The Dark Witch Chronicles Book One: The Curse of The Cymmerien Dragon
Chapter Twenty Nine: Flames of Destruction

Her head was throbbing. Lights blinded her eyes that were half closed. Someone was shaking her shoulder as though trying to wake her up. But she did not want to wake up. She wanted to sleep a little more. The pounding in her head refused to go away and she was certain that all she needed was a tiny bit of sleep and it would all be okay. Nothing seemed to work and she started to wake up as much as she did not wish to. Her eyes opened slightly more and she heard a faint voice calling her name followed by a foggy sentence that echoed in her ears.

It sounded something like “Why is she not waking up?”

And slowly her eyes began to flutter. Her mind came back into its senses and she seemed to hear the voices clearly.

“If you use the word ‘dead’ right now I’m going to destroy everything!” the voice exclaimed.

It only increased the pain in her head, as though someone was hitting a huge rock on the inside.

“Will you calm down? She isn’t dead! She’s going to wake up!” said another voice.

She understood that it was a male voice from the sound. Then there was a female voice but she failed to recognize it.

“Both of you, shut up! She’s fine! Look.”

She squeezed her eyes shut as the pain increased. Just as she was about to open her eyes, she saw something. It was a woman, a nightmare-inducing woman that made a chilling sensation crawl up inch by inch into her body as though consuming her. The woman was walking towards her. Her eyes red, hair dishevelled, lips worn, voice hoarse, deep and frightening. The woman had wrinkled arms, forehead and a slightly crooked nose. The appearance was ghastly and it scared her to no limit.

She wanted to run somewhere, anywhere but there was no way out. She was locked inside a circled room that had no door. It was pitch black yet she could see the woman clearly. She tried to take a step back but was met with a wall. Her face turned in every possible way to find some door or window or anything that could get her out. The woman started to mutter something as she neared her.

“You will see Deaths of loved ones, of great ones and of brave ones. You will see them get tortured and destroyed until you are the only one alive!”

She was shaking in fear. Her breath caught, heartbeat hastening as she tried to find a way out but there was nothing she could do. As the woman came closer, raising her hand to grab her throat, she screamed as loud as she could, now sitting bolt upright with her eyes wide open. She breathed heavily. Drops of sweat trickled down her forehead and she let out gasps of breath. Everything was foggy around her as her eyes began to water. She felt an arm circle across her shoulder and her forehead crashed into a chest as she let the tears fall.

“It’s okay, Iris, you’re okay. You’re alright,” Eridanus whispered into her ear softly.

He smoothed his fingers down her hair, his other hand holding her close to him as she clutched the fabric of his cloak and sobbed. She held on tightly to him, the image of the woman still in her mind.

Amara let out a sigh, letting her back rest on the wall behind as she pressed a palm onto her forehead, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. She was in Iris’s chamber along with Leandra, Azrael, Eridanus and Soter. The moment that they had returned from the village of Heletes with an unconscious Iris, Amara had rushed to find the healer because Iris refused to wake up at any cost. They had tried water, Healing Potion, and a whole lot of things that were in the bag of supplies that Amara had taken. Nothing seemed to work. Iris had lain still between Azrael and Amara as they travelled back to the castle with Lord Lucifer.

They had no time to ask him what had happened and how he had ended up trapped on a chair in the shack of a devilish dark witch. Iris was more important at that point. Amara was surprised as to why the Healing Potion wasn’t working. As soon as they had reached the castle, the first one to rush towards them was Eridanus who had already begun to take Iris in his arms and run inside. Prior to them returning, he had gotten a vision of Iris fainting. It worried him to no extent. Then the moment that they were back, he had wanted to wake her up in any possible way. He had absolutely no patience as the hours ticked by and Soter worked his way into healing Iris.

Soter had told them that she was going to be alright, but a mind and body that had been meddled with by a Mortuis, was hard to recover from. It was difficult, but Soter was assured that he would be able to do it if Eridanus would leave him alone for even a second. However, Eridanus refused to leave Iris’s side. He sat there not moving an inch and watching everyone coming and going out the chamber while Soter did everything he could. Eridanus waited for hours, days and then a week until there was some progress. He did not leave the chamber till the time Iris started responding after a long week. In the meantime, Leandra and Sienna had begun to plan the summoning of Lilith’s spirit along with help from Lord Lucifer who was also getting healed after getting attacked by the Mortuis. The story behind it, however, was a mystery.

