Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 852: A Frozen Woman ()

Neveah slowed her breathing to a near still to conceal her presence. Half the study was packed with towering shelves and she had quickly found herself a hiding place. A confrontation would do her no good at the moment.

Thankfully, the shelves stood floor to ceiling and there were many small spaces to squeeze into and wait it out.

From there, she watched the doorknob turn and as the door opened, someone stepped in.

Red robes, a strange tassel dangling from his belt and the smell of lavender and foreign spices.

It was Karan. Unsurprisingly so.

Neveah had been rightly wary of crossing paths with the physician. Other than Alessio, he was the one she was most wary of.

Though Karan appeared to be servile to Alessio, Neveah knew there was more to him than he let on. Something well hidden, perhaps even from Alessio.

It didn’t matter to Neveah how much of their truths they had shared with each other and how much secrets they hid from themselves. What mattered was that both men were extremely dangerous, and they were out to warp her reality.

Now, he had come into this study that was so far from his private quarters. For what purpose?

Between Alessio and Karan, they both had their respective offices in a different wing of the Eclipse Palace. Alessio had his private study, and Karan, a hall where he brewed his tonics. At least that was what she had been made to believe as she had visited both halls on different occasions.

But it seemed to Neveah that this abandoned wing of the Eclipse Palace was precisely where Alessio’s true dealings took place, and the only one who would know his way around other than Alessio, was Karan.

It was obviously not his first time here as he walked directly to Alessio’s table, without sparing a glance anywhere else. He leaned over it and pulled at something. Neveah watched in surprise as a shelf at the left wall of the room moved slightly.

Karan walked over to the shelf and tugged at a book on the second row. The shelf slid to the side, revealing a hidden metal door secured with a code lock.

Neveah squinted, studying Karan’s hand motions. She kept perfectly still, her hands clenched tightly at her side. In just a moment, the metal door opened and Karan disappeared into the darkness.

Everything restored itself to place, sealing away the hidden entrance like it hadn’t existed.

Whatever powered this mechanism was intricately built, and fulfilled the purpose to conceal this secret entrance perfectly. She wasn’t certain she would have been able to figure it out if she didn’t see it for herself.

Neveah exhaled the breath she had been holding, her eyes slightly narrowed.

She contemplated her next course of action. There wasn’t much time till the moon ceremony, and returning now that she finally chanced upon a lead was the last thing on her mind,

On the other hand, that was the safer bet. It was a gamble, waiting it out. Karan could leave the secret room in a short time or remain there all night, she could not predict it.

And if Alessio returned, the first thing he would do was check in on her to ensure she was still unconscious. Neveah had to be there when he did. She absolutely had to!

"I should head back for now and bide my time." She murmured to herself, "Another opportunity will present itself."

Neveah was decided, but before she could slip out of her hiding place, the shelf moved again. She froze, retreating silently into the shadows.

Karan emerged from the dark hallway behind the metal door, a small chest in hand.

Neveah pressed against the shelf, watching the shelf restore itself to place, her heart thudding within her. And she only relaxed when Karan left the study, shutting the door behind him.

He was gone. This was her chance!

There was every possibility Karan could return, but Neveah did not let the fear of the unknown deter her.

She quickly replicated Karan’s actions as she had seen them, and the shelf slid to the side once again. She hurried over to it, pulling on the book as Karan had, and the secret entrance revealed itself.

Neveah didn’t know the code for the door but she had memorized the pattern of Karan’s hand movements. She only confirmed she had gotten it right when the door clicked and swung open with a muted groan.

Neveah glanced around behind her, before heading into the dark hallway. The door slammed shut behind her, echoing the finality of her choice.

The temperature around her dropped almost instantly and a frigid wind wafted down the hallway.

The hallway was a tunnel-like path with only a single direction and Neveah followed the path until it opened into a cavern.

At this point, the temperature had gone from chilly to freezing and the reason was right in the center of this hall.

There was a circular platform built from pure ice. It rose from the centre of the ground and all around it, a thick white mist churned, exuding a freezing aura unlike anything Neveah had ever felt.

There were strange runes drawn all around the platform and on the ground and walls of the cavern as well. They glowed a strange colour, dim red that darkened to black at intervals.

But what was even more startling was the silhouette of a person laid out on the platform, surrounded by the white mist.

It was difficult to tell if it was a man or woman through the mist. She drew closer to the platform, her brows furrowed and just as she reached the first step, the silhouette finally became visible to her.

It was a frozen woman! But that wasn’t all!

Neveah’s heart stuttered in shock. She staggered back, her mouth agape.

Laid on this platform of ice was not just any woman, but what Neveah could only describe as a slightly older version of herself.

There were differences of course. She could pick them out instantly. Where her hair was a golden shade like the rays of the sun, the woman had strands as white as the winter desert.

The curve of her face was slightly sharper compared to Neveah’s softer features, her cheekbones were more prominent, and her nose was slightly more pointed than Neveah’s, dotted with freckles.

Neveah could tell she was a few inches taller than this woman.

Despite all this, the resemblance was striking! So much so, Neveah couldn’t believe her eyes!

"What in the world..." She gasped, daring a step closer. Her heart thudded within her, beating an unsteady rhythm faster than it had in the past month.

A shiver ran down her spine, the chill from the platform assailed her on all sides but Neveah paid it no mind. She couldn’t think of anything else but what was before her eyes!

She drew closer until she stood by the platform, gazing down at the woman. And from this proximity, Neveah was even more startled.

The woman was pale, her lips and cheeks had lost their colour and frost lined her eyebrows and hairline. She looked almost...dead.

Yet her body was perfectly intact, untouched by decay. Like somewhere between death and life...it was unbelievable.

Neveah’s heart constricted tightly, like a dagger was being twisted through it.

"This... must be Eira..." Neveah murmured inaudibly. "But how... what..."

Shaking her head in disbelief, she slowly retreated from the platform. Unable to comprehend what she was seeing, or what she felt at the moment.

"Denying it won’t change the truth." A raspy voice interrupted Neveah’s thoughts.

Neveah jumped. She whirled around, her eyes scanning the hall. Other than the platform, the rest of the cavern was dark and shadowy.

She hadn’t realized she was not alone. She had been too careless!

But that voice...it didn’t sound like anything she had heard recently. Not Karan, and certainly not Alessio.

But still, it sent a cold chill crawling down Neveah’s spine. Colder than the icy platform and the chilling mist.

Her hands trembled against her will and Neveah clenched them tightly to still the tremors.

She was terrified, she realised. Her instincts were screaming at her to flee. To run and never look back.

And there was only one person that had elicited such a reaction from her since she had awakened on that night a month ago.

Alessio... the man who was supposedly her husband.

Whoever was hiding in the shadows, was someone she knew... and it was someone she feared!

Neveah drew in a breath, forcing away the terror threatening to take hold of her. She wouldn’t give in to it... she wouldn’t!

"Who are you?!" Neveah hissed darkly, "Show yourself!"

A violent, wheezing cough answered her question. And then, the sound of metal dragging against stone.

Chains? Neveah wondered.

She didn’t move. Her eyes fixed on where the sound had originated from. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

She was caught. She knew that. But she didn’t plan to go down easily. She would demand answers and she would get them, if it was the last thing she did!

"Show yourself!" Neveah snarled.

A tutting sound echoed from the shadows,

The hoarse voice came again. "Omega...after so long, is that any way to greet your father?"