Darres (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
queensgeneral) wrote2013-04-19 12:12 pm
queensgeneral) wrote2013-04-19 12:12 pm
Entry tags:
Character History
[THE SUN AND THE MOON: SIDE STORY/PRIOR TO ISHTAR]
Darres was an orphan who lived day by day in the slums of Pheliosta. It wasn’t until the captain of the guard, Selen, adopted him, that he started to make a name for himself. Selen and the queen had a "unique" relationship that the public wasn’t able to understand. Her primary reasoning for adopting Darres was to protect the daughter of the woman she loved; When Selen said if she were born a boy, and it would have been a huge scandal, that it what she is referring to.
When the manga begins, they are celebrating his 18th birthday a month early, because he’s due to meet Princess Ishtar, the girl he’s intended to guard from here on out. Darres isn’t excited for it and wouldn’t mind staying 17 forever if it meant he could stay with Selen, his mother. However, he appreciates everything that Selen has done to bring him up, so he feels obligated to do this task for her. When they arrive at the castle, one of Keld’s men was quick to insult him (being that he is a “stray”) Selen is quick to defend Darres; she cares deeply for him.
While waiting for Selen to return with Keld, Darres became less enthusiastic about becoming a royal guard for the princess. While on his own, he encountered a young boyish-looking girl, whom Darres didn't know it was really Princess Ishtar. Naturally, he is good with children, so when she wants to play him, he goes along with it (until she gets mud all over him.) Ishtar ran off, but before she could get too far, he catches her and just as he does, they are attacked. Without skipping a beat, Darres protects the child out of instinct, and begins to slaughter the enemies that wish to harm them. Before help could arrive, Darres had already handled all of the culprits and kept Ishtar from harm. Originally, they'd decided he wasn’t going to be Ishtar’s guard because he was a "stray", but he not only proved himself capable, but Ishtar refused to have anyone else but him as her guard, sealing the deal.
[BASICS]
Darres was the royal and personal guard for Princess Ishtar, a political leader of Pheliosta (the nation’s capital.) He has been serving under Ishtar since she was five, at the age of seventeen, and has protected and influenced her during the duration of his stay with her. One would think protecting royalty would be a relatively easy task, however, it was anything but simple. For years, Darres would be lied to and manipulated by the princess during her attempts to flee her responsibility. This became so frequent that he came to expect her method of operation and at times obstruct her deviant attempts to avoid her duties.
[VAMPIRE GAME ACT I]
Word gets out of a savage kyawl (a large cat) had been the cause of several killings. Upon fleeing the palace, those who oversaw her were left to worry. Darres treated it like routine, expressing annoyance. He is forced to retrieve her. It is revealed that the kyawl is not killing at random, but rather killing those who killed its children. When Ishtar was in danger of being attacked by the kyawl, Darres arrives in the nick of time to obstruct the attack and protect her. The kyawl was a mother and when passed, left an infant behind after her death. The baby animal became the vessel of the Vampire King Duzell in their agreement and then the house pet of Lady Ishtar.
During one of Ishtar’s magic lessons, she boldly asked for a simple spell that would annihilate her enemy. Darres was opposed to her crude behavior, Yujinn (her instructor) catered to her wish and showed her the spell that would do what she wanted, but also told her she would perish along with her enemy if she ever used the spell. In the midst of one of the poisoning attempts to harm Ishtar, Darres called for Yujinn so he could talk to him about Ishtar’s magic lesson. Even though Ishtar stated how pointless the suicide spell was, Darres knew that she would be dumb enough to use it if it came down to it. Before they could get too involved with their conversation, they learn that Ishtar had been poisoned. Duzell, the vampire cat kyawl (the only person aware of his identity) preformed a spell that cured her, but the effects took awhile to kick in. Darres stayed by her bedside and passed out. During this point she does what she always does, and sneaks out of the castle while he’s not looking. Duzell took her form as her doppelgänger while the real Ishtar was out, and sought information in order to locate Phelios’ reincarnation. His pursuit was too assertive, and he gave away that he wasn’t actually Ishtar. Ishtar returned, playing it off to get them off Duzell’s trail after she promised to protect him. In an attempt to cover his tracks, Ishtar insisted summoning undead assassins (who lack the inability to do anything other than attack) sending the castle into an uproar. In the face of danger, Darres cut in and saved Ishtar from the monster. After the mess is all over, Ishtar exclaims that she will be accepting an invitation to La Naan for the tournament. She said she would be bringing the best swordsman in Pheliosta, Darres, though he opposes this.
[LA NAAN ACT I]
It opens with the beginning of their journey to La Naan and already Ishtar had fled. After time spent searching, he contemplates using the mirror ruelle (a communication device) given to him by Yujinn if he needed help with anything. Deciding against it, Darres encounters Seiliez (as a convincing woman.) Other than being bewitched by Seiliez, Darres didn’t get any leads to where Ishtar might be. It becomes apparent that in his search for the princess that he was nowhere near finding her. He resorts to using the mirror to contact Yujinn to narrow his search. Eventually Darres catches up to Ishtar in La Naan, and they make it to her aunts. Darres then learns that Seiliez is actually a man, and really one of the three princes of La Naan. Ishtar flaunts Darres’ capabilities as a swordsman for the upcoming tournament.
Meanwhile, Duzell bites Ramia, the aunt, to check if she may bear Phelios and learned she does not. Later, Darres wanted to make a formal apology to her to keep Pheliosta and La Naan on good terms. He stumbles on a conversation Vord, the youngest of the three princes, is having with his mother Lamia; that really the tournament is a gig to get one of her sons to marry Ishtar for political purposes. The following day, Darres’ matches took place. With his notable skill he was able to make it to Finals where none of his matches lasted more than ten seconds. Confused with what to do next, Darres decides to try to use the mirror ruelle again (Yujinn stated he could only use it once, but it can be used infinitely.) to contact Yujinn for help. On the opening day of the final round Yujinn asked that Darres needed to investigate his findings on the La Naan successors and the secrets they’ve been hiding: particularly that one of them may not be of Phelios’ bloodline.
[VAMPIRE GAME ACT II]
"Ishtar" (actually Duzell, since it is him in the tournament) advances to the finals, as does Darres. During Laphiji’s and Seiliez’s fight Darres starts to notice that the princess isn’t acting herself. Duzell realized that his façade slipped, which takes Darres by surprise.
In the fight between the two prince brothers, it begins to get out of hand and Vord, the third brother steps in. Laphiji grows more aggressive with his attacks that are now aimed at Vord. Such attacks put the audience in the cheap seats at risk, influencing Darres to intervene. Vord simply did it to show Darres what his brother was really capable of. Thanks to the capable doctors of La Naan it looked like Vord made a complete recovery from his prior wrecked state. (But it was recommended he take it easy.)
Concurrently, on the next day, Darres and his subordinates (Jill and Krai) are still trying to dig up La Naan’s dirt on the princes. In order to investigate the prostitute that resembled Seiliez, Darres forfeited his match (no longer worried about the marital status of the princess since none of the princes can technically ascend to the throne.) to Vord. When Darres went to question Murra, the woman in question of being Seiliez biological mother, she denied everything and refused to reveal information to Darres. In the middle of his pestering, undead are sent to kill Murra. Naturally Darres puts forth his efforts to protect Murra from them. He clarifies that the undead assassins would only have one reason to attack a middle-aged hooker, and that would be to force her to take her secret to her grave. (That being, she is Prince Seiliez's real mother.) Yujinn contacted Darres by the mirror ruelle in regards to his objective, and that was to uncover the secret. Although all Darres wants is for Ishtar to live a happy life. However, while marrying Seiliez would make her people happy, it would not make her happy, she would do it to please her people and prevent a riot. Before they could get too invested in their conversation high tier vampires appear. Yujinn, through the ruelle, tells Darres to escape because he can’t fight them. The vampires wish for Seiliez to become king to instill disorder into the kingdom.
