Bound To The Ice Dragon King
Chapter 215: Imposter

Chapter 215: Imposter

Hours ago...

Draven awoke from his morning nap, his wife still nestled in his arms, peacefully asleep. A gentle smile played on his lips as he observed her peaceful sleeping face, it was already way passed midday. But recognizing her weariness, he decided not to disturb her and let her sleep a little longer in his arms before evening when they would leave to Annalise’ house. However, a faint tap on the door stirred him, prompting him to slip out of bed cautiously.

Opening the door, he was met by a maid, her expression revealing a sense of urgency. The palace had called for him. Despite his reluctance to leave his wife’s side, he could tell it was an urgent matter, and Draven nodded in understanding. After a quick bath, Draven dressed in a loose black shirt and trousers. Before leaving, he presses a gentle kiss to his wife’s forehead.

"Sleep well, my love. I’ll be back soon."

As he entered the palace, he went straight to the Dragon court chamber, and he noticed the atmosphere within the palace felt tense and heavy. And when he entered the chamber, the king’s minsters were sitting in silence and in the middle of the chamber were six skeletal figures sprawled on the floor.

"What happened here?" Draven asked as he looked down at the skeletal figures.

Prince Zachary was the one to reply, "The entire Lyndhurst family. Found dead this morning in their house."

Draven was taken aback, "Are these... the Lyndhursts?" He asked in disbelief as he gestured to the figures. Though he had never met the rest of the Lyndhurst family but he had met the womanizer who tried to hit on his wife on their wedding day.

"Yes." Said prince Zack, "This has never happened in the Dragon realm before."

Draven couldn’t help but wonder about the cause of their demise. Kneeling before the lifeless figures, he immediately sensed a malevolent aura emanating from them. A furrow formed on his brow as realization struck.

"Erebus’ powers," he muttered under his breath, looking up at the prince with a mixture of concern and disbelief. "How come Erebus’ powers are here? We defeated Alina, who possessed the powers." He had killed Alina with his own hands, it was impossible for her to still be alive.

"It wasn’t Alina’s doing, Draven. Centuries ago, Alina didn’t just awaken Erebus’ powers but Erebus himself. And now the ancient malevolence is wreaking havoc in our world, sucking essence and leaving death in its wake." Informed Prince Zachary, "We can’t tell exactly where he is in the dragon realm now, but we need to stop him before things get out of hand."

Draven frowned, absorbing the shocking revelation. Erebus, the entity responsible for his parents death was back to life and was in the Dragon realm now. Draven had read a lot about the evil entity to know how he caused chaos in the world, but what Draven didn’t understand was why Erebus would come to the dragon realm instead of the human realm.

This wasn’t good, Draven thought as he felt a sense of unease. Now that Erebus was in the dragon realm, he mustn’t allow his wife to go out nor would he be taking her to Annalise’ game night. Draven decided, he thought to go and inform Rhea about the situation before he’d come back to the palace, but King Henry said they had to track down Erebus’ whereabouts before he killed more dragons.

Draven was unable to return home to inform his wife, so he sent a palace guard to notify Rhea about their current situation and the reasons they would not be going out tonight. Unknown to him, as the guard made his way to their house, he became possessed by a swirling black smoke, causing him to relay the wrong information to the maid. Later, Draven also sent a servant to inform Lilac to go and keep his wife company at their house. Yet again, another swirling black smoke impersonated Draven and gave Lilac and Prince Ethan incorrect information.

Lilac wasn’t able to decipher this as it was no longer an illusion but the real impersonation of Draven.

After ensuring that everything was in order and believing his wife was safe at home, Draven and three of the Princes set out to investigate and locate Erebus’s whereabouts.

Draven and the three other princes tracked down five more houses and found dead people, who were sucked dry of life in them, but no signs of Erebus. He was good at cleaning his tracks after committing his act. He seemed to use his black powers to overtake his victims so they wouldn’t be able to use their abilities.

As evening approached, Draven suddenly began to feel uneasy. His heart was beating faster than usual, and his hands were slightly trembling for no reason at all. Even breathing became hard for him, it was like a part of him was scared of something. A part of him...

His wife. He could feel Rhea’s fear!

When Draven realized it was his wife’s fear that was passing to him, he didn’t waste time in searching for Erebus, who they couldn’t find even after searching half of the city. He didn’t even bother to walk back, he transformed into his dragon form and headed home immediately. But what he found at home almost made him go crazy.

The moment Draven landed in the middle of their mansion grounds, he saw the maids and Prince Ethan including Lilac, who looked badly wounded running towards him. He hadn’t heard what happened but the beating of his heart had run wild.

"Draven," Prince Ethan called urgently, "Lilac and I escorted Rhea to Annalise’ house as you told us to, but when playing the game, something happened." He said.

Draven was taken aback, "I told you to escort my wife? When?" He demanded.

