Chapter 73: The Seven Princes Assemble
Azriel
"Odomos?" Anomas echoed, the name leaving his lips like a curse. The moment Uriel offered a slow, heavy nod in confirmation, Anomas let out a sharp gasp, his face losing color as he snapped his head around to look directly at me.
I glared back, my brows furrowing in deep confusion.
"Will you stop trading silent glances and actually explain what the hell is happening, Anomas? Or perhaps you should do us the favor, Uriel, before you drift off again," Sariel demanded, his bitter voice cutting through the rising tension as he leaned over the table.
Uriel exchanged a brief, weary look with the Lord of Prophecy, who still appeared entirely stunned, as if he had just been forced to swallow the most impossible truth.
Heaving a heavy sigh, Uriel rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Odomos is a liminal realm—a bridge between the living and the dead. And right now, that human’s consciousness is entirely trapped inside it."
"But how could a mere human manage to wander into such a wasteland?" Lumiel asked, shifting his heavily armored frame against the wood of his chair, his eyes flashing with a sudden, dangerous light. "What kind of territory is this Odomos? Is it a place where I can ride in and slaughter whatever monsters are keeping him hostage?"
Luceriel let out a deeply annoyed groan, slowly sliding the glass spectacles from the bridge of his nose. He pinched the silver frame between his fingers, pointing it directly at Lumiel with absolute disdain.
"Do keep your unrefined battlefield rhetoric to yourself and allow Uriel to speak, you brute," Luceriel commanded, his tone dripping with the effortless, lofty arrogance. "Our brother’s mind is already slipping away, and since he is currently delivering a report that is paramount to the collective preservation of this court, I suggest we afford him our complete, undivided intellects."
Silence immediately reclaimed the chamber, every eye fixing tightly back onto the sluggish form of the Sin of Sloth.
"Odomos is entirely separate from our reality," Uriel explained, his voice drifting lazily. "No one simply enters that dimension and walks out free. It is a shifting nightmare ingrained directly into the mind of the victim. It manifests in various psychological tortures, but the absolute worst variation it can take is the time loop."
"A time loop?" I asked, my grip tightening on the armrests of my chair. "Are you saying Seraphel is forced to relive a nightmare over and over again right now?"
Uriel nodded slowly.
"Then how do we break into this dimension?" Taizel asked, aggressively smashing his massive fists together with a booming thud. "If such an energetic realm exists, then you had better send me in. I will gladly swallow every single drop of that nightmare energy until nothing remains. Perhaps for once in my existence, my hunger will actually be satisfied."
Uriel simply shook his head at the suggestion.
"What? So you are saying even Odomos cannot satisfy my capacity?"
"That is entirely beside the point," Uriel countered, his eyelids drooping significantly as he let out a massive yawn. "Odomos is..." He paused, his head tilting forward as he began rubbing his eyes, clearly hovering on the verge of another deep slumber.
Bang!
I slammed my open palm flat onto the wooden table, the force rattling the porcelain teacups. "Wake up, you stupid sloth!" I snapped, though the binding nature of my own domain forced the roar to leave my throat with a deceptive, velvet softness.
Uriel jerked awake, his blurry eyes slowly focusing until they met my sharp glare. "I am sorry... my consciousness is already drifting back toward the dream paths. There is an anchor I am trying to trace out there."
Kicking my chair backward, I stood up in a flash of raw fury, my patience entirely spent. "You want to sleep now? When the one individual destined to liberate this entire bloodline from thousands of years of carrying these primordial sins is currently drowning? We managed to survive the devastation of the Red Moon centuries ago, but another alignment is looming over Katula. If we remain this careless, none of us will survive the next cycle! We cannot even die, and if Elysium’s forces reach Seraphel’s fractured mind before we do, the child dies with him! That gives the Emperor absolute leverage over our entire lineage. He will have the power to chain us for eternity, rendering all our centuries of planning, all our calculations, completely worthless! Everything will crumble into nothingness because you chose to be lazy!"
The echoing weight of my voice left the room dead silent for a long moment, until Uriel simply let out another quiet yawn.
"I am speaking to you!" I yelled, running a frustrated hand through my hair as I glared at the rest of them. "It seems none of you give a damn about the human’s life!"
"And why precisely should I expend my energy caring for a fragile creature whose solitary purpose is to serve our legacy?" Luceriel responded smoothly, his sharp green eyes locking onto me with cold, unforgiving judgment. "Your characteristic impulsiveness and utter lack of vigilance are the sole reasons that human was violated under your own roof, Azriel. You were undoubtedly wasting your hours indulging in your decadent, lustful habits while the enemy breached your borders. That is why you failed to protect him! Your predictable, careless nature is what threatens to ruin us all, and no one else is to be blamed for the consequences when you cannot even guard your own vessel or secure your future heir."
’’I...’’ I tried to speak but luceriel’s gaze hardened, pinning me to the floor.
"When you possess an asset of true value, you deploy every defense to ensure its absolute preservation. But your stupidity allowed the enemy a window, and now that human’s life is compromised. Do not project your failure onto Uriel. Blame yourself, Azriel, because this nightmare began entirely with you."
I stared back at Luceriel, my chest tightening as each word hit me like a physical blow.
The bitter truth was that despite his arrogant, high-and-mighty tone, he was entirely right about everything. If I hadn’t left Seraphel’s side that night, if I had kept him within my own domain, none of these hidden forces could have touched him.
"I have always maintained that I would have been the far superior custodian for the vessel," Sariel muttered under his breath, tracing the rim of his cup with a bitter, envious sneer. "I possess the meticulous nature required to safeguard what is mine. I ensure that my possessions are never left vulnerable to regret."
I let out a harsh, mocking scoff at Sariel’s words. "That is easy for you to say, Sariel, considering your entire existence is driven by a pathetic envy of everything I touch. You envy the devotion I command, and you still harbor a bitter grudge simply because I took your prized omega centuries ago! I know that humiliation still rots inside your head, but you should be the absolute last person lecturing this table on how to keep an asset, because you will always be a functional failure."
"Azriel!" Sariel hissed, slamming his chair back as he pointed an icy finger at me. "How dare you bring that filth into this council? Everyone at this table is well aware of how you routinely seduce the lovers of others. You have never possessed the discipline to contain your own vice."
"And you have never possessed the capacity to contain your jealousy," I shot back. "You covet what everyone else possesses, and that is precisely why you are left sitting with absolutely nothing."
Furious, Sariel thrust his hand outward toward me.