Bound To The Ice Dragon King
Chapter 58: Vengeful spirit

Chapter 58: Vengeful spirit

The last time Rhea had seen the ghost, her aura had seemed off, like that of a malevolent spirit. Summoning her in an inn full of people wasn’t a good idea. Therefore, Rhea helped Draven out of bed and guide him along to an isolated area far away from the people’s sight. When they arrived there, she drew a circle on the ground then rolled up her sleeves and sat down on the ground.

Through out the years she’d been interacting with ghosts, she’d learned how to summon them from the other world. However, she couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous doing it this time. She wouldn’t want to summon something else along with the woman’s ghost that would possess her body. Thus, to be on the safer side, she turned towards Draven.

"You should stand next to me outside the circle, if you notice anything strange with me or if any spirit is out to possess my body, then immediately hold my hand and pull me out of the circle. You should be fast about it, because the ghost seems like a malevolent spirit now, if she possesses my body, she will only avenge herself by killing any human. You should_"

"I understand, get on with it already." Draven cut her up, he could tell she was nervous with the way she was delaying, but then delaying it even more wouldn’t help.

Rhea’s mouth twitched, but she looked away from him and closed her eyes and tried to connect herself to the other world. "Johanna, if you can hear my calls, I need you to show yourself. Johanna."

As Rhea continued to chant Johanna’s name, the temperature in the area suddenly dropped, causing a shiver to run down her spine. The once scorching hot afternoon turned eerily cold, with a bone-chilling wind swirling around them. The air grew heavy and stagnant, as if time itself had slowed down. Even the birdsong that had filled the air ceased, leaving behind an unsettling silence.

A black smoke started to materialize around the area, it was like the fires of a purgatory were scorching the earth.

Draven, standing just outside the circle couldn’t see the black smoke but could feel the change in the atmosphere. He watched in both fascination and unease as Rhea’s words took effect. He could see the hairs on her arms standing on end, and her eyes filled with a mix of anticipation and fear. The atmosphere seemed to thicken, suffocating the very essence of life.

Suddenly, the black mist began to seep out of the ground, swirling and twisting like a dark snake. It coalesced and grew, taking on a form that seemed both solid and ethereal. The mist transformed into a figure, a spectral silhouette of a woman with long, flowing hair that floated around her like a macabre halo.

Johanna had arrived.

The ghostly figure emanated an aura of darkness, causing the once vibrant colors of the surroundings to fade into shades of gray. Her eyes, hollow and lifeless, glowed with a malevolent intensity. The air grew heavy with her presence, as if the very essence of evil had taken shape before them.

As Rhea saw Joanna’s ghost, her body trembled with a mixture of reverence and trepidation. She could feel the weight of Johanna’s power, a force that had been unleashed from the world of the dead. The ground beneath her seemed to vibrate with an otherworldly energy, as if the barrier between the living and the dead had grown thin.

Draven, watching from the outside, felt a sense of foreboding wash over him. His hair stood on edge despite not seeing the ghost.

Rhea suddenly felt the urge to flee from the scene with the ghost’s appearance. She couldn’t help but swallow hard in fear at the sight before her.

In this world, a soul had the option to either pass into the afterlife or stay within the realm of the deceased, which was a reflection of the world of the living. However, only a small fraction of souls, about one in a thousand, opted to remain in the land of the dead because they would eventually lose their purity if they did not fully leave the living world.

The longer they stayed, the more they transformed into malevolent spirits. During her childhood, Rhea encountered numerous souls, both young and old, who either mourned their unfulfilled desires or aimlessly roamed around. However, none of these spirits had ever instilled as much fear in her as Johanna did now. With just a single glance at Johanna’s countenance, Rhea felt an intense urge to escape.

Rhea quickly clutched onto Draven’s pant leg, signaling him to be ready to swiftly remove her from the circle if necessary. However, Draven had already sensed the shift in the atmosphere and had instinctively placed his hands on her shoulders, so he didn’t require her hint.

