Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 745: Standing At An Edge ()

Asrig’s gaze was searching, seeking out an answer in Neveah’s eyes which she did not have. His stare was unnerving and Neveah held his gaze with difficulty, unwilling to bend to even her mind’s disturbing conjuring of him. The stench of decay was getting difficult to ignore, and Neveah still could not tell where it originated from.

"Do you believe in fate, girl?" Asrig asked when Neveah remained silent. "In a script from the heavens dictating your life?"

Neveah hesitated. "I..." The answer to the question was not easily decided. Neveah had long given up on fate, or the belief that anything else held responsibility for her life except her own self. She had realised in the hundreds of times she pleaded the creator for mercy, that no one, and nothing was coming to save her.

That was until they came...

"I don’t believe in fate." Neveah replied after a moment. They had come, and yet a lifetime of darkness meant change would not come easy.

"Do you believe in justice?" Asrig asked again. "In the righteousness of the world and the people that occupy it?" He added.

"No." Neveah murmured. "I don’t believe in justice." The world had never been a fair playground, and there were no rules. She understood that better than most.

"What do you believe in, girl?" Asrig asked curiously. Neveah’s gaze strayed to the dark fairy, noting that the sheen in her obsidian wings had all but faded, she would not be alive for much longer.

"My will, my choices...my heart." Neveah replied.

"Then we are not much different... you and I." Asrig replied, his lips stretched into a satisfied smirk. As though the idea that they could be similar in any way was all he had ever dreamed of, only that Neveah was the one dreaming.

Neveah watched Asrig’s delight in silence for a long moment before she spoke again. "My heart is torn and worn, beaten and bruised...yet it beats." Her tone held a deep finality. "Yours never did, Asrig. It stopped long before you died.

His smirk faltered ever so slightly.

"You were already dead inside while you still lived. So no, Asrig, we’re nothing alike. I read your writings...how you raged at the world from Jian’s birth, blaming a child for your inadequacies. You have no justification for the pain you caused. No grand cause, no tragic backstory."

"Just cruelty for cruelty’s sake. And that Asrig, makes you unremarkable. Not a villain, not an enigma, just another empty, rotting thing." Neveah said, her tone calm but firm. "I’m done here, stay out of my head."

Neveah turned to take her leave but Asrig’s next words stopped her. "How much do you trust my brother’s heart?"

Her brows furrowed into a frown. For a figment of her own imagination, Asrig’s question was unsettling, and so were the words that followed.

"We’re all standing at the edge, girl. How long can any of us hold on?" He asked. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

~~~~~~~~~

Neveah awakened with a start, her eyes darted around her immediate environment, her heart beat was rapid and unsteady and it took a moment to find her calm again before she sat up.

Glancing to her side, Xenon was sound asleep, sitting up with his back leaning against the headboard. Neveah breathed a sigh of relief as that confirmed that she was now awake and back in reality.

Neveah curled back up into Xenon’s side, but jerked back. Now that she was calmer, she finally noted that Xenon’s skin was abnormally hot to touch. Her brows scrunched up in concern and she reached a hand to Xenon’s forehead, feeling his temperature.

"He’s burning up." Neveah murmured to herself. "He’s not injured or anything, why would he come down with a fever?"

"Xenon." Neveah called, gently shaking his shoulder to rouse him. But there was no response.

"Xenon, love, wake up." Neveah called again, this time sitting up. However, Xenon was unresponsive. Neveah’s heart sank to the pit of her stomach and she quickly checked Xenon’s pulse, confirming he was stable and in good health. Only then did she feel a measure of relief.

"Why isn’t he waking up?" Neveah wondered but she got off the bed, heading to the washroom to wet a rag. Neveah headed back to the room, kneeling by Xenon’s bedside, she patted the rag gently over his forehead and neck in a bid to bring down his temperature.

Neveah was still distracted in her concern for Xenon when an urgent knock on the door drew her attention. She hesitated for a moment, glancing at Xenon before she walked over to the door and pulled it open.

An anxious looking Estelle was on the other side, Dante also and Neveah raised a brow, stepping out to meet them. "What is it? Why do you look like that?" Neveah asked, staring between the two.

Dante was clearly reluctant and he did not respond immediately. "Out with it." Neveah insisted.

"Word arrived from the Keep. Lord Imagor contacted me as he could not reach Lord Xenon despite many tries." Dante began.

Neveah glanced back at Xenon before her gaze returned to Dante. "He’s sleeping. What message?"

"There...has been a royal death." Dante revealed. "The Fae royal representative, Lady Diandre passed on last night. The circumstances surrounding her death are unclear but the Fae clans are agitated, three battalions of Fae royal guards march for Fort Inferno as we speak."

Neveah pursed her lips, crossing her arms over her chest. "Don’t tell me they think I killed her."

Dante winced visibly, but nodded. "The rumors circulating are not pretty. Especially since you let Diandre go free on your word and she died soon after."

"The Fae spies planted in the royal forest report Diandre’s last visitor to be Lady Keila. But the Fae is keeping it quiet and letting the unsightly rumours circulate. They neither confirm nor deny..."

"Keila... she has it out for me, doesn’t she?" Neveah muttered.

"There’s something else." Estelle added hesitantly.

"Who else have I killed without my knowledge?" Neveah asked with a sigh.

"It’s...Lady Adrienne." Estelle revealed, glancing over at Dante for help.

"The moment she heard of Lady Diandre’s death and the secret report from the Fae spies... she disappeared." Dante completed. "Lord Imagor suspects she intends to confront Keila."

"Where does that leave Menarx?" Neveah asked warily, standing up straight.

"He went after her." Dante said grimly.