{Please read on a laptop if possible}

"The reason why we must put on an armour of god is to withstand evil.
We don't war against people,
but a spiritual hierarchy of invisible power,"

~Stormie Omartian

{The night before Becky's capture}

"Hah!" Cecilia yelped as she hit the wooden pillar with her sword that held Felipe's and her shared room. 

"Someone is learning," Felipe said as he leaned his shoulder onto the doorframe and crossed his arms, smirking, given the sight of his wife wearing a doublet. 

"Felipe, how would you feel looking at me wearing armour?" Felipe's expression turned unsettled and he sighed before managing to answer. 

"I'd be proud to see my wife become a warrior, not a worrier," 

He neared her and confiscated the sword. 

"What in the heavens are you doing?" She asked. 

"You've hardly had anything to eat and a warrior needs the proper supper to be healthy and strong," He replied as he placed a peck on her cheek and placed the sword into its katana on the bed.

"I'll make you some beef olives, my love," 

He went up behind her and gripped her shoulders from both sides and slightly pushed her forward out of the room, leading her to the bath.

"Clean up, my little ruby," He said, making her blush. 

"Alright, alright," 

She proceeded to remove her doublet, to reveal the thin white material of her inner clothing. She began to have problems trying to undo the lace and faced some struggles trying to untie it. 

"Love! I need some help!" She called out. Felipe came up to the entrance of the bath and got what she was trying to say from the way her fingers intertwined with the stubborn knot of lace. "I do not think this is going to end as per my imagination,"

Felipe walked closer to her and undid it slowly but this time, thought of taking the clothing off her, to take one pleasing and elongated glance at her smooth, milky skin. He slipped the cloth off one of her shoulders and smirked as he leaned his head closer to the part between the crook of her neck and her shoulder blade. He placed his plump and rosy lips on her skin, also tasting it. 

"Mmm, you still taste as milky as I tasted on the night before our wedding," 

Cecilia widened her eyes and tried to repel his body to turn around and throw herself at him but he was fast enough to grip her arm and turn her around. His hand slithered to her wrist and picked it up, to place her palm on his chest. 

"Do you feel it?" He asked before she gulped, his heart plummeting inside his chest, the excitement to just tear her clothes off and ravage every inch of her immaculate skin beginning to burst out of the flames of control. 

"That is how just your skin makes me feel. You can't imagine how all of your frames make me want to take you every moment," He said, a shade of crimson spreading to his cheeks, as he put up a straightforward and burly face, expressing himself completely. 

"F-Felipe, stop it, I-I will-"

She tried to form a statement but was interrupted by a deep kiss being placed on her lips. She gave in immediately and let his tongue dive into hers. His hands slithered to her back and gripped both the sides of the opening of her upper garment and pulled it apart, the lace not able to hold back.

"Heavens, you are the most alluring and enthralling woman in the world," He said before biting and sucking on her earlobe and mumbling something. 

"And you are mine. Only mine," 

Her hands began to travel to his chest, undoing the lace of his upper garment as well. 

"Some beauty is in a hurry," Felipe said smugly as he got rid of her lower garments, leaving her completely bare, clutched with his clothed body. 

"You started it...master," She whispered as she also tore his upper garment into half and hurled it aside. 

"What about supper?" Felipe's cheeky grin couldn't contain himself as he asked that on purpose but what he heard, left him dumbfounded.

"That can wait. I'd like to feast on the one in the facade of my eyes,"

***

The sword smeared with the blood of its victims, hung in the clutches of her hands as she walked to the throne just to see it empty after reaching it halfway. She then swivelled her view to Sapphirus, who was standing at a distance from her figure. He got a little startled as his hand went right to the side of his waist, looking for his sword but it was nowhere to be found. Her grimace grows more as she approaches Sapphirus faster. He panics more and more as he continues to brace himself. She tried to grab his throat but he dodges her and places a kick on her thigh. But she doesn't flinch and Sapphirus stares at her with his eyes widened, scared for his life now. She takes the opportunity and grabs him by his throat and lifts him. 

"You dare try to injure the wrong person?!" She asked. 

