Chapter 5
862 Words
~Rael POV~
The colorful land was now black and white. It was as if the winter storm had hauled up the entire land.
The air was not cold.
It was neither warm.
It was stagnant.
The ground was filled with ashes like snow. It reminded me of home. The land I had long left in the hands of others.
Raihen's Southern Duchy. The nameless duchy had been named Kyros under the newly reigning Queen.
A long sigh escaped my chapped lips.
"You demon,"
A curse when into the air. The rubbles moved and a limb reached out beneath the fallen ones.
"You will rot in hell! For all eternal, you will never..." It rasped but halted when its eyes landed on me.
I stayed seated for whoever knows how long there. Just staring into the darkened sky.
"..."
The fae rasped out her laughter with blood splurting out. She fisted her hair and with a look that was contorted, she added.
"... pitiful breed. I cursed your soul to be sealed in this damned land till the end of time."
A tang of magic ran in the air. The fae blows her final breath out with a new tattoo clawing its way up on my back. Resting its curse with the other existing curses from the likes of her.
"..."
A soft scoff echoed from my chest. I rested my head on the back of my palm as I let the rest of the laughter out.
The laughter died out along with the dark sky.
"How many curses had that been?"
I tousled my hair back. The shades it now had were nowhere near the rich golden hue I used to own.
They darkened with the accumulated curses I bear. Fae kinds cursed people with their life on the line and they clung to you until the end of time.
"Such a powerful and prideful way to condemn someone,"
Time was a trivial matter to me as it had long stopped ticking. The moment I made a bargain with the Lord, my life was never mine.
A life for a life.
Her life, in exchange for mine.
"Lord Rael,"
A sultry voice softly approached. Areum kneeled, awaiting my acceptance. His wing of darkness was tucked in with the edge smeared with dried blood.
I gave him a side glance. Acknowledging his presence.
"The hole on the wall had been amended, my lord."
Cold smokes of air escaped my mouth. My eyes gaze at the wall standing tall bordering the fae lands and the others. The kinds that the fae will devour upon sight.
The kinds... the land where I used to live.
After hours of gazing at the empty sky, I made my way along the border. Leaving the ashes behind and allowing the retainers to return for the day.
Or so I thought.
Small frames embracing one another at a cold end of the border were staring back at me. Their clattering teeth and purples fingers and toes said enough.
I growl inwardly.
The younglings continued staring. The sounds of their teeth clattering ticked my ears and my fury.
"Such brazen little creature," I taunted and a small pair of eyes rose from the embrace of the bigger younglings.
"Please. Please spare my siblings,"
The tiny one pleaded. She put out her hands in a begging manner with trembling little fingers.
"..."
My claws were out and the tips rested on the male youngling. The tiny one let out a soft cry while the other shed silent tears down her eyes.
"We weren't trying to cross. Please believe me." The tiny one's hoarse voice broke the silence. She ran out of the embrace of the elder younglings and hugged my feet.
"We were called out."
A hard breath escaped my nose. The tips of my claws were now smeared with the blood of the frozen male youngling.
"There! Look!"
My ears caught the sound of twigs breaking from the other side. I squinted my eyes to see beyond and when I do, my blood boiled.
"Slave traders,"
Sensing the ripple in my aura. Areum and his shadows appeared by my side. They remained to kneel even after I gave them my acknowledgment.
Areum's gaze went to the younglings trembling on the ground. Their skin had gotten a thousand shades paler.
"Lord Rael?"
Areum's disgruntled gaze made the younglings shiver uncontrollably. The tiny one leaked out yellow-hot liquid down.
"Do what you must and..."
Areum stared in the direction I was looking at. He remained silent until the sight unfolded itself.
"Tch,"
The shadow men winnowed away with the younglings in their arms. Leaving Areum and me on the spot, eyeing the traders.
"We will eye them,"
The day sky shifted with the night sky over and over again. My routine remained the same, striding down the border.
"Lord Rael! The traders... they..."
My thoughts were locked solely on the damned traders. My claws were out, ready to shed more blood.
Those are it, my routine until...
"...Goddess..."
A lass walked through the wall as swiftly as she walked through the air. She falls into my embrace with her blood dripping down.
- Writer
