CHAPTER 208: SEPHRINA [8]

Akamir felt a sudden sense of weakness creeping within him.

’Is it the penalty for using my power in this world?’

He couldn’t be sure, but Akamir was in no mood for theories.

He summoned three more mimickers before he grabbed the door handle.

The heavy iron door groaned as Akamir pushed it open.

A rush of cold air swept over him, carrying the smell of rust, blood, and something... rotten.

The mimickers slipped inside first, their inhuman forms bending unnaturally as they moved into the darkness.

Akamir followed.

The chamber beyond was impossibly vast, far larger than the castle could ever contain.

It stretched endlessly, like a cathedral carved from black stone.

And in its center was a tree.

No, not a tree.

A pulsating mass of flesh and roots, twisting together into a grotesque pillar that reached high into the ceiling.

Thousands of red strings were buried into it, stretching out like veins, and from each vein dangled a body.

Children. Adults. Soldiers. Servants.

All unconscious. All pale. All being drained.

Akamir’s throat tightened as he stared at the tree with his spirit eyes.

Immediately, his vision burned with blinding crimson.

It was as if everything was made out of crimson color.

The mimickers spread out, waiting for his command.

Akamir’s grip on the door handle tightened as his vision pulsed with that endless crimson.

His chest ached, as if the very sight of the thing was feeding on him too.

The bodies hanging from the red veins twitched faintly, their lips moving as if whispering in dreams.

"...What kind of monster made this?" he muttered, though his voice felt drowned in the vast chamber.

One of the mimickers slithered closer to the fleshy pillar, its limbs bending unnaturally as it studied the surface.

The "tree" responded with a shudder. The roots twisted, and a wet groan echoed across the chamber.

Akamir’s jaw tightened. "Don’t touch it."

The mimicker froze, but the damage was already done.

The pillar opened.

A seam split down its side, tearing open like a mouth.

From within came a sound... it was low at first, like distant thunder, then rising into a chorus of screams.

Every body hanging from the strings let out the same cry at once, their heads snapping back, eyes glowing faint red.

Akamir’s pulse spiked.

His spirit eyes blurred with sharp pain, but he forced them open. He needed to see.

And what he saw made his stomach knot.

Beneath the fleshy pillar, a figure stirred. Bound by roots, it looked almost human but not like one as well.

Its body was thin, skin stretched taut, hair long and matted.

But its chest glowed with a pulsing red core that seemed to feed the tree above.

The mimickers hissed, sensing danger.

But something else was there that caught Akamir’s eyes.

There was a small box over the human-like body.

Akamir immediately tensed up as he remembered the box from before.

’Wasn’t the box present under the bed of those boys?’

Akamir thought as he immediately felt that the box could be important.

He let out a deep exhale as he forced himself to stay calm.

Akamir then looked at the three mimickers as he commanded them. "Bring me the box."

The mimickers hissed softly in acknowledgment.

Their bodies shifted like liquid shadows as they crawled down the black stone steps, heading toward the pulsing pillar.

The air thickened with every step they took.

The bodies hanging from the crimson veins twitched harder, their mouths opening and closing like fish pulled out of water.

But they didn’t make any sound as the place was covered in a screaming silence.

Akamir narrowed his eyes. ’They’re not unconscious anymore...but they’re still aware.’

The three mimickers reached the base of the fleshy tree.

The ground there was slick, wet with something that looked too much like blood.

Each step they took left faint red ripples, as if they were walking on a thin layer of liquid stretched over stone.

The box sat against the half-human figure’s chest, half-buried in roots.

One mimicker extended its elongated arm to grab it.

The roots reacted immediately.

They snapped like whips, striking out with blinding speed.

One root pierced straight through the chest of the closest mimicker, lifting it off the ground.

The creature let out a distorted hiss before its body dissolved into smoke and bone fragments.

"Keep going," he ordered sharply.

The remaining mimickers did not hesitate.

One lunged for the roots, its limbs splitting into jagged claws, tearing at the flesh-like tendrils.

