Evie really did not feel anything that was wrong in her body at all. Leon's medicine was always very effective. And more importantly, it never gave the side effects that makes her feel uncomfortable as the human medications do.

"We are going to continue our journey… without delay," she said decisively again, then she turned and approached the dragon.

Zolan sighed. "Oh well, it seems that we can only obey and follow the princess' wishes."

"Somehow, I just realized she's almost no different from His Highness." Reed commented and all of them could only agree.

"Yeah, stubborn and decisive and impossible to persuade." Luc commented with an exaggerated eyeroll.

"It seems to be that all powerful creatures are the same." Levy chimed in.

"Agreed… but Leon," Luc stared at the half-blood. "You're the doctor here, speak up."

"I'm no doctor." The half-blood innocently replied, "but I do not doubt she is telling the truth. I think she'll be alright as well."

"You think…" Levy raised a brow. 

"Her wound is healing faster than the first time I treated her back when she got wounded in the dungeons. So, I believe she's really fine." Leon explained when Zolan stood as well.

"Well," the man started, "though the princess' body is vulnerable and fragile, her spirit and willpower are the total opposite. It truly is nothing to scoff at. No matter what we say, we cannot stop her. After all, we are only here to support and take care of her, so we'll do what we can and just believe in her. However, whenever we see that she is endangering herself, we can always intervene again and speak out. She's stubborn but not naïve. So, I think we shouldn't worry too much." Zolan's lengthy explanation had everyone ruminating on his words.

Everyone was silent with what Zolan said as they all could only agree to his comments. Once they were united in their decision, they stood and started preparing to leave while Evie was caressing the dragon's snout, all the while trying to mentally communicate with it.

"Do you have a name?" she asked in her mind as she closed her eyes and grabbed her necklace. The dragon made that purring growl, as though it were responding to her question.

"Is that a 'yes'?" Evie's eyes flew open in excitement. Her eyes quickly closed again as she put more focus in her mental communication with the dragon.

It made that sound again. Somehow, Evie was starting to feel a little more relaxed, just like that feeling you get when your pet is behaving as such an adorable stress reliever.

"Hmm… what could it? Is it Black?" she asked, and the dragon gave out a very deep and long rumble. The men even looked up for an instant from their tasks because they knew it was not that purring growl they had heard before. This particular rumble did not sound as positive as the earlier sound. And yet they saw their princess chuckled shortly while her eyes were still closed.

They could not help but wonder what she was doing. Was she talking to the dragon?

"So that's a no. Huh…" Evie said, and the dragon again made that purring growl. It seems the dragon will purr if it was a 'yes' and growl if it was a 'no'. She found its responses quite adorable. And she was glad that even though the dragon could not talk to her, it was still trying to communicate at least.

"Then I wonder what it is… Hmm…" she brainstormed quickly but all she could think about were names that was related to its appearance. "Dark?"

The dragon growled as it gave a little shake of its head and Evie chuckled again. Then suddenly, something came out of her mouth.

"Onyx?"

To Evie's surprise, the dragon purred.

"Oh, so it's Onyx!" she exclaimed. She never thought she would actually guess it right! But was she the one who actually guessed it? She was certain she had not thought about Onyx…

The dragon purred again, and Evie could only smile in gladness. She was happy to actually discover the dragon's name!

After that, when Evie saw that her men were ready, she began to tell Onyx about the journey. The dragon seemed to be listening to her, and it rose when she told him where she wanted to go beyond the dragon's gate and that she wanted it to show them the way.

It lowered its head right before Evie and she immediately realized it wanted her to climb up its back.

Without wasting a moment, Evie carefully climbed on the dragon and settled herself on its back. She looked at her men and nodded at them before they too, all lightly jumped and carefully landed on the back of the dragon too.

Evie had thought that the dragon would fly off immediately, but it did not. It only walked slowly towards that dark path she had run into and where she had previously met the dragon.

The vampires were quiet. This was the place they had encountered the two dragons before with prince Gavriel but now, they could not see any other dragons apart from this large one they were with. Could it be that those dragons were scared of this black one?

As Onyx moved forward, they could now see darkness before them. This was the darkness no one had ever crossed before.

The darkness was so deep that it felt almost solid – like a thick wall that was there to prevent entry. But entry to what, exactly?? When the dragon finally stepped through it, the vampires could not see anything even with their enhanced eyesight. It was as if the power of their eyes to see in the dark were being disabled in here. They were shocked.

But then they saw a single glow of light before them, it was the princess. She was literally glowing like a beacon!

Her light began to illuminate their surroundings and the vampires realized that they were inside a cave-like path. The dragon continued on this path, walking fluidly ahead.

Everyone, including Evie were brimming over in anticipation as the dragon moved deeper and deeper into this cave. The little they could see from the path seemed winding and it was as if they were entering into a large labyrinth.

The path that does not reflect any sound or light, it only gave anyone going through it the feeling of despondency and despair. Even the light emitted by their princess could not light up the area around them but seemed to have been supressed, only allowing them to see within a radius of a couple of feet.

The dragon continued walking on in the darkness, with only their princess as their lone source of light. It was not until at long last that they saw another source of light ahead. Their eyes were all fixed ahead as they knew they were finally coming out of that all-encompassing darkness. What was it that lie ahead?

They swallowed in both expectation and apprehension as the dragon finally stepped out of the darkness along with them.

___

A/N: Thank you for the generous gifts spellbounders!!

P.s. to the new readers. Next 10 chapters are under privilege. It is one way to support the author and at the same time you will be able to read advance chapters. But please make sure you understand privilege first before buying. It is NOT COMPULSARY. It is only for the willing readers who wish to support the author more and to read in advance. 

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