Alpha Ocean ✔

24. Tiscan

Naya's P.O.V. 
1st Century, Tiscan Ancient Civilization
Northern Hemisphere.

"Your highness, Hayden has escaped. I don't know how. He wasn't supposed to. I don't know how it happened. The fire didn't work on him." My trusted friend Elaria exclaimed in panic.

"Then he must have had at least one parent who was blessed by the fire spirit." I tried my hardest to remain calm not allowing the fear to show through.

"Yes but we did not know that a hybrid of such powers existed. We aren't even sure of the powers of the ones that are dead." She followed me through the long hallways towards my personal study chamber.

"We did what the spirits wanted us. They tortured and murdered more than 100 people, just for fun. I know what we did was inhumane but it necessary. We couldn't was let them hurt more people Elaria." I tried to reason with her even though guilt kept its tight grip on my throat. They might have been monsters and deserved what was done to them but I wasn't anything like them. I couldn't commit murder and sleep soundlessly.

"I understand your highness but what shall we do now?" Her high-pitched voice scratched my eardrums.

Elaria was one of the most powerful witch that the world had ever seen. Chestnut brown curls ended near her waist with bright green eyes that resembled the earth spirit's aura. She was the leader of her coven and my right-hand woman.

"We must find a way to capture him before he regains his full power or the world would be in chaos." The guard at my chamber door was a were-jaguar. His broad shoulders and height only added to his ferociousness.

"I agree but how. I might be a witch and we have the spirit's blessing but they are also powerful because they have both powers and we only have one. It's drained us." She was correct. They were all recuperating.

"What about the bodies?"

"The others were all burnt. Like you ordered."

I ordered the witches to cast a tracking spell on a special item that each hybrid wore or carried daily. Something they couldn't live without. We didn't dare cast a spell on them, couldn't have them become suspicious. When they were torturing humans, they were at their most vulnerable. They didn't care about who was around them or what was going on, they found pleasure in inflicting pain.

That's when they were ambushed and poisoned with serpent venom. It couldn't kill them but paralyze them for long enough, to be brought into the woods. Then, as the spirits had asked, we put their limp bodies over stacks of dry wood and lit them on fire.

Twelve bodies burnt that night as the humans celebrated their freedom. They were also a part of my kingdom and I had the exact same responsibilities towards them as I did for my own kind. I had to protect them.

We had to protect them. Ocean and I. The King of Tiscan and Great North.

Sighing, I shuffled through the scrolls and scribes to find out any information about this Hybrid called Hayden.

"Was he a phoenix?" They could create fire hence they didn't burn. "Or a Dragon rider?" They were immune to fire. They could understand the language of a dragon, protect them, keep them from harm's way. They were the protectors of dragons.

"No, no. He burned but everyone was so busy digging mass graves and the witches were trying to cloak them. We didn't notice when he managed to... disappear."

"HOW?" I exclaimed.

"I don't KNOW." She grabbed my hand. "Naya, I'm telling you. I swear to all the spirits and all the Gods and Goddess, I don't know how it happened or how he disappeared like that." She was frightened. Her unwashed tears glistened under the heavy candle lit chandelier.

"Air spirt. He must be a Fae. The vanishing gift, to be able to blend in with air is a highly powerful gift. Only Arsha could do that." I concluded. She was the last pure blood of her kind even though there were countless of pure blooded Faes left, their abilities varied depending on their family line and wings.

Arsha, however, didn't have wings. She was gifted with the ability to vanish into thin air where as everyone else had wings. She disappeared a long time ago and no had seen or heard from her. We initially thought she left Northern and migrated to Southern or Western like many others were doing.

Expanding and discovering new lands.

Finally, my hand landed on the scroll that had the word Hellhound written over the closed flap. A hellhound was blessed by the fire spirt and protected the spirit veil from the other side. They stopped unwanted creatures from entering the spirit world. Only a hellhound was allowed to crossover undetected. They were immune to fire but Hayden was a Hybrid. Meaning, he was definitely burnt.

However, he was able to regain his senses and use his mother's technique to disappear.

"Arsha had a baby with a hellhound, do we know where she is?"

"Unfortunately no. I didn't even know Hayden was her child. Honestly we didn't even know that he existed until last new moon." She slumped down on the chair next to mine, hand on her head, exasperated.

"Elaria, where's Regan's body?" Regan was the reason why we finally came to know who the Darkling was. We'd heard rumours of a hybrid with such power that it even scared the supernatural beings.

"Her body is with the others. Please tell me what to do." She pleaded. I sat back and stared at the stone walls and open arched window. The rounded tower room graced us with the view of the flat lands of Tiscan before the mountains and trees obscured the sight any further. I sighed, rubbing my eyes. My tight corset dug into my sides, fatigue weighed me down. I needed sleep.

I hadn't had a good night's sleep since the 12 hybrids started terrorising the citizen openly. They committed crimes before but they'd hide before emerging again. But recently, that wasn't the case. Since Hayden made his appearance, Tiscan wasn't the same safe space anymore.

"It's new moon tomorrow. Will you be speaking to the Spirits?" Elaria asked.

"Yes. We must." 

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A surprise update for everyone. Happy New Years everyone.