Chapter 54: Chapter Fifty-four: Fucking psychos.
Lucian’s screams tore through the void as he plummeted and the air rushed past him like a storm.
The cave had swallowed him whole, spitting him into this endless fall. His hands clawed at nothing as he tried to grip something, anything to steady himself.
"Damien!" he bellowed, his voice hoarse with desperation. "You psycho, where the hell are we?!" But no answer came, only the relentless pull of the void, dragging him deeper into its inky blackness. His stomach churned, heart hammering as he braced for an impact that never seemed to come. Just air, just falling, just his own curses echoing back at him.
Then, without warning, a blinding light erupted around him. It seared his eyes, forcing them shut as his body lurched forward with dizzying speed.
He was no longer falling but it was like he was being propelled through the light like an arrow. Before he could scream again, the ground met him with a bone-rattling thud. He landed hard on bare earth, the impact knocking the breath from his lungs. Dust clouded around him, stinging his throat as he coughed and pushed himself up. His hands pressed against the cracked, dry ground, and he squinted into the blazing sun shining brightly above him.
"Where am I?" he muttered to himself before his eyes snapped back shut and his body went limp.
---
Meanwhile, in an opposite realm, Damien and Lio appeared with a leap in the most bizzare place ever. The ground stretched endlessly in front of him like a bizarre marriage of desert and forest. It was a large expanse of red sand just like the desert but with trees. Strong, flourishing trees. What?
The air was thick and heavy with the scent of moss and ancient wood. He spun around as he took in his surrounding. "Lucian!" he shouted, his voice swallowed by the vastness around him. Towering trees loomed overhead, twisting like skeletal fingers against a sky streaked with amber and violet.
In the distance, two dragons soared high in the sky, reflecting under the massive orange-red sun. Five others rested closer, their massive forms sprawled across the ground meters away from where he stood.
"Yes, Damien." Lio replied calmly behind him.
"Where’s my brother?" Damien demanded, turning to the man. Lio stood perfectly still as he fixed his eyes on the man in front of him. "I sent him back to Zerethane," Lio said simply, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Damien’s jaw tightened at his reply. "Why didn’t you send me with him? Why am I here?"
Lio’s gaze flicked to the horizon, where the dragons’ wings cut through the air. "This is very much still Kesath." he drawled, swinging his arms beside him. "...the innermost realm that is. You’re here because you have something in you."
"What is that?" Damien snapped, frustration boiling fiercely in him. "Stop with the cryptic nonsense. Tell me what’s going on!"
Lio’s lips curved into a faint smile, but his eyes remained sharp. "You’ll know when it’s time." Without another word, he turned and started walking.
Damien cursed under his breath but still followed him. Not like he had any other choice. The silence between them was heavy, broken only by the distant roars of the dragons and the rustle of leaves in the unnatural breeze under the unnatural sun.
The deeper they went, the stranger Kesath became. The trees grew taller, vines slithered across the ground, coiling around rocks like they wanted to strangle them and the fluctuating movement of the air. The air buzzed with an energy that Damien immediately felt. He couldn’t put a name to it but it was something ancient and restless that made his skin prickle.
They reached a clearing where a massive structure stood. A house, or perhaps a mansion, carved from stone and swallowed by aging paint. Despite its old and dull nature, the house looked decent in its kind. The architecture was ancient and looked like an accommodation for witchcraft. Lio gestured toward the entrance "After you," he said with a smile brighter than any sun.
Damien hesitated and shot him a hard look.
"Why don’t you go first? You’re the one who brought me here in the first place." he said sarcastically.
Lio chuckled at him, irritating Damien the more. Just what always made him laugh so much?!
"You really have some serious trust issues."
"Well I can’t be sure you don’t want to kill me unless you take the lead." he said as a matter of fact.
"If I did want to kill you, I would have allowed the other dragons to devour you, no?"
Damien said nothing and just stared at him. Lio, hellbent on making him move first, stood in the doorway staring at him too.
Unable to take it anymore, Damien approached the door, visibly displeased. "Move." he said, shoving Lio away like he were trash.
He pushed the door open, and it creaked , revealing a dim interior lit by several lanterns. The air inside was cool, carrying the scent of old wood and something sweeter, like honey and herbs.