"Where is that demon?!" She asks right after she drops him to the ground. 

"I-I do n-not know," Sapphirus managed to cough those words out, trying to breathe. 

"Child, I know this is your subconscious but why don't I see the demon in it? Every single night I follow that filthy creature, yet I do not find him here. How?" She asks as she clutches the collar of his white upper garment. 

"I do not know what demon you talk about," He said. 

She looked closely into his eyes and saw a blue Slytherin viper circle his right pupil. "No, you can't be. How has he not killed you yet?" The girl asked him in a lower voice. 

"I truly do not know what you mean," 

With that, she placed her thumb on his forehead, her fingers placed on the side of his head making the serpent in his eye disappear and his eyes close, his vision altering itself as if travelling some sort of time gap. He panted as he saw a blood-intoxicated crown, a torn and old bible, the locket of a cleric, a light pink and black rose, and a sword with the most unique design he had ever seen. *Gasp* Sapphirus hurled his upper body as he awakened from his sleep and panted lightly. He looked at his upper garment, which was almost transparent because of sweat. 

"A-another vision?"

"Not again," Felipe said as he woke up, just to be in a spotlight only illuminating him, the rest of his surroundings dark. 

"Until you choose to walk through a door, you will keep coming back here," His own voice said. 

"That has to be ridiculous," 

Felipe scoffed as the doors around him appeared once again. This time he decided to go through a door and looked at each of them with a sigh but noticed that the number of doors is lesser than the ones he saw in his last dream. He thought his first chance has been wasted and didn't pay much attention to it. His gaze fixated on the door with the syllable 'war' on it. He slowly walked to it and pulled the metallic handle of the door to knock on it. The door opened to the abandoned church in the woods. He began to feel a little dizzy but controlled himself since he wanted to see this memory. He remembered being in a church and saying."

Don't worry sis, I will protect you," 

Maybe that clash was the reason why he felt dizzy. He exhaled and blinked his eyes to clear his vision, for a man fighting four soldiers off, suddenly appear before his view by the entrance of the church. 

He looked at the Carlios (Symbols etched onto armours that signify what dynasty they belong to) of those men and identified the dynasty they belonged to. 

{A/N: 'Carlios' is a made-up term. no such word exists.} 

They were Vasilians. His mouth fell a little agape before he turned his head a little to hear a boy say, "Don't worry sister, I will protect you," He heard it from behind the altar and went closer to it until he reached its back. He saw twins clutching each other out of freight. It was a boy, holding a girl in his embrace. He identified himself and looked up at the altar for some clue and saw a totem lying there, smeared with fresh blood dripping down one of its sharp tips. The boy holding onto his sister looked straight at Felipe with a gaze full of desperation. "Felipe! I promise you will remember me when the time comes! Just follow your subconscious!"

*Gasp* Felipe awakened as he heard his father say that. He was on the floor, looking baffled and huffing lightly for air. "But wait, where did the 'prophecy' door run off to?"

"I guess the strokes from my past just urged themselves to return to me," Sapphirus muttered as he almost finished painting the handle of a sword. Yes, he used to love painting a lot as a child. Thriving under the influence of a monster made him give up on the aspects he loved about himself as if the red paint on the ends of the brush had turned into blood.

It was quite saddening for him at first but when he began getting his paintings done, the royal painter would get quite impressed by how skilled Sapphirus truly is. When he got his first portrait made, he walked up to it as the painter asked him to take a look. 

"Make the eyes a little bigger and more poise here, the nose a little less pointed and the lips a little smaller than before next time," He said. 

"Oh yes, your highness, I'll make sure to do that when I make your next portrait," The painter replied. 

Sapphirus looked at the painter in a haze. 

"I didn't mean my portrait, I meant to say it for my mother's portrait," The painter grew surprised and puzzled at first. 

"Your Highness, I do not mean to intervene but how do you have so much knowledge about painting?" He asked. 

"Well, you can say I taught myself to have that," 

Sapphirus remembered how he conversed with the painter about details most all painters miss while making them. At first, he thought it was the effect of stress and consistent making and it turned out to be true. So he'd make many suggestions to the painter since consistency was the only facet shown to painters in the state. The painter showed astounding improvement in his paintings because of that. Sapphirus was happy to be aware of the fact that he'd made someone else contended of their work.