[LA NAAN ACT II]
Darres is cornered into a bad situation with Murra as he is unable to harm the vampires with any of his assets, which forces him to flee. Before things could get too dicey between Darres and the vampires, Laphiji steps in and wards them off with the magic necessary to harm them. Ramia shows signs that this has happened before in the past, by Sharlen, and that she wants her son to catch him alive.
She also admits to Darres, that none of her sons are blood related to her, but Seiliez is the of Phelios bloodline since he the blood son of her late husband, unlike the other two. Murra takes her leave, but before she left, she spoke quietly to Darres: she thanked him for all his work (protecting her) and mentions Ishtar’s concern for vampires being a reason to watch her closely. He then idly stands by as Ishtar and Ramia begin a womanly talk of her sons and her late husband and all of the mess that came along with it. Ishtar explains, (that even though they’re not related by blood) she still raised a family with him. (Because it’s not always about blood.) Ishtar decided to have her men spread word of a rumor that the three princes were a result of the king's affairs so all of La Naan could know about it.
Darres, against his better judgment, allows Ishtar to continue competing in the tournament. While Jill and Krai are gossiping, it hits Darres that Yujinn never spilled any proof about his accusations, but he still knew some how. And he frets over how he’s going to tell him. After the match between Ishtar and Seiliez (who forfeited.) Meanwhile, Laphiji and Sharlen got into a fight, leaving Laphiji fatally wounded, Duzell stumbled upon it while roaming. In a haste, Duzell returned and found Darres, springing on him covered in blood, and lead him to the wounded Laphiji, saving him.
Before they could get too far from La Naan, Vord chased after them and caught up thinking leaving town would be the best for everyone including himself.
[CI XENETH ACT]
During her magic lesson with Yujinn, Ishtar does poorly on her test and mixes an attack spell for a healing. Darres is worried because it means she’s not able to defend herself. She was given a fifth ruelle, where she learns she can transport with it (but only once.) While Yujinn and Vord are conversing, Darres interrupts to inform them that Ishtar has yet again, gone missing, not that Yujinn was surprised, he expected it. Yujinn tries to say that if she doesn’t know how to use her ruelles, they aren't any good in the first place. Darres can’t deny his reasoning for it, but Yujinn still tries to help narrow down where she could be because Darres needs to go looking for her.
Darres traveled back to La Naan hoping she would be there, only to find out that she wasn’t. Unfortunately he is stuck there until the others get back to him with any updates on where she might be located since they had split up to look for her in the surrounding nations. Knowing Laphiji was fully capable (or at least hearing about it) Darres decides to ask him for help on locating Ishtar’s whereabouts. Laphiji informs him that there is another skilled user in Ci Xeneth that makes Laphiji pale in comparison.
Eventually Vord got back to Darres to brief him on his findings. (Vord’s intel is not very reliable.) He informs Darres that Ishtar is in Ci Xeneth and that she’s in love with Captain Illsaide (the caption of the Ci Xeneth guards.) With the way Vord explains it, he makes it sound as if Ishtar is going to fool around, which horrifies Darres. Normally Vord would ask Darres for help last, but given the situation he wanted this dealt with just as quickly. Meaning Darres has to rush to Ci Xeneth from La Naan.
Laphiji gives Darres his ring ruelle to shorten his travel greatly, but sadly Darres wasn’t good at using it and ended up at the border of Ci Xeneth. On his way to the castle by horse back, he encounters monsters.
Ishtar, believing she’s doing the right thing, releases all of the monsters because she didn’t want them to be turned into ruelle. Hoping they would be forgiven and leave without causing harm was too much when she let them free and they started to attack at random. Darres arrived just in time to protect her from an attack by one. Darres had to lecture her on releasing wild monsters that caused considerable damage to Ci Xeneth. Ishtar wants him to help the other soldiers without killing the monsters while he does so. Normally he would oppose this, but for Ishtar he made an exception and just told her to weigh her deeds more carefully next time.
Before Illsaide could attack the monsters, Ishtar stepped in to be a meat shield. They then learn that the man assisting Ishtar’s Uncle (of Ci Xeneth) is Sharlen (an infamous vampire of Diaage’s lineage.) Everyone is gathered in the dungeon. Sharlen singles out Darres by teleporting them outside of the castle away from everyone else. He is at the disadvantage as he neither has the magic, nor the assets to fight against a vampire on equal grounds, and he knows it. Eventually the uncle, Jened whom is bad (for using monsters as ingredients,) came back around outside of the castle and encountered him, but before he could get too far to asking Sharlen for help, one of his soldiers took his life for the better of the people of Ci Xeneth. While Sharlen wasn’t looking, Darres snaked his sword ruelle from him, now putting him at some advantage. The soldier also took his life after taking his lord’s and Sharlen disappears, leaving them in a sorrowful moment.
[Zi Alda Act]
The queen of Zi Alda, Ishtar’s aunt Sonia, is said to be horribly ill. When they get there, however, it is not as bad as it appears. It would be like Keld, the one who informed her, to exaggerate things to get her to go. It is deemed desirable that Ishtar should marry their son (whom she hates greatly.) Ashley, the general of the Zi Alda army makes his appearance along with his wife Leene.
When Jill and Krai were gossiping about Ishtar and the mysterious Yuujel (Sonia’s son) Darres admitted he had no idea what could have happened all those years ago, and claimed he only took his eyes off her for a few moments before things went sour. He described Yuujel’s appearance, but Yuujel didn’t care for them, and estimates that he would be around 23 at this time. As they’re conversing they overhear some locals gossiping about Yuujel and his scandals. It’s made prominently obvious that he gets around.
Darres and his subordinates are standing guard outside Ishtar’s room, as expected. The following day they learn that Leene invited Ishtar to go riding. During this exchange, Ishtar comments how young Leene is, where she becomes offended. They learn that she’s actually 23 years of age. (It came to be a shock to them all.) Again, while Darres and his subordinates and the two of them begin to gossip again, especially of Ashley and his wife Leene. A woman by the name of Lucy approached Darres, telling him that he’s hard to track down and that her old friend is one of his biggest fans. Darres is a little surprised to learn he has fans. When Lucy departs, Krai happily goes to dig up some information on Lucy for Darres. Nothing spectacular comes up about her, although Leene, Ashley and Yuujel are brought up.
As Ishtar is saddling up to go for a ride (on a horse that’s been switched out, on Leene’s command) Darres, Jill, and Krai are on the sidelines watching from afar. When Ishtar mounts the horse, the horse begins to go wild putting herself and the horse in danger of being harmed. Before things could turn ugly for the both of them, Yujinn turns up to save the day by rescuing Ishtar. When Darres catches wind that the horse was going to be put down, he was strongly against it. Instead of putting the horse straight down, Darres makes a compromise with Lucy saying that if he could break the horse, the horse gets to live. Yujinn appears without warning informing Lucy that Darres doesn’t need anything out of it to break the horse. Yujinn also whispers to Darres that he is actually Yuujel, which comes to be of great shock to Darres. Darres is naturally upset at Yujinn/Yuujel about it. He learns that the truth of it is, Yuujel just wanted to be with Ishtar, and the only way for him to do that was to put up an act. Ishtar’s feelings for him are mentioned. He questions Yuujel asking if he was the reason Ishtar was rejecting all of her suitors. It’s a confusing subject and he doesn’t understand that Ishtar starts trouble to keep Darres' attention. In the middle of their conversation Leene appears and interrupts them. When she clings to him and explains how much she misses him, Darres just watches from the side. Even though Yuujel did what he did for the benefit of Ashley, (have him and Leene get married) Leene saw it as a ploy to get her out of the way so he could pursue Ishtar. She resents him for that. She storms off in anger. Darres learns, when Yuujel explains it to him, that Ishtar was his first love. He also admits that Darres is his current love.
