Chapter 96: Chapter 96

“Extracting energy? What do you mean by it? What kind of process is it?”

“Why... Why are you doing this?” Goddess Eily asked the boy. “I understand your master, but how about you? You’re human. Don’t you know what Sirion is planning to do? He is planning the annihilation of the human race!”

Shia gasped internally. Sirion was planning to end the human race? That was his grand goal?

She regretted what she had said earlier to him about going though with his plan as long as he leaves her and Langrion out of it. How insane has Sirion been to even dream of such an abomination?

The gray-haired Gilyan looked back at Eily with calm eyes that it was a little frightening.

“Humans are troublesome things. They sell each other out and kill each other. Master only wants to purify human souls.”

Eily gasped. “Purify? You mean kill everyone?”

“Not everyone. Only those who displease the master will go.”

Shia couldn’t stand just listening to Eily and the boy’s discussion. She shook her head in disbelief. “Seriously, do you believe Sirion will only do that? He is someone who sacrifices even those he loves for power and complete dominion. Who’s to say that he’ll never sacrifice everyone, including you?”

Shia turned her head next to Eily and looked at Khailis’ sleeping body. She could still remember how excited she and Gavil were when she told them that she was pregnant.

She asked the boy painfully, “How are you going you extract energy from her, and why do you need it?”

“Master is going to perform a ritual with Goddess Eily’s help.”

“Pfft! As if I would,” Eily retorted. Shia ignored her irritation and asked another question to Gilyan.

“Why would your master need a second source of energy? Are his powers not back yet?”

“It’s probably for you,” Eily replied.

“For me,” Shia said, “w-what do you mean?”

“Your powers, they are not back yet, right?”

Shia fell speechless. Has Eily finally caught on what she had said to Sirion earlier?

“I can use some of it, but I have no clue what the extent of the power of light is nor how to fully utilize it yet,” she honestly said.

“As expected; you have lived a thousand lives, sister. It will be hard to gain your powers and memories back after such a long time. There’s even a remote possibility you won’t gain it back at all.” Eily stroked the top of Khailis’ forehead. “I think Sirion already knows this, which was why he was prepared to break your threshold so that you can gain both your memories and powers back.”

“Then... Khailis -”

Eily nodded. “Unless you miraculously gain back your powers now, this girl and the children she is carrying now will be sacrificed by Sirion.”

“I... I can’t believe he’ll do this...”

“He’ll do anything to get your powers. He won’t be able to do anything without it.”

“But why me? There are other gods and goddesses in Teotroly... Why does it have to be me?”

“If you have gained back your memory, you’ll know the answer to that,” Eily replied. She touched Khailis’ forehead again, and her face turned paler that in already was.

“What is it,” Shia asked in agitation.

“This is bad. The magic in this girl’s body is dropping down.” Goddess Eily turned to Gilyan. “You there, remove this barrier, and let me use my magic. I have to supplement her energy force.”

“I can’t do that. It will be against the master’s orders.”

“Screw your master! If this child loses her life, you lose yours too!”

For a second, Shia saw a crack in the boy’s usual calm facade. Gilyan’s face contorted into an agonized grimace.

“What now? It will only take a minute! Do you wish your prisoner to die?”

The boy’s serene face took over again. Shia’s heart raced. Was he really not going to budge?

The boy sighed quietly, and in a heartbeat, the gray barrier around the bed disappeared.

“It’s about time,” Eily said. She raised one hand over Khailis’ head and another over her stomach. “This stupid, stupid girl! She was so feisty back then. Why did she get abducted this easily, and why didn’t Rahul do a better job at protecting her?”

Shia was about to protest on what she had said against Khailis, but it was Gilyan who spoke first.

“Don’t call the lady as such. She could wound a thousand men when she has her sword. It just so happened that she has no magic, and the master is stronger.”

Shia looked at Gilyan’s face for a while. The corners of his lips were frowning a bit. There it was – that opportunity she was looking for. If she could use this golden chance to her advantage, she might be able to escape with Eily and Khailis from this predicament.

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

‘Brother, you’re still alive? How wonderful!’

One second ago, Langrion was talking to Shia, but the next thing he knew, a well-known and sinister voice resounded in his head, and his blood boiled.

‘You are not my brother,’ he shouted in his mind.

The sinister voice from the other side softly chuckled. ‘Of course I am not. I am your creator and your god!’

Langrion had just laid Marmie on the bed of one of the few rooms in the temple that wasn’t destroyed, and he was glad he did. He had already broken a piece of the headboard he was clutching when he heard the Ancient Evil’s voice in his head. If it was someone’s neck, he would have been a murderer by now.

‘Where is my wife? Why have you taken her?’

‘You wife? She will always be my woman, you fool!’

The filthy voice was making Langrion more infuriated by the minute. Blast it, what did he do with his Shia?

‘What do you want?’

‘Why, I want to rule the universe with my woman, of course, and as for you and the rest of humanity, you could all just rot and die for all I care.’

‘Don’t you dare touch her!’

‘Oh, I should have been the one to tell you that. Why the hell did you touch my Freya with your vile hands? How dare you kiss her with your lips, you fool!’

‘Your Freya,’ Langrion replied in his head, ‘is no more. She is Shia, and she was, is, and never will be yours!’

‘Let’s see about that! If you are so bold, why don’t you come and get her? She and your friend are here with me in Gascone. I will open the gates for you, brother, and accept you with open arms, but do it quickly! After all, my patience is short, and I am not a gracious man.’

‘You – don’t you dare do anything to them!’

‘Try me, young prince! See me in three days, or else you will lose them, starting with your most trusted friend...’

The voice in his head disappeared, but the anger in Langrion’s heart did not.

‘Do not be troubled,’ another voice answered.

It was the voice of the silver-haired god whose powers he had accepted at the bottom of the ocean. The moment that he welcomed him in his soul, he had begun to communicate with him in his thoughts.

‘Sirion will not do anything to Freya. As for your friend, he will need to keep her alive until the extraction process. You’ll have enough time to get ready. A troubled heart and mind would only make you weak...’

He better not really do anything to her Shia or to Khailis, or he would really crush his skull and kill him twice!