He sighed as he looked down with a small smile holding onto his lips. 

"At least something about my past is memorable," He mumbled before looking up and continuing to detail the handle he had been working on. 

It had a violet finish, with golden details covering it. It looked like it belonged to a warrior. The handle was surprisingly a quite light shade of violet, with gold surrounding its pommel in the form of tiny orbs, a double-ring under it, leading it to bigger golden orbs lining halfway towards its blade on the grip. The lining had another tiny gold orb on its tail, right before the Quilon block. Strangely enough, the Quilon block was in the form of light violet wings, a form Sapphirus had never seen a sword in before. The wings looked like those of a bat and had a golden decoration adhered to them. The golden details were those that couldn't be designed or altered by the hands of an ordinary man. 

"Wait, could this be the work of a god?"

Felicia,
Here is the map I have been telling you about. Please do not show this to anyone until I have concluded its content and aspects. I shall tell you more about everything after I am done studying more on this.

~Cecilia

"I guess I'm going to have to look for some sort of source that can capture and give out an essence," Felicia muttered as she threw the slip of the message Cecilia sent into the fire, burning it. She unfolded the map sent within the message. 

"Oh, so the source might be existing in Vasilia," She took one good look at it. 

"But how is it possible for it to exist at the palace somewhere?" She walked up to the study of her quarter and sat in front of it, grabbing a piece of paper and writing a letter, to send over to Sapphirus. She asked him to look for some sort of source that would capture and release an essence that infiltrates one's mental state.

Sapphirus,
I wrote this letter to warn you about something harmful making itself home at your palace. It is an essence that intoxicates and infiltrates one's state of mind. I do not know what it will make them do but all I can say for now is that that essence is harmful. The source of this essence is somewhere in the palace, affecting everyone around it. If it has been having any kind of effect on your mind then please do not ignore it, fight it.

~Felicia

She concealed the map safely in the quarter and headed right to the church to see Father Aaron. 

"What in the heavens have you gotten yourself into?!" Father asked as he was told about the essence. 

"Why are you raising your tone at me?" Felicia asked. 

"Because you do not know what you have gotten yourself into!" Father exclaimed at her. 

"We do not have much time before something unstoppable happens," Felicia's tone tightened, desperation possessing its wellbeing. 

"More or less time, the unstoppable is going to happen," He said.

Felicia widened her eyes. "What do you mean?" 

Father withdrew from his seat and walked closer to the altar, looking at it. 

"It is all bound to take place, child. You mustn't indulge yourself in it. Flee while you can," He added. 

"Father, I am not one to flee from the misfortunes that hamper those who have done no such thing to deserve it. Father, please tell me," Felicia requested. 

"Before I tell you anything about it, remember one thing," 

He paused as his gaze pierced into hers with a lot of profundities. 

"Fate awaits none," Felicia sighed silently and nodded upon hearing those words. 

"I understand father,"

"You do remember how I told you about the return of the armour princess?" Father asked. 

"Yes, of course, and I am well aware that the prophecy has some sort of affinity to her," Felicia said. 

"She is a creation of goddesses," Father looked down, while slowly plodding around the space he was in. 

"And she is the master of Larcians. I know all of this father. Felipe told me everything. What I truly want to know is about Helius and the power of just his essence," Felicia said, intending to stop beating around the bush. 

"Alright then. The prior instance you should know about and remember is that 'The Armor princess' is who follows Helius. Helius is a very powerful demon. He needed to be put down by a creation stronger and more vigilant than him. That creation was none other than her. But Helius isn't one to stop following man, even if it is through minds or dreams," Father said as he distanced Felicia and looked at the candles in front of the altar. 

"Then does that mean...?" Felicia asked but her words traded off to silence. 

"Yes, my child, yes. It means that the essence has affected those around its source. First, it will creep itself into one's subconscious, showing them dreams about their greatest fear. Going further, those dreams will turn into visions, leading on to the next instance where Helius shows himself in those visions and depicts the future he wishes to make, telling the host that it is the fate of mankind," Father said before turning around, for Felicia to ask him something.

