Chapter 760 - Cage
HWY received its first ever supergift today so I did my best to write a second chapter. Thank you so much @Edenn for the gift!
Ezekiel had grabbed her again as he had increased his speed as soon as they were out of the room. When he put her down, she peeked through her hood and realized that they were now in the deepest dungeon. Alicia was shocked to know that there was still a secret dungeon that was so impossibly deep. In fact, she could say that this was probably the deepest dungeon she had ever known existed. The most surprising thing was that no one, not even among all the previous witch queens had known about this dungeon in the Reign's castle.
Just as Alicia began to question herself what lies within this deep dungeon, she felt a pulsating power sweep past them. It was something that she felt was close to Ezekiel's demonic power.
Layers of thick and unbreakable bars opened as they move forward. Someone was imprisoned within. Who was it? She did not know why but she suddenly thought of a monster. Only a monster would be imprisoned like this! There were more than ten bars they needed to pass through to reach the main cage! And to think that the bars were not just made of thick and unbreakable steel but were also wrapped with demonic magic, which Alicia was certain that belonged to Ezekiel.
Goosebumps crawled over her skin the closer they get to the main massive cage. She could see someone's silhouette now and she could not help but feel her heart tremble. She wondered if her physical body right now was just emotionally weak as well that she could easily be reduced to fear or if this creature in the cage was just too powerful and terrifying that it was able to induce feel this kind of fear naturally.
They stopped and all of a sudden, the silhouette that was kneeling on the floor rushed forward and banged his body against the cage.
"Brother!" a male voice echoed out.
Alicia gaped at the sight before her. It was… a boy and… he looked like a younger version of Ezekiel, only that one of his eyes was pure black as though he did not have a pupil and the other was purely red. Could this be… the missing prince?!
Thrill and excitement and utter danger stormed in his eyes as he stared at Ezekiel.
"I finally broke the chains!" he added, lifting his hands. She noticed that even his nails were pure black. "I am going to break all these bars next and get out of this cage!"
"Sebastian." Ezekiel finally spoke calmly and with authority, taking a step closer. "Didn't I tell you that you're not allowed to ever come out of here until I say so?"
Sebastian's face darkened.
"I'm sick of waiting for you to let me out." He hissed, his demonic powers swirled around him, causing Alicia to instinctively step back.
Her one movement caught Sebastian's attention.
He looked at her and for some reason, his raging power died down.
"You brought someone with you?" He said, tilting his head as he turned his pair of unique eyes and looked at her. "A girl… who's she? What's her name?"
"Alexa."
Alicia blinked and whipped her head towards Ezekiel. Why was he saying a different name?
"Can I see her face?"
"No."
Now, Alicia felt like her head was about to explode from so many questions. Why did he tell his brother a different name? And why the hell had he said no?
Curiosity and intrigue flooded her. For some reason, she was desperately wanting to know more about this brother.
But as soon as she lifted her hand to push off the hood that was covering her face, Ezekiel's grip on her wrist tightened. The next thing she knew, Ezekiel had pulled her hood down all the way to her chin instead.
"Why bring her here if you don't want me to see her face? Or is she someone I know – no!"
Alicia heard him groan and then she heard thuds along with the swirl of magic suddenly getting stronger.
"Brother!!!" he shouted as if he was in agonizing pain. "Stop!!"
Alicia could no longer take what was going so she peeked through her hood. She saw what seemed like dark power coming from Ezekiel's palm filling the cage.
She could no longer see Sebastian! What had happened to him?
Her head whipped towards Ezekiel and for the first time, Alicia saw emotions colouring his face. Her body was rendered immobile as she watched that gleam of pain and sadness across his eyes.
But then, all too soon, he blinked and glanced at her. The emotion was now gone, completely, without any trace of it having been there in the first place.
When he dropped his hand, the demonic power seemed to have evaporate into nothingness. Sebastian was now at the middle of the massive cage, kneeling and in chains. His eyes closed as if he was knocked asleep.
Alicia returned her gaze at Ezekiel. "He's… one of the princes. Your brother. So why?" she asked in a weak voice.
"There is no choice but to keep him here." Ezekiel replied, stepping closer to the cage and stared down his brother.
"Because he's dangerous?"
"Yes."
"Don't tell me he's been locked in here for hundreds of years?"
When Ezekiel did not answer, Alicia almost gasped out in shock. This Sebastian was the missing prince. So he should be the second the prince. Meaning, he was already around almost as long as Ezekiel since the second prince was said to be just five years younger than Ezekiel. This means that… Sebastian had been locked up here for hundreds of years!
"Let's go." He turned after a long while of silence, pulling her along with him.
Alicia kept looking back at Sebastian until all the bars were locked behind them.
He no longer grabbed her like how he did when they had first entered the dungeon. He walked with a slow and steady pace instead, always making sure he was always a step ahead of her.
Alicia could only watch his back as she followed after him. She wondered what was going on in his head right now.
After giving him minutes of silence, Alicia could not keep her mouth shut anymore. She had to ask some questions, or she would explode from curiosity.
"Ezekiel.." She paused, causing him to halt as well. "Tell me, why didn't you want him to see my face?"