DMHS 75

In the bright midday when the sun rises, the light that the moon sheds is dim. However, when the pitch dark night arrives, wanderers walk relying on moonlight, and lovers whisper love beneath the faint glow of the moon.

Now that everyone has lost their way in darkness, it was inevitable that Kian looked like he alone was shining. In a changing environment, to stay in one’s place without being swept away was a difficult matter.

‘Whether dim light can drive away darkness is another matter.’

Lucien followed behind Kian with his arms folded.

The fact that the actions of his mate, which once had been nothing but troublesome, now felt little by little interesting was something he could not deny.

***

That night. Kian opened his eyes in bed.

He came down carefully from the bed so that no sound would be made, and he checked the bed across. He saw Lucien sleeping soundly with the blanket pulled up to his chest.

‘I was not supposed to go out tonight, but I cannot do that.’

Judging by where the moon had risen, there was not much time left.

The window seemed to open slightly, then the window closed and Kian disappeared.

Soon after, Kian was running in the middle of the desert. His legs strengthened with mana carried Kian quickly to his destination.

‘So here it is.’

He arrived at the location where black magic was assumed to have been used. A large cave was situated at a place some distance away from the oasis village.

However, at the entrance stood a statue shaped like a large snake, and since candles with flames lit were densely placed, it seemed not to be an ordinary cave.

Kian lowered his body, he looked around, and entered the cave. On the ceiling carved from stone, colorful ceiling paintings were drawn.

‘Are those thornbushes and black tulips?’

Because everyone had vacated their places due to the chieftain’s passing, there was no presence felt around. Kian entered the cave carefully.

The cave grew deeper and wider. Flat marble was spread on the floor, and the pillars that supported the cave were decorated with finely carved works that added refined beauty.

At the end of it, what Kian discovered was a chapel.

There were cushions arranged in rows so that people could sit, and in front of them a high podium was set. Behind it was carved a symbol in which snakes, thornbushes, and black tulips were gathered.

It was clearly a temple that served Yahdreir, the god of destruction.

Kian jumped up to the podium and searched every corner. If black magic had been carried out in the temple, the location was most likely the podium.

‘Not this.’

Kian lifted and set down a branch of an old tree that decorated the podium.

‘Not that either.’

He checked a flowerpot into which a heap of sand had been poured.

‘Wait a moment.’

Kian bent his waist and looked at the floor.

Now that he thought about it, on the inner side of the podium faint marks of a magic circle remained.

Kian put his hand over the circle and infused mana.

Whoosh.

His sight grew bright, and he felt his body sink.

When he regained his senses, Kian had fallen into an unfamiliar place that was not the chapel.

‘Where is this place?’

Seeing the carpet laid on the floor and the bookshelves that filled the walls, it looked like someone’s study.

On a desk made of solid wood, piles of paper were placed. Flipping through the front pages quickly, Kian realized these were contents related to the temple’s budget. On the very last page, there was a signature field for the confirmer, and there was only one blank spot.

‘High Priest… so this must be the chieftain’s office.’

The chieftain had nothing to do with this affair.

‘I need to search other places as well.’

Kian tried to find the exit and go out. However, before he reached the door, his appearance reflected in a full-length mirror leaning against the wall.

A demon with silver hair that reached down to his waist and black wings.

“……!”

Kian turned his body and stood before the mirror again.

It had not been his mistake. Whenever the Kian inside the mirror blinked, long eyelashes moved up and down, and crimson pupils appeared.

‘Is it a sacred relic?’

The mirror relic in Delia Chieftain’s office.

Kian recognized the identity of the mirror.

‘The chieftain must have known the future through this.’

The chieftain was a mysterious man. People said the chieftain had the ability of foresight, but Kian’s thought was different.

No one in the world could see the future.

That was natural. The future was not fixed. The future changed every moment.

However, there was a method that made something similar possible.

‘Peeking into another parallel dimension.’

Ordinary people lived confined to a single world. But this world was not the only one.

Within the vast heavens and earth, dimensions that existed were countless.

Most dimensions had different ways of life. There were dimensions where no living beings existed, and there were dimensions so crowded that there was no room to step. The Dragon Realm where Hellenos lived was also one among the many dimensions.

Most dimensions had nothing to do with the present world, but the place called the parallel world was different.

That was a dimension that divided with the birth of this world.

