Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder-Chapter 1580 - 22 : Dark Fire, Old Flame

*Briella*

“Kai? Kai, where are you?” I screamed until my voice was hoarse, trying to make anything out in the murky darkness.

Celestial Valley was shrouded in an eerie darkness that caused my skin to crawl. Questions swirled in my mind. What had happened? Where was Kai? Was he okay?

What had caused the dark miasma that had swept across Celestial Valley, and where was it coming from?

I had to find the priests. They’d know what to do.

“Mathias? Lilian?” I called out again, my voice straining, thin and raspy.

I struggled to make headway through the thick, dark air, but it was as if I was being held back. It didn’t make any sense. I felt like I was swimming through pitch-black smoke.

Smoke?

A scream peeled out through the air, but it echoed off of everything. I was so turned around and confused that I couldn’t see anything except shadowy black flames. I was no longer able to call out due to throat-choking ash.

Celestial Valley was burning.

“Kai! Kai, if you can hear–” My voice choked to a stop in a rough, terrible cough.

Flames enveloped all the trees around me as I tried to get to the temple where I knew Mathias and Lilian would be. However, as I neared it, I saw it too was up in flames. People ran shrieking from the burning buildings, scattering in chaos.

The peaceful valley full of innocent people had been attacked.

I tried to summon my Embervalian magic, but none came to my hands. It was as if the magic was being drowned out by the darkness around me.

“K-k-k...” I tried to shout for my brother, but all that came out was another chest-heaving cough.

Kryzen popped into my head.

He’d be able to think of a plan.

I spun around in the dark inferno, but all I saw were people crumpling to the ground, succumbing to the smoke and flames. I stood alone, pressing my sleeve to my face to avoid inhaling any more ash and embers than I already had.

As I trudged down the street, I noticed there was no way this could be a wildfire. This had been intentionally set to spread this fast. And the fire burned an ominous black and gray, not the usual crimson and gold.

I attempted to summon my magic again, but not even a blip of it appeared on my fingertips.

More people fell to the ground around me, motionless and charred.

I shouted for help, trying to get them clear of the fire, but my voice was choked by the toxic smoke. I tried to rush in to help the nearest person, but I was moving in slow motion. It was like invisible hands held me back. All the while, every beautiful building, tree, and fleeing person went up in smoke and turned to ash.

Kai!

I jolted awake in my bed, my pulse racing, and a scream caught in my throat. My skin was prickled in a cold sweat. I suppressed a shiver.

It was a dream. It was a nightmare. My pulse still thundered in my ears.

If it wasn’t real, I wondered why it had felt so real.

I was in Celestial City, in the guest house of Alpha Ray, but my lungs burned like I’d just been in a wildfire.

That nightmare felt more real than most memories I had.

My dreams were usually simple and mild, so I wondered why I had dreamed that. Typically, most of my dreams were slightly altered memories of Kai and me or sometimes awkward ones involving Kryzen. I almost blushed at those.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had a nightmare outside of having one about a ghost when Kryzen told me a ghost story. Aside from the strange black color of the flames, every part of the dream felt like it could be real or happen.

The gray of predawn through my window sliced a thin silvery sliver across my bed. Dawn was approaching, so it wasn’t worth going back to sleep. Adrenaline buzzed through my veins. Even if it was midnight, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyway.

I probably would have dreamed the exact same thing.

I spotted my running shoes collecting dust near my suitcase. A runner’s high had never failed to make me feel good. Plus, a good run was a healthier way to deal with what happened.

Besides, slacking on my training and failing at magic had me feeling lazy and sluggish. My body needed the workout. I changed into my workout wear and laced up my running shoes. Quietly in the predawn light, I slipped out of the guest house.

The last thing I wanted was to wake up Kryzen or Roy and have them bother me. I needed to be alone to work through and get past my nightmare. Closing the front door, I put on my headphones and blasted high-tempo running music.

I wanted to run out all this excess energy. Since I hadn’t been running in ages, I opted for a light jog. I pushed through the initial discomfort of running, telling myself that the burning in my lungs was from beginning to run and not from inhaling ash-charred air. As the sky gradually lightened into the beginning of a sunrise, so did my mood.

Endorphins began to chase out the horrible vestiges of the nightmare as my breath came out in light puffs. Unlike my nightmare, the morning was a crisp, clean one. The trees around me stretched out their branches, thick with flat leaves. They were so alive and thriving, unlike the ones in my dream. I had to remember that I was alive and so was Kai and the rest of the world.

My legs loosened up. I caught a second wind and picked up speed. It was just a dream. The death of Mrs. Renta likely triggered something in me to make me think that everyone would die.

But it wasn’t true.

Maybe I wasn’t an Embervalian magic master yet, but I wouldn’t let everyone around me get hurt by that magic.

