The Alrevia Order [Elisop]

#7 Slowly sneaking

No matter how good and honest you were, darkness was always lurking nearby wherever you were. It could take many forms to better control you and make you its puppet. Demons, tormented thoughts, conflicts... They feed on human emotions to create something awful and inhuman, the very personification of evil, Yidhra.

An entity both real and imaginary. Half woman and half snake, Yidhra lived in the world of dreams mostly, where she could feed on the nightmares of men and grow in strength. But this was not enough, all this was just small fry. She needed more, something unique, something... poisonous.

A power opposite to her own, but used in the right way, would give her an unthinkable power that would bring chaos to the world. Yidhra needed a sacrifice but not just any sacrifice, this one had to carry a light greater than anyone else. This person had disappeared before she could get her hands on them centuries ago, but this light had just recently taken shape again and all paths could only lead to her whether they wanted to or not.

Yidhra had servants all over the continent. Their loyalty to her was endless and they would do anything to make her live again as in the old days when Man had not yet been created and the gods reigned over everything. She didn't just want to destroy humans though, not after the gods had gone through so much trouble to make them.

No, she wanted to dominate them, crawl over them and drag them to her tail. Her plan had already been set in motion when she managed to take control of the crown prince of a certain kingdom. Unfortunately, the pressure of supporting the weight of such an entity was too much for a young human to bear and it would soon wither.

That's why she needed the child born of the light.

It was extremely easy to find the druid and blackmail him into telling the child where to go, especially with the demon's influence being carried by her doll without much difficulty. It was only a matter of time before Orpheus also succumbed to Yidhra's poison. His death was not really necessary but it was safer this way.

The fate that awaited him was surely one of unparalleled pain. Marks similar to tattoos would climb from his legs to his arms like brambles and the pain that came with them was identical to a thousand thorns and needles aggressively stabbing his skin. This one would turn to a dark purple while the madness would take over its prey who would only be able to utter gruesome screams before finally perishing, a sordid laughter echoing in his mind seeming to mock him.

Ah ah ah ah ah!

"...-!"

Two eyelids opened abruptly to restless green pupils, their owner's thoughts still in a fog. What on earth was this nightmare? It seemed so real when it was obvious that it was only a figment of his imagination. The young knight sat up in his bed before rubbing his eyes and standing up to stretch with a slight yawn.

He walked to the sink where he rinsed his face and then looked at himself in the mirror with a slight frown. He couldn't exactly remember the bad dream he'd just had, some details had stuck in his head like a sort of snake woman and a strange laugh but most of it was just plain void. Somehow, it gave him a bad feeling.

It was like a kind of sixth sense that came out of nowhere, but unfortunately for him, there wasn't much he could do to fight something he knew nothing about. There was also the possibility that it was one of the consequences of having overworked himself by leading the other knights and mages and that he was just a victim of severe fatigue. The former was the more preferable option.

Aesop wiped his face with a clean towel before getting dressed. His eyes landed on a vase on his nightstand as he finished, his gaze softening slightly as he observed the bouquet of purple flowers that decorated the room. It was lilac. Eli was the one who had given him these flowers yesterday, saying he had found them somewhere near the trails.