Chapter 98: Kael... I’m sorry!
Rain pounded down on Kiran Mountain, as if the sky refused to stop its lament.
Deep in the bamboo forest, a small wooden hut shook with every drop that fell on its roof. The sound was deafening, a relentless rain that seemed to want to drown out all silence.
Inside, on an anvil as large as a sacrificial table, Alessia lay bound tightly. Her body trembled. Her eyes, black as night, moved desperately, searching for a way out, an explanation.
She didn’t understand why she was there. She didn’t know what Jasper was looking for, or why he had taken her to that remote place. But fear gripped her chest. And with every passing second, the silence inside the shed weighed heavier than the roar of the storm.
Jasper, after getting all the ingredients ready.
"Let’s begin... with the creation of the perfect weapon."
After uttering those words, Jasper began to murmur in an ancient language. His voice became guttural, devoid of all humanity. The runes carved on the anvil began to glow bright red, pulsing as if they had a life of their own.
He then took out an object wrapped in a black cloth stained with dried blood. He unwrapped it slowly: it was a triple cross made of blackened wood. Hanging from its ends were three golden figures of crucified men.
Jasper placed the cross on Alessia’s abdomen.
She shuddered instantly, but could barely utter a sound before the cursed cross began to sink slowly into her flesh. It didn’t pierce her; it melted into her. It was as if the black wood had a consciousness and was hungry. As if it wanted to devour her from within. The runes on the anvil responded with a blinding red glow, pulsing like a monstrous heart.
The pain was immediate and absolute.
Alessia arched her back. Her throat opened in a scream that didn’t seem human.