Chapter 630: Role
This voice that was speaking in a foreign language was telling him what he should do. No, it was ordering him what to do and he knew that he could never resist it. He could feel it in his bones that no matter how much he fights against it, he would not be able to succeed.
It felt like a curse. Something he could never break free from. Or something like an ultimate mission he must fulfil because he was born just for this purpose. His life purpose seemed only to lead the army of monsters and expand the abyss until it reaches where the king, Gavrael, was trapped at. Yes, he had found out what had happened because of the orders he had been receiving from the voice.
His consciousness and sanity were on the verge of being swallowed completely. And there was only one thing that was still keeping him rooted to what was his current reality. To keep him from giving in. That woman. His love. His mate. His Vera.
But he knew that he was barely hanging on by the skin of his teeth. It was bound to eventually snap no matter what he would do. So he was saying all of these now. He felt it in his heart that this was the only chance for him to do this.
The things Vera told him about what she had seen in her vision of their future made him realized this one thing. That perhaps, the very first time he had succumbed to his darkness was the turning point of how the future of the war would turn out. If at that time, this same thing had happened and that he had also heard these voices, did he managed to fight it because Gavrael was still around back then? If so, then what is the reason why Vera did not say anything about him telling them what they would do? Did he tell them, but they still ended up losing the war and monsters kept pouring out of the abyss because Gavrael had not been trapped by Evielyn in her crystal?
The latter option was the most probable reason to him. Things were changing. Now that Gavrael was trapped and frozen and the abyss was shut closed, their chances to stop the monsters were now greater than ever. Only if they could stop the monsters from reaching where Gavrael was currently held.
He did not know for sure what would happen if the abyss swallowed the crystal that Garvael was trapped in, but he could think of the worst-case scenario and that was that the darkness having to free him by force. Now if that happened, there would be no telling how massive the effects would be.
So no matter how hard it was for him, he had said it. He had to accept and allow that Vera will join in the war as well.
Vera… he was going to make her fight because he knew that it was the only way he could protect her. Right now, his darkness had identified Vera as a huge threat. Someone who needed to be eliminated as soon as possible for him to fulfil his role. To be able to complete his mission.
However, she was right when she said she was no longer that powerless and weak human from before. His darkness had confirmed it. And he had confirmed it himself while he was watching her train so hard to control her dragons. This made him feel better knowing that she could one day be like Evielyn. Someone who was formidable in her own rights rather than vulnerable. Someone who could fight for herself and determine her own future.
He had planned and wished to be her hero forever but now he thought that her being her own knight in shining armour, or even rising up to be his hero now that he seemed to be the one turning into a villain was not a bad plot at all. He could imagine her as a badass dragon warrior, and he could not help the wide smile from spreading across his face.
"If we defeat all the monsters… what will happen? To you? Are we going to have to fight you as well?" she asked worriedly. He could see through his blurry consciousness, the waterfall of her tears that cascaded over her fair cheeks.
He wiped away her tears with his trembling hands. He was already reaching his limit of resisting the darkness that was trying to take over him. A few moments more and he might strike out at her and attempt to kill her.
The fear and agony gripped at his heart like a vice. "Once the monsters are gone…" he said gnashing his teeth so hard that his gums started bleeding.
Gideon had realized even in his failing consciousness that Gavrael's entrapment was not the reason of his power surging so impossibly strong. It was the monsters. He had suspected this before. The more monsters there were on this side of the abyss, the more powerful he becomes. Now that there were tens of thousands of monsters that had emerged from the abyss, his magic has become uncontrollable.
These monsters were bowing to him like all the other monsters who were already in the Underlands. To them he was their commander. He was the sovereign of the monsters. The one whose role was to protect and fight for the king, his younger brother, Gavrael. Thus, the monsters were his greatest strength and the extension of his arms. They were literally his weapons and the source of most of his power.
He believed that once the monsters were eradicated, his power would diminish in proportion to them, and he could finally fight his own darkness. He would do it without fail. This time, he was going to return to Vera – victorious and in one piece – and keep his promise that he had made to her. "No, my sweet mate. That time… it will then be my turn to fight my darkness. Trust me… I love you… wait for me… Vera…"
"Gideon!"