Despite his previous role as a stern ruler of ice dragons, Draven had never encountered a ghost before, and the idea of seeing one unsettled him. The mere presence of this ghost was already deeply disturbing. He couldn’t help but wonder how Rhea had lived her life seeing ghosts...

"Rhea, I think you should send her back." Draven whispered wearily. However, the ghost who heard him barely glanced at him and fixed her gaze back on Rhea, without a single word or moving.

Rhea lightly coughed nervously, she couldn’t send the ghost away without talking, or else the woman would plunge her into the other world at night. Rhea cautiously probed, "Johanna, how about you take a sit and let’s have a talk?"

Johanna remained still, unmoving. Rhea nervously rubbed her nose and asked, "Aren’t you curious why I called you out? I wanted to know about your son, Aedan. You..."

Before Rhea could finish speaking, the ghost swiftly moved, appearing in front of her. Her eyes turned cold as she forcefully pinned Rhea down by her neck. Her lips were a dark blue, almost black, as she spat out a few words, "Go and get him from there!!"

"Hell and damnation, she’s going to strangle me!" Rhea exclaimed, her fear causing her to clutch her racing heart and fall backwards.

Upon hearing Rhea’s words, Draven rushed to pull her away, but Rhea quickly raised her hand. "Don’t." She stopped him, knowing that the ghost didn’t intend to possess her body, but to speak in her own way.

Rhea tried not to grimace with the ghost’s face right in front of her. She then calmly muttered. "Miss Johanna," she addressed the ghost as such to indicate her respect, "you were there when I risked my life to release those children, and you were also there when I was being punished. I tried my best to get him away..."

Draven just simply watched as Rhea spoke with the ghost he couldn’t see. However, the look on Rhea’s face was sincere and apologetic towards the ghost.

"My abilities only goes this far. This matter is beyond me now. Furthermore, I’ve been banned from ever stepping feet close to that dungeon again, i_"

"He’s not in the underground dungeon." The ghost’s voice was hoarse as she spoke. Her emotions were more stable now, even the black mist around her were slowly calming down. "He’s been taken to the north city of the capital."

Rhea was taken aback. The city up north was where some of the leaders of the flame, including Alina, resided. Rhea glanced at Draven, who never took his eyes off her. She then turned back to the ghost and inquired, "So, did you follow your son all the way to the northern city?"

The ghost nodded.

No wonder. Rhea thought to herself. Ever since she had been punished, she hadn’t experienced any disturbances from the ghost or been thrown into the other realm. It became apparent that the ghost had been preoccupied with finding her son before returning to search for Rhea once more.

Internally, Rhea let out a sigh. Her destiny was incredibly unfortunate, so incredibly unfortunate. Couldn’t she just live a normal life like that of women her age? A life where she’d attend several events, mingle with friends, gossip about the prettiest man in Birhhan, receive love letters from admirers, and get matched to a man that would love and care for her. Rhea thought in distress.

"Aedan isn’t doing well, his fingers were chopped off because he tried to escape." Johanna said with anguish. Her terrifying eyes started to mist. Black liquid rolled down from her eyes and traced down her face like tears. "I can’t protect him, only you can help him again. He’s too young for this..."

Rhea looked at the woman for awhile, then asked, "Why was he taken to the north?"

"The fire controllers..." When Johanna uttered those words, it appeared as if she recollected a horrifying incident. She began to tremble and shielded her face, expressing, "They...they took away his essence and heartlessly extracted his undeveloped core and gave it to some group of strange people."

Rhea was taken aback. Her eyes widened in disbelief. Just as Alina had done to Draven, but why would they extract the essence of the little dragons? She couldn’t help but find it strange. Usually, any outcasts were immediately burned, but then she discovered that the children were being kept locked up, and now this ghost also claimed that their essence and dragon core were being removed and given to some people.

But why?

The trembling ghost sobbed silently for awhile. Her blacked hands slowly slipped down from her face. Her terrifying black eyes reveled her panicked expression. "They heartlessly removed his little core right in front of me just to make an elixir to give humans eternal life." The ghost muttered.