A Kingdom of Bloodshed

¬*Chapter Seventeen*¬*

I feel lost. Not physically lost, but mentally. The type of lost that has you looking around frantically trying to figure out how you got there and why you can't remember a single thing. I'm in an unfamiliar room, the walls are made of cool stone with mildew and moss growing within the cracks. Water drips from the ceiling and it smells like rot. The ceiling and floor are made of concrete and there's one door at the far end of the room. No windows, no external light coming in, except for a single bulb hanging in the centre of the room.

The bed I'm on, isn't even a bed; it's more like a mattress on the floor with springs that dig into my back. One minute I was at the Kingdom of Bloodshed, the next I appeared here. The chains holding me have vanished and I can feel my magic return to me. The healing powers soothing the aches in my body. I never want to feel that weak again.

Ever.

Trying to grasp my surroundings and figure out how the hell I'm going to get out of here, the door at the end of the room clangs open. Footsteps tap into the room, shuffling forward until I see a shadow appear.

"Ah good, you're up."

Squinting I try to adjust my eyes to the darkness, but they're having trouble. The male laughs, chuckling in amusement before he steps into the light. Augustus now stares back at me.

"What? Don't you remember how you got here?" I blink, "What the fuck is going on?" He huffs another laugh before smirking, "Why, Althea darling, you are where you need to be. My brother won't be able to find you here. That bond can't save you." I frown, confused as to what he's talking about. "Where am I?"

"You are in the same cell that Myra, your ancestor, was trapped in by my great grandfather, Xavier."

I blink. What. The. Fuck? He's joking right? Looking around the cell I try to place it, to pinpoint anything that may cause memories to come back to me. It takes a moment, but the vision finally flashes before be; to my horror, Augustus is right.

"Oh my god..." I whisper. He chuckles, "Yes, Althea that's right. You are going to lead me to the resting place of the Blood Crown and I am going to use that to awaken my great-grandfather." I blink feeling sick. "Do you even know where his tomb is?" I ask, Augustus frowns, "No. Not yet, but I'm working on it. Once I find it, I will use you and the Blood crown to ressurect him. Then I will gain all the knowledge and power he had and I will be unstoppable."

By the gods no... if he manages this, then we're all screwed. Staring quietly at Augustus, I try to find something to say, but I'm too shocked to think of anything. He stares at me, as if waiting for a response from me, a reaction, but there isn't any. I don't know what to say to this.

"Well? Aren't you going to say something? Try to stop me? Deny that these even exist?" I can't, because he already knows about them. "How? How do you know all of this?"

Chuckling, Augustus approaches and stops before me, his hands folded behind his back. "Because, I'm not stupid. I have been researching and learning about my history since I was very young and when Kazimir became High Lord of the Dark Court, I knew that I wanted to be High Lord as well. I knew that the throne should be mine."

"Aren't you the younger brother?"

"Yes, and?" "Well, the oldest sibling always gets the throne unless they are deemed unfit to be ruler." Augustus pauses, his lips frowning before he smiles, "That's true but it is too late to try and sabotage my brother's ruling as he's been High Lord for decades. Which is where you come in. If I cannot have his throne, then I will make one of my own and I will use you to do it."

I don't like the sound of that.

"How do you plan on doing that?"

"With the Blood Crown Thea, darling. I need your blood and that crown to make a new world for myself and once that happens, not you or my sibling will be able to stop me."