"What is that fate?" 

Father now looked at her with a concerned gaze. 

"Death,"

"And you didn't think of telling me?!" Felipe exclaimed as he sat there in front of Sapphirus. Sapphirus was sick and exhausted from coming across visions every night. 

"I don't know why I kept having them but I thought they'd stop and they didn't and after last night I just couldn't take it anymore," Sapphirus said. 

"I understand but if you were having visions then, tell me what you saw until now," Felipe said. 

"At first, it was just flashes of a blood-intoxicated crown, a torn and old bible, the locket of a cleric, a light pink and black rose, and a sword. I could only think of telling you because you know these can be real," Sapphirus said. 

"You are right, but don't you think this sword could be the work of-" 

"A god? I thought the same," Felipe was about to finish until Sapphirus finished his statement by cutting him off. 

Sapphirus continued describing it all to him. 

"But last night, I saw something elongated and clear. It was a girl in dark-silver armour with a sword, taking out our men, and stomping towards the throne. She went halfway close to the throne and then stopped in her steps. She frowned in anger before her head swivelled towards me. She stomped towards me next and I tried my best to defend myself but she grabbed me by my throat and asked me something very strange," 

Sapphirus looked at Felipe, to see him frowning, a hint of concern spreading across his face. 

"What did she ask?" Felipe asked. 

"'Where is the demon?' is what she asked me," 

Felipe first looked ahead into the empty space, in deep thought before looking back up at Sapphirus with widened eyes. 

"What if she was referring to Helius?" Felipe asked. "Helius? That demon from books?" Sapphirus asked. 

"Yes but that demon is real," Felipe sighed, trying not to make Sapph feel unfortunate. 

"Tell me what the girl looked like," He added, trying to dodge it along with desperation taking dominance of his voice. 

"She had black hair and black eyes, and a mark on her wrist," Sapphirus said. 

"Alright, Sapphirus, I urge you to listen to me very carefully now," Felipe said as he stood up and closed all the curtains, doors and windows connecting to his room before walking up to the tunnel entrance and twisting the tiger's head. 

"That girl could be someone we have never read about in books,"

"Ugh, this doesn't have to be so hard. I have to find a way to put them down and convince Mother," Becky thought as she did her hundredth push-up. She had been through a few too many trials now, because of Adonius doing his best to protect her. 

"Be grateful I am giving you a lot of godsends even if you abducted my wife. I have no interest in freeing you but you are still my daughter and I prefer you stay within your boundaries because the throne is never going to be yours. You are nothing but a liability to me except for being an assassin for me," 

These words kept ringing in her ears every single day as she'd carry on her activities in the dungeon. 

"Then do not free me. Mother assumes low of me anyway and the loved ones of all those whom I've killed would hunt me down so it is better I stay here," She replied. 

"I prefer you out because I wouldn't want to be blamed for your assassination when someone tries to kill you here," Adonius spat before walking away. 

Becky had no notion what to do as she got out. She'd think of a way to hide because she knew Felicia had something massive plotted out for her.

"You, the king has ordered your freedom," She heard from the other side of the dungeon door as she got back up, finishing her routines. 

"That little..." She mumbled before getting her doublet and being released through the back door. 

"His Majesty asked me to hand you this," The guard said as he slammed the door to her face after leaving. It was a piece of paper folded into quarters. 

She looked around before opening it. 

There is something I need to discuss, wait there.

"For certain if he has more badmouthing to do I'll just flee," Becky mumbled to herself as she waited for a moment there. 

"Becky," She heard a voice to her right. This voice didn't belong to Adonius. 

"Felipe? What in the world could you want?" 

Felipe looked around and pulled her to the side behind a wall. 

"I only wish to know if you have been having any kind of malicious dreams?" Felipe asked.

"I do at times," She replied. 

"What are they about?" 

"Alright, you need to halt there Felipe because I have no contention why must you keep asking me all of this," 

"I am asking you this because what Father Aaron once told you is true. But the truth is that she is the one who follows," Felipe said. 

