A Hell Called Serestral - Chapter 28

They had been transported inside an abandoned one-story house. Dust and cobwebs were covering the ceiling, carpeted floors, and walls. There was no furniture in that residence. The door and windows were barred by mossy woods from inside and out. A dirt-covered lamp that had a shape of a five-petal flower was glued to the wall near the door.

“What should I know about the House of Maiden?” Aries asked.

“None of us had visited this place for a year,” Princess Pieffer honestly admitted. “Tauren told us that according to one of his spies, this place was slowly falling into ruin.”

From the look of that area, it seemed that the House of Maiden was worse than the House of Lion. No lights were peeking from the barred windows. Thick clouds were probably covering their skies.

Aries asked another question, “Should we divide into groups?”

“No!” Pines snapped while glaring at Aries. “We should stick together.”

“Shamans dwell in this place,” Princess Pieffer explained. “The Maiden House Leader is supposedly the Head Shaman but I heard that when corrupted souls began to break through the barriers of this house, she began to lose faith, and that quickly led into this.”

“How can we distinguish the successor?” Aries inquired at the princess but it was the prince who had given him an answer.

“According to the Book of Legends, her eyes are light yellow and her hair is white. She had no weapon but she can glimpse into the future and had a healing hand.”

“Just like how Princess Pieffer had healed us?”

“Yes, Aries,” the princess smiled.

“Do you have any more questions?” Pines was still glaring at Aries.

“None for now,” Aries called his dual blades to slash the door open but the royal siblings had quickly caught his arms.

“You don’t have to do that,” Prince Sunrei said. “We only need to do this,” he knocked at the door three times and the wooden bars had instantly shortened, causing the door to swing open.

“Let’s go,” the princess said and they cautiously walked out of the abandoned house.

As Pines were closing the door, Aries surveyed their surroundings. The door was leading to a backyard with tall grasses and bamboo trees that served as fence around the house.

“Follow me,” Prince Sunrei led the way out of the mini bamboo forest.

It took them nearly an hour before seeing a paved road that directed them towards a village that was nowhere near crumbling.

Though the sky over the entire village was covered with thick dark clouds, no corrupted souls could be seen roaming leisurely around the area. The rows of houses were we well-lighted. None of the windows were barred. The streetlamps were illuminating the streets well. The place appeared to be at peace.

“Is this an illusion?” Pines asked.

“I don’t think so,” the princess walked further into the village and peeked at one of the windows and seemed to instantly regret it.

She quickly turned her back on the window with eyes closed and red cheeks.

“What is it?” Pines glanced through the window and said, “Oh, I see.”

Aries also take a quick look and saw a naked couple lying on the couch and intensely making love with each other.

“You two, stop staring,” Prince Sunrei grabbed them by their collar and dragged them away from there and onto an empty alley.

The princess was right behind them and her cheek were still glowing red in embarrassment.

“You never meant to invade their privacy,” Aries said. “You only wanted to gather information.”

“Right, My Princess!” Pines agreed with a nod. “You don’t…”

He stopped talking because Aries put a hand over his mouth.

“I’m hearing footsteps,” he whispered and pointed at the edge of an alley where the road had branched.

From the sound of the footsteps, Aries could make out three people and they seemed to be running closer to the direction where he, the royal siblings, and Pines were standing.

“Be prepared,” he said as three people came running from the left road and went straight to the right road.

A lady was holding hands with two little girls. She had seen Aries and her eyes widened but she did not stop from running.

“Let’s go,” Aries rushed after the lady.

The royal siblings and Pines were trailing him closely but they halted at the edge of the alleyway as they saw a group of men approaching from the left road where the three girls came from.

“Possessed people,” Aries warned and called his dual blades. “Princess, please check on the girls.”

“Okay,” Pieffer followed the three girls.

“Pines, help Aries. I will protect my sister,” Prince Sunrei said before trailing the princess.

“Fine!” the Fish House Leader yelled and in his hands had manifested a dual dagger. He moved with astonishing fluidity, like a fish swimming in the water.

