Living Under The Shadow Of The Past

Inside an enchanted cave, a woman was sitting and the end of the table with five men sitting at the sides of the table. It was as if they were having a meeting.

The woman was their host and the men's identities were unknown.

"You know the consequences of revealing your true self to anyone." The woman's voice was hoarse and it echoed in the cave.

The men nodded in agreement to what the woman said.

"But one of you is guilty of that."

A man, in particular, was guilty of the act. He hid his face in shame as he knew the deadly punishment that would befall him.

The woman waited for the man to confess what he did before she could carry out the punishment.

"I just wanted to test her. I wanted her to love me with my true form." The man confessed.

The woman stood up banging the table with her hand.

"You're blinded by love. Love would be your downfall." The woman yelled.

She ordered some servants to take the man to the highest peak of the cave to serve his punishment. The other men followed as the woman also instructed so that they could see the penalty for disobeying the rules.

A servant was made to chop off the man's five fingers.

"Amira, that's too cruel." The one with a blabbermouth spoke.

Amira threw a death glare at him. She was not merciful when giving them their punishment.

"You all are cursed, obeying a simple rule isn't too difficult. I'm just being merciful by getting his five fingers chopped." She said before giving the servant an order to carry on with the task. "Cut them off."

The sound of pain and agony could only be heard. Getting his five fingers chopped was the highest punishment he had ever received.

"Raul, we're sorry. We can't help you this time around." The man with a blabbermouth said.

Blood spilled from the man's hand, his eyes were shut down. Sweats gathered on his forehead.

"Use salty water to wash the blood off his hand." Came the woman's instructions.

Imagine that pain.

The other men were quiet as they watched the horror before them. They couldn't do anything to help him out of his situation.

Raul wailed in pain. His voice became faint. He wished the ground would open and swallow him instead of receiving unending torture.

Finally, the torture was over. Raul passed out and the servants placed his body inside a coffin. The coffin was as cold as ice and icy smoke came out from it.

"He'll be there till his fingers are healed." The woman assured.

"Amira, I don't understand you. You said Love would be our downfall, but you made me get married." A man complained.

"Vladimir, your case is different. That woman is your redeemer and I'm your punisher. You won't be punished if you reveal yourself to her. But you have to make her trust and love you before you do that." The woman said.

Vladimir didn't get her point. The last thing he wanted was Love.

The woman turned to the blabbermouthed man with a stern look before giving out an order. "Orpheus, you can't be with the General's lady."

"What?!"

"I'm not doing this because I hate any of you. It's just that, no woman would accept you for who you truly are." The woman let out a sigh. She turned to a quiet man that hasn't spoken anything since they came.

"Luthur, why don't you want to be redeemed?"

"It's if no use." Came the man's reply.

"Are you still moaning about the death of Liliana?" She asked curiously.

The man was about to say something before Lord Orpheus interjected. "Liliana is long gone, how could he still moan over her?"

"It's obvious from his attitude," Vladimir spoke folding his arms across his muscular chest.

Luthur became so pissed up. His blue eyes turned dark blue because of the anger that boiled in him.

"You don't have the right to mention her name." His hoarse voice echoed. He felt like strangling the life out of whosoever mention the name of the woman he loved.

The woman shook her head in disappointment. Liliana was killed by the werewolf's invasion. From that day onwards, Luthur promised to rip off any werewolf he come across because they were his sworn enemy.

"No doubt that you dislike Princess Ariel because you know the truth about her." The woman revealed.

"Amira, it better let go of the things of the past," Luthur warned. His aura was dark.

How was Ariel related to Liliana? , Vladimir and Orpheus questioned themselves inwardly.

"You want to let go of the things of the past. But you're still living under the shadow of the past." Amira said with a blank expression on her face.

Luthur clenched his fist beside him. He had failed to protect the woman his heart belonged to, he remembered vividly about the werewolf's invasion and how they killed Liliana but he was too weak to protect her then.

"Luthur, it's up to you if you want to be redeemed. The werewolves' invasion will happen in no time and you can't defeat them in this situation." She warned before disappearing.

Luthur had his head bowed, the more he thought about the invasion, the more his blood boiled. His veins were poking out of his neck due to anger.

"You need to let this slide." Orpheus was the one to speak. He wanted to say something else before Luthur fired.

"How dare you tell me what to do? Are you much better than me?" As he spoke icy smoke came out from his mouth. He never says something directly.

He was different from the rest of them. After so much pressure, he disappeared from the cave.

Who knows where he was going s time?

Vladimir on the other hand didn't know what to do anymore. One part of him wanted to pursue Luthur and talk some sense into him but the other part of him wanted to see Ariel.

Since when has he considered that woman?

Carried out by his hallucination, he disappeared and appeared inside Ariel's room.