Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder-Chapter 1694 - 136 : A Demon Rests

*Briella*

The first thing I was aware of when I woke next was that I wasn’t lying down. My body knew immediately that it wasn’t in the safety of its bed. That jolted me awake so suddenly that it caused my head to pound.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dim lighting in the room. I was able to turn my head, so I again had some control of my body, which was a huge relief. I blinked several times and eventually realized I was in some kind of sitting room. There were bookshelves filled with books that had strange alien letters on the bindings.

I was sitting on a velvet-lined chair that almost looked like a throne. There was a crackling fireplace in front of me, and I found myself lulled by the flames. A plush rug the color of blood was beneath my bare feet.

I tried to stand. My heart stuttered with fright when I realized that I couldn’t. There were some kind of invisible bindings keeping me from standing. The familiar cold sensation of dark magic swirled around me.

I tried not to panic, but my heart rate was rising rapidly as I struggled against the tethers keeping me pinned to the extravagant chair.

My mind raced as I tried to recall what I was doing there. It took me a moment to remember, but then the events of the last time I had been conscious came rushing back. Despair settled as I remembered the way I had left Emberly and wandered outside the palace and how a strange dark force suddenly took over my body and brought me down to the land of shadows.

I wondered how much time had passed since then. I looked around wildly but could find no windows in the dimly lit room. My heart clenched as I worried for Kryzen and Emberly. Had they been abducted as well? I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to pray madly to the Goddess to protect them.

A low creaking sound had my head shooting up. My jaw dropped, and my eyes nearly bulged out of my head as Tian stepped into the room. He was dressed in dark clothing that made him look like a dark shadow.

Tian didn’t speak to me right away. His dark eyes were fixed on me as he shut the door and approached me, placing himself between me and the fireplace. The light of the fire behind him caused his facial features to appear even darker.

I couldn’t find my voice. Even if I could, I wouldn’t know what to say to this ruthless man who I thought was dead.

“I am pleased to see you, Briella.”

I could only gape in shock, my mind reeling. Hearing Tian speak only made it more real that he was alive and actually standing right in front of me.

“How is this possible?” I murmured, horrified when I realized I had voiced the thought aloud.

Tian actually looked amused by my words. He tilted his head to the side slightly as if thinking about how to answer me. “I’m assuming that you’re wondering how I am standing here alive,” he said. When I didn’t answer, he continued in a low, almost amazed voice. “The great lord Malphas has once again shown me kindness and saved me.”

Horror coursed through me at the confirmation that Malphas was there as well. I shook my head, somewhat grateful that I had enough control over my body to at least accomplish that. “Malphas is dead,” I said in a choked whisper, perhaps hoping that by saying the words aloud, I could make them reality.

Tian chuckled, but the sound wasn’t unkind. He sounded genuinely amused as if I was a child who got an answer on a test wrong. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised you would truly believe that,” he said. “I too thought that he simply didn’t exist, but I can assure you, he is alive. He might not be the same as he once was, but he lives.”

I suppressed a shudder. Tian was speaking as if the fact that Malphas was alive was truly something to celebrate. Yet, there I sat, tied to a chair, clearly against my will. The only explanation was that Tian was somehow being brainwashed. I saw no sign of this in his eyes, but he couldn’t actually think I would find that good news.

I had to try and reason with him.

I took a deep breath, trying to choose my words carefully. I kept my voice low as if Malphas could somehow hear us, which really wasn’t that farfetched. “Tian, you don’t have to do any of this,” I said. “Please let me go. You don’t really want to do this.”

Tian frowned at me. I thought I saw a little bit of remorse in his eyes. “Malphas was right,” he said sadly. “You really don’t remember all the amazing plans Malphas had for you when you were a baby. Don’t worry, he’ll remind you soon.”

No part of me liked the idea of that. My heart started to race even faster. “Tian,” I said slowly, trying to make my tone persuasive. “I don’t want what Malphas wants for me. Please, come with me. We can escape together. Malphas is just using you, but I can help you.”

Tian’s eyebrows rose, and he shook his head. “I could never turn against my father like that.”

My jaw dropped. I just stared at him as if he was speaking another language. “Your father?” I asked through unmoving lips.

