Chapter 250: A little curious
[Old World- Blackmoon Strong hold - Borders]
Roanoke halted mid breath, neck still straining towards the sky, eyes focused... glaring...as the flare streaked across the heavens in a blaze no mortal fire could have birthed.
The more he watched Jasper, the more violent shudders climbed up his spine. Then his head jerked towards the dock, where the blue streak was headed.
For one frozen ,fortunate heartbeat, he forgot the two little lambs behind the walls...forgot the warm, rebellious pulse of Freya’s soul, the softer thrum of Willa’s breath.
"Ohhh... ohhh my ohh my ... do you see it?" he whispered, lips cracked, tongue blackened as drool slid thick and gleaming down his chin. "Do you feel it, my beloved? That light was no ordinary star. That was blood. That was flesh...the Original power of the Balance...of the Transcendent...Now that will be ours."
He lifted his blade, still dripping black from his ritual. The sigils carved into his skin pulsed and flared, answering the call of the blue spark above. His whole body trembled with a hunger so dark it had curdled into madness.
Roanoke turned back at the wall, scratching his head. " Should I forget the girls? This one...Ah!!This one’s allure is something else. Ah! Still can’t believe. He was hidden so well. She hid him from me, sly Autumn... oh cunning, cunning bitch..." His laughter cracked into the still night, spraying spittle, "...she thought she could bury such a treasure in dirt? Keep it away from me?!Bitch!!! She forgot... I was born to dig jewels from rot."
Roanoke turned his entire body around and blew a handful of ash towards the sky, aiming at the path taken by little Jasper. A white rainbow formed,before transforming into a smokey arrow,that left behind a white trail...like a jet plane against the night sky, which Roanoke then started to follow, one step after another.
The forest reacted to that action.
The trees withered where he walked, their leaves paling and curling as though touched by sudden frost. Night birds shrieked from their branches, scattering like paper bits in the wind.
The very earth soured, worms writhing upward from the soil, gasping for air that stank of necrotic breath.
Step by step, Roanoke stalked forward, his shadow stretching unnaturally across the stones and grass, thin as tar and twice as heavy.
" The day has arrived finally...And it promises me more than I ever imagined.Now all my wishes will come true..." he muttered, his eyes rolling back until only whites glimmered in the dark. "Do you know who hunts you, little flame?" He kept mumbling ’Jasper-gazing’ up ahead. "Do you know what it means to burn so brightly? It means you must be snuffed out. It means your blood will sing sweetest when it is spilled. Ohhh yes, sweetest when it is spilled for me."
He pressed his hand flat to the ground. The veins in his palm bulged and split, oozing black ichor that dripped into the dirt. The soil drank it greedily. The moment it was swallowed, the air warped. Shadows curled and twisted, dragging behind him like broken wings, clawing outward in a widening circle.
"I am going to catch you..." he crooned, voice rasping like bone against bone. "Faster than wolves. Faster than birds. Faster even than your Alpha father.Oh,I will catch you. And when I do..." His grin split jagged across his face, "...your scream will be my hymn. Your heart will be my altar...your sweet beating heart! "
A guttural hum shuddered from his throat.
His darkness bled into the trees around him, and the roots blackened where it touched. The very scent of rot crawled outward, seeping into the bark, into the soil, into the marrow of the land itself.
Everywhere he stepped, life recoiled.
His eyes glowed, fevered... he licked the air as he followed the smokey white line.
"Ohhh yes... closer... closer... Come to me, star child. You were born for me. You were born to die for me."
He was too focused on Jasper.
"Why are you running,little star?" he murmured, his grin stretching far too wide. " You can run until your lungs tear but it will not matter. The world itself bends to my hunt. The land betrays you. Every shadow whispers your name. You will be in my arms, even before you realise..."
He pressed his palm deeper into the earth.
The ground hissed in pain. Black ichor spread in a thin web, pulsing outward, veins of darkness crawling like fire beneath the soil.
"You burn so brightly," he rasped, beyond hysteric now. "But all flames devour themselves. And when you collapse into ash... I will take your bones. I will build my kingdom from them."
He laughed out loud...too pleased with himself.
His lips peeled back, blackened gums exposed, and he moaned as if in ecstasy.
"My flame...You think you flee, but no... no, you are leading me. You are guiding me into your marrow. Into your skin. Into the root of your being..."
His voice broke into a dazed laughter. " Oh, the Deads must be so pleased with me...I was hoping for a gold... but they gave me a diamond instead...
The soil hissed at his passage. Roots bled black where his boots sank into the ground. The sky above dimmed as clouds twisted into shapes that looked like hands...gnarled, clawing, writhing fingers reaching down to bless his hunt.
But he did not notice the other shadow...
Tiny. Careful... inching slowly... Close enough to stalk but far enough to hide if necessary... Much like a seasoned spy...
Our very own,little Freya.
The girl slipped from tree to tree...agile enough to fold into the dark when any flicker of light threatened to betray her.
Her breath stayed shallow, chest aching as she fought not to gasp at the stench of him. She pressed her palms against her lips, holding the whimper back, eyes wide with terror...but sharper still with defiance.She kept stealing glances at the sky. Jasper’s scent only amplified her perseverance.
She knew what she was doing would earn her a good punishment... probably displeasure from her father himself ( which was her biggest concern because her father was her best friend)...However, the crescendoing mystery surrounding her family, would not let her be still.
The encounter at the woods with Karl, still gnawed at her, though she didn’t share it with any one... then the filthy man who shared his scent with Willa, blew away her mind... But when she finally sniffed the charged air, the change in magic particles in the atmosphere when Jasper crossed the sky... she could no longer just sit there and wait for answers. She had to go get them herself because the adults around her wouldn’t listen... they wouldn’t understand.
Freya was lucky that the necromancer’s focus was too devoured, too drunk on Jasper’s blaze, to sense her presence. His madness swirled like a storm around him, blind and deaf to all else.
Roanoke’s hands spread wide, the ichor on his skin glowing faintly.
As he licked the night air, a guttural growl tore from his chest.