Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 799: Aloria 5 ()

Jian had been walking for what felt like hours. The sound of his footsteps as his boots crushed the soft moss, was barely louder than the breaths he exhaled into the humid air.

All around him, the trees loomed. Their back gnarled like wrinkled knuckles. Everything had gone quiet...too quiet.

He was not sure when it had happened, but the forest had gone perfectly still and silent a short time ago. No birds, no insects. The only sound left was the low rustle of the leaves as the wind threaded through them.

The path had disappeared a while back too. One moment there had been flattened grass and a gap between trees... something resembling a trail, and the next moment... nothing.

Just the forest closing in all around him.

It was a laughable attempt to intimidate him. He was one displeasure away from burning it all down to the ground. Then he would have all the paths he needed.

Jian rolled his shoulders. Neveah and Xenon were somewhere out there and he would find them. That much was certain.

The deeper he went, the trees seemed to close in more. Their roots tangled across the ground, like the forest had grown tired of being walked on and was intent on tripping him instead.

Jian walked by a particularly wide tree, but he paused in his tracks. Something about the tree made him freeze.

There was something on it...a face.

No. It wasn’t a real one. But the knots in the wood, the pattern of dark moss and pale bark, looked eerily familiar. Eyes. A nose. A mouth. He frowned, and the longer he looked, the more the face resembled Neveah.

Her eyes, soft and steady, but always on the edge of a glare. Her mouth, always half a second from a smirk. He reached out without thinking, fingertips brushing the bark.

The tree groaned.

The wood twisted, and the moss shifted like it was breathing. Jian side stepped just as a vine snapped forward, grazing the sleeve of his coat. It hissed as it pulled back, curling like a snake preparing to strike.

He summoned a flicker of flame to his palm. The vine recoiled instantly.

"Nice try," he muttered flatly.

He didn’t want to set the forest ablaze. Not yet.

He moved on.

The forest grew thicker, darker. A light fog drifted low over the ground, weaving between tree trunks like something alive. Jian squinted. Shapes moved in it. Shadows that ducked behind trees when he looked directly at them.

He turned a corner and froze.

Ahead, standing in the mist, was a solitary figure.

His body went still but his heart didn’t. It thudded hard, rattling in his chest. Rage and something even stronger curled within him... an ache, deeper than he could reach.

There was nothing he detested more than these sick mind games with magic. His lips pressed into a grim line.

She was still in the simple robes he remembered from childhood, her hair tied back, hands folded in front of her.

His mother...Raena.

She didn’t speak. Jian didn’t either, he just stared. He knew what this was... that she wasn’t real.

Yet, for a moment, he lingered. Then shaking his head slightly, he kept on. He sensed the movement behind him but he didn’t turn, his flames moved in his stead, lighting a trail with every step he took forward.

Flames roared to life behind him, setting the entire groove on fire, razing down to ash whatever had displeased him.

When the fire died out, it was silent again.

Jian kept walking, though a sick feeling churned in his stomach.

The forest wasn’t just trying to stop him, it was trying to break him, using what it believed to be his weakness.

It was too bad...his mother wasn’t a weakness,

She was his rage.

_____________

The fog grew thicker as he went. It carried with it a strange scent, something sweet and metallic. And at some point, his limbs began to feel heavy and the ground grew soft underfoot. So much that it took more effort to lift his boot.

Something wasn’t right.

But he only stopped when he broke through a wall of flowering vines. He found himself in an enchanting meadow, it was circular and perfectly serene.

For as far as he could see, pale flowers bloomed everywhere. Their petals were wide and open, they glowed faintly blue in the moonlight that shouldn’t have been there. In the center of the meadow was a wide pool, the water was still as glass. Moonlight grazed over the surface like a lover’s kiss.

In the center of the pool stood a mighty white stone throne, glazed in something that shimmered.

Jian did not have the luxury to find the sight beautiful. His mouth felt dry.

He took a step forward. The sweet scent was overwhelming now, wrapping around his thoughts. Every breath he took felt thick and sticky.

A movement caught his eye.

Three fairies stepped out from behind the flowers. Barefoot, clad in sheer silk that did nothing to hide the curves of their bodies. Their eyes gleamed with erotic promise, smiles inviting.

One reached up and undid her hair, letting it fall in waves. One moment it was black, the next... those familiar golden strands he loved.

Another extended a hand toward him.

"You must be so tired," she said, voice gentle.

The third circled him slowly, her fingers brushing his arm ever so slightly.

"Come rest, Dragon King. You’ve fought so long. You’ve waited so long. Just let go."

Jian’s breath hitched. His pulse pounded. He blinked, and for a second, the women’s faces shifted. They looked like Neveah. Each of them. Her eyes. Her mouth. Her voice.

He took a wary step back.

"What... is this?"

The first fairy laughed, soft and sweet. "A gift. A dream. It can be whatever you want it to be. Isn’t this what you want?"

He tried to summon fire. It fizzled on his palm. A fiery desire unlike he had ever felt before surged through his veins.

A need he did not even know he had. All his primal instincts awakened, and everything grew sharper...more enticing.

Jian understood then, what that scent was. He had fallen into a very unsettling trap.

The second fairy pressed against him, her breasts against his arm as her lips brushed his neck. Her hands slid over his chest and then dangerously lower. Jian recoiled instantly, but his body protested. An ache that grew into pain pulsing through him.

"Let us make you forget the pain," she whispered. Her robes pooled around her feet. "Let us be enough."

He groaned. Heat surged through him, low and urgent. His knees buckled. The scent, the voices, the touch, it all blurred together in a mesh of primal need.

He felt his control slipping.

No. No. Not like this.

With a snarl, Jian drew the dagger from his belt and drove it into his thigh.

Pain exploded up his leg. Real, bright pain that centered him. Rooted him to reality.

He hissed, breath catching in his throat. The fog in his mind cleared just enough for him to understand what he had nearly fallen into.

The fairies shrank back, startled.

He glared at them, bleeding and shaking.

"You must have a death wish," he spat.

He reached for his flames again but his vision wavered. One fairy dared a step forward, reaching for him. His resistance waned but he retreated from them, his breaths heavy.

"You would rather die than be with another woman?" One of the fairies taunted.

"The aphrodisiac grove was made just for you, Your Grace. A gift from our Queen. How long can you resist?"

"Can you keep yourself from betraying your one true love? Even if it costs your life?"

He sank onto the throne, chest heaving. The scent, the ache, the pull of the grove didn’t go away. That sweet smell only grew more intense and he couldn’t get away.

He whispered one word as the world began to blur again.

"Neveah."