A QUEST OF DEATH : Dawning Darkness

08 | The Story Of A Monarch • Part 2(edited)

Etched onto the polished wooden floor, lay a meticulously drawn pattern. Dark rusty brown etchings formed a pentagram enclosed within a surrounding circle, standing out starkly against the polished wooden planks. The blood had long since dried. It was evident that it had not been freshly drawn; it appeared to have been etched there long enough that the evidence of it was already deteriorating. Despite its worn state, the symbol still radiated a quiet power, as if the blood itself had been infused with malevolent magic.

"Au-"

"Darkness is a cryptic company Ada. The more you get known to it the more you wanna stay in. It becomes an obsession at some point."

Adjacent to the pentagram she could witness a crimson ink patch, appeared to have aged, its original vibrancy dulled over the time, leaving behind a haunting reminder of something ominous that had occurred in the space where once a comforting carpet used to rest.

"What in the-what is this?" She questioned, the sight sent a shiver down her spine.

"Ada have you heard the story of the Serpent Monarch from Dagasha clan who was left to be consumed by the darkness?" Auden asked a certain anguish smirk playing upon his lips.

It was enough for Ada to become so well aware that trouble loomed in the air.The realisation dawned upon her, filling her with a sense of dread.

"I don't even know-" She began but Auden cut her short, again.

"No, no. You know. So well. You know that Dagasha Monarch. Even his first name. Not many had call him by that,"

Ada could feel a lump clogging her throat. The air feel thick and her heart raced. She watched Auden step forward and standing in the middle of the drawing etched on the floor.

"You, just like everyone else-Did. Not. Bother."

And a sudden low, guttural groan escaped Auden's lips that straddled the line between human and something otherworldly.

"Auden... what-what's going on?"

Ada's heart pounded in her chest, the reality sinking in like an anchor dragging her into a sea of fear and uncertainty.

Auden had no reason to talk about the Dagasha Monarch in question nor a reason to have a pentagram drawn in the middle of the room. Unless...

Her brother's body contorted unnaturally, as if undergoing a surreal metamorphosis. Bones cracked and joints twisted,as if glitching like a malfunctioning entity. Something had changed within him, and it reverberated through his words, the sight unsettling. Nothing made sense about him at the moment except for the fact that it was all wrong and getting worse by the minute.

Auden let out a primal howl, a chilling blend of anguished cries and a haunting rasp that echoed the voice from her darkest nightmares, his form shifting into the very nightmare that had haunted her for so long. As if a veil had been lifted, the truth struck Ada with the force of a thunderclap.

"Auden..." He scream shook the whole Luna Sanctum.

A malicious chuckle filled the air. And the thing standing in front of her eyes was no longer the brother she knew. It was him-the one she had suspected. The voice that had haunted her nightmares and whispered malevolence into her darkest fears.

Gan Gagagore. The Dagasha Monarch who failed to conquer his inner darkness and ultimately went insane. She knew him better than anyone else. She knew the person he was before the darkness consumed him in whole. She knew the person he became afterwards: the reason why she was not allowed at Luna Sanctum anymore.

She couldn't fathom how the monster from her past, the one haunting her dreams, had merged with her brother. While she wasn't entirely sure about the process, she suspected the ominous pattern drawn on the floor in front of her might hold an explanation.