10 days after the destruction of the Clayman cult.
Tamasya’s floating island...
Shadow’s voice sounded in Tamasya’s
The voice carried a subtle alertness, not imdiate danger, but enough to interrupt her focus on what she was doing.
"What is it?" she asked, holding a spellbook in her hand. She was determined to get a hold back on her powers, so she had started preparing to reach the level of control she had once attained thousands of years ago.
Shadow replied in her mind with a curious tone. The uncertainty in Shadow’s voice was rare, which made the situation feel more significant than it appeared.
Tamasya’s brows furrowed; she felt a bit suspicious. Keeping the book down, she disappeared from her seat and appeared above the clouds of her domain, in front of the boundary of the island.
She arrived, wondering who it was that Shadow had seen before; she would not have waited if it was an unfamiliar being with hostile intent; she would have directly sent anyone with hostile intent away to the realm of death.
Shadow wisps slithered around her as she prepared to attack if any hostile intent was directed at her. The wisps reacted to her thoughts, coiling tighter as her vigilance increased.
But what she saw made her eyes widen.
"Lord Elion!!" she voiced involuntarily as she looked at the ruined old man in front of her wearing a new regal robe instead of the prisoner’s sha. The contrast between the dignity of the robe and the state of the man made the sight even more unsettling.
The man looked at her as if he had lost all hope and grace; his figure looked withered by ti and torture.
Even standing, he seed to be held together more by will than strength.
A few minutes later...
Elion, the patriarch of the Moon Clan, sat on a chair in front of Tamasya’s figure, who looked at him with a disturbed and restless expression.
He held a cup of warm water with his two withered hands that seed to shake occasionally under the effect of sothing invisible that was eating him away from inside. Every small movent of his hands showed strain, as if even holding the cup required great effort.
He drank it as if it were the elixir of life; this was his twentieth cup of water. At this point, Tamasya had kept a bucket full of hot water in front of him, from which he refilled his cup at so intervals, never letting the cup go empty.
This small detail reminded Tamasya how this man had not forgotten the mannerisms of the moon clan even after 15 years of imprisonnt.
The analysis carried an undertone of concern, acknowledging the unnatural endurance.
"Is it like my case?? Like with the nether energy?" Tamasya asked Shadow curiously. Her question ca from experience, trying to find familiarity in sothing unknown.
Shadow spoke and then chose not to elaborate, never letting Tamasya know the difference, and neither did she ask for it again.
Tamasya had bigger questions in her head for now. The situation in front of her demanded answers that mattered more.
With a hard gulp, she posed the first one.
"Did you escape from the prison?" Tamasya asked softly; the front man was no stranger to her. He was Anastasia’s father, and he had accepted her as his daughter when the whole world had turned its back on her.
Her tone softened unconsciously, reflecting the bond that still existed despite ti.
Elion raised his head and took another sip of warm water; a breathy and grainy muffled voice escaped his mouth after that.
"No," he said silently.
"I am here to beg," Elion said.
Tamasya’s brows furrowed. "Beg for what??" she asked, the idea itself felt out of place coming from him.
Elion raised his hopeless yet experienced eyes and looked at her straight, making Tamasya take aback; she was higher in the cultivation realm, but she felt it now. The depth in his gaze carried sothing beyond power.
This man was defeating death every second, gripping its neck with the fist of sheer will. Tamasya got the answer that Shadow had chosen to stay quiet about.
"For death," Elion spoke.
"What??" Tamasya shivered; sothing was wrong, oddly wrong here. Her instincts rejected the aning behind his words.
Patriarch Elion Luneia looked at her for a mont. "I am short on ti; my daughter will be beheaded in front of an empire in six hours. I want to die before her." There was no tremor in his voice, only urgency.
"What!! Are you talking about!! Tamaysa gasped and asked Elion in a disturbed tone and expression.
The statent shattered her composure instantly.
"Winston...left my daughter alive so that he could lure you into his trap. He has laid it out; don’t fall into that trap, Tamasya."
"What trap are you talking about???" Tamasya asked with a frown.
", I am the trap," Elion replied coldly. He wasn’t weakened by what was happening right now; he had accepted these circumstances long ago. The pain was there, but his soul was too tired to express it.
"Listen to carefully, kill , purify my moon core, and give it to your disciple, the one who delivered your letter to my daughter," Elion said firmly, looking at the confused Tamasya. Even now, his thoughts were aligned toward the future rather than himself.
"That child is our only hope for revenge against the pope."
"Shut up!!!" Tamasya shouted, a sword appeared in her hands, and she pressed the edge to Elion’s forehead. "This shit concerns the life of my sister!!! You are not allowed to tell what to do!! Tell the truth, or else I will barge into the capital myself," she roared.
Her restraint broke completely, replaced by urgency and anger.
Elion looked at her unfazed; Tamasya looked back like soone who had refused to yield. At the end, old man Elion sighed, "I would have never co here if not for those bastards forcefully pushing into your domain."
With a deep breath, he spoke,
"Winston has sent to bring you into his custody; otherwise, he will kill my daughter. I was given six hours, but even if I beg you to go with and you agree, that won’t make a difference. Winston will kill her anyway; he has deep-rooted hatred for the sun and moon clans, and he is a swine at heart."
At this point, Tamasya breathed heavily as the impending death of Anasthasia lood in her mind before she could say anything else.
Each passing second now felt heavier on her shoulders. A countdown had already started in her mind, replacing every other thought.
Elion looked at her and continued in his gravelly voice, "That is why the best option is to use as an ingredient for accelerating your disciple’s growth; only he can fulfill our revenge. Even if he does not, as long as he can live peacefully, I would be satisfied."
His priorities were clear, even if they demanded his end. Elion did not flinch, looking at the shocked Tamaysa.
A few monts passed before Tamsya gulped in a heavy tone. "I don’t know much of what you say, but..." She waved her hands, and mana-restricting chains appeared in her hands. Her decision was ford before her reasoning could fully catch up.
Without waiting, she bound her own hands with those chains. "I am ready to go even if it ans prolonging her survival for a few days; Andrea and Yue will be inford about it by . As long as I can buy ti for her, I am ready to go," Tamasya said with resolve.
"Are you mad??" Elion asked, "There is no hope for Anasthasia now, but you are telling to lose another one of my daughters due to my foolish actions??" His voice rose for the first ti, breaking through his earlier composure.
Tamasya’s eyes reddened, and she broke. "We don’t have ti to do anything; we need ti. I will buy that ti even if it ans losing my life. I won’t be letting Anasthasia die like that; she doesn’t deserve that!!"
Her words carried desperation but also conviction; she knew she was stronger than Wiston, but it was not guaranteed that Wiston, having the backing of the light god, would not be able to inflict even more harm on the ones held as his prisoners.
Elion threw the glass of water on the nearby wall in rage and stood up and shouted. "Of course I know my brave daughter doesn’t deserve a death like that, but why can’t you understand this Tamasya, ti is not ours right now?"
Tamasya’s tears flowed while her lips pressed to form a determined expression. Despite everything, her resolve did not waver.
"i have a plan and we will be following that, i am not letting you make the call here"
Elion shook his head "Fate is not on our side !!!"
"Fate will have to bow" Tamasya voiced as her final verdict.
Just then the door of the mansion opened up.
"William?"
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