Chapter 108: Chapter 108

Langrion and Gavil, together with Chibi and Marmie, wasted no time travelling to the place they needed to go: the capital city of Gascone – Gaulane.

“I can take us there easily, Prince Langrion,” Marmie said during the dead of the night a few second before they ascended in the air. Marmie was on Chibi’s back while Gavil had already transformed himself into his beast form – an enormous, black feline with wings like an eagle.

“How,” Langrion asked. The last time he checked, Marmie’s powers involved controlling things with her mind. Can she also create voids like Galahad?

“With this,” Marmie said, pulling away her sleeve from her left hand. There was a tattoo that looked like an eye with feathers reaching on both sides. “This was installed by the Ancient Evil when he controlled me... when he controlled us. We were supposed to use it once we have fulfilled our mission. Although I was not conscious at the time he was controlling my thoughts, I remembered it well in my sleep. I think I could use it too, even if he isn’t controlling me now.”

Langrion thought about it carefully. He had almost forgotten that the Ancient Evil had possessed Marmie and that she was one of the cursed ones who attacked Teotroly on the night Shia was taken... Could he really bring her back and risk her being subjected to Sirion’s control again? Should he take her offer? There’s still time to dissuade her...

“It’s alright, prince,” Marmie said, perhaps reading the thoughts flashing across his mind. “He could only control us if he is close by... I’ll make sure to attack within a reasonable range while you go ahead and rescue Lady Shia and Lady Khalis.” She looked down on the ground, looking ashamed and remorseful. “It’s the least I can do for you...”

He patted Marmie on the head. Was she really eighteen years old already? She still looked like a fifteen year old girl in his eyes. He looked at Gavil, and the Pauca prince nodded.

“Then, let’s use it.”

Marmie’s face lit up. She raised her arm where the tattoo was etched in the night sky. The wind blew hard, and soon, there, at the very center of the sky above them, a grayish, funnel-shaped portal appeared.

“Let’s go!” Langrion, using the power of the god inside him to fly, was followed by Gavil and Marmie on Chibi’s back.

The moment they stepped into the void, they were sucked in by a great air current, and all of them lost their abilities to control where they were headed to.

“Hold tightly,” Langrion shouted at Marmie as she spiralled inside the void in Chibi’s back. He could see Gavil flapping his wings hard, but it was useless. The air current was too powerful. The only thing that they could do was to surrender to it.

It took them less than a minute, and before they knew it, they had exited the void and were tumbling straight into Gaulane Castle’s east fortress.

Gavil roared in surprise, and Marmie gasped. Thankfully, Gavil and Chibi were able to regulate their flight before plummeting straight into the ground, and so did Langrion.

Langrion wiped the sweat off his head. That was close! A few more second, and he would have died due to the impact of hitting the hard, cold earth.

As sudden as they have arrived at the place, Langrion was overwhelmed with a feeling of despair and dread. Shortly, he heard Danry’s voice inside his head.

“Langrey, she needs you! Come quickly!”

He knew in his heart what was happening. He could see an enormous flame at the center of the courtyard, not far from where they were now.

Before he could do anything, however, an arrow swooshed right past them. It was followed by several more arrows.

Blast it! The guards manning the fortress must have spotted them. Langrion turned to Chibi and Gavil, who skilfully avoided the attacks.

Gavil let out a roar, but to Langrion’s surprise, he could perfectly understand what he had said as if he had spoken it using his human voice. “I can feel where my wife is, but I think she’s separated from Lady Shia.”

Langrion nodded while dodging arrows. “Alright,” he cried. “I know where Shia is. Chibi and Marmie, please follow Gavil and head towards Khailis. I’ll head out to where the Ancient Evil is!”

“Be careful, prince,” Marmie screamed back while trying to shield them all from the attacks with stone slabs she picked from the ground.

“Stay alive until the end too!”

That was the last time they spoke to each other before Langrion headed towards the enormous flame at the heart of the courtyard at the speed of light.

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

The nearer they get to the burning flame, the more that Shia trembled, knowing what Sirion intended to do. She started to thrash about, but with chains limiting the range of both her hands and feet, she was still being dragged effectively towards it.

Dying - was this what happened to her through all those lifetimes? Did this god really kill her a thousand times before too?

Suddenly, visions started to flash before Shia’s mind. She saw different versions of herself in different timelines and in different places, but during all those times, she saw herself being helplessly dragged towards the flame and being tossed to burn away.

She could only imagine the extent of the hatred Freya must have felt for this blasted person before her. In all those memories that flashed through her mind, she could see Sirion’s face mercilessly dragging her mortal body into the fire, killing her eventually, and starting the cycle of her rebirth. During all those times too, he whispered the same sickening message in her ears before he killed her.

“I love you... I will meet you soon, Freya...”

Tears started to flow generously down Shia’s face. She was utterly horrified by the god before her who would not spare her life so that he could get what he wanted at the end.

“Did you see it, my love? Did you see all those sacrifices I had to make just to purify your powers and make you stronger?” Sirion said to her, contorting his face into a maniacal grin. “Did it flash before you – all those lives that you had to shed, and all the mortal bodies that perished because of the Head Gods’ punishment to you?”

“You’re sick! The Head God did not kill me! All those times, I died because of you!”

“No, love... It was the Head God himself who gave you that punishment, remember? He was the one who wanted you to die for a thousand and one times before becoming a goddess again... This is all his fault!”

“Did you not know, or are you playing dumb? Freya herself asked for this punishment. She hoped she could change your mind through these chances, but I guess she was wrong! You were never worthy, not even of a single chance! You were never worthy of her love!”

That’s right. In her memory, Goddess Freya asked for this specific punishment despite knowing the true nature of The God of Darkness. What the hell was she thinking at that time? Shia did not know who was more insane: Sirion or Freya.

“Then, that means Freya knew me well... She knew I wouldn’t keep her imprisoned in a mortal shell for a long time...”

By this time, Shia, with the guards at her side and Sirion before her, had already reached the end of an elevated platform. At the end of it, the flames were burning high. Her heart thumped loudly in a fit of panic.

“Good bye, dearest... I will meet you soon... I love you...” Sirion whispered to her. He grabbed her face and forced a kiss into her lips despite her violent thrashing, then without notice, he twisted her body around and threw her down into the burning fire before her.

This was it – her last death. There was only one thing she could think of as her body floated downwards into the intensely hot flame.

“Langrey!”

Just like magic, Shia felt a pair of hands clasp around her arm and thighs, and when she looked up, her eyes misted yet again.

“I got you!”

It was her indeed her Langrion.