Of Shadows and Darkness

Chapter 12

There was a flicker of light and then darkness. But it wasn't the pitch black darkness of the nightmare realm or the sky of the fire realm. We were in a field on the edge of a forest beneath a sky full of stars. Wind blew across the field creating waves in the tall grass and in the distance city lights twinkled. I inhaled the cool, dry air.

Gregor's phone exploded with buzzing and ringing. He grumbled as he took out his phone and put it on silent mode. Before I could speak Gregor let go of me and lay onto the ground. His phone screen illuminated his face.

"Gregor are you okay?" I asked.

"Still dying," smiled Gregor sarcastically. "But I'm fine besides that."

I sighed and sat down next to him, hugging my legs to my chest. "So...Is this the demon world?"

"Yep," replied Gregor as he flicked through his notifications with his thumb.

"Are you sure? I don't know if we can trust what those fairies say." I buried my chin between my knees and looked at the far off city.

"I can feel it. Inside the earth I can feel the eternal darkness, more so than usual. Probably because I'm so empty inside," scoffed Gregor.

I tilted my head to the side. "Then shouldn't it fill you up with magic? You said demon suck up magic right? Like how the elementals would heal their shadows quickly."

"They're different from me. Despite being elementals they are from Suther and they can suck up magic more quickly. For me it'll take a lot longer."

"How come?" I asked.

Gregor sighed, "well... the eternal darkness is this magical energy that exists in the world. It's mostly underground but it's also in the air, the soil, the trees and everything else. It can gather in people's bodies as they eat and exist here. Suther people have bodies that can absorb the darkness directly. So I am still sans magic for the foreseeable future. It'll get better the longer I'm here but it'll take me months to restore the magic I've lost."

I chewed my lip. "So what should we do now? We need to get you home right?"

"Well according to my phone we're in Hesperia so travelling home is going to be a bitch," groaned Gregor.

"Where is Hesperia?" I asked. My knowledge of the geography in the demon kingdom was limited at best. I knew a few countries and cities and random facts like how England was called Albion, the continents were named after colours and Australia didn't exist.

"It's in the north of the blue continent so it's pretty close to the red continent but it's still hundreds of miles away from Pyropolis. We'll be fine if we're near a city with a portal station but if we are in the country side it'll take us time to travel to the closest city," replied Gregor.

"Pyropolis? Is that where we are going?" I asked. Pyropolis was one of the few cities from the red continent that was well know back in middle world. A few years ago there was a popular movie set in Pyropolis about a girl from middle world falling through a portal and meets a prince. From what I recall of the plot it was pretty standard romance story but most of it was filmed in the Pyropolis palace which was extravagant with large marble halls, carved stucco, mosaics, giant baths, statues and gardens. I, like most people were mesmerized by the idea of Pyropolis only to later be disappointed when I found out that outside of the palace it was just a metropolitan city and they hadn't had a monarchy in hundreds of years.

"Yeah, why?" asked Gregor raising his eyebrow at my goofy smile.

"Nothing, nothing," I muttered. "But just... out of curiosity, since there isn't a royal family what do they do with the palace?"