Everyone is attending a ball. Jill asks how the progress with the horse is going and Darres admits that he bucks when someone else tries to ride him and that the horse still has a ways to go before being suitable. He disregards the horse in favor of knowing who the “creep” (Duzell in his true form) is that’s been loitering around Ishtar. Krai informs him that it is Ishtar’s personal doctor, which comes to a surprise to him. When Darres asked for the name of this doctor, Krai told him “Dooleybell” which he is in disbelief while yelling to Krai that it is actually the vampire king Duzell.
Darres is continuing his training with the horse trying to break him in so anyone could ride him. Ashley comes forth to claim the horse on behalf of the General Staff Office, in recognition of the law, unfortunately for Darres. He compromised to the extent that if Ashley could ride him, he could take the horse. Darres eventually comes around saying that if Ashley promises to take good care of him, he could have him. Yuujel then explains to be more courteous and reveals Ashley’s brilliance and that he never once, could best him.
The group is gathered with the horse outside, Ashley claimed the horse to give to Leene as a gift. When she tried to mount it, the horse went a little wild until Darres calmed it. He suggested that she use his horse, but she insisted otherwise. After notable time had passed, and many scuffs and scrapes later she eventually won the horse over and was able to mount it.
Leene with Vord approaches Ishtar and her guards to invite her out for a night of drinking with her and Vord. It is shown that Ishtar really knows how to put away her liquor as she, Leene, and Vord are making a drunken scene at the pub. Krai mentions that Vord might actually be a good match for Ishtar. Ishtar fetches a whole tray of alcohol and insists that Leene drink all of it. When Darres decides to handle the situation finally, Ishtar insists that he drink some alcohol too. While she does so, Vord claims the rest of the tray of alcohol despite saying he was done earlier. All in good fun, Ishtar dumps one of the drinks on him, Leene frets over the fact (because she had ill intentions with the laced drink she poured on him) and smacks Ishtar in response. Eventually the group leaves for the night.
Yuujel wants Darres to join him, but Darres turns him down because he’s on duty. Ishtar overhears this and tells Darres he can go and that Duzell (her “cat”) will protect her. Ishtar will let Yuujel have him as long as he promises to stay with Sonia for as long as she needs him. All parties agree and Yuujel gets to walk away with Darres. But it turns out it was just for a play date with Ashley.
Everyone is attending a party that is meant for Ishtar hosted by Leene (who still has ill intentions for her) When Leene personally offers a drink to Ishtar, Lucy commands she stopped, and alluded that it's poisoned. The rest of the party overhears and they begin to gossip amongst themselves, which places Leene in a very poor situation. Despite the hasty situation Ishtar takes the potentially poisoned beverage to drink anyway, but before she could steal a sip Darres snatched it from her and drank it all, he then played it off as cool to allow the party to return to its original atmosphere. Without much explanation and only concerned with the lady in black (Diaage) Darres brushes off the situation casually and walks off.
Leene wanted to thank Ishtar so she mailed her a love potion that’s supposedly suppose to bring two people together. Having hope that it might work she invites Darres over to share the potion with her, Darres is utterly confused and asks if they were celebrating something. The potion turned out to be, in Darres’ words, cheap whiskey. He found out through her throwing a fit that it was suppose to be a love potion and that he was the object of her affection for it, but he was convinced it was just the whiskey getting to him. When she persists, he just thinks she’s drunk and didn’t mean it.
[Mil Seii Act]
Darres is still evaluating the situation he was placed in last night and the fact that Ishtar confessed to him, but given unfavorable circumstances he wasn’t very convinced. Soon after Jill mentioned that she and Krai were talking about Ishtar’s birthday party the following week and how she’s turning 16.
Keld turns up and informs Darres of the bad news from Zi Alda and that the sick Queen finally passed due to her illness.
Yuujel exclaims to the public, what was suppose to be secret that he is now divulging on; his mother had a bastard child during her early years and that he was adopted elsewhere and his older brother is actually eligible for throne and Ishtar’s hand in marriage. It is then announced to Ishtar (along with Darres) that Darres is the love child of his mother’s earlier affairs, which comes to shock everyone.
Darres is upset at Yuujel for lying to the public, the only reason why Darres is going to go along with the whole charade, despite his conflicted morals, is because he doesn’t want everyone involved to be tried and hanged for treason. There were a great number of accomplices he’s familiar with who are helping Yuujel lie for Darres’ way to the throne.
Yuujel wishes to talk to Darres, thus asking Ishtar if he could borrow him. Naturally Ishtar agrees if only so she could stalk them to see what they’re up to. Darres has still upset about the whole scheme and Yuujel understood it, he inquires that he makes it up to him by showing him something from his past. Yuujel brings him the slums of his orphan days back before Selen adopted him as her son. He mentions in his internal dialog that he was caught stealing and that he was going to be branded had Selen not intervened. While a child caught stealing in the background makes a fuss, Ishtar comes out of hiding and offers to pay for their food so they don’t have to face the consequences of their actions.
Finally, they found the house they were looking for, which belongs to an old woman. Darres mentions that it is familiar to him. The old woman begins talking about an orphan boy she knew, who was hot-tempered, but he couldn’t fight to save is life. Regardless of his lack of skills, if the commotion broke out, he would dive into it and fight as best he could. He didn’t whatever work he could find just to get by. Unfortunately he was still resorted to stealing, but he was even worse at that. His harsh lifestyle caused him to receive plenty of injuries that made it hard for him to get out of bed. One day he got involved with the wrong fight and died. His wife was always ill and passed on soon after he died; after their baby boy was born, the old lady never knew what happened to him (Darres.) Before they were getting ready to leave, the old woman interjected not wanting them to leave with the wrong impression of the guy. She told them that he really loved his wife, wasn’t good at much, but never laid a hand on his wife, was always gentle and caring. He’d go hungry pretending he ate just so she would be the one to eat the food. (Darres inherited a good number of traits from his father.)
To prove Darres’ authenticity to the Phelios bloodline, Sharlen (from Mil Seii) suggests that he drew Sidia (a sword inherited through the Phelios bloodline) of which only his descendants can draw. Mil seii refuses to acknowledge Darres as one of their own until he does (which puts him and Pheliosta in a tight spot since he is not part of their bloodline.) Knowing it could and was going to end badly, Darres no longer wanted anything to do with this or the lying. He wants to be hopeful, but is unable to when he realizes he has to go through with this to the end. No matter how hard Darres tries, he will be unable to unsheathe Sidia, even by just a little, which is to be expected. Yuujel suggests that Lassen should first prove himself before challenging others to the throne of ascension.
During their trip to Mil Seii, Darres asks why they were really going. Yuujel mentions: The Legendary Once Fallen Knights of Lodoc. Mil Sei had conquered Lodoc only a couple of years prior and inherited what was left of it, including the once fallen. The soldiers who traded their souls for skills on the battlefield, even after their death, they still continue to function and are considered formidable opponents.
