Whispers of A Dead Empire

Chapter 112

Worry ate away at my mind as tears poured down my face. I was so scared. My eyes went to my notifications as my heart clenched in my chest. I pleaded with whoever would hear me as I glanced through my notifications, dreading seeing that she had died. My eyes skimmed over everything that I deemed unimportant. The rest I filed away until later.

I felt relief at seeing that nothing like that had existed. But why wasn't she answering me? I reached down and picked up her weapon, and stared at her. "Don't worry, Alessia. I'm going to get you somewhere safe." I wrapped an arm around her waist, and keyed in the teleport function. The world around me distorted as I was moved back to the stronghold. I had to take her here since I didn't want to pull Kharon away from Nyx. Not until I knew what was wrong with Alessia.

The millisecond that the world stopped moving, I looked around to find the closest soldier, which was a zombie. "You. Go to the inner sanctum. Find Kharon, and tell him to meet me in the first guest room. Now." I hissed through my teeth before my eyes met a skeleton that was standing at attention close by. "You, carry her weapon and follow me." I passed the pole arm quickly before I took Alessia in my arms.

She was so light. Even more so than a feather. I was terrified that she would float away if I let her go. So I clung to her, like she was a tether, as I pushed into the stronghold, my eyes set on the inner building. My body burned, and exhaustion gnawed at my mind. I wanted to curl up and sleep, but I couldn't. Not yet. Not until I knew she was okay.

I landed in front of the door, shifted my weight to my side, and pushed the door open, wholly ignoring the two guards that sat close by. I didn't have time to wait around for them to move. Without a pause, I pushed further into the building and quickly delved into its depth to get to the guest room suite.

My heart was hammering away in my chest nonstop, and I could feel sweat mingling with my tears as I reached the door. I needed to keep it together. Falling apart now wouldn't help anybody. I adjusted Alessia slightly in my arms, reached out to the handle, quickly flung the door open, and rushed into the room.

I crossed the small distance between the door and the bed and gently laid her down. Her eyes still lacked their luster, and her body hung limp. The blue liquid that ebbed freely from her cuts had lessened, yet it still tore me apart to look at her. I placed my hands over the worst of them, trying to staunch the flow in any way possible. Yet it seemed to only adhere to my fingers like a thick syrup.

I pushed harder and begged for it to stop. My irritation grew as I felt like my clothing was pressing down and restricting my movements. It usually would never bother me, but now it was a thorn in my side. A low growl escaped from my lips as I yanked my mask off and threw it across the room. The cool air kissed my face, and I took a deep breath. I wiped away some of the sweat and tears crowding my face before turning my attention back to Alessia. The flow of blue blood had finally stopped. My hands were numb, and my eyes stung. Every part of me hurt and begged me to close my eyes, but I couldn't. But I didn't know what else to do.
The door squealed on its hinges as Kharon glided into the room. His scarlet eyes blazing like a muted fire. "Mistress, I came as quickly as I could."

"Kharon, I don't know what's wrong with her. I've done everything that I can." I sniffled and wiped away more tears that were coming down my face.

Gracefully, he slid across the room and towards Alessia and reached his hand out, and placed it gently against her forehead. His eyes dimmed for a few seconds before he retracted his boney hand. "Ah, she is suffering from soul strain."

"What is that? Will she be okay? How long will she be out?" I barraged him with questions as I reached out and took her hand in my mind, trying to fight the thoughts that threatened to drag me into their cold, unfeeling depths.