The Flame- RETURN OF THE DRAGON HEIR (Book 2)

52. The Truth

Rose's POV

From the past few hours I have been coming in and out of my consciousness. I opened my eyes for what felt like a hundredth attempt and tried sitting upright.

"They are here. It's time", Greg announced. "You know what, I was bored Rose. I thought that me taking over this world would be happening without the presence of any spectators. But see how lovely your friends are Rose. They have been helping me all along, and yet they don't rest back", he said laughing. " I think you can come out now", he said, moving his hand around and wiping off the magical traces of the cage around me. "Anyways you are in no position", he slightly bends over and laughed.

" Yea", I managed out "You had to weaken me, to get me to this position, you coward", I fired back at him boldly. I felt like my head was getting clear as every second passed by.

"Ooh, you think I am a coward? I am scared of you and that's why I had kept you encaged?", he asked me, hysterically laughing.

" That's the truth, accept it", I managed out briskly. I purposely tried to instigate him, in the hopes of getting some answer. yes! I needed answers. Who was he in real? He didn't look like the serene Greg I knew anymore. This Greg was dark...dark as if possessed by the devil himself. What does he want from me? And what place was this? I turned my gaze around slowly to study my surroundings. I was in an enormous circular room. The walls were all stacked by weird artifacts. It almost looked like a library of some kind.

"Where am I? Who are you?", I asked him, finally not being able to contain these questions in my mind anymore.

" Over 90 years...90 years I have been waiting for this moment Rose", he smiled back wickedly. "I am...", he started.

At that exact moment, the door sprang open and my friends entered in, giving the entrance those heroes give in movies.

" He is Xalton", Adrian completed his half-completed sentence.

"Adrian", I managed out, trying to get onto my feet, but only that it failed to support me and so I fell down again. He immediately rushed in ahead to help me, but a single spell by Greg...stupefied them all, they were standing there looking nothing less than frozen sculptures.

" Yes Xalton", Greg announced. His eyes now gleaming with sudden excitement. "The rightful heir of the Flame", he announced. " You Rose, do not deserve this. Do not deserve this at all", he yelled out loud. I couldn't understand what he was saying. Puzzled I looked up at him, and he smiled back understanding what I meant.

"My father, the most powerful Eldar, who contained the powers of the Flame was betrayed by my uncles, who unlike my father were thirsty for power and fame. They never really understood their power before due to the limitations and restrictions put on them by the council. Who unlike them understood the full potential of the Eldar magic right from the beginning, that's why those restrictions were placed. Those fools, my ancestors never understood this", he added bitterly. I realized that I didn't take my gaze off him as I slowly started getting hooked up into his story.

"When the desperate need for a new world arose and all the restrictions imposed on the usage of the magic was lifted, that's when the real Eldar magic potential was understood. It was revolutionary. The magic they yielded, it's power shook the entire silver-blood community. We were worshipped by everyone as gods. Wealth, Fame and power, the Eldars received everything they wanted. Everything which they denied from sharing with my father. My father without whom nothing would have been possible was never respected by his elder brothers. And he never put down his foot and fought for his rights. He was a loser", he said. I was stunned for a moment by the way he just described his father. " He was useless. The way everyone praised the other Eldars and the way my father and his powers were overshadowed made me furious. I wanted to claim my right in this world, unlike him. His stupid ideologies made me sick sometimes", he spoke out with great distaste. "And so I waited", he said, now walking in between my frozen friends. "I waited until I got my magic. Until I got the Flame. Oh, Rose! I was so young and so passionate. I wanted to get what I deserved only. I wanted the immense powers of the Flame, with which I could rule these realms. I wanted to be a god, A god above all of them", he said pointing out at my friends.

"But you see, the problem arose here Rose. My father could never understand me, and like always he didn't understand this either. He came to know of my plans with The Flame and so did something he shouldn't have", he said, now walking towards me and bending down slightly so that our faces were straight. "The flame is not like all other powers, that would pass on by generations. This was different, The flame gets passed on only if the present yielder willingly gives it up to someone or is taken from them unwillingly", he smiled wickedly. " I asked him to give it to me but he refused me, Rose", he told me softly, as if he was sad. I know that there was no sympathy for this insane person and his insane ideas but still. "He refused to give it to me. We had a fight Rose, and in that fight I killed him", he said. I let out an involuntary gasp, not hiding my thoughts about the man standing in front of me.

"Yes", he said, pleased by my reaction. "I killed him, thinking that I could steal the Flame, but I couldn't. That old hag created a dragon with his powers and put The Flame into it, instructing it to find the one who was truly worthy of it", he said.

"Worthy?", I asked him, slowly.

" Yes worthy", he confirmed. "For the coming years I searched hard, everywhere this possible worthy individual would be", I now saw Serena entering the room silently by the corner of my eye. " And so for years I waited, waiting silently for the correct moment, it was not soon that I found out about your birth because I had to wait for 70 long years for you", he said kneeling down and cupping my chin. A sick smile was playing across his face.

"Your parents were smart Rose. They knew that their child will be the one who will possess the infinite powers of the Flame. They knew about me, and so to save you they took you to the Earth. I reached there with great dreams Rose. You see this was the moment I had been waiting for from the past 70 years, it was a huge moment for me. But your parents... they spoiled everything for me", he said, his voice edged with rising anger now. " They hid you somewhere, somewhere I couldn't find. Those crackheads deserved what they got from me", he said, smiling broadly. I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise up. Did I just get it right?

"What do you mean?", I asked him, unsure.

" I killed them", he answered back coolly. "No, him", he corrected. " Your mother, she escaped me. I have that in my mind, she will die of my hands only...if she is alive now", he added coolly as if he was having a normal conversation with me.

"You killed my...", I couldn't complete my sentence " You killed my family", I yelled out at him. I could see my friends struggling there behind him, to free themselves.

"To gain something, you have to lose something. It was for the greater good, you will understand soon", he answered back calmly. " Shhh now", he said pressing his finger against my lips. "There are lots you have to know now", he whispered. "I waited there for two years", he started again. I hated this person standing in front of me. He tricked me to do God knows what! The last few days have been a blur. I couldn't recollect anything that happened in these few days. It was like, my memories have been muddled. I absolutely had no idea how the hell I reached this place in first. The last I remembered was Adrian getting hurt by Genn. What the hell happened after that?

" Two years on Earth I waited. Trying to search you in every possible way, but I couldn't find you. But what I found", he said smiling now. "Was a possibility that had a link to you", he said.

" Kat", I breathed out, unknowingly.

"Very right", he said, satisfied that I have been paying attention. Serena who now looked bored exited through the same door she came in through. " They were smart too, as they hid their child before I even arrived there. I tortured them, but they didn't utter a single word about your whereabouts. And so I killed them too", he said as-a-matter-of-fact.

Chills ran through my spine. The thought that Kat lost her family too because of me made me feel miserable. 'I will take our revenge, I promise you Kat' I silently told myself.

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