Chapter III: The Alliance Empire

After traversing in a long week of roughly exhausting journey from the harsh climate of the polar region in the northern GreatLand where he couldn't find anything to eat, until he reached the abundant jungle and grassland of Lushy Plains where he was able to hunt for his food and passed through the desolated jungle of MirkWood that was full thorny vines and vultures which was near to his home, Dante finally reached the western part of the Capital called the 'Westpass Town' where he and his family live.

The whole Capital became known as the 'Alliance Empire' since the demons arrived here on earth, the whole place including from the part of 'NorthPass, WestPass, SouthPass and the EastPass' and many towns and castles inside were surrounded by a gigantic brick wall that were built and sanctified by the greatest wizards, mages and shamans in the kingdom with the use of the 'Sacred Water' from the 'Sacred Lake' that was found inside the Kingdom, so that, demons can't go inside and sow terror to the people that lived in there.

Refugees of other races from the other kingdom of the Greatland such as dwarves from the kingdom of Gerndarth of the north, elves from the kingdom of Elvatheas of the northeast, and the orcs from the kingdom of Sha'araa of the south had moved into the Capital along with the human races that were already lived in there and they built the Alliance together after the demons destroyed their homes. Those kingdoms now were completely destroyed and now became ruins.

Inside the wall, there's a huge human town that was ruled by Lucius' father named 'Duke Hervent Bryxton' which was also famously known because he was the king's younger brother. He ruled a town called the "Westpass Fortress" that was responsible of guarding the western gate of the Alliance from outsiders.

An over-crowded town of humans where you can daily hear the sounds of domestic animals in the farm, sales-talking merchants about their goods in the marketplace "How about five gold bars for the horse?" deceiving words coming out of their mouths "Deal" replied the punter, "Give me more beers! you filthy hag!" drunkards that sometimes arguing with the bar-owner, "Ding dong, here I come to find you, hurry up and run. Dind dong where is it you've gone? do you think you've won? Ding dong I can hear your loud breaths..." kids playing hide and seek, the harmonious sound of sawing workers in the Lumbermill and the loud, annoying sound of the Blacksmith "Clang! clang! clang!" hitting the steel placed above the anvil with their massive hammer repeatedly until the weapon was shaped and Dante could hear all of that from the outside where he was with his super hearing ability that made him still so confused of how does he heard things around him so loud until he realized that it is because of what happened to him. With himself deeply thinking, he realized that he acquired the abilities of a wolf.

It's been a day and a half since Dante was waiting for someone he knew from inside the town because he can't go inside as he failed trying to pass the gate last night because of the invisible barrier that prevents him from passing in and got his palm burnt every time he forced it. "Shit, this damn Sacred Vanguard!" he told himself angrily about the sanctified shield called as 'Sacred Vanguard' made and sanctified by their priest, that helps the gate to never let any demons to pass through it.

At the time Dante while was waiting outside, there was a marching band coming out towards where near his whereabouts. He hurriedly hid into the woods as he watched the marching band which is heading towards him. It turns out that the place nearby him was a cemetery and the marching band parade was a tribute for the fallen soldiers and his friend Jamarion who led them into the battle. A loud rumbling and thudding sound of the bass drum, the sharp staccato sound of snare drums and a sharp rapping and hollow rumble sound of tom drums along with the dramatic and sorrowful sounds of flugelhorn trumpets flew with the wind while the sound of mourning people who falls into a shady sorrowful loss as the preacher deliver a sermon, a powerful message to the fallen heroes.

"May the souls of these soldiers go to heaven in the name of our Almighty One." the gentle and sacred voice of the priest Khael, blessing the dead and their souls to end up in Heaven. Khael was once a stranger from out of nowhere who just suddenly came along in the Alliance of the time when the demons arrived and started to reign chaos all over the GreatLand. Because of his great contributions upon the Alliance such as making the 'Holy Grail' for them in the lake to make the water in it sanctified, and for improvising them on how to make the Vanguard shield into a sacred thing to help them stay out of the demons and he was the one who informed them about the enemies they are having a war with are 'demons', because of that he was exalted to sit and serve the Alliance along with the high ranked rulers. He never wanted to be called a wizard that was known as the highest ranked among the scholars but instead, he humbly wanted to be called as 'priest' and the people of the Alliance love him for his heavenly attitude.

