Reign of Wrath

Chapter 4

Little by little, she was able to piece by piece what is happening. And she did not like what she had come to conclusion with.

He was only told in stories. Those that scare young ones so they behave properly or he will take and eat them whole. He was the most feared, not even the known monsters could compare to him.

She remembers her mother telling her about him for the first time. And she can vividly recall how frightened she is.

"If you do not sleep now, he will come to you," Queen Indila told her, tucking her into bed.

She was five back then, naïve and stubborn, always getting what she wants. "But I want to play, mother."

"And tomorrow you shall."

"But—"

"Do you really want him to come to you?" Her mother grabbed her hands.

"I do not know who you are talking about. Are you pertaining about father?"

"Your father is no compare to him. So be a good girl and sleep."

"No." She shoved her mother's hands away and moved out of the bed.

Barefoot, she started to walk towards the door when her mother started to speak. "He blends with the dark because he is the darkness. He is the most feared not just because he is powerful but because he has no mercy, void of any emotion. Possessing the blackest of eyes and claws that could slice one's flesh in one go, he eats his prey whole, especially stubborn children. He haunts those who do not behave properly. And he shall come to you tonight if you do not go back to bed now and sleep."

Maybe it is the way her mother spoke of it that had spooked her or maybe she had really felt it to be true that it made her frozen on her spot. Feeling her nightgown wet and a pool of pee under her feet, she was beginning to shiver.

"Come back to bed now, Eleana."

And she did, crying.

Her mother has never been gentle to her, just like her father. They are both strict and unaffectionate. Something she grew accustomed to.

The very next day, after she has greeted her parents' good morning and on her way to Alec, she told him everything her mother told her.

Grinning, Alec shook his head. "Nyxus. His name is Nyxus."

"You know him?"

"Of course. Everyone knew him," he said, fixing his collar in front of the mirror.

"I don't know who he is, just last night." She walked beside him and looked up at his handsome face. "Have you seen him?"

"No. But those who have said that Nyxus has three heads and sharp fangs and teeth. He is as tall as the tower of Sinag and he is always starving for little girls like you."

She immediately wrapped her arms around him. "He is like the monsters."

Alec guffawed and rested his left hand on her head. "Yes, he is."

Alec was wrong though. Nyxus doesn't have three heads and sharp fangs and teeth. He is tall but not humungous like a tower. More so, he doesn't look like a monster. He is too beautiful to be compared as such.

But the aura he possesses is something to be alarmed of. There's a sense of danger, of everything but good. And she is petrified, confused but more so, in utter disbelief. It was too surreal and she had never felt fear so intense as this.

"Sit." His voice filled the silence.

She immediately obeyed and felt the grass underneath her. She has her weapons—her daggers on her thighs. But she is not foolish as to do something when she cannot see anything and winning is very impossible to achieve.

"Daughter of Elias and Indila. Princess of Castille," he spoke. His voice was like a lullaby in the darkness. "You are near ascending, am I right, Eleana?"

She swallowed a lump on her throat before answering. "Yes, Sir."

"Sir." She definitely heard his low chuckle after he said that word. "When will you ascend?"

The Ascension is the most awaited event in the life of every folk. It is the way to determine if they possess powers. A blessing will be given to them by one of the Holiness. And a rite shall follow.

The folk is different from the mortals because they are gifted and blessed by the gods. However, when a folk showed no power on his/her Ascension, he/she is considered a disgrace, a humiliation. They assume that they have done something wrong from the past that has angered the gods.

They were either sent to monasteries to redeem themselves and if luck is with them, they will be part of the Holiness. It is their way to express their purity and intentions. Or, worse, they would be stripped down of the privilege of being a folk and they will become mortals.

Even the monarchs have no way of escaping the Ascension. Some met disgrace and were immediately sent to monasteries or married to an Ascended to still have a strong family line. Though most of them are gifted—and very blessed, that is, for they became extremely powerful.

She has seen many Ascensions and she is very prepared for hers. She saw Alec's. He did not suffer much unlike the others or maybe he is just very good at managing his emotions. After all the suffering, he was able to control water. And it was amazing whenever he does it in front of her. She feels proud but also jealous.

"Father is setting the date, Sir, together with Jacin."

"Ah yes. Jacin."

She wouldn't ask if he knew the man. She assumes he does. Everyone knew Jacin—the right hand of King Elias, the magnificent Sun Summoner which is the opposite of Nyxus' power.

She stiffened more when she felt something graze her cheek.

"Are you scared of me, Eleana?" he whispered, his breath against her ear.

Would it be wise to answer honestly or not?

"Should I be, Sir?" she asked, instead.

"It would depend if you are a good or a bad girl. Besides, it is what parents tell their children to scare them, right? That I would come to those who do not behave properly."

His presence left her side. The amount of perspiration on her forehead and neck is enough proof of her distress. 

"What scares us most is the description they tell us of you, Sir."

"And how do they describe me?" he whispered in her other ear.

"That—" she gulped. "—you are massive."

"I'm quite tall, yes."

She did not correct how humungous they said he was.

"That you have claws and fangs."

"I don't, unfortunately."

"And that you look like a monster."

He did not answer immediately. And she was afraid that she might have offended him.

She suddenly felt him grab her hand. His skin is stone-cold and she cannot contain her shiver.

"Do I feel like a monster?"

Her fingers grazed a smooth area as he guides her. She felt his nose, up to his forehead, then his eye which is shut, moving up to his hair that is so soft, to his ear, his sharp jaw, then stopped on his lips.

Disbelief has been piling up on her in this one day. But this is the one topping all the others. She is touching him, she is touching Nyxus. She unconsciously moved her finger, making his lips part. If only she could see him.

"Did they told you that I can see the future?" 

She blinked.

She felt him moving her fingers away from his lips and clasping them tight near her chest. Suddenly, she was able to see. A light loomed over between them and what welcomed her is his face in front of her—eyes staring, lips in a tight purse. 

Her mother said he was void of any emotion. Then why does he look like he's torn yet pissed at the same time?

Looking down at their clasped hands, he started to speak slowly.

"Entirety will be damned.

Reign of somber days shall follow.

Immaculate, thou shall not.

For as long as thou shall live, everyone awaits your advent."

A bad omen, it seems. And a haunting one. The way he spoke it and the unsettling feeling it gave her was constantly replaying on her mind.

He finally looked back at her. His expression seems that he too is baffled by what he saw.

"Did you understand my reading?" 

"N-no, Sir," she answered truthfully.

"Good." He lets her go abruptly. "Everything depends on what path you shall take. Remember that."

She did not know what happened next but she felt Nyxus grabbed her on her left arm before everything went dark all over again. His touch went missing, his presence disappeared. In a blink of an eye, everything lit up just like before.

#lovobogROW