The next morning. After washing up and making sure they were presentable, Alicia and Zeke headed to the dungeons where Sebastian was being imprisoned.
As they approached the thick and protected bars, Alicia felt Ezekiel’s hand tightened around hers a little. The boy beyond the bars did not come at them like how he did the first time that Alicia was here.
He was just there, silently kneeling on the ground, his hands chained to thick restraints that were reinforced with demonic magic to keep him there. The sight of him was breaking her heart. It was just unimaginable how this boy had been just locked up here like this for so long. It was not just years… but hundreds of years, in fact! Alicia could feel hot tears pricking the back of her eyes as she stood there with Zeke, not moving nor speaking.
Looking over at Zeke, Alicia silently squeezed his hand in encouragement. She knew that it must be agonizing for Zeke to watch his own brother being treated like this for almost seven hundred years. She could not even imagine the torture and suffering for both Ezekiel and Sebastian during these long years.
“Seb,” Ezekiel called out to his brother softly and the boy beyond the cage opened his eyes. His animalistic grey eyes stared at them through his dark, damp and messy hair.
Even after almost seven hundred years, Sebastian did not seem to age. Ezekiel said that Sebastian’s appearance never changed since that fateful day, and that time seemed to have stopped for him since the day he drew that demonic power into his body. And that was why, until now, Sebastian still looked like an eighteen-year-old boy.
“Tonight… I will finally free you.” Zeke added. “Forgive me for taking so long, Seb.” He gripped the thick bar and still tried his best to stay as composed as he always was on the outside. But Alicia knew, she could feel, that Zeke was in turmoil on the inside, every time he looks at Sebastian.
The boy did not speak nor responded to Zeke. He kept his seemingly deadly gaze trained on Zeke for a long while before shifting his gaze to Alicia.
“Who?” he finally spoke. His voice was creaky and rusty as he had not had any reason to speak for long periods of time. Though only one word, but it was clear he was asking who Alicia was as his gaze was directed at her when asking that question.
Ezekiel held Alicia’s shoulder and pulled her closer to him. It was as if Zeke was trying to show Sebastian that Alicia was someone very important to him. “Meet my wife, Seb.”
Sebastian simply stared at Alicia, unblinking in its intensity. His dark aura and the madness that swirled within his eyes seemed to calm a little. A touch of sanity seemed to have returned to them.
“Her. Name?” he asked and again, Zeke’s grip on Alicia tightened. She could feel his intense hesitation to utter and reveal her name to Sebastian. The last time they were here, Ezekiel had mentioned a different name and until now, she still did not know the reason why. All Zeke had told her that time was her name rings a bell to Sebastian.
A sudden growling sound rumbled from behind the bars and Sebastian started to tug violently at his chains. The tame boy from just a while ago was now looking and behaving like a beast again. Nothing was recognizable in his eyes but pure animalistic madness and an extreme bloodlust. He pulled and tugged forcefully, trying to break free from his chains until blood began to drip from the torn skin at his wrists, ankles and neck.
Watching him and being so helpless to help in anyway was just… heartbreaking.
Alicia looked at Ezekiel with teary eyes and saw him quietly watching his brother trashing at the chains that held him captive. How many times had he watched his brother like this? How much had his heart bled and ached as he stood just outside, not being able to do anything for his own sibling? Alicia shuddered in agony for her husband as she thought of it.
…
By the time they left the dungeon, Sebastian was still wreaking havoc inside his cell. Even when Zeke used his demonic magic to put him to sleep or to restrain him, nothing seemed to work. So, he instead focused on the powerful shield holding the bars from being damaged and tried to strengthen them even more.
“He’s getting worse the closer we get to that moment.” Zeke said to everyone, his voice grave and low. Alex and the rest were already with them as they all had felt the commotion going on from underneath the ground. They knew that it must have come from the dungeon. “I’m guessing that he’s going to get worse as the minutes pass by.”
“And you’re going to become even weaker?” Alexander asked the question that was on everyone’s mind but did not dare ask. His gaze was scrutinizing and piercing as he looked directly at Ezekiel, not avoiding the man’s own sharp gaze.
Silence reigned at Alex’s words while Alicia just clenched tighter onto Zeke’s hand a little. She had been feeling it lately. What Alex had mentioned. The closer they got to the D-day, Ezekiel seemed to be getting weaker and weaker. Today in particular, was the worst. It had declined to the point that Alicia had felt a slight fear clutching at her heart when she woke up this morning and noticed it. Of course, the reason she could sense it so clearly was due to the special connection that was between them.
But now, after Zeke had just used more of his demonic power in strengthening Sebastian’s cage earlier on, he had weakened even more, that even Alexander was able to notice it. And that was a worrying fact.
“Yes.” Zeke replied without the slightest change in his tone. “This is necessary for the ritual tonight.”
“I see…” Alexander nodded but it did not escape Alicia’s notice how his brows creased a little. It was not normal for Alexander to look so doubtful when it comes to Ezekiel’s words. It was because of this, that made Alicia feel a little tremor shaking her already unsteady heart.