Yuujel mentions that once the way starts, they have to counter the once fallen as soon as possible. Darres reacted not expecting a war and pesters Yuujel on it. Yuujel knows there’s no way around it, so they will have to prepare for it. Yuujel is summoned and leaves momentarily. While he is away a service member brings them drinks. Not thinking much he managed a sip before Yuujel snatched it from him. He warned Darres to be careful of what he eats and drinks. He informs Darres that one of Lassen’s hobbies is collecting poisons and surely has made some attempts against Ishtar. Shortly after Darres begins to feel the effects of the poison and soldiers of the Mil Seii breach their room, Lassen is with them. Yuujel does his best to defend him and Darres, as Darres is unable to put up much of a fight, and unfortunately Yuujel doesn’t have much stamina. Darres does try desperately to fight off the poison, refusing to go out with it. He inflicted pain upon himself to kick start his. Lassen knocks Darres out and insists they come to his castle.
Darres and Yuujel are taking residence in a room while he makes a slow recovery from the drug. Ishtar catches wind of this and when she enters the room, she chews him out before hugging him because of how worried she was about him. They have a small conversation about him protecting her and how she feels the need to make sure he’s okay, so if he goes running off like he does she has to chance after him. A conflict of interest, being that he’s a guard for her, and it still hasn’t sunk in that she actually loves him.
The two carry out a second conversation about Lassen and Mil Seii and how it was rumored Lassen poisoned his own parents to inherit the duke title. He is the only heir, however, so it made little sense as to why he would, but it is just a rumor. Ishtar insists that she will be safe because of Duzell, Darres automatically thinks of her cat. Surely enough, Duzell comes, but not in the form of a cat; he comes in the form of her former self, the vampire king.
They are gathered in a room where Sidia is placed and Darres is expected to draw said blade to prove his lineage. Before hand, Duzell came up with the idea that is extremely risky to where they can’t exert themselves if they don’t want to die. It basically consists of them switching blood through a spell so he will have her blood and be able to draw the sword. Since he now has Phelios’ blood, Darres’ draws it with ease. Before long, the once fallen Lodoc soldiers storm into the room and cause uproar. Despite the fact that he’s not suppose to be fighting, Darres insists on doing so anyway. Ishtar is no better. Ishtar doesn’t last very long before feeling faint, which is their cue to reverse the spell and return their blood to their bodies.
Ishtar faired better with the blood transfusion than he did, as he as been in bed ill and even stopped breaking for a short period of time. Duzell had been taking care of him in his down time.
[Pheliosta Act]
Selen, the dark angel finally makes her return to the castle, as zealous as ever complaining that the “graybeards” had so much to say about nothing. During Selen’s briefing with Ishtar, the princess fell asleep half way through allowing her to be excused for now. She borrows Darres during this time. She knew something was up that Darres wanted to talk about, they both came to the same subject but on different people. Namely the marriage for the both of them, Selen wishes to marry Galahad the general of Razenia.
Later on when Ishtar and Darres get together they have a little squabble. Ishtar is all for Selen’s wedding because it insures that Darres is hers, however, due to political backings, everyone else is against her wedding. Selen interrupts informing them that something came up and she had to return to Razenia.
Ishtar is making an attempt to sneak out, yet again, while no one is looking. Darres, of course, catches her in the act and calls her out on it. It skips to Ishtar attending her magic lesson where she is deeply annoyed for having to sit through it. A different teacher, however, is giving this lesson and when the teacher takes a hit at the old one letting her slip so far behind; she gets offended. That it’s not his fault she’s like this, it’s hers.
Deciding it was for the better, Darres was giving Ishtar fencing lessons so she could better defend herself in case the emergency arises. During their fencing lesson, Ishtar fakes an injury in order to get closer to Darres just so he’ll carry her back. During their travel back, they have sort of an understanding where she apologizes for putting him in this position (of making him potentially a king) and he forgives her.
Ishtar has yet again ran off, leaving Darres to yet again chase after her. During one of his breaks some children approach him asking if he’s going to the castle to which he replies that he is and if he was going the right way. The boys start interrogating him with questions like if he was saving a damsel in distress, if she was his girlfriend, and if she was pretty. He gets slightly flustered as their mother catches up to them. They asked if he had any friends for this, and as he thought up, he never really addressed them as friends.
The children want to stick around with the knight Darres, but he is unable and says that he has damsels to save. Shortly after Ishtar catches the last part, thus showing that she doesn’t need saving. They continued on their way to Razenia. Not wanting to stall this any longer, they prepare to advance to the castle.
Darres had an ill feeling after catching sight of a fight and without so much as uttering a word abandoned Ishtar. (Luckily she followed him.) They had just reached the room, but moments too late unfortunately. The two found Yuujel, dead, murdered by the possessed king of Razenia. Darres was caught in a state of surrealism, unable to accept Yuujel’s death thinking that it was a dream and Yuujel will still be alive with bizarre plans. Ishtar was about to take the possessed king out then and there, but Darres had to restrain her from doing so. Darres is catching onto the fact that something wrong was going on. When more help arrives, Darres learns that the man that attacked Yuujel is actually the king of Razenia. While Vord, and Ishtar is at an audience with the King, Darres remained beside Yuujel’s dead body, morning for his loss. Selen tells him he needs to pull it together so they can figure out their next move, and shares with him that Yuujel always spoke of Darres as his best friend. Darres had no idea; it made him feel somewhat regretful. All he felt like he could do at that point, is protect Ishtar, and the kingdom of Pheliosta.
Ishtar does some sneaking around like she always does; Darres is quick to track her down, knowing full well what she is capable of. So the two are quickly reunited. Ishtar tells him she doesn’t want him to take and risks and that she would rather die than lose him.
Ishtar mumbles nonsense like Duzell growing to be ugly, Keld old and crazy, and Darres marrying Selen. In the end, all Ishar wants is for them to be happy. The Razenia king began to lose it again (as he has been in and out of consciousness in the fight over his body) sputtering that Vord is really his son. The King is ushered to rest as they claim they don’t know the cause of his illness, much to Ishtar’s disappointment. Hume (Lassen's knight) approaches them and in a whisper tells them that they have both Vord and Duzell and that Lassen wants a word with them; cornering them into visit. On their way to the tower, they are forced to fight the undead. (Selen gave Sharlen’s holy sword to Darres, one better suited to fighting the undead so he was more of an advantage.) At this point, Darres still thinks all the Duzell’s she mentioned are different people (and cat.) Ishtar exclaims she has so many things to tell him if they make it through this. Darres replies saying he has something to tell her.
The two successfully make it to their destination where Lassen (no longer has Vord) is and has Duzell captive nearby. Ishtar is fiercely protective of Duzell, so when she learns that Lassen wants to kill him she says that it’d be over her dead body. Naturally whomever Ishtar wants to protect, Darres also wants to protect. Lassen proves to be quite formidable for the best swordsman of Pheliosta to press him from offense to defense. Ishtar catches on that all the windows are closed and that there’s incense wafting through the room. Lassen assures her that she’ll be fine since she’s immune to that particular primitive poison. Darres doesn’t expect to come out of this alive, but doesn’t doubt that Duzell will take care of her for him. One of the vampires turn against Lassen, wishing to aid Duzell in freeing him from his confinement by ruelles. Naturally Darres must keep them off of her during that time while also holding his own, which is growing more difficult by the minute. She was able to finish freeing Duzell and Darres, despite his best efforts, could no longer continue on.
Possibly due to all of the ruelles weakening Duzell, he is able to use holy magic. Holy magic is useless against other humans, however; all except for one spell was useless, La Gamme. The spell of which Duzell cast knowing he was going to die right along with Lassen. Lassen didn’t even see it coming. After he completes the spell they both pass.
