Spurned Luna’s Return: On Your Knees, Alpha Chase

Looking below, she saw what was precluding her escape- a black, bony hand that had sprung up from the cracked ground, covered in patches of a malodorous brown liquid that seriously made her want to barf.

So it was just a bony hand that was restricting her? She didn’t scoff at this verity but took the issue gravely.

This hand… Did it belong to a demon that hadn’t fully made its appearance yet, or what King Drake actually summoned was just an arm and nothing else? Whichever was the case, she still had to be careful.

With a little more effort, she liberated herself from its hold, but there was no time to feel relieved, as she unexpectedly felt immense pressure above her, which immediately nullified her levitating ability.

She dropped to the ground and found to her astonishment that the hand that she’d escaped from had surprisingly duplicated. The two hands elongated and grabbed her feet tightly.

‘Jeez! I can’t believe two hands are restraining me!’ she thought as she struggled to get free, to no avail. She then looked up with some difficulty and saw a massive glowing red palm shrouded in black fog levitating.

“Gosh!” she exclaimed in stupefaction. She’d never seen anything like this. Looking at the king once again, she saw he was having a tough time remaining conscious, his eyes were bleeding and he ended up stabbing himself with a black knife at the shoulder, while he gritted his teeth, using his sceptre as an aid to continue standing. That grey book was still levitating in front of him.

She couldn’t use any of her tails to snatch it, as the pressure exerted by the hand above was really much.

‘Well then, I have no choice,’ she turned invisible and the bony hands were forced to let go, as her legs transformed into a mermaid tail.

While the hands were attempting to hold on once again to her nonexistent legs, Lavana crept away, with a lot of difficulty, from the reach of the two hands and then teleported out of the garden entirely. She didn’t have any particular place in mind, but anywhere was probably better than where that quirky red hand was.

The two hands went back into the ground but the large hand floating above started moving, heading towards the late queen’s mansion, while the determined king sat in a meditative pose on the ground, the book now resting on his thighs. He slit his right wrist open and placed his bleeding hand on the particular book page, resolutely muttering inaudible words.

***

Lavana found herself on the floor of a dark place. Returning back to human form with her gemstone still in appearance, she rose and looked around the room as her gemstone served as a torch.

She gulped after seeing that the extra spacious room didn’t just have a very high bed, it also was filled with a lot of spooky decorations. The entrance double doors were locked from the outside. That wasn’t a problem for her, as she could teleport out of it.

Nevertheless, since she was here already, with the light from her gemstone, she wanted to explore for a bit. She knew that there was a big chance she hadn’t successfully escaped that mysterious glowing hand yet, but if it attacked her again, she’d be better prepared for it.

The large framed picture hung on the wall had the image of the queen wearing a black crown and silver gown, looking sinister.

Lavana ignored it and headed to the study that was attached to her room. Upon entering it, she saw a lot of books, neatly arranged on the shelves; all of them had black covers.

‘How does she even differentiate them when they don’t even have titles on them?’ she wondered.

There was also an exquisite wooden table and two chairs in the middle atop a round brown carpet. On the table was a large black book that was left open. The words on the visible pages she couldn’t comprehend, so she didn’t bother with it.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

As she was about to exit the study, her hand accidentally brushed the wooden vase that was placed on one of the ends of the table a bit. It almost fell, but she caught it and placed it back on the table in its previous spot.

The shelves on her left parted immediately, revealing a secret passageway. She was floored by this occurrence.

“Lavana, there’s something in this hidden place. You have to go in,” Cephina suddenly spoke.

“Oh? Is it something that concerns us?” Lavana asked in bewilderment. The passage was dark and looked creepy.

“Yeah,” Cephina responded.

“Okay then,” Lavana nodded her agreement. Since Cephina viewed it as important, then, she would go in. But first, she had to inform her cherished one, just in case.

“Phoenix?” she mindlinked her mate.

“Yes, darling. Are you alright over there? Did the king give you a hard time?” came her mate’s reply.

“Um… he summoned three hands. I think I got rid of two of them. But the third hand, although I have temporarily escaped it, I know it’ll come for me,”

“Where are you currently?”

“In the late queen’s study,”

“How do I get to it?”

“It’s attached to her bedroom. A secret passage has just opened. I want to go check it out,” she revealed before adding, “I just wanted to inform you,”

“What? Why didn’t you say so earlier, mate?”

Immediately, golden light appeared close to her and Phoenix’s figure was soon seen after the light faded. He immediately turned around and took out a loose green gown with pink petals as a design.

“Catch,” he threw it to her without looking back. She caught it, expressed her gratitude and quickly put it on.

“You can turn around now, mate,” she said with arms crossed.

“Okay, my dear,” Phoenix turned around, “Lavie, you look good in everything,” he complimented with a smile.

“Thank you, mate. I have to ask, though. Why did you appear here so soon?”

“How will I let my beloved mate brave the unknown alone?” he smilingly asked.

She shook her head and sighed at his response, “You’re afraid that I’d get hurt or be in mortal danger?”

Rubbing his palms together, he responded, “Honestly, that’s one of the reasons I’m here,”

Uncrossing her arms, she asked the last question, “So, what’s the other reason?”

“I also want to explore and know what the queen’s hiding. I’m also itching for a battle. The two snakes were not enough for my copy to kill. They actually caused lots of damage in the kingdom before I sent them to hell though.”

“How big were they?” she curiously asked as they entered the secret passageway together.

He responded, “They were very big when I first met them in the forbidden cell. I went to, you know, deal with that General Karlh and his subordinates. I just beat them a little, at least they won’t be sitting for a year. Then I visited their treasure house. There were some things that I liked. So I took some of them and left the rest. It should be enough to repair the damage done in the kingdom, I think,”

“What exactly did you take?”

“Um… I found precious herbs, medicines for rare diseases, prized military books, precious stones… I didn’t take too much of everything,”

“So… what do they have left?”

“I’ll just show you when we’re done here,” he said, hands in his pockets as he walked leisurely while she shook her head with a sigh.

“They almost emptied our treasure house once. And I nearly got killed too, if it weren’t for a late general who saved my life back then. So I swore to become stronger, so no one would die because of me. It’s not easy to get into this kingdom without a jade pass. Now I got here so freely, of course, I’ll return the favour. I didn’t kill anyone like they did back then though,”

She didn’t reply to him and instead increased her pace.

“Are you angry at me, Lavie?”

“Yes,”

He sighed, “I’ll put everything back, if that will make you happy, okay?”

“No. I want you to empty the treasure house and set it on fire. They hurt you so badly, we’re just returning the favour by hurting their pockets, alright,”

“Whoa. That’s nice of you to suggest. We kill no one but cause some ‘little’ damage,”

“Destroy the food storehouses too,”

“That’s a great idea too,” Phoenix gave his mate a thumbs up, “At least they won’t come with intent of attacking when they have a food shortage and lack the funds to repair the ruined places. I’ll also make sure the wiz hospitals are filled to the brim,”

“Just don’t paralyze anyone for life, unless the person resists. I’ll have to get rid of that mysterious hand while you make some dents in the land,” she added smilingly.

Phoenix chuckled, “Sure thing, dear,”