Chapter fifty five

Irene stood in the hallway that leads to her room and gazed at the bright night sky. Everyone had been so speechless after Edward disappeared in the demon woods. While the demons dispersed and everyone left to see what was left of their kingdoms, Alan had brought them home and even through the journey, no one had brought themselves to say a single word and the quietest was Aliyah.

Irene had been so shocked by what happened as she never saw it coming and her vision didn’t tell her that as well. At the moment, she knows what could be going through everyone’s mind. The look Edward gave them and his smile before he disappeared had plagued all of their minds as they all wondered what it would be now. Edward had risen to be the strongest being in all five realms: Nightwalkers, Night howlers, Demons, Witches and humans. Now he is unstoppable and if it was the former Edward, no one would have been as worried as they are now because the former only wanted nothing but to be left alone to live his long eternal life in peace. But the recent Edward, not so much.

Irene found herself wishing that this would be the end for him, that now that he has gotten the immerse power, he wouldn’t have a need to want something else or to even prey on the weaker realms. The strange woman’s words kept plaguing her mind, ‘Now your heart is as dark as mine’ and she wonders how dark Edward’s heart is at the moment. Is it already too dark that he would turn his back on them? That he would kill them all in other to pass a point, but what point?

Also, what would stop him from killing them all, after all, he had wanted to end the Mer-demons, Fox demons, snake demons and Cat demons as punishment for blackmailing him. If it wasn’t for Aliyah, does it mean that those demons would have seized to exist by now? Or would he have pardoned them along the line? No one can ever know.

The Edward she knows would never go back on his words, the Edward she knows would never try to make a creation extinct. Even when he still bore hatred for the Night howlers, she had always seen that deep inside, he didn’t want them to stop existing. Deep inside, he had always wanted the war to end. But the Edward now seems like he would thrive in chaos and that left her wondering what not just her fate but the fate of every living creature that would be at his mercy.

She sighed and closed her eyes, sending a silent prayer to the God of creations and also begging to be shown what would happen and what would be the fate of the world with a man as strong as Edward. When she learnt of Asher’s power, she wasn’t terrified that he would have three strong powers swimming in his blood because she had hope of being by his side and making sure that he didn’t follow the wrong path. However, Edward’s case is different. Not only is he a grown man, she owes her life to him and it wouldn’t have been a problem if it was that man that saved her. It wouldn’t have been a problem if he was still that strong but compassionate man that would hide his weakness in the guise of being arrogant.

She heaved a sigh and opened her eyes, looking straight at the bright moon. “Oh Selene, goddess of love, save thy creation or show me a way to.”

“I have been doing the same thing,” she heard and glanced sharply at her side to see Hephzibah standing beside her and glancing at the moon as well. Her white hair was flowing softly under the gently breeze just like her black one.

“When did you arrive?” Irene asked.

“A second ago,” she answered and turned to smile at the younger woman. “I miss when my hair was black, but old age does that to you.”

Irene sighed and refused to fall to her humor. “You are worried too, aren’t you?”

“Do you know what happens when you cheat death?” Hephzibah asked.

“You lose your soul?” Irene took a guess.

Hephzibah chuckled, “it depends if that is what you hold cherished the most,” she sighed and glanced back at the moon. “You lose that which makes you human, that thing that you cherish the most and in prince- sorry, King Edward’s part, his compassion. Yes the man was a ruthless warrior in his human life but no matter how strong he was, he still had compassion for people’s feelings, otherwise, nothing would have stopped him from dethroning his father back in the days. Not only did he not dethrone his father, he let himself be coerced into marrying someone he didn’t want. Did you know that King Edward’s mother died giving birth to him. It was one of the reasons his father loved him the most and also the reason his brother despised him. They blamed him for killing their mother.”

Irene frowned, “I didn’t know about that side of the story.”