[Five Years Later]
Ishtar and Darres have married (which makes him King of Pheliosta) thought he still maintains his rank in the knights as a general. They had twin boys, the blonde one named after Phelios and the black-haired one named after Duzell. (They are actually reincarnations of them.)
Darres was an orphan who lived day by day in the slums of Pheliosta. It wasn’t until the captain of the guard, Selen, adopted him, that he started to make a name for himself. Selen and the queen had a "unique" relationship that the public wasn’t able to understand. Her primary reasoning for adopting Darres was to protect the daughter of the woman she loved; When Selen said if she were born a boy, and it would have been a huge scandal, that it what she is referring to.
When the manga begins, they are celebrating his 18th birthday a month early, because he’s due to meet Princess Ishtar, the girl he’s intended to guard from here on out. Darres isn’t excited for it and wouldn’t mind staying 17 forever if it meant he could stay with Selen, his mother. However, he appreciates everything that Selen has done to bring him up, so he feels obligated to do this task for her. When they arrive at the castle, one of Keld’s men was quick to insult him (being that he is a “stray”) Selen is quick to defend Darres; she cares deeply for him.
While waiting for Selen to return with Keld, Darres became less enthusiastic about becoming a royal guard for the princess. While on his own, he encountered a young boyish-looking girl, whom Darres didn't know it was really Princess Ishtar. Naturally, he is good with children, so when she wants to play him, he goes along with it (until she gets mud all over him.) Ishtar ran off, but before she could get too far, he catches her and just as he does, they are attacked. Without skipping a beat, Darres protects the child out of instinct, and begins to slaughter the enemies that wish to harm them. Before help could arrive, Darres had already handled all of the culprits and kept Ishtar from harm. Originally, they'd decided he wasn’t going to be Ishtar’s guard because he was a "stray", but he not only proved himself capable, but Ishtar refused to have anyone else but him as her guard, sealing the deal.
[BASICS]
Darres was the royal and personal guard for Princess Ishtar, a political leader of Pheliosta (the nation’s capital.) He has been serving under Ishtar since she was five, at the age of seventeen, and has protected and influenced her during the duration of his stay with her. One would think protecting royalty would be a relatively easy task, however, it was anything but simple. For years, Darres would be lied to and manipulated by the princess during her attempts to flee her responsibility. This became so frequent that he came to expect her method of operation and at times obstruct her deviant attempts to avoid her duties.
[VAMPIRE GAME ACT I]
Word gets out of a savage kyawl (a large cat) had been the cause of several killings. Upon fleeing the palace, those who oversaw her were left to worry. Darres treated it like routine, expressing annoyance. He is forced to retrieve her. It is revealed that the kyawl is not killing at random, but rather killing those who killed its children. When Ishtar was in danger of being attacked by the kyawl, Darres arrives in the nick of time to obstruct the attack and protect her. The kyawl was a mother and when passed, left an infant behind after her death. The baby animal became the vessel of the Vampire King Duzell in their agreement and then the house pet of Lady Ishtar.
During one of Ishtar’s magic lessons, she boldly asked for a simple spell that would annihilate her enemy. Darres was opposed to her crude behavior, Yujinn (her instructor) catered to her wish and showed her the spell that would do what she wanted, but also told her she would perish along with her enemy if she ever used the spell. In the midst of one of the poisoning attempts to harm Ishtar, Darres called for Yujinn so he could talk to him about Ishtar’s magic lesson. Even though Ishtar stated how pointless the suicide spell was, Darres knew that she would be dumb enough to use it if it came down to it. Before they could get too involved with their conversation, they learn that Ishtar had been poisoned. Duzell, the vampire cat kyawl (the only person aware of his identity) preformed a spell that cured her, but the effects took awhile to kick in. Darres stayed by her bedside and passed out. During this point she does what she always does, and sneaks out of the castle while he’s not looking. Duzell took her form as her doppelgänger while the real Ishtar was out, and sought information in order to locate Phelios’ reincarnation. His pursuit was too assertive, and he gave away that he wasn’t actually Ishtar. Ishtar returned, playing it off to get them off Duzell’s trail after she promised to protect him. In an attempt to cover his tracks, Ishtar insisted summoning undead assassins (who lack the inability to do anything other than attack) sending the castle into an uproar. In the face of danger, Darres cut in and saved Ishtar from the monster. After the mess is all over, Ishtar exclaims that she will be accepting an invitation to La Naan for the tournament. She said she would be bringing the best swordsman in Pheliosta, Darres, though he opposes this.
[LA NAAN ACT I]
It opens with the beginning of their journey to La Naan and already Ishtar had fled. After time spent searching, he contemplates using the mirror ruelle (a communication device) given to him by Yujinn if he needed help with anything. Deciding against it, Darres encounters Seiliez (as a convincing woman.) Other than being bewitched by Seiliez, Darres didn’t get any leads to where Ishtar might be. It becomes apparent that in his search for the princess that he was nowhere near finding her. He resorts to using the mirror to contact Yujinn to narrow his search. Eventually Darres catches up to Ishtar in La Naan, and they make it to her aunts. Darres then learns that Seiliez is actually a man, and really one of the three princes of La Naan. Ishtar flaunts Darres’ capabilities as a swordsman for the upcoming tournament.
Meanwhile, Duzell bites Ramia, the aunt, to check if she may bear Phelios and learned she does not. Later, Darres wanted to make a formal apology to her to keep Pheliosta and La Naan on good terms. He stumbles on a conversation Vord, the youngest of the three princes, is having with his mother Lamia; that really the tournament is a gig to get one of her sons to marry Ishtar for political purposes. The following day, Darres’ matches took place. With his notable skill he was able to make it to Finals where none of his matches lasted more than ten seconds. Confused with what to do next, Darres decides to try to use the mirror ruelle again (Yujinn stated he could only use it once, but it can be used infinitely.) to contact Yujinn for help. On the opening day of the final round Yujinn asked that Darres needed to investigate his findings on the La Naan successors and the secrets they’ve been hiding: particularly that one of them may not be of Phelios’ bloodline.
[VAMPIRE GAME ACT II]
"Ishtar" (actually Duzell, since it is him in the tournament) advances to the finals, as does Darres. During Laphiji’s and Seiliez’s fight Darres starts to notice that the princess isn’t acting herself. Duzell realized that his façade slipped, which takes Darres by surprise.
In the fight between the two prince brothers, it begins to get out of hand and Vord, the third brother steps in. Laphiji grows more aggressive with his attacks that are now aimed at Vord. Such attacks put the audience in the cheap seats at risk, influencing Darres to intervene. Vord simply did it to show Darres what his brother was really capable of. Thanks to the capable doctors of La Naan it looked like Vord made a complete recovery from his prior wrecked state. (But it was recommended he take it easy.)
Concurrently, on the next day, Darres and his subordinates (Jill and Krai) are still trying to dig up La Naan’s dirt on the princes. In order to investigate the prostitute that resembled Seiliez, Darres forfeited his match (no longer worried about the marital status of the princess since none of the princes can technically ascend to the throne.) to Vord. When Darres went to question Murra, the woman in question of being Seiliez biological mother, she denied everything and refused to reveal information to Darres. In the middle of his pestering, undead are sent to kill Murra. Naturally Darres puts forth his efforts to protect Murra from them. He clarifies that the undead assassins would only have one reason to attack a middle-aged hooker, and that would be to force her to take her secret to her grave. (That being, she is Prince Seiliez's real mother.) Yujinn contacted Darres by the mirror ruelle in regards to his objective, and that was to uncover the secret. Although all Darres wants is for Ishtar to live a happy life. However, while marrying Seiliez would make her people happy, it would not make her happy, she would do it to please her people and prevent a riot. Before they could get too invested in their conversation high tier vampires appear. Yujinn, through the ruelle, tells Darres to escape because he can’t fight them. The vampires wish for Seiliez to become king to instill disorder into the kingdom.
