Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 118: Blood Magic

Chapter 118: Blood Magic

—-

Abdiel and the four Lord’s had gathered in the study room as planned. Two guards stood outside with their dangerous spears in hand, diligently keeping watch and restricting everyone, including the Princes from going inside the study.

Rounding the oak table, Abdiel let out a deep breath as he nodded to something Lucius had asked. "The Mystic orb changing the color of its glow wasn’t a quandary Muzan and I were familiar with, but he never had plans on sending a missive or making reports, it was for reasons only he knew." Abdiel had told them. "He said it was probably nothing serious since the Mystic orb still carried out its duty within the Kingdom, and I never bothered myself with it since my late brother proved he was capable of handling everything by himself, but then.... That rainy night, everything started on that night when he was murdered by the inflamed dagger."

Abdiel couldn’t forget the rage he felt when he found his own brother lying motionless on the ground in the pool of his own blood. When he asked Ivan who had been a witness to what happened, the young prince, who was still stricken by shock had revealed to him that he saw the special advisor taking the orb away. They had sent guards to search every nook and cranny for him, but finding him had been futile until five years ago when some of the guards spotted him heading home in one of villages close to the outskirt of EmptyHollow.

"The orb wasn’t only made to grant nature, I hope you’re aware of that." Lord Viktor calmly reminded Abdiel. "The last antecedents had made a wish for the orb to grant them victory against the Uranians, and your great-grandfather lost his life in return. To make it clear, the orb doesn’t give without taking something else in return, and this was clearly explained to your late brother who still decided to keep the orb since his new people were suffering from a strange drought."

"There are two reasons why the greenness of the orb can switch to purple." Lucius raised his index and middle finger. "The first reason, when the orb feels it’s under any sort of threat that can lead to its inexistence, it changes shade, by that I mean, a darker side of the orb is evoked, and when that happens, you’re unleashing a terrible threat to your Kingdom and everyone in it. The threat it feels, either someone with a purely negative mind has come to take hold of it, or... someone has the power to evoke the darkness themselves, which is close to impossible unless you’re a vampire or a witch who practices blood magic interrelating with pure black magic."

"Can I come in?" Draven, who had been silently listening to what was being uttered, joined in the conversation. "I know I’m not allowed to bring up this topic but Lord Viktor," his crimson eyes that twinkled with malice, shifted to Viktor. "Back in the orb room, didn’t you get the faintest whiff of blood? It was... very faint, but you can easily detect it was there."

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

The sound of his fingers tapping against the table had the three Lords, including Abdiel’s attention drawn to him. With his eyebrows marred into a curious frown, Viktor asked. "By blood you mean..."

"The Orb room is reviving without any Orb, I had my doubts when I felt the energy it pulsated within itself. But then listening to Lord Lucius speak common sense for once, it had me wondering, what if the orb room is being brought to life by... blood magic? What if there’s someone using blood magic to revive the orb even within its absence."

"The orb room is reviving?!!" Abdiel’s eyes sprang wide in shock and disbelief. He darted a look at the four Lords who nodded once in unison, but before he could ask them how they knew about it, Lord Damien casted a suspicious glance at Lord Draven.

"It wouldn’t be good for anyone if we jump into unnecessary assumptions, I say we visit the Orb room once more, and see if we can sense the smell of any distinct blood and where it’s coming from. If that happens to end up being the truth then we’ll call everyone to order and fish out the owner of that blood. Clearly, whoever it is will have an idea about where the mystic orb has gone, and if they do, it means this person was in cahoot with Mr Dufort."

Everyone quietly nodded in agreement.

—-

The next day, Ivan had been called by Abdiel who waited on him downstairs so they could step out.

Making his way past the long corridor so he could reach the stairs, the vampire Lord halted in his steps as though he sensed something, or someone, but it came as a powerful intent that swiftly sent him taking three steps back, and as expected, something moved right past him in lightning speed, only to get stuck on the wall.

When Ivan turned his head slowly to see what it was, his eyes widened slightly in apprehension to see a familiar star-blade hanging on the wall, a blade he remembered all too well, and memories of it had the look in his eyes wavering slightly, so much so he could hear voices of the past in his head.

"Do you know what type of blade this is called?" The younger version of Eamon had asked him while his two brothers had him roughly pinned to the wall in the garden, arms stretched out at both sides against his own will. The fear in his eyes as he watched the way Eamon held the scary-looking blade in front of him, ready to toss it in his direction, had Ivan struggling to break free from his brother’s clutches.

"Let go of me!" His defenseless self had yelled at the two brothers who only enjoyed watching him yell in misery.

"This is called the Ninja star, dangerous, and I heard it gives a fatal hit." Eamon continued, whilst ignoring his step-brother’s protest. "They had gone illegal in Vesunard, but I was able to bring back a few so we could use them to play. Aren’t I considerate enough to think about you? Yet you are refusing to play with us."

"Don’t do this!" Ivan shook his head wildly to the point his glasses nearly fell off. His Grandmother and his own Mother had visited the next Kingdom to attend a funeral. Abdiel had stepped out not too long to sign a treaty in replacement of his Father since he was the head of the council, and that left him alone with his brothers who never misused the slightest chance to bully him. Not even the servants who passed by were willing to help him, unless they wanted to drop dead at the spot.

His brothers were that dangerous, yet no one in the royal family knew this side of them except him.

"Don’t do this! I’ve never bothered you or your brothers, I’ve never caused any trouble so why are you doing this to me?! I deserve to know! Please!" He had asked them, unsure of their reasons for always trying to hurt him... weren’t brothers supposed to act like best friends? That was what people told him, that was what his Father told him, but right now, it certainly didn’t feel like it.

"Are we hurting him?" Eamon had asked his two brothers who shook their heads in response, to Ivan’s disbelief. "He says we’re hurting him, but who on Earth would believe that story? That’s right, no one will."

A mocking sneer curved Eamon’s lips, "isn’t that why you get tongue-tied whenever someone asks how you got these wounds? Cause you know they won’t believe you. You’re suffering in silence, but can’t say a word about it to anyone. So you see, my dear brother, you have no proof of that, now stay still!!" Eamon’s playful tone had switched into something darker as he prepared himself to throw four Ninja stars on Ivan.

The instant he tossed one of those dangerous stars, Ivan was snapped out of his nightmarish trance, but that was because his acute ears had heard the sound of iron colliding harshly with another iron. Whipping his head to the side, Ivan’s eyes momentarily grew wider when another star-blade was tossed in his direction, and it would have passed right through his head if Tobias hadn’t blocked it with his scythe on time.

He had been so deep in memory layne, he didn’t sense another star-blade coming, but he was more surprised when Tobias saved him from getting hit and incurring a fatal injury.

"Get your head out of the cloud." Was Tobias’ admonishment to him. As expected, the one who was throwing the star-blades turned out to be Eamon who stood at the opposite side of the corridor, and he had another star-blade in hand.

"I went to Vesunard and saw this." Eamon simply uttered before a malicious smile curved his lips. "If you wish to be a pathetic lunatic, don’t bring that attitude near my sister, cause if you dare to bite her again, I promise I won’t be so lenient."