Chapter 104: Chapter 104

Langrion was in a meeting room with Gavil, discussing a plan of attack for the next day, when he heard it.

It was unmistakably his brother’s voice that was booming inside his head, and instead of saying something that was personally meant for him, he recognized that he was giving a speech to the crowd.

“Dearest citizens of Gaulane, today, I present to you one of the reasons why our former ruler, King Caldwell the First, had died in vain!”

His eyes must have popped out in shock as Gavil went into his side. He lent an arm into his arched back and was saying something to him, but Langrion didn’t hear what it was. He was too focused on what Sirion, in his brother’s body, was saying.

“The rumors are true! This woman, as well as my dear brother, Prince Langrion Zephiry Romualdi, are cursed!”

There was a short pause as his brother spoke. He clutched his heart, which began to ache. What the hell was he doing to Shia?

“Tomorrow, she shall face the consequences of her acts of treason at the royal courtyard. I, Danterion Alexy Romualdi, sentence this woman to die! She will burn at the stake to cleanse away her sins against our beloved Gascone!”

His knuckles were turning white as he closed them violently.

‘What the devil are you doing,’ he shouted against him in his head. If he could only get his hands on him now, he swore he would punch his face like there was no tomorrow, even if that means he would actually be harming his brother’s body!

‘Did you like my surprise, boy? Come and get your girl, if you can… Otherwise, feel free to sweep for her ashes at the courtyard tomorrow.’

“Aargh,” Langrion shouted in frustration, banging his fist against the hard, wooden table where they were having their talk.

“What is happening,” Gavil asked, still clutching him at the side. “My Khailis, did anything happen to my Khailis?”

“I am not sure,” Langrion said, trying hard to get his emotions at bay. He could feel the anger of the god housed inside him too as he spoke. “But tomorrow, that devil will execute Shia by the courtyard. We must hurry!”

He looked back at the shocked faces of everyone around the table. He had no time to explain to them what had happened. He directed his next words to Mage Silas.

“Can you take us there by your magic?”

“I can, but I don’t advise that,” Mage Silas said, his brows furrowing. “If he is taunting you like that, Sirion must be anticipating that you’ll use the tunnels to be able to come to him faster, but you’ve seen what he did last time, right?”

“I don’t care! I need to be there quickly!”

“Calm down, Prince Langrion,” Templar said, his face also painted with worry. “I’m sure that this is what Sirion wants – to mess with your head and heart, so we shouldn’t be so thoughtless.”

“God Templar is right. I believe we could still get there in time even if we don’t use magic to get there,” Queen Argylla said. “And also, we need to plan things more thoroughly…”

“But, we’re running out of time.”

“No, prince. If someone is running out of time, it’ll be the God of Darkness,” the queen said. “Think about it, why was he so adamant for you to come in three days? What could he possibly be planning?”

Langrion fell silent. The queen was right. Whatever it is that Sirion was thinking, he needed to discover it. He needed to know of it so that he could use it in his advantage in rescuing Shia.

‘Hey, he can speak to us using your ring, right,’ the god inside of Langrion said, ‘It could work both ways, don’t you think?’

Suddenly, Langrion realized what he had meant.

It dawned to Langrion that he also had one advantage to the God of Darkness, as far as he was concerned. Just as the Ancient Evil could rattle him by sending him a message in his head, he could also do the exact same thing…

******************

Gilyan coughed forcefully, sending tears into his eyes. It was too dark. He used his hands to grope around him, feeling for something, anything against the darkness.

A hand has reached towards his fingers. He clasped around it like it was his lifeline.

“Hey, hey, Gilyan, are you alright?”

It was Lady Khailis’ voice. He really wanted to cry in happiness. He thought she had died from the impact, but she was here, holding his hand, and she even had the strength to ask him first if he was alright.

“Yes, yes,” he said back. His voice came out hoarsely. It was a good thing that tears did not fall down his eyes, like he had expected. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, I think I’m okay… Except of course I can’t see a thing.” A short silence fell between them, after which Gilyan heard the lady shouted.

“Goddess! Commander! Are you alright?”

There was silence, just pure nerve wracking silence.

“I-I’m okay,” the commander’s voice resounded. “A bit shaken but still alive.”

“Goddess Eily -” Khailis said again, but before she could finish what she was about to say, a flicker of light sparked in their midst. It was the goddess’ doing.

“Everybody is good,” she asked, surveying all of them very quickly against the pale light.

“What just happened,” Lady Khailis asked bewildered. The events that had just transpired seemed more than she could handle despite the years she had been serving as a knight.

“Freya was taken, and Sirion had left us to die here,” Eily said.

“Oh, but you can’t die. You’re a goddess, right?”

“My spirit can’t but my body is still immune to wounds and decay,” she said quietly. After a few minutes of silence, Eily spoke again. “We can’t stay here. Our air supply is limited. I can channel the wind, but the eggs Rahul’s wife is carrying will need my power from time to time, so I can’t overdo it…”

“Well, we should dig our way out then,” Commander Rus said.

“But how? We are inside a barrier, and the moment we damage it, it will collapse on us,” Khailis said. From the looks of things, the barrier was Shia’s doing. How long can it hold when she was not even there?

“You there,” Goddess Eily said to Gilyan. “I saw you use a purplish flame before. Can you make it again?”

Gilyan nodded. He removed his hand away from Lady Khailis and produced a purplish flame.

“That’s good enough… Now, all we need is a plan to get out of here.”

“What if we get help from outside,” Khailis suggested.

“How do we do that,” the commander asked while looking around, trying to assess the terrain they were in.

“Gilyan, you can control people’s minds, isn’t that right” Khailis asked, turning to the boy beside him.

“Yes... But, I can only do that with the master’s permission,” he said.

“Master? You mean Sirion,” the goddess said from across him, pouting.

He nodded. “I can only activate my curse when he agrees to it.”

The goddess’ eyes turned menacing as she looked at him. She crossed her arm beneath her chest. “Cut the crap will you? I know you already know it.”

“Know what,” Khailis asked. She was rather curious.

“Hey you, you know it too, right? When you made the glass on the windows before fly away on your own, you already know his powers have got nothing to do with you,” Eily said bluntly.

Gilyan didn’t know what to say. Was she able to read his thoughts as well? Was that part of her godly powers?

It was Khailis who asked to clarify her words in behalf of Gilyan. “Goddess, what do you mean?”

“I mean just that – your powers, Gilyan, you know it isn’t Sirion’s curse. In fact, Sirion has no curse. He isn’t powerful enough to give people magic…”

“Then, my powers,” Gilyan finally said, “my powers – where do they come from?”

“From the one true source – the Great Divine.”

“Do you mean to say -”

“Exactly,” Eily said once more. “All who can wield powers have the imprints of divinity in them, and you, in particular, given that strong sense of power, I’d say you must be a candidate for a god.”