The Devil's Cursed Witch

As per decorum, Aureus gave a polite greeting towards the King of Agartha and his mate, but Morpheus simply ignored Draven and spoke to Ember with a dismayed smile. “Well, I was thinking of inviting you to join me and Aureus in touring some of the scenic spots you hadn’t seen beyond the Forest of the Elves …but…I guess not today.”

With this pretty little lady smelling so enticingly sweet, not even Morpheus had the confidence he could resist. He was scared of the beastly instincts inside him.

Seeing how Morpheus changed his plan on his own, Ember realized it was probably due to the smell brought about by her so-called fertile days. Ember was reminded of Draven’s instruction of staying away from those of the shapeshifter race.

“Hmm, maybe some other day,” Ember agreed. “But then, I already made plans for today so I would have declined. I will be visiting the territory of the witches with Erlos.”

“It’s good that you are no longer trapped within this stuffy palace.” His words were directed to Draven who never took her out of the palace. “Enjoy your trip then. You can come with me some other time. I believe you still enjoy flying more than riding a horse.”

“If you wish to visit places with her, then accompany her  on horseback, Morpheus.” Draven  didn’t say Ember could not go with Morpheus, but this could only work on the condition that there was no unnecessary skinship between them. Not to mention, he didn’t want his mate to grow dependent on flying with another man, much less a beastman at that. She should get used to riding a horse until she grows her magic enough to cast flight spells, though of course, no one knows how many years into the future that would be.

But Morpheus just snorted in derision at Draven’s words.

“A Divine Eagle riding a horse? Are you serious?” The man with ash gray hair rubbed his face in disbelief. “I don’t know about you, but nature has given my people wings for a reason, and I am determined to stay faithful on using these wings. But then again, a Dragon like you can’t understand the joy of stretching your wings to fly, right? Given your ugly gigantic body and wings, the moment you use your beast form, a single wrong flap of your wings can destroy a third of a city.”

Draven simply threw him a flat glare that showed him how annoying his nonsense was. “Focus on your nephew who will be leaving soon. You won’t want to miss this time with him.”

Morpheus smirked. “Sometimes, you happen to say useful things. Anyways, I merely dropped by to inform you that I will be taking care of the issue on the border  so you don’t have to worry about it. You should be grateful I am in a better mood lately.”

Draven merely raised his gloved hand in a dismissive gesture. Morpheus was the Commander of the kingdom’s warriors, but ever since he lost his family, he had been neglectful of the less important warrior work and would generally be active during wartime. He was an idler on most days, refusing to deal with his clan elders and oftentimes would simply take afternoon naps among the trees in another territory. It was truly rare for him to volunteer for work he was not responsible for.

Morpheus then looked at Ember, throwing a casual, “Little female, see you then,” before winking at her playfully and flying away with Aureus.

When the two eagles flew far enough from the palace, Aureus voiced out something he noticed. “You like that human girl, don’t you?”

“One can always recognize one of his own kind,” Morpheus replied, “just like how you like the Queen of Megaris.”

Aureus didn’t reply to the straightforward words of his uncle and merely quietly flew behind him. Morpheus said nothing as well; if not him, who else could understand Aureus’ situation? It was truly a farce of fate for this pair of uncle and nephew to share similar pains.

After some time of them flying without exchanging a single word, Aureus cleared his throat. “Where are we going today?”

“At the westernmost region of the kingdom. It’s the border between the human territory and the territory of the elves. These days, the humans living there have been creating trouble just because the soon-to-be queen of this kingdom is a human being.”

“I don’t think such an internal matter of this kingdom should be shown to a guest?”

“You speak as if you’re an outsider,” Morpheus scoffed. “I wish you to see how things work here since Agartha is the land you will return to in future.”

Aureus didn’t agree nor deny this suggestive remark. It didn’t take them long to land on a side of a cliff that bordered the edge of the thick abundant forest, a natural fortress made of trees and rocks seemingly interlinked with magic. If one were human, they would have difficulty distinguishing the fortress from the rest of the forest from a distance.

Just as the two eagles landed, warriors donning appearances that hinted their clans and origins left their guard posts and greeted Morpheus and Aureus.

The men saluted Morpheus.

“Greetings, Commander Morpheus.”

And then, while the others bowed, for those with wings on their backs, they knelt in front of Aureus.

“We welcome the Lord of the Feathered Races,  Divine Eagle Aureus.”

