She Belongs To The Devil

3For a few seconds after taking off, Ariel was still very wary of her surroundings as well as her situation.      3

Though she had successfully run away, she couldn't help but feel like she would get caught soon.     

She was constantly feeling as if her father would soar behind her and would take her away. She had already imagined her father locking her up in a room for the rest of her life.     

"Please don't let anyone catch us," she kept on praying.     

After a while of getting hit by the cool and fresh country air, the fear in her mind floated away.     

She felt as if her wings were truly free. She could fly as high as she wanted, as fast as she wanted, and as far as she wanted.     

"Are you happy, Ariel?" Damien glanced at his friend and asked.     

Ariel looked at Damien's face. Even in the dimly lit night, her eye rims were glistening with tears – tears of freedom.     

"I don't think I've ever been this happy in my life!" Ariel wiped her eyes and exclaimed.     

Damien's heart warmed up after hearing her. He then looked forward and challenged Ariel, "Do you see that tall tree on top of that hill? Whoever reaches there first will get to talk with the vampires first. Do you acce–"     

Whoosh!     

Before Damien even completed his sentence, Ariel flapped her wings and flew away while happily shouting at the top of her lungs.     

Damien beamed and followed after her.     

"Woohoo! I am freeeee…" Ariel soared high in the sky and shouted while she dived down at a great speed, "This is the most epic flight I have ever taken."     

She crossed her arms across her chest and spun around while mimicking a tornado.     

She was the most magnificent tornado that Damien had ever seen. Her white wings were cherry on top. Damien hovered in the air and watch Ariel's splendid aerial display.     

"I will remember this moment forever," Damien thought to himself as he ingrained this core memory in his mind.     

---     

Ariel's chanting of freedom obviously reached the ears and eyes of both of the supreme beings. They were sitting next to each other in the divine garden and were keeping an eye on Ariel and Damien.     

Both of them felt a pinch in their souls upon seeing her excitement.     

They knew that both of them were responsible for depriving their lovely granddaughter of her freedom.     

And for the first time after over a decade, they shared a moment of joy together.     

"Our granddaughter looks so happy, doesn't she?" God was the first one to break the silence.     

The Goddess also smiled and agreed, "Yes. She looks like a bird who just learned to fly."     

She leaned on her husband's shoulder and asked, "Can't we offer her the freedom she so desires and deserves?"     

God already had a mouthful of words. He wanted to say that it was her who put up the barrier and it was her who made Theodore to never let his daughter out of the Palace walls.     

However, he swallowed his words and stayed silent. He hadn't received genuine warmth from his wife for a long time now and he didn't want to push her away and lose it because he couldn't keep his mouth shut.     

The Goddess then looked at her husband's glowing face and queried, "I hope Michael isn't interested in Ariel like he was once."     

God entangled his fingers with his wife's and then answered, "I sure hope so. I have been feeding him the wrong information through his minions… that Ariel doesn't have much divine power in her even though she has two affinities. He believes that Ariel can water some plants and lift a chunk of mud."     

The Goddess gave an appreciative smile to her husband and looked down at their entangled palms.     

She then said to her husband, "I know that you might already know this but, Ariel has three affinities as of now. And she can fill up a whole river, or erect a new mountain if she wishes. Her power is incomparable to any of the angels."     

"You've been teaching her well," God also exchanged an appreciative smile with his wife.     

---     

Among Ariel and Damien, Ariel was the first one to reach the said tree on the hilltop.     

She was fast, yes, but she won the challenge mainly because Damien was busy watching her behaving goofily from behind.     

The two of them landed on the sturdy branches of the tree. From there, they could clearly see the other side. They could see the vast Kingdom of Mihir.     

And with their sharp eyes, they could see clusters of lights in several places.     

"Whoa! It looks like stars on land," Ariel's eyes were glittering with the reflection of the distant lights. She had never imagined that the other side of the border would look this beautiful.     

"Yes, it looks beautiful from here," Damien was also equally excited as Ariel.     

He couldn't wait to continue their journey. He looked at Ariel and asked, "The vampires must be awake even at night, right?"     

"I think we can see the lights because they are awake during this hour," Ariel replied without averting her fixated gaze on the beautiful lights.     

"Shall we fly then?" Damien asked Ariel.     

Ariel took a deep breath in and agreed. "Yes. Let's go and meet those interesting creatures."     

The two of them continued on their journey. It took them another half an hour to reach the nearest village called Venzor.     

They hovered around the sky of Venzor like little birds looking for their prey.     

The two of them observed the village to know who lived there, vampires or humans or both. They found out that this village consisted only of the vampires. They were busy roaming around the streets and doing their work.     

Some of the villagers were sharpening their fighting skills by sparring with each other on the common ground.     

Damien was the first one to notice that this village not just had vampires but the vampires were mostly male. He only saw a few female vampires among those men.     

"What do you think? Shall we go down and meet them?" Ariel asked Damien.     

And Damien commented, "I think this village is not real. They don't look like families. They look like armies pretending to be families."     

Ariel understood Damien's concern and asked, "Then shall we head to the next village?"     

"Aren't you tired?" Damien asked Ariel. He wanted his answers but he didn't want to exhaust Ariel. She didn't have the habit of flying and he didn't want to make it difficult for her.     

"No." Ariel was behaving like a little puppy who was finally off the leash. She wasn't feeling tired at all. "Let's go to that village," she pointed at the nearby cluster of lights and suggested.     

"Okay then," Damien was happy to oblige.     

The two of them then set off for the next village in the pursuit of the civilian vampires – the ones who wouldn't immediately get hostile with them.     

"Do you have something in your mind?" Ariel glanced at Damien and said, "You look like you want to know something specific."     

Damien pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes thinking about all the questions that had been eating him up since his childhood.     

"Yes. I have a few questions I want the answers to."