Chapter 95 Stolen totem
Chapter 95
I turned.
Bang!
The door shook hard. Dust fell from the wooden frame. The sound was loud and wild, like someone was ready to tear the door from the wall.
Bang! Bang!
“This time, they will pull it off,” I muttered.
“Is everything fine in there, Holy One?” a voice shouted from outside.
The voice, sharp and full of fear. It broke the silence in the room like a blade.
I didn't utter a word
Alpha Vexhood couldn't either.
He dared not.
His lips were parted, but no sound came out. His chest rose and fell too fast. His breath ragged. Like some gasping for air to stay alive.
His hands trembled on the floor. Sweat rolled down his face and soaked into his hair.
Death was standing in front of him and I was the death.
His eyes were widely opened. They stayed locked on my face, like if he blinked, I would strike.
I could read those eyeballs, intense shock enveloped them. In Alpha Vexhood's lifetime, he had never experienced this type of ordeal.
Not long, his lips began to quiver. A low sound escaped his throat, not words, just fear.
He whimpered.
Alpha Vexhood knew it. Any move, any wrong breath, any sound that angered me would finally end him.
I was not there to joke. I was there to put something more than death into his mind. Fear.
Outside, the noise grew louder.
Hands slammed the door again.
Someone kicked it.
The wood cracked.
“They are trying to break it open,” I said to myself again.
Then another voice laced with panic erupted through the door, “No! Stop! What if we fall into the wrath of the Holy One?”
The shouting was messy. Loud. Confused.
“This is strange,” one said. “Very strange.”
“Someone should get the key!” another servant commanded.
“No!” a third voice cried. “He may be having communion with the gods!”
Their words overlapped. Their feet shuffled. Shadows moved under the door.
Inside the room, everything was still.
It was only me and alpha Vexhood. His eyes never for a second stopped hovering over my face.
I knew the thought that would be going through his mind were :
Who are you?
Are you one of the gods I had not worshipped enough and who had invaded my room for vengeance?
But he knew he wouldn't get a single one of that from me.
I stood over Alpha Vexhood.
Broken bed wood lay around him like bones. The mattress was ripped. One leg of the bed was snapped clean off. His body was half trapped between the broken frame. He groaned softly, each breath dragging pain with it.
His eyes followed my every move.
Slowly, I tilted my head and looked down at him.
He swallowed hard.
“W… what stopped you from killing me?” he asked.
His voice was thin and dry, like paper tearing. Then, against all sense, his lips curled.
He smiled.
It was a weak, forced one, laced with wickedness.
“Y..you can’t imagine,” he whispered, nodding his head pitifully, “what you have done.”
I hissed.
His words were nothing but irritation to my ears.
I took a deliberate step backward.
That was all he needed.
With a sharp gasp, Alpha Vexhood stretched his arm toward me. His fingers clawed the air, shaking, reaching.
The pain did not stop him.
His hand reached for the totem in my grip.
I tightened my fingers around it.
His nails scraped empty air.
His body shook as he tried again, teeth clenched, face twisted. Blood smeared at the corner of his mouth.
Before he could try a third time…
I vanished.
The room faded behind me like smoke.
“Noooo!”
Alpha Vexhood's long cry followed me. I could hear him whimpering, calling, begging, not for mercy, but for his totem.
I reappeared inside my room.
My feet stomped the floor. Strange smoke erupted with it, curling round me.
I changed to human form. The greenish glow disappeared.
My back hit the door. I slid down slowly until I sat on the floor. My chest burned. My hands shook. Sweat rolling down my face.
I looked at Alpha Vexhood's totem in my hand. I felt relieved. Like I had conquered the world filled with terrible alphas like him.
I held it tight, the way a warrior holds the head of an enemy after a battle the king ordered.
Cold. Heavy. Powerful.
I stared at it again.
“No one must see this,” I whispered.
If anyone saw the totem with me, it would mean trouble. Big trouble. It would expose me. It would raise questions, I wouldn't have answers for.
But I had to do it.
I had to break Alpha Vexhood.
My mind flashed back to his room. To his laugh. That demonic laugh that crawled on my skin.
A laugh that promised revenge.
I knew it then, if he healed, if he stood again, he would come for me.
That was who Alpha Vexhood was.
The totem was not just an object. It was his name. His strength. His pride.
Everyone knew the story.
The gods gave it to him when he climbed the seven mountains. Back then, he was different. Honest. Clear. Kind. He still had a human heart.
The totem made him fearful.
The world without Alpha Vexhood holding his totem would not be quiet. It would cause whispers. Stares. Questions.
I tore a strip from my clothes. The fabric ripped with a soft sound. Then another strip. And another.
My hands moved fast.
I wrapped the totem again and again, hiding its shape. Hiding its shine. Hiding its power.
“I must hide this like my breath,” I told myself.
No one must see it.
The sky outside slowly changed color. Dark blue turned to pale grey. Morning was coming.
Only then did I realize how long I had stayed in Alpha Vexhood’s place.
My legs felt weak.
I forced myself up and cleaned my room. I pushed things back into place. I wiped my hands. I hid the wrapped totem deep where no eye could reach, I would find a way to go and discard it when night fell.
I finally lay on my bed, my body gave up.
Sleep pulled me under.
Time passed like slow water.
When I woke, my name was already on the roster.
A knock on my door.
Duty calls.
I took my tools and walked out. The hallway to the palace hall stretched long and quiet. My steps echoed softly as I began to tidy up everywhere.
My mop dipped in soapy water, skillfully scrubbing the floor.
Then a voice cut through the air.
“I will talk!”
The shout was sharp and full of fear.
“I promise to confess everything that I did!”