Though Esme was stunned and astounded upon seeing so many red eyes, she was equally curious regarding the owner of those eyes. They didn't come out from the darkness and kept peering at them from afar curiously.
As Ayra was being carried on Aaron's shoulder, she tilted her head back suddenly and became stupified at once. She exclaimed wandering her excited eyes around,
" Daddy, what are they? O gosh! They are so many. Why aren't they coming out?"
Aaron smiled, tugged on her fork and assured mysteriously,
" They will come out eventually, princess. Just wait a bit longer."
As he said, finally a shadow could be seen coming out from the darkeness slowly. When it came out in light, Esme inspected the odd creature suspiciously. The creature looked alike a short heightened human except his eyes and facial features. His head could be compared with the shape of dub with a dark blade scald around. His dark reddish eyes further indicated that he was from Vampires. Their height wasn't longer than Ayra who was nearly eight years old. Though they looked a bit scary, the one who came out first had a flattering smile on his fat lips.
Upon getting closer, the strange creature glanced between Esme and Aaron. Then he greeted hanging his tiny head lowly to Aaron,
" My Lord! You have surprised me."
Aaron smiled faintly and introduced proudly,
" I have got a business with you today, Dorgan. This is my wife and current Lady of our world."
Dorgan glanced at Esme closely and bowed again,
" My Lady, welcome to Norm Village. It's your first time being here. I hope that you haven't gotten scared by my kids."
Esme returned his greeting awkwardly with a slight smile and shook her head nervously. Aaron looked up at Esme and saw through her curiousity. With a soft sigh, he explained roaming his eyes across the land,
" Don't be afraid of them. They are another kind of Vampires tribe from ancient times. They are called Doblings and specialist in dark powers. They used to live with us but the commoners troubled them a lot as they have unique power comparing to us. Thus they decided to live separately as a colony here and restricted others to come inside. Only the Royals are allowed to visit them since they are still under the protection of Vampire world. So I assumed that they might have any clue regarding Ayra's mark because Enchantress was also from ancient times."
Esme nodded with understanding and only felt at ease. The others were still busy in peering at them and gossiped among each others suspiciously.
Why did the king come to visit us? Did Master Dorgan commit any crime?
Esme could vaguely hear their gossips and laughed lightly. Waving her hands off, she welcomed them with a smile,
" Come out! Why are you all hiding?"
The Doblings were all stunned after hearing Esme's voice and immediately felt enchanted. They didn't expect that their lady would behave so commonly with them. Since they were ugly and looked like puppet, other average Vampires used to bully them vocally a lot.
Still they didn't dare to come out since Dorgan was their head and he was now paying visit to the king which seemed urgent. Dorgan smiled faintly and assured,
" They won't dare to come until I command. My lady, don't feel bothered about them. They are just being noisy."
Then Dorgan shifted his attention back on Aaron and asked nervously,
Aaron nodded,then crunched down to meet his height and dropped Ayra beside him saying,
" She is my sister's child and our adoptive daughter. I think that you can sense, she is the first cursed child in our world. Recently she helped us to finish off Enchantress. During the fight, she got this mark from her at the end. Do you know that what does it mean?"
Aaron spoke and pushed Ayra's wrist towards Dorgan slowly. Dorgan memorized everything inside his head fast and looked down at Ayra's mark sullenly. As soon as Dorgan eyed on the mark, his expression changed and turned a bit horrified.
Esme held her breathing in her throat and kept waiting for his words anxiously. Aaron knew that something was wrong as soon as Dorgan went silent. He asked again nervously,
" Dorgan, what is it?"
Dorgan ran his thick fingers on that mark lightly and kept knitting his brows tightly together. After a moment of silence, he chanted something lowly.
As he assumed, the mark started radiating an yellow light. Ayra hissed in pain and kept staring at the little man curiously. Dorgan left her wrist in shocked and stepped back abruptly.
With his breathing getting heavier, he muttered one word briefly,
" CURSE ! "
Esme's face sank immediately as if her entire world had turned upside down. Even Aaron narrowed his gaze tighteningly and asked back,
" What kind of curse is this? "
Dorgan seemed to immerse himself in deep thoughts. He turned at those peering eyes behind and clapped his palms together dramatically. As if one of them had been called, another same creature stalked out from the darkness soon afterwards.
Then Dorgan whispered something in his ears still keeping them in curiousity. The other creature nodded with understanding, bowed at their honorable visitors and stomped over Ayra with his fat legs.
He gave Ayra a comforting smile and reached out to grab her marked wrist. Soon his appearence sullened dangerously as he glanced back at Dorgan as if they both were thinking the same.
Esme's mind grew impatient. She switched her eyes between the two creatures and asked stressing on her words,
" Can anyone tell me what did you mean by that? Please stop scaring us off. I have to know the truth."
Aaron joined and asked with a hint of authority edging from his voice,
" Dorgan! Please say something. Your lady is worried, you can see that."
Dorgan ignored for a while, lowered his head down a bit and explained patiently,
" I just wanted to be assured, My Lord. My assumptions have turned true. She has been cursed with dark magical spell."
Esme gasped staggering a step backward and muttered fearfully,
" What... what kind curse is this? What will happen to her?"