[LA NAAN ACT II]
Darres is cornered into a bad situation with Murra as he is unable to harm the vampires with any of his assets, which forces him to flee. Before things could get too dicey between Darres and the vampires, Laphiji steps in and wards them off with the magic necessary to harm them. Ramia shows signs that this has happened before in the past, by Sharlen, and that she wants her son to catch him alive.
She also admits to Darres, that none of her sons are blood related to her, but Seiliez is the of Phelios bloodline since he the blood son of her late husband, unlike the other two. Murra takes her leave, but before she left, she spoke quietly to Darres: she thanked him for all his work (protecting her) and mentions Ishtar’s concern for vampires being a reason to watch her closely. He then idly stands by as Ishtar and Ramia begin a womanly talk of her sons and her late husband and all of the mess that came along with it. Ishtar explains, (that even though they’re not related by blood) she still raised a family with him. (Because it’s not always about blood.) Ishtar decided to have her men spread word of a rumor that the three princes were a result of the king's affairs so all of La Naan could know about it.
Darres, against his better judgment, allows Ishtar to continue competing in the tournament. While Jill and Krai are gossiping, it hits Darres that Yujinn never spilled any proof about his accusations, but he still knew some how. And he frets over how he’s going to tell him. After the match between Ishtar and Seiliez (who forfeited.) Meanwhile, Laphiji and Sharlen got into a fight, leaving Laphiji fatally wounded, Duzell stumbled upon it while roaming. In a haste, Duzell returned and found Darres, springing on him covered in blood, and lead him to the wounded Laphiji, saving him.
Before they could get too far from La Naan, Vord chased after them and caught up thinking leaving town would be the best for everyone including himself.
[CI XENETH ACT]
During her magic lesson with Yujinn, Ishtar does poorly on her test and mixes an attack spell for a healing. Darres is worried because it means she’s not able to defend herself. She was given a fifth ruelle, where she learns she can transport with it (but only once.) While Yujinn and Vord are conversing, Darres interrupts to inform them that Ishtar has yet again, gone missing, not that Yujinn was surprised, he expected it. Yujinn tries to say that if she doesn’t know how to use her ruelles, they aren't any good in the first place. Darres can’t deny his reasoning for it, but Yujinn still tries to help narrow down where she could be because Darres needs to go looking for her.
Darres traveled back to La Naan hoping she would be there, only to find out that she wasn’t. Unfortunately he is stuck there until the others get back to him with any updates on where she might be located since they had split up to look for her in the surrounding nations. Knowing Laphiji was fully capable (or at least hearing about it) Darres decides to ask him for help on locating Ishtar’s whereabouts. Laphiji informs him that there is another skilled user in Ci Xeneth that makes Laphiji pale in comparison.
Eventually Vord got back to Darres to brief him on his findings. (Vord’s intel is not very reliable.) He informs Darres that Ishtar is in Ci Xeneth and that she’s in love with Captain Illsaide (the caption of the Ci Xeneth guards.) With the way Vord explains it, he makes it sound as if Ishtar is going to fool around, which horrifies Darres. Normally Vord would ask Darres for help last, but given the situation he wanted this dealt with just as quickly. Meaning Darres has to rush to Ci Xeneth from La Naan.
Laphiji gives Darres his ring ruelle to shorten his travel greatly, but sadly Darres wasn’t good at using it and ended up at the border of Ci Xeneth. On his way to the castle by horse back, he encounters monsters.
Ishtar, believing she’s doing the right thing, releases all of the monsters because she didn’t want them to be turned into ruelle. Hoping they would be forgiven and leave without causing harm was too much when she let them free and they started to attack at random. Darres arrived just in time to protect her from an attack by one. Darres had to lecture her on releasing wild monsters that caused considerable damage to Ci Xeneth. Ishtar wants him to help the other soldiers without killing the monsters while he does so. Normally he would oppose this, but for Ishtar he made an exception and just told her to weigh her deeds more carefully next time.
Before Illsaide could attack the monsters, Ishtar stepped in to be a meat shield. They then learn that the man assisting Ishtar’s Uncle (of Ci Xeneth) is Sharlen (an infamous vampire of Diaage’s lineage.) Everyone is gathered in the dungeon. Sharlen singles out Darres by teleporting them outside of the castle away from everyone else. He is at the disadvantage as he neither has the magic, nor the assets to fight against a vampire on equal grounds, and he knows it. Eventually the uncle, Jened whom is bad (for using monsters as ingredients,) came back around outside of the castle and encountered him, but before he could get too far to asking Sharlen for help, one of his soldiers took his life for the better of the people of Ci Xeneth. While Sharlen wasn’t looking, Darres snaked his sword ruelle from him, now putting him at some advantage. The soldier also took his life after taking his lord’s and Sharlen disappears, leaving them in a sorrowful moment.
[Zi Alda Act]
The queen of Zi Alda, Ishtar’s aunt Sonia, is said to be horribly ill. When they get there, however, it is not as bad as it appears. It would be like Keld, the one who informed her, to exaggerate things to get her to go. It is deemed desirable that Ishtar should marry their son (whom she hates greatly.) Ashley, the general of the Zi Alda army makes his appearance along with his wife Leene.
When Jill and Krai were gossiping about Ishtar and the mysterious Yuujel (Sonia’s son) Darres admitted he had no idea what could have happened all those years ago, and claimed he only took his eyes off her for a few moments before things went sour. He described Yuujel’s appearance, but Yuujel didn’t care for them, and estimates that he would be around 23 at this time. As they’re conversing they overhear some locals gossiping about Yuujel and his scandals. It’s made prominently obvious that he gets around.
Darres and his subordinates are standing guard outside Ishtar’s room, as expected. The following day they learn that Leene invited Ishtar to go riding. During this exchange, Ishtar comments how young Leene is, where she becomes offended. They learn that she’s actually 23 years of age. (It came to be a shock to them all.) Again, while Darres and his subordinates and the two of them begin to gossip again, especially of Ashley and his wife Leene. A woman by the name of Lucy approached Darres, telling him that he’s hard to track down and that her old friend is one of his biggest fans. Darres is a little surprised to learn he has fans. When Lucy departs, Krai happily goes to dig up some information on Lucy for Darres. Nothing spectacular comes up about her, although Leene, Ashley and Yuujel are brought up.
As Ishtar is saddling up to go for a ride (on a horse that’s been switched out, on Leene’s command) Darres, Jill, and Krai are on the sidelines watching from afar. When Ishtar mounts the horse, the horse begins to go wild putting herself and the horse in danger of being harmed. Before things could turn ugly for the both of them, Yujinn turns up to save the day by rescuing Ishtar. When Darres catches wind that the horse was going to be put down, he was strongly against it. Instead of putting the horse straight down, Darres makes a compromise with Lucy saying that if he could break the horse, the horse gets to live. Yujinn appears without warning informing Lucy that Darres doesn’t need anything out of it to break the horse. Yujinn also whispers to Darres that he is actually Yuujel, which comes to be of great shock to Darres. Darres is naturally upset at Yujinn/Yuujel about it. He learns that the truth of it is, Yuujel just wanted to be with Ishtar, and the only way for him to do that was to put up an act. Ishtar’s feelings for him are mentioned. He questions Yuujel asking if he was the reason Ishtar was rejecting all of her suitors. It’s a confusing subject and he doesn’t understand that Ishtar starts trouble to keep Darres' attention. In the middle of their conversation Leene appears and interrupts them. When she clings to him and explains how much she misses him, Darres just watches from the side. Even though Yuujel did what he did for the benefit of Ashley, (have him and Leene get married) Leene saw it as a ploy to get her out of the way so he could pursue Ishtar. She resents him for that. She storms off in anger. Darres learns, when Yuujel explains it to him, that Ishtar was his first love. He also admits that Darres is his current love.
