Lucianna’s POV
“The gifted child shouldn’t have had the special eye. It was meant for the firstborn, to this man.” Fhoxia pointed at Roscoe. “But fate has its hand on the game so I was sent by the Moon Goddess to stop what fate wanted to change--which it should not.”
I frowned as I listen.
Technically, the shadow eye was meant for the firstborn? I didn’t know about that. I thought it was only passed by generation.
“Are you saying that Roscoe should be the gifted one? To lead the pack?” I asked because the first sentence made me question their motives once more, well, not that I’m fully trusting them both.
“Indeed, yes, but the feud between them brothers over the alpha position is not my point of attention.” she took a deep breath and I was reminded of the limited time she has, silently counting in the back of my head. “Please refrain from interrupting until I said all the details I had to convey. You’ll have your time for questions later.”
I bit my lip, frowned, and slowly nodded.
“A hundred years ago, the same thing happened in this pack where the second born inherited the title because of having the gift. Same as this man, the first born has no mate so the eye was transferred to the second son. Then, the blood bath happened. The first born was full of wrath that he tried doing countless sin on his own brother, the second born was killed but he managed to produce an heir. The feud was continued by the heir of the second born, and that is when the tragedy starts.”
“At first, us from the God’s realm thought it was because of revenge but the heir of the second born was… let’s say, experiencing an abnormality. The child was full of everything evil, and its mind is full of desire to draw blood. Upon research, we found that there was a loophole with the gift that was given to the Shadow family.”
“So to know, the gift was created by one of our blessed first Enchantresses which you might know as the Great Enchantresses. Blinded by love over her mate, she gave her mate the Shadow eye--which was all pure and harmless, rather helpful.”
“Though to have this gift, the future must be foreseen. The male should lead because having this eye offers a hand in better leadership. Also, the inheritor should be fated to multiply because the Enchantress made the gift out of love, it requires more love to have. You can say that love feeds the gift, the shadow eye feeds from love.”
“Having no mate means no food for the gift, and the mate bond is far too great and abundant of love. That is when fate had to interrupt, change and make amends of what would be lost so it won’t disappear. Unfortunately, this changes creates a downside. Altering the inheritor of the shadow eye creates an evil creature. This is the loophole, this should be stopped. No matter what.”
I won’t say I didn’t understand it because she clearly delivered the message well. No wonder she’s the messenger. But where is the part that I’ll cause Jacob’s death?
“Will you please tell me why Jacob will be harmed?” I asked impatiently.
“It was hard to go back in the past considering the number of creature we had to study about but us from the above realm came across this particular history of the shadow eye. Just recently.”
I thought she was ignoring my question but before I be more agitated than I already am, she talked again.
“The second born was the one full of hatred, of anger and revenge. Slowly, they turned to something evil, doing sins and gradually becoming the sinned evil. We also found that every time the bearer of the eye is closer to the mate, his inner soul is being embedded by darkness.”
“That’s absurd! Jacob is much better than before he knew me! What evil…” I hissed. “I think you are fucking with me right now! Roscoe!”
“You have no ability to see through the soul, woman. But we from the above realm have.”
My lip formed a flat line.
Should I continue listening to this nonsense? Damn it!
“The history tells a lot, and going back in it is a greater lesson for more understanding. The second born from the past was not killed by the first born but rather killed by its own unborn child. The moment you get pregnant, your unborn child will suck all the negativity and evil surrounding you--which your mate has a lot in his soul.”
“You will be the death of your mate and you will be the key of a new life that will endanger this realm once more.”
I paled while listening to her words. Is this….
I looked at Roscoe and he slowly nodded before saying, “I don’t know Fhoxia, believe me, there is no scheme to this, Lucianna.”
“Any gift can turn into a curse in a matter of unlawful changes. That is all I have for you to know, you can ask now.” Fhoxia held her hand up, all her fingers are pointing at me gesturing that it is my turn to speak.
My mind is clouded, and I can’t think properly from all the information she shared. There is an unfamiliar shiver running down my spine that sweltering my whole body and I feel ready to be melted any time soon.
“H-How can I know this is…” I can’t finish my sentence. Looking at them both, I don’t sense any sign of manipulation, scheme or-- my whole being is starting to believe. I can’t see any reason not to.
Looking at Fhoxia, and its lack of presence, she sure is not alive. I don’t even hear any heartbeat or smell anything that may distinguish what pack she belongs or from what region she was.
“Lucianna, I know I am all but good in every stories you heard about me but I am not trying to add more salt to the wound I caused. This…” Roscoe sighed heavily. “…it is hard to believe but its the truth.”
“T-Then we should tell this to Jacob! He has to know--”
“Knowing less is better.” Fhoxia interrupted. “If the carrier of the gifted eye found out about this, his soul will be filled with more hatred, confusion and evil.”
Then why me?
