"Once they know you are in the land of the dead, they are going to come for you."
He was aware of that, the scent he had worked on disappearing to keep himself low would return once he would step in the realm of the dead, "We don't know if Belle's soul has drifted to the other side. The longer she stays there, the weaker her vessel will turn out to be such that the soul that has gone in wandering will start turning to decay and die to be part of that place."
Lucas then raised his hand, and in a matter of a few seconds, a hole started to form in the room that widened similarly to what Belle had seen. When the hole or the portal got more significant and broader, Lucas finally stepped inside, and the portal closed right behind him with a zap sound.
Lucas stepped into the land of the dead that he had not seen in the last eleven years were things appeared to be the same as before. Unchanging. He didn't bother to change his form and started to look for Belle. The buildings were the reflections of the land of the living but in a broken state that was dull and old, isolated of any beings that lived inside it.
He took in a deep breath, trying to find Belle and he could smell her. He had lived next to her for many years to identify her scent. He continued to walk through the empty streets. Tracing the scent of her, Lucas finally came to the Adams mansion which was broken and looked as if it has had been ruined by the wind and rain.
There were no trees around the mansion, and even if they were there, there were no fruits or leaves on it.
Lucas, who stood outside the mansion pushed one of the gates forward that had dried up creepers surrounding it. Walking inside and towards the mansion, Lucas could feel the sense of Belle's smell getting more potent, somewhere he was glad that she was here in the mansion and not out in the towns or the forest as it would have been difficult to trace her but also the death reapers with the other creatures could attack her.
He noticed a light in one of the rooms in the mansion that moved from one end to another as if someone was walking inside.
Lucas continued to walk and made through the open door that was broken and fallen on the ground outside. In the time he continued to spot Belle, he could hear the howls of the h.e.l.lhounds coming from outside, as if they had sensed a traitor who had returned to the land of the dead.
Though Lucas could correctly see in the dark when it came to the land of the living, it wasn't the same when it came to the land of the dead which was the place he belonged to. He walked through the old mansion that was covered in dust and mud. Every window was broken in different shapes, some that fell on the ground. Walking to the kitchen, he found the lanterns that were present as he had expected.
It was strange, thought Lucas to himself. In the past, he had come to walk by these very houses and streets, and he had stood looking at it, but he had never stepped inside it. It made him wonder what pulled him here in the past when he was still a Grim who hadn't fallen. He heard the cupboard move behind him, and Lucas turned around to look at the wooden cupboard that had moved from being open to close.
Spirits and creatures often occupied the empty buildings as the higher beings of this realm never walked in to hunt them unless they needed to be killed.
Lucas let go of the lantern and walked out of the kitchen, his black eyes looking at the corridors that appeared deserted in the quiet mansion.
The wooden floors of the mansion creaked, and his eyes moved to turn in the direction he heard it come.
Walking up the stairs, Lucas went up to the room which Belle often slept in the actual world. His hand reached for the k.n.o.b of the door, and he turned it around, pus.h.i.+ng it as he stepped inside to find the girl sleeping on the tattered bed. The bed's springs had come out from its surface and some sides of it were torn.
Lucas came to stand next to her, noticing how she wore the same dress that had picked up the blood. Her feet were red and so was her hand. It wasn't her blood but someone else's.
As if sensing Lucas' presence, Belle opened her red eyes to look up at the ceiling then him.
Looking confused, she got up and Lucas helped her up, "Where am I?"
"In the land of the dead," Lucas replied to her, his hand touching her back as he had helped her sit and he let his hand down. She appeared to be tired and she raised her hand, rubbing the back of her hand on her forehead.
She looked left and right around her surroundings, "Feels like I slept for far too long time," she murmured under her breath.
While Lucas had reunited with her in the land of the dead, in the land of the living Barron who was walking back and forth before climbing up the bed to see if she had woken up finally caught sight of Belle who opened her eyes filled with sleep.
"Oh, good you are finally awake!" Barron exclaimed before asking, "Where is Lucas?"
Hearing this Belle frowned. Her brows knit together and she asked, "Where did he go?"
