Standing before the Throne of Power were the five individuals left from the party of six that had gone after Damien Terrace.
King Derek stared deep into their eyes, his fingers tapping on the armrest of his throne. One could feel the dissatisfaction that filled them but the king refused to speak.
Along with the King and the team of five standing in front of the king was a huge figure completely covered in silver armor as well. Hia armor however, has intricately woven lines that stretched all over it in black lines. This figure, standing behind the king’s throne with a domineering aura, remained silent, watching everything that was about to play out.
“Your Highness, if I may…” Jack was the first to break the eerie silence that filled the throne room. He wasn’t comfortable and since their supposed leader, Gerald wouldn’t speak. It was up to him who’d made the call to return home.
The king squinted and shifted his eyes, landing them on Jack who chose to reveal himself to the king. King Derek hasn’t seen the man’s face the previous time as the hood he wore completely covered the face.
“Were you the one with a hood last time?” King Derek asked, hoping to satisfy his curiosity with that question.
“Yes, your Highness.” Jack said with a deep bow that completely revealed his sky-blue long hair. For a moment, King Derek was stunned as having such a hair color was… rare.
It is widely believed that those with rare hair colours often grow up powerful if they ever thread the path of a Demon Hunter. It wasn’t a confirmed theory but it was also undisputed as those they’d found everytime, were experts at demon exterminations.
Remembering Jack’s request, the king nodded. “Yes. You may.”
With that, Jack let out a sigh of relief. He’d been afraid the king wouldn’t let him speak as he wasn’t the assigned leader of the group as ordered by the King himself but now that he’d gotten permission to speak, he was relieved.
Gerald wouldn’t speak up and Jack didn’t know if it was due to shock, fear or even shame. He didn’t even bother raising his head to meet the king’s eyes and simply kept his head bowed.
As for the ladies, it was obvious to Jackand anyone else in the room that they had no place speaking before the king while the men were quiet.
The only other person who could’ve spoken besides Gerald and Jack was Darius but currently, he wasn’t in the position to say a word. He was grieving the loss of his twin brother. His red eyes made unspoken promises about returning to the Forest of Twin Disasters to avenge his brother.
Jack weighed all of these before finally speaking. “My King, the forest is filled with untold dangers as we already know.”
King Derek nodded his head in agreement with Jack’s statement. It was well known among Demon Hunters that the said forest was one of the most dangerous place for average low ranked hunters. They could be dead minutes after arrival and if they were lucky, they would last a day or two.
“Upon arrival, we made no contact whatsoever with any being or creature and so immediately set out to work, searching the forest area for any sign of life but we found none.” Jack b gan to provide the king with a report of how the story has gone from his point of view.
“It hadn’t been three hours since we arrived when we were suddenly attacked by nothing other than a demon. It’s attack was so sudden and powerful that we would have died if it wasn’t for Darius and his now late brother, Garius.”
Jack turned toward Darius for a second before he continued. “The demon was indeed formidable, making our leader, Gerald relive a memory that was traumatic for him. This made him vulnerable and seeing that we couldn’t afford to lose our leader, I stepped it. But it was already too late. He’d managed to get to our leader the first time.”
Jack went on to explain also that after facing the demon, he’d discovered that it was on the same level as him meaning it would be easy to deal with. Gerald was a stronger hunter than him which would even make the defeat faster.
After Jack snapped Gerald out of him traumatic memory, Gerald had joined the battle against the demon. Jack had stayed back to keep an eye on the environment and ensure everything was going smoothly and within minutes, they had dealt a lot of damage to it. And just when they wanted to finish it off, a new intruder arrived.
“Your Highness, we all are aware why it is called the Forest of Twin Disasters, right?” Jack asked, his seemingly rhetorical question drawing the attention of his dazed comrades.
It was common knowledge why the forest was named so. “That’s because it is greatly infested by the only two things that can threaten humanity’s existence. Demons and Magic Beasts. They do not feed on each other because of their contrasting taste.” King Derek explained, answering Jack’s rhetorical question.
“While Demons simply want us dead for no apparent yet, Magic Beasts would do anything for our magic essence. However, since Demons have tainted magic essence and magic beasts with pure magic essence would only go after puree essence, their paths almost never cross.”
Jack heard the king’s explanation and smiled deeply. “That is correct, your Highness.”
“However, while we simply believed those two are the existences that can threaten us, that does not seem to be the case.” Jack shook his head as he thought of how the intruder had simply entered the battlefield and devoruing the demon whole.
“Your Highness, I believe there is a third existence in the forest that poses a bigger threat. A monster that threatens the existence of not only humans but demons as well.”
Understanding his point, the others nodded in approval which forced the king to ask, his curiosity piqued. “What is this thing or being you speak of?”
“Before we could defeat the demon, a creature the shape of a large drop of thick blood suddenly arrived, devouring the demon whole. As though that wasn’t enough, this creature proceeded to devour our sixth member in the same way it did to the demon.”
“Hmmm… I’ve never heard of anything like that from the Forest of Twin Disasters.” King Derek muttered, rubbing his chin.
“Your Highness, with this new threat, it is no longer a forest of twin disasters. It is now a Forest of three calamities.” Jack pointed out, his words reminding the king of the third existence.