Noctem

The nightlife of the ivonriel continent was quite a thrilling sight to behold.

Many structures rose above twenty feet, illuminated by the stunning glow of the twin moons— one of which was Azure coloured, while the other had a pale white glow to it.

The market stalls were crowded, overflowing with races of different kinds, ranging from beastmen to elves, succubi and various human-like races, some of which were the witches, draped in robe-like attires and elongated hats which had pointy tips.

This section of the ivonriel continent was usually active at the wake of the night—after all, the red light district made up most of the nelgeorgia city, which was one tenth of the moondale kingdom.

Standing before a market stall, a cloaked figure ran his milky white hands across the various herb jars, aligned on the counter of the stall.

His misty gray eyes searched the entire stall with urgency, watching if he could find the remaining herb left to complete his concoction.

After a few minutes of searching his gaze finally locked on a particular jar which held a peculiar name tag to it.

..Merrywhyll voidsbane.

It was a flower which could decrease the efficiency at which a person's eyes functioned once it was consumed and that was precisely what Eren needed at the moment.

"May I procure two jars of Merrywhyll voidsbane." He inquired mildly.

The stall keeper— A dark skinned beastman, widened his eyes in surprise for a second before stuttering ever so slightly.

"O-Of course, g-give me a few seconds."

The stall keeper's expression was taut, however it wasn't without a valid reason.

The Merrywhyll voidsbane flower was a highly toxic poison which destroyed the cells of its consumer, although it was a really slow process it wasn't in any way less lethal than the rest, granted its side effects were evenly devastating.

Before destroying every cell in the body of its consumer, the Merrywhyll voidsbane would slowly reduce the efficiency of its victim's sight, rendering them blind, which of course would result in an increase to the sensitivity of the other senses, highlighting the pain they felt to a higher degree.

Only an assassin could consider procuring such a poison. The stall keeper probably thought someone's life was going to be taken away by something which came out of his store, however he quickly discarded that thought.

If a few passerby's had seen this and could accurately measure Eren's strength then they'd have probably wondered what Eren's reason for purchasing such a deadly poison was,

Of what use was a lethal poison to an archmage who could cast deadly spells in a matter of seconds?

It was to concoct an elixir for Nox using the poison.

The incident dates back to three nights ago, when the duo— Eren and Nox, left nocturne, the realm previously known as atlas, which was currently owned by Tenebrae— the element of darkness.

Nox had decided on a secluded place within the ivonriel continent for the dark knight to create a void gate after getting Tenebrae to release her intent on the shadow and the wizard.

Aries wasn't able to leave the plane along with them as he never had a physical body in the first place, neither was it his intention to leave, instead, using his remaining essence, he passed on a transcendent grade shadow art unto the tenebrous child telepathically before disintegrating into a nebulous mass of shadow.

While Nox could feel an ancient power within him, he wasn't elated in the slightest, having a power that transcended mortal boundaries was bound to have an equally devastating drawback, and the tenebrous spawn was no stranger to this fact.

As soon as they stepped through the void gate and into ivonriel, a devastating cry escaped Nox's mouth as he held his eyes tightly, trying to rip it off its sockets.

Luckily Eren was quick to stop the child before he could harm himself further.

He was quick to understand what had just happened to Nox so he hurriedly dragged the child into an inn before administering some minor treatments to the child's eyes.

Surprisingly he didn't have much to treat as Nox's wounds were already healed.

He was surprised to say the least but he wasn't able to ponder further because the child was still writhing in pain.

After the ritual, Nox became the first and only spawn of Tenebrae, as such he represented everything the darkness was and was naturally attuned to the abyss, nevertheless being favoured by the darkness meant being loathed by the light and everything it represented.

By the time they left nocturne and arrived on ivonriel, the sun was still up casting its ethereal glow on the vast land below.

It was one of the major creations of light and a major nuisance to the darkness, as such the sun was a natural enemy of the tenebrous spawn who cluelessly wandered into its domain, thus resulting in the torturous pain Nox felt.

Eren was swift to come up with a temporary solution after noticing that the tenebrous robe the child wore had a peculiar trait which allowed it to devour every source of light that dared to come in contact with it.

Seeing this, he tried to replicate it by using his creation mana to create a black blindfold, before enchanting it with Avalon's void—a ninth tier darkness spell, which had a similar effect to the light devouring attribute of the robe.

Although it blocked off any form of light around it, it also limited Nox from seeing, leaving him with no other option than to rely on his other senses.

****

Eren swiftly maneuvered through the crowd of people, taking a narrow pathway which was connected to a shortcut that led directly to the inn where he and Nox had been residing for the past three days.

It wasn't long until he approached the inn, however he soon stopped in his tracks with a slight frown on his face.

'That overwhelming presence... there's no mistaking it... those god's vessels arrived sooner than expected.'

"Curse this.."

Wasting no time, he walked into the inn where even without so much as a glance he could still feel the gazes of two people as well as a poorly masked murderous intent emanating from one of them.

'Two of them? Did they find him already? I'm sure I used runic sorcery to create a complex illusive layer to mask the room where I kept Aurelia's child, they shouldn't be able to find it this soon... Unless...'

Paying no heed to the gazes of the god's vessels, Eren headed up the stairs feigning ignorance at their presence.

While this could have been misinterpreted as a foolish decision on his part, Eren wasn't one to act rashly. All his movements were deliberate, meticulous and calculated.

'It is as I thought, they're trying to get me to lead them to the child' He noted as he felt the presence of the two divine vessels following him.

A string of mana waltzed out of his index finger, lazily drifting in the air around him.

Just before he made the turn to the corridor that led to the inn rooms, he made a loop gesture with his finger which connected the string of mana in the same pattern.

His lips parted slightly as he spoke.

"Rewind."