Chapter 77 What the hell...

Chapter 77 What the hell...
~Elira~
The nightmare ended the same way it always did.
A woman screamed until her voice became nothing more than a broken whisper, flames swallowing her whole while thick smoke curled into the night sky. Her wrists were bound to a wooden altar, yet she never stopped struggling. I could still hear the crackling fire. I could still smell burning flesh.
Then came the bowl. Someone held an ancient silver bowl beneath a body as blood poured into it. Only this time… Drex didn’t appear. 
The visions disappeared as suddenly as they had come. I opened my eyes with a sharp breath.
For several moments, I simply lay there, staring at the carved ceiling above my bed while forcing my breathing to steady. Sweat clung to every inch of my body, making the sheets feel unbearably heavy against my skin.
I closed my eyes briefly and rubbed my forehead. I was starting to get used to this.
Maybe that was a good thing. Or maybe something worse was waiting.
I refused to entertain that thought. I was tired of letting fear dictate every waking moment of my life.
Slowly, I pushed the blankets aside and sat upright. The room was unusually quiet. My eyes wandered across the chamber until they reached the empty side of the bed.
Kael wasn't there. Of course he wasn't.
A small smile tugged at the corner of my lips despite everything.
He was still a king and he had a kingdom to rule. He couldn't spend every hour sitting beside me simply because I was falling apart.
For days now he had barely left my side. Every nightmare. Every panic attack. Every vision. Every time I convinced myself I was losing my mind, he was there trying to convince me otherwise.
He deserved better than that. He deserved a queen who wasn't becoming another burden on his shoulders.
"I'll be alright," I whispered to the empty room.
Whether I believed it or not was another matter entirely. Dragging myself out of bed proved harder than I expected.
My muscles ached. It felt as though every bone inside my body had become heavier overnight.
I walked toward the bathing chamber, my feet almost scraping against the polished floor. Cold morning light spilled through the narrow windows, painting pale silver lines across the stone walls.
Everything felt... distant. As though I were watching someone else live my life.
The mirror greeted me the moment I stepped inside. I barely recognized the woman staring back.
Dark circles rested beneath my tired eyes, my skin looked pale. I reached for the basin to splash water across my face before something caught my attention.
My brows furrowed.
There was blood. Dark, dried streaks stretched from both nostrils to the corner of my lips.
I froze. "What..."
I stepped closer. The blood had dried sometime during the night and I hadn't even noticed.
My fingers slowly brushed against it and the flakes crumbled beneath my touch.
‘How?’
My mind searched desperately for an explanation. Maybe I had scratched myself while sleeping, or maybe… 
A sudden flash exploded across my vision. It was silver, and almost blinding. 
My own reflection stared back at me, but for the briefest moment my eyes glowed with a light that wasn't mine.
I stumbled backward so violently my shoulder slammed into the wall. The light vanished as fast as it appeared. 
I blinked repeatedly, but there was nothing.  Only my frightened reflection remained.
"No..." I swallowed hard.
"I imagined it."
I had to. ‘Didn't I?’
Taking several deep breaths, I washed the dried blood away before stripping off my damp nightgown.
The warm water cascading over my body should have comforted me. Instead, it only reminded me how tired I felt. Even the simplest movements demanded effort.
When I finally dressed in my royal attire, fastening every clasp myself instead of calling for attendants, I looked at my reflection one final time.
I told myself, “Enough hiding, enough crying, enough waiting for answers to magically find me. If destiny had chosen me, then destiny could answer my questions.” 
Who is the woman in my dreams?
Why do I feel her pain every single night?
If she existed somewhere… I would find her. Even if I had to search every kingdom.
With renewed determination, I stepped outside my chambers.
Immediately, I was out, something felt wrong.
The hallway was dead silent.
No servants hurried between corridors carrying fresh linens, no guards exchanged quiet greetings and no maids polished the windows.
Only the echo of my own footsteps filled my ears.
I slowed. "Hello?"
My voice drifted down the corridor before disappearing into the emptiness.
No answer came and this caused a strange uneasiness settle inside my stomach. As I rounded the next corner, I finally spotted someone. One of the palace guards.
Relief washed over me. "There you are."
He turned slowly and eyes met mine. Only that something inside them was... missing. They looked empty. It felt like he wasn't looking at me but looking through me.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
Without warning… He dropped onto all fours and my breath caught.
"What are you doing?"
He lowered his head until it touched the floor.
"My Queen."
