CHAPTER 62: CHAPTER 62

As Rhea opened her eyes again her surrounding was different, the air was freezing cold, the wind moved with harsh whip, whispering against the ears.

"Why did you go?" Was the first thing Rhea heard herself ask.

Rhea’s eyes darted through the Igloos scattered around the icy land, into the trees at a far distance, which were white instead of green and covered in snow sprinkles.

The mountains were painted grey white, scattered into the vast field.

"Why are you so cruel?" Her voice broke again, directed at the people before her.

They were all dressed in Inuit clothing."

Rhea’s hand drew to her tinkling face, and it was damp with tears.

Am I crying? Where am I? Rhea asked herself.

Rhea’s eyes settled on a man with an annoyed frown, and a katana in his right fist.

"Your Grace." She fell on her knees, holding his leg. "I’m begging you. Please give him back." She begged.

"You had one option: marry the Prince, and you-you disgrace our family. By choosing a filth. A mere pauper."

Rhea’s heart ached as the girl wept. Though she didn’t know what was happening, she could feel the pain of the person she had possessed.

"Your Grace. He has been thrown into the ice pit." A brute-heavy guy walked towards the supposed Rhea’s father.

"No! Give that person back to me." Steam escaped from her mouth as she spoke.

The man kicked Rhea off his feet, the impact against her tummy sending her flying.

Aha! Rhea exclaimed as saliva splashed out of her mouth, coughing at the peppering sensation in her chest.

Fucking gods, that actually hurts. Rhea groaned painful from the impact. I haven’t even processed where I am and I’m being turned into a football.

Even as the pains stirred through her, the girl’s body scurried to her knees, crawling back to her father’s feet, while her lips moved. "Father, please, he hadn’t cause any harm to anyone."

"He has caused harm to my family name." He shot back, "He has dragged the name of my family in the mud." The man roared, grabbing Rhea by her hair, pulling her upward.

Oh my god! Rhea screamed inwardly. At this rate I’m going to die from migraine. Please let go.

Rhea gently followed the man hand as he pulled her around.

"Woman, look what you have birthed into our family, my family. A disgrace. A whore." He threw her against a woman’s feet.

The woman looked down at Rhea, with hate in her eyes, her lower lip between her teeth. Her gaze directed at Rhea was filled with contempt and disappointment.

Rhea rose back to her knees, rushing towards her father, desperately clinging to his feet.

"I can’t do without him in my life. I can’t function without him." She said, snot and tears, bathing her beautiful face.

"Father, it’s him I want."

"You would keep your mouth shut if you know what is best for you." He ordered, looking down at her from the tip of his gaze. " You will not marry into that strange...foreign family."

"I would rather you die than have you disgrace us, the Watashira family. The family of the greatest Samurai. Know this, you are only going marry the Crown Prince."

Father please, I don’t want to lose another of my family to this curse. Please just listen to me. The thoughts of the person Rhea had possessed weaved into her mind.

"I would rather die than marry anyone else." The girl suddenly spoke, hoping her threat would make him listen to her.

Hey, lady, calm down, I don’t want to die at the hands of that man. Who looks like he’s actually prepared to butcher you.

"Then die, you shall." Her father agreed, looking away from her.

"Lock her up." He ordered. "Deprive her of food and water for seven days. Then she would come back to her senses.

"Nooooooo." She screamed while she was dragged through the ice.

Muffled cries echoed from the Igloo pit she was thrown into.

"I begged him not to hurt them. I told him I could convince them. That’s why he’s quiet. But at this rate, they would all get wiped out.

I don’t want others to get hurt because of me. I can’t bear the idea that people are dying because of my curse. Because I became a curse to them by just being part of their family.

Rhea stayed quiet as she listened to the owner of the body’s thoughts pour into her head.

"Now I’m putting another family on death row."

Her voice cracked as she curled into an embrace with her knee.

"The Patriarchy has given a degree of my execution, if I continue to refuse the marriage proposal after seven days."