Everyone is attending a ball. Jill asks how the progress with the horse is going and Darres admits that he bucks when someone else tries to ride him and that the horse still has a ways to go before being suitable. He disregards the horse in favor of knowing who the “creep” (Duzell in his true form) is that’s been loitering around Ishtar. Krai informs him that it is Ishtar’s personal doctor, which comes to a surprise to him. When Darres asked for the name of this doctor, Krai told him “Dooleybell” which he is in disbelief while yelling to Krai that it is actually the vampire king Duzell.
Darres is continuing his training with the horse trying to break him in so anyone could ride him. Ashley comes forth to claim the horse on behalf of the General Staff Office, in recognition of the law, unfortunately for Darres. He compromised to the extent that if Ashley could ride him, he could take the horse. Darres eventually comes around saying that if Ashley promises to take good care of him, he could have him. Yuujel then explains to be more courteous and reveals Ashley’s brilliance and that he never once, could best him.
The group is gathered with the horse outside, Ashley claimed the horse to give to Leene as a gift. When she tried to mount it, the horse went a little wild until Darres calmed it. He suggested that she use his horse, but she insisted otherwise. After notable time had passed, and many scuffs and scrapes later she eventually won the horse over and was able to mount it.
Leene with Vord approaches Ishtar and her guards to invite her out for a night of drinking with her and Vord. It is shown that Ishtar really knows how to put away her liquor as she, Leene, and Vord are making a drunken scene at the pub. Krai mentions that Vord might actually be a good match for Ishtar. Ishtar fetches a whole tray of alcohol and insists that Leene drink all of it. When Darres decides to handle the situation finally, Ishtar insists that he drink some alcohol too. While she does so, Vord claims the rest of the tray of alcohol despite saying he was done earlier. All in good fun, Ishtar dumps one of the drinks on him, Leene frets over the fact (because she had ill intentions with the laced drink she poured on him) and smacks Ishtar in response. Eventually the group leaves for the night.
Yuujel wants Darres to join him, but Darres turns him down because he’s on duty. Ishtar overhears this and tells Darres he can go and that Duzell (her “cat”) will protect her. Ishtar will let Yuujel have him as long as he promises to stay with Sonia for as long as she needs him. All parties agree and Yuujel gets to walk away with Darres. But it turns out it was just for a play date with Ashley.
Everyone is attending a party that is meant for Ishtar hosted by Leene (who still has ill intentions for her) When Leene personally offers a drink to Ishtar, Lucy commands she stopped, and alluded that it's poisoned. The rest of the party overhears and they begin to gossip amongst themselves, which places Leene in a very poor situation. Despite the hasty situation Ishtar takes the potentially poisoned beverage to drink anyway, but before she could steal a sip Darres snatched it from her and drank it all, he then played it off as cool to allow the party to return to its original atmosphere. Without much explanation and only concerned with the lady in black (Diaage) Darres brushes off the situation casually and walks off.
Leene wanted to thank Ishtar so she mailed her a love potion that’s supposedly suppose to bring two people together. Having hope that it might work she invites Darres over to share the potion with her, Darres is utterly confused and asks if they were celebrating something. The potion turned out to be, in Darres’ words, cheap whiskey. He found out through her throwing a fit that it was suppose to be a love potion and that he was the object of her affection for it, but he was convinced it was just the whiskey getting to him. When she persists, he just thinks she’s drunk and didn’t mean it.
[Mil Seii Act]
Darres is still evaluating the situation he was placed in last night and the fact that Ishtar confessed to him, but given unfavorable circumstances he wasn’t very convinced. Soon after Jill mentioned that she and Krai were talking about Ishtar’s birthday party the following week and how she’s turning 16.
Keld turns up and informs Darres of the bad news from Zi Alda and that the sick Queen finally passed due to her illness.
Yuujel exclaims to the public, what was suppose to be secret that he is now divulging on; his mother had a bastard child during her early years and that he was adopted elsewhere and his older brother is actually eligible for throne and Ishtar’s hand in marriage. It is then announced to Ishtar (along with Darres) that Darres is the love child of his mother’s earlier affairs, which comes to shock everyone.
Darres is upset at Yuujel for lying to the public, the only reason why Darres is going to go along with the whole charade, despite his conflicted morals, is because he doesn’t want everyone involved to be tried and hanged for treason. There were a great number of accomplices he’s familiar with who are helping Yuujel lie for Darres’ way to the throne.
Yuujel wishes to talk to Darres, thus asking Ishtar if he could borrow him. Naturally Ishtar agrees if only so she could stalk them to see what they’re up to. Darres has still upset about the whole scheme and Yuujel understood it, he inquires that he makes it up to him by showing him something from his past. Yuujel brings him the slums of his orphan days back before Selen adopted him as her son. He mentions in his internal dialog that he was caught stealing and that he was going to be branded had Selen not intervened. While a child caught stealing in the background makes a fuss, Ishtar comes out of hiding and offers to pay for their food so they don’t have to face the consequences of their actions.
Finally, they found the house they were looking for, which belongs to an old woman. Darres mentions that it is familiar to him. The old woman begins talking about an orphan boy she knew, who was hot-tempered, but he couldn’t fight to save is life. Regardless of his lack of skills, if the commotion broke out, he would dive into it and fight as best he could. He didn’t whatever work he could find just to get by. Unfortunately he was still resorted to stealing, but he was even worse at that. His harsh lifestyle caused him to receive plenty of injuries that made it hard for him to get out of bed. One day he got involved with the wrong fight and died. His wife was always ill and passed on soon after he died; after their baby boy was born, the old lady never knew what happened to him (Darres.) Before they were getting ready to leave, the old woman interjected not wanting them to leave with the wrong impression of the guy. She told them that he really loved his wife, wasn’t good at much, but never laid a hand on his wife, was always gentle and caring. He’d go hungry pretending he ate just so she would be the one to eat the food. (Darres inherited a good number of traits from his father.)
To prove Darres’ authenticity to the Phelios bloodline, Sharlen (from Mil Seii) suggests that he drew Sidia (a sword inherited through the Phelios bloodline) of which only his descendants can draw. Mil seii refuses to acknowledge Darres as one of their own until he does (which puts him and Pheliosta in a tight spot since he is not part of their bloodline.) Knowing it could and was going to end badly, Darres no longer wanted anything to do with this or the lying. He wants to be hopeful, but is unable to when he realizes he has to go through with this to the end. No matter how hard Darres tries, he will be unable to unsheathe Sidia, even by just a little, which is to be expected. Yuujel suggests that Lassen should first prove himself before challenging others to the throne of ascension.
During their trip to Mil Seii, Darres asks why they were really going. Yuujel mentions: The Legendary Once Fallen Knights of Lodoc. Mil Sei had conquered Lodoc only a couple of years prior and inherited what was left of it, including the once fallen. The soldiers who traded their souls for skills on the battlefield, even after their death, they still continue to function and are considered formidable opponents.