Aureus was shocked; not only because he learned something new about his easygoing uncle, but also because he found not only shapeshifters, even other races treated him like a king.

The young eagle ordered them to rise, and then turned to his uncle. “Commander?”

“Well, unfortunately, I still am,” Morpheus responded with a defeated sigh. “Though I normally stay away from all these, when there are issues, I have to step in.”

Aureus could not help but feel a little proud that his relative was an outstanding person. After all, from what he had seen so far about Agartha, they would not give titles or responsibilities to those without skills.

One dark-skinned beastman who seemed to be the leader of the fortress led Morpheus and Aureus around. While walking on top of the rampart of the fortress, the leader informed Morpheus of the recent attacks. It wasn’t that there was negligence in their patrol; it was just that the security was too focused on preventing the humans from entering that their lack of manpower allowed the Wild Elf Clan to find a blindspot and attack the human villages. Morpheus then began instructing the beastman incharge on what to do with the patrol schedule and how to tackle the issue of the breach.

Aureus observed how serious everyone was with the breach of security and the expected counterattack of the humans.

‘Powerless human beings against the supernatural beings blessed with powers…isn’t the result obvious?’

Once Morpheus dismissed the beastman incharge, Aureus asked his uncle, “Can I ask a question?”

“Hmm?”

“With this natural fortress being guarded by supernatural beings, do you really have to worry about humans that much?”

But Morpheus’ response was a sneer. “Do you think we are acting like fools?”

“I don’t mean that but—”

“Don’t take humans lightly. Never, ever do that, Aureus,” Morpheus said with a serious tone. “Agartha has learned that lesson in the most painful way.”

“It’s just…I find it hard to believe. How can they pose a threat to us when supernatural beings not only have magic but also stronger bodies?”

“They don’t possess powers but they have a great gift that allowed them to dominate the continent.”

“Gift?”

Morpheus nodded.

“A treacherous mind.”

He continued, “We supernatural beings are naturally arrogant. We boast that we are the blessed children of the world, that we are superior to the obviously weaker human race, and that we have nothing to worry about. But the human race are also beings created to inhabit the world, and nature has its own way of balancing all life forms. While humans have many fears as they don’t possess magical powers or bloodline talents, they have strong reproductive abilities, and wisdom to go along with their ambition and greed.

“Because they are the weakest race, they would willingly do things they wouldn’t do and willingly abandon even their morals to gain strength. At first, it was a matter of survival but always, always, their inferiority gets them and they would try to prove themself that they are not weak and they feel entitled for more and more of whatever their desires are, be it our treatment of them or resources. That treacherous mind of theirs let no one be in peace.”

“I do not think it is fair that you generalize humankind like this,” Aureus countered. “There are humans I know—”

“The things I speak of, they are things not only I, but many residents of this kingdom have experienced. Like I said, Agartha has learned its lesson,” Morpheus responded. “We too once believed that not all humans are like that, but if we are to fall into the same thinking after we experienced their treachery and greed over and over again, that would be an insult to our intelligence as well as those who sacrificed their lives for us.”

Seeing Aureus quiet down with an unconvinced expression, Morpheus sighed.

“Fine, it must be hard for you to relate because you didn’t grow up in Agartha, nor did you experience such an unfortunate thing, but I am sure you have observed the humans in the Kingdom of Megaris, yes?

“Are all the people in that royal palace united? Say, do you not see the infighting between noble families? What about kingdoms? Why are there wars? Do you deny the fights they have among humans for the sake of power?

“No king is satisfied with what they have, and even though they don’t have supernatural beings as a threat in your part of the continent, they treat other humans as a threat. There is a constant power struggle between them…alas, it’s a tiring life those humans live. I don’t understand why those short-lived humans struggle so much when they should just enjoy those several decades in harmony. You won’t see that here in Agartha. Here we follow rules and morals and we believe in living in peace. We don’t have to fight our own kind for any kind of power. We are happy to live a greed-free existence and simply enjoy being children of nature, cherishing this abundance and long life.”

“I cannot deny what you said,” Aureus replied as he remembered how wars often happen between the human kingdoms. Didn’t Drayce become renowned, gaining the reputation of a Devil King, precisely because of his achievements in the battlefield? Didn’t Megaris become the largest kingdom exactly because it waged wars and conquered territories to expand its land?

While living by Drayce’s side, Aureus had witnessed so many of them and considered it as a normal course of life. But Agartha, it was different. It was peaceful.