The second dove straight for the box, ignoring the figure bound beneath the pillar.

In just a split second the whole place shook as the mimicker was able to grab the box.

Akamir quickly ran out of the room and slammed the door shut.

The mimickers quickly slipped into his shadow as Akamir ran away.

He was in no mood for fighting whatever that thing was.

Akamir slowed his pace, forcing his breath steady.

When he looked around, he found himself close to the room where Sephrina and Velyrian were held captive.

Two soldiers stood outside the door, their expressions tense.

"Huff.."

Akamir let out a soft exhale as he took out the box from his shadow.

It was a normal box with nothing that stood out about it.

’...What the hell is this thing?’

He couldn’t help but wonder, as it was in the place that was nothing but a nightmare.

Akamir drew in a deep breath as he slowly opened the box.

He held his breath as the contents of the box came to his view.

’...Hm?’

Akamir took out the two things that were inside.

The first one was a statue of a hand.

But instead of a normal one, this hand had eight fingers.

’...What the hell is this?’

Akamir wondered as he looked at it from all directions, but he didn’t find anything special.

He looked at the other thing, which was a beautiful key.

’...What is this key for?’

Akamir wondered, rubbing his chin in confusion.

’Is this the key for something important?’

He couldn’t guess as he let out a sigh.

’Let’s regroup with the others first.’

Akamir looked past the intersection as he looked at the two soldiers.

’Distract them.’

He ordered, and one of the mimickers immediately moved out of his shadow.

It moved like a fish through the place as it moved to the other side of the hallway.

Bam!!

The next instant, it made a hyper sound, taking the attention of those two.

"What was that?"

"Someone fall?"

"I don’t know."

They both looked confused as they walked towards the sound.

Akamir quickly moved as he silently walked toward the door.

He entered the room before they could even come back.

"Akamir?"

Velyrian said as he looked at Akamir walking inside the room.

"Are you alright?"

"I am fine." Akamir replied, walking towards him.

As he walked, he couldn’t help but look at Sephrina who was sleeping in her father’s arms.

"How is she?" Akamir asked, looking at the girl.

"She is... exhausted." Velyrian replied with a sigh. "She cried herself to sleep."

Akamir nodded once as he took his seat on the bed.

Velyrian didn’t ask him anything about what Akamir discovered.

He seemed to be happy that he came back alive.

Akamir, still lost in his own thoughts, took out the weird hand from the box.

He kept on staring at it as, for reasons unknown to him... Akamir felt like he had seen this before.

’Eight-finger.....’

Suddenly a thought crossed his mind which made his eyes wide.

"Is that a statue?" Velyrian asked as he noticed it as well. "It seems to be a statue of the divine messenger."

Akamir quickly turned to look at him. "Do you remember who this is?"

"Of course, I do." He replied, frowning. "Every elf does."

Akamir quietly nodded as he stared at the statue.

’...Wait, come to think of it, why are they even here?’

Akamir wondered as he looked back in his memories.

Was that a coincidence that there is a statue of an eight-fingered hand?

Was the tree that he saw, that eerily resembled the World Tree, also one?

And what about the body that resembled the first elf, Ieril?

’...Is Kros trying to recreate what happened with elven history?’

Akamir couldn’t help but wonder as he kept on staring at the statue.

’So, maybe... just maybe the body I saw was really an anchor.’

"Urgh."

A sudden groan from Sephrina made him look at the girl.

Sephrina slowly got up from her father’s arms as her groggy eyes looked around.

Her eyes froze as they fell on Velyrian.

"Father....?" She said, her voice seeming more unsure than ever.

Velyrian smiled genuinely as he caressed her hair.

"How are you feeling, daughter?" he asked.

"Where am I?" She mumbled. "Is this a dream?"

Her eyes slowly turned towards Akamir as she tilted her head. "Who are you?"

Akamir frowned. "I am Akamir."

She frowned harder. "You don’t look like him...."

Akamir quickly caught up with the situation.

"By any chance...." Akamir said. "Are you Empress Sephrina?"