Amara had been trying to meditate to be strong enough when they summoned those spirits but her mind always kept going back to Iris and whether or not she was going to recover. She was aware of the fact that Soter was entirely capable of healing her but the nagging sensation of having to lose Iris would not leave her mind. Though, Azrael was always by her side whenever Iris’s condition worsened and Amara felt like breaking down. He was there to help her concentrate on meditation and he was there to talk to her about things that bothered her. He was there when she felt exhausted of all the stress and needed a good night’s rest. Azrael had unknowingly helped her recover from the traumas in so many ways that Amara failed to comprehend it all. He had been the one she had gotten closest to after Iris.

Azrael gave her peace, he gave her assurance and slowly and steadily Amara began to develop a thin layer of trust on him. Because he was there when she accidentally went back to having visions of her past while resting on the branch of a tree; he was there to hold her hand when she was about to fall off the branch. He was there when she let a single tear fall, the time Iris was on the verge of dying, on the third night after they had returned. And he was there, the moment Iris woke up and Amara was on the verge of collapsing out of exhaustion.

He held her hand when she rested her back on the wall behind, pressing a palm to her forehead. He was beside her in a moment, gently gripping her hand and giving her the silent assurance that it was okay. Surprisingly, it calmed her immediately and she returned the ghost of a smile that he had given to her.

Eridanus had now relaxed; his eyes were skimming with tears, imagining what would have happened if he had lost Iris but having her in his arms was enough of an assurance. As he hugged her close to him and she cried, he smiled in content. She was still there. The week had been agonizing for him.

Watching Soter run around trying to find ways of healing her and attempting all sorts of things to make her alright was frustrating for him. In the times that Iris showed no progress, Eridanus felt like hexing himself to Death. What was the use of him being in the castle if he could not help her learn the power of manipulation? What was the use of him mastering the art himself if he could not tell her the limits to which minds could be meddled with? What was the use of him being there for nearly four months if he could not be of help to the girl that he had become so attached to; if he could not tell her that he was hopelessly in love for the very first time in his life?

It was only when Iris’s tears stopped falling that she was able to let go of Eridanus, who held her in a tight grip close to him. She coughed, wiping her tears and pushing back the strands of hair stuck to her face. Soter sat beside her on a chair, holding a palm on her forehead that no longer seemed to be heating up with fever. It was normal. He gave her a smile.

“How do you feel?” He asked.

“Horrible. My head is aching and I need it to go away,” she replied in a hoarse voice that sounded irritable to her own ears.

She could only imagine how it sounded to the others. Eridanus stood there grinning wide as though he had just won a war and was about to dance in celebration. Iris frowned at his expression but her eyes darted towards Amara, who stood opposite to her with her back resting on a wall, her eyes looking back at Iris. She held a relieved expression. Iris gave a light smile and Amara smiled back, closing her eyes for a moment. Iris then was about to look back at Soter who was filling up a glass full of some liquid when her gaze caught onto something that she found extremely strange yet wonderful. Azrael and Amara were holding hands.

Her smile widened as she looked at Azrael whose eyes were stuck on Amara. There was a look of adoration on his face as he gazed at her. Iris then glanced at Lea, who stood at the foot of the bed, grinning at her. She looked happy to see Iris awake. Iris snapped her eyes in direction of Amara and Azrael, and Lea frowned, turning around and fixing her gaze onto the two hands that were clasped together. Then she smirked, looking back at Iris with a mischievous glint in her eyes. They silently agreed upon discussing about it later. Soter had now shoved the glass full of green coloured liquid in Iris’s direction.

“What is that?” She asked, scrunching up her face in disgust.

From the looks of it, she knew it would taste very bad.

“For your headache,” replied Soter.

“I am not drinking that. It looks like poison.” She shook her head with pleading eyes.

Soter responded with a flat look and extended the glass in her direction. Her head pounded yet again and she reluctantly took the glass from his hands and brought it to her lips. She shut her eyes and took a sip before spluttering it out.

“Are you trying to kill me?” She gasped, coughing.

“Iris, don’t be a child,” said Soter. “It’s a higher dose of the Healing Potion. You need to drink it before the headache gets worse. It could be serious.” He was looking at her sternly and Iris could do nothing but obey.

“Higher dose? I’ve been out for no more than a day!” she replied, bewildered.

Then she glanced at everyone with a hopefully. They said nothing but Lea and Eridanus’s grin vanished, Amara and Azrael were no longer holding hands; the latter wasn’t in the chamber and Amara was walking towards her bed to stand next to Lea.

“How long have I been sleeping? What happened to me?” She asked in a whisper.

