~ALARIC'S POV
The silence was my first awareness which felt like a heavy blanket was being wrapped around me, and was no different from the darkness I had lived in for centuries.
Then came the softer things.
The faint, almost imperceptible snores of a person beside me and a steady heartbeat pulsing near my side, that sounded rhythmic like a metronome counting time I could not see.
My blind eyes did not know what hour it was, lost as I was in the endless black expanse of my world. But the longer I lay awake, the more one truth settled heavily in my chest.
The scent beside me was familiar.
Far too familiar.
My lips parted, whispering her name like a curse, "Dove."
My head felt hollow as I tried to piece together what had led to this moment. Almost immediately, a sharp pain recked through my skull, and recollection of what had happened between us the night before began to replay in my head bits by bits.
The heat.
The hunger.
The loss of restraint.
Sounds replayed in cruel and vivid fragments as I remembered how her body felt beneath mine, the sound of her moans muffled against my skin, and the way she had trembled when I touched her. The taste of her lingered like a sin I could not wash away.
My body tensed, cold sweat breaking across my skin as self-loathing twisted violently in my gut.
My hands curled into fists at my sides and shame washed over me, something I hadn't felt in a while.
I had failed.
Failed to remain sane and failed to resist the influence of the damned incubi pheromones.
I threw the covers off and rose from the bed, with my jaw clenched so tightly it was beginning to ache.
I moved through the chamber silently. After four centuries of blindness, I had learned the language of space and known how to navigate a room without sight.
I yanked open a drawer, the wood creaking softly, before grabbing a clean pair of pants and slipping them on. A robe followed, its familiar weight settling around me like a shroud.
I did not bother with the blindfold because I had no need for it.
My fingers brushed against the robe's fabric as I tied the belt. And when I turned to leave, my gaze lingered on where silent snores were coming from, her breathing was even and her scent was still potent in the air, making regret sit heavy in my chest, tightening with every breath I took.
Then I vanished.
The world blurred as space folded around me, and I materialized elsewhere.
I did not need sight to know I was far from the palace. The air here was crisp, laced with smoke and ash.
I recognized the outskirts of the realm immediately because the darkness that clung here was heavier.
I inhaled slowly, scent after scent mapping my surroundings while my shoulders remained tense, and my jaw was still locked in a silent snarl.
I was alone.
And for now, that was exactly what I wanted.
I moved forward, navigating an unfamiliar path using sound and scent alone. Damp earth, decaying leaves, the musk of the forest floor filled my nostrils, and the gravel crunching beneath my feet was the only sound interrupting the oppressive silence I was in.
Suddenly, a ripple in the air made it known to me that I had companies.
I stopped.
My eyebrows drew together as my hearing sharpened, tracking faint movements; the brush of fabric, controlled breaths, leather creaking under tension.
I evenly distributed my weight in the balls of my feet, my toes curling into the earth like claws.
Based on the pressure changes and vibrations around me, I counted seven bodies.
Seven presences.
They were not here to play.
My eyes turned into slits, and I stood in a calm stance, but my muscles were coiled tight, ready to strike.
"Alaric," a voice sneered. "Looks like the shadows finally caught up with you."
A rogue demon.
The voice came from my left—ten feet, perhaps. I
My expression remained impassive, a still surface concealing depthless wrath brewing in me.
"You smell like you've been playing with fire," another voice behind me murmured, low and amused. "And got burned."
"Maybe you've got a taste for something... fragile now," He finished, but my facial expression didn't shift from the indifference it was.
I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of seeing me react.
"Gatekeeping a pet human in your chambers, Alaric? How unlikely of you." Another voice taunted, coming from my right, about 15 feet away.
Pet human?
Dove...
They could smell her on me.
All of a sudden, subtle vibrations pulsed beneath my feet in some sort of ritualistic movements, as I heard the frets of those people doing something with their feet to the surface of the earth.
Another change in the air was felt, and a very strong force of power loomed above me which was heavy and suffocating.
My knees bent slightly, with the force pressed down, attempting to weaken me.
A sealing formation.
How amusing.
The air reeked of the shadow covenants' dark magic, a putrid and decayed scent steeped in shadows that made my stomach churn with disgust.
My hearing picked up the hum of energy building, the soft chanting of the seven bodies surrounding me, their voices weaving a web of malicious intent.
My lips curved into a cold smile.
They thought they could seal me?
They were wrong.
With a snarl, I broke free from the formation and drove my heel into the earth.
The impact cracked the ground open with a thunderous boom, the sound tearing through the forest as silver flame erupted violently from beneath my feet.
Fire surged upward like a volcanic wound, spilling through fractured soil, and the pressure looming over me completely shattered.
Silver flames burst from my skin, coiling around my arms, and reshaping themselves with a metallic shriek into two long burning chains forged of pure hellfire.
I struck without mercy, my hearing guiding my movements as I targeted the sounds of breathing, the rustle of fabric, the leather of boots across the ground and the faintest whimper of fear.
The chain screamed through the air, and heat ripped space apart before it wrapped around a body.
I felt the resistance, the flesh, bones, and a wet, choking gasp as I yanked him closer with the chain before channeling silver flames through him making him burn down to ashes.
Another rushed me from the left, fast and desperate. I turned on sound alone, as the silver chains snapped outward, coiling around his throat. The moment it tightened around his neck, I felt his pulse flutter wildly against the fire.
Then stop.
He collapsed with a dull thud, the scent of scorched flesh rising thick and nauseating.
"Too slow," I snarled, more to myself than them.
And then,
Something sharp pierced my back.
The pain shut through my entire body, and my hearing blurred for a moment, my lungs compressed as the air was forced out of me.
I roared.
Silver flames detonated outward in a shockwave that flattened everything within reach.
I seized the attacker by sound alone, before my fingers closed in around his skull, cracking it with my bare hands, his body went limp and hit the ground with a dull thud.
The rest didn't last long.
Chains tore through flesh. Fire swallowed screams. Bodies fell one by one, each impact echoing through the forest until silence reclaimed the night.
The pain in my chest area intensified.
Forbidden magic.
The dark magic was beginning to leave its mark on my inner core, as it was slowly shrouding my insides.
My lungs constricted as the pain hurled me back several steps and for a heartbeat, everything became distorted.
I knew I had to act fast, because if the magic should take over my inner core, I would turn rogue and become untamed.
I dropped to the ground immediately, sitting cross-legged as my hands began weaving intricate patterns through the air.
I struck my chest with my palm, and silver flames surged through my veins, clashing violently with the invading darkness.
The impact causing blood to spill from my mouth.
With ragged breath, I gestured to the air again, and my hands moved with a precision that belied the agony I felt, as I hit my chest with a force that made me spit out more blood.
The pain was agonizing, but I didn't stop.
Again and again,
I struck my chest, each blow sending a shockwave through my body, my muscles trembling with exhaustion while I fought to stay conscious.
The flames fought back, but the cost was devastating.
As the last of my strength faded, the world tilted.
And then,
My head struck the ground, and everything went silent.