- 3 - Bon Voyage, Prince! Troubled, Portals Incoming

The portal glowed purple, as the castle mage activated it. There existed two ways to reach the human territories from the Hellion Kingdom and the portal was accessible only to the royal family. Otherwise, demons had to teleport individually to the human lands. Only the higher-ranked demons were capable of doing so and that was barely possible.

Portals were mere entrances into the vortexes of mana that existed transparent from plain sight. Most portals could only be opened in certain places where mana is concentrated. The Demon King's castle was built around the existence of the concentrated mana location.

Opening a portal took a majority of mana from the conjuror, leaving normal-rank demons deprived of their magic levels.

Very rarely, would you happen across mana monsters that could do such.

Few beings were capable of opening said entrances. The King's castle mage was one of the few able to do this, having a high mana deposit at their disposal.

The royal family could easily open portals, but it would take mana that could be needed for sudden attacks. Frequent attacks were common in Hellion.

A royal family member of Morningstar was expected to fiend for themselves. If they were weak, they deserved to die.

Having a lowered magic level would jeopardize this self-protection, which risked a royal family member's lack to defend themselves properly.

Therefore, it was tradition to bring in a king-appointed mage that solely operated the portal room.

The castle mage was an old sorcerer that was abandoned by human legions and picked up by the Demon King, himself. The mage was like Dagon. He was human, originally, but trusted amongst the demon races.

I knew not of his name, nor was I ever informed. I only knew of him as old man, as his graying beard complimented wrinkling skin.

It was a rare sight in Hellion, as demons did not age in the same way as humans did.

Thus, the title of old man fit wonderfully.

Call it the foundation of youth, perhaps?

The mage worked hard to conjure the layers of magic that would allow for the portal to be opened. It was a strenuous process that I watched curiously.

Dragons tended to have extremely large magic levels. Watching this mage sweat to form the layers was perplexing to say the least.

But he was the castle mage for a reason.

Soon, the old man finished the final layer of teleportation magic and peered over to me, "I wish we didn't have to greet each other like this, Demon King's Dragon."

I scoffed at the former human, "I'm not the Demon King's Dragon anymore."

He simply nodded, whispering under his breath, "For now."

I don't think the old man knew I could hear everything within the wing of the castle, but I decided not to reply.

My father's rage could last thousands of years. The king has proven that countless times - or so I was told by elders.

The old man started another layer of location magic, "Anywhere in particular?" He asked.

The old man was more demon now than human from absorbing so much demonic energy in Hellion, but he was once human. It made him perfect for this position.

If the old man knew something, it was the geography of the human territories.

I had one type of location in mind. Nothing specific, really. It wasn't needed.

"Take me to a large, forested area. I'll need to spend more time learning how to manage this form," I answered, pointing down to the human appearance.

It would be impossible to maintain the human form. Between the draining mana levels that the transmutation magic took and the physical strain that the form took, I would end up damaging my body more.

A time management between the forms needed to be played with.

But that was a future problem.

"Oh," I added, "Let's hurry before Dagon and Adbeel find out about this."

The castle mage stared back with a blank face.

"Excuse me?" I raised my eyebrow, challenging his gaze.

How dare this wrinkly pig look at me this stupidly? I couldn't describe it, but it bothered me.

The foolish old man knew I was still his Prince despite my young age, correct?

Unfortunately, my question was answered when I realized that his gaze bounded past me at the entrance to the room.

Too late.

I didn't bother to look back, instead, I braced for the impact.

"YOUNG PRINCE!" Adbeel wailed, flinging his arms around my shoulders, "You mustn't go! The human world is dangerous!" He pleaded unending tears running down his horrifying-looking demonic face.

This was a face that has made several human convoys fee just from the sight.

Even for a demonic dragon, this was unsettling to watch.

Absolutely terrifying.

Dagon revealed himself from the entrance side, walking over to pull back the weeping second-in-command.

He yanked Adbeel back, using a quick incantation to send him flying toward the wall, knocking him unconscious. Dust settled over his hunched over body.

These fools commanded the best troop of the Demon King's Army.

