Chapter 48
A deep snarl rumbles from my throat, breaking free. The menacing sound resonates in the small space, making the small woman shrink back with a gasp.
Yumekui’s light chuckle sends an unsettling shiver down my spine, like nails on a chalkboard. Her piercing red eyes scan me with unnerving precision. There’s a glint in them—part amusement, part something darker, something ancient. She doesn’t blink. Doesn’t look away. Just watches.
A subtle curl tugs at the corner of her mouth, not quite a smile, more like the shadow of one. It’s the kind of expression predators wear when they already know how the hunt ends.
Stepping forward, she delicately removes a kanzashi from her hair, causing her long, ebony locks to cascade around her. The kanzashi is long and sharp, its menacing edge still fresh in my memory from the day before.
“The Shadoweaver wishes to see you.” She smirks.
A spasm runs through me tightening my muscles. “Good for him,” I mutter. “Is he coming to me? Oh, wait. He can’t.”
“I know this must be difficult for you.” Yumekui lets out a sigh, absently flipping her kanzashi between her fingers. “But it could be your beloved soul mate here instead. You know I had a taste of her blood, her magic. It was exquisite. I bet you are craving it, aren’t you?”
The heat radiating from the fire in my chest intensifies, matching the fierce flames of my anger.
I can feel my heartbeat pounding in my temples as the suppressed magic surges through my veins, yearning to be unleashed.
The power I inherited from the dragons embedded in my core hums with an energy that threatens to consume me.
Every breath I take feels like fire, as if my very existence is a catalyst for combustion.
I grit my teeth, the pain coursing through me as the magic within me demands an outlet.
It twists and turns, like a caged beast desperate to break free.
“It’s burning you up from the inside, isn’t it?” Yumekui tilts her head, eyes alight with fascination. “I can feel the dragon’s fire flowing beneath your skin.”
I take a deep breath, feeling the burden of each inhalation. “Fuck you.”
“I wonder if this sudden flare in your dragon’s power is due to Everly’s return.” She muses, tapping her chin with the kanzashi.
I stiffen, hands curling into fists as my eyes track the kanzashi. I want nothing more than to stab her in the eye with it.
“My magic was growing before she returned!”
Yumekui laughs softly. “Well, then, maybe the dragons are waking from their millennia-long slumber. Perhaps they sense the building tension, the darkness that is leaking across the plains.”
The air crackles with an eerie sense of awareness as her words hang in the air.
“Perhaps,” I mutter.
According to ancient folklore, these dragons are not mere beasts, but revered beings of immense wisdom and strength. The presence of dragons is a symbol of prosperity and protection, their very existence a sign of divine favor upon the kingdom.
“They had once aligned themselves with the royal families, creating a bond that was both mystical and unbreakable,” she smiled, her gaze sweeping over me. “But where are they now?”
The alliance was marked by a shared magic, a unique power that flowed between the dragons and those of royal blood, granting them extraordinary abilities.
Yet, despite their grandeur and significance, the dragons vanished without a trace.
No one could remember the exact moment they disappeared or the events that led to their sudden absence.
It was as if one day they were there, soaring above the mountains and valleys, and the next day they were gone, leaving behind only legends and a lingering sense of loss.
The magic that had once flowed so freely in the veins of the royal bloodline faded with their departure, diminishing over the centuries to a faint echo of its former glory.
Alivar and I seem to be the first who possess the unique ability to harness the dragons’ magical elemental energy in generations.
Some believed that the dragons had been betrayed by the very families they had sworn to protect, driven away by greed and corruption.
Others thought they simply went into hibernation.
But no one knew the truth, and the dragons became nothing more than myth, their stories slowly fading into darkness.
If the dragons are awakening and returning, it would mean the dawn of a new era—one that could reshape the world as we know it. I can feel Yumekui studying me, silently evaluating the extent of my knowledge. Those crimson eyes searching, looking for a crack in my shields.
Suddenly, her face transforms, and a mischievous grin spreads across her lips. “Right, better not keep the master of darkness waiting.”
Before I can register her movements, a harsh blow lands to the side of my head and the world abruptly plunges into an inky blackness.