Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 226: To My Beloved Fallen

Chapter 226: To My Beloved Fallen

Samantha grasped Ivan’s wrist after watching her brother successfully make it into the next portal, a breath of relief escaping her lips as her tensed shoulders eased at the tremendous sight. She looked at Ivan whose gaze remained fixed on the oval-shaped glass that hovered in front him– the magical glass they had used to watch Maurice, and after watching him succeed to the next portal, Ivan placed a finger on the mirror, whilst the images shimmered with a luminous ripple before vanishing completely from their gaze.

Not just him, but almost everyone had a magic glass hovering in front of them. It felt as though they had walked into a theater room and were watching a play happen, but the difference was quite clear as this is no ordinary play, it was really happening. The images on the oval-shaped mirrors switched between Maurice’s teammates to the other teams, and everyone had successfully made it to the second portal.

Samantha’s face reflected her worries when Ivan finally met her eyes, and it was obvious she hated watching her brother place his life in danger like that. She jabbed her fingers anxiously on her thighs, but that anxiousness was quick to vanish when Ivan separated her jabbed fingers, his own taking place as he intimately interlaced their fingers together.

"Do you fear for your brother?"

"How can I not? Did you see the size of that thing?" Samantha speculated on the scary-looking Scorpion she had seen, and she shuddered even more upon picturing how her brother had climbed it. If she had known things would turn out like this for her brother, she wouldn’t have allowed him to be a part of it. As his sister, she won’t allow him to die for foolish reasons!

Ivan on the other hand could vividly remember how this all began. This event was just one of the little schemes he had mischievously come up with in order to get his little lamb to stay till he won her heart. Never had he imagined that it would become an event the crowd and his people would anticipate for, and since his reason for beginning this event had been achieved, he decided to put it all to an end today so he can focus on commencing the preparations for their wedding.

He wouldn’t want to delay their union anymore.

"Your brother won’t be harmed." Ivan assured his worried little lamb before resting his chin on his hand, his elbow propped on the armrest of his seat. "Your brother has potential, countless hidden, I’m only assisting him with a little push. I know he can emerge as the winner, I’m quite certain about it, and those realms you see are not really what they seem, they are all based on one’s creative illusion."

"One’s creativity?" Samantha’s pupils dilated, and she whispered, "they’re not real?"

"Shhhh." Placing a finger to his lips, Samantha guessed it had to be a secret no one knew yet, and she kept quiet.

—--

After entering the portal and making it to the other side, Maurice and his teammates landed on a pile of dried-up leaves, saving them from their fall. When he rose up, he shook his head in order to get rid of the twigs and leaves that had adorned his hair. Jack did the same, and Bryn frustratedly tried to get rid of the autumn leaves stuck to his shirt and hair.

"Everyone made it?" Maurice asked, glancing at his teammates, and Jack nodded cheerfully, save for Bryn who let out an exasperated sigh as he stood up. He approached Maurice with the same hostility emanating from him, and Jack knew, at some point, that they should have left Bryn to die in the hands of that Scorpion.

Cause now he was back to being the ungrateful bully!

"Listen here you thwart of a human, don’t expect any Thank you’s from me, cause you won’t be getting them." Bryn uttered with evident distaste, eyeing the lad from head to toe, "you must feel great, don’t you? Not to mention but I never needed your help so I owe you nothing for your deeds. Okay?"

"I am not expecting any payments from you." Maurice answered directly, his earlier nervousness for Bryn slowly fading. "But, if it is about that part where I feel great for facing the Scorpion, then yes, I do feel confident now."

"You–"

"It’s morning here." Jack spoke up as he dusted himself clean, using their environment as an attempt to distract those two from getting into another fight. It seemed to have worked because they stopped arguing and were presently scrutinizing their surroundings. Maurice took the first step forward to the top of the hill they had been transported to, and his eyes grew wider when he gazed at what was below.

"You two need to see this." He mused, and in no time, Bryn and Jack had reached the hill to have a good look. Below the hill was a Hamlet, and Jack’s mouth formed an ’O’ as he hadn’t expected them to find themselves transported to an unknown inhabitant.

"Let’s see if they’re any villagers who can help us." Suggested Maurice, but he was instantly stopped by Bryn whose eyebrows expressed a frown. The fact that the lad was speaking as though he was the leader of their group didn’t settle well with Bryn, and he intends to make that clear to human thwart.

"You’re not my boss, I made it clear from the beginning who you should listen to." He said firmly, his gaze transfixed between Maurice and Jack. "Whatever I say goes amongst the three of us, and right now, I say we head down to the Hamlet, and ask the villagers if it is possible to find gemstones nearby."

"But isn’t that what he–"

"Shut up! I said it better." He silenced Jack who wisely kept shut. Maurice secretly rolled his eyes, and he could swear they’d all be dead by now if looks had been implemented to kill. Jack was not a difficult person to work with, but Bryn had a mind of his own, and that made it difficult to endure his desire for leadership. However, there was absolutely nothing he could do as they were a by-forced ’team’.

Taking their silence for weakness, Bryn turned around and began heading towards the direction of the Hamlet. Maurice and Jack silently followed, already way too exhausted to get into another quarrel with Bryn. Perks of being a vampire– he was harshly shoved to a tree to the extent that they both felt the impact, Maurice could swear he heard the sound of bones, but here he is, looking as though nothing had happened to him a few minutes ago in the rainforest.

If it had been either of them, they’d be long gone.

As they continued to navigate the path, hungry and tired with the sun basking them with its warmth, they finally broke through the treeline. In front of them was a small clearing, but the sounds of nature had abruptly vanished from the land, mysteriously replaced by an unsettling stillness, but that wasn’t what had left them gaping in shock. Before them stood a village that was in complete ruins, with collapsed buildings and broken windows strewn about, whilst it painted a picture of abandonment and destruction.

"Whoa." Jack expressed his daze at the soulless sight.

The air hung heavy with silence, and a somber feeling crept into their soul, urging them to tread carefully. As they ventured further through the dilapidated streets, Maurice quietly drew his sword out, along with Bryn who seemed ready for another battle.

"Something’s not right here, keep your guards up." Bryn whispered cautiously to the two teammates as they tread in silence. After the lessons learnt in the rainforest, they knew they had to work together in order to survive their next ordeal.

Venturing into the heart of the Hamlet that appeared to be the village’s townsquare, not a single soul was in sight. Maurice’s keen brown eyes fell on a child’s abandoned toy, half buried under a tangle of vines, and he nervously gulped before averting his attention to the rest of the ruins. Jack instinctively jumped in fright when a sudden gust of wind sent an empty swing into an ominous creaking motion, and he nearly cried out his Mama’s name.

The trio exchanged a look that held questions, mingling with their nervousness, and for a moment, a silent understanding dawned between them.

"What in the name happened here?" Jack whispered his thoughts as he watched Maurice walk ahead of them. "It’s like time stood still."

Maurice, who paid no heed to Jack’s anxiousness, brushed his hand over a long-forgotten memorial covered in moss and overgrown weeds. The inscription reads, "To my beloved Fallen." Upon noticing the inscription, Maurice couldn’t shake away the thought that he had seen something similar to this, but where?

"It appears tragedy might have taken place here." He murmured, unsure of why he felt a strange connection to the environment.