Eridanus let out a sigh, slumping back onto his chair beside her bed. Amara scratched her forehead and Lea looked away.

“Drink that first. You’ll have your answers then,” said Lea.

Iris sighed and shut her eyes before gulping down the disgusting potion in one go. She then coughed while Soter took the glass back and placed it on the table beside her bed.

“Remind me to never drink that again,” she said, shaking her head to get rid of the taste.

Her head began to feel lighter and she was relieved of the weight that she had been holding as the potion made its way into her system.

“Now can I get my answers?” She asked, looking at everyone.

“You were unconscious for a week and three days,” Soter began. “We’ve been trying to get you to wake up since the night you returned from wherever you had gone with Amara and the others. Obviously you don’t remember anything since your mind has been meddled with. It’s going to take time till you fully recover.” Perplexed, Iris stared at him.

“Unconscious? For a week? Where had I gone and with whom? What is going on?” She panicked, now sitting up straight as her head felt better.

“Wait, wait, just wait a minute,” said Eridanus, holding up a hand. “Why did you wake up screaming?” He asked her.

She snapped her head towards him and blinked. She had forgotten. She did not remember what she had seen to have her wake up screaming. Was it a nightmare? Did I see someone die? Was it a vision from past or future? She struggled to find out why she had woken up like that, but there was no trail of it.

“I-I don’t remember,” she stuttered.

“Do you know why she woke up screaming?” Eridanus turned to Soter.

He nodded, letting out a sigh.

“She must have had the nightmare,” he said. “But I don’t know the details. Someone needs to tell her what happened from the beginning. She won’t remember otherwise.”

Amara looked at Eridanus and then at Lea. She gestured Lea to follow her outside. Realizing what they were doing, Soter stood up as well, to leave the chamber. He turned to Eridanus.

“Tell her,” he said.

Eridanus nodded and then looked at an impatient Iris. She looked scared. Eridanus got up from the chair he was sitting on and settled himself beside her on the bed. She was sitting with her legs sprawled before her on the bed with the sheet covering up to her waist.

“Relax,” he whispered, placing a hand on hers.

Iris let out a breath she was holding. Something in his voice calmed her.

“Just calm down and listen to me without interrupting. Okay?” He told her with a reassuring smile. Iris nodded in response.

Eridanus began telling her everything that had happened from the moment that she had left with Amara. He had been told all the details by Azrael when they had returned. Iris silently listened to him, opening her mouth to say something whenever she thought she heard something familiar. Her mind struggled to find a trace of what had happened in that one night. She only remembered a few parts of it. When he described to her that they were in the hut of a Mortuis, her ears had perked up. Her eyes glistened with the visions of a dreadful woman, and suddenly the nightmare that had occurred to her came flashing before her eyes.

She panicked. Her hands began to tremble in fear and paranoia. As soon as Eridanus noticed that, he held both her hands and shushed her.

“It’s okay now. Don’t be scared. I’m here and you’re safe. Nothing is going to harm you,” he told her in hushed whispers, reassuringly.

Iris was still trembling on the inside. She swallowed the lump in her throat and shut her eyes, taking a deep breath. Eridanus held her hands tightly, repeating that she was going to be alright. Iris calmed down. She did not remember everything that had happened that night apart from the terrifying woman that she kept seeing.

She felt as though she had seen the Mortuis lot of times but Eridanus told her that it was only a nightmare. The fact that she could not recall anything else bothered her. It frustrated her and she wanted to know what exactly had happened, instead of hearing it from someone else.

“Give that tiny brain of yours a bit of rest. It’ll come back to you. Just don’t think about all that now. We have other things to take care of,” he said to her.

Iris nodded in understanding. She realized that they had the task of summoning Lilith’s spirit.

“But I’ve been out for more than a week. What if Lord Mikhail already has Lilith’s spirit under control?” She asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Lea has been keeping an eye on Lilith. She tells us the spirit is not responding particularly the way Lord Mikhail wants it to. There has been some progress but we’ll be able to redeem it. The plan is already prepared. We just have to wait until you have recovered completely and then we can start the process. The Lord has also agreed to help so we’re stronger now,” said Eridanus, smiling.

Iris finally calmed down. She sighed in relief and then looked back at Eridanus. Leaning forward she threw her arms around his neck in a hug. He responded with a shock at first and then returned the affection.

“Thank you,” she told him, pulling away.

“For what?” He frowned. “For being so devilishly charming and handsome?” He said before she could reply.