Before Damien could take another step, a figure emerged from the shadows. She was average in height and was dressed in a flowing gown of deep green that shone unmistakably in the dark. Her hair, a cascade of dark curls, covered her small face and her eyes gleamed like polished onyx. Immediately her eyes landed on him, she moved with purpose, closing the distance between them in an instant.
Without a word, she threw her arms around Damien, pulling him into a tight embrace. Her lips found his, and she kissed him deeply, fiercely, as if she’d been waiting for him her entire life.
Damien froze, his mind reeling from the sudden action on his body. Her warmth, her scent, the press of her body, it overwhelmed him. He pulled back instantly, staring into her eyes with a dangerous look. "Who are you?" he said roughly, pushing her backwards. He squinted his eyes, trying to make out her face but couldn’t despite the room being fairly lit.
She smiled, revealing a perfect set of white teeth that held a mix of mischief and warmth. "I’m Elyria," she said, her voice low and melodic, like a song carried on the wind. "And you..." she drawled, running her hands over his chest "...are just who I’ve been waiting for." Before he could reply, she drove her hand sharp against his chest and he fell to the ground, unconscious.
...........
Back in Zerethane, the royal court was in chaos. The news of King Alexandria’s death had spread like wildfire, and the absence of mourning rites or preparations had set the nobles’ tempers ablaze. They marched toward the palace with faces that clearly expressed their discontent and grim determination. They walked into the palace and as they approached the throne room, their steps faltered. Bodies littered the courtyard from head to tail: guards, servants, even a few lesser nobles, laid lifelessly sprawled across the cobblestones. Dried blood stained the ground, pooling in the strange cracks like rivers of ink.
"What in the gods’ name..." Lord Varren, a grizzled vampire with a scar across his cheek, muttered. "Was the palace attacked?"
"Let’s turn back" another lord whispered, trembling. "This might be a trap." Ever since the dragon scale was discovered, the king hadn’t held any meetings or called on the court. Suddenly, the got information that he was dead? And won’t be buried with the ancestors? Something wasn’t right.
But Lord Corren, ever defiant, pushed forward. "We can’t abandon our duty. Whoever did this is guilty of treason and we have to end it." The others, spurred by his resolve, followed, though fear still lingered in their eyes.
To attack a king was no walk in the park, especially one who had been chosen by the ancient relic itself. Whoever it was that had done this must be a real bastard.
They reached the throne room and with a collective breath, they pushed them open putting the doors under strain. Inside, the air as thick as a palpable thing, swirling with the energy of something dark and unnatural. And there, lounging on the now blackened throne, was Cassian. The crown rested crookedly on his head and his lips curled into a mocking smile as if he had been expecting them.
When the court members saw him, outrage replaced fear.
"Cassian!" Varos barked. "What is the meaning of this? The king’s body has not even been laid to rest, and you—"
Cassian tilted his head slightly, a faint smile curving his lips. "How nice of you all to join me," he said softly, cutting him off. "Please, have a seat."
"Enough of this madness!" one of the elders shouted. "You defile the throne and committed treason! Remove that crown at once!"
Lord Corren stepped forward, burning with anger. "This is madness, Cassian! How dare you attack the king?! Your own father!"
The nobles erupted in shouts, their voices overlapping in a racket of outrage. "You have no claim to that throne! Step down, or we’ll—"
Cassian lazily raised his hand and boom!
The doors slammed shut behind them, sealing with a flash of red light.
Several members gasped and stumbled back as the pressure in the room grew unbearable. The walls vibrated and the ground trembled faintly beneath their feet.
They were vampires, yet none of them could move under that weight.
Cassian’s power flooded the hall like a living storm.
The noise died as Cassian’s eyes darkened and the air in the room grew heavy and oppressive. It was as if the shadows themselves pressed against them, squeezing the breath from their lungs. With a lazy wave of his hand, the throne room doors slammed shut, echoing like a death knell. The nobles staggered, falling to their knees as the pressure on the air forced them down. Some tried to use their vampiric strength to cancel the effect of the magic but it was no match for the power radiating from Cassian. It was no ordinary strength. It was ancient, primal, something none of them had felt before