Within a minute he had stabbed the three men on their legs and poured holy water on their face. Corrupted souls were immediately ejected from the vessels and Aries quickly changed his dual blades into a bow, fired at the three corrupted souls, and absorbed their souls.

“Why?” one of the vessels had murmured. “Those girls… I want to taste them too…”

Aries was infuriated. His bow changed back into dual blades and he slashed the throat of the previously possessed person.

“Hey!” Pines said but Aries ignored it.

He walked over the next vessel and asked, “You want those girls too?”

“Yes. Give them to me…” before he could finish his sentence, Aries had slit his throat and moved on to the last wounded person.

“You want to die like them?” Aries asked coldly.

“Yes… kill me… I will eventually die if I stop tasting those young…”

Aries nearly severed the head of that man as he furiously waved his dual blades.

“Let’s go,” he told Pines and went after the royal siblings.

“Hey, wait,” the Fish House Leader had blocked his way.

“What?”

“You might not remember this because you forget so damn easily,” Pines started and with a serious tone. “Princess Pieffer only has her eyes on you. I hate to admit this but you also feel the same about her.”

“No…”

Pines waved a hand to silence him.

“Deny it all you want,” the Fish House Leader went on. “But your actions contradict your words. You want to protect her because you love her.”

“I already have someone in my heart.”

“No,” Pines said with a shake of his head. “That is a lie. Princess Pieffer is the one you love and she is willing to wait no matter how long it takes for you to warm up to her again. She did it once. She could do it again,” he cleared his throat before continuing, “Even though I am saying these words to you, I will never give up my love for her. Not until you two are married to each other,” he smiled with confidence as he told Aries, “Nothing stays the same,” he turned his back on Aries and said, “Let’s go.”

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Aries and Pines arrived at an abandoned one-story house. A waist-high wooden fence was surrounding the moss-covered house. Knee-high grasses covered their feet as they marched towards the porch whose floor was covered with dusts while the roof, pillars, and walls were covered with thick and prickly vines. The windows were barred from the inside while the door were made out of stone and painted like a wood. But the paint was already peeling and revealing the bricks it was trying to conceal.

Prince Sunrei was standing outside the porch, just beside the closed door.

“What are you doing here?” Pines asked. “Where is My Princess?! Why did you leave them with those girls?! What if…”

“I’m okay,” the princess yelled from inside the house. “They are not possessed. Gin-Ren and I will be coming out in a while.”

“Gin-Ren is a Goddess.”

Aries closed the mouth of Prince Sunrei that was starting to water. His eyes were glittered like the stars. He looked deeply captivated.

“He’s not possessed?” Pines whispered at Aries. “This is the first time I had seen him like that. I thought he likes men.”

Prince Sunrei glared at Pines.

“I think he’s not possessed,” the Fish House Leader beamed.

The prince put a hand over the shoulders of Pines and murmured, “You will forget my sister when you see the beautiful Goddess.”

“How dare you say that to My Princess? She is the only one for me!”

“The children are sleeping. Be quiet,” Princess Pieffer marched out the house, followed by the lady they had seen earlier.

She was now wearing the hooded fur coat of Princess Pieffer and a thin silk cloth was covering her mouth and nose. It appeared that she was trying to conceal her face but the hood and the silk cloth was not enough to hide her captivating beauty. Her wavy white hair was partly covering the right side of her face. Her light yellow eyes were glimmering like stars in the night sky. Her gaze was enticing.

Prince Sunrei was right. Her beauty was heavenly. Even Pines could not help but stare at the lady with deep admiration that was gradually turning into lust.

Aries caught their hands that were reaching out towards the enticing lady.

“You said that Princess Pieffer is the only one for you? What happened?” Aries snapped at Pines then he turned to glare at Prince Sunrei. “You are a prince. What do you think you are doing? Are you going to harass a lady? And she is the one we are looking for. Why are you being so disrespectful? She is also a knight.”

“She’s not,” Prince Sunrei and Pines had chorused, still gazing at the captivating lady with intense desire.

Princess Pieffer, on the other hand, stared at him with astonishment and she mumbled, “You can see her light yellow eyes and white hair?”

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