Hellbound Heart

"This throne is destined for no one but me." The officials in the hall were stunned as Elijah blatantly and brazenly declared that the vampire throne was meant to be his. It was one thing to be moved by his words and then have a general consensus that he would be the one to lead them vampires to fight against the humans. However, hearing him declare it so directly like that was another matter altogether.

"It's time for the vampires to rise again. We will let those measly humans know who is the boss in this world. It's time for the world to know that we truly exist. It's time for us, vampires, to dominate this world again!" Elijah continued rallying up the officials in the hall, knowing that they were either totally bought into his words, sitting on the fence, or not daring to voice out their doubts.

The officials felt awe and pride stir within them as Elijah spoke. His words were bold and powerful, and they could sense the raw strength and confidence in his voice. After thinking about it for a bit, they suddenly felt that he was right - it was time for the vampires to rise again, to take their rightful place at the top of the food chain! The humans were nothing. They should not even fear these humans who were without real power and were merely relying on machines.

As the officials looked at each other, they knew that they had a choice to make. They could either reject Elijah's claims and continue down the path of peace and cooperation with the humans - which now seemed to be impossible - or they could rally their support behind him and work towards a new era of vampire dominance. And the latter seemed to sound better and better the longer they thought about it.

...

Meanwhile, back in the Black Forest.

The forest was eerily silent except for the screams of Azy piercing through the silence of the forest. The shrill sound was echoing off the trees like a cacophony of pain accompanied by the crackling of his uncontrollable magic. The trees around them trembled, as if they were afraid of the violent and dark energy emanating from the young boy's body.

But thankfully, his screams only lasted for a few moments. Usually, he would be in pain for an extended period of time.

Though thankful that the painful episode was not as severe as it usually is, and it seemed to have dissipated within quite a short time this time around, Alicia and everyone in the forest were faced with another dilemma as Azy had insisted on leaving the forest.

He kept on attempting to teleport. And his demonic magic shrouding his young body was spiking out of control every time he tried to teleport.

Even both Alexander and Zeres, who had thankfully arrived before Azy's episode started, struggled to keep Azy from teleporting away. The boy's demonic magic was just too strong. Stronger than ever before. Dark energy crackled and swirled around him, and the tattoos on his skin glowed with an ominous dark light. One of his eyes was already showing signs of turning black, and he was letting out a guttural growl as he fought against their hold. The blackness swirled in from the edges of his eyes as it crept toward the pupil, as though trying to blot out the whites completely.

"Damn it, we have to do something!" Alex gritted his teeth as he felt the boy's power surge even more. "If we can't control him, he could end up anywhere, and we won't be able to find him!"

Zeres nodded in agreement. "But how do we stop him? His power is too unstable, and if we try to use force, we might end up hurting him instead."

That was honestly their real dilemma. Because they could not possibly hurt Azy! As much as they needed to restrain him, they also could not go about it roughly. It was no fault of his that his condition was so severe to this extent!

Alicia, despite her weakened state, managed to make her way to the struggling trio. Her face was pale and her breathing was ragged. Save from her eyes that were still glimmering with determination, everything else about Alicia right now looked so utterly weak.

Zeres was the first to notice her presence beside them, and his expression changed from one of panic to one of concern. "Alicia..." he murmured. He was shocked at the sight of her. The once majestic queen was now so frail and powerless that she barely showed any difference from how Iryz looked at the moment.

Alicia managed a weak smile at Zeres, her body trembling with exhaustion as she struggled to maintain her balance.

"Don't worry about me," she said softly. "Focus on Azy. He needs our help now, more than ever."

Zeres could only nod, his expression grave. He turned his attention back to the struggling boy before him, focusing his powers on keeping him grounded and preventing him from teleporting away.

Azy's eyes were glazed over, fixed on some unseen point in the distance. His whole body was tense and trembling. He kept trying to teleport away, his body crackling with dark energy as he continued to fight against the hold of two powerful men who were trying their best to not allow him to disappear to god knows where.

Alicia approached her son cautiously, her steps slow and unsteady. Alex got worried that Azy's wild fluctuations of power will push her away and with Alicia's body, she could be easily thrown off!

However, to their surprise, the dark smoke snaking out from Azy's body avoided her. It did not weaken or subside. The power was still raging, but it seems like a living thing avoiding Alicia. As though it recognized her and did not want to have any contact with her at all.

With a frail and trembling hand, Alicia reached out and touched her son's cheek, trying to get his attention.