Prince Ethan looked surprised, he frowned deeply, "You ordered Lilac and I in the afternoon when we were in my palace. I wanted to refuse, but you said if I dare not do as you told, you will dismember me. You even_"

Draven didn’t want to hear what the thing that dared took his form said to the prince, he cut him off and asked the only question that was eating away his soul, "Where is my wife?"

"I don’t know, "Prince Ethan explained, "When everyone was hiding for the game, Lilac suggested we should hide outside the house so we won’t be found. But when we returned to the house again, all the guests were dead, and all we saw was a swirling black smoke in the house, Lilac ended up getting hurt as she protected me from getting killed by the smoke. We searched for Rhea, but there was no signs of her in the house."

Draven felt his blood run cold and his legs go numb. His wife was taken by Erebus. He realized. Rhea’s ice magic wasn’t as strong as it was before, and even if it was strong, she wouldn’t be able to use it against Erebus’ powers. He had sensed her fear awhile ago, but now he couldn’t sense it anymore. What did Erebus want from his wife? What if he had harmed her like he did to every other victim...

As those thoughts ran in his head, Draven could no longer take it. He transformed back into his dragon form and flew away, he was going to find her no matter what.

***

Silently, Rhea followed Draven through the deserted landscape, her mind swirling back to the blue-haired man’s brutal actions. Fabian had been possessed by some evil thing that made him kill all the guests at Annalise’ house. Rhea thought, she had thought the dead people to be part of the game, but it was all real. She felt an internal tremor, her body shaking with the memories. If Draven hadn’t shown up, heavens knew what would have happened to her...

Draven continued to lead her away from the city, and a sudden wave of nausea hit her again. She had been feeling this way for quite awhile now and the urge to sit and rest was strong, but she resisted, believing Draven was guiding her to safety.

As they kept walking to who-knows-where, Rhea’s foot twisted in the thick snow, and she fell, gasping in pain as her ankle bent to an awkward angle . To her surprise, Draven didn’t stop; he continued pulling her, yelling and cursing her clumsiness. It was a stark departure from the care her husband would have shown. Her husband had never cursed at her before...

Rhea quickly jerked her hand away, crawling back in the snow, "Who are you?" she demanded. Draven would never pull her away after a fall. Furthermore, ever since he’d taken her away from Annalise’ house, he hadn’t said a word and kept pulling her away from the city to a deserted place. She hadn’t questioned him because she thought Draven was taking her to a safe place, but after he yelled at her like that, she realized this person wasn’t her husband.

His cold laughter filled the air as his form shifted into an incomplete human form, malevolent black smoke encircled him. His eyes were as red and dark as blood, and when they fell on her, fear gripped Rhea. There was only one entity with such powers...

Erebus.

"What do you want from me?" Rhea questioned, her voice slightly trembling.

Erebus laughed coldly, his deformed face holding a sinister grin. "You have something I need, little girl." He said, "That useless Alina had failed to get it from you and now I am left with the task to get it myself after she allowed herself to be killed by you and that El-Dezeus. Don’t look so surprise, young one. I was the one who sent Alina to get the core, we made a bargain centries ago, though the foolish woman failed me, I will not fail myself."

Rhea was stunned beyond words at this revelation. Alina had made a bargain with Erebus, she had been given black powers to get the most powerful core in the world.

"What do you want with the core?" Rhea asked, her voice no longer trembling, but her heart was.

Erebus knelt before her, extending his hand. "I want everything with it. I want revenge, I want powers, I want to rule the world. Give it to me willingly, and you won’t be harmed, little one."

Rhea, panic seeping through her veins, questioned, "What if I refuse?"

Erebus’s mocking laughter filled the air. "Then, my dear, I’ll take it by force. But you won’t enjoy the process. I will rip your chest open and take my time in watching you die before I take my core from you."

Rhea suddenly remembered Alina’s words months ago. ’Even if I let you go today, you still won’t be able to live forever with him, because one day, someone else will rip out that thing from your chest. So what is the use of prolonging your own misery.’

Realization dawned on Rhea. So Alina had known Erebus would surely come after her. Even though Rhea hadn’t known about Erebus being alive, she had been feeling restless and uneasy after what Alina had said, it turned out she wasn’t worrying for nothing, it turned out there was a even more powerful being after the only thing that was giving her life.

Rhea felt the weight of her predicament."You want revenge from Draven because his parents sealed you away centries ago."

Erebus chuckled, confirming her words. "Smart and foolish, just as Alina said. Yes, I want to kill the offspring of my enemy and also rule the entire world."

"You also killed his parents, isn’t that enough revange? Draven has suffered without his parents as a boy, that should be enough." Rhea looked up into his red eyes despite the fear in her heart. She had seen how her husband suffered as a boy without his parents, he had gone through a lot in his entire life all thanks to this evil entity. Yet, Erebus wasn’t satisfied, he still wanted more. He wanted Draven’s life and the core.

"You sure have a lot of nerve to look me in the eye and tell me that’s enough as a revenge. Erebus never takes little, when I strike my enemies, I make sure to wipe off every trace of their bloodline. And you, my dear, will die tonight."