Chapter 420: Marked According To The Beast

Chapter 419: Marked According To The Beast

Noctis released a low, rolling growl that vibrated through the cave.

The sound wasn’t loud, but it carried weight. It was a warning and a promise all in one.

Sophia’s breath caught painfully in her throat as the vibration rippled through her bones. Her fingers twitched at her sides, instinctively reaching for balance she no longer trusted herself to have.

She swallowed.

She had been wrong.

Terribly, disastrously wrong.

At first, she had told herself that the beast’s eyes only reminded her of the ones she had seen in the shrine. That they were perhaps different but also the same.

But now that she took a closer look into the eyes, there was no mistaking it.

They weren’t similar. There was nothing similar about the eyes, but there was something familiar. The eyes that had stared at her in the shrine, the eyes she had seen that filled her with dread, were the same ones staring back at her.

She wanted to say it wasn’t possible, that it couldn’t be, but that would just mean she was trying to convince herself differently when the truth was staring back at her.

Her pulse spiked violently.

Her body locked in place as if rooted to the stone beneath her boots. Every nerve screamed at her to move — to run — but fear held her suspended in a frozen moment that stretched endlessly.

It was like she was back at the shrine all over again.

Her mouth opened to speak, but no sound came out.

The beast tilted his head slightly, studying her silence with faint curiosity.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked calmly.

His voice was smooth, almost conversational, as if they were standing in a courtyard instead of a blood-soaked cave.

Sophia couldn’t answer.

Her throat felt sealed shut. Her tongue heavy and useless. And how was it that something or someone that didn’t look fully human, but looked more like a mix between a beast and a human, could speak the same language?

It shouldn’t be possible, she told herself. It couldn’t be, and yet it was. Though his speech wasn’t perfect, he paused and counted his words, the fact remained that he could speak their language. He could communicate with them — not like the other beasts that couldn’t.

Noctis growled louder.

The sound sharpened now — deeper, more aggressive — vibrating with pure protective fury. His massive frame shifted subtly, positioning himself more firmly between Sophia and the chained creature. Muscles coiled beneath his thick fur, claws flexing against stone, his hackles fully raised.

His face contorted into a snarl, teeth bared in a silent threat.

The beast’s gaze finally dropped to Noctis.

For the first time since Sophia arrived, his expression changed.

His eyes widened slightly in surprise, but then he did something she didn’t expect.

He laughed.

The sound sent a cold wave through Sophia’s veins.

Her breath hitched sharply.

She knew that laugh.

Her mind snapped back to the last dream she’d had before they arrived here. She remembered hearing laughter before she woke up, and it sounded exactly like this one.

It was the same laughter.

Her stomach twisted violently.

The beast’s laughter faded into a low hum of amusement as his gaze flicked between Noctis and Sophia again. His eyes narrowed slightly, studying Noctis with new interest.

"I never thought..." he began slowly.

Sophia’s heart slammed harder.

He paused, as if choosing his words carefully — or savoring the moment.

"...that she would later make use of something I had said."

Sophia frowned faintly, confusion cutting through her fear just enough to register the words.

She?

Who was she? And what did he mean by something he had said?

The beast lifted his chained hands slightly, the massive links grinding against the stone floor with a harsh metallic scrape. The runes embedded into the metal pulsed faintly, glowing like buried embers.

He pointed subtly — first toward Sophia.

Then toward Noctis.

"You’ve both been marked."

The chains clanked loudly as his arms settled back down.

Sophia’s breath came out uneven.

Marked?

Her mind scrambled to make sense of the word.

She finally managed to pull a fragile thread of courage together and found her voice — thin, uncertain, barely louder than a whisper.

"What... what are you talking about?"

The beast’s gaze returned fully to her.

"You’ll know soon," he said simply. "That is, if you live to do so."

The answer did nothing to ease the tightening coil in her chest.

Her fingers curled into her palm unconsciously.

Noctis shifted again, growl rumbling deeper, his body leaning forward slightly as if preparing to spring. Every instinct in his massive form screamed danger.

The beast sighed — an oddly human gesture.

"Well," he said casually, "since you’re here now, there’s really no point in me leaving this place anymore."

Sophia’s brow furrowed.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice steadier than she felt.

He tilted his head back slightly, staring at the dark ceiling of the cave as if addressing the stone itself.

"It’s funny how our paths still crossed even after everything I did to make sure you didn’t survive," he said, his eyes sliding back down to meet hers.

"I even sent beasts after you."

Sophia’s breath caught sharply. She was getting more confused.

"You have control over the beasts of Nirvana?" she asked him.

The beast smiled at her. "I have control over many things — some of them, without my approval. People walk the path I once walked, and they think I no longer belong here."

Sophia was even more confused. She did not understand what he was saying to her.

"You are curious about who I am, right?" he asked her.

Sophia didn’t answer. She just stared at him.

"I’ll give you answers, but first tell the wolf to calm down," he told her.

Sophia didn’t feel like doing so, but she wanted answers.

"If you don’t tell him to do so, then I can’t provide the answers you seek," he added.

Sophia placed a hand on Noctis, who snarled at the man.

"It’s okay," she told him. "I just need him to answer my questions."

Noctis gave her a look and then settled a bit, though he still stood in front of Sophia.

"That wouldn’t do," the man said to her. "I’ll need you to come closer — preferably with the wolf standing a bit far from us."