Tian nodded firmly. “Malphas is my father,” he said. He chuckled again as I gaped at him. “I see you have a lot of questions. Not to worry. Everything will be answered soon.”

I shrieked when my body suddenly stood on its own and started to walk toward the door. Tian opened it for me like a gentleman.

“Where are we going?” I asked in horror, trying once again to fight the invisible force.

Tian didn’t answer. I could do nothing but float along helplessly as we walked through the door, into a long dim hallway, and out of one of the black buildings that made up the shadow city.

“Father will be pleased to see that you are finally awake,” Tian commented as if I was some kind of honored guest.

I looked around wildly as we wandered through the city. It felt like lifetimes ago when I was there last, fighting against the very man who now had me captive. I was only slightly relieved to find that there were no signs of the shadow creatures we had defeated.

Maybe they had been destroyed once and for all, unlike Malphas and Tian.

I felt panic start to rise even further when I realized I was soon going to be face to face with Malphas, the man responsible for my grandmother’s and my mother’s suffering.

But I was completely powerless, my body controlled by his evil son.

Instead of going into another building, we came to a door that appeared to materialize out of nowhere. Tian pulled the small dark wood door open to reveal another staircase leading down into darkness.

We were going even further underground than we already were.

I felt like I was almost suffocating as I went down the steps ahead of Tian, the darkness immediately swallowing me up. It was only kind of a good thing that my body was being controlled since I couldn’t see anything as we disappeared below the shadow city.

I was in control of my breathing. Since my heart rate was so high, it was coming out in sharp pants.

“Don’t be afraid,” Tian said in a surprisingly gentle voice. “We don’t want to hurt you. We only wish to reason with you. Hear us out, and all will be well.”

I highly doubted that. After I heard them out, I would still have to refuse whatever it was they planned to offer me.

The staircase seemed to go on forever. It felt like it was getting colder and colder with each step we descended. I longed to rub my hands over my upper arms but wasn’t even granted that much body control.

When we finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, I wished for nothing else but the ability to turn and run back up them without looking back.

I couldn’t even stifle the gasp of horror at what I saw. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

At the bottom of the stairs was a small cavern with just one item in the center of it.

The large glass tank was a tall, wide cylinder with bright red liquid inside that looked thick. Unfortunately, the solution was translucent enough to where I could make out the figure floating inside.

There was no mistaking that it was Malphas. I hadn’t seen him since I was an infant, but I knew it was him. He was wearing nothing but dark pants, his upper body completely bare except for the plethora of scars that lined the pasty skin. He looked like he had been sewn back together after being chopped up.

If my body wasn’t being controlled, I probably would have fallen over considering how weak my legs felt and how black dots were starting to form at the edges of my vision. I shook off the shock, swallowing heavily and trying to stay calm.

“I grew up with a desolate mother who had to beg on the streets to keep me fed,” Tian said from behind me, his voice flat. “My mother told me that my father was dead. One day, when I was a teenager, I heard a voice in my head calling me Son.”

I already didn’t like this story. It sounded eerily familiar to how I ended up there, but I kept my mouth shut, continuing to stare at Malphas’ floating body in horror.

“I found myself here in this wondrous city,” Tian continued, his voice filled with awe. “There was nothing else like it. When I wandered a bit more, I found my father, beaten and broken on the ground.”

I sucked in a sharp breath as he painted the terrifying picture in my mind. My parents would have been horrified to learn that Malphas had survived my mother’s powerful magic. It seemed impossible, but there the monster was, floating in a red tank with soulless eyes shut. He looked almost harmless as he slept, but I knew better.

“Since that day, I have been working to put him back together again,” he said. “It seemed hopeless at first, but Malphas is powerful and taught me all sorts of magic as I worked to bring him back to life.”

I was beginning to feel sick to my stomach as my head began to whirl. He had been dead, but somehow, his essence still existed, and he was able to be brought back.

Did that mean he couldn’t truly be destroyed?

If I could have jumped, I would have when Tian suddenly appeared by my side, gazing at his father along with me.

“Malphas’ body has finally been restored after nearly a decade of work,” he said quietly to me. He turned and smiled as if he accomplished something spectacular. “Now that my father is back, you can finally be reunited with him.”