I couldn't let that sink in. It was depressing, sometimes.

I just stared.

Dagon swirled back around, collecting his annoyed expression, and making a slight bow, "Apologies Sire. We had been on our way out but happened to pass the throne room as your banishment had been announced."

I groaned, shifting my attention toward the unconscious Adbeel and the huge crack in the stone wall, "I see."

I guess that explains Adbeel's dramatic scene.

Dagon walked up, glancing at the portal, "Would you like one of us to accompany you, Sire? I'm sure the King will call you back once your wing is healed fully."

It would be nice to have Dagon since he was familiar with human customs. However, the territory would be too vulnerable to foolish adventurers and monsters that lined our defenses.

My absence would present a huge hole in security, itself.

I shook my head, "If my territory fell in my absence then I fear my father's tantrum would be everlasting. I'll leave you and Adbeel in charge of maintaining our position there."

Dagon nodded, "I understand, Sire."

He pulled out a necklace made from Lava rock, "May I?"

Was it a parting gift? Surely not.

"Of course," I lowered my head to allow Dagon to slip the necklace over my head, I fingered the darkened stone, "What's its use?" I questioned my third-in-command.

"I've embedded a mana crystal in it. It'll allow you to reach us, if you should happen to need it," For someone, who understands the pride of a dragon, he corrected himself, "Although, I know you don't need protection, Sire."

I almost smirked.

"Thank you, Dagon. I'll be back. It's like a vacation, right? Take care of the troops for me. Don't let Adbeel train them to death," I waved him off in dismissal.

Dagon nodded, bowing deeply before using magic to pick up an unconscious Adbeel.

He walked over to the entrance, Adbeel floating near his side, giving me one final look.

"Take care of yourself, Sire. We'll be awaiting your return."

I nodded.

I waited till I heard their footsteps move further away from the portal room, before returning my attention to the castle mage, who looked downcast from what I assumed were the goodbyes of my commanders.

"The portal is ready, Third Prince."

I nodded, stepping up to the portal, and staring at the twirling vortex of magic. The power of the portal radiated all around the room and the mana pressure in the air increased.

"Thank you, old man."

He waved my thanks off, "No need to thank a servant, Third Prince. It's an honorable occasion to help one of the royal princes."

It seems that my father trained this man well.

I stepped forward into the portal, closing my eyes as the mana surrounded me, sucking my body into a whirling tunnel of magic. My eyes closed, wanting to enjoy the dance of mana surging around the tunnel, floating my body towards what would be my adventure in the human world.

The entrance of the portal room once closed a frail whisper of the old man managing to be auditable in the fading crack to the portal room of the castle.

The last glimpse of Hellion Kingdom.

A faint whisper.

"I'm truly sorry, young Prince."

Darkness.

This tunnel became my abyss for the next century.

It would not be till later that I would discover that the magic in the portal had gone wrong. My body floated in the portal for years, remaining preserved in the mana-concentrated space. It stayed stagnant in an inanimate state, my internal clock stopping in the magic prison.

Only much later would I learn of the hellish civil war in Hellion that came with my disappearance – how the troops under my control marched to the throne room demanding the knowledge of my location.

Knowledge that would not be given.

My time away would cause my commanders to attack the castle with little success. There would be nothing that Adbeel and Dagon could do to stop the casualties and complete destruction of the territory that my father would destroy.

Still, I would have no idea of the tragedies of the troops that had taken care of my being since I was a hatchling. The men that laid down their lives for my father's cause under my watch – would burn to death in the same flames that they had been proud of in battles.

And I, the general, their prince, and their bonded brother would have no idea.

[If it had occurred to me that I would be absent for so long, I would have fought my father on the banishment and returned to the territory.]

[Alas, nothing in the past can be altered for the future is set by the cruel hands of the fates. If I had known what would happen in the future, I would have woken Adbeel up and dealt with the doting.]

[I would end up living my long life with painful regrets that came from my pure greed.]

I would remain an unknowing fool for far too long, predestined to be trapped in vengefulness.

A foolish dragon that had been trapped in the mana space of the sub-vortex.

I would awaken one hundred years later in the human world.