Dawn Of Twilight

After Elijah and Matthew left, no one else came in.

Tobi laid back towards the metallic plank wall. Though it seemed as if he was sleeping, his mind was actually rummaging back and forth as he thought of many things.

'It seems like the place we are headed to is quite far from the village regions. Those black steel knights should be humans safeguarding us to our destination, and also it is likely they are unable to really differentiate anything strange about me because I have walked by a few times without drawing any weird attention. Or rather it should be usual concerning demonic children legend.

'However, according to the legend, twilight creations were killed immediately by the Holy Shrine because they were like a death god, devilish and cruel, at least according to how the rumors told by villagers.

'This means.. willingly entering this organization should allow me to know their objectives behind capturing numerous children's. While am at it, I also need at least some sort of self - protection, to avoid being a lump of meat on a chopping board!'

Tobi quietly thought to himself, then found a comfortable spot to seat upright. After a moment he closed his eyes, as he spread his mind world analyzing ability to check his whole body.

After a while, he heaves a sigh of relief, thanks to using Mana Accumulator earlier it had stimulated his body healing factors. But more importantly, Tobi could finally start practicing his breathing routine.

Since his breathing technique could allow him to stay up for almost a week before being forced to rest. He wouldn't care about the strain of using his techniques unlimitedly in the journey, and it also helped him to relax and soothe his grievance.

Two weeks went by instantly, as Tobi and the twins started to smooth over their relationship, limiting his glares and silence to a couple per day, with Elijah's chatterbox trait lightening the mood.

Elijah took off his dirty robe, as he laid it on the ground beside his brother and Tobi, making his body more comfortable on the cold floor.

"So far, since this journey started, it's already been over two weeks. We've passed through a few dozen villages with more carriages joining us, yet we haven't reached our destination. Where the hell are they taking us to, that is this far...."

He closed his eyes as he fell into a daze, after some time he sighed and sniffed in his unending nose mucus. Their journey has being following a complicated pattern sometimes they would stop adding more carriages, and the other time they would travel for several days without stopping.

"Great desert of Death?" Elijah and Matthew gasped, as they quivered nervously, according to their uncle, their father had died in the Great Desert of Death.

Originally, the baron and his knights had won the battle and soon would join the belonging knights of the kingdom to celebrate their victory. But on their way they had ventured into the Great desert of Death, the air was filled with clouds of dust.

They couldn't make out their sense of direction and within a certain period of time. Immediately afterward only the growls of wilds beast and the terrified screams of soldiers dying.

...

After passing through the wilderness, there was a long patch of golden desert sands. Opposite the golden desert was rumored to be an ocean.

This place was said to be filled with all sorts of dangers and had always been a restricted zone for humans. Rumor was that this place was the origin of demonic children and all sorts of evil demonic beasts.

Even the kingdom's most fierce knight would not dare venture into the desert. Every part of the desert was filled and covered with corpses of humans, so the baron and his knights were easily spotted by the kingdom belonging knights.

"With the protection of the black steel knight, we'll definitely be able to pass through it!" Tobi said trying to console them, even if they acted tough it couldn't hide the fact they were still children.

Tobi's reply to the twins wasn't a random thought. In fact, he had said this after careful consideration.

But their instincts towards danger made them realize that this place was dangerous, after all, they weren't normal children. Thus they were afraid, even as the black steel knight as their shield.

Of course, even if the Black steel knights were their shield, in other for them to keep their own lives they could still be abandoned.

No matter what, as long as the black steel knights kept the best of the children, then their odds of survival would increase. Even if a majority were lost, either way, it wouldn't be too much of a loss.

With regards to the hidden dangers in the desert, all the children were not knowledgeable about it. So everyone stayed stiffed and silently observed.

The cold desert wind swept its golden sand upon the group of horse carriages, sweeping every trail away. With each step the horses took, a little cloud of golden dust would form in the air.

'It's already been a few days since we've entered the Great Desert of Death.'

With his heightened senses, he could feel the pressure on the carriages increasing, causing him to feel quite gloomy.

Everyone were absent-minded to their present situation, except Tobi and the black steel knights. Even though the metallic plank carriage, was specifically created for the Desert, every day it's still accumulated rough marks on it, as if it was created by a wild beast claw.

After entering the desert, the black steel knights had increased the numbers of patrols, as they band their strength together to avoid casualties.

Although there haven't been any deaths, the packs of desert vicious wolves had caused some significant damages to the carriages.

'Even with the black steel knights, the Great desert of Death is still too dangerous.' Tobi thought inwardly, the desert had giving him a deep impression.

From the moment they entered the desert, they weren't allowed to camp outside for a prolonged period of time and everyone was forced to stay in the carriages sometimes.

But even with that, there had still been some casualties.

Tobi's face grew dark with a frown.

Although the black steel knights were guarding them, some of the children still needed to go out and take care of their bodily needs. Within the danger zone like the Great Desert of Death, a little delay outside might result in an unexpected accident.

Three six years old children had been stung by a poisonous lady bee, the very moment they had snuck out of the carriages and died.

'According to those Black steel knights, the insects would instantly paralyze a person's body, before corroding their brains. Making it difficult to apply for medical help.' Tobi sighed.

After that incident, every child would only get off the carriage only when absolutely necessary. However, due to the small size of the carriages and sheer numbers of the children squeezed inside.

Although he could use his Mana Vision to sense their life force, being inside might seemed safe but with Black steel knights, it was actually much dangerous.

What was worth noting was, not only did the peculiar scent have a rather sweet fragrance, but he also has this strange urge to rip it apart and savor the taste.

Tobi closed his eyes and had to take a few deep breaths to calm himself down, as a bloody scene would make itself play in his head.

Though it wasn't his first time tasting blood because of the vivid imagery in the village, but strangely after seeing a bunch of twilight children his body seems to stir up for their blood.

Surprisingly, everything were working base on his instinct that appears to had been stimulated. Maybe it was the fact he expended too much blood to turn Bella into a vampire.