DILEmma

"Nuuu....!"

"Aaaaarrrrrrrggghhhhh!!!!"

Before Farhat could finish,Gaby had pushed him into the hole and followed after.

They fell and kept falling,their screams echoing in the darkness.

Farhat only fixed his gaze on the flame in Gaby's hand as he let his vocal cords vibrate from his loud scream.

He couldn't think of anything else,could barely take in enough air.

All he cared about now was landing and how he would land without his magic,how many bones would be broken.

Now he knew why this place was called a death hole.

He stopped his screams for a second,let Gaby's take over and then it recommenced

So he was screaming and frightened afterall, for pushing him without warning he would get back at him somehow that is if they survived this fall.

For what seemed like forever they kept falling until Farhat floated for a moment then finally landed on his face.

He took in a deep breath then breathed severally till he came to the realization he was still alive.

Farhat raised his head to see Gaby standing so close to him with a flame in his hand.

"How could you push me like that..."

"Shuuuu!stay close to me and take this"Gaby said then walked ahead,Farhat tried to keep up as he opened his hand to reveal a tiny crystal he held

"Where are the dogs and what is this thing".

"Farhat,do try to keep your voice mild,for now the hell dogs are but growling...you might alert them"Gaby said in what seemed liked a whisper.

Farhat gulped.

"Wait...aren't they in their cages?"

"They are except the one I tamed...I released him..."

"What!"

"Shuuuu!!"Gaby turned abruptly to him you're going to get us in trouble... you'll get the dogs barking and alert the guards,they will know something is down here...these dogs though aggressive they rarely ever bark at once unless when threatened,I mean they can smell us but they might just think we are one of the guards that feeds them...but the noise will change the whole story".

Farhat drew even closer to gaby now that their arms brushed as he listened to the distance growls and silent barks emerging from the darkness.

From the darkness he could see their glowing eyes as he envisioned their aggressive stare.

"What am I supposed to do?what if he jumps on me"

"He won't as long as you have that crystal"Gaby pointed out.

"Why didn't the guards get him back in his cage?"

"Even the guards rarely come down here, maybe once in a month or never in months.Every day at around evening time food bounded by a tiny torch is let down all the way into their cages in long ropes to feed these dogs"Gaby said as he walked on with a tiny flame the least bothered by his friend who kept clinging to his side.

"We have to get him out of here quickly..I just remembered the time to feed the dogs is nigh".

"Nigh?"Farhat raised his head abruptly and as Gaby turned to look at him,he knocked the tiny cristal off his hand,letting it roll off into the darkness further away from him.

Farhat followed after it,the crystal's motion being aided it's oval shape,it rolled for a while till it's futher movement was restricted by something.

"No Farhat stay close to me!"Gaby called out from behind but Farhat Ignored him.

Farhat reached the crystal and picked it up.

Only when he raised his head did he lock eyes with the glaring eyes of the beast Infront of him.

The young demon froze as he felt his head grow cold.

For a brief moment is stared at the predator with a blank head,unable to think and when he finally recovered his mind debated on attacking or making a run for it.

Farhat swallowed with difficulty,then he took his first steady step backward but the beast didn't move.

After taking another step and yet met with the same response from the predator,Farhat concluded on taking off in the other direction hell dog or not he could take on this thing but certainly not on a day when he had already expended most of his magic energy.

Farhat took one last step backwards and as his relexes kicked in to turn the other way, before he could do so the beast was already upon him, snarling and growling into his face.

From the darkness Farhat couldn't see the size of this thing but from the weight of the claws that pressed down on him he could tell it was three times the size of a normal dog.

Farhat felt it's saliva doddle down on him from a mouth filled with sharp fang,he wondered which one of his limbs would be the first to be pulled off or would it be his head?

His thoughts drifted towards Gaby,calling out to him but he reconsidered it,that would only alert the guards.

Farhat turned his face the other way and shut his eyes as the beast fangs went down for his head.

**************************

The maid stood staring straight at him.

In her hand she held a bowl and an earthened jar.

As Ren slowly walked towards her,his face ever expressionless,she instinctively backed away from him,her eyes never leaving his face.

She knew who he was but his coming here was not to the emperor's knowledge most certainly.

And he had breeched Delu,not to her surprise though for someone rumored to be one of the strongest generals.

"What are you do.....ing he....here m...my lord?"came her quivering voice.

Ren didn't respond.He moved swiftly and before she could blink he had punched her abdomen, knocking her out.

