Dawn- An age of Darkness

I was utterly surprised and confused once we got out. 

The reason?

The whole atmosphere was totally different. 

This forest was big and there were loads of trees and a lot of things above the ground. But- buttt! Instead of people being on the trees almost all the people were now on ground. There were still people walking above the roads but the number was small.

And the diversity had changed. 'So, those were the nocturnal types?'

It actually made sense. There were all kinds of animals. So it was natural there would be different types of demi-humans. 

And the empty places I saw last night were now ridiculed with stalls, stores, houses, and people!

But seriously, I didn't expect the difference to be this great. And there were certain races that were widely available last night were still roaming around. And by the looks, there had to be stuff below ground too! Bird types- harpies, lizardmen, monkey men, even some mermaids! Though the mermaids had their own pool of sorts and they were just jumping up from time to time.

But more importantly, I saw a rather amazing one walking this way. 

It was love at first sight. 

And I so, so I wanted to confess right away. And I would have too if I wasn't plagued with all these burdens and didn't already have a fiancée!

Actually, I still wanted to. 

And that's when I noticed the furball behind her, waving at me. I had a bad feeling about this, nay, I had a very bad feeling about this. 

"Ah, Daarc, I thought we'd miss each other. This here's Wily, my wife."

Just hearing that made me tear up. It was almost as though the wooden plate beneath shook!

Oh wait, that was just the elephant guy behind me walking by. 

The woman in front of me was the woman of my dreams. A real bunny girl, mature, good looking, and with white fluffy ears and a fluffier tail: she was wearing a cardigan of sorts. Her hair was silver and her color was porcelain. True beauty! She was average-looking, but to me, she looked like an angel, nay a goddess!

She was married though. 

Sigh. 

I sniffed, held the hand of the girl. "Congratulations!"

The furball- Zack came forward and chuckled. "How'd you know man? I just found out this morning. Ah, you must be experienced in these things." He laughed some more. "Oh and we three grew up together. Didn't think that rascal would ditch us though."

"Pleasure to meet you." The girl said softly, blushing slightly.

Wait… aaaaah….?

My head went blank. They weren't just married, no, the girl was pregnant. It made sense. The way Zack talked, it really made sense. 

I chuckled. I chuckled at my fate. 

"Sigh* we're getting late, so let's go." A hooded girl just dragged me away. 

"See ya later, pal," I said my goodbye. But I sure didn't want to meet them ever again. 

"It's a shame we didn't get to talk, but- thank you for being his friend. He was such a loner back in the day." The bunny girl said, smiling. "I'm glad he got to live his dreams."

I was scarred for life. But- "Yeah, no problem." After all, at the time I was kind of a loner too. And I kind of liked his slicing BS.

After dragging me to a certain distance, the hooded girl grumbled.  "I knew you had a thing for rabbits but I didn't know your fetish was this deep." Viola apparently just assumed that this was my fetish. 

Well, technically she wasn't wrong. I always wanted to meet actual bunny girls but I never got to. Alisa didn't count as I was morally conflicted and the same went for Biteria. But- now I was morally conflicted too. 

Even if I could find a girl, then what? I couldn't just cheat on Lianne. And I knew that too.

But I kind of got overwhelmed a little that was all. At least I sure hope that was all. 

Crying wasn't going to get me anywhere, so I just pulled myself up and walked ahead. 

To a brighter future!

"Stop acting like a moron and let's go." And she just had to ruin the moment!

I didn't know why but this girl was really pissed off for some reason and so was the bunny. Both were glaring very intently. 

'Can't you just let a guy dream?'

***

It took us a good deal of walking before we made it to the castle. 

Was this tree big? No, it was massive. Even the twigs were fatter than me. The branches were fatter than the trees around this place. And the actual trunk of the tree was as at least wider than Alfeim palace- and that too, was a massive palace.

The leaves? Almost as big as me if not bigger.

'Would anyone survive if they jumped from the top?'

The castle was built right inside the tree trunk. And while the castle was tall and multi-floored, the tree was just bigger. Some of the entrances and rooms were carved from the tree while others were made outside the tree with wooden planks as support. I had a feeling the tree wasn't happy about all this carving business, but it was still alive, so I guess that was fine- probably.

We were stopped at the gates, both of us. Even with the uniform, the girl got stopped and when she took off her hood, everyone just made salutes and stood out of the way. 

Well, that was easy.

Too easy. 

"Your highness!"

A man came to get us immediately. A rugged soldier, about my age- maybe a year or two older. He had lots of scars on this face and for some reason, he didn't like me.

He did act as our guide though. No one really asked us any questions. 

The inside of this tree was kind of complicated and mazelike and there were vines everywhere. The walls were made of wood- to no one's surprise. Things weren't that decorated and pixies were everywhere. The soldiers had a very awkward expression, meaning, something was up. 

And there weren't that many soldiers around.

This guy led us straight to the throne room, which was located at the top. And there was a freaking lift in this place but it was made possible through vines and clever engineering. Though this guy claimed that with the engineering they had, they didn't need anyone pulling and the lift worked like magic, I had a hard time believing that. They probably had some slaves pulling stuff along the way. 

After all, though magic existed, it wasn't this cheap or free for the matter.

He spoke with the guard just outside the throne room, the guard went inside and after a while, the door opened. 

'This is too easy.' And if something was too good to be true, it really was. I knew from experience. 

As we entered, the princess's face went pale. 

The guards stayed outside.

She looked on the throne and her lips moved. "Uncle."

'Oh boy.'

"Welcome, princess Viola and- adventurer." The duke was in his mid-forties but his voice was rather deep and kind of profound? He looked like a cross between a lion and an elf. 

This whole room was mostly just dark. There weren't any pixies in here and the son of the duke was just sitting pretty by the throne. I had a feeling there were a lot of soldiers in here but they were concealed well. 

Viola shook for a moment but bowed a second later. I followed her suit. 

"Please stand up, there's no need for such formalities." The duke chuckled. Was it me or did his face seemed a bit, artificial?

I guess he was just putting up a show. 

I did stand up and then I noticed the lion guy in the corner glaring at me. What was his name again, Eddy? Eduwar? Edward? Oh yeah, Edward. 

Right! I was proud of myself for getting one name right!

"But lord Uncle, did something happen to father?" Viola spoke, a bit shook. 

'Lord Uncle?' I could roll my eyes but I didn't. 

"He is experiencing slight health issues, it's nothing serious. Come I'll take you to him. And-" He glanced at me. "How much were you promised?"

So, he was just going to dismiss me?

'What should I do now?'

There were plenty of soldiers here and we were supposed to lay low, till all our comrades got in and at the very least we found the missing prince and the princess. This place was a maze, so me just running around wasn't going to get me anywhere either. 

But- could I- could I really hand over Viola knowing she'd be either killed or imprisoned? We were supposed to hand her over to her father, but if things already got this screwed up, wouldn't it just mean we were throwing her away?

It wasn't like I'd gotten attached, no, but- I gave her my word. And if I didn't follow suit, wouldn't it mean, I was betraying her? Like the people betrayed me before?