Chapter 75: Chapter Seventy-five: Damien’s Story XV: The true sinners are no more.
Mira woke up with a start, panting hard and grasping her hands over her chest. She had seen Cassian in her dream having long, wild outgrown fingernails and hair, eating grass with rotten banana peels. The sight had broken her so much she ran to him to just give him a big hug. But by the time she got to where he was squatting, a black mist swept him away from her sight before she could even get to him. And she woke up.
Mira looked around herself beyond heartbroken. The dream or rather revelation had felt so real it pierced her already shattered heart. She knew what it meant when she had dreams. Her witch’s powers had been sealed but her clairvoyance hadn’t. Till that night, Mira had never had any revelation ever since Alexandria sealed her powers.
Mira buried her face in her palms, visibly hurt as she tried to dispell the haunting image from her mind. For her to have had that revelation, it could only mean one thing — it had either come true, was already unfolding, or was bound to happen soon.
The mere thought of seeing her own invaluable child being pushed to perform such degrading actions troubled her mind terribly. What wrong must she have committed to be treated this way?
Mira got up from the bed and walked towards the window. She flung it open and gazed outside, taking in the fresh, cool night air.
She tried miserably to get her mind off things but it was just too hard. At the end, she had a change of mind.
She grabbed a linen robe from the hanger, draped it over her shoulders and sauntered out of the room. She knew not to look for her husband because he was probably busy with some other affairs.
Her feet ended up taking her to Damien’s room. She planned on staying just for a while, watching him sleep and even sniff some of Cassian’s clothes just to feel connected to him somehow.
It sounded silly but what could she do? She was hopeless.
She walked barefoot across the hall, yearning to have her children in her arms again. She got to their room and pushed it open gently so she wouldn’t disrupt his sleep. Quietly, she approached Damien’s bed and sat on the edge of it with his back facing the opposite side. Damien slept on his side, pressing a small pillow to his body which Mira quickly recognized as Cassian’s. Her heart trembled at the sight. He missed his brother...so much.
She quietly sniffed back a tear, reached out and stroke his black, thick hair. It was her favorite thing to do besides showering them with endless kisses. That action seemed to calm her raging heart for a while as she enjoyed the feel of his hair on her palm.
After a while of staring at his sleeping face, she placed a small kiss on his cheek then got up and laid beside him with her arm slung over his waist. Mira patted his stomach slowly, inching closer to him. She laid there for almost an hour just listening to his stable breathing. Even though she hadn’t found the other one, she was grateful she had at least found one. If she had lost both, maybe Alex would be sending out her obituary by now.
Mira giggled at the thought then shook her head. ’What kind of thought is that you dummy?’ she whispered to herself, biting her lip.
"Mmmrr..."
She stopped talking when Damien shifted from his sleep. Had I woken him up?
To soothe him, Mira pulled him gradually to herself until his back was curved against her chest region to her stomach.
"Mmmrr....ahh..." Damien groaned out gently.
Why was he making sounds again? She didn’t even say anything. She kissed the back of his neck and rubbed his shoulder in circular motion. What else could she do?
But he just kept on groaning. And it was getting louder and...painful?
Mira sat upright immediately. What was going on with him?
"Baby...baby it’s alright. Mama’s here hmm? she whispered reassuringly to him just to ease him but it just didn’t work.
Damien turned in the bed restlessly but his eyes were still closed. Mira jumped out of the bed and rushed to the other side where he now faced. He had to wake up. Whatever was happening to him in his sleep was definitely not good. He just had to wake up.
She shook him lightly at first but added more force when he started making light squeals.
"N...no....no—get away from me!"
His voice echoed throughout the entire, dead quiet room. Mira clenched hard in fear.
"Damien. Damien wake up! Darling please!" she cried out fearfully. She didn’t know what else to do. Her husband was away and they were probably the only one on that floor. Biting hard on her lip, she did the only thing she never imagined herself doing to any child: she slapped him on the back...hard.
That instantly did the trick and Damien’s eyes shot open.
Mira gathered him into her arms immediately and collapsed on the floor.
"It’s ok my love. It’s alright." she said softly, running her hands over his back to comfort him. She could feel his heart thump uncontrollably against her own but she only cradled him closer despite his sweat.
She continued rubbing his back in slow, circular motions when she suddenly stopped. A small flash of light too short to even notice appeared before her in a split second. It came from his back.
What the hell?
Without wasting another second, she settled him on the bed and sat behind him. Mira reached for his shirt and pulled it above his head, baring his back to herself.
Her eyes widened in horror and she almost had a mini heart attack.
Glaring angrily at her on her child’s back was the very definition of an abominable curse. A colossal drawing of a dragon drawn with such ferocity that its gaze seemed alive, glared at her, too big to even contain his small body.
Mira fell off the bed, grabbing her mouth literally to stop herself from screaming her lungs out.
A dragon?! What was a freaking dragon doing a prince’s body?!
Before she could even make sense of what was happening, the image vanished from her sight, returning his pale, clear flesh. Then it appeared again and this time, the dragon had green scales with red spots.
Mira couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed. So many things had happened within such a a short period of time. Just when she thought she was finally calming down after so many traumatic events, this just had to happen!
In fact, she thought she was going insane.
She released her mouth and grabbed her head. "I’ve lost it." she whispered to herself in shocking disbelief.
"Maybe it was just the surprises I had witnessed the other day. I might still be woosy and seeing things right?"
No! She had seen it quite clearly!
But that was impossible! It should be impossible. It just couldn’t have been nothing else but a dragon? The despised, hated behemoth?!
Her entire world came crashing down on her. How long had he had this? When did this even start?
Realization slapped her hard across the face. That explained the blood puddles she found on his clothes over the past few days.
Everything started piecing together one by one. The blood stains, his sleepiness lately. What exactly had happened while she was away.
Before she found him in that forest, had he already gotten it? But from freaking where?! Where had the extinct dragon come from and etched himself on his back?!
"Oh no. Oh no, Oh no, Oh no, Oh no, Oh no, Oh no, Oh no,Oh no." Mira repeated to herself completely baffled. Was he compelled? Or...
Dear heavens! Was he possessed?!
This was bad. Had a dragon possessed him? There was no other logical explanation of what else could have warranted such a situation.
At that moment, Damien began to twitch, instantly drawing his mother’s attention to himself. It started off with just a few times but then escalated quickly. He convulsed and thrashed wildly on the bed even falling off it in his state. Mira dashed out to reach him without thinking. Why was this happening to her all at once? Just why?
Damien’s condition only got worse. It didn’t take long before blood started flowing out of his mouth in pools. At this point, Mira’s heart had completely given out.
She crawled wiggly, abruptly trying to catch him before he rolled over again. She had barely accomplished even that when he got up all of a sudden. He looked right into her eyes with his now bloodred own and slowly approched her.
His movements were calm and collected, as if he had all the time in the world. Mira unconsciously crawled backwards away from him. This wasn’t her sweet Damien anymore. This was a devil in his body. Her two sons had been possessed consecutively. What more could life possibly throw her way?
"Hello... Mirenelle." a voice came out sadistically behind him.
"I am the one your father is greatly indebted to and now, you have to pay the price for his sins..."