The Black Dragon Warrior

22. Prophecy

As the clock hit 12 noon mark, the four set off to their the role they had taken the night before after being alerted by Akira of suspicion of Nevan's return.

Eros and Akari went to the mountain of giants and dwarfs, where Nevan was sent to execute a wild giant that was harming the trees. No one knows where the giant was actually executed or not, but the trees were not harmed anymore.

While Eros was navigating the way and trying to find the clues, Akari was looking around the beautiful greenery, smelling flowers, and playing with small animals that would come running to her.

"Excuse me?" Eros turned to face his girlfriend, who hummed in response, not bothering to look away from the little squirrel in his hand.

"I bought you here to help, not play around."

Akari smiled, letting the squirrel go on a tree and dusted off her hands before facing Eros and placing a light kiss on his lips.

"I know." And she bounced off, wandering over to a beaver carrying a small log.

Eros shook his head and went back to analysing the area with a small smile, his lips still unable to forget the soft touch he received.

"We should go that way," Akari spoke out of the blue, retreating to her full height.

"Hm?" Eros questioned, "How are you so sure?"

"A little squirrel told me." Akari chirped, and Eros' mouth formed an O shape when he realized that his girlfriend could indeed talk to animals.

He shook his head with a smile, "I keep forgetting you speak with animals," He interlaced their fingers together and moved towards the way after placing a quick kiss on her head. "Let's go,"

^^

Akira had looked at every spot there was to look for. The second floor, first floor, every room, every drawer, and every hidden locker. 'Til now, he found nothing that he had not seen before already, nothing suspicious at all.

Her office was exactly as it has been, perfect. It's so perfect that it made him uneasy. As if his visit was already foreseen.

He ran a hand through his hair, wings sprouting out of his back to look at the ceiling, just to be sure. Looking around the area like a freaking spider-man, he stumbled across a design, quite similar to all the swirls around the ceiling. Just, this one was swirled outward, rather than inward like the others.

Anyone else wouldn't have been able to spot the difference, but it was no big deal for Akira to observe the changes.

He felt around the swirl, and his touch opened a door on the floor. Startled by the sound, Akira slipped down, falling right inside the door as it closed behind him.

With a groan, he stood up and looked at the barely lit narrow passage. It was built like an underground manhole, but it was completely clean.

"I swear to god—" He started but caught himself, remembering he would be swearing upon himself and shut his mouth. With careful steps, he navigated through the passage with the help of the fire torch mounted on the wall.

The passage seemed to go on forever with nothing at all inside, but his senses alerted when he saw an ending— more like a jail cell at the very end.

With a pounding heart, Akira ran the remaining way and squinted his eyes to look inside, finding an old man chained to the wall, sitting limply against the wall.

"Who are you?" Akira questioned, trying to see his face.

The old man opened his eyes as if it took all the effort he could put at the moment, looking at his state. But as soon as he saw Akira, his eyes widened, sparkling in hope.