Reborn As Cursed Alpha's Mate
Chapter 236: We Meet Again

Chapter 236: We Meet Again

After a good night’s rest, everyone was refreshed and their energies had replenished.

Siroos transformed, ready to carry his companions.

"Hold onto me tightly. In case someone falls, Aiko use your portal," Duskborn clearly instructed.

"That was not ominous at all, I knew you would be nasty," Faris answered with a roll of his tongue and eyes.

"Just laying out all the possibilities, we have to be ready for anything in these lands," Duskborn stated.

Razial helped Lotus climb on top of the dragon. Faris did the same with Aiko and climbed up behind his mate. Cassandra took the front position.

"I was thinking he would be rough but it’s not that bad," Lotus commented as she sat and tried to be comfortable.

"Is everyone settled?" Duskborn asked. Cassandra took a glance back and everyone gave her a thumbs up.

"We are set, let’s head out."

Duskborn flapped his gigantic wings and soared in the air. Everyone was jolted back but held on.

"Woah!" Faris shouted as their journey began on the back of Duskborn. They were riding on a dragon.

The ground and everything on it became diminutive as they crossed the marshy lands. Cassandra’s protective barrier enveloped them, protecting them against a foreign attack that might come. She did feel nudges against her shield someone or something tried to break through it but failed.

"Never even in a dream did I imagine taking a ride on a dragon someday," Aiko said, slightly scared as she held onto her mate but excited to see the world from an angle she had never witnessed before.

Faris squeezed her shoulders. "We were destined to come on this adventure."

They spent most of the day flying when they crossed an invisible barrier and everyone felt a heavy toll as if negative energy was pressing down on them.

"We have crossed into a new kind of territory, I don’t have a good feeling about this," Lotus commented seeing how the landscape below them had drastically changed.

Suddenly Duskborn’s wings went stiff like the frozen surface of a lake and he could no longer beat them.

"My wings won’t move," he shouted out as he tried to glide through the air but it wasn’t easy with five people on his back and he began to nosedive fast towards the ground.

The panic settled between them but Lotus and Cassandra took measures in their hands.

"I got us," Lotus called out, letting her magic weave out in the form of thousands of petals and settling all around them cushioning their fall. Cassandra strengthened her shield so they wouldn’t get hurt by the impact.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Faris gave the dooming sound effects while Razial strengthened his hold on Lotus.

Duskborn fell into a heap of pink petals. Some entered his mouth which he spit out but no injuries were caused.

The shield and petals cushioned his fall and kept him and his companions safe as they all stumbled and fell onto each other.

"Is everyone unharmed?" Cassandra asked, jumping down from Duskborn and casting a look towards them. She rubbed her hands over the dragon’s wings, trying to understand why his wings had stopped working.

"We are. What happened?" Aiko asked, untangling herself from Faris and brushing away the petals.

"I don’t know, it felt like some unknown force shackled my wings. I couldn’t use them." Duskborn raised his head and quickly surveyed where they had landed.

Even the sky seemed to have changed in this place.

This place was an eerie expanse of barren terrain where the air hung heavy with heat and moisture. The ground was soft and muddy, exuding a faint, sulfurous odour. Stagnant pools of murky water scattered the landscape, reflecting the hazy sunlight filtering through a thick, humid atmosphere.

The skeletons of dead trees were scattered throughout, their twisted, leafless branches reaching towards the crimson sky. Vegetation was scarce, limited to occasional patches of brownish moss or sickly reeds.

This place invoked a desolate and stifling feeling, like a swamp stripped of its vibrancy. The mist hung above the ground like a second layer, making it difficult to observe what lay beyond.

"What is this place?" Faris asked, helping Aiko to his side.

The ringing of laughter in the air like several bells ringing had everyone’s attention as they gathered around Duskborn and turned their heads towards the sound.

Something swooshed in the air and landed swiftly before them—the three beautiful but seductive women with hearts and wings like the darkest night and feet like pig’s hooves.

Everyone except Cassandra and Duskborn froze seeing them, unable to move even a muscle in their presence.

