17- The night visitor (3)

There was no moonlight at that night. 

Raihle's bedroom was completely dark and filled with silence. Even the calm breathing coming from him was soundless.

There was no sign of another soul in the dark, the clouds slowly flouted away from the moon's face and strings of light raced into the earth and found its way to lighten that dark room slightly.

It was then when Raihle opened his eyes and spoke,

"It's not a really a suitable time for visiting."

In the room that had no other soul but him, a stranger voice responded,

 "Oh? I thought you were asleep."

"No, not really, I can't sleep well these days."

"I see, that's unfortunate."

Raihle slowly raised himself from the bed, his black hair ran smooth on his back, his look was as sharp as a knife and fixed on the dark side of the room that the weak light couldn't reach.

"For a starters, if you are an evil spirit, the person you are looking for is in the last room downstairs to the right, he has brown hair."

"No, I'm here for you today, not the Duke."

A figure of a man stepped forward but he was still completely dark, as if he was painted with black.

"Why don't we sit and chat, Your highness, the first and only prince of the Dragon Empire?"

The two sat on the round table beside the window glass, Raihle intentionally sat while giving his back to the window to let the moonlight reflect on the man's feature. 

But he was still painted in black like a modified picture.

He knew the reason of his share gaze; he flicked his finger and the blackness despaired leaving a man with a black cloak.

He looked normal now, although his face was completely hiding under the cloak's shadow.

"Is this better?"

"I still prefer to know you identify but seeing how much you like to disguise yourself; I don't think you will be willing to do that."

"You aren't wrong." Even though his face was invisible, the smile could be heard from his voice.

Raihle kept his eyes locked on him, though he showed him nothing, even the slightest change can lead to something.

"Are you going to tell me what you want from me, or do I have to ask?"

The man chuckled "What do you think I want?"

"I don't know, maybe covering your crimes?"

"What crimes?"

Raihle leaned in closer, his face was the opposite side of the light but he's eyes had their glow.

"The Bell Temple. weren't you the one behind it all?"

The covered man didn't a response, his shoulders were moving slightly as if he was fighting his laughter.

"What makes think that?" He asked when he finally open his mouth.

"You were there." Raihle said "Inside the priest body, controlling him while keeping a close eye on what's happening in the temple."

"Hm?"

"I previously told you if you are an evil spirit, go the person with the brown hair downstair," he pointed at him "And you said were here for me, not the Duke."

Raihle tilted his head with a look of ice "The duke's hair is red. How did you know I was talking about him if you weren't there and heard me say that?"

"Ha!" The cloaked man scuffed "That's so cool, your highness, you sound like a detective."

"Is that a confession?"

He shrugged "Sure, why now? I won't lose anything if I confessed." He threw his arms in the air and explained "Yes I was inside that man for a while, I was checking how things were going. But things started to be troublesome when that woman touched the young Sorcerer's blood. They didn’t know he had become a complete Sorcerer yet."

Raihle frowned when he brought Raven into the conversation.

"You mean it was an accident?"

"Yes, and it would have been very easy to cover up but..." he playfully pointed at Raihle "guess who was visiting the temple at the same time?"

Raihle's eyes widened, his eyes started to shake but he swiftly wore a stoic face in front of the stranger.

"Because of your stubbornness to find the Sorcerer, I had to cleaned up everything."

'No.'

'It wasn't because of me.'

It was the journal that said to discover the secret of the Bell Temple. It was because of the real owner of this body that he went and witnessed what happened to the priestess and found out about what was happening underground..

Real Raihle arranged this meeting between him and the man.

His throat became dry, he unnoticeably gulped and spoke using his usual tone.

"If you are the true culprit, then why are you turning people to Sorcerers?"

Instead of answering he shook his head "You are asking without answering my first question."

His first question was what he thought he wanted from him.

"I don't know." Raihle answered.

"Can't you guess?" He was speaking so delightedly, the very opposite of Raihle behavior.

Raihle only response was silence.

He sighed "Hah...you are no fun." Then he spread his arms "I'm here to make your dreams come true!"

