Dawn- An age of Darkness

The whole way was just grasslands. 

The dirt here was mostly reddish-brown in color. Though the color was reminiscent of wastelands, there were plenty of trees here and there. And most of the place was just covered in grass. The animals here were also alive. 

Definitely not something I would expect of the demon lands. 

Actually, just what was I expecting?

Nothing but barren wastelands?

"So, how would you explain what Galbatia is to someone who doesn't know anything about this place."

The girl was walking beside me. 

She was awfully quiet for the last hour or so. I'd given her my other set of clothes, which actually weren't washed but she didn't care at this point. She just wanted something to wear. 

"This place is separated into three factions."

"Factions?"

"We rarely get outsiders, so it's normal you wouldn't know." And she already assumed I was an outsider, though I guess that was a fair guess at this point. "But everyone here knows. Zeriath faction is eternally loyal to the emperor and they're the most prestigious of the demons. And they mostly reside in the capital. The Seriath faction are the neutral ones who live in other cities but are still loyal to the empire, if not the emperor. And lastly, the cities such as ours who aren't really loyal to either but care for their own wellbeing first: the Meriath faction."

Made sense. Though I didn't expect the last faction to be a thing. 

Though it also made sense why there'd be trouble regarding that. 

"You mentioned a war. Are demons waging war?"

It was only a matter of time. 

The emperor had said he wanted to wage war, in case I failed. And I did fail.

But I had a feeling he would have waged war regardless. 

And now that I was technically out of the way, nothing stopped him. 

"Yes." 

"Against humans?"

My throat was oddly dry. 

I tried drinking water, but that didn't quite do anything. 

"Everything actually. This war would be brutal and…" She paused. "We might get wiped out. A small city like ours… we'll definitely get wiped out."

I guess that was a fair guess. 

But the demons were numerous. And their empire was pretty much twice the size of the rest of the continent. And demons themselves were stronger than men, perhaps not as strong as elves in general, but they were fairly strong.

And with the emperor and his monarchs or whatever, it didn't seem likely that they'll lose a war, assuming they could drag it for long enough. 

Meaning, humanity was screwed. 

"And yet, they are still making you guys go to war." I still didn't know enough. 

If the demons were actually going to war, there was a chance, the emperor wouldn't go to the war, personally. But his monarchs and that lot would surely go to the war, meaning, I'd have a better shot. 

To what cost, that was the question.

"Well," She chuckled. "War funds are a great way to become rich."

I almost chuckled too. "You do have a point."

We kept on going. 

It didn't take the sun long to go down and night to befall. 

***

As usual, the night sky was bright and the light was enough to actually see everything. 

"The moon," I paused. "Why can't we see it outside Galbatia?"

My dry throat kind of started hurting. I drank water but water wasn't good enough.

Maybe I needed to eat something…. That said, I did eat a bird but it wasn't enough. 

I only felt mildly satiated. 

"We can't?" She said, cocking her head to the side. 

"I haven't been to other continents, so I can't say for sure. But outside this place, I don't think we can see the moon. At least not in the human or elven cities."

There were supposedly three known continents. Though since all three were connected, it was hard for me to imagine them as separate continents- to me they were basically just neighboring countries. 

Men and the elves lived on one. The demons on the other one and the dwarves were in the middle of the two continents. Now the definition of continents, countries, and cities were rather small in this world. 

In my terms, I'd say all these three continents combined were maybe half the size of Canada back on earth. 

But that was just my perspective and just a guess. And as Jowy and the old man had said, there was plenty left to explore past these three places. 

"Well, it doesn't do us any good, so I don't know why one would be concerned." She looked up. 

The moon- the almost falling apart moon, was up there, shining. 

'It doesn't do any good, huh?'

Maybe she was right. Maybe she wasn't. 

It was time for dinner. 

I was oddly hungry. 

Just moments ago, I'd eaten a bird. 

And yet, I couldn't really stop salivating. 

My throat was so dry, I could just drink all the liquid of this world. 

Liquid… blo…

I had a bad feeling about this and I had to do something fast. 

With shaking hands, I tried to pull out food from the ring: two swans.

But I couldn't. 

My vision went red before that. 

And my body started moving. 

The sweet smell…

The sweet-

"Are you okay?" I could hear her voice- but it was almost as though it was through a filter of sorts. "Are you OKAY!?"

I didn't know, I didn't think. 

I couldn't think. 

My body moved. 

Almost like that night. 

And almost like that- everything went red. 

I found myself on top of the girl, my hands pinning her arms down. My teeth sticking out, were they always this long?

Her eyes were shimmering but she didn't cry and just tilted her head, exposing her neck. 

That nape- those veins… blood.

BLOOD!

The sweet life juice. 

I dived in.

'What am I doing?'

And then stopped by biting my own arm.

Bluerregh!

I guess my meat wasn't for eating. 

I breathed hard. My vision was still red, but I somehow pulled out a bird from my ring. I didn't care about the feathers, I just ate. 

I just ate. 

And tried to calm down. 

'It was only a matter of time, I guess.'

I breathed.

As I calmed down, I stopped breathing again. 

My vision wasn't red anymore. The urge had passed. 

But it was only a matter of time.