And that would awaken something more dangerous.

If only I’m always born an orphan, this would have been easy for the both of us. Then I wouldn’t be the reason why everyone who had been close to me, in every life, dies.

She stared at her hands, as though there was something on them. She clenched her fist, pressed it against her chest, her tears echoing through the tiny space, her hiccups leaking outside, among the mist of howling wolves.

The next day, her father stood at the edge of the pit, staring down at her.

"Is your head clear now?" He asked expecting a positive response, but none came. She held her ground.

In a flash, seven days passed, but she never wavered in her decision.

"Bring her out." A guard ordered.

She was roughly dragged by two guards and pulled to the middle of the compound.

Her eyes flicked from one face to another, each staring dead at her. No pity in their eyes, no love. Just strong unadulterated blank stares.

She was pulled between four horses with a rope tied to each one, which was meant for her.

No you can’t. Rhea voiced, this is evil. It’s pure barbaric. Please I can’t bear this pain. Rhea begged, realising what was about to happen.

But she couldn’t be heard. She couldn’t even speak through her. She was powerless, as she was forcefully tied to the horses.

Rhea and the girl’s scream, ripped through the earth. With each step the horses took, their screams increased, their flesh stretched, and blood streamed from their bodies as they choked in the pain and blood.

Meanwhile, at the ice prison, where he was chained and locked away.

Zeenare stood, nashing his teeth as Rhea’s screams sipped into his ears, with a wave, he broke the heavy mental chains, busting through the other cellars above him, out the roof.

In one motion, he landed beside her limped body.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" He screamed, falling to his knees as he gently cradled her up, into his arms, stroking her hair.

Her body was weak and her breath was shallow, the pieces of clothes on her body, soaked in her own blood. Her limbs unnaturally dangling at each sides.

"I told you it is not worth it. Speaking with them was a waste." He pressed her cold body against his.

"It’s my fault. It’s always my fault. I’m never there to protect you. All these powers I have, what is the use of them if I can’t protect you?"

"It is a monster." A scream ripped from the gathered crowds.

"Monster? You or me?" Zeenare questioned his gaze swept from the girl’s body to the crowd, his eyes bloodshot.

Zeenare’s head snapped to the back, releasing a sigh as his wings began to flap and his eyes turned black.

Women and children ran at his sight, while the men stayed with their weapons out.

"You would witness a monster today."

With her in his arms, he rose into the air. Each of his flapping wings brewed a heavy gust of wind.

Zeenare stretched his palm out, increasing it into a whirlwind, then a tornado.

Every property on the land was swallowed up by the tornado.

Screams ruptured everywhere, fear etched into each sound.

"Prepare your arrows." The men gathered below Zeenare, forming a formation. "Shoot." The men below him, shot.

His eyes snapped to them, hatred eminent in those dark abysses, looking at them as prey.

Zeenare waved at them, and each men at the front line before him were sliced in half.

Blood trickled down his face, his veins twisted within him, causing immense pain to sear inside him.

Even with the pain, he flew further upwards. Zeenare settled mid-air, a few feet away from the city.

He placed a kiss on Rhea’s forehead, then turned to the city.

With the waves of his hand, the once frozen sea, broke, melting into nothing. The land below him trembled violently.

The sea rose as the land shrank.

"This city would dissolve out of the face of the earth. And nobody will know it. You would be remembered as nothing but the lost city."

While the city soil sizzled, sinking into the water. And every living thing on that island cried for its life, Zeenare was still not satisfied; he wanted them all to continue suffering even when they were deep within the bed of the freezen sea.

Zeenare turned away from there, after the city and its people had disappeared.

Even as blood drooled from his eyes, his heart twisting in his chest, his blood turned into a sharp spike, piercing his heart from within.

He payed mind to it, with Rhea still in his arms, her blood heavily trickling against his body, he flew into a far distance.

Zeenare landed in a forest, on an island, and placed Rhea gently on the floor, coughing up blood.