Chapter 114: Mixed POVS
"Now that the king has gone into the Rift, everyone gathers," Drogon commanded, his voice calm but firm. His cold eyes landed on Gwen, Anastasia, Eloisa, Caleb, and Callie.
"Caleb, you will be in charge of the kingdom. Make sure nothing happens while the king is away," he continued. "Callie and her brother are to be protected. If the other factions decide to rebel again, they will be the first targets."
" What do I do if they rebel?"
" Kill them," Drogon answered coldly.
Caleb nodded, his expression grim. He placed a comforting hand on Callie’s shoulder before gently guiding her away, her soft sobs filling the field. The boy held onto his sister’s arm, eyes wide with fear.
"Now," Drogon turned back to the others, "the rest of you will follow me. We will retrieve Ava's body while we wait for the king to return."
No one hesitated. They nodded their heads, determination etched on their face. They couldn't wait to get this done once and for all.
Gwen gripped Anastasia’s hand, squeezing tightly as she sent a silent prayer. Let them find Ava. Let Raphael return with her spirit. Let this nightmare end.
Drogon took the lead, summoning his dragon fire. The flames engulfed him and then spread across the ground, winding through the palace corridors like a living dragon, searching.
Then, as if pulled by an invisible force, the fire dragon darted forward, disappearing through the stone floor.
"Here," Drogon said, eyes darkening.
They followed him, moving deeper into the palace walls. Down passageways long forgotten.
Tunnels upon tunnels, twisting like a labyrinth beneath the palace. The air grew colder, heavier, and suffocating with the dust and cobwebs everywhere. None of them had known such depths existed.
And then the fire dragon stopped. They all did as well. A small chamber comes into view. It had chains.
Drogon stepped forward first. Then Gwen, Anastasia, and Eloisa followed, and they all suddenly froze.
Bodies.
Corpses, long dead and mummified, covered the chamber floor. The remains of the fae, their fragile forms, twisted in the most painful position he was in h.
Some were small; too small. Children. Among them were centaurs, elves, fairies and creatures from every corner of the realm.
A graveyard. A slaughterhouse.
Gwen's breath hitched, and then she screamed. Too shocked and too shaken up. Anastasia comes to her. Hold her, so she doesn't fall.
A figure comes out from the shadows. Lara. For a moment, she is stunned. And then, as if possessed, a wicked grin spreads across her face, a bat-like creature perched on her shoulder.
"You shouldn't have come here," she sneered.
Before anyone could react, she attacked.
Gwen did not hesitate. Fury ignited inside her like wildfire. She lunged, dodging Lara’s spell, her blade flashing. The fight was brief. Too brief. Lara gasped as the sword plunged through her chest.
She fell. Dead before she hit the ground.
Anastasia turned to the bat on Lara’s shoulder, her sword raised. But before she could strike, Eloisa cried out.
"Stop!"
Anastasia stilled, the blade hanging over the trembling creature, that hadn't attacked them from the beginning.
"It is not a bat," Eloisa said, voice shaking. "It’s a fae. I can feel it. The lantern of flame that should have returned to the eternal well is inside this creature."
Silence filled the chamber.
Then Eloisa turned, raising her torch. The light spilt over the farthest walls, revealing iron bars.
Cells.
Three of them.
Gwen gasped, horror twisting her stomach. Behind those bars were small, hunched figures. Some clawed at the iron, others huddled in corners, eyes hollow, bodies thin and weak.
"The missing fae children," Eloisa whispered, tears spilling down her cheeks. "They’ve been here for years."
Her hands trembled as she lifted them, chanting soft words. The air lights up One by one, golden lights lifted from the children’s chests, twisting through the air like fireflies before shooting upward, returning to the eternal well.
After the spirit of the children was returned, what remained were unnatural creatures, animals with distorted forms, souls that had been forced to live in something they were never meant to be.
"I cannot kill them," Eloisa said, her voice filled with sorrow. "If I do, their souls will be lost forever."
Drogon stepped forward, his expression grim. "Then leave them to me. I will find a way to fix them."
Eloisa looked at him, eyes filled with gratitude.
The bat shivered in her hands. Then, in a weak, rasping voice, it spoke. Eloisa understood.
"Marissa’s brother," Eloisa whispered, heart pounding.
The bat, no, the fae, turned its head toward the corner of the room. They followed its gaze.
And there in the corner was a coffin of ice. The coffin glowed, shining with an unnatural light.
Eloisa swallowed hard interpreting what the bat said to the group. "The witch… she wanted Ava’s body. That’s why she stole it. She has been safeguarding it all this time."
Drogon reached forward, pressing a hand against the frozen surface. A deep rumbling echoed through the chamber. The ice cracked little by little until it broke completely.
Drogon carried Ava’s body. And as they turned to leave, stepping cautiously around the corpses of the fallen, a sound ripped through the air. A low, animalistic roar that shook the chamber.
The party exchanged glances. They knew it was the Rift. They hurried out of the underground chamber in time to see the portal Rift opening.
Before their eyes, a figure stumbled out, they got ready for battle. Scared it was something monstrous. However, it was a battered, barely alive Raphael. His armour was torn, his body drenched in blood, his own and the creatures he had slain in the Rift.
Gwen gasped, running toward him, but before she could reach him, something else was dragged from the Rift.
It was Ava. Not her body, but her spirit. Blinking, and unstable. She was fading.
Drogon moved fast, catching her before she could float into nothingness.
Without a word, he pulled out a lantern. A single, ancient flame burned within, flickering faintly.
He opened it, whispered something low, something only he and the gods could understand, and then guided Ava’s spirit inside.
The light came up more. Shining brightly, and then, silence.
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