Solace

XXV

"Can i participate?" said ephraim from down the dais.

"sure you can, sir." ethan replied as he sat down once again on his seat.

"be that every audience here is an honorable member of our society, can the competition be held right here, right now?" he smirked.

"i dont see why not." ethan said with a sigh.

"me, as well." a resounding voice of a woman came from the very back.

"but-" ethan was dumbfounded by the appearance of the one he thought he would never see again since his granny gulfs ascension way before he even got his mates. "sure, my lady." seeing that the woman motioned for him to be silent, so who is he, the emperor of all supernaturals, to sway the command?

"me, too sir." said another on the left. seeing that they are nobles from old families who once tried to usurp the authority of the royal family, ethan permitted.

several others volunteered as well both from high and low status in the vampiric society. this may be biased since only vampires and a handful of wolves and other creatures were present, ethan made it clear that every creature in the plane has the opportunity to take this once in a lifetime chance.

kuea looked at the spectators around him. how in the world would he able to overcome them all? all those competitors who in all their lives have been trained from literacy to combat, who was he compared to them? a modified and experimented monster from a lab? the mate of a royal? someone who doesnt even know his origins.

"yan?"

"i dont know what granpa ethan was planning but rest assured that he will not do this if he knew you cant compete with them, love." lian gripped kueas hand, making the other lean his head on it.

"kuea and all the competitors step into the circle. ill cast an altered space so you can go all out all you want. remember this is a fight to the death. kuea will not hold back either. since these competitors belittle my bet on the throne, lets see wholl eat dust in the end." ethan declared as kuea wasnushered down the dais and into the circle that was casted before them.

kuea looked back at lian pleading with all of his might that theyll pull him out of this event. he doesnt think hes in command of whatever power he has. he barely touch his power whenever they went on training. what will he do?

the moment kuea was surrounded by the competitors, hes already in panic. little did he know he was flanked by the goddess herself and his granny gulf. hes too engrossed in his self doubt to even see lian was hovering over his every move as well.

"dont think, imagine, kuea. you have the control. you have the keys. you know how to do it." gulfs voice rang into kueas head.

chaos sprung surrounding kuea in all directions. ephraim along with gulf and the goddess fought all the other candidates but all of these came into deaf ears to kuea. he cant hear anything. he cant see the blood that was pooling over his feet. he cant feel the power eminated from all around him. hes in a trance, a world where he could only see himself...

"who are you? why do you have my face?"

"im kuea. people from where im from call me K."

"but-"

"but im not of your world. im simply a remnant of a memory of the soul that is in you."

"soul?"

"yes, you had died at some point before your mate had rescued you and my soul got absorbed in you for some reason. maybe your god took pity on you or youve got a mission you have to fulfill. mines all done and had wished only for peace for the remainder of my life. i guess i could live on within you and do that but i think i could finally rest knowing you have people here who truly cares about you."

"-"

"i know this might sound crazy in my world but in yours, you can do anything you imagine kuea. i can only do so much on the games i played before in my world but in yours, the possibilities are endless. have confidence in yourself, k. you know what to do."

"will... will i ever talk to you again?"

"i dont think so but if some miracle that i managed to talk to you, maybe ill be in a different form."

"t-thank you."

"mmm." the other kuea just smiled in response as he faded away.

kuea then was startled at the view the moment his consciousness returned. the cylindrical space that they were in was littered with lynched bodies. plenty was still standing. the one that they had called ephraim, his granny gulf and the goddess all but disappeared. are they dead? impossible.

he tried to scan the space and never saw any clothes that resembled theirs. maybe they felt him waking up and retreated in their own way? maybe they felt the surge of his power and decided that its time to back away? whatever reasons they had it boils down to his disposition now.

kuea can feel it. its in the tip of his tongue. words or not, the moment he willed it. it happened.

a whirl of wind emitted out of his body along with myriad of blades rotating around him as its axis. bodies flew into the cylindrical sphere that he was in. all the other candidates got swept through the blender that they were in. slashes after slashes. blood filled the tornado of thorns turning it into red.

kuea felt liberated. the feeling of freedom that even surpasses the time when lian rescued him. his mind cleared. his thoughts soar. there was a hum behind his mind but its never the uncomfortable one rather it was reassuring.

the moment when the wind calmed down, ethan let go of the containment spell that he did on the circle. out flowed the mix of blood and clothes and skin and bones of the ones they had called candidates.

kuea emerged at the center, bathed in red but as soon as he had stepped out of the circle, he felt a tingling sensation on his skin. his once drenched self came out dry, cleansed and unbothered. the throng of people that was surrounding the area made a bubble around him as he passed through going to the dais again and into his seat.

"dear?" lian broke the spell of silence.

"im okay."