CHAPTER 228: AN ATTACK

Things moved on pretty quickly. Serraphi led the way, walking beside Aira while Harriet followed behind.

Rymora and Harriet made sure to put some distance between themselves and them as they quietly followed.

The hall they finally got to was bright white and elitely decorated. The walls gleamed in a way that would make anyone wonder what material was used to make them.

What was surprising for Aira was the small crowd that seemed to be waiting for her in the hall. All of them were beautifully dressed in a way that made it clear that they were from the highest class of society.

Glancing past everyone else, her gaze settled on the old man who stood right in front on the high steps with a kind face.

"He was the first messenger!" Serraphi said, informing her even as she directed her forward towards the steps.

Harriet, Rymora, and Harriet, knowing better than to follow closely beside her, all three moved to stand by the sides along with the others.

Aira was calm, something she didn’t expect to be. Maybe it had to do with the fact that most of the people of the temple dressed in white were humans, something she found surprising.

Walking up the steps, she saw that the other messengers dressed in gleaming white, which she figured was a symbol, were also humans.

"Show us the Aira Duskbane, the gift the Lord has bestowed upon you!" The old man at the very top of the stairs spoke just when she had gotten to the middle of it, even as the hall stilled into silence.

Aira didn’t hesitate, not wanting to prolong her stay there and the attention on her.

Slowly, she allowed a warm bright white light to bloom out of her. At first, the intent was to allow it to surround Serraphi, who stood beside her, and a few other people, but she smiled as she allowed the light to go further.

She had been practicing and was glad when it covered practically everyone in a way that allowed her to heal their smallest wounds.

They gasped in awe and surprise, Aira’s gaze fixed on the Vampire Lords, Lord Noctare and Lord Vitelli, who she had been surprised to see.

But she was just about to retract the light and allow it to dim when shrill noises echoed out as some people began to scream.

This confused Aira, who knew beyond doubt that the light would never hurt them, having made sure not to touch Harriet, whose condition she knew about.

But she had merely turned her gaze to the three screaming people with a confused expression on her face when she watched as their eyes turned black and they morphed into monsters she was familiar with.

Aira gasped with horror, even as all the nobles who were closest to them wailed as they darted away as fast as their legs could carry them.

Clearly, some could not run fast enough as the monsters, who seemed to have gone insane from anger, shot straight towards Aira with the foolish intention of killing her.

The hall was thrown into chaos as guards who had been sworn to protect were not all that eager to step forward, petrified in their fancy boots as they watched the monsters squash humans with their size alone.

Aira was terrified as she looked around and could think of nowhere to flee, eyes searching for Liora only to quit, recalling that she had offensive powers while hers weren’t.

It didn’t help that the three beasts were heading in her direction.

Aira instantly allowed a small dome of pure light to surround her even though she knew quite well that it wouldn’t help.

"We’re going to have fun killing you... you filthy human!" The beast growled in anger as it focused its black inky eyes on her. It looked nasty with jaws that could snap her in two with one bite.

"We should run!" Aira said, speaking to Serraphi, whom she was shocked to see was completely calm compared to how she had already imagined her death twice over.

"Run! Why would we do that!" Serraphi responded in a tone that almost made Aira question her eyesight and sanity.

The beasts were coming for her, which meant that Serraphi was definitely going to be food.

Worse, the old man behind her was the one she worried about the most, looking back expecting to see a man on the verge of a heart attack at the sight in front of him, only to see him stand there like he was standing in his living room.

"It is nice to know that the Lord helps separate wolves from His flocks... demons from sheep!" The man whispered, even as he brought out a round golden chain around his neck and began to touch his forehead, mumbling prayers under his breath.

Aira was appalled as she instantly stumbled back, unwilling to stand there and die like they all seemed to be, but even then moving back was simply prolonging the inevitable as the beast climbed the steps with utmost ease.

Two of them attacked the two messengers of light who stood on each side of the stairs. Aira, unwilling to see them gruesomely die, squeezed her eyes shut only to hear shrieks of pain from the monsters.

Eyes popping open, she saw that one of the monsters had been sliced into two and set on fire while the other had been completely frozen, unable to move, just before it began to burn too, just as fast.

Aira was stunned as she heard Serraphi begin to speak, raising her hands as the third Zygon monster realized what was happening and prepared to flee.

"We have abilities given by God. We have strength! We will not shy away from defeating demons from hell!" Serraphi said, even as the monster that had been running suddenly froze just before one of the others went ahead to set it on fire.

’Her ability is similar to Zyren’s own!’ Aira wondered in shock as she turned to look closely at the air and realized that from the very beginning a strange aura seemed to pour out of the older man, one that was clearly powerful even if she didn’t know what it did.

"The coronation is over! Come with me! Others will be led out!" Serraphi said, having to pull Aira, who still seemed to be lost in a daze at what she had just seen.

They were clearly humans, and they had power, and the thought of that excited her beyond words as she recalled what she remembered from what Zyren told her.

’The power you got is from the ritual... you could get another one!’ Realizing more than ever before that she needed something that allowed her to protect herself.

Aira was led down and through a door, and she quietly followed, even as she glanced back to see the first messenger, the old man kneeling on the altar as he heavily led the others who remained in the hall in prayers.

The lords she had seen disappear instead of helping were gone, not that she blamed them. Realizing that unlike her, who panicked, none of the people there seemed to do the same.

"Where are we going?" Aira asked her, only to get a concise answer which was completely unlike the previous response she had gotten from Serraphi.

"You’ll see when we get there."

Aira then quietly followed, surprised to walk down past a long and shaded path with trees and even past a large garden until she reached a building that was just as big as the temple she had walked out of.

It was clearly another temple, but this one was a bit smaller even though the opulence it exuded wasn’t any less.

It wasn’t until Serraphi led her through a tall iron door with keys she pulled out of her pocket and down a basement that more questions than she could stomach began to resurface onto Aira’s lips.

"Are you sure we’re going in the right path!" Aira asked, only to hear a response that wasn’t exactly a response.

"You have proved yourself so I have been given permission to show you the source of our power, Aira of Duskbane!"

"Something you shouldn’t be against since yours came from your bond to the spawn of the devil—King Zyren!" She said with a bitter tone that showed her blatant hate for him.

Still, Aira knew that it was only because they were alone that she would dare to say such a thing.

Aira was shocked, since she hadn’t been expecting Serraphi to know of such a thing, only to hear her chuckle as she continued to walk down the stairs that were so poorly lit that if not for Serraphi holding her, Aira was confident of falling.

"We weren’t sure, but your silence confirms it!" She said, even as Aira continued to keep quiet until they reached the bottom, where her eyes widened in shock as she saw a large cage.

But it wasn’t the cage that shocked her. It was the people inside.

’Vampires,’ wretched and starving, with red eyes that begged for either death or relief.

Yet what clawed at Aira’s heart was how young they were.

"What is this?" She asked the moment she could find the words that seemed stuck in her throat.