He caught her as she fell and gently placed both his index and ring finger on her forehead,erasing her memory.

"You will forget what you saw!"he ordered.

Walking past Carolene he could already percieve the child's aura,a non-demonic aura.It was unlike any he had ever seen before.

This child's aura was pure somewhat if he would put it that way but how could a demon's aura be pure was what baffled him the most.And the his smell wasn't that of a demon either.His smell was mingled with some other foreign smell that made the general want to puke.

He had never smelt something so offensive before that it made him winkle his nose and lips and swung his eyes shut.

Using his index and little finger,he clipped his nose shut,opened his eyes then he walked on.

As he neared the empress's bed chamber the child's aura grew stronger,so did his scent and that offensive smell.

When he finally swung the bed chamber door open to enter the room,his eyes studied the large room for a moment then his gaze settled on the huge bed in its middle which was covered on all side by curtains hanging from the top.

He quickly approached the bed and forcefully swung the curtains open to find a baby wrapped in a napkin.

The baby sucked on his hand and stared at the bed top not making a sound.

The general studied him,a baby with an unusual silver hair not like the demons in Delvin,he had his father's grey eyes and a smooth well moulded face,at this age the child already had a perfect jawline,a creature beautifully made but it's cuteness only made him long to strangle him.

But he wasn't going to kill the child by strangulation,he was a child afterall even more,he couldn't risk letting go of his clipped nose.Sucking the air out of him would be more brutal,that was a way of killing criminals, would be disrespectful of him as he was the Emperor's son and would only cost him more magic energy.

For Tyran's sake he would let his death be quick.

Ren took out his pocket knife with one hand and as it made it's downward plunge the baby locked eyes with him.

Ren didn't know why he stopped.It grinned at him with glee and he hated it,hated children but looking at this one he felt something couldn't decipher.His peaceful and overwhelming aura made the general wonder how a child like this could bring harm to Delvin.It filled him with doubts about the doomsday prophecy.

For a moment he tried putting the puzzle pieces together.Although this child wasn't a demon, killing him would make no sense at all.Looking straight into the child's eyes he felt an eerie feeling of peace and innocence,he could tell this child would never hurt anyone not now or in the future.These things muust have been observed by the emperor and probably is his reason for sparing the child's life besides the fact he was his son despite the prophecy

Something about this baby both charmed and restrained him.

Could the doomsday prophecy be wrong or was he being bewitched by a mere neonate.

No...that was impossible,besides he couldn't sense any magic energy being dispensed from him.

Whatever choice he picked he had to do so now and fast.

Ren's hands trembled slightly for the brief moment his hand was raised then he replaced it back In his pocket and sighed.

Then he ran his fingers through his hair.

Whether the prophecy was wrong or not or whatever was actually going on one thing was certain.

He would never forgive himself if he killed this child,besides what harm could a child with such a peaceful aura cause.

'A demon's peaceful aura',the major thing which pequid his curiosity.

He wanted to see how a peaceful being could be related to doom.That was a relationship out of the order of life.

Light and dark can't mix,same with good and evil.

The more he thought about it, the more he found the prophecy the more dumb,and whether it was true or not for some reason he wanted to watch this child grow up and what would become of him and whatmore what he even was.

And if the prophecy was true then Delvin's destruction was already inevitable from the very beginning.

In the end he was no better than the emperor,he couldn't even kill a child.

The general scoffed at himself and for the very first time in his life Ren leaned forward and touched a child's hand then he looked straight into the baby's eyes.

Ramses chuckled and let out a bubble of spittle from his mouth.

It made Ren smile and when he realized this he quickly erased it.He couldn't remember the last time he smiled and because of a baby he just did right now.

His eyes searched the bed for the origin of the offensive smell he percieved he was certain it was coming from the bed somewhere.

With Ramses's arm the general slowly pulled him away from where he lay but couldn't find anything unusual.

Ren titled his head slightly then his gaze drifted to the napkin the baby wore.

He reached for it by placing his hand firmly from within to pull it away but then his hand touched something slimy.He moved Is hand against it for a second then took out his hand to see what it was.

His eyes widened as the substance met his eyes.

He knew exactly what it was.

Faeces...baby faeces!

Ren covered his mouth with the hand that Held his nose to keep him from screaming.The furrowed brows that stared down at Ramses only made him giggle even louder and as Ren vanished he was left in an empty room that resonated his baby laughter.