Iris narrowed her eyes and gave him a flat look before slapping his arm.

“You’re such a pain,” she said, shaking her head. He winked in response.

“Now go get a bath,” he told her, standing up from the bed. “You smell of muck.”

Iris threw a pillow at him as he bolted out of the door with a smirk. She pushed the covers off of her and stood up, stumbling at her feet. Keeping a hand on the wall next to her she steadied herself and blinked to adjust her vision. When she was sure she was able to walk, Iris proceeded towards the bathroom in her chamber.

She left to go to the kitchen when she was done cleaning herself and dressed into a light-blue gown. Her hair was down her shoulders in damp tangles when she muttered a drying spell and shook her now dry hair before entering the kitchen.

“Tea, my lady?” said Eridanus, appearing out of nowhere when she entered through the door.

He was holding a cup of steaming hot tea in his hands, extending it towards her.

“Who knows, you might have poisoned it,” she replied and walked past him.

“I wouldn’t dare,” he told her, placing a hand on his heart, feigning horror. He followed her as she looked for something to eat. Iris rolled her eyes at him.

Grabbing an apple, she began munching on it while Eridanus started to tell her something. The door of the kitchen opened and in walked Amara, Lea, and Azrael.

“How are you feeling now?” asked Amara.

“Hungry,” she replied and Lea rushed in her direction, pulling her into a tight hug.

“You’ll break my bones, Lea,” said Iris with a chuckle.

“Sorry,” Lea replied, letting go of her.

“Feel okay, little one?” Azrael spoke as he held a smile. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ Find ɴøᴠel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Iris had a foggy vision of her clutching his hand while in the chamber of the Mortuis. She nodded in reply. Without wasting another moment, Amara began talking to Iris about the important task that they were supposed to perform.

“Alright then, Iris, we don’t have much time for the process of summoning Lilith’s spirit now. And we are thinking of starting it tonight; but we have created a plan in a way that if you don’t feel up to it, we try to make our forces stronger with the Lord’s help. You shall only be involved if your health is suitable and if Soter gives us the assurance that you will be okay. Of course we will be helping you in every possible way but you have to be completely in your senses for this. Are you going to be able to do this?” She said.

“I don’t know but I’ll try. I do want to help with this, Amara. I can’t let you lot do this alone. By tonight, I promise I’ll recover. I will have to,” she replied.

“No, Iris. This is not a compulsion. With your help we’ll obviously be stronger and it becomes easier but you won’t force yourself into this. It’s not easy,” Eridanus said with a serious look.

“I appreciate your concern but I-I want to do this. I’ve prepared myself for it even though I’ve been asleep for more than a week. I know that since you all are with me there is no way I will be harmed. This is as important to me as it is to every one of you.” Iris protested.

“Are you perfectly sure?” asked Azrael, raising his eyebrows in concern.

“Yes,” Iris said.

There was a confident look that she held even though she wasn’t much assured inside. She had wanted this task done the moment that she had been told about it. She had no other option. It was necessary that she be of any help to Amara. It was vow that she had taken for the rest of her existence. And it was not to be let down.

“Okay then. Eridanus, help her get prepared for this,” Amara said, sighing. “Meanwhile, Sienna and I will set up the sacrificial chamber. Azrael, please inform the Lord that we begin at three a.m. sharp. Also tell the others not to be anywhere around the sacrificial chamber tonight. The library will be closed and the whole passage downstairs needs to be shut down. Leandra, you get the required books for the spells that we need.”

With that, the four of them vanished out of sight, leaving Eridanus and Iris standing in the kitchen while Iris finished the apple that she was eating. After she was done filling her stomach and was sure that she had enough energy to begin, Iris and Eridanus left for the meditation chamber to prepare her for the task that night.

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Amara and Sienna got themselves busy in planning the whole process once again while setting up the sacrificial chamber. By nightfall, the chamber was plunged into darkness. Then the candles were lit, surrounding the points inside the huge circle with a star. Enchantments were spread on the walls as the atmosphere went to a still-calm. The single window in the chamber was shut, leaving just enough space for air to sweep in; curtains were drawn, books kept outside the circle of light as Leandra, Sienna and Amara stood there at midnight. When they were sure all preparations were done, three of them left the chamber and then spread enchantments around the whole area covering Lord Lucifer’s chamber and the library.

Then they went to the meditation chamber and prepared themselves for the next three hours. At exactly three in the morning when the clock struck, the lot descended down to the sacrificial chamber along with Lord Lucifer. The passage had been sealed and the ritual began.

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