made her let an embarrassing sound and so, she shouted:

"You pervert! what are you doing undressing in front of me so easily?"

Alexander felt weird and answered:

"Eh? but aren't you a bird? Where's the problem?"

Lillian felt incensed, the only thing she did before she left outside with a small fiery bang was shout:

"Nevermind! I'll wait outside."

Alexander just shrugged and wore his new attire, after dressing himself he picked up his cell phone from his pajama and placed it on his new pants.

He gave himself a look, and he had to admit that even though he was a bit skinny, the looks did make him feel good.

After finishing with everything, he went down the stairs where the pub part of the building was, and he was surprised to find out that while the day just began, there were people drinking in the pub.

He found Lillian nibbling on a small cupcake given to her by the owner, smilingly he walked over and talked to her through their connection:

'So you are a sweet tooth eh?'

The bird just gave him a nasty look, ignoring him completely, Upon seeing that Alexander shrugged and gave a greeting to the gentle owner while smiling, he received his plate of what looked like soup and sat down to eat.

He talked to Lillian through their connection:

'So? what are we doing today?'

Lillian still angry at the previous incident, answered sharply:

'I wanted to go a temple to check your affinities but changed my mind. We will go to an alchemy store to get a visualization potion, after that we will go register you to the adventurers guild so we can dive into the dungeon.'

He just nodded, trying to enjoy his meal and leaving his questions for later.