CHAPTER 78: CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT: DAMIEN’S STORY XVIII: PARTING IS NOT A SWEET SORROW!

"What if I die, huh?! My children are in pain, suffering all because of me!!" Mira shrieked out with tears rushing down her eyes. "I can’t take this anymore." she whimpered. "I just can’t alex..."

Alex stared a her in silent shock as more tears ran down her cheeks. He so badly wanted to comfort her, to hold her so close and suck her pain into his own body. Even with that, Alex know quite well it wouldn’t last long.

The remaining piece of her heart had shattered leaving nothing in her. Her children were possessed by evil beings and it was all her fault. What was the point of living when her family is depressed because of her? She just couldn’t bear the thought alone talk less of it actually happening.

Alex bit down on his lip hard, completely at a loss for words. He had absolutely no idea on what to do. He wanted to save his children but he didn’t want to lose his wife at the same time.

"Darling I’m begging you." Mira begged pleadingly. Her heart was so heavy and dead, it was like there was nothing there anymore. The two joys in her life were already gone.

"Mira you—" Alex trailed off. He didn’t know what else to say. The look in her eyes was heartbroken yet determination flashed in it every now and then.

Before Alex could say anything else, Mira vanished again and appeared soon with Damien in her arms. The poor boy was red all over as if a million ants had buried themselves into his skin. The little red bumps could make anyone watching it itch themselves like crazy but not their parents. Instead of being disgusted and unnerved, a deep, aching sorrow sank in their eyes.

Seeing her little one suffer so much fueled her determination to give up herself for him. No child deserved pain no matter how little they were.

Alex reached out and ran his fingers slowly over the bumps. He looked up at Mira whose gaze was fixed squarely on his face as she tried to reassure him. Her heart was in the right place but he just couldn’t accept it. It was either her or his kids.

If she died, he’d be heartbroken for life but if they died, she’d be more heartbroken than him. In fact, he was very sure she would attempt suicide.

He didn’t want that. He didn’t want to lose either of them but he didn’t have much of a choice.

"I’m going in my love." Mira whispered to Alex who was still feeling Damien’s body. Alex didn’t say anything and just nodded. What could he say? His wife. His dear, precious wife that he loves so much his heart ached was about to die right in front of him.

With Damien cradled in her arms and a pair of Cassian’s shoes, she stepped into the enclosed room. Alex didn’t want to follow her at first. Eventually, he followed her remembering that this just might be the last time he would ever see his sweet wife.

Although the boy Severin had said nothing about how to reverse a curse, she had read somewhere when she was still under her grandpa how a curse of any kind could be reversed...especially if it were cast by a witch. It was an eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. Give and take. Nothing more, nothing less.

To purge someone of a curse, a living human sacrifice is needed. If it’s an animal, then a living animal sacrifice is needed. It wasn’t too hard to understand but it sure was difficult to perform.

Mira took brave steps forward without turning back. Damien, on the other hand, laid limp on her chest with his head dangling lazily over her shoulders. His bare chest and back was red and pimpled except for the great, green dragon that scarred his back completely.

Alexandria looked painfully at that disgusting tattoo on his son’s back. Of all things, why...just why did it have to be a dragon? He shook his head pitifully as he silently thanked whatever spirit it must have been that had made the people not see it. He had actually been thinking about that for quite sometime. He wouldn’t have even known what to do if the people had seen the dragon image. He would be overthrown thereby casting his family out of the kingdom. His throne would probably be usurped by an interim and his entire bloodline would become vagabonds.

’Mira...’ her name stuck to his mind longingly.

When they finally reached the end of the hall, they entered a small room that had in a low stool, the ancient relic of Zerathane. It looked like a mere, glowing piece of rock on a stool. Even at that, the powers it held were second to none in the whole world.

And they had come to summon it.

She walked up to it and decided to try out Cassian first. If it worked, even after she died, her husband could still go and get him back. It wasn’t a bad idea.

Mira took Cassian’s pair of worn shoes and placed it in front of the relic. It instantly began to glow, reflecting a mixture of blue and purple light on the item before swallowing up the shoes in it.

A blue colored image appeared right before them with Cassian on it. Mira fell dumbstruck at what it projected. Right there and then was her sweet boy eating grass with rotten banana peels. His long, luscious golden locks that she never got tired of combing had overgrown, making it look unkept and roughened.

She looked closer and saw that he was in the same meadow she and Damien were that very morning. What the heck? Was he there the whole time?!

Well, it wasn’t far from possible. It was a pretty large meadow after all. She turned to Alex who had his eyes glued to the projected image with a beaming smile on her face.

"He’s at the meadows my love! We can go find him!"

"Yes—" Alex stopped talking when something on the image caught his eyes.

"Mira..."

"Hmm?"

"Look."

Mira snapped her head back to the image and her eyes widened in terror. Right beside her son was a woman with a long whip, lashing him all over his body. The woman had long, silvery hair falling like rain falls down her shoulders. All of a sudden, a black mist ripped itself out of Cassian and stood right before the glowing creature.

Instead of backing down, the white creature resumed back her whipping on the palpable mist in front of her.

An earth shattering scream erupted from the mist and it dragged itself out of Cassian’s body completely before dissolving into the air.

Once the palpable mist was gone, the silvery creature walked towards Cassian who laid stiff on the ground. He had a short on which was the sorrowful remnant of his already tattered trouser.

Mira and Alex stared in awe as the entire thing played out before them. Never in her wildest imagination did she think that would have ever happened.

Who was that... angel?!

Just like it appeared, the image was sucked back into the relic. The pair of shoes that it swallowed was spat out, now a joke to what it formerly was. But Mira couldn’t care less. Her boy was now found and delivered!

She turned to Alex and gave him a big hug. "He’s healed! The gods... the gods had mercy on us...oh my heart..."

Mira’s beam reached her dull eyes and brightened it once again. Grace follow forever that angel who had mercy on her child! Alex stood in awe at what he had just seen. Before he became the ruler, he had only visited the relic once and that was when he was to present himself as the candidate. Now a king, he had never till now.

He had never seen the relic perform such power. Even as a king chosen by it, he couldn’t go there unless it was for a specific reason. This was because whenever the pathway is opened, a portion of his energy is used in the process. It’s very small, barely noticeable but it had left his body forever. Because of that, no king was ever allowed to enter unless the matter was of grave importance.

"I told you everything would work out didn’t I?" Alex said warmly, patting her head as she squeezed his waist. A smile crept up his lips but instantly evaporated the second his eyes landed on Damien.

Mira’s smile too faded quickly.

"There has to be another way to save him." Alexandria said softly as he turned her chin to himself. Mira remained silent for a while then shook her head. She walked towards the altar and placed Damien to rest on the wall which was a few steps away from the altar.

She had only taken a step towards the relic when a large hand grabbed her and pulled her. Warmth and heat flushed her face, sending a storm of emotions crashing within her.

She tried to look up but his hand on her head gently pushed it back down. Mira wasn’t having that.

Her hand slipped to his to pull it down when she felt a drop of something wet on the back of her palm.

Once.

Twice.

"Alex..." Mira called out worriedly. She tried again to lift her head but his hand stopped her again.

Alex threw his head back. "Don’t look up." he said hoarsely.

"I don’t want you to see me like this."