While the heavy rain was falling and the loud sounds of thunder and lightning above the shady clouds as Dante watched the death tribute ceremony from apart, he saw his mother crying accompanied by his woman Enda, mourning at his funeral without knowing he was still alive in a very unfortunate state. He can see it in his mother's eyes an extreme grief and loss.

When his mother Maeve threw a flower into his grave, there was a cold wind that blew through her body so that made her to look straight up. Her heavy feelings calmed down at the moment she saw a figure, a figure who looked like Dante from a distance in the woods but suddenly hid, as he noticed that she saw him. Her mind was driving her crazy at that moment she thought, she felt, and she knew that it was her son but then Enda took her away from the crowd of mourning people that's why she lost her sight of where she saw him. "I saw him, Edna I swear I saw him." Maeve said. "Who?" Edna replied, denying the truth. "My son. <(sobbing)> he's still alive. Do you remember what Lucius said? that he was thrown down off the cliff during the battle, What if he survived the cliff?" Maeve insisted that she was so sure about of what she saw.

The shady night has started to covered up the sky, all of the people from the funeral were returning into their homes except for Dante's mother, Maeve. She waited for everyone to go home so that no one could see her from wandering into the woods across the graveyard thinking that she's a crazy person.

"Son? I know you're in there. You can come out now. I saw you, and I knew it was you." Maeve said to him, trying to convince him to come out from where he's hiding. From the dark shadows in the woods, even he was so scared of revealing himself, Dante came out from the dark where he was hiding dramatically as the small amount of sunlight was slowly lightening him up...

"Mother? Please, help me. I... I'm not a human anymore <(crying)> I couldn't save Jamarion. I'm a monster now, I killed one of my comrade in the battlefield.... I..." a frustrated confession of Dante to her mother about what happened as he shape-shifted himself halfway through into a werewolf to show her what kind of a monster he became and instead of being frightened up, Maeve hugged her son as if she felt like he's not a harmful beast, trying to ease him from his pains trying to understand sympathetically the part of what he'd been through, she knew he didn't meant to do it cause she knew herself that Dante was a good person. And Dante turned back to his human form."You're still my son, you were just sicked."

"Jamarion told me so, in the battlefield before he died yeah I remember. He told me about the Priest Khael, maybe he can help me." Dante said to her full of hope. "I need to get to him, but I can't go in because... because I'm a demon." Dante added.

"Son listen, I'm gonna laid down the Sacred Vanguard, then you enter quickly and make sure that the knights can't see you, you got it?" Maeve answered, telling him about their plan on how to break inside the Sacred Vanguard that protects the gate.

Maeve entered first, and in the second she got there, she knocked down the Sacred Vanguard with all of her strength but a knight from apart saw her and it made him so mad. "What in the hell are you doing lady?! Are trying to let the demons to go in?" and then the knight returned the Sacred Vanguard into its former position. "You should be inside your home in this kind of time."

Dante successfully passed the gate unnoticed using his supernatural agility. After they entered the town, walking while hidden in the hood of his clothe Dante saw the people living in there were quiet and peaceful that made to disturbed his thinking again and gave him an uncomfortable feeling of insecurities from himself. Dante and his mother Maeve went immediately to their house. When they arrived at their house, Edna was already inside waiting for Maeve for several hours. "Duchess, I've been waiting for you here for a couple of hours, where have you....Dante?" Edna shockly said as if she saw a ghost. "Hi, Edna uhhh..?" Dante awkwardly responded to her.

Dante was so scared to reveal to her about him and he doesn't know how he's going to begin and what he's going to say to his unlabeled lover Edna about what happened to him. So he shape-shifted and showed Edna a half of he's morphed-self with his k-nine claws and face which that helped him to tell the short story. "I don't know if you will still treat me as before, I'm maybe completely different now but I can still feel my old me."

Edna raised her hands straightly pointed to Dante and create her fighting stance as if she's ready to cast her magic spell on him, her lovely round brown-eyes couldn't make it blink and her young-rosy pretty face crumbled and her lovely-cherry lips turned pale when she saw Dante shifted into his morphed form as she was hysterically dazed for a moment like she doesn't knew how to deal with these terrible events.

