To Love A Villain
Chapter 143: The Bringer of Death

Chapter 143: The Bringer of Death

>>Amber

Looking at her, I knew she was the one singing in my dreams, that also means it doesn’t matter if the shielded cities get taken over by the miasma or not, once the planet is covered with miasma, it will seep into the ground till it reaches the core.

My dream showed her singing near Aurelia, it means she will be free before our kingdom falls.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to talk right, yet I tried to get the words out.

"H-how?" I wanted to ask how he ended up in that state, "How did it happen?" I removed my hand from my mouth, "How is he still alive?"

King Valenor was said to be a very handsome man, he had soft looks but his charisma and his bright smile was said to charm everyone.

"Hmm?" She hummed, "Well, I’d say I made him like that."

I looked at her in horror while King Valenor came and stopped beside her face, placing his disfigured hand on her cheek

"You?" My frown deepened, "Did that to him?" The way my fear grew I couldn’t even describe it. I felt it come up to my throat, choking me, "Why?"

"I wasn’t going to die but Val had aged so much, I couldn’t bear to see him leave me once again."

"So you turned him-" I shook my head, "Into that?!"

"’That?’" She turned her face and looked at King Valenor but she didn’t open her eyes, or should I say fingers? "He may not look like how he originally did but he is still very lovely," She tilted her face in his direction to feel Valenor’s touch even more and Valenor turned to look at her, I couldn’t tell if what I was seeing was right or not but I think he was trying to smile at her, "Although if I could, I would have loved to keep his original form. But my powers were still developing at that time."

"What did you do to him?" I asked

"I tried to use what I had at that time and make him like me, someone who couldn’t age. I succeeded but I couldn’t keep his appearance. My power was flawed," She kept her face in Valenor’s direction, looking at him with her hidden eyes, "Or perhaps should I say that my power was never meant to be used for good."

"...What?"

"Everything I create, it is meant to bring chaos or death." She turned her head towards us, "And I have accepted what I am," She smiled, making my stomach churn. "Since my power wasn’t complete when my love came to find me again. It didn’t kill Val, it just consumed him. Slowly eating away his sanity. His body remained fine for a few years, then it turned bad. His body began to morph into ... What you see now." I nodded, but I couldn’t shake the lingering fear that had gripped me. The way he held me, my hands were still trembling, and I tried to steady them, "But over time I learned my power was never for giving life. It’s for taking it." The fingers on her face opened, forming a V again, showing her eyes, "So I took, and I made,"

I tightened my grip on Hael.

"C-can I ask you something?" I didn’t want to stutter like this but her presence was overwhelming.

"Hmm?"

"If you made bonewraiths, what did you make them from?" I didn’t ask outright about how I couldn’t purify them when they were miasma monsters

"Bonewraiths? Is that what you call my babies?" She chuckled, "Cute name."

"..."

"Well, they are made of the bones of countless people who entered the forest, and died."

!!!

MY GOD!

I recalled the bones we saw in the forest. After the first few, the bonewraiths could simply have brought her more people. They are made of that and they consume them too.

Over the years, she created countless of bonewraiths.

Right then, in the miasma far away, from the space King Valenor emerged from I saw two other things.

Two bonewraiths, just barely out of the miasma.

I gulped

This is why I couldn’t heal them. They are bones of living beings.

Persephone calls them her babies. This must be why they emerge and go back into the rift. Their mother is here!

"You were originally human," Hael said, "How did you turn out like this?" His voice was calm and he stood confidently.

I admire that about him

"Who knows?" She chuckled, "Maybe I was never human to begin with."

"You were refered to as the Bringer to Chaos,"

"Death," She cut him off, "The Bringer of Death." She smiled, "Many people confuse it with Chaos,"

Hael quietly nodded at her without question, " You clearly grew up as a human. The records even mention your parents, your childhood and how ordinary your life was. A human can’t just transform into another being." He asked calmly, "What triggered your change? What caused it?"

With her eyes open, she looked at Hael. She brought her face closer to us, the stars in that pitch black sky-eyes twinkled as she stared at him.

"Records?" She smirked, "Varian must have written those."

"Yes," Hael replied

"Then he must have written what happened here,"

"Those pages were ripped."

