CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sage's POV
The princess has been gone for twenty days now and me and insanity were in a dance that I frankly was not enjoying. The other royals had informed the guards they intended to take and so have we.
We have been preparing as fast was was physically possible, the queen sent in the dragon born to assist with magic and even at that we could only go at a certain pace.
I and the captain were currently supervising the soldiers and some of them were getting on my nerves. It's not that hard to use the ability you have been given since birth. I'm a shapeshifter and I can use their powers better than them. Some of them are just plain incompetent.
So maybe that was a little harsh but for heaven's sake, they have to get their act together.
I walked up to one of the soldiers and he stiffened, "This isn't a playground, better put in the effort," at least he was conjuring fire better now, but some of them seemed to not be taking this seriously.
"CEASE FIRE!" I commanded and they all stopped.
"It seems that some of you do not understand what is at stake."
"In case you have forgotten, our main goal is to retrieve the princess and if any of you not taking this seriously leads us to fail, I will take away your abilities to work and I don't give a damn if you are Phoenix born and can heal. I'll make sure you are incapable of healing when I'm done with you!"
"Do. You. Understand?" I yelled.
"SIR, YES SIR!" They all responded in unison.
"Good," and I walked away.
I got to where they were building the weapons for the orcs, with help of the dragon born. At least here everything was coming along well.
I went to my room and untop my table was the same miniature model of Magnus' castle from the council room. I stared at it, at the place I grew up.
The halls were never warm, they always felt cold, same as Magnus. He was never really a father, but he did do one thing well and that was to manhandle me. He did it so well that sometimes I couldn't walk for days. You may be wondering how he did that without anyone catching on but that's the thing. There was no one to catch on. No one knew I was alive. They all thought I had died along with my mother and he wanted it to stay that way. The only person that knew I existed was one maid that was responsible for feeding me so I didn't die in Magnus' hands which honestly confused me. He didn't seem to love me so why not let me die, it's not as if anyone would hold it against him since no one knew. Maybe he really did love me deep deep down but he was just a sadistic waste of oxygen.
He used to walk into the tiny room that he locked me in and just beat me. Why? There was really no reason other than he wanted to. He made sure I knew I didn't do anything wrong and that he just wanted to hit me. At least he never made me feel guilty for what he did. He made me hate him,but he never made me feel guilty.
Sometimes I wondered if my mother was alive things would be different. Maybe if she was alive I would be safe, and she would have run away with me,but knowing Magnus he would have caught us and dragged us back. Then he would have done the same thing he did to me to her.
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Ophelia's POV
I had spent twenty days in this hell hole and while I was stewing in my own self pity Magnus decided to walk in.
He stood in front of my cell with a smug look that I had the urge to punch it off his face.
"Hello Ophelia, how is this fine establishment treating you?" And he started cackling. He was the living embodiment of psychosis and it was unnerving.
"Oh hello you demonic asshole," I smiled and his eyes twitched.
"You little bitch, open the gate!" He ordered and a guard opened it.
Once again in his hands was that unnecessarily large whip, Heaven help me.
"So you're still not going to drop the whip and fight me like a real man, you're a fucking pussy, you know that?" I smiled widely. Did I know I was going to be in a world of pain? Yes. Would I stop trying to get under his skin? Absolutely not.
"Say it again, I dare you!" And before I could he whipped me. Somehow it felt worse than before.
"You are a fucking pussy," I tell him and I can see the sparks in his eyes.
He whips me again and again and again. Nymeria tried to help but he stopped her from moving. On the final one, a sound that can only be described as a demon leaving my body, came out of my mouth.
He picked me up by my neck, he must really love choking the oxygen out of me.
"Not so mouthy now, are you?" He mocked.
"Pussy!" My mouth was going to get me killed one day, but was I ever going to shut up? The answers obviously, no.
He once again like clockwork flung and my body hit the wall hard. I thank the Phoenix blood in me or else I would be a pile of flesh and broken bones.
He walked out of the cell and they closed the door, then he was gone.
"Oh my dear are you okay?" She asked, concerned, as she rushed over to where I was.
"I'm fine, I just need to heal and I'll get over it,'' I told her and she just stared at me. She most likely didn't believe I would be okay… mentally at least.
"Oh um, excuse me, old man," I say up with a groan.
"How on earth am I supposed to save everyone? Was there a blueprint in your vision or something?" I had no idea how the gods wanted me to save all of us, when I can't use my powers in this forsaken place and I also cannot move. It seems rather undoable, but that's just me.
"No princess, there was no blueprint, but there was destruction," Wow that was not vague at all.
"And when is this destruction to take place?" That would at least answer something.
"No clue," he replied, and I just blinked at him. That man was way too calm about the situation at this point.
"Well, whatever god decided to make me the solution better help me figure it out because this is annoying," I muttered. The longer I stayed here the more I loose it and soon I might just be as mentally unstable as Magnus.