Chapter 61 - 60:Dread!

Bloody Rose Guild...

Raven’s office...

Raven and Clarissa were currently sitting on the sofas within the expansive office, their gaze trained on the screen before them..

"When is it going to start?" Clarissa’s impatient voice rang out..

Looking at the watch on her wrist, "should be any minute now" and right on cue, the screen flashed on, Valen’s stoic face appearing..

"Is that!!!" Clarissa exclaimed, shock coloring her face..

"It is" Raven’s calm and composed voice answered back..

"How? Why? What?" Clarissa was confused..

"Dante is about to jump headfirst into shark infested waters, expecting him to just stay quiet would be nothing more than wishful thinking" raven answered coldly..

"Wouldn’t this tip them off? Make them desperate? His appearance could put Dante in more danger than he’s already in" Clarissa sounded more worried than assured..

"Heh.. you seem to have forgotten who he is since he’d gone quiet all this while" Raven’s voice seemed to jolt Clarissa’s memory, her panick calming down a little..

"Things are about to get a lot more hectic aren’t they?"

"They already were, only difference is, now, we’re no longer on the back foot."

****************

Pat!!!

Pat!!!

Pat!!!

Ahhhnnnnnn..

Within a dark room, the sounds of flesh slapping flesh resounded, accompanied by the moans of a woman and the groaning of a man...

"I’m cumming..."

Ughhhhhh!!!!!

Ahhhnnnn....yesss!!!!

With one final spurt, the man came inside the woman..

"Haa..haa.. that...was amazing my lord" the woman’s panting voice echoed..

"Hehehe.... Better than your dead beat husband I presume" the man’s proud voice could be heard, followed by a crisp smack on the woman’s ass..

"Fufufu.. is that even a question?" The lady laughed...

Before the man could reply...

Knock!! Knock!! Knock!!!

A series of rapid knocking broke the ambience of the room..

"Who??" The man’s murderous voice rang out..

"My lord, it’s urgent" a male voice came from behind the door..

The man’s eyes flashed with a weird light, his eyes looking at the woman who’d tried to cover herself up with the sheets, face going deathly pale..

"Come in" he ordered, the woman’s face turning horrified...

Creak....

The door opened softly, as a man stepped in, his head bowed, the gleaming red armor he wore giving him an imposing look.

"My lord...." His words froze as he raised his head..

"Serin... wha.." the man’s eyes trembled violently as he took in the scene before him..

The sight of his naked wife trying horribly to cover her shame, the naked body of his master who was currently looking at him with pure amusement..

The man’s fists clenched hard, he gritted his teeth so hard the creaked..

veins bulged in his neck and forehead as he tried all he could to withhold his rage..

"What was so urgent you had to interrupt my matters" the naked man didn’t care for his subordinate’s woes, his prideful and contemptuous voice rang out..

The armored man could only bow his head as he spat the words out through gritted teeth...

"The academy trials have begun" the man said..

"And so what? You disturbed my matters just for this? I should have you whipped and executed"

"Nooo!!!!" The woman yelled unconsciously when she heard the threat..

The armored man was trembling in visceral rage, yet he endured, he couldn’t act, not here..

"The overseer for this year’s event... it’s

WAR.."

...

...

The silence that gripped the room was deafening..

The naked man’s face had gone dreadfully pale..

His earlier arrogance vanished like the wind...

"What.. what did you just say?" He asked, disbelieving..

"The overseer of this year’s event.. is

WAR"

.......

In a flourish, the naked man vanished from the room, leaving the husband and wife to sort out what was most definitely a significant issue...

**********

Damien Von Draken,

found his way towards the council hall, the place already filled to the brim with the family’s elders..

On his arrival, they immediately stood up, heads bowing in greeting.

"We greet the patriarch"..

"Show me the footage.." he didn’t bother with their greetings.. his attention fully drawn towards the scene currently being displayed..

"

Welcome, everyone!" ..

Valen’s voice had just sounded out, his piercing gaze almost as if he were staring through the screen and right at you..

Damien’s fists clenched...

"Why’s that bastard the one I charge?"

"Why now of all times.."

On the screen, Valen’s voice continued without pause..

"My name is Valen Wildeheart, and I am the overseer of the MILLENNIUM AETERNUM ACADEMY TRIALS, so with the authority invested in me, I declare the MILLENNIUM AETERNUM ACADEMY TRIALS, officially open"

And right at the corner of his vision, Damien caught sight of something that made his entire being tremble In dread....

"No...No...NO!!!"

Crash!!!!!!!

His aura flared, smashing the screen to bits...

"Get me that lizard and that fool asmodeus on the line, right now!!"

"But patriarch.."

"NOW!!!!!!"

**************

Nestled within a pocket dimension accessible only through a forgotten nexus of ley lines, lies

The Secluded Hearth

. It’s not a grand palace, but a haven of profound, ancient power, chosen by those who had seen empires rise and fall.

A wizened old man currently has his eyes closed in meditation within one of many abodes found within this sacred place...

The ’abode’ itself was deceptively simple: a single, vast chamber carved from what appeared to be petrified starlight or solidified echoes of ancient magic. The walls shimmer with an inner luminescence, revealing faint, swirling patterns that shift subtly with the man’s. The floor is a smooth, cool obsidian, reflecting the soft, constant glow from a central, eternal flame that floats effortlessly in the air –a reflection of the Hearth itself. This flame provides all the light and warmth, pulsing with a deep, resonant hum that is the only sound, yet it casts no shadow.

There is no discernible entrance or exit, only shimmering thresholds that appear and disappear at will. A single, enormous, gnarled root, living crystal, serves as the man’s seat, worn smooth by centuries of contemplation. Around the edges of the chamber, not as furniture but as geological features, are shallow pools of perfectly still, liquid silver that reflect not the chamber, but distant, shifting constellations known only to the elder. It is beautiful in its stark, elemental grandeur, a space where time bends, and the weight of ages settles into a profound, personal calm.

The old man’s eyes opened slowly...

"Ahhhh... regulus, is this your way of telling me that you’re not yet done even from beyond the grave?" His aged voice was soft, almost like that of a loving grandfather..

"Naive.. Too naive..." he closed his back, returning to his meditation...

************

Thanks For reading...