Chapter 32: Chapter 32
“Fine!” Eren sighed tiredly when Sara refused to move, “But don’t think for a second that you are fooling anyone! I know you are awake.”
Eren stared at the girl lying in his bed, he had so many things on his plate, such as receiving and discussing with the guests from the other empires and preparing for the expedition toward the center, however, for days and nights he had sat next to the bed, watching over the unconscious girl.
For the first time in his life, Eren felt helpless, he was always the man with a plan, and a couple of back up plans in his pocket in case the main one didn’t work, he was the person who used his strength and wits to overcome any kind of hardships, except for this one.
As days passed, Sara’s wounds healed little by little leaving behind several scars, and just like that time when she had a cold, her healing and regeneration process were much faster than normal, but even with all her wounds close, she didn’t wake up.
And that was why he felt so helpless, he didn’t know what to do to make her wake up, and at one point, he forgot about his plan and his need for her blood as he only wanted her to wake up, to open her clear beautiful eyes that he missed.
Beside watching over her and insuring her safety, there was nothing he could do but hope, something he never relied on before, and instead of making him feel better, it only filled him with frustration as he felt as if his hands were tied behind his back, all he could do was wait and hope…
“Unconscious people’s lips don’t tremble, you silly girl!” Eren knew Sara was scared, the poor thing was petrified, and even though he was so happy that she woke up, he was also reminded that now he had to go on with his plan, something he knew he wouldn’t be able to do to the fair lady, not after almost losing her, not after her long unconsciousness, and not with how scared she looked
He would rather die before hurting her or allowing anyone to hurt her again, he thought to himself.
“I promise no one would hurt you, Sara, you are safe.”
Again, there was no reaction.
“Okay then.” Getting up of his chair, Eren sat by her side on the bed and leaned on, until his lips brushed against her ear.
“If you don’t wake up, I will have to wake you up with a kiss.” He whispered softly, and to his disappointment, the girl’s beautiful and silver eyelashes trembled a little before she opened them very slowly, her eyes clouded with fear as she looked at him warily.
Eren, while looking at the pure eyes with his red ones, felt something stab him in the heart, he was used to her looking at him so lovingly, steal glances when he thought he wasn’t looking, but now she was looking at him with nothing but pure fear, justifiable fear that is.
Funny, Eren thought, for he had always wanted others to fear him or at least be wary of him, and because of his cruel methods in getting things done, it was the way most people regarded him, with fear, except of those who matched him in terms of strength and status, Micka and Rima.
It was what he wanted, the image he created for himself and wanted others to see and feel, however, the fair lady was the only exception, he didn’t want to see that kind of look on her eyes, he wanted her to look at him the way she did in the ball right before confessing her feelings to him.
Not only her eyes were scared, Eren thought as he studied her, her bare shoulders were stiff and her head was almost buried between them as she stared at him like a wounded rabbit looking at the predator that cornered it and was ready to devour it.
Sensing her discomfort, Eren stood up from the bed and she jolted back, her eyes widening in further horror as she thought he might strike her, backing away until she was stopped by the bed’s headrest.
Eren sighed as he saw her action, his eyes trailing down to her exposed breasts for a second before turning away, the last thing they both needed was him desiring her more than he did.
“I am just going to light up more candles.” Eren did what he said, and from one of the drawers in his nightstand, he pooled out two candles that lit up on their own once he placed them on the nightstand.
“I swear I will not hurt you, calm down.” He said and she looked at him with scared eyes, but under that fear danced other feelings, doubt as well as blame.
Seeing he wasn’t making any moves to hurt her, Sara looked around her very subtly, her eyes hanging longer on the black door.
“She is not coming back and she is not going to hurt you ever again!” Eren knew why Sara was looking at the door the way she did, he had sensed her erratic heartbeats under his veil when Geraldine spoke, and if it wasn’t for the veil, everyone else, including the fire lord Micka, would have realized she was already awake.
The veil hid her from everyone but him as it was made out of his energy, no one but himself was able to know she was awake as she appeared almost dead to others’ eyes, he doubted the fire lord didn’t notice something was off though, and it worried him for the man was nothing less than a weasel, one that could be never trusted.
Hearing his words, Sara looked down at her palms, unable to keep looking at him, the more she looked the more she remembered, and the more she remembered the more it hurt.
While her eyes were cast down, Eren’s were fixated on her, she had changed, he thought to himself, she was no longer the lively girl who was so stupidly in love, the one sitting on his bed was just the shell of what used to be a living world inside one body, she was damaged, broken, and terrified, not to mention hurt, deep in her heart and soul were no mending words could reach.
“Look at me, Sara.” He demanded, seeing her in that state filled him with anger, not at her, but at their vicious faith that doomed one of them to be a sacrifice for the other. he was angry at everything except for her, but with the way he said those words, he only made her think he was mad at her.
And mad people were harmful people.
Without any resistance, she looked at him, tears gathering in her eyes, making Eren hate himself even more, he never wanted things to go that far, to the point where she was too broken and scared, to the point where she would submit to him like that out of fear, to the point where she was almost impossible to fix.