"What?"

Even though he was prepared to any kind of demand, he still got surprised.

"Consider me your Genie, not that loser in the Abyss of course.” His voice sounded thrilled like an excited child  “Don't hesitate to ask for anything."

Raihle was still dumbfounded that he didn't say anything.

"Let me give examples," he raised his hand and started to suggest "don’t you want to have the entire empire kneel before you in respect? I can give you the obeisance and fear that no emperor will ever have, people will cry as soon as they hear your name."

Raihle listened to him in silence but could help but think of how inconvenient that would be.

"I also heard that you are poor who prince didn't get any education, I can make you memorize everything you see or read for the rest of your life without messing a dot."

No need for that, he already got tutors helping him out.

He raised the third finger with thrill running in his voice.

"The Ancient Aragon."

Raihle expression stiffened, there no jokes when it comes to the strongest creature that ever existed. There is only one dragon in the world, and it's the Ancient Dragon, or what also people call him, the Dragon with the Golden Eyes.

He lived and died for more than ten thousand years, every thousand years, he dies and a then hatch from a new egg. 

Except when the last thousand years things changed. It was the time when the empire began to exist and had been ruled by the human who befriended the dragon. At that time, the dragon died when the human died, and this time he had never been seen again.

Raihle read the children version of the story and it said that the dragon was grieving for the loss of his first and only friend and didn't want to live in a place where he didn't exit any longer, and he will only return when the soul of his dear friend reappear in the world.

Of course, what Raihle thought was, what a bullshit.

The story was cute and mythical.

But he couldn't believe a dragon who lived more than ten thousand years would disappear like this for no reason.

Nobody knows what had happened to him.

Perhaps except this strange man in front him.

"What about him?" He asked cautiously.

He answered with clear confidence, "I can revive him." 

Raihle eyes sharpened, he avoided clenching his fists or showing any signs of reaction.

As if he sensed his doubts, the man add on "The rebirth of the Ancient dragon can change the whole world, his rebirth in the time of your existence will mistake you as the reincarnation of the first emperor and be ascended to the throne in an instant. With the dragon to your side, you will recreate the first emperor tale and even the Abyss will come to you on its knees."

Raihle had to take a breath.

‘Why is everyone convinced that I want to be an emperor?’

the idea of having a dragon to his side and the ascending to the throne gave him goosebumps.

"Are you done?"

"What is it? You don't like any of my suggestions or you don't believe me?"

Raihle crossed his arms and leaned his back "You haven't told me the price. Your aren't making my wishes come true because of the goodness of your heart, of course."

He chuckled with twisted voice "I like the way you speak. What I want is very simple." 

A blue feather appeared above his hand, floating in a dark aura.

"Just sign the contact."

"Contract?" Raihle straighten his back, his eyes glow with a gleam of annoyance, "Are you a goblin?"

"Not all contracts are made by goblins, Your highness."

He wasn't wrong, the first thing he learned was that contracts are not exclusive on goblins, even though it's their language in communication with other spaces.

"If you aren't a goblin, then why do you want to make a contact with me?"

He shook his head helplessly.

"That's not something you need to know."

Whatever his goal is, it must be also connected to the reason why is he trying to create Sorcerers.

"I can tell you one thing though," he leaned forward to whisper.

Raihle frowned when his manipulative whispers touch his ears.

"A contract with me will save you the troubles in the future."

He moved his head to look into Raihle eyes.

He was close, so he was able to see what lays behind the shadows of the cloak.

It wasn't a man face; it was a skinless skull.

The light reflected on the cheek bones while the two holes of the eyes were darker than a moonless night.

 He was expressionless, empty, yet Raihle could feel that he was enjoying it.

He enjoyed doing what he had done and he still high from the lust of those moments and he was anticipating going through a situation where he would have the same feeling, as if he was addicted to what he does.

Raihle looked directly beyond the darkness in the eye holes.

"I don't mind troubles."

"I see." He chuckled "That's fun, you are my favorite till now."

"Your favorite?"

His voice shifted wickedly.

"From the emperor ancestors."