Over a pause in my song, I heard a slap of footsteps on the pavement behind me.

I turned off my music and glanced behind me.

I didn’t see anything.

It could’ve been my imagination, but I pushed my pace regardless. Maybe I was just being paranoid with my senses on heightened alert, but with my training, I learned to trust my instincts.

I wasn’t going to stop trusting my gut now.

I kept my headphones on but turned the music off to throw off any would-be attacker.

Sure enough, I heard the footsteps thud against the pavement again. Panic spiked through me, and my hair pricked up on the back of my neck.

I was definitely being watched. No, I was being stalked.

When I adjusted my pace, the footsteps did as well. I waited until the footsteps were close enough behind me to be in striking range. I whipped around in a quick U-turn prepared to launch a roundhouse kick at my stalker. My blood itched for the fight, for someone to dare attack me thinking I was just some innocent girl.

Suddenly, I was knocked off balance by an iron-tight grip around my waist from my left.

I shrieked.

It was as if my attacker knew what I would do and countered it. My body tensed at the realization that with one twist of his strong arms, I’d be dumped on the ground.

“Surprise, Bri,” a deep voice from behind me greeted me. My mind reeled from surprise.

It couldn’t be him. He was supposed to be back in Drogomor.

I twisted around and gazed up into the hazel eyes of Drius. His chiseled jaw and short dark hair made me gasp. He was a far cry from the boy I once knew.

“Get away from her!” a loud, deep shout boomed through the air. Drius was shoved away from me.

Kryzen stepped into view, his light brown hair still sticking up a little from sleep. He stood protectively between me and Drius. I couldn’t see Kryzen’s face, but I could tell by his stance that he was feeling murderous.

I side-stepped him and shoved Kryzen back from a shocked Drius.

“Don’t attack him. He’s my friend,” I warned a positively livid Kryzen as I turned to my now grown-up childhood friend. “And you, Drius, you should know better than to sneak up on someone you trained with in the military.”

Drius cracked a brilliant smile.

“You’re right. I’m guilty of that. My bad, Bri. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have scared you like that.” The tall, tan man shrugged in the same self-deprecating way he would when he got caught being lazing during drills.

“Well, it’s a breath of air when someone around me actually admits they’re wrong.” I sighed through my nose, crossing my arms in front of my sweaty chest.

“You know him, Black?” I had nearly forgotten Kryzen was still standing there, with a strong and threatening aura waved off him.

“Huh? Hadn’t you put that together by now? He’s Drius. We go way back.” I moved to stand closer to him, frowning that he now stood at least a head taller than me.

He looked to be just as tall as Kryzen now.

“As she said, I’m Drius. And you are?” Drius held out his hand for a shake, his voice lifting a bit and his head tilting.

“Someone who doesn’t trust you as far as I could throw you,” Kryzen harshly replied, his light brown hair bristling with energy.

Drius’ skin paled, and I rolled my eyes.

“He’s Kryzen Stormfall, the general’s son,” I said. “He can be a pebble in my shoe, but we’re here together working on something together in Celestial City with his friend, Prince Roy, who, by the way, has a much better attitude than Kryzen.”

Drius’ eyebrows lifted.

“Kryzen Stormfall and Prince Roy... You run in some pretty high circles now, Bri.” Drius whistled and chuckled a bit.

“Bri...” Kryzen snorted. “What a dumb nickname.”

I balked.

“I like it,” I retorted, wondering what his deal was.

“She likes it.” Drius smirked at Kryzen, lifting his chin just like he did when he won the pull-up competition when we were training.

“I don’t care if she likes it. I don’t like it, and I don’t like this... whatever this is.” Kryzen’s frown deepened.

“What did I do to make you so mad?” Drius crossed his arms in front of his chest, turning toward Kryzen.

“Just answer this question. Why are you here, Dorkus?” Kryzen wrinkled his nose, and Drius just snorted.

“Dorkus, now that’s a dumb nickname,” Drius deadpanned, but I was also curious.

Just because I liked Drius and trusted him, I still had no idea why he was in Celestial City. He wasn’t from there and had no business being there. In fact, I had no idea how he knew I was there and where I was. If he knew where I was, why did he show up after all this time to hug me during a run?

“Drius, he’s got a point. Why are you here?” I turned to him, my forehead wrinkling up with question after question piling up on top of my mind.

The dark-haired military graduate turned to me, his hazel eyes burning with something deep within them.

“Bri, I was sent here to bring you home.” His voice dipped deep and gravelly.

My heart stopped beating for a moment.

“What happened at home?” I asked, my voice pitching into a whisper. Thoughts of black flames engulfing my childhood home instead of Celestial Valley flooded my mind.