Chapter 154: I am not leaving him here
~Raphael's POV~
I was tired. Not the kind of tired that sleep could fix. No. This was the kind that settled into your bones and stayed there, chewing at you from the inside out. My hands were covered in blood. Again. Not just from the beasts. But from my own mistakes.
I looked around. The land was too quiet now. The skies were always gray here. The air is always dry. It was as though some underworldly monster had sucked the life from this place and left us with dust.
Caleb sat by the edge of a rock, staring blankly at the dirt. He hadn’t spoken much in days. Not since the last fight. His body moved, but his soul was no longer with us. Queen Isla had done something to him. I didn’t know what, but I could feel it. I could feel her. I know her work when I see it. And I can smell her smelly magic.
Her magic stank. Faint, like something rotting in the wind, but it followed us everywhere. I should have known she set this up from the start. She sent us to this cursed land on purpose.
A place where beasts with no name crawled from the ground and tore through men like parasites. A place where time twisted. Three days to us was three years back home. We didn’t know that yet. Not until I had her wicked laughter.
I had just killed a beast that looked like it was made from bones and shadows. My hands were shaking. Not from fear. From holding back. Every time I fought, I had to fight myself too.
Because I was no longer just Raphael.
Grey was gone. His voice had disappeared the moment I took on the full power. He didn’t scream. He didn’t argue. He just... melted into me. Like he had always belonged inside.
Now, there was only one of us. One mind. One body. One god, well, except when it concerns our mate. I don't want this. It's so hard to have the weight of the entire realm on one's shoulders.
I didn’t want this. I didn’t ask for this.
However, it was too late to complain. My powers were no longer something I could call upon like a sword. They lived in me now, they were now one with Grey's own.
The new powers are crying out to be freed. Breathing fire and brimstone within me. Waiting. Wanting. Every fight was a test. Every time I got angry, I felt the ground shift. The sky groaned with a spark of fire lighting up my hands on the ground on which I am standing.
Still, even here, all I keep whispering to myself is I must not lose control; if I lost control, I would destroy everything. Everyone. Even Caleb.
Even Ava. My little one. I knew I was not going to die, but would my little one know I am alive? Would she wait for me, or would she return to the first realm to get her revenge?
I closed my eyes. Rolling her name on my tongue. It was like a prayer and a curse. I didn’t know what was happening to her. I didn’t know if she was safe. Every time I reached out through the bond, I felt a wall. Like someone had slammed a door between us and locked it.
I kept telling myself she was alive. That she was strong. But it wasn’t enough. I needed her. Gods, I needed her like I needed air.
“We’re being watched again,” Caleb said suddenly, his voice low and strange.
I turned slowly. His eyes weren’t his anymore. They glowed faintly, like someone had lit a candle behind them.
“I don’t see anything,” I muttered, already reaching for my ice blade that I had forged myself since the one I had taken a long time ago has been destroyed.
He shook his head. “Not beasts. Alasia. She’s in my head.”
I wanted to curse. But the words wouldn’t even come.
I had tried to burn the spell off him before. The last time I did, he had nearly died. His body went cold, and he didn’t wake up for two days.
Now I was just watching him slip further away.
“I’m going to kill her,” I said, voice flat. “I’m going to tear her into pieces.”
Caleb didn’t reply. His lips trembled like he wanted to laugh, or cry, or maybe both. Then he pointed toward the dark hills.
“She left a trail. Blood. Magic. Something. I can feel it. And... Drogon. He’s here.”
I blinked. “What?”
He nodded. “He’s here. Somewhere deep. Caged.”
My chest tightened. I hadn’t thought of Drogon in weeks. I’d thought him dead. I wanted to believe he was dead. Because if he wasn’t, then we had left him here, trapped in this hellhole, rotting like the rest of us.
I stood up. My legs were sore, but I ignored them. “We’re leaving. Tonight.”
“We won’t make it through the next ridge,” Caleb said. “There’s something up there. Bigger than the others.” How did he know all these?
Alasia said we had been in here for three years when it had only been three weeks. I had been calculating
I looked at the sky. There was no sun here. No moon. But I knew it was time. I could feel it in my gut. I could feel her. I look at the lifeless Isla that I had knocked out, and Gemma, who had passed out.
Then I replied coldly, “I don’t care,” I said.
He looked at me, broken and tired. “You’re going to lose control again,” he mumbles lifelessly.
“Then I’ll lose it,” I snapped. “I’d rather burn this whole cursed land than leave Drogon here. Gwen needs him.”
Caleb didn’t argue. He just stood, sword in hand, eyes dim. And together, we walked into the dark carrying the two exhausted women.
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