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RUMIR
When the uncontrollable shivers started, I knew I was losing the fight against the virus. Even though the cold had never bothered me, I was now freezing. I’d felt nothing in Esavale, a city of ice, but being trapped in this temple had turned me into a frozen statue.
Or perhaps it was the virus changing me.
When Cedric had dragged me from the balcony we’d teleported to, I’d taken note of our surroundings. We were in a temple embedded in the mountain. The pillars and high-arched ceilings resembled a sanctuary, but I had no idea which god this place was dedicated to, since there were no statues or lingering divinity. But whomever this place belonged to, it was old, perhaps from the first war.
Cedric had made use of a few places that dated back from the time of the war with Tedara, but running his operation from a temple—probably hers—was just too ironic.
Two dragons took me to a windowless room with rocky white walls and tied me to a stone table, my hands and ankles bound. I’d been here since, slowly losing my strength.
Growling, I tugged on the chains holding me down, but they wouldn't budge.
I could feel the virus, like a living thing inside me, crawling around, trying to settle in, but I was managing to hold it at bay. When other souls were infected, they turned right away, so maybe the fact that I had some control over my body was my father’s doing.
He'd said that his bite wouldn't make me a typical infected, but typical or not, I didn't doubt I'd lose my free will to him. No amount of power would make me bend a knee to my father if I could help it.
But either way, I was losing the fight. His bite, which had started out to be incredibly painful, and had only grown worse, was now freezing me to death.
I'd almost given up, allowing the cold emptiness to spread through me, until I heard Natalie call my name through our bond.
I’d never been happier to hear her voice.
I was able to feel her need for me, her yearning, and perhaps she’d been able to feel me, but our connection was weak. I told her not to come find me, and I'd wanted to tell her Cedric would use me as bait, but then I couldn’t hear her anymore.
And though I hoped she’d heard me tell her not to come, she wouldn't listen. Natalie wasn't the listening type.
But if Cedric was using me to lure her closer, if she were ever taken, I'd rip the realms apart to find her.
Cedric was up to something, and I knew he was going to hurt her.
I closed my eyes when the room shook, and the sound of the door opening was a deep rumble, like tumbling stones. The same dragons that carried me in here returned, removing my chains, and as much as I wanted to attack them, I couldn't. My body was almost completely frozen.
The colder I got, the weaker I got, and the more the walls keeping the virus at bay splintered.
The dragons dragged me back onto the balcony, and I was stunned to see the sky as red as a pool of blood. I had no idea what was happening, but this had my father's name written all over it.
When the dragons released me, I fell to the ground, my jaw almost breaking from the impact.
“Be gentle with him,” I heard Cedric growl, and fog left my lips when a strangled exhale was pulled from me. When his boots appeared before me, I looked up, barely able to move, and my vision blurred. "You don't look so great, son."
"Fuck you," I growled, and he scoffed as he stooped down to look at me. My vision cleared, and I wasn't sure I was looking at my father. “You don’t look so great yourself, Cedric.”
His outside was starting to look like his insides—corrupted. The skin on his neck going up to his jaw and chin was cracked, like a dried-up dessert and the skin around each crack was black.
I could see the chaos inside him, glowing beneath his skin, and his lips were darker.
He had similar marks under his eyes, although faint. But what really stood out was the scar across his face. It looked like an open wound or a line of lava, burning through the ground. And inside it, chaos was pulsating.
“We all go through changes, Rumir,” he said, tilting is head. “Like you, right now.”
He rubbed my shoulder, and heat surged through my body. My jaws clenched, my teeth grinding while the virus inside me reacted to his touch. The chill in my bones vanished, and my dragon roared to life with hatred.
“There he is,” Cedric whispered, my eyes reflecting in his. “You're like me, son, no matter how you try to deny it. You're a savage when you need to be. And I can’t wait much longer for you to reach your full potential.”
Footsteps approached us, and I found that I couldn't move. I wanted to sit up but couldn't. Someone was standing on the other side of me, and testing their scent, I realized it was a god.
“Yes?” Cedric asked, without taking his eyes off me.
