Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 586: Broken Within 2 ()

After a half hour more, the meeting came to a rushed end, it was an unsaid agreement in favor of Neveah’s visible struggle and Neveah did not protest or comment on it.

Her internal struggle was common knowledge, she could not continue pretending to be fine when everyone already knew she was not.

Neveah sat in place as the dune dragons took their leave from the meeting hall, it was only when Neveah was left to herself that she released the breath she had not even realized she was holding.

Neveah spared a glance down to her palm, watching the puncture marks slowly heal over from where her claws had dug into her own skin.

That was how tightly Neveah’s fists were clenched. It was a struggle to restrain a force as powerful as Demevirld with little to no prior experience in magic and Demevirld knew this too.

’How long do you think you can hold out? Suppress me?’ Demevirld’s haunting voice taunted Neveah in her mind.

"As long as it is necessary...as long as it takes." Neveah murmured in response to Demevirld.

"Strong as she may be, your wolf will eventually burn out, and you will not be far behind..." Demevirld promised Neveah darkly.

"Perhaps...or perhaps you will burn out first... one cannot tell what the future holds." Neveah countered calmly.

She had long grown accustomed, to Demevirld’s taunts and threats. So much that she could no longer be triggered by them.

’Foolish girl...’ Demevirld hissed in Neveah’s mind, inciting a recurring ache through her skull.

Neveah leaned back on the chair and chuckled derisively.

"That I am..." Neveah agreed without hesitation.

Demevirld scoffed quietly but receded to the depths of Neveah’s subconscious, as he always would when another attempt of his proved unsuccessful.

It was only when Demevirld’s presence had faded completely that Neveah could properly sense her wolf.

"How are you holding out?" Neveah thought to her wolf in concern.

Neveah knew her wolf was in much the same difficulty as she was, if not worse. Demevirld’s influence only seeped over to Neveah when her wolf lost a semblance of hold on him.

"I am well, pay the proud intruder no heed." Neveah’s wolf assured her, her voice was as calm and confident as always... unbroken and untamed.

Neveah breathed a quiet sigh of relief, for a moment she had feared her wolf had been hurt this time.

"He cannot harm me... harming me is harming you and he needs us alive, if he is to have a host."

"He can only keep trying futilely...to overcome our defence and take the place of the dominant presence in our mind." Neveah’s wolf eased her concerns.

"Why has he become so anxious to take over?" Neveah asked her wolf in a baffled tone.

At first, it had been an occurrence of once every few days, but now, Neveah had to face Demevirld’s oppression a couple of times each day, some days being worse than others.

Neveah’s wolf sighed in their mind before she spoke.

"I believe his original plan was to push us to the edge just enough to trigger our mate to reclaim him and spare us the torture...but now, with our mate..." Neveah’s wolf trailed off.

By ’our mate ’, Neveah knew her wolf spoke of King Jian. Jian and Xenon were spoken of differently by her wolf, but in an equally adoring manner.

Neveah had found it quite enviable how her wolf had settled the places of both Jian and Xenon... while she referred to one as ’our mate’, she referred to the other as ’our beloved’.

Meanwhile Neveah herself had barely figured anything out, and now, would she even get the chance to?

"With Jian’s state unknown, Demevirld truly wants me for his host. He has no other option left." Neveah completed the words her wolf had left hanging.

"Also because in Jian’s absence, no one truly knows how to hinder Demevirld. Demevirld knows, this is his best chance." Neveah’s wolf added.

Neveah grunted in displeasure, it was a constant frustration that she did not know a way out of this, and what was even more frustrating was the fact that she could not afford to be frustrated.

Any extreme or negative emotion and Demevirld would not miss out on the chance to influence her thoughts.

"Negative emotions..." Neveah murmured,

They were the most common thing to her most of her life and even more so now.

Neveah got up to her feet and walked over to the map, closely studying the new markers Coran had placed during the course of the meeting.

"The canyon has grown even wider, claiming more of the dark lands... portal magic is unstable through the miasma, flight a deadly risk. There is no going over it, neither this way nor that..."

"Where does the answer lie? How can I be of help to you all? What can I do from here?" Neveah asked aloud.

A question that had weighed heavily on her mind for the past month.

Neveah was drawn out of her thoughts when the doors to the meeting hall came open and Tara peered in.

"Veah..." Tara began, her bright doe eyes brimming with tears.

Neveah did not need to ask to know, she hurried past Tara and through the hallways of the dune castle, heading for Lord Orin’s quarters.

From down the hall, the cries of an infant already reached Neveah, sending Neveah into a dash.

Tara was right behind Neveah as Neveah pushed open the door.

The scene before her eyes was not surprising but had Neveah’s heart constricting in pain.

A tray of food had been tossed, plates and food contents splattered everywhere.

And curled up on her bed, cradling her infant child while sobbing violently was Lord Orin’s rider and Tara’s elder sister, Lady Isalder.

"He won’t...nurse...he just won’t eat..." Isalder cried out as she set eyes on Neveah.

"Isa..." Neveah said in a pained tone.

Neveah’s eyes went closed as she sucked in a sharp breath to calm herself.

"You will go shower and have a meal yourself, Isa. And I am not asking. I will take him." Neveah said firmly, walking around the bed.