Chapter 178: seeds of vengeance

The night air bit at my skin, but I didn’t feel it. I barely noticed the icy wind swirling around the village, cutting through the trees and coating the earth in a layer of frost. There was only one thing on my mind—the weight of my grief, and the fire of my anger. 

I stood at the edge of the village, staring out at the white horizon. The snow blanketed everything, a cold, lifeless world that mirrored the emptiness inside me. Sirius had destroyed everything. He had torn through our lives like a predator, taking everything I loved and killing anyone who stood in his way. 

He had killed Lira, my sister. A child. 

And I couldn’t forgive him for that. I wouldn’t. 

I could still see her tiny body, her face peaceful in death. I could still hear my mother’s screams when she saw her. The woman who had once been the symbol of strength, who had taught me to be brave, had broken before me, collapsing into herself, unable to speak or move. She had spent days in mourning, but I saw it—the look in her eyes that spoke of an emptiness, a hollow shell of who she once was. Sirius had taken her spirit. He had taken the light out of her, and I would never forgive him for it. 

He was my father. The man who had betrayed us all. And for what? For power? For the throne? He was nothing but a tyrant now, a monster who deserved nothing but death. 

I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms until the pain grounded me, bringing me back to reality. It was all I could do to keep from screaming, but I had no words to express the rage that burned inside me. 

A low voice broke through my thoughts, steady and calm. “Aster.”

I didn’t turn around. I didn’t need to. I knew who it was. 

Riven. He had been my mentor, my guide through everything—my father’s betrayal, my mother’s broken heart. He had seen the darkness in me before I had even realized it was there. But now, it wasn’t darkness. It was a fire—a need for justice. For revenge.

I stood still, my eyes focused on the distant mountains, the shadow of the place where my father had destroyed everything we had worked for.

“You’ve been standing out here for hours,” Riven said. “What’s on your mind?” 

I turned my head slowly, meeting his piercing gaze. “I’m going to kill my father,” I said, the words cutting through the cold night like a blade. 

Riven studied me for a long moment. His face remained stoic, his eyes calculating, but there was something else there—a glimmer of understanding. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t tell me I was foolish, that I was too young, too weak to take on someone like Sirius. Instead, he took a step forward, his boots crunching in the snow.

“Good,” he said, his voice low, quiet. “You should.”

I blinked. “What?”

“You heard me,” he repeated, his eyes hardening. “Sirius killed Yong. He killed Lira. He tore apart our lives, Aster. He killed the only people who meant anything to us. You think I don’t want revenge too?”

The fire inside me surged at his words. It wasn’t just me. Riven wanted this as much as I did. The realization hit me like a wave. For a moment, I felt less alone in this—the weight of the world didn’t fall on my shoulders alone. There were others who wanted to see Sirius fall.

“You’re serious?” I asked, my voice rough, filled with disbelief.

“I’ve never been more serious in my life,” Riven said, a grim smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. “But we need a plan. And you need to be patient. You’re not ready to fight him yet.”

I swallowed hard, anger and frustration bubbling inside me. “Then how do we prepare?”

Riven walked around me, his boots leaving a trail in the snow, and his eyes swept over the horizon. “We train. We gather the people who want this as much as we do, and we get stronger. But we don’t act rashly. We wait for the right moment.”

I wanted to argue. I wanted to shout that I was ready now, that I was strong enough to face him. But I knew Riven was right. Sirius had killed without hesitation, without mercy.

But the anger inside me didn’t fade.

“We’ll gather people,” I said through gritted teeth. “We’ll make them pay.”

Riven nodded, his face grave. “We will. But not yet. Not until we have the strength to take him

The next few days passed in a blur. I barely slept, barely ate. I trained harder than I ever had before, pushing myself to my limits. My mind was consumed with the image of Sirius standing over me, his eyes cold, his voice mocking. I could almost hear him, taunting me. 

“You’re not ready,” he would say. “You’ll never be strong enough.”

But I would be. I had to be.

I wasn’t going to let him destroy everything I had left.

I wasn’t going to let him hurt anyone else. 

I didn’t care if it took months, or even years. 

I would kill him. 

And then, Riven would come to me.  

He told me that the warriors had already started to gather. They had pledged themselves to my cause. I wasn’t alone anymore. We had an army, small though it was. And together, we would face Sirius.

The day of reckoning would come soon.

“Riven, how many people do we have?” I asked, turning to him as we gathered in the village square. The people we had gathered—young men and women, some barely older than me, were ready for action.

“About twenty or so,” Riven replied. “It’s not a lot, but it’s enough to start with our magic and your dragon strength.”

I nodded, a sense of grim determination settling over me. “We’ll need more.”

“We’ll get more,” he said. “We’ve got time. But we have to move carefully.”

I clenched my fists at my sides. I had waited long enough. I was done being patient. It was time to act.

“Let’s move then,” I said, my voice firm. “We’ll start tonight. If we’re going to face him, we need to be ready. We train, we prepare, and we take back what’s ours.”

The group around me began to stir, their voices rising in agreement. I saw the same fire in their eyes that I felt burning inside me. The same need for vengeance, for justice.

I would make Sirius pay.

The next few weeks were filled with grueling training and planning. Each day, I pushed myself further, my body aching, my mind consumed with thoughts of Sirius. I couldn’t shake the image of him—the man who had once been my father, but who had now become a monster in my eyes.

But with every strike, every move, every breath, I knew I was getting closer. I wasn’t the same boy I had been before all of this. I was stronger. I was smarter. And when the time came, I would be ready.

For now, though, all I could do was wait and prepare. But I would not forget what he had done to me, to my mother, to the people I loved.

I would never forget. 

And when the time came for us to rise, for us to take back everything he had stolen from us, I would make sure Sirius knew one thing, I was his son, and I was coming for him. 

And this time, I would make him pay.