"Then who precisely is going to return?" Becky asked.

"Helius," 

That word spilling out of Felipe's mouth made her heart sink to her stomach. 

"That can't be!" She protested. 

"Believe it, or not, the dreams you are having are visions and anyone who wanders around the essence his blood left, keeps having them," Felipe said before keeping silent for a moment. 

"So keep your distance from Adonius," He warned her. 

"Because he is most affected and infiltrated by it,"

{Please play this song before reading further, for a better experience}

https://youtu.be/DjkJ7SUe-4o

"I prefer you lay low and look for at least someone who had been having visions," Isaac said to Cecilia as he turned the page to one of his written journals. 

"What do you mean?" Cecilia asked. 

"He has staged his return," Isaac replied. 

"Who?"  

"Helius," 

He said as he put the journal down and looked for another one. 

"The vision where I met Hecate was my last. She warned me about this return and I must find a way to stop it or at least know the means of his return, or else, the world will fall into flames," 

Isaac found the book Philip stole and returned before opening it and taking one look at the page where the Return of the armour princess was written. He slammed the book on the surface of the table and began to pant as if he was suddenly descending on air. Cecilia rushed closer to him and clutched his arm. 

"What seems to be wrong? Are you alright?" Cecilia asked. 

"It is too late," He said as he looked behind his shoulder at her. 

"What are you implying?"  

"I mean to say that the essence has intoxicated way too many, and there is no escaping from the clasps of this monster. Furthermore, I suggest you flee because this has nothing but death written in the fate of mankind," 

He began packing his things, in order to flee. 

"No, no you cannot give up like this. You need to find your son and fight unless you want to get consumed by your cowardice and flee without ever seeking your son again," Cecilia said. 

"What proof do you have that my son is still alive?" He asked as he turned around and stomped towards her. 

"Why else would the queen of goddesses emerge in front of you in your visions and guide you upon how to seek your son?" Cecilia asked. 

Isaac continued to stare into her eyes as his grimace disappeared, his expression softening, warming up, leading him to drop all his belongings. 

"Now, tell me why it is too late," Cecilia said. 

"He is one step behind in infiltrating all of Delaria and massacring mankind, 1 month from now,"

***

"No, please do not do that," Adonius whimpered while he lay on his left, trying to sleep, a voice bothering him. 

"Why must you continue making the same mistakes, you feeble human," The voice said, a little hoarse and croaking.

"I apologize, I made a blunder," Adonius replied to the voice, dread consuming his feeble tone. 

"Give me one good reason why I mustn't exchange your life with that of a corpse at the moment," The voice demanded. 

"Because I am your only hope, your only curse," Adonius's voice was now muffled and freight.

"That is true," The voice agreed.

"However, that little wench, with the armour, keeps following me," 

"Who is she?" Adonius asked. 

"Someone who killed me once. But thank the gods for my essence that I can come back to life by using man's subconscious," The voice said before chuckling dreadfully. 

"What do you mean?" 

"You see, there are all kinds of subconscious I can enter and manipulate. However, there is one that I am unable to at the moment, some boy, he could be one of those,"  

"I do not know much about him but since he is the only one whom I cannot control, he won't be a match for me even if he stands alone," 

The voice said with ease coursing through its tone. Adonius began to tremble at the thought of the massacre. 

"Why must you do such things?" He asked, his voice whimpering. 

"The demons are the ones who have always wanted to rule this orb and this is one of its only parts they couldn't conquer," 

"Why?" Adonius asked, his body shaking. 

"Because of the goddesses!" The voice raised itself, making Adonius's fright stream into his mind faster. 

"Those forbidden wenches did this. If only they had known their limits, they wouldn't have created something that would follow me to the ends of the world," 

"But what if she follows you after you take your form?" Adonius asked. 

"I will battle with her and fight her until her breath stops," 

Suddenly, a black, dark and distorted hand began to caress the side of Adonius's head, making him tremble more. 

"Sleep, sleep my castle, as you shall be the most ideal vessel,

....wait, wait my throne as death awaits none," 

~ To be continued