Their leader sauntered towards Duskborn as he shifted into his human form and stood tall. She flashed him an evil smile, full of malice revealing her tar-like teeth.

"I told you we will meet again, Alpha of Dusartine," she dragged out her words, her voice sweet yet invoking dread in the hearers’ hearts.

Her clawed hand tried to reach out and touch Siroos in the chest when Cassandra stepped in front, forbidding her from doing so.

"If you want to keep that claw intact, keep it to yourself. What business you have with my mate?" She unrelentingly questioned, unbothered by the creature and their presence.

"Possessive, feisty and brave. She is not even affected by our presence. I can see why you like her," Erinyes chuckled, and her companions followed in her footsteps.

"We are just passing by. My oath is intact so I am not sure why you have us halted," Siroos answered with a scowl, placing a hand on his mate’s shoulder.

They laughed out as if he had cracked a joke.

"These are our lands. The Underworld lies below and no one can pass through without permission from the goddesses of the underworld. Not even you, Alpha." The giggle fell through her sooty teeth like an irritating gong.

Siroos was instantly reminded of Sahli; the goddess of oaths. He firmly believed these creatures belonged to her and not to Asara’s father.

"Lead the way; we will take her permission then," Cassandra replied with her eyes narrowed. She didn’t trust these creatures. She remembered their laugh from that night and was sure they were the ones who had tried to frighten her by trying to enter the carriage.

"Gladly, but can you stomach that place? It’s not for the faint of the heart." The mocking tone didn’t put her off.

"Just lead the way and leave the rest to us," Siroos sternly instructed, tired of their games. Cassandra turned to her frozen companions and placed her hand on their hearts one after the other. Her power of love flowed through and melted away the fear these treacherous creatures had cast over them.

Lotus breathed out heavily and cast a dark look at the creatures who were hauntingly beautiful and eerily mesmerising at the same time. Their faces had permanent smiles etched onto them like they had been carved there.

"Thank you, SIL. I don’t enjoy coming face-to-face with them. They freeze my heart and I hate the feeling," Faris complained casting a wry glance at them. One of them winked at him and a shudder passed through him. Aiko pressed herself into her mate, trembling from the experience but did cast an angry glance at the one who winked at her mate.

"Let’s move, we don’t have time to waste," Siroos called everyone towards himself.

"I don’t trust them," Razial moved alongside Siroos and whispered in his ear.

"Me neither but we don’t have a choice. Let’s remain vigilant for now."

The Erinyes moved their hand in a circular motion and a very dark portal opened. It seemed to have been constructed out of soot and black smoke and pulsated with unholy energy.

"Follow us." They stepped through the portal while CAFLRS passed eerie glances towards each other.

"We have to do this," Cassandra boldly said and stepped through the portal first with Siroos on her heels. The rest of them followed with Razial being the last to cross over.

Their bodies swirled and fell through a void, their breaths ragged and their lungs filled with smoke, taking their breaths away.

"Arghh!" They shouted as they were hurled down and fell onto a damp place, one after the other. They quickly scrambled to their feet.

"Is anyone hurt?" Siroos asked, helping Cassandra to her feet.

"No, but I think I ate soot and dust," Faris choked out.

"You will be fine." Siroos glanced around for the Erinyes when their giggling sounds rang through the air.

"Find your way through the River of Pain, good luck. For your sake, let’s hope you people brought a worthy treasure."

They vanished, leaving them there.

Cassandra cast a look around the place.

It was a vast, haunting expanse, shrouded in an eternal twilight. Darkness dominated the landscape. The air was thick with an oppressive gloom that seeped into their souls. The ground beneath them was uneven, composed of damp, lifeless and ashen soil that crumbled under their feet.

An eerie silence impregnated the air broken only by the mournful whispers of unseen spirits and the distant echoes of despair that rang loud and clear.

"What a hellish place?" Aiko whispered and everyone agreed. Lotus took out the lantern Ames had given them and it lit up the air around them giving them some clarity.

"Let’s move ahead." Carefully they navigated through the foreboding mist and found themselves along the shore of the River of Pain.