Hephzibah smiled, “well, the older you get, the clearer your vision becomes and stronger you are. And the stronger you are, the powerful you become that you can summon yourself to see past. You can’t see future on your own accord, but you can always see the past whenever you want.”

Irene nodded in understanding, “tell me what you know about him.”

“Young King Edward grew up with only his father’s love and to make him proud, he decided to be the best warrior in the kingdom. And the stronger he got, the more his father loved him and the more young Edward tried to make him love him.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Edward literally lived for his father’s love. Even though as he got older and understood that he had become a pawn for his father, he didn’t mind, as long as it means that someone loves him. That was why a lot called him a loyal dog but he was just a lonely man, fighting to belong somewhere, anywhere. And to him, his father was the only one that gave him that sense of belonging, well, until Mariah showed up of course. However, he lost her just as he was finally getting to accept her. He wasn’t ruthless, but when you grow up in the condition he did, even you would learn to hide your emotion under hurting words and arrogant attitude.”

“I figured that one out,” Irene smiled, “it was always there in his eyes even though he wants to be perceived as heartless and wicked. He was still the most compassionate man I have ever met.”

“Now that was what he lost when he cheated death. He lost the only thing that made him think twice when hurting someone or when faced with a weaker person. He lost his compassion. His heart froze in the blistering wind and freezing atmosphere.”

“We have to help him get it back,” Irene said.

“We can’t,” Hephzibah shook her head, “he would have to find it himself.”

“Even his mate won’t help?”

“The only help she can offer is always being by his side and reminding him of the man he used to be. Whether or not he recovered the lost part of himself is up to him, only he can decide that. I saw what you saw, Irene. I saw the world burning under king Edward’s commanded flame. I saw his mate dying and I saw the world ending in chaos.”

“Then what must we do, how can we stop it?”

“I don’t know. I have tried to see more, I have tried so hard but its like the world has come to a standby that even us being the pure blood means nothing. I don’t think that fate can be changed Irene.”

“No,” Irene shook her head, “No, we can do it. I just have to make sure that Aliyah doesn’t kill herself.”

“If she doesn’t heal the infected, all it would take is a little time before the whole world is infected. In order words, it’s a lose-lose in each way. Either the world collapse under king Edward’s command or it collapse under his brother’s and his infected rogues.”

“Then, what is the point of everything?”

“That is the same thing I am saying. King Edward would have to find his compassion by himself, that is the only way his chaos would be avoided.”

“That is not a good plan.”

“It is not a plan at all. It’s hope.”

“No, no, no, no,” Irene kept shouting and shaking her head.

“Irene,” someone called and held her, “what is it, what’s wrong?”

Irene opened her eyes only to see Rasmus standing in front of her. She glanced around searching for Hephzibah but the witch was no where to be seen. She frowned, how possible, she was with her just now or could it be that their whole discussion had happened in her head? “What happened?”

“What do you mean? I have been looking for you and then I found you standing here and looking up at the sky with your eyes closed. I didn’t want to disturb you and decided to wait for you to notice me on your own but then you started shouting. What, did you have another vision?”

“More like a discussion,” she said, standing upright now.

“With who?”

“Hephzibah,” she glanced at him, “somehow she had put me in a trance and was here with me.”

“What did she tell you?”

“Something you wouldn’t like to hear.”

Author's note

Sorry for the delayed update. I was so busy yesterday that I even forgot yesterday was Monday. I'm sorry for that.

Also, I don't know if you remembered a complaint I laid few chapters ago about Amazon not publishing my book. I want to let you know that it was discovered it was someone that published my book under my penname.

The good thing is that I won the case, Amazon has taken down the book and published mine and it was all thanks to all of you who reported the book per my request. I am really grateful, thank you so much.

Now, this book is available to purchase on Amazon. Once I have the paperback ready, I will notify you as well. Thank you all so much for you love for the story and if update is slow for you, do know that you can now get it on Amazon with a one time payment. 😍☺