Chapter 211 211 Return Home

Chapter 211 211 Return Home
Bahira stood with her head lowered, but when she raised it, hatred and pure darkness sparked in her eyes.
“Bahira, what are you doing here?”
“I came to congratulate you!” the brunette snorted, jerking her head nervously. “You’re all so happy here… and so free. Even that silver-haired bitch of yours!” Her hateful gaze snapped to Laverna. “Why didn’t you kill each other? I was really counting on that—would’ve saved me from getting my hands dirty.”
“What?” Kays tensed, shielding me. “So it was you? You cursed us? How?”
“How?” the brunette laughed. “By finding the weak link—which was you, Kays. Your brother turned out to be more resilient. All it took was a tiny dose of magic, and you were at my feet like a loyal, lovesick puppy. You ran off to prove yourself… and dragged that trash of yours along!”
“But we saw it in the caves—”
“You saw what I made you see,” the bitch laughed viciously. “In the caves, a person’s soul opens and lays bare before receiving a gift. At that very moment, it becomes extremely sensitive and susceptible to influence. What could be easier than getting rid of two newly awakened mages by their own hands?”
Bahira stood there, spewing venom at us, burning us with hatred. And damn me—I decided to read her.
“Oh my God…” My eyes couldn’t process what I was seeing. If I’d seen dark people before, then what stood before me now was a true black hole. “Kays… what is that?”
My eyes filled with horror and overwhelming fear. I unconsciously stepped back, covering my mouth with my hand.
“The All-Seeing One, huh,” that… thing sneered arrogantly and viciously. “Well then! No point hiding anymore.”
The brunette’s body began to change, and wild terror seized everyone.
Guests screamed at the horrific sight and scattered, chaos erupting everywhere.
Bahira’s body sprouted black, sharp bristles. Huge, hairy limbs began to burst out of her—like a spider’s, but tipped with metal points. With each emerging leg, there was a horrifying creak and a thunderous удар as it slammed deep into the ground, tearing the earth apart. Her body rapidly deformed and reshaped.
In the end, before us stood a massive, arthropod-like monstrosity with a grotesque face, sticky, foul-smelling saliva dripping from its maw, and countless small eyes clustered on its head. It glared at us with those eyes. Its mandibles twitched rapidly before enormous sharp teeth, producing a slow, crackling sound…
The very sound I’d heard in my dreams.
I hate spiders. But this wasn’t quite a spider. Compared to this, spiders are cute little fluffballs.
“A Skirefen,” Laverna whispered. “And one of the ugliest possible.”
“Kays… and you slept with that?” I whispered in shock, unable to tear my gaze away from the hostile abomination before us.
“Iza… I’m in shock myself,” the dark-haired man admitted without dodging it.
Everything happened very fast.
When the creature revealed itself in all its hideous glory, we heard its grating voice:
“Celebrated too early, bastards! You’ll never get your keys!”
One of its limbs slammed into the ground, sending out a magical shockwave that hurled me through space. The last thing I remember was my beloved’s face, twisted with horror, and how he tried to catch me—
“Kaaaaays!”
I screamed as I bolted upright in bed, hysterically patting myself down and looking around, not understanding where I was.
“Iza, why are you yelling?” I heard a sleepy voice beside me… Anton’s? “It’s a day off—we could sleep a couple more hours.”
“What the hell, Anton?!” I jumped out of bed. The clock showed a little past six in the morning, and I realized—
I was home.
In my own world.
“What are you screaming for?” the redhead grumbled, turning on the bedside lamp and looking at me with concern. “Something wrong? Bad dream?”
“Anton, what dream to hell?!” I stared at him in panic, on the brink of a full-blown breakdown. “Where are they?!”
“Iza… who?” my friend didn’t understand, and I saw worry growing in his eyes.
“Kays! Laverna! Everyone!”
“Who?”
"Anton, don’t tell me you don’t remember them?" my eyes were already filling with tears, panic crushing my chest. "Kays is my husband! And Laverna is your beloved! We had a wedding…"
"Iza, I knew that all your late-night reading of nonsense wouldn’t end well! A body needs rest!"
"Anton, no…" I broke down completely, sobbing in despair. He pulled me into a tight hug, trying to calm me, but I was inconsolable.
I couldn’t breathe in his arms—because they weren’t Kays’s. My soul was slowly dying, and I had no idea how to stop it.
It couldn’t have been a dream. It just couldn’t.
…Or could it?