That morning, while Draven was getting ready for the day with Erlos fussing about his appearance a little more than usual. The elf seemed to be torn between giving him a form-fitting black frock coat with silver runes on the linings, or an amber-coloured tailcoat with red scale patterns on the chest, leaning more on the latter to match the colour of a single jewelled earring on Draven’s left ear.

“Sire, what do you think? This second one is better, right?”

The black-haired king didn’t care as he simply adjusted his equally black gloves, his mind occupied with thoughts of a certain human girl.

‘That thing, what is she?’

His handsome face continued to wear a frown as he wondered how he should proceed in investigating the mysteries of that girl. For someone like him who’s aware of the countless secrets of this land, there weren’t many who were as knowledgeable as him.

As he pondered, his sensitive ears caught a familiar sound, causing the number of frown lines on his forehead to double.

An irritating existence was approaching.

“You can leave,” Draven instructed Erlos, who seemed finally satisfied with the black outfit he chose for Draven.

Erlos wanted to protest since he was not yet done with his artwork, but seeing the King’s displeased expression reflected in the mirror, he smartly shut up and didn’t ask anything. After a quick bow, he left the King’s chamber.

The moment Erlos left, the heavy sound of flapping wings resounded within the walls of his chamber, as if a large bird was coming from outside and about to land inside.

His red eyes glittered as an evil smirk appeared on his lips.

Thud!

The glass window of his chamber closed on its own, and not even a second later, a rough ‘bang!’ brutally rattled the window, as if a body collided against it. The sound of cursing could be heard from the other side of the window.

The window crashed open as an invisible energy attack shot through it towards Draven.

Smash!

Draven casually stepped away to avoid the attack as if he not only expected it, but was long used to it. Unfortunately, the mirror in front of him received the attack and shattered into pieces.

The red-eyed man turned around just in time to see someone jumped inside into his chamber, the intruder being in the middle of shifting into his human form, gusts of wind forming around him as his large wings disappeared behind his back to transform into a feathery cape as tall as his body.

“Did you miss me, Your Majesty?” a cheeky male voice said in a mocking tone.

A half-naked man with short ashy grey hair and eyes of the same colour, looking like a human in his late twenties, was standing by the window with an aggressive, even roguish expression. His bare chest and parts of his face were marked with white tribal tattoos, which were part of the tradition of the family where he belonged. Clad in only a feather cape and dark short pants, his wild appearance was in complete contrast to the luxurious chamber he intruded into.

However, Draven seemed more bothered by the mess inside his chamber rather than the fact that a shapeshifter had intruded inside it.

“Is this how you welcome guests? By ignoring them?” the newcomer asked.

“No invited guests arrive like this,” Draven countered and looked at the shards of glass scattered on the floor. “My servant won’t be happy seeing this mess.”

“That kid?” he chuckled. “You keep troubling him all the time, why pity him now? He’s used to cleaning up after your mess—”

“Morpheus,” Draven cut him off, offering him a glare that seemed to warn him to back away, that only he was allowed to create troubles for Erlos.

The shapeshifter called Morpheus sneered.

Shapeshifters were a race of people who had the innate ability to partially or fully transform their bodies into an animal form or mythical beast, at the same time inheriting magical talents depending on the purity of their bloodlines. In terms of mentality though, it could be said they live mostly with instinct, and they value pride and freedom the most. Their personalities were closer to wild animals and were thus considered the most temperamental and least civilized among the races of Agartha.

Divine Eagle Morpheus, considered one of the strongest warriors among the shapeshifters, was a classic example of their aggression and savageness.

“Are you tempting me to create more trouble for that kid?”

Rather than fearing the Devil King, the shapeshifter was filled with a competitive spirit.

“Try it,” Draven said in a warning tone.

Morpheus loved a challenge and he looked around the chamber as if to check where he should start. “Even if you are stronger than me, it will be too late by the time you stop me. It won’t even take my sonic powers a second to ruin your royal chamber.”

“You know you will be the one cleaning afterwards, Morpheus.”

Morpheus snorted as he looked around for a place to sit. “That’s a lovely dream.”

“Stay there.” Draven walked over towards where the shapeshifter was standing, the random shards of his mirror getting crushed under his boots with each step, until he stood facing the newcomer. He asked straightforwardly, “Why did you come?”

“Why don’t you let me sit first? I am a guest! A guest!”

Draven scowled. “Don’t waste my time.”

“How dare I waste Your Majesty’s precious time?” The way he addressed Draven as ‘His Majesty’ held a sarcastic tone to it. “Fine. I will be direct then. The Chief said you brought an outsider to your palace and that too a human.”

“Doesn’t concern you,” Draven commented.

“I am here because it concerns you, and what concerns you is my concern since I am yet to find an opportunity to get back at you.”

Morpheus said those as if it made perfect sense to him, but it merely made Draven give him a bored look.

“Keep trying.”

“You put that human in the care of the Wood Elves. That means you don’t plan to send her to the human villages.”

“My kingdom, my decisions.”

“Sure! Sure! Your Majesty King Draven Aramis,” he said mockingly. “You want to be a tyrant now? You don’t care about how your people feel? Are you not yet aware that news has spread and there is an uproar in every city in all territories? The people do not want a human living among us, interacting with us and our children, destroying the peace we all fought so hard for.”

Morpheus’ eyes held unreserved anger. True to his honest personality, not only was he straightforward, but he was also painfully direct when it came to his interactions. He had no qualms speaking even with the King.

“Never again, Your Majesty,” Morpheus spat out. “Our people have already paid for your mistake of trusting humans once. Once is enough. We did consent that not all human beings are evil and greedy, and we gave them a chance. The human villages are proof of that. That’s the limit. Anything beyond that is stupidity. Have you forgotten it already, Your Majesty? We allowed, no, we welcomed that…that taboo in our midst once…”

Draven simply stared at him as it was the truth. Centuries back when the Kingdom of Agartha was newly founded, because of his mistake of trusting a human, the supernatural beings he vowed to protect had to pay a huge price. Everyone suffered and lost their loved ones, and Morpheus also lost his family then.