5 A Promise was Made

Being the Nazar King, Kaja had A LOT of responsibilities that needed his attention, one of them being maintaining the peace in the Celestial Palace, training young soldiers and carrying Tigreal's favor of taking out the Spear of Quiescence. Kaja didn't really care much about the Spear of Quiescence, ever since the rise of the Moniyan empire Moskov had gone silent, barely making any appearances in the battlefield or if he ever did it was always with the Apocalypse Queen Alice. Other than that, he had no idea what the man does in the shadows. The Nazar's are a powerful group of bird like people. With white wings and a head of an eagle, a body of a man and sharp hawk like claws for a pair of feet. Demons tremble before these creatures yielding the whips of justice and Kaja stood proud as their king. Today he wasn't a king, He was a hunter along with his comrades who accompanied him on his journey. Moskov was a man who rose in darkness and no doubt still lurks within it, though that wasn't all he knew about the man. The first few years Moskov emerged they had found that he didn't fancy in initiating any kind of battle, wasn't the type to lead an army or take over a land. No, he was after something and he usually is alone, like a lone wolf who works with someone only if they both get equal benefits. With that thought in mind Kaja deduced that the man was always on the move, never staying in one place for too long unless wounded or necessary.

Kaja recalled Tigreal's instructions and tried hard to think of where Moskov could be, the brave warrior had told him that the abyssal creature would be in the far east towards the mountains. Natalia was the source of the information, the assassin had claimed she saw Moskov on her way towards the empire and found him heading east.

"This should take only a little bit of time" the Nazar king thought, he was sat on a boulder under a huge mahogany tree, his four comrades were resting wedged between the roots. The fifth would be returning momentarily from surveying the area. Hopefully the lead would bring them somewhere closer to eradicating the dark creature, but in the meantime he reveled in the joy of hunting once again, just like the old days of him hunting down demons and eliminating them, it was the rush of the wind in his face and the satisfying shriek each demon cries that made his job so worthwhile and fun. Peace reigned in his kingdom but everyone in a while the thought of slaughtering demons wasn't so bad, specially if Alucard (the demon hunter) tags along.

"Come morning, we set out to find this Moskov " he mentally smirked.

Oh it was going to be fun.

Moskov shot up from a horrid nightmare and found himself gripping his spear for dear life, once his senses came back to him he realized that he was fine, no one was after him and his dream was all in the past. He sighed, running his fingers through his hair before clicking his tongue, he had lost so much time already, it was already mid day and he has still yet to find another entrance to the dungeons, seeing as the security did heightened as he had predicted. For the fifth time he ran through his plan in his head, determined to find no loopholes or any chances that it might backfire, though a creature such as himself knew better than to hope that everything goes according to plan. It was a fool's game to hope of a perfectly executed plan, someone or something is always bound to happen that wasn't thought through.

He had thought of numerous ways to get them out of the dungeon unscathed, from attempting to run through the guards to even teleporting both of them out, but the latter proved to be useless as his teleportation skills only applied to him. Her wings would be too wounded to carry a person let alone two if they ever succeed in taking Eveister in the first try.

Moskov shook the thoughts away, the part of taking Eveister away will have to wait, he still needed a way of an easy escape for him and the Damatorum, speaking of which, she still hasn't uttered a name that he can address her by and so he decided to give her one the next time they meet, for the sake of saving him the mouthful of her species name.

"I can walk on my own thank you very much! " He heard a familiar voice outside the cave, Moskov jumped to peek around the corner and saw the Damatorum, bound by the wings and hands as three guards surrounded her with spears, they emerged from a trapdoor of a small shack. Moskov stopped to think, it could be the other entrance that he was looking for "You should be grateful the chief hasn't decided to make a cloak out of you yet or you wouldn't even be seeing the light of another day" One soldier taunted and poked her in the ribs with the end of his weapon, earning a hiss of disapproval from her. "Oh i have no doubts of the revolting things he'll do with my corpse, you people have a sick bastard as your chief!" The comment only made the guards push her farther into the river surrounding the village. As they passed by the cave the Damatorum's eyes found his, reminiscent to their shared glance in the forest. The slits in her eyes dilated and softened for a second before they narrowed once again as the soldiers pushed her into the river. "Be quick about it will ya? we don't have all day to babysit a beast like you" One of the guards spat. The Damatorum huffed and started to soak in the cool current of the river.

"Smart, that one" Moskov commented before he sat down and leaned back against the stone, looks like he'll be seeing her again real soon. In the meantime an examination around the outskirts might prove useful in finding the easiest escape route.