What can I do to stop this from happening? Because I want find what my purpose is in Jacob’s life!
As if Fhoxia read my mind, she answered. “We are not asking for you to stay away from your mate but you shall stop fate, you should not bear a child.”
I trembled from what she said.
Not… bear a child?
Suddenly, the images of my dream to have my own family shattered right in front of me.
This means… I can’t…
Just earlier, I did a lot of lovemaking with Jacob! Is it possible that I haven’t conceive a child in my womb? What if… in this moment, I am pregnant?
“You are not.” Fhoxia said, reading my mind again.
“What?” I frowned.
“You are not carrying a child right now, but you will be able to achieve it the next mating with your mate.”
I hissed and shook my head. Is this even true? Fuck, who can read minds anyway?!
They are not asking me to stay away from Jacob but what can I do to stop our worldly activity? Its not like we both can fight against our desire with each other. Heck! We failed to do just that and reconciled at last!
“I hope you believed us, Lucianna. I wanted to save my brother… and you.” Roscoe whispered with sincerity.
“I… I’m not sure if we can stop mating, Roscoe.” I flushed as I said that so I diverted my gaze to Fhoxia. “Is there any other way to stop this from happening?”
Fhoxia shook her head. “None yet. But us from the above realm is doing our best to find solutions in every loopholes that might bring chaos in every world.”
“How about wolfs bane? If I drink it, won’t it--”
“You can try taking ample amounts of wolfsbane but that will only delay the pregnancy, it won’t stop it.” Roscoe said in a tough voice. “You can die from taking it regularly, Lucianna. I don’t recommend it.”
Death…
Isn’t it more of a best way to…
No! No, Lucianna, stop entertaining such thoughts! Damn it!
Fhoxia nodded her head as if agreeing with my thoughts and I sighed upon being reminded that she can really read minds.
“My time is almost up. Before it, I will give you a location of where I may be found a month from now. You can look for me on that time, and I’ll tell you if there are news from my realm about any solution regarding this foreseen chaos. I hope you won’t conceive a child before that time comes, and I also don’t promise there will be any changes.”
A month of not mating… even I don’t know if I can hold myself up to that duration! Jacob more so! We had a taste of this sweet sin, I may hold my urges but Jacob just had become dependent of it.
He will surely look for more… and by the time that I might face teasing from him, I don’t know if I will have the word ‘No’ or ‘Don’t’ in my head.
“Fate. Change. No. Permanent.”
“I think Fhoxia’s power has drained for now.” Roscoe sighed and Fhoxia nodded in confirmation.
**
After that talk, Fhoxia left and Roscoe gave me some time to think. I needed it.
And now, here I am at the East region. With pure coincidence, the location Fhoxia provided was where I met Mual.
In a short span of time, I have decided to take the risk and leave Jacob for the meantime. After a month and Fhoxia still has no news of resolution, then I will think again of a way to escape this.
I don’t want to but I used our situation just so I could go and that he won’t come after me. Two weeks has passed since then, and currently, I have not seen a part of him, or even his shadow.
He was true to his word. He made his part of the promise we agreed on, and I loved him more for that.
“So what should we do to that thing?” Mual asked me as he pointed to a single sized mattress on our side.
I sighed as I turned to look at it.
Indeed, I need it but I’m too dubious of where it came from.
“It’s not everyone that was lucky enough to win a raffle.” Mual chuckled.
“A raffle that I don’t remember registering into.” I scoffed.
Even if I try not to think of the possibility that Jacob was the one who asked someone to bring this, I can’t. I have every reason to suspect that an eye must be watching from afar.
“Lucky. I said it.” Mual laughed and carried the mattress in his arms. “I’ll bring it inside. I suggest for you to use this one, our beds here are too old and saggy.”
I nodded and watched him bring the thing inside his house.
Oh, Jacob, I know you’re behind this and thank you so damn much. I think I’ll finally have a better sleep from now on.
“All done!” Mual burst out of the door with his usual grin. “Oh! I’ll pick you up on the day of the tourna?”
There will be a tournament in Chequer pack of the East and when they had knowledge that I’m staying at the edge part of their pack, an invitation came for me.
I was asked to join the tournament and to fight at the finals because I won here once. The tournament will prolong for three days because a lot of females registered in the game, they are from all over the continent. The prize is quite high so I am not surprised for the count of them.
Since I have nothing to do yet and I have a lot of time to kill, I decided to be a part of it. Also, Mual is enthusiastic when he found out about it.
“Nah. I think I’ll run.”
“Warming up, huh?”
I smiled. “Yep.” I had to stay in focus or else I’ll lose and I won’t want that.
“O’right! I’ll head back to town. You’ll be okay here?”
I nodded and he waved his hand goodbye.
Another night alone, and more to come…
I sighed.
I’ve survived years of this but why is it so hard to experience this loneliness right now?