Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 828: One Long Dead ()

Sleep didn’t find Neveah as easily as she had hoped. Perhaps her mind was just too unsettled to find rest, or the cold chill still creeping through her veins denied her any peace.

But it took Jian’s intervention and gentle coaxing for her to finally drift off and welcome the darkness.

Now, the darkness pressed down all around her. Heavy and numbing. Like it was intent on pulling the air from her lungs and leaving her to waste away for the lack of it.

And after what felt like forever, a ray of light pierced the darkness and her senses began to return to her.

Her first true breath that wasn’t of shadowy madness was filled with dusty particles that hurt her throat.

Neveah’s eyes snapped open. The sun was high in the sky, the rays stung her eyes and she lifted a hand to shield her face.

It took another few moments before her surroundings came into perspective. And Neveah found herself in the painfully familiar ruins of Ebonhollow.

Why was she back here? She wanted to go to Xenon. She had willed it with all her heart as she gave into the tug of unconsciousness.

So why was she still in Ebonhollow? And not with Xenon?

A mix of rage and frustration coiled within her. And just when she contemplated another try, a shadow stepped into view, blocking the sunlight.

A hand reached down to her. Neveah tilted her head back, glancing up. She squinted slightly and only then did the recognition hit.

The urge to scramble away was instant. But she suppressed it. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Her eyes narrowed into a glare instead.

"Asrig." She spat in a tone as cold as ice.

It was him... again. Why was it him again? For how long would he haunt her dreams?

For how long would she be tortured by a man who was long dead before she was even born?

"Neveah." He returned the acknowledgement, but his tone was lighter. Warm, even.

His hand was still extended, and she glared at it before she stood up herself. Her eyes remained trained on Asrig as she took a step back, putting some distance between their unsettling proximity.

Asrig’s open palm folded into a fist and his expression was unchanged as he dropped his hand back to his side.

"You didn’t come for a while." He said, his tone was still warm and easy. "I feared you were harmed."

"What do you want?" She hissed. "Why are you here?"

It didn’t make any sense to her that she still hadn’t gotten over the influence of Asrig’s writings this long after. How much of her mind had been tainted by it? She couldn’t tell.

He shrugged casually. His robes shifted around his feet as he turned to stare out into the city. "Ebonhollow...it is beautiful isn’t it?

Neveah finally took in her surroundings, and she was stunned to see they stood not on the ruins she knew Ebonhollow to be, but on a tower overlooking a vast city. It stood tall in the silence of the night, exuding a quiet grace.

It was Ebonhollow. Not in the devastation it knew now...it still stood, untouched by fire and destruction. Untouched by cruelty and death.

For as far as Neveah’s eyes could see, there were rooftops, towering structures and worn down streets lit up by magic gems. The city was quiet and still, but the smoking rising from rooftops and the scent of spices and sugar was strong in the air.

She could hear music in the distance. And ever so often, the traces of laughter. The nearest temple to the tower was well lit up and at a rhythmic interval, a muted drum beat echoed, carrying on for a long distance.

For a moment, Neveah couldn’t breathe. The abundant signs of life invading her senses overwhelmed her.

Sights, sounds, smells and a harmony like she had never seen before. The contrast from what she knew Ebonhollow to be...her throat tightened at the thought.

"It must be." Asrig noted. "You’re stunned speechless."

She looked at him, in complete disbelief. His tone was so casual, so at ease like he had no knowledge of the gravity of what he had done.

Of how many lives he had cut short, of how many families he had broken apart. Of how many people he had hurt...of how many people his actions still affected even to this day.

"I never liked that." He murmured, "This... perfect picture of harmony standing out in a long broken world."

His tone was one of distant memory and muted dissatisfaction, like he was referring to an unpleasant inconsistency in his evening meal. Or that his nectar had been watered down.

A simple thing that was out of place, something easy to fix with a flick of his finger. He wasn’t referring to an entire city and thousands of lives... just an inconvenience that hadn’t fit into his painting.

He didn’t feel any remorse... even now. Neveah wasn’t sure he was capable of the emotion, or any. And this version of him had long ceased to exist.

The traces of him left behind on his treasured writings had built this entity and etched it into her mind, her punishment for daring to peer into his depraved mind stored away in a box of forbidden records.

"And that was your reason?" She asked, turning away from the city as a bitter taste curled in the back of her throat.

Asrig shrugged again. "I had a picture of what I wanted my world to look like...my stronghold."

"I envisioned it long before my father ascended as High King. I knew...you see." He trailed off. "That my bloodline was always meant to stand above all others...scale aside, my blood was golden."

She scoffed beneath her breath. "If only you had learnt to place scale aside earlier. You might have had a happier life."

Asrig didn’t even flinch. He carried on like he hadn’t heard her words. But she knew he had.

"Ebonhollow... I just couldn’t figure out where it fit." He continued.

"It had magic...but magic that couldn’t be harnessed by anyone but them." He muttered. "It had women...but they were raised to loathe the prestige of being dragon riders."

"Opting for a mediocre life in their settlement, with an equally mediocre partner and an insignificant life. Beautiful on the surface, hollow within."

"It just... didn’t fit." He murmured.

Neveah winced at his words and the absurdity of conviction that had wiped out an entire species.

"Because it reminded you too much of you..." Neveah guessed. "Beautiful on the outside, hollow within. You didn’t quite fit either, did you?"

Asrig glanced over to Neveah this time. The resemblance stirred an ache in her heart and wrath under her ribs. She wished she could rip the face off, or every feature that likened him to the man she loved...a man that knew honor Asrig could never fathom.

"I didn’t." He agreed. "I wasn’t meant to fit. I was born to stand out..."

"It was never a question...it was a certainty. Even when the dark lord himself looked in my eyes, I saw reflected in them something not even my father had stirred..."

"...fear..."

He seemed to lean forwards, his eyes held Neveah’s gaze captive. A cold chill crawled along her spine as he continued.

"Right before I killed him." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Neveah’s eyes widened and she took a few steps back, shaking her head slightly.

"You... killed the dark lord?"

Asrig grinned. "Bet you thought my father did, like everyone else. No one who knows the truth still lives. Except him."

"And here I thought he would have told you that much. Our bloodline is buried deep in secrets. How much of what you know is the truth?"

"You can give your heart, your soul, your body...but how much will you get in return,"

"...you poor thing..."