Chapter 43: A Nightmare that Calls for Some Reading... The Astral Era
"Ruthar... Darkdawn, right? It's not Hellborn anymore since you've been somewhat accepted by your family?"
Ruthar heard the strange gurgling voice that urged him to peek around the corner.
He was in a dark place and didn't know how he had gotten there. The ground was cold, and he could only see the hallway he was in and the next, which took a sharp left where the voice emanated from. There was no light, and he could only see a few meters ahead before his vision met a wall of darkness. The same went for the hall he was in.
'Was this a trap from Tomaha or Kithara? Despite all that Lady Tara told me, I can't believe they've changed. But this voice surely isn't them...'
"Oh, you are thinking about what I am?"
The voice cut Ruthar off, making him gasp. The being could even read thoughts!
Now he began to get goosebumps as memories of the spirit entity he faced weeks ago resurfaced in his mind. There was no doubt.
"A s-spi... Spirit... Entity!" Ruthar gulped in fear. But quickly, everything went sideways.
His entire world shut off, and all he could see was the large being in front of him.
Sharp fangs, monstrous eyes, dark worm-like skin, four hands, and a monstrous tail that curled around in the air.
"It's time you died!" The monstrous figure gurgled, goading Ruthar to stagger, and a scream escaped his lips.
"AHHHHHH!!! YAAHHHHKKK!!!" His screams were abruptly cut short as the monster's tail struck his neck with lightning speed, tearing it apart and sending his head soaring into the air.
'What is this? The pain was so sharp but so sudden. Am I dying?'
---
"KEHHH!!!" Ruthar's eyes popped open with a cry escaping his mouth. He was sweating profusely, and his heartbeat was frantic.
Although he quickly realized he was still alive and lying on the bed in Lady Taraha's arms.
'It was a nightmare! Thank God! Baka! Baka! I should have known it was a dream and woken myself before I died! It felt so real, though. Thankfully, it was all a dream!'
"Is something wrong, Ruds?" Taraha, who had woken up by Ruthar's agitation, asked with a concerned tone.
Ruthar felt disgraced to admit it was a nightmare, knowing an almost fully grown man was crying over a mere nightmare. Nonetheless, he goaded himself to speak.
"Well, I had a dream about getting killed by a spirit enti—"
Before he could even complete his words, Taraha sprang to her knees, pulling him up with her. This plunged Ruthar into distress.
Taraha placed her hands around his face and quickly yelled, "Was it a dream of you being in a dark room and meeting a monster with a long tail, dark skin, and he kept on speaking about the Darkdawn's name?"
Ruthar was surprised she nailed all the clues without a single mistake. "That's e-exactly what I dreamt about."
Taraha's expression played a tone that plagued Ruthar a lot.
'Does this mean I'm going to die in real life? There goes flashpoint!'
"We need to see Mother now."
'Wait, Mom?'
---
Rotexa sprang up in her bed, holding tightly to her blankets as a nightmare tore through her entire composure like paper ripped by scissors.
A monster calling the name of the Darkdawn's, and also the name of Ruthar?
She quickly rose from her bed, "I need to tell Kithara," she was hesitant but knew that was the only person with enough experience to handle the situation.
She quickly left the room, shutting the door behind her.
---
Lady Taraha pulled Ruthar through the halls of the Spade Kingdom while he was still enveloped with the idea of Kithara killing him for his weakness against a nightmare.
They weren't on good terms, after all.
As they walked, Ruthar noticed an increase in security. More guards were around than in the morning. They would only look at them briefly before turning their eyes away. Maybe it was because of Taraha and her known ruthlessness. But as they got closer to Kithara's room, the guards began to triple, and finally, they reached the arched doors protected by about eight lieutenants.
At first, they looked at them with killing intent, but as Taraha approached, they made way without a word.
"Is Mother in her room?" she asked one of them urgently, and he bowed his head before replying.
"Yes, the Queen is accounted for in her quarters."
