“I’m a freak. Everyone has something against me.”

Phantasia took advantage of the opening and slid herself onto the furthest end on the wall. “I don’t think you’re a freak!” she said, focusing on his erratic aura. He maintained barriers even Queen Thetis would have trouble penetrating, but there were faint slithers desperate to break through and form worthwhile bonds.

“That’s because you’re a freak too,” he said, making rare eye contact for the briefest moment. Phantasia inched closer.

“So, what’s wrong with you?”

Dante noticed her approach and shifted away from her, his barriers intensifying. “Last person I told never spoke to me again,”

“Try me,”

He sat in silent contemplation, then turned his back and got to his feet. “I don’t trust you,” he said, “Not yet. I’m gonna go to next lesson now,”

His aura was closed as he walked away, but Phantasia was satisfied. ‘Not yet’ meant there was still hope.

***

Yokai twirled a strand of her brilliant red hair around a finger as she watched the powerful, handsome Prince Diffaith ponder recent events. Diffaith Tanio was a faerie with a vision, who had shown Yokai the light; shown her a way to escape the self-righteous nightmare of the Fire Queendom, where Queen Amaterasu and King Hachiman tried to rally their people into believing that fighting the ‘Darkness’ and ‘forces of evil’ would bring about a better world. In Diffaith’s world, there was no ‘good’ or ‘evil’, just power. With wild, sandy-red hair and deep, carnelian eyes that always focused on the path forwards, he was a true revolutionary – nothing at all like that Phantasia Celeste, that curious pet of Queen Thetis and her logic-ridden court of fools.

“Dyfrio believes this is an acceptable outcome,” he said, “That white-haired girl is going to be bothersome, but he tells me she flutters around darkness like insects drawn to fire. Her senses are superior, so all we have to do is watch her movements and let her lead us. That town is filled with corruption and there’s a growing belief among certain circles that something is drawing it in – a powerful, magnetic force that grows by the week,”

“Yokai will find it for you!”

Diffaith shook his head. “No, you will be needed elsewhere. Tirio will handle the Torsten situation for the time being,”

She scowled. “Yokai doesn’t like Tirio. He’s too sensible and boring,”

Diffaith turned away, his wanderer’s robes sweeping behind him with a dramatic swish. “But he will get the job done. He’s the best candidate for dealing with Alastor and the manifestation ritual.”

Yokai growled at the mention of the demon’s name. Sitting on the fringes of the Underworld, incorporeal and desperate for a body, the demon Alastor had no interest in their goals! Diffaith understood, though. He held the power to bring the demons in line.

“Don’t worry,” he said, “Once we’ve secured a foothold in Torsten and its Underworld, we won’t need the help of such minor demons. Then you can do whatever you want…”

~ This was only the beginning! ~
~ Next: A new arc! ~

Chapter 25
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