"I'm sorry for all the trouble," she whispered, albeit a little bitterly, knowing that he could hear every single word despite the speed they were travelling at.
He said nothing except for giving her a quick glance. And for the first time, Alicia was glad that he chose not to respond.
When they arrived at the front of a large cavern, Alex was already inside while the rest waited outside for Zeke to arrive before doing anything.
Alicia let him support her as he put her down on the ground while she assessed her uncertain balance.
"I'm steady now, thank you." She thanked Zeke politely. She did not hesitate to hold onto his arm anymore, knowing that it would be more of a shameful disaster if she stubbornly let go and ended up crumbling into a disgraceful heap onto the ground.
Zeke signaled everyone to enter the cavern and the three vampires immediately obeyed. The old prophetess' gaze lingered on Alicia for a moment.
"I can walk now." Alicia informed Zeke and he simply glanced at her before nodding and led the way forward.
As they entered the cavern, Alicia began to realize the uncanny familiarity of the place even though they were still at the cavern's entrance. Her heart began to thud – whether in anticipation or nervousness – she was not sure yet at the moment.
"This place…" she gasped as soon as they went further inside. This crystal cavern was a bigger version of the Queen's cavern which was back in the Black Forest. "What… is this place?"
Looking around in shock, Alicia could not even form words anymore and she found herself buried in an avalanche of questions in her own mind.
"Zeres is not here." Alexander's voice jolted her back to the present and she finally remembered Zeres. That's right. Zeres. Where was he? And this place… wasn't she supposed to get all her powers back now that she's here?
She let go of Zeke and walked towards the throne. Hoping, praying, that she could feel something… even a small sign that this place could really give her back the strength and power that she had lost. She remembered clearly what Zeres had told her back when he looked for her in the crystal cavern in the Black Forest. All they needed to do was look for this cavern and everything will return to normal. And Zeres said that this was it. Ezekiel even confirmed that this was the place they were searching for.
So why? Why can't she feel anything? Why weren't her powers returning to her? And more importantly, why was Zeres not here?
Dread began to grip her heart as she felt that something was really wrong. But she still pushed on despite the feeling of wrongness permeating her every fibre. Every step she took stole her breath away, little by little, not because of her weakness but because nothing was happening. Nothing at all! This was not how it was supposed to pan out!
At last, she reached the crystal throne, her heart beating rapidly in desperation.
Anxiety churned inside her as she stood in front of it, putting in immense effort to maintain the appearance of being outwardly calm, which was utterly excruciating to her both emotionally and mentally.
The vampires were keeping a close watch on her, scrutinising her every move as she slowly and hesitantly sat on the throne that was obviously made for her, the ruler of the witches. If only she would take off her cloak, Kyle had that thought as in his mind, he could already picture Alicia in her glorious silver hair, sitting on that crystal throne, looking all majestic and breath taking – a vision of a goddess.
Zeke on the other hand nodded to the prophetess before turning to look at Alex.
"You said there were legions of undead vampires here." Alex voiced out.
"He must have taken them with him. We need to find the location of their new hideout."
"Do you have any clue?"
Zeke glanced at the prophetess who was already heading deeper inside the cavern as if on a quest to look for something. "No clue. You know witches can teleport in a blink of an eye. We can only follow the trails of the undead vampires."
"Alright. I'll go –"
"We'll have to wait for the prophetess to do her job here. I'm certain, she'll see something."
"You wait for her. I'll go ahead and find him. We don't have much time to waste here, Zeke. You know that time is of the essence right now." Alex obviously looked very edgy. He had been since he heard about Zeke's theory on what Zeres was trying to do.
"Fine," Zeke could only relent, knowing that he could not stop him. "But don't do anything rashly when you find him. Remember what's at stake here."
"Yes. Yes." Alex waved his hands impatiently and was about to leave when Zeke stopped him.
"Take Kyle with you." He said, causing Alex to whip around and raise a brow at him. But Zeke ignored his response and gestured for Kyle to approach them. "Go with Alex to look for Zeres." He told his younger brother and Kyle immediately nodded enthusiastically. "Make sure to watch over him." He added, gesturing with his head towards Alex, causing Kyle to blink but nodded anyway.
Alex smirked. "You're supposed to ask me to watch over your precious younger brother, not the other way around Zeke."
Zeke ignored Alex again and continued speaking with Kyle. "If you find Zeres, don't let Alex do anything rash."
"Y-yes brother."
"Good."
Once the two were gone, Lucas headed outside to watch over the entrance.
Still sitting on the throne, Alicia's shoulders were trembling. Her face buried in her palms. Tears and laughter were both threatening to burst out from inside her. She finally understood what her gut had been telling her all these while since Zeres spoke to her way back during the time they were still in the Black Forest. It was all a lie. Zeres had lied to her…
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A\\N: (04-16-2021) I'm so sorry for not updating much this week guys. I've been unwell the last few days and I'm still in a bad shape rn. I'm getting better but I'm still weak and coughing(dw, it's not covid ^^).
I forced myself to write this chapter because today is Hellbound's anniversary. 🤧It's been exactly 1 year since I uploaded the first chapter of this book.
I just want to thank you guys for staying with me until now. To those who were with me since chapter 1 and to everyone who came midway, thank you so much 🙇
Today is very special for me so I posted a cute anniversary photo of the major characters on my Instagram so make sure to follow me there @kazzenlx.x to see it.
You can also show me anything – thank you message, fanart doodles etc. You can comment here or dm or tag them to me on insta so I can put them all to my Instagram story. ^^
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HELLBOUNDERS!!!
