Gods and Dark Creatures (Book 3)

CH. 11: Cassius

He was bound with chains. He was kneeling chained before the throne of the Goddess of Chaos, Eris, unable to even stand up. He was to her like an animal that she was trying to tame. However, Cassius was not someone to tame easily. She tried for years, centuries, and she kept failing, again and again. And so she kept trying. But this time she has something she never had before.

His heart.

She pulled a large mirror in front of him. Its frame was made of gold. It was made up of snakes wrapping themselves around each other. Cassius glanced at his reflection.

"I know how terrible I look right now even without you showing it to me in the mirror," he said contemptuously.

The chains that bound him had thorns. They were like climbing roses made of iron. They were stabbing into his body. Streams of deep red blood ran down his skin. The more he fought, the deeper they stabbed into his muscles. They were tearing at his skin. Sweat was running down his forehead. His hair was messy. Unruly strands fell into his eyes.

"Always so conceited." Eris laughed. "I have something better to show you than your suffering."

She waved her hand and the surface of the mirror rippled. The image brightened again, showing another world. It showed a forest immersed in darkness. The mist crawled at the roots of the trees.

"What is it?" Cassius didn't understand.

"Just watch," Eris told him.

A girl was riding a horse through that dark forest. She held a torch in her hand. The bright light of the fire illuminated the beautiful features of her face. He didn't even have to look twice to recognize her. Her golden hair gave her away. Dragomira. He also recognized the forest that surrounded her. Forest of the Dead. It's crazy that she chose to look for him. She was supposed to stay safe in the Red Palace and take care of the kingdom in war. Who will take care of Toska now? Who will take care of her?

"Look how brave your beloved Dragomira is. She set out to save you." a mischievous smile never left her lips.

Cassius knew the look in her eyes and he didn't like what it indicated at all.

"Leave her alone!" he said with venom on his tongue. "She didn't do anything to you. I'm the one you want."

Eris grabbed his jaw. She dug her nails into his skin. The flame of anger flared up in her eyes.

"You forget that you already belong to me, dear Cassius. You always belonged to me," she said. "But you're starting to bore me, so why not play with your beloved?"

"You won't even touch her," Cassius said furiously.

He was trying to resist the chains that bound him tightly. He was trying to tear out of them. The chains only tightened their grip.

"I like your defiance, dear Cassius. I can promise you that I won't kill her now. I have other plans for her. We're just going to play a little.''

She turned his gaze back to the mirror and made him watch.

Dragomira had been on the road for a week. At least she thought so. Time inside the forest was quite different. You don't know when it's day and when it's night. You begin to lose consciousness of the arrival of dusk and dawn. Maybe it could have been just one day that seemed like an eternity to her, and maybe she could have been on the road for months. Time was slipping away there.

A breeze blew through the forest. For the first time since she left Toska, she could feel the fleeting touch of the wind on her skin again. Something like a howl echoed through the air. Wolves? No, she said to herself. In the cursed forest, nothing is as simple as ordinary wolves.