Revelation - Chapter 38 (Patreon)

Xion

I look up when I feel it. Something a normal human wouldn’t feel. It’s like the ground beneath me is quaking. But it’s so deep inside the planets crust it borders the core. I look up at the men that are rounding up the remaining prisoners. They feel it too.

I look off into the distance. Over the horizon where we can see nothing but the light as it stretches over the land. I look to the captain who is awaiting my orders on this new development.

“Get those prisoners on the ship as fast as you can and get out of here.” I say. He looks in the same direction then back to me with a worrisome glare.

“Do you think it’s the King?” He asks. I shake my head.

“I’m not sure.” I murmur. The energy I sense is dark. Completely opposite of what Remus gives off. Whatever or whoever it was has caused the planet to rupture itself by draining so much life from one region. We may have an hour tops before it crumbles within a black hole created by itself. I look to the captain.

“Load everyone up and go back home. Don’t stay here longer than you need to. Thirty minutes top.” I say walking away.

“Wait!” He shouts at me as I move.

“Where will you go?” I keep my gaze on the distant clouds beginning to form and the lightning coming out of them.

“I’m going to find Remus.”

Remus

In my life, I’ve had so much taken away from me. While all I’ve ever done is give. I’ve given my people a stable home and future. I’ve given my mother security, and a place to call her home. I’ve given my siblings power and strength, kingdoms and conquests, and I’ve even given my father the respect and security of his once dying kingdom.

But what have I given Iris? The one person that has ever touched me on such a deep level. Pain. Strife. Fear. Struggle.

And as I watch Braith take control of her mind and soul, as I watch the life behind her eyes slowly disappear as she falls under his control, I once again feel helpless. Braith eyes me viciously. He doesn’t have to say anything for me to know what it is he’s thinking. He despises me. He despises what I am. He wants to take everything away from me like my people took from him.

And he holds the power. He can. I hold my hands up.

“Braith.” I say his name calmly, trying to not let off how terrified I am.

“Don’t do this. Don’t hurt her. It’s me you want to hurt. She’s just an innocent.” I say. He glares at me and laughs. His cackle makes my flesh crawl.

“Since when do you care about innocents, your highness? Do you know how many innocents you’ve stepped on to get here? This one is a necessary sacrifice to teach you. No matter what you will never win with everything you want!” He shouts. I keep my face expressionless. But my heart is ten seconds from beating out of my chest.

I’ve never been so terrified in my life. Never.

“Ok. What do you want? What do you want in exchange for her life?” I ask. He doesn’t respond. He only stares. I keep a serious expression to let him know that I am willing to take anything.

“I want my people’s freedom.” He says. I nod my head.

“Done.” I say. He shakes his head though.

“I’m not done.”

“I want you, your father, your mother, and all of your siblings head on a spike. I want your kingdom.” He growls.

“You must end the royal family’s existence.” He finishes. Keeping a level expression is the hardest thing I’ve managed to do at this point. He knows I won’t. He knows I can’t. I can’t kill my family. It’s a bind he is all too thrilled to put me in.

He smiles.

“Too bad. I guess the death of the ones you hold most dear will be enough.” He moves to harm Iris and there’s nothing I can do.

“No!” I scream. I immediately make a move towards them, when out of nowhere, Braith pauses. His gaze is wide. Panicked. I have no idea what’s happening. Until I realize, it’s that he can’t move. Iris grabs his arm, placing her other hand around his throat and crushes him into the ground. She opens her mouth and begins screaming. All of her rage is manifested into a warp of energy as the wind is ripped around her. The already dead ground begins quaking from the force, and I have to form a wall of energy to protect myself from the blow.

Braith stares at her with wide, confused eyes as she drains his life. She takes her hand that’s coated in dark energy and plunges it into his chest, continuing her pain filled shriek. And even when he stops squirming, she continues to suck him dry.

I watch in horror as she continues to scream and cry. Her body begins to glow, the darkness seeming to seep out of her pores until she falls to her knees crouching her body. Her scream turns into a sob. I can feel the planet quaking beneath us which isn’t a good sign.

I slowly make my way to where Iris lay next to Braith’s now lifeless body. She’s still sobbing, and I can see the energy leaving her body, slowly being consumed by the ground. I look around us at the destruction that has ensued from our small battle. It’s desolate. Everything is dead. Everything. And the core of the planet has absorbed enough dark energy to form its own black hole. It’s going to suck the life from itself and die.

This is what happened to my home. This is why there are dead zones. And why the conversion is necessary. We did this much damage with only three energy beings. Imagine a war of them. This is why my grandfather took their energy from them. They are like us, only corrupted. They could not be trusted. As a result, they were placed under our jurisdiction to watch over and control.

I finally reach Iris as relief fills my chest. I place my hand on her back, and she tenses looking up at me. I can’t help my smile as those green eyes look at me with sadness.

She’s ok.

She slowly blinks before her body begins to shut down from exhaustion. I can sense it as she falls over in my arms into a deep and well deserved sleep.

~

I can’t look away from her as I hold her in my arms. Her body is so light. So warm. I missed having her in my arms. And only a couple of minutes ago I thought that would never have been possible again. I’m weak. Too weak to phase to the ship or move faster than I currently am. The pain that I feel in my muscles from overexerting myself as well as my mental state is exhausting. But I have to get both of us away from this planet and soon or we will both die.

Iris needs a doctor. Her body barely holds the energy Braith forced onto her. She doesn’t know how to control it especially now that he is gone. Hopefully I can keep it dormant until I can teach her how to cultivate it as her own. It’s a dangerous thing for me to do, but necessary.

Especially now that she is carrying my child.

“Remus!”

I look up when I see Xion coming towards me in the distance. She has Iris’s brother over her shoulder as he limps along next to her. His eyes immediately fall on Iris in my arms and he immediately tries to move but Xion holds him tight. Her gaze roams around the destruction that stretched miles beyond from where the battle ensued.

She gives me a soft smile.

“Glad to see you’re ok.” She says. She looks at Iris. “Both of you.”

I nod my head.

“I assume everything went according to plan on your end?” I ask.

She nods her head.

“No casualties. There wasn’t even a fight.” She says. I nod my head. Xion looks at me.

“Did you-“

“No. She did.” I say answering her question before she even asks it. Iris killed Braith. I have no idea how she broke the control he had on her, but she did and managed to end him. I know she won’t be able to live with that guilt. I look at Xion.

“When she wakes and asks, I killed him. Understood? Not her. She won’t be able to live with the guilt.” I say. Xion nods her head.

The ground beneath us rumbles and we both look at each other knowingly.

“Lets get out of here.”