"Edna! Edna... Listen, I need your help. Please help me to get to Khael. Maybe he knew a cure for this." Dante pleasingly said to Edna.

"Wait, wait, wait! What do you mean maybe? You're not sure that if he ever had any cure for this?" she madly answered as Dante begged to her, "Please Edna, you're the only one I knew I can trust."

Edna quickly left and rode onto her white horse heading to Cassemere Castle to ask for help from Khael while Dante and his mother Duchess Maeve patiently waiting inside their house.

"Out of the way Lucius." Unfortunately, Lucius suddenly interrupted Edna in the middle of her way into the castle, "Think twice before you decided and slip that chance away." said by Lucius' deceptive lips with the sharp looks of his wicked dark eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Edna said as if she doesn't know anything but the thing she didn't knew about it was Lucius has been spying Duchess Maeve all this time, "tsk tsk tsk...my dear, poor, pretty Edna. Do you think I didn't already knew about everything before you even knew it? I saw the duchess with her demon son in the graveyard. But before that, I already knew what happened to him in the battlefield because I was there with him. He's the responsible one why our Legion Commander Jamarion died. He's a monster already and we cannot changed that! Think about it...come on.... think about seeing yourself a wizard sitting right next to the royals and seeing everyone recognizing you as a hero. Edna, think about yourself having the things that all you've ever wanted. Think about everything before you decide where you're heading to."

Because of all the deceptive words Lucius said to her, that was why Edna did the unpleasant things. She betrayed Dante, the one who treat her special as she was to him too. No matter how strong that love, bond, and connection, it could be easily changed and forgotten because of one selfish desire that people were dying to get.

After a long time of waiting, instead of expecting Edna to get Khael's help, Edna and Lucius with over twenty alliance knights startled them as they arrested Dante, "Edna, what's the meaning of this?"

"Please Dante my friend. Don't try to fight and resist us or your mother will be hurt too" Lucius oppressively said. "How about you calmly come with us and lets litigate it together with the kings and wizards in the Forum Hall, shall we?" he rudely added.

All Dante's plan turned out wrong, hearty-brokened and furiously frustrated because of the things Edna did to him.

"How could you do this Ed? I trusted you." Dante complained to her while walking with them handcuffed by a silver chain heading to the Forum Hall. "I'm sorry if it has to be you, this is my chance to make a difference. To capture a war-criminal." she coldly answered as if she wasn't fell with him once.

When they arrived at the Westpass hall, King Bryxton of humans, King Hogboldir of the dwarves, high wizard Zeus, King Lylvatheas and high wizard Odin of the elves, Chieftain Zuddukh of the orcs and the other high ranked leaders of other Alliance's towns and fortresses were sitting on their seats in the forum hall that were already been gathered there waiting for Dante to arrive as Lucius arranged it after he saw Maeve and Dante in the graveyard after the burial ceremony.

"Greetings to all of the majesties in here, I....here on behalf of Edna Gale, the one who captured the fugitive. I humbly present to you....'DANTE' the war criminal who's been responsible for Jamarion's death." Lucius falsely accused to Dante. "Liar! I didn't kill Jamarion! The demon did! I cannot do that to my friend! Lucius is lying!" Dante madly answered to Lucius' false accusations to him as his k-nine claws and fangs came out because of being furiously frustrated. "Look at him! will you look at him, you can see it in your own eyes! A good king will never let those demons hurt his people." all of the kings were convincedly agreed to Lucius' and decided to detained Dante in the dungeon as they were planning his execution on the coming days.

An already broken heart was broke once again, felt betrayed by the deceiving power of love and trust.

While on the other hand, a wild creature from the northern part of the GreatLand was strangely wandering inside the wall knowing that it wasn't supposed to get in, a wyvern, an ice breathing dragon was viciously attacking the priest Khael on his way onto the forum hall after Duchess Maeve ran to him and asked to help her son Dante. Khael sensed that the wyvern was something like summoned by someone, and something felt not right about what is happening right now. He managed to take down the beast but he's too late as Dante was already detained and soon to be executed.

"Do what you must to do, I can't let go of the Alliance yet." Khael told to the mysterious woman wearing a chestplate armor, a fully combat gears, and a robe with a hood and a mask covering her face... .