And it was then when he decided, that he was never going to hurt her ever again.
“Do you know where you are?”, he needed a different approach, Eren thought to himself, laying back in his chair, he studied her expressions while she shook her head hesitantly, too afraid to answer.
“This is the shadows castle, my real residence, my home and the center of power and authority in the shadows empire, known to you humans as the dark forest, as for me, I am the shadows lord, I am the lord of one of the three places you humans call hells.”
Sara was both surprised and terrified, as if the fact of him being a demon wasn’t scary enough, now she learned he was a lord, let alone the fact she was in one of the three hells, the demon lands, meaning she had no chances of escaping.
“Now, do you know why you are here?” Eren was able to read Sara’s thought though her face, she was still her obvious translucid self, not to mention the despair in her eyes was too evident to miss.
“You are here because of who you are…” Eren answered her, he already knew she had no answers to any of his question but he still asked them, he wanted to pull her out of the submission and passiveness and back into life and resistance.
“It has nothing to do with your father nor you are an illegitimate princess for that fact is absolutely useless to us demons, it is because of your mother, of who she was, and of what she has done.”
There it was, Eren thought, the sparkle of confusion and curiosity that managed to slightly surface over the fear.
“My…Mother?” and her voice, even though it was small and shaky, even though her throat was obviously sore and painful, he was still happy to hear her voice as it felt like a soothing lullaby to his lonely childhood nights.
“Before I answer the questions I know you are going to ask, let me first ask you this.” Eren said while standing up, and as expected Sara flinched but not as bad as she did the first time, taking it in a good way, he walked toward a distant table where a jug of water was placed alongside a bottle of fresh blood, filling two cups, one with water and the other with alcoholic blood, he walked back to her as he offered her the water.
“Drink.” Seeing hesitation in her skeptical eyes, he sighed before taking few sips from the cup.
“You see, it is plain water, it has nothing poisonous, I am half human so I would be affected just like you if something is in there. Now drink, or I will take it that you don’t need water.”
At his words Sara gulped down the cup in one go, she was indeed very thirsty and the cup barely moistened her dry mouth, seeing her eyes looking back at the jug with eagerness, Eren refilled her cup quickly while leaving the jug on the nightstand, something told him she was going to need a lot of water after hearing what he had to say.
“I want you to tell me the story of creation, as well as the one about the demons’ curse.” Seeing the confusion in his eyes, Eren added, “And in return, I will tell you all about your mother, your identity, and the secrets your father hid from you, I will answer all the questions you had before as well as the main one of why you are here.”
“You Know?” Sara asked, a small anger raging in her heart, all this time he knew?
“Careful with your tone, Sara.”, Eren said sharply, not liking the way she addressed him.
Eren’s tone didn’t change, only the raise of his eyebrow showed how menacing his words were, not because he didn’t like her accusing tone, she wasn’t like anyone of whom he demanded respect, she was his fair lady, and he didn’t want to scare her even more but she needed to remain calm if she didn’t want them to be exposed, his shadows were hiding them from the eyes and the ears but it never hurt to be cautious, especially with the fire lord around.
Gulping, Sara looked down as she tried to find the right words, taking a deep breath, she started to recite when she learned in the religious books.
“It had been said that the known world was once a part of an infinite universe created by a pure mystical energy as old as time, known as the creation energy, this energy was none other than the Gods in their purest form they were the ones who made this world which was once a paradise, and us, humans and demons to live in harmony and peace.”
“Go on.” Sara wondered if she had said anything wrong as the man was looking at her with both his eyebrows raised, and if expressions could talk, then his would scream of how stupid her words were, nevertheless, she knew he wanted her to continue while she wanted her answers, and so she did.
“And they did, until the seeds of evil started to grow in the hearts of the greedy and ungrateful ones, corrupting their souls, they wanted what was not theirs, and tried to obtain the power of the Gods through forbidden magic, they sullied the once peaceful paradise they shared with humans, stained it with the blood of the innocents, they killed and enslaved their brothers, the humans that is, and then they wanted to be the new Gods and tried to attack the center. The humans, out of faith and loyalty, stood up against the bloodthirsty creatures, they, led by Edard Yoren the first, fought bravely and fearlessly against them, they had no magic against the dark creatures, no special powers but one: courage, and their courage was blessed and rewarded by the Gods, the war was won, the demons were banished to the edges of the world to live what was left of time in darkness, the Gods remained in the center of the world, and the lands in between were given to the humans where they established many kingdoms, the biggest being Taghit, ruled by the blessed Yoren dynasty which were named as the God’s eternal soldiers.”
“That is one fascinating pile of garbage! Is that what they taught you?” Eren said, he already knew the story but was still genuinely impressed with how much the girl believed in that stupid heroic story.
“Aren’t we all protagonists in our own stories?” he said as he shook his head with a ghost of a smirk and laid back in his chair, taking a sip of his red drink.
“Now, allow me to tell you the real story.”