Yuujel mentions that once the way starts, they have to counter the once fallen as soon as possible. Darres reacted not expecting a war and pesters Yuujel on it. Yuujel knows there’s no way around it, so they will have to prepare for it. Yuujel is summoned and leaves momentarily. While he is away a service member brings them drinks. Not thinking much he managed a sip before Yuujel snatched it from him. He warned Darres to be careful of what he eats and drinks. He informs Darres that one of Lassen’s hobbies is collecting poisons and surely has made some attempts against Ishtar. Shortly after Darres begins to feel the effects of the poison and soldiers of the Mil Seii breach their room, Lassen is with them. Yuujel does his best to defend him and Darres, as Darres is unable to put up much of a fight, and unfortunately Yuujel doesn’t have much stamina. Darres does try desperately to fight off the poison, refusing to go out with it. He inflicted pain upon himself to kick start his. Lassen knocks Darres out and insists they come to his castle.
Darres and Yuujel are taking residence in a room while he makes a slow recovery from the drug. Ishtar catches wind of this and when she enters the room, she chews him out before hugging him because of how worried she was about him. They have a small conversation about him protecting her and how she feels the need to make sure he’s okay, so if he goes running off like he does she has to chance after him. A conflict of interest, being that he’s a guard for her, and it still hasn’t sunk in that she actually loves him.
The two carry out a second conversation about Lassen and Mil Seii and how it was rumored Lassen poisoned his own parents to inherit the duke title. He is the only heir, however, so it made little sense as to why he would, but it is just a rumor. Ishtar insists that she will be safe because of Duzell, Darres automatically thinks of her cat. Surely enough, Duzell comes, but not in the form of a cat; he comes in the form of her former self, the vampire king.
They are gathered in a room where Sidia is placed and Darres is expected to draw said blade to prove his lineage. Before hand, Duzell came up with the idea that is extremely risky to where they can’t exert themselves if they don’t want to die. It basically consists of them switching blood through a spell so he will have her blood and be able to draw the sword. Since he now has Phelios’ blood, Darres’ draws it with ease. Before long, the once fallen Lodoc soldiers storm into the room and cause uproar. Despite the fact that he’s not suppose to be fighting, Darres insists on doing so anyway. Ishtar is no better. Ishtar doesn’t last very long before feeling faint, which is their cue to reverse the spell and return their blood to their bodies.
Ishtar faired better with the blood transfusion than he did, as he as been in bed ill and even stopped breaking for a short period of time. Duzell had been taking care of him in his down time.
[Pheliosta Act]
Selen, the dark angel finally makes her return to the castle, as zealous as ever complaining that the “graybeards” had so much to say about nothing. During Selen’s briefing with Ishtar, the princess fell asleep half way through allowing her to be excused for now. She borrows Darres during this time. She knew something was up that Darres wanted to talk about, they both came to the same subject but on different people. Namely the marriage for the both of them, Selen wishes to marry Galahad the general of Razenia.
Later on when Ishtar and Darres get together they have a little squabble. Ishtar is all for Selen’s wedding because it insures that Darres is hers, however, due to political backings, everyone else is against her wedding. Selen interrupts informing them that something came up and she had to return to Razenia.
Ishtar is making an attempt to sneak out, yet again, while no one is looking. Darres, of course, catches her in the act and calls her out on it. It skips to Ishtar attending her magic lesson where she is deeply annoyed for having to sit through it. A different teacher, however, is giving this lesson and when the teacher takes a hit at the old one letting her slip so far behind; she gets offended. That it’s not his fault she’s like this, it’s hers.
Deciding it was for the better, Darres was giving Ishtar fencing lessons so she could better defend herself in case the emergency arises. During their fencing lesson, Ishtar fakes an injury in order to get closer to Darres just so he’ll carry her back. During their travel back, they have sort of an understanding where she apologizes for putting him in this position (of making him potentially a king) and he forgives her.
Ishtar has yet again ran off, leaving Darres to yet again chase after her. During one of his breaks some children approach him asking if he’s going to the castle to which he replies that he is and if he was going the right way. The boys start interrogating him with questions like if he was saving a damsel in distress, if she was his girlfriend, and if she was pretty. He gets slightly flustered as their mother catches up to them. They asked if he had any friends for this, and as he thought up, he never really addressed them as friends.
The children want to stick around with the knight Darres, but he is unable and says that he has damsels to save. Shortly after Ishtar catches the last part, thus showing that she doesn’t need saving. They continued on their way to Razenia. Not wanting to stall this any longer, they prepare to advance to the castle.
Darres had an ill feeling after catching sight of a fight and without so much as uttering a word abandoned Ishtar. (Luckily she followed him.) They had just reached the room, but moments too late unfortunately. The two found Yuujel, dead, murdered by the possessed king of Razenia. Darres was caught in a state of surrealism, unable to accept Yuujel’s death thinking that it was a dream and Yuujel will still be alive with bizarre plans. Ishtar was about to take the possessed king out then and there, but Darres had to restrain her from doing so. Darres is catching onto the fact that something wrong was going on. When more help arrives, Darres learns that the man that attacked Yuujel is actually the king of Razenia. While Vord, and Ishtar is at an audience with the King, Darres remained beside Yuujel’s dead body, morning for his loss. Selen tells him he needs to pull it together so they can figure out their next move, and shares with him that Yuujel always spoke of Darres as his best friend. Darres had no idea; it made him feel somewhat regretful. All he felt like he could do at that point, is protect Ishtar, and the kingdom of Pheliosta.
Ishtar does some sneaking around like she always does; Darres is quick to track her down, knowing full well what she is capable of. So the two are quickly reunited. Ishtar tells him she doesn’t want him to take and risks and that she would rather die than lose him.
Ishtar mumbles nonsense like Duzell growing to be ugly, Keld old and crazy, and Darres marrying Selen. In the end, all Ishar wants is for them to be happy. The Razenia king began to lose it again (as he has been in and out of consciousness in the fight over his body) sputtering that Vord is really his son. The King is ushered to rest as they claim they don’t know the cause of his illness, much to Ishtar’s disappointment. Hume (Lassen's knight) approaches them and in a whisper tells them that they have both Vord and Duzell and that Lassen wants a word with them; cornering them into visit. On their way to the tower, they are forced to fight the undead. (Selen gave Sharlen’s holy sword to Darres, one better suited to fighting the undead so he was more of an advantage.) At this point, Darres still thinks all the Duzell’s she mentioned are different people (and cat.) Ishtar exclaims she has so many things to tell him if they make it through this. Darres replies saying he has something to tell her.
The two successfully make it to their destination where Lassen (no longer has Vord) is and has Duzell captive nearby. Ishtar is fiercely protective of Duzell, so when she learns that Lassen wants to kill him she says that it’d be over her dead body. Naturally whomever Ishtar wants to protect, Darres also wants to protect. Lassen proves to be quite formidable for the best swordsman of Pheliosta to press him from offense to defense. Ishtar catches on that all the windows are closed and that there’s incense wafting through the room. Lassen assures her that she’ll be fine since she’s immune to that particular primitive poison. Darres doesn’t expect to come out of this alive, but doesn’t doubt that Duzell will take care of her for him. One of the vampires turn against Lassen, wishing to aid Duzell in freeing him from his confinement by ruelles. Naturally Darres must keep them off of her during that time while also holding his own, which is growing more difficult by the minute. She was able to finish freeing Duzell and Darres, despite his best efforts, could no longer continue on.
Possibly due to all of the ruelles weakening Duzell, he is able to use holy magic. Holy magic is useless against other humans, however; all except for one spell was useless, La Gamme. The spell of which Duzell cast knowing he was going to die right along with Lassen. Lassen didn’t even see it coming. After he completes the spell they both pass.
[Five Years Later]
Ishtar and Darres have married (which makes him King of Pheliosta) thought he still maintains his rank in the knights as a general. They had twin boys, the blonde one named after Phelios and the black-haired one named after Duzell. (They are actually reincarnations of them.)