By midnight Moskov had finally circled the entire village and set off to enter the trapdoor towards the dungeons. The shack was small and wooden, with a window on the right was broken and it had vines creeping up on the door, it looked abandoned until you find the trapdoor just beside it. Moskov was careful upon opening the trapdoor, making as little noise as possible. The entrance seemed to be unguarded and when he descended down he could see a long trail lit by torches, he could see that the path led to three different doors each of them undoubtedly leading to different locations.

"Okay maybe this was a bad idea" He thought and began to check each door. Several attempts later he finally found the right path leading to the dungeons, it wasn't as long as he expected but the dingy halls and suffocating surroundings made it all the more uncomfortable for him to think straight.

"Moskov?" He spun when he heard his name and found the Damatorum in another cell, this time the door was covered in iron with only a little window that he could peer in. "Not taking any chances i see" He commented, proceeding to walk closer to look into the cell "It would seem so" She replied. The blue haired maiden smiled when she realized where he had emerged "I'm surprised you found your way here, i could have sworn there were endless amounts of hallways" She said.

"There's only three, I have to give you credit on that, i was starting to have a bit of a problem in finding a way in without being spotted" Moskov retorted. "How did you managed to let them accompany you out?" He continued, the silver eyed girl snorted a laugh "I have a way with people who are easily angered, they're fun to mess with and it usually gets them to give in"

Moskov nodded in amusement, this maiden who looked like a damsel in distress was actually far more dangerous than he can ever imagine. If one were to look at her they'd immediately assume she was delicate, a small flower among the huge thorns that surrounded the garden. But look again and you realize she had morphed into a dangerous venus fly trap, someone who could carry herself such as he carried his own after all these years.

He shook his head, the desire to escape had cut out whatever train of thoughts he had.

"But enough about that, i want to discuss the plan i have in mind. the sooner we execute this the better"He explained. "Ah Yes, before anything the chief said something about harvesting my wings at midnight tomorrow if i ever refused to reveal the location of my village, perhaps we can use that to our advantage since he will be the one to personally-" she paused for a second, thinking of how horrible it would feel if that were to happen "to personally harvest them" It was then that she realized that he was having a tiny bit of difficulty in making out her words, she sighed dejectedly.

"Perhaps it would be better if we weren't talking through a little window" She suggested, hoping that it was somehow possible, but then again having someone help her escape was more than what she asked for. Granted the said person was still questionable to her it was something she could take.

"Actually that would make things a little bit easier, step back for a moment" he suggested and in a blink of an eye he was right in front of her inside the cell. She shrieked, stumbling back, Moskov was quick to cover her mouth when he heard a guard outside "Oi! what's all that ruckus in there!" He peered in and looked around the cell, her blood ran cold at the thought of being discovered, if that happens her only chance of surviving could be taken away. But it was as though nothing happened, she surveyed her area to find that Moskov had vanished, probably hiding in the far corner where the light from outside of the cell couldn't reach. The Damatorum racked her brain for a viable excuse and mentally slapped herself at the words that came "I tripped on my left wing and fell! Yeah! yeah that's it. It was bothering me and the ropes chafe really bad" She chuckled nervously hoping to whatever omnipotent deity there was that the guard would take it and go. He lingered for a moment and decided it was just another false alarm and left, Moskov once again emerged from the darkness "You couldn't be bothered to at least mention that you had that particular ability before?" She sighed in relief and sat back on the hard and uncomfortable bed, it was becoming a nuisance and the Damatorum swore that the moment she's free the first thing she'd likely to do is go straight back in her warm nest. "I didn't feel the need to, it's but a small ability i had gained" Moskov considered in asking for her name but refrained from doing so as the faint image of her struggling and refusing to tell her name flashed in his head, he knew better than to provoke her now.

The abyssal creature observed the lady in front of him, her dark blue hair was in a tight bun sitting atop her head and her silver eyes pierced the darkness, and as he processed the image in front of him only one name came to his mind "Onyx" he uttered, she looked at him in bewilderment "Onyx, may i call you Onyx?" he asked, it wasn't as if he was naming her he just needed to address her something other than to generalize the girl. She hesitated only for a second before she gave in, with a statement that barely concealed her relief and fondness of the new name.

Now it was the moment to catch up to the time he lost on this one mission.

At least this should get Alice to lay off of his back for at least a couple of months before she decides to summon him again, his work is never done.

As the dawn peeked from the clouds, Moskov's eyes fluttered open. He looked around and suddenly became aware of where he was, he shot up and accidentally kicked Onyx's wing. She gasped in agony at the feel of the ropes burning the base of her wings. "Arrgh!" exclaimed Onyx, covered her mouth to muffle the sound as the pain nudged her awake. Her eyes met Moskov's retreating figure, he uttered a small apology with the promise to be back as soon as the sun sets to initiate the plan, and with that she breathed in relief.

"So he really was going to help me, that's a first" She thought.