The Awakening

Chapter Twenty Eight

Balor sighed heavily, the sound escaping him and echoing within the silent study. His fingers pressed against the deep lines etched into his forehead, smoothing the wrinkles. He kept his head bowed, the dim light casting long shadows across the cluttered table before him, where papers, accompanied by scribbles and notes surrounding the experiments. The scent of ink mixed with the mustiness of old parchment, enveloping him in a cocoon of frustration.

"How has nothing worked?" His voice rumbled, low and thick with irritation. The words hung in the air, heavy and oppressive, as his eyes remained shut.

He had followed the scripts from the library meticulously, yet failure loomed like a dark cloud. The first few fae had perished in his initial attempts, and now Avelon—stubborn Avelon—refused to die, but showed no signs of power rising within her veins, despite his relentless efforts to awaken them.

"Perhaps we should lower the blocker doses?" Balor's gaze shot up, fiery and venomous, meeting his son's wide, shocked eyes.

"We are not giving any blockers to her at all." His sneer revealed clenched teeth, the sound sharp and bitter.

Useless, Balor thought. Stunned silence enveloped the room, thickening the air around them.

"She has not shown any signs of an affinity-"

Balor's fist crashed onto the table, sending papers swirling into the air. "Do you think I am stupid, son?" he growled, his voice a low rumble as darkness wrapped around him, flickering in anticipation like flames desperate for fuel.

"She should be showing signs of more than one!" He yelled, his voice echoing off the walls. "At least water and air—two experiments equals two affinities! That's the goal here, or have you forgotten, Ernin?" He stepped away from his table, nearing Ernin- the space between them charged with tension.

"Has your newfound power made you blind to the end goal? The power I have given you, through MY blood." Balor jabbed a finger at his chest in anger. Spit flew from his mouth as his anger sizzled within him.

Ernin instinctively took a step back, heart racing. Balor was not truly angry at him but at the chaos around him—the weight of failure and the burdensome promises surrounding Avelon's bloodline. It was a good thing Elha was absent, for Balor could feel the darkness tightening around him, a living thing that thrummed with barely contained rage.

He needed something to work, soon. His darkness was chaos, pure and undiluted, and it was angry at him for failing.

"No, I will see to it that she is roused enough to test any possibility of an affinity unleashing within her," Ernin said, his palms slick with sweat. Something held him back from mentioning his earlier encounter with Avelon, an unshakable dread.

He understood instantly that his father would capture her, contain her, drug her or all of the above had he found out.

Balor's gaze pinned Ernin in place, scrutinizing him with a fierceness that made the shadows tremble. After what felt like an eternity, he snapped his gaze away, the darkness fading into sullen corners, yet it lingered, always watching. Ernin shivered, acutely aware that they never truly left.

He did not understand the shadows that had begun following his father around, yet he never questioned. For the sake of his own sanity.

"Good." Balor's tone was clipped as he began to shuffle through the chaos of papers, his fingers brushing against the parchment- searching.

Ernin wasted no time in escaping the suffocating atmosphere of the study, the door slamming shut behind him with a soft but definitive thud.

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