In the case of the parallel world, large incidents that happened in the world carried similar tendencies.

However, sometimes small incidents brought great change.

Kian thought that the parallel dimension could become proof for the claim that destiny existed in the world, and it could also become grounds for refuting it.

There was also a more direct reason why Kian guessed the mirror’s use.

‘The goddess gave Pulvius Delia a mirror that could move into the parallel world.’

Pulvius Delia, the founder of the Delia tribe.

In the past he had been a hero who defeated the Demon King together with Kian.

Pulvius was a man who received the goddess’s love abundantly. Because of that, when he wanted to lead the Delia tribe and leave the kingdom, the goddess gave a blessing. She also gifted a sacred relic that allowed glimpses of the future indirectly through the parallel world.

‘Then can I also go to the parallel dimension through this?’

Curious, Kian went close to the full-length mirror. Kian’s right hand touched the mirror’s edge.

Then just as when he had moved into the chieftain’s study, his sight brightened.

Whoosh.

This time Kian fell into the corridor of the cave that he had passed while heading to the chapel. He looked around.

‘So it was not a sacred relic but an item that moved space.’

Kian touched the back of his neck and tilted his head.

‘If I go like this, I will end up outside.’

At that moment a strong wind blew from the entrance.

Swaaah.

The wind put out all the candles that lit the corridor. The corridor was filled with darkness instantly.

Kian stopped with one foot stretched out. A faint breath escaped between his tightly shut lips.

“……”

“……”

Silence. The surroundings were quiet. No energy could be felt in the field of mana.

But the instincts of a swordsman who had crossed countless life and death boundaries shouted.

‘If I move one step further from here, I will die.’

His mouth went dry. Wrapped in unknown tension, Kian moved his hand little by little and pulled out his dagger. While he grabbed the end of the handle and twisted, wind blew from behind.

Kian rolled forward to avoid the wind and quickly raised his body. When he turned back, he saw a figure standing still.

The silhouette looked far too familiar. There was no need to sense the other’s mana.

Kian muttered with his mouth open.

“Lord… Lucien?”

A reply came from the other side.

“It is you.”

But the other’s voice was not normal. Unlike the heavy content, the voice sounded strange. It was the voice of the young Lucien that he heard after a long time.

Now that he thought about it, the faintly visible silhouette was the same. Unlike the present when he had grown through the journey for the coming-of-age, the one standing before Kian was the young figure he saw in the palace.

‘Did something happen?’

Worry came first. Kian took one step closer to the other.

“Has your body become small?”

“Become small?”

“Nothing happened while you were asleep, right? How did you know that I was here and come?”

“……”

A short silence passed.

Then ssshhk, a sound of air being cut came. Kian twisted his head and rolled aside.

Before he knew it, in the spot where Kian had stood, Lucien was there with one hand raised in a thrusting stance.

Kian licked his lips with his tongue. Holding the dagger and taking a full defensive stance, he spoke.

“You are not my Lord Lucien.”

No answer returned from the opponent.

The silhouette seemed to vanish into the darkness, then an attack came at his legs. Kian jumped up from his place to dodge and stepped back three steps.

Inside the cave with the lights out, it was pitch dark. He spread the field of mana, but as before, he didn’t feel Lucien’s mana. In the end, with sight and mana blocked, what Kian could rely on was nothing but instinct.

‘It feels like fighting with eyes closed.’

Kian focused on the flow of wind. Even if he hid presence, he could not block the movement of air that came from motion.

‘Left side.’

Whish.

His prediction hit. Kian raised his left arm and blocked the attack. Even so, a wound from a blade opened on Kian’s arm.

‘He clearly did not have a weapon.’

He only struck down with gathered hands, yet Kian could not understand why a wound from something sharp appeared.

‘Blocking alone will not do.’

Kian turned his body and closed his eyes.

‘Right side.’

He immediately raised his dagger vertically and blocked the hand blade. Since it was blocked by the blade, it was natural that he should feel pain, yet the opponent left only a faint breath and retreated.

‘Head.’

Kian bent his waist and avoided the attack again. Using the next recoil, he stretched his blade straight. It was an attacking motion that connected smoothly after defense.

Sssk.

Kian’s blade barely cut the other’s clothes. If he had added more strength, piercing the body beyond the clothes would also have been possible, so it was clear that he had held back.

“This is not like you, ridiculous.”