Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 816: Another Miracle ()

"You will watch your words in Her Grace’s presence, sorcerer." Garron snarled.

The words hit Neveah harshly. Not even for a moment had she forgotten that night in the prison cell of the hidden city.

The words that were said...

Neveah lifted a hand to deter Garron. She took a few steps closer.

"But..." Garron protested.

"He can’t hurt me." She reminded.

Crouching down, she stared at the sorcerer. The irony of his situation was that he looked visibly unharmed, yet looking into his eyes, Neveah could see his pain, it was the kind of pain that one didn’t even dare scream.

The black fire, whatever it was doing to him, was destroying more than just his magic. It was breaking down everything he was from deep within. In the darkness of this cave cell, with stone walls on all sides, time ceased to exist.

There was only silence, the unending pain, his thoughts, beliefs and convictions. He would eventually lose it all to the pain.

This was more than magic flaying...it was soul stripping. But even this was nothing compared to the chaos the Black Network had wrecked throughout the stronghold.

She couldn’t find it within her to feel any sympathy.

"How could I dare forget?" She asked, her voice just audible enough for the sorcerer to hear.

She chuckled, derisively. "I haven’t forgotten it for even a month. I have fretted at the thought of it..."

"But not anymore. You see, I do not fear your master, I do not wish to understand his motivations, I refuse to be a part of his conspiracies... So let him come demand his debt, if he dares."

The sorcerer laughed quietly. "You haven’t changed. That will please him."

Neveah frowned. "I didn’t come here to discuss him."

"Yet you have to." The sorcerer muttered. "He’s the only one that can help you with what you need. He’s the only one that will..."

She scoffed. "Bold of you to suggest I conspire with a sorcerer."

He laughed again, louder this time. "Princess... spending so much time amongst the dragons has made you adapt to their ways."

"But the truth is, you’re not like them. You’re different...you know darkness, you’ve tasted it, and you’ve never loathed it. You do not see sorcerers in the same reprehensible way the dragons do.

"You do not think we’re beyond saving. You don’t even believe we need to be saved. You’ve always known, that all men choose a path in life and there is neither wrong nor right in war. Only victory or defeat. And the winner gets to decide what is ’sinful’."

He paused. "Why do you think my master Azkar favors you? It is because there’s no hate in your eyes when you look at us. Just... understanding."

Neveah’s eyes narrowed. She shrunk back from him, but quickly regained her composure.

"Maybe you’re right. I’ve seen the worst of men...in men. Not sorcerers, or witches, or beasts. Mere men, just like me. But with hearts blacker than darkness itself."

"I’ve known greater cruelty from ’family’, than I have in all the years since. So maybe you’re right... maybe I do understand darkness better than dragon kin ever will." She smiled slightly.

"But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to rip each and every one of your kind to shreds for every moment you have caused hurt to the men I love, to our kin, to my father..."

"I loathe you, sorcerer. Not like the dragons do. Not for the color of your magic. But for your heart. For your deeds. Because what stands against my beloved...is my irreconcilable enemy."

"I don’t need any other grand reason or cause. Believe me, a single flash of discomfort in the Dragon King’s eyes and I will burn nations to the ground to ease him. Right...or wrong, it has never mattered much to me. Only my choice. Only my will."

"So miss me with all that bullshit."

The sorcerer stared at Neveah for a long moment. Finally, he said. "What can I do for you?"

She hesitated for a moment and then turned to a silent Garron. He handed over the book and flipped it open to the page with the runes on it.

The sorcerer examined it for a moment and then he shook his head slightly. "I am not well versed with the old tongues."

Neveah nodded in understanding. She put the book away and stood up.

"I didn’t say I can’t help you." He added.

Garron grunted. "You’re pushing it."

"Accumulate good deeds, right?" He asked, smiling through the pain from the black fire in his veins.

"I do not understand the tongues, but I know the old story behind those runes. Origin runes."

"Tell me what you know."

He cleared his throat lightly. "During the rise of the dark empire, four origin runes existed. The truth of how they came to be is lost to time. It is believed to date back to the very first age." He began.

"But only three were ever confirmed real. The Fae origin rune, the Mer origin rune and that of the witch race. Each of these runes hold immeasurable power and are the founding structure of every rune formed by every generation of these species since."

"Despite their versatility, each origin rune had an innate purpose. What the rune itself stands for and not the hybrids of it."

"The mer rune is solely a dimension rune, with an unmatched ability to forge alternate dimensions tied to the will of the one holding the rune.

The Fae rune is a linking rune. Its power was unique, joining one rune to the other, one magic to the other.

The witch rune is a control rune. With the sinister ability to exact control over the minds of others and take captive, their will."

The dark sorcerer paused, tilting his head to the side. "I might get struck by lightning for this."

"Will it be any worse than black fire?" Garron deadpanned.

The sorcerer seemed to contemplate it and then shook his head slightly. "I think not."

"These three runes had never been merged before, until the emergence of the Dark Lord."

Neveah’s eyes widened.

"Then, sorcerers littered the realm, but unlike the Fae race with their established hierarchy, our kind never had a supreme leader. Just divided houses. The world was ravaged by the forlorn beasts, and every race battled for survival."

"Using the linking Fae rune, the Dark Lord did something no one had ever thought to do before him. He joined the mer dimension rune and the witch control rune."

"He forged an unheard of rune. A blend of three different origin runes, three different magic roots...an impossible feat. But he did it. And with it, he rallied the divided sorcerers, and led an assault on the forlorn." The dark sorcerer trailed off.

"The rest should be in your history books. That’s as far as Azkar shared."

Neveah’s eyes widened. "He...was here, wasn’t he? Azkar?"

Garron immediately moved to shield Neveah, alert.

The sorcerer laughed quietly, shaking his head. "He ’is’ here. Just not in the way you think..."

Neveah’s brows furrowed and she peered closer at the sorcerer. Only then did she sense it.

"His...mind is linked to you..."

"That’s as far as Azkar got from that glimpse of the book." The sorcerer smirked. "How does it feel, to conspire with a sorcerer...yet again?"

Her eyes widened. Had she just revealed the contents of an outlawed dark volume to the leader of the Black Network?

"Do not fret, Princess. Kaz will come to claim his due. First, you must pull off another miracle...kill Beoruh."