The Blood of Darkness

Chapter 66

Note: It'll probably take me a few weeks to update again because I have exams coming up. I've estimated that there only are 5-7 chapters left before the end of this book, which is absolutely crazy to me.  Also, just to make this clear: Manar is not meant to be hot. He never has been, and never will be. As always, thank you for reading <3

Val

As I make my way through the eerily-empty, corpse-filled corridors of the castle, I allow my Darkness to seep into my mind—cloud my humanity, obscure my feelings. Not because I want to, but because it is necessary.

War is my song. Death is my melody. Wrath is my rhythm. Revenge is my refrain.

I want Manar to fear me.

Yes. If I have to let him kill me, I can at least make him fear me first. Get a knife to his throat, see the distress in his eyes, bask in it, but then hesitate or make some kind of mistake to allow him to make the final crushing blow.

It would be a small victory, but it would be mine nonetheless.

I am heading back to the throne room because that is where I know Manar will be, lounging upon the desecrated throne, surrounded by corpses and his loyal men. Due to the mostly-empty halls (except for the few stray groups of soldiers, which I kill with barely a thought), I'd guess that Rurik has succeeded in taking the castle, and that Manar now plans on using it as a sort of stronghold as his army begins to descend upon the bulk of the city.

If this is going to be anything like Nieves, houses will be burned, children slaughtered, wives raped. Embers will be taken and carted off to Rurik's Lychnus mines to work to their deaths. Rivers of blood will flow through the streets and alleyways.

What will Manar do with my body? Hang me up on the castle gates? Or in the city square?

My only comfort is that at least Kye won't have to watch me die.

Maybe it won't be so bad, death. The Occisor said that over time, as a soldier fighting in his war, my memories would fade. So at least some of that pain would fall away.

But I would lose my humanity too. I would finally become a true monster.

I'm just deluding myself out of this sheer, selfish desperation for my situation to be different.

Too late, Val, I tell myself—harshly, unflinchingly. You're going to die. You have always known this. Do not be a coward.

I let more Darkness fill my mind until my frenzied thoughts have gone silent.

The closer I get to the throne room, the more soldiers I come across. They're armed impressively and skilled just by looking at their stances, but they're defenseless against my Darkness.

I consider taking one of the side entrances so my arrival will be subtler, but I decide against it. If I'm bringing myself to Manar, then I better make one hell of a show out of it.

I will not have a quiet death; I would rather be called a monster than a coward.

I round a corner and find myself only steps away from the grand entrance to the throne room. The doors, which were previously splayed open grandly for the ill-fated ball, are now shut and guarded by a group of Rurikan soldiers who are currently rifling through the corpses littering the floor, ripping necklaces from necks and cutting off fingers with rings still on them. It's gruesome and brutal and I want to be sick but instead I kill them all, so easily, just with a few plumes of noxious Darkness.

I'd use my swords to combat them, but it would be tedious and drain my strength, which is already fairly depleted, probably due to the facts that I haven't slept in nearly twenty-four hours and I've already participated in a significant amount of fighting tonight.