Primalcraft: Sins of Bygone days (book 2)

Rituals in the Dark, Chapter 7

"Alex?" A warm hand touched his cheek, hunting away all the memories. Alex looked down into two brown eyes filled with worry. "Are you okay?"

"No, far from it," Alex said between clenched teeth. His heart aching and shame washed over him like tidal waves. He looked away from those eyes, suddenly feeling like he wasn't allowed to gaze into them. "I feel rotten to the core."

"What did he do to you?"

Alex closed his eyes, trying to keep the bad memories away but they kept peeking over the edge of his sanity. Keep reminding him that they were there. "He experimented on me."

The hall was filled with silence, the air thick with tension. "He did what?"

Hadrien's voice shook. Whether it was from horror or anger was not clear to Alex. Maybe it was a bit of both. "He used dark magic to experiment on me. He killed people, sacrificed them, to make me stronger."

"So you became an Anax to get away from him?" Hadrien said quietly, not uttering what he actually thought. He didn't need to, Alex gave him the answer.

"No, I became an Anax through my father's experiments. He transferred their essence to me and made me an Anax."

"That... Impossible," Alex let out a snort but that did not deter Hadrien from continuing. "You can only become an Anax through fully understanding and agreeing with your spirit. You must be in absolute harmony. That cannot be achieved through dark magic!"

"Yes, it can. It has apparently been done before but... It often ends up wrong."

"How?"

"That person often ends up turning the animal spirit into a Penumbra, becoming more a monster than an Anax," Alex explained.

"Are you-"

"No, I'm not entirely sure why that didn't happen to me. I think it was because I was a victim, not the perpetrator so my animal didn't go mad. We just... United. In the previous cases, it was the shifter who tried to turn themselves into an Anax. This time, I was just there. Watching. Begging my father to stop." Alex rubbed his face, gathering his courage, and turned to see Hadrien's expression.

To his relief, there was no fear there. Only concern. "Is that why you are ashamed of being an Anax. Because you feel like you haven't earned it."

"I haven't! I'm no real Anax, if I was my mother wouldn't spend all her time trying to hide me from the world. I am tainted, just like my father. A monster, just like him." Alex refused to cry, he had done so enough when he was a child. He was too tired of crying to do so. He just closed his eyes awaiting his judgment.

"You are no monster. At best, you are a little kitten trying to make yourself bigger than you actually are," Hadrien said, stroking Alex's cheek and Alex huffed.

"I'm taller than you, bloody dwarf."

"But you look like a stick. You need sleep less and work out more," Hadrien said lifting Alex thin arm and which lured a burst of laughter out of Alex.

As the laughter died out Hadrien continued with a gentle smile."I'm not sure I can say anything to convince you that you are not a monster. That is something stuck inside your mind, but I will promise you," Hadrien walked closer looking up into Alex's eyes, making Alex want to lick those smiling lips.

"I will keep telling you that you aren't a monster until you believe me."

Alex snorted, "Please, don't do that when we are in bed. You might wound my pride."

Hadrien's eyes twinkle," You will never be anything other than a purring little kitten in bed, chaton."

Alex growled and decided that it was worth shutting him up with a kiss. Those warm lips engulfed his and Hadrien made no attempts to even pretend like he didn't want the same as him. When Alex finally let him go, they were both out of breath.

"Though it is extremely thrilling to snog in an underground tunnel while hearing a bronze minotaur thrashing around in water behind us, we might try to find that girl," Hadrien said.

"What girl?" Alex cocked an eyebrow, pretending like he was joking around but for a second, he actually had forgotten about Erin. Well, to be fair. Who wouldn't with those eyes staring at you with bedroom eyes?

"Let's go, chaton, before we both freeze to death," Hadrien said and they walked down the corridor. Alex did so with light steps, as he felt like a burden has been thrown off his shoulders. The secret his mother had been so adamant to keep hidden has been revealed, and the world hasn't imploded. Hadrien hadn't run away or tried to kill him. He was fine, they were fine and Alex knew that for the first time in a long while, he would sleep easier.

As they walked, following the trail left by the minotaur, they finally reached the center. Alex wanted to shout out his joy as he entered the open space, a circular room with an altar in the middle. On it was Erin, unconscious but seemingly fine.

Hadrien walked over to her, frowning at the strange circle on the ground. It looked like a sun with 19 rays. In the middle of the sun was an s-like shape with a dash over it. There were two dots, one on top and one below the s on the left and three dots to the right. Considering that Erin lied in the middle, it must have some considerable meaning.

"Do you know what it is?"

"Strange, it isn't Celtic or Gaelic. Maybe Arabic or Hindi," Alex muttered.

"Far older than so," a voice cut through the darkness, and both Alex and Hadrien let out a shout in surprise. Turning around Ahriman stood leaning against a pillar, looking like he had been there the whole time.

"What the hell are you doing here? Did you know of this place?" Alex said, his hand on his heart trying to get it under control.

"Did I know of the secret temple built by ancient druids?" Ahriman pondered as he straightens himself and walked over to them. "Yes."

"And you didn't think it was necessary to tell anyone?" Alex said, narrowing his eyes at Ahriman who didn't look bothered at all. No guilt crossed his face.

"It was abandoned when the Romans killed off the cult. I thought all mortals had forgotten its existence," Ahriman said watching the circle.

"You know what the circle is?" asked Hadrien who didn't seem to be as bothered as Alex by Ahriman's presence. Maybe he was used to it.

"An ancient symbol from a long-dead civilization. It is a Thouwai used by the Wang-u-Pa from the Kangleipak."

"So, it is Indian," Alex concluded, as Kangleipak was the ancient name for the Manipur in northeast India. "What is it doing in a druid temple?"

"It's not really a druid temple. It was used by druids and witches," Ahriman said and walked over to a wall covered in roots. With a snap of his finger, the roots turned to dust showing a horrid sight underneath. A creature with a snakehead, bat wings, four arms, and bull legs. In two of his hands where severed heads and in a third was a snake with one body but two heads. The mad eyes stared at them while it showed an open mouth filled with sharp teeth.

Alex took shakenly a deep breath as he had seen that symbol before. When his father had experimented on him. He knew that horrid face. It haunted him every time he closed his eyes.

"Let me show you what true power looks like, son."

Hadrien walked over, a frown on his face but no fear. The expression of someone who didn't understand the implication of what he was seeing.

"Nasty, but I have never seen it before. What is it?"

"It's the symbol of a cult called The Tenebra. Very rare, most of their temples have been buried along with the people who built them, " Ahriman said looking at the symbol with those fiery eyes. Distain colored his face. "Why mortals would devote their life to such a creature is beyond me."

"Then you know the creature," Hadrien said, but it wasn't Ahriman who answered. He just looked over at Alex, apparently knowing about his secret.

"I know him. My father knows him," Alex said quietly, but Hadrien heard him. His eyes darted to his pale face and worry plastered his face at the sight of Alex's attempt to play off his dizziness as a joke.

This was no joke. There was nowhere to hide when his past stared back at him with such disdain.

"He is Zarazen, the Archon of corruption and taint."