Ileus: The Dark Prince

In order to distract Seraph's attention, Anastasia said, "Do you know where your body is? After the war is over, do you think Etaya will take you back to Zor'gan?" 

The Dark Witch swiveled her head to see Anastasia like an owl. Iona was struggling—struggling with her internal demons—and she was failing. The only orders that fell on her ears were to kill Anastasia. A grin spread on her face showing her pointy teeth. 

"Killll herrrr!" Seraph commanded the witch. 

Iona turned to go towards Anastasia. She clacked her teeth and said, "You have to kill me Anastasia to stop me!" She was heavily under the influence of the Diumbe. The dark forces guided her. They were like an integral part of her body, her soul. It was impossible to get rid of them for they had become addicted to coming back to the world and showing their presence with Iona as their vessel. Even if she wanted to get away from them, they wouldn't let her. And that was Seraph's plan—to make Iona beyond redemption. To convert her into a killing machine, to use her against her own people. But he was guided by his wife—wife whom he loved beyond words. He had abandoned his harem to be with her. He had done everything possible in his power to give things she demanded. He even gave his life for her for her mission and for the dream she wove in front of him—to rule Draoidh and then the Lore. 

Iona lunged at Anastasia, but a burst of shadows flashed in front of her so fast Iona halted, got engulfed in even more darkness than she had ever encountered. Ileus was there to protect his wife. 

Anastasia looked at Etaya who was on the ground, crawling towards her husband, staring at him as if ordering something. The dense fog around her was obscuring her from the world. Anastasia couldn't let her go. "If you think that your body is in Zor'gan, then you are in for a shock, Seraph!" Anastasia called him. "Your body was never in Zor'gan." The magic in her hands wanted to lash out and kill both of them. She could feel her vision changing. She wanted the snow of Vilinski to be smeared with their blood. 

"She is speaking lies, Seraph," Etaya said in a hoarse voice. "Don't listen to her." 

On her left she looked at darkness swirling all around the place. Smokes and shadows and shattering of bones and glass and spraying of blood mingled with screams and grunts. 

Seraph hissed at Anastasia with his elongated fangs and red eyes. "Stay away…" 

"Oh, but you must know this. Your body is not in Zor'gan. Etaya always kept telling you that your body is there because that is your sacred place, because that is your kingdom and because that is where you wanted it to be. But how could you trust someone as vile as Etaya?" Anastasia sneered. "The day she killed you, she brought your body to Vilinski!" 

"She is lying!" Etaya shouted hoarsely. 

"Am I?" said Anastasia as she swirled her Evindal. She glanced at the brother and sister and saw that two wolves had joined them—Kaizan and Darla and… Dmitri.

Seraph whipped his head towards Etaya. The fog surrounding her receded. Hot burst of mistrust and the bitterness associated with it was apparent in his reaction. He stared at his wife, at the woman for whom he had embraced death and then dark forces. For the woman he had gathered the dark spirits and embraced the obsidian. His soul was wrenched with loathe and sourness only because of her but he never complained. For the past so many days he was feeling restless because he didn't know why but he felt that he needed to return to his body. However, Etaya was not letting him. She was throwing too many conditions and reasons for him not to return at this time. Why was it that his spirit was restless? 

Anastasia continued, "The body was lying in a sarcophagus that can be accessed from her room." 

"Don't listen to her," said Etaya. "She is lying in order to create a rift between us!" 

And this was Anastasia's chance to go next to her aunt. So, she walked to her and pinned her throat with her sword. She pushed the tip of the Evindal sword in her skin. If she decided to gut her, Etaya would be dead, but that was not her plan. If Etaya died, then because of her vow to the Lore, she would be reborn. What dark soul would want to be reborn? After they died, their spirits went to the Land of Gaira… forever, blissfully… "Have you mistaken me for you, aunt?" Anastasia scoffed. She turned her gaze over her shoulder at Seraph. "She kept your body in Vilinski always to keep you under control. She was afraid that you would go back to Zor'gan and enter your body, which would have become a huge detriment to her plans, because—" she moved her chin towards the shadows and smokes, "Then who would have controlled Iona?" 

"This is preposterous!" Etaya said. Anastasia pushed her sword in her flesh from her neck to her shoulder and she screamed with pain. White light flickered out of her and evaporated like a wisp of clouds—her magic. The Evindal sword was capable of removing the magic. 

Unsettled by the emotions he was feeling, Seraph could feel the shadows of death looming over him. "This is not true…" His tentacles retreated and slumped on the ground. He looked up at his creation—the girl whom he had kidnapped for his wife. The life he had ruined for his wife. He remembered his daughter—the daughter he had sacrificed for his wife. He could never understand why Etaya never grieved about Maple. Even Aed Ruad was filled with so much grief, but as a mother, she didn't feel even a bit of remorse. 

"Then why don't you go and check the sarcophagus in the tunnel next to her bedchamber? She manipulated you." Anastasia chuckled, not at his misery, but at Etaya's expressions. 

"Th— there is no tunnel next to my bedchamber…" she replied, swallowing her saliva. How did Anastasia know that she had hidden the body over there? Who had revealed the information? No one knew. She had stolen his body from Zor'gan with the help of the demon king and brought it to Vilinski so many years back. Ever since she had left the body in the sarcophagus and forgotten about it. Every time he would ask about it, she only gave him false information. No one in Zor'gan knew that she had replaced his body with that of another dead Zor'ganian in the holes where Sedora kept the frozen bodies. 

Anastasia circled her and halted behind her. "She has played you big time, Seraph. You must go and check the sarcophagus to see whether I am speaking the truth or not." She pressed her sword at the back of her chest. More magic came out of Etaya and she screamed with excruciating pain. "She is the reincarnation of Etayalar Aramaer, who was the daughter of the first demon king. She is in the Lore for a purpose. She connived with the demon king this entire plan. Can't you see through it?" 

Stunned, Seraph couldn't move. He stared at Etaya—his only love.