Chapter 90: 90-Noxveil flame
"Ssoren," he called out.
The name came naturally to Jim as it had when he called out to Aeltharion, but just like Aeltharion, his memory of Ssoren was also blocked.
"You dare call me by name after threatening to hurt me, despicable," Ssoren spat out. "Your husbands must’ve spoilt you so much that you’ve lost your senses!"
’Husbands?’ Sseraphis got stuck on that word. His violet-black eyes twitched. "Are you talking about Hadrian?" He asked casually.
From their interaction, he hadn’t seen an ounce of pampering from that scarlet-eyed beast to say that he’d lose his mind over him. But the beast was also one being, and his so-called brother spoke of husbands, as in plural.
"I don’t think Hadrian knows how to spoil anyone."
"Who’s Hadrian?" Ssoren inquired. Yes, he had taken time off to heal and stayed away from worldly affairs, but he wasn’t so misinformed that he’d miss an important change in his brother’s life.
The last he had, Nytherael, the crazy fox his brother, is married to invoked for a divorce but failed, and his brother lost his mind and cursed the world. At the time, he’d been recuperating in the fish tank and couldn’t take the time to make an appearance.
However, he returned to the abyss and ruled with an iron fist whilst maintaining a good relationship with his other husband, Aeltharion. In the news that reached him during that time, there was no mention of Hadrian, and the name too held no significant to him.
"Are you messing with me because I’ve been away from you for a long time. I remember clearly that you are married to Nytherael and Aeltharion," Ssoren defended his knowledge of his brother’s life.
’Aeltharion!’ There was that name again. The name he had uttered alongside his when he introduced himself before. It had slipped out by accident, and Hadrian claimed that it meant nothing to them, and here, this brother he didn’t remember was claiming a different tale.
’Who is telling me the truth and who is lying to me?’ He had his doubts on both versions of the story. Because at the end of the day, they were tales from other people, and as long as the block in his head remained, he couldn’t personally verify which version was true.
Ssoren stepped closer and grabbed his arm. His eyes narrowed on Sseraphis with concern before they darkened, losing the purplish colour and remaining as black as a moonless night.
"You’re being tracked," he said. Before Sseraphis could protest being held, he pulled Sseraphis over to the fish tank, unmelted the water, and showed Sseraphis his reflection in the water.
Sseraphis stared at his reflection and saw the snake-like energy moving underneath his skin. It was barely there, and any beast that hadn’t awakened their true sight would miss it. Even he hadn’t felt that thing moving inside him.
"What in the devil’s name is that?" Ssoren’s tome was even darker than his eyes.
"I don’t know," he answered, but he had a clue. He had seen the same energy pattern on Hadrian. The black energy radiated from him like his second skin, and now a part of it was attached to him.
Ssoren pulled him back and forced Sseraphis to look at him. "When did we meet, brother?"
Sseraphis stared at him blankly. Thar information was locked away somewhere in his brain, and no matter how hard he attempted to recall, he couldn’t.
He had uttered Ssoren’s name by pure coincidence and Aeltharion’s too. He didn’t recognize anyone except for his mother and father, whose memories remained untouched.
"Where did you leave in the past year?" Ssoren asked again, his eyes becoming murderous.
Sseraphis shook his head. He would’ve given the courtyard he’d just escaped from as an answer, but from his time there, it was evident that they hadn’t stayed there long.
"I’m afraid this thing is doing more than just transmit your location to whoever placed it in you. It’s interfering with your memories," Ssoren said. He withdrew a knife in his pocket and snatched the Nox from Sseraphis’s hand.
Sseraphis was stunned. As far as he remembered, the Nox was a family heirloom, and only a Noxveil can open it. It was locked with a special technique to hide the secrets of their family and so to witness Ssoren peruse through the pages with practised motion like he’d done it before chilled him.
Firstly, because he never parts with the Nox long enough for anyone else to touch and second because he is the only Noxveil in present time who knew about the existence of the book.
"Forgive me, brother," Ssoren said, settling on one page of the book. "This is going to hurt."
With one look onto the page, Sseraphis understood what Ssoren intended to do. His brain calculated the outcome and resigned to go through with it.
When Ssoren opened his palm, he offered no resistance. The beast cut a sharp line on Sseraphis’s palm, watching the would heal as he made the cut. It was an expected response.
But through the cracks, the blood that oozed out wasn’t purplish but black. "It’s affecting your blood, too. What master did you piss off this time?" He scolded but continued.
He formed a purplish flame at the tips of his free hand and passed the knife over it, and made a second cut on Sseraphis’s palm.
Sseraphis closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and endured the pain. The Noxveil venomous flame was the most merciless flame he’d ever encountered and despite his hardened skin and years of built endurance to pain, that devilish flame always got under his skin and tortured whatever part of him it came unto contact with.
His shadow twitched, but his snake heads didn’t come out. Still paralysed by the snake-like energy inside him.
The new cut didn’t heal as quickly as the first one. Ssoren cut open his own palm and locked the opening together. He let his pure venomous blood and Sseraphis’s tainted blood mix.
Sseraphis dropped one knee. His free hand clutched his head as the snake-like black energy started moving frantically in panic.
Ssoren closed his eyes and started guiding his blood through Sseraphis’s meridians as instructed in the Nox. The venom in his blood burnt any particles unnatural in Sseraphis’s true blood, and the agony made Sseraphis wish for death.
"Arghhh!" His scream tore through the air. Birds and wild animals in the forest who heard it made a run for it.
Kyan and his surbodinates had to cover their ears to avoid permanent damage because the sound that came out sounded like ten beast screaming at the same time. It was strong, hoarse, and chilling to the bone.
The sound echoed through the land carried by the mystic energy in the reality instability.
On the other side of the dynasty, Nytherael and Aeltharion paused in their tracks when they heard the scream. Their blood awakened, and a protective instinct activated inside them.
"Sseraphis," they called out in unison.
Without a second to waste, they transformed into their beastly form and started racing towards the direction of the scream.
But they weren’t the only ones who heard the scream. Through the forced bond on Sseraphis, Hadrian, who’d been searching for the male, understood instantly that the scream belonged to Sseraphis, and he too started moving towards the sound.
