9: Dreams.

The old mage looked closely at the hooded figure that had just stepped out from the black portal and he could see that the tip of his staff was a human skull the size of an average human hand.

" A dark mage, to think that one such as you would dare to step foot on the land of Azurelia." The old man said, turning towards the hooded figure.

The man laughed sinisterly for about ten seconds and said, "The orthodox of this godforsaken haven shall be tainted by me... let's go Lixus, I don't want to lose my quarry."

After that, they both stepped into the dark portal and it immediately vanished. The green energy began to subside and after a few minutes, he dispersed the growing wind in every direction.

****

When Harry arrived at the battle scene he saw the beast now smaller in size, leap towards the lady but somehow she had used a dance a move of sorts to dodge and counter its attack.

The dim glow from her sword hadn't gone unnoticed either and he saw how the beast was staring at its lost limb like it was expecting something to happen.

" She expelled physical innate energy outward and into her sword, I highly doubt any ordinary royal knight would be able to achieve such a feat."

While the beast was staring at its lost limb, the knight had closed her eyes and raised her sword which had begun to emit a slight yellow glow above her head with both hands.

The beast immediately grew back to its original size and rather than send a punch down towards her, its remaining hand began to stretch and it swung towards her from her right.

" I miscalculated." She thought, gritting her teeth as she swung her sword

A huge amount of yellow concentrated energy went streaming out of her sword as the beast's hand came swinging towards her.

The hand hit her and sent her flying just as the stream of energy left her sword and she got immediately after she went crashing down to the ground.

She got up immediately after she fell and she saw the beast's hand lying on the ground and not long after that a slanted upper half of the beast's body slowly slipped off and fell to the ground.

" Now's my chance." Harry thought, running straight towards her.

She turned towards him with a stern look but Harry was concentrated on her but on the forest just by her side and just as he was about to curve and begin heading into the forest, a small black hole began to emerge right behind her.

" Behind you!" He screamed, running straight towards her.

She wasn't quick enough to react and the portal had quickly grown bigger revealing a human hand that was reaching for her arm.

Harry ran as fast as he could and pushed her out of the way and the moment that happened, a dark glowing ball began to form on the palm of the hand.

" I'll die if it hits me, come on concentrate." He thought, looking down at the hand.

The dark ball was released and it hit him hard on the stomach and sent him flying.

He kept on hitting and tumbling on the ground until he was more than a hundred meters away from them. A huge amount of blood gushed out from his mouth and he looked over at the where the others were as his vision slowly began to blur.

He finally blacked out and saw himself back inside the same castle and this time he found himself standing in front of a door that was painted red and had a golden knob.

The wall was painted white and there were chandeliers hanging along the hallway ceiling and the floor of the building was well smoothened.

Two women who seemed to still be in their early twenties walked out through the door and he could hear their whispers to each other.

" Do you think there's a chance that her Highness is cursed?"

" Don't say that Priscilla, you shouldn't go saying things like that without a good amount of evidence, his highness may have been suffering from a grave illness, you just never know."

" Her Highness, I'm having those dreams again, and each time it continues from where I left off." He thought, watching the two girls walk away.

He blacked out once again and when he opened his eyes, he found himself back inside a room which he had become very familiar with.

" This is obviously not a dream, it's like someone's playing with my mind and wants me to see this. All secrets behind Azurelia's past." He thought.

He saw a young woman facing a mirror with her glimmering orange-colored nightgown on.

She had bags under her eyes and they were red and swollen which was a sign that she had been crying. Harry was concerned more about her with his lips slightly apart, even though he had no idea what was causing his current situation, a feeling of sympathy for her was welling up inside of him.

She slowly walked towards her bed and just when she was about two steps away from it, a man appeared right in front of her.

He was wearing a pair of black shoes and black trousers and had nothing on his upper half except for a black unbuttoned coat.

" What are you doing here?" She questioned, staggering backward in trepidation.

He grabbed a hold of her hand and pulled her closer to him until their bodies were almost glued together and looked her in the eye.

He then leaned closer to her ear and whispered, "You haven't forgotten our contract, you agreed to love me and so I've come here for your love."

She began to struggle vigorously until she managed to break the close hug but he still had a hold of her hand.

" Suffering and despair are all you've ever caused me, I fulfilled the contract, so why keep on tormenting me?" She asked, her eyes slowly getting filled with tears.

The man laughed a sinister laugh and replied, "You should have thought before dabbling in things beyond your mortal heights. You fulfilled only our contract of death, not our contract of advocacy, love, or loyalty."

Her eyes widened immediately after he said that and her whole body began to tremble. The consequences of her actions had dawned on her and she wasn't prepared to accept it yet.

" That wasn't part of our contract." She mumbled, amidst tears.

" I made the contract." He said, pulling her closer to him once again.

Her hands went down and her nightgown slowly slipped from her shoulder and down to her elbow.

The man slowly moved backward with her in his arms and when they were a few centimeters away from the bed, he quickly turned around and pushed her down onto it.

" That bastard, he came after she faced all that emotional breakdown to break her even more." Harry thought, gritting his teeth.

" How it fills my heart with ecstasy to know that I was able to defile and taint a soul so pure, this is only a small price to pay for the freedom of your beloved kingdom, don't you think." He said, slowly pulling down her nightgown while leaning closer to her ear, " From now on, we shall dance through every night."

Suddenly it felt like memories began flashing through his head and each time he saw the same thing happen over again the only difference was that the nightgowns she would wear were slightly different each time.

" She keeps letting him get his way with her, this was what she was going through while her so-called people gossiped with her name whilst enjoying her suffering." he thought, trembling in shock.

He blacked out once again and found himself on the side of a paved road at night and in front of him was a man crawling on the ground with his back, beginning another standing in front of him.

" Please forgive me, I'll take you to the people who sent

me just please don't kill me." He begged, quickly turning around and crawling as fast as he could.

The mysterious person who was clothed in thick black armor didn't say anything and simply swung the sword in their hand and immediately after that, the man's head went rolling on the ground.

It was only a few minutes but Harry felt like he had just lived through a whole year of complete depression.

Everything felt so real that it became too clear that this was no mere dream but at the same time, it made him feel like he was standing by the side and doing nothing while every scene unfolded.

He fell to his knees and looked down at the ground with his eyes shaking and, he placed his hand on his chest and the other he used to support his upper body.

" I can't take this anymore." He thought as the whole place began to go pitch dark.