Chapter 67: Blood Rebirth
The air in the throne room was thick with an oppressive energy, a palpable weight that pressed against Baines’ chest as he stood at the threshold.
If the Darkan warriors he had once faced bore hair that seemed to blaze with the ferocity of fire, the figures before him now were something far more unsettling. Their hair was a deep, blood-red hue, as if dyed by the essence of life itself, shimmering faintly under the dim, crimson-tinted light that filtered through the cracked skylights above.
The comparison to the Darkan felt inadequate, almost laughable, as Baines’ sharp eyes scanned the room.
Just the man standing beside the door. His presence radiated a power that rivaled the Imperial Commander Baines had once glimpsed in the sky.
And then there was the woman seated on the throne. She was a vision of regal terror, her blood-red hair sweeping the floor like a river of gore, and her eyes gleaming with unfathomable power.
Baines’ instincts screamed to flee as he assessed her strength. ’At least Saint level,’ he thought, his jaw tightening.
The realization made his stomach churn, not out of fear, but from the sheer absurdity of the power before him.
He ignored the cheers of the blood-red-haired figures lining the hall, their voices a cacophony of reverence and excitement, and muttered under his breath, ’Are they going to kill me? or something.’
As if on cue, the woman on the throne raised a slender hand, and the room fell into an eerie silence.
Her voice, light as a whisper yet carrying the weight of a command, reached Baines’ ears. "You have come."
The words sent a jolt through his body, his blood surging in response, not in anger, but in an instinctive, primal reaction to her presence.