Without wasting a moment, Taraha knocked on the doors three times before pausing in silence.
'Is this really wise, knocking on the doors of the ruthless queen at night just for my sake?' Ruthar wanted to convince Taraha to forget about it all and act like she hadn't heard anything. Before he could try, her expression put him in his place.
She looked very pressured and scared, as though she was the one who had the dream.
'This must be really personal to her, I think?' Ruthar opened his mouth to speak and was cut short as a voice spoke from the other side:
"Come in, Taraha."
Taraha quickly pushed the doors open, pulling Ruthar behind her. She shut the doors and turned to face Kithara.
'This room is familiar?' Ruthar scanned the room, realizing this was where he had been born. Though he was a child then, he remembered the room vividly.
"Ruthar!" Taraha pulled him back to his senses to notice she had been bowing her head in respect to Kithara.
"I-i'm sorr..." He stammered before bowing his head as well. He was carried away by the room, forgetting he was exactly where he almost died five years ago.
"Speak, why are you here, both of you? At such a late hour, you must have a matter that might kill someone. If you say nothing, it might actually kill you," Kithara spoke with a blank tone and empty expression, making it hard to decode her meaning.
Ruthar even heard Taraha gulp after hearing this. No matter how old she got, she was still terrified of the monstrous Kithara.
"Mother, Ruthar has experienced the nightmare, he's seen the end! He's seen the..." Kithara growled, urging Taraha to stop with a gasp.
Ruthar was confused about what happened but now it was clear, this situation was bigger than he thought.
"So that's the case, you have actually become one with this family, Ruthar. But what you experienced tonight is worse than death," Kithara reclined back on the bed for more comfort. "What you experienced is one of the many curses of the Darkdawn family."
"What do you mean?" Ruthar asked, tired of being in the dark. If he was cursed, he wanted to know what it was already.
"Did you really think being born into a powerful family of high esteem would guarantee a happy life? Every one of us had that same dream. We have all been cursed, and there is no cure," Kithara raised her hand for Ruthar to see a marking on it.
"There are limits to power in this world, which is why we are cursed—not by our search for power or our greed. We were cursed because of our history. We were cursed to follow the same path as the Astral Era. It's not something I can explain, but you will have to read about it in the textbooks, Ruthar. You must have heard from your sister already."
Ruthar's breathing became heavy, and his heart palpitated, 'I never read anything in the novel about the Darkdawn's curse. Have I delved deeper into the story than I thought? Can there be mysteries we never explored because the Spade Kingdom was never the main kingdom of the story?'
"No... No... no... No! Damnit!" Ruthar grasped his head, falling to his knees as the pain intensified and his system erupted as though flames were burning him from within.
A wave of blood poured from his mouth and nostrils. "What the hell is this?"
Taraha bent over and whispered to Ruthar, "Stop thinking about the curse, Ruds!"
It was a difficult task, but as he did, the pain and distress quickly disappeared.
"Mother!" The voice came from behind them, and it was Rotexa who had just entered the room when Ruthar started screaming in pain.
At this point, the three in the room already knew what happened to her and why she had come.
"I was killed by a monster!" She spoke confidently, though the fear in her tone was still evident.
'It also affected her.' Ruthar thought, his face turning gloomy. Now he was sure this had escalated to a dilemma, a catastrophic one at that.
"Mother? This can't be right?" Lady Taraha's eyes began to well up with tears, plunging Ruthar into another wave of questions and fright.
Rotexa, being the only one with enough guts, couldn't help but ask, "What's going to happen to us? Is something wrong with us?"
Kithara nodded with a frown, "I'm afraid you will die in the next three days if we do not give you a curse holder."
Ruthar's face brightened a bit to hear there was a way out for now, "Thank goodness..."
"The problem is that there is only one left in the entire Spade Kingdom," as Kithara explained, Ruthar and Rotexa gasped, finally understanding Taraha's former expression.
The reason she was agitated when she heard Rotexa had the same dream was because...
"Yes, one of you will die in the next three days."