Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 847: A Reassurance, Or A Vow ()

The ruby beast trailed her movements. Large eyes holding her captive in an endless abyss of piercing curiosity. Her heart pulsated beneath her ribcage, it reminded her of a frenzied war drum, rapid... unhinged.

She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the beast’s eyes. She didn’t wish to. On the contrary, an urgent need to get closer churned within her, against her better judgement.

It overwhelmed every other thought, dimmed every consideration for self-preservation, there was nothing but this moment... and the eyes of a fiery ruby beast.

"Do I... know you?" She stuttered, her voice tentative.

Something unspoken flashed through its eyes. A growl rumbled from it. It sounded pained... urgent, almost imploring.

And she couldn’t understand why. She couldn’t understand the tortured look in its eyes, the restless shifting of its wings or the urging gestures it made. Like it needed her to see something and she wasn’t.

Like it held the answers she sought but simply could not give it...was incapable of giving it. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The only thing she understood clearly was the recognition she felt deep in her bones. And it was mirrored right back to her. Her reflection in those eyes was someone she didn’t recognise... someone she should have known.

It bid her to draw closer, and she did. She was within reach now, a hairsbreadth away...

The beast lowered it’s head. A gesture of reassurance, placation. It wouldn’t harm her, she was more certain of this one fact than she had been of anything since she awakened with no recollection of her past.

Neveah reached out...

"Veah!"

The beast growled. She jumped. Her eyes went wide. It was Alessio. He had tracked her down and was close! Too close!

The mystery of the moment fizzled away instantly, only to be replaced by an intense protectiveness. A need unlike what she had ever felt before,.

"You have to leave!" Neveah whispered urgently, glancing over her shoulders. "Go! He won’t spare you!"

The beast reared up, scales rippling in agitation. Neveah hissed anxiously, "Don’t! Fighting won’t solve anything!"

Its eyes turned on Neveah, ruby beads glowing with barely withheld fury.

Neveah exhaled slowly, the ache in her heart pulsed harder. The words weighed on her tongue even as she said them.

"I won’t let you hurt him...I can’t." Her hand unconsciously moved to her abdomen, a habit she had developed in recent weeks. "And I can’t have him hurt you either. Leave."

The beast studied her, its eyes conflicted, and then they widened, it drew backwards like it had been burned.

When it lowered its head again, its eyes shone with a strange emotion... concern? tenderness?

Neveah wasn’t certain.

"Neveah!!!" Alessio’s roar shook the forest.

She winced visibly, glancing warily in the direction it originated.

"He is to attend a moon ceremony in seven days. Will you come back then?" She asked, "I’ll meet you right here, by nightfall."

Its head tilted slightly, and Neveah took it to be a gesture of acceptance. She retreated hesitantly and then turned, darting away from the clearing.

"Veah!" Alessio’s wide and furious eyes found hers. He stormed over to her, grabbing her arm. "Haven’t I said the forest is off limits?!"

"Let go of me!" She snatched her arm away, meeting his glower with a glare of her own.

"Don’t order me about like one of your guards..." She hissed lowly. "I needed some air. The palace is suffocating...so are you."

She brushed past him, storming off in the direction of the palace.

Alessio caught up, his arms went to wrap around her waist, pulling her flush against his chest.

"Let me go!" Neveah hissed, struggling fiercely against his hold.

He didn’t budge. His chest rose and fell rapidly, and a low growl sounded deep in his throat.

"I just can’t bear to lose you," He whispered, his tone hoarse, "Why can’t you see that?"

She stopped struggling, a conflicted feeling in her heart. "If this is how you’ve kept me...then you deserve to lose me."

Alessio stiffened. His arms tightened around Neveah and before she could protest, he lifted her into his arms, storming back to the palace.

Neveah remained quiet through the walk, her heart tight with emotions she could not decipher.

All along, something wasn’t right.

No matter how carefully covered, the cracks in the perfect painting presented before her, showed.

A love her heart couldn’t recognise...

A family she had no recollection of...

A palace that haunted her...

A sense of loss deeper than she could reach...

She hadn’t expected the sign she had been waiting for would come in this manner. But she couldn’t turn a blind eye anymore.

She needed to know...to remember. She had to.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a strong metallic strench in the air. It grew even more potent the closer to the palace they got and as they went beyond the forest’s edge, the sight that greeted them had Neveah’s heart sinking to the pit of her stomach.

Blood... It was everywhere, painting the training grounds red. Dismembered bodies, deep claw marks across the earth...it was carnage.

A group of guards busily tidied the training grounds, heaping the bodies on an ever growing pile on the cart. There could have been a dozen, or more.

They were faces she didn’t recognise... couldn’t. There was not much left to be recognised.

But from their clothing, she could tell that this field of blood and gore was what was left of the patrol team she had evaded.

Alessio kept walking. Right through the bloodied devastation he had left, his expression unfazed. The stench of death radiated all around him.

It was the kind of stench that sunk into the pores. The kind nothing could get rid of.

Neveah’s stomach churned, the contents of her dinner threatened to make its way back up and she clamped her throat, timing her breathing to keep her composure.

There was only one reason he would let his mask slip in this manner. Only one reason he would reveal this glimpse of the monster he had so carefully hidden.

Intimidation... and she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

But even her breathing failed her. It was difficult to breathe properly with the arms of death around her, clinging tight enough his bloodstained claws dug into her sides.

"They couldn’t protect you...they don’t deserve to live." He murmured, "I’ve failed you once. I won’t fail you again."

A reassurance?...A vow?, whatever it was, the words sent a cold chill crawling down her spine.