"Sad," She snickered, "Theo must have taken those," She moved her head back

"Theo?" I recalled that name. In the biography, his name was there. Hael had told me he was the only person whose species wasn’t mentioned

"I don’t see any other person doing that," She seemed amused, "Theo adored Rosemary after all."

Hael’s eyebrows knitted softly, "Where did Theo come from? What was he?"

"I don’t think that matters, it’s not like you’ll find him."

"How about you tell us what happened here then?" Hael said

"I don’t want to," She closed her eyes again and hummed. Her humming did something to my head.

"We need to find the ripped pages, if Theo really took them, he would have taken them home."

"I doubt he took anything home, he came to see me and Valenor when he discovered Val had disappeared from his kingdom."

"So? He ripped the pages of the biography and then came to you? Why?"

"To kill me, of course," Her statement made King Valenor move towards her, leaning his body to her cheek, "He must have thought it would be easy since I was bound and I hadn’t even grown much then."

I was still processing her words when Hael spoke, "Did you kill him?"

"I ate him,"

!!!

"What?" My eyes went wide

"This wonderful singing voice, I got it from eating him." She was happy, "He was delicious. He tasted just like a fish."

"Wasn’t he your friend?" I was beyond shocked.

"Friend?" Her ethereal voice echoed as she tilted her head, "Friends don’t try to kill each other." She straightened her head, "All of them wanted me dead." She turned her head slightly towards King Valnor, so to no disrupt his posture while he leaned on her. Her eyes were closed yet I could tell she was looking at him, "Everyone wanted me dead but him." A soft smile spread across her face, "My love,"

King Valenor’s neck cracked as he tried to raise his head to look at her, the movement seemed like a malfunctioning robot, "Pe...n...n..." Seeing them made a shiver run down my spine.

The miasma will keep spreading as long as Persephone is alive. I couldn’t purify the bonewariths, but I have a feeling I can do something about her. She’s the creator,

"Let me ask you something." I said but she didn’t turn to look at me, she just kept her focus on King Valenor, "Are you ready to kill people just to be free? Or are you also killing people out of spite?"

"Does that make any difference? They die either way,"

"What if you’re free but the people are still alive? They have learned how to protect themselves. Will you let them be?" I asked

"Why?" She finally turned her head to look at us again, "They didn’t want me to live. Why should I let them?"

"The people who wanted you dead are long gone!" I said

"Doesn’t matter," Her smile had faded, "They’re still people. It can either be them, or us. Because if I let them be, they for sure wouldn’t let me be."

Her words hit like a bolt.

She was right.

I glanced at Hael, "Should I try using my power on her?" I whispered but from the corners of my eyes I saw the butterfly wings on the edges of her hand flutter.

"Your power?" She heard us, startling me. I turned my head to look at her, "I’m curious. What kind of power do you have?" Her face came closer to us again, "My babies could break other types of barriers yet yours didn’t budge at all." She opened her eyes again, staring into my soul, "What is special about you?"

I gulped, unsure what to say, I glanced at Hael. He glanced back at me, then looked at Persephone.

"Her power is only defensive." He answered.

Although Persephone’s night-like eyes had no pupils, we could still tell when she shifted her faze from me to Hael

"Hmm?" The wings on her fluttered again, "If that is so, why would you want to use it on me?"

I bit the inner skin of my lips.

I don’t think it’s a good idea to tell her I’m the saint and that I could most likely do something to her. I get why I can’t purify the bonewraiths, they are monsters made of real bones, but she must have attached something of hers in them if she can feel them.

What about her?

She answered many questions, but none where we could determine if we could do something to her.

"Are you made up of miasma?" I asked, "I mean, if you gave the bonewraiths that power, to be able to spread it everywhere, it must come from you, so?" I felt restless as I asked her that, "You are clearly no longer human, so," I let go of Hael and clasped my hands together as I moved away a little, "Does your body have miasma mixed in it or is it what makes miasma-"

"You are curious about an odd thing." She backed her head away, "You wish to use your power on me, and you ask about the miasma," Her smile did not come back on, "Are you perhaps the person they call a ’saint’?"

!!!