I stared, speechless for a second. Confusion rooted me where I stood.
"You don't have to do that." I finally found my voice. 
But he didn't move. Before I could step closer, footsteps echoed somewhere behind him.
Another guard emergedm, then another and then two servants. A cook, one of the stable boys. They all stopped the moment they saw me.
One after another… They lowered themselves onto all fours.
"My Queen."
"My Queen."
"My Queen."
The whispers blended together.
Cold spread through my entire body. "No..." I shook my head. 
There were more footsteps.  The corridor behind them slowly filled. Servants, maids, soldiers, stable workers and kitchen staff.
They came from every direction, their expressions were empty, their movements stiff, as though invisible strings were pulling them toward me.
None of them spoke or blinked. They simply kept coming.
"What is happening?"
Nobody answered. They all lowered themselves before me.
And before I knew it, they began crawling toward me.
Every instinct inside me screamed. I stepped backward and this only made them crawl faster.
Soon dozens of hands scraped against the stone floor. Hundreds of eyes remained fixed on me.
"I said stop!" Nobody listened.
Fear gripped my chest. "Drex!" The name escaped before I even realized I had spoken it.
Almost immediately… there were footsteps sounded behind me.
I turned and saw Drex walking down the hallway. His face looked exactly like the others. Empty and almost lifeless. He never looked at anyone else. Just me. 
Relief flooded me. "Drex."
He kept walking. When he reached me, he didn't kneel.
Instead… His sword slid from its sheath with a sharp metallic hiss. Drex stepped in front of me.
His broad shoulders blocked every path leading toward me. The tip of his sword lowered toward the nearest guard.
His voice was cold as he spoke,  "None of you will touch my Queen."
Every hair on my body stood upright. "Drex..."
Nobody moved and even the crawling servants stopped.
"Drex!"
He didn't respond. He looked ready to kill every single person in front of him.
My breathing quickened. "Drex, stand down!"
The words left my mouth louder than I intended.
Instantly… His body jerked and the sword slipped from his fingers and clattered loudly against the floor.
His eyes blinked and confusion spread across his face.
"My..." He looked down at the sword. "What..."
Around us, the others began blinking too. The servants looked around in bewilderment. Several guards quickly stood.
One maid frowned at the bruises on her knees.
"What happened?"
"Why am I here?"
"I was in the kitchens..."
The whispers spread rapidly. Nobody remembered walking, kneeling or crawling towards me.
Drex looked at me.
His face had turned pale. "My Queen… I don't remember drawing my sword."
Before I could answer… Pain exploded inside my skull and I gasped.nBoth hands flew to my temples.
It was subtle at first, but the ringing grew louder and louder until it drowned out every other sound around me.
They were wolves, thousands of them, howling and crying in my head. Their voices surrounded me from every direction.
Just then, the hallway disappeared.
Stone became dust, walls crumbled into ruins older than time itself and I found myself standing beneath an endless silver sky.
Ancient pillars stretched toward the heavens and broken statues littered the earth.
Hundreds of thousands… of wolves surrounded one woman. She stood with her back facing me. Long silver hair danced behind her.
Slowly... She lifted one hand and every single wolf bowed, exactly as the people in the palace had done.
My heart pounded against my chest.  She slowly turned her head and I stopped breathing.
She had my face. Yet I knew somehow… she wasn't me. She was ancient.
Her silver eyes met mine and there was sadness inside them that no human heart should ever carry.
Her lips moved. "They are waking."
The world shattered and I crashed back into reality. My knees slammed against the palace floor and warm liquid poured over my lips.
Dark blood splashed onto the polished stone beneath me. Someone screamed. "My Queen!"
I touched my nose and my fingers came away stained crimson.
The hallway spun violently.
Voices echoed around me.
"Get the King!"
"Call Seer Morwen!"
"Someone help her!"
Nobody dared touch me.
I could see the fear in their eyes. The fear of me. Barely able to stay conscious, I lifted my head.
One of the guards standing near the palace windows suddenly froze. His face drained of every ounce of color.
"My... Moon..." He staggered backward.
"What is it?" Drex demanded.
The guard simply pointed outside.
Something compelled me to look. Ignoring the burning pain inside my skull, I forced myself onto trembling legs and stumbled toward the window.
Every step felt heavier than the last and when I finally reached it… my entire body went numb.
Outside the palace… the city had stopped. Men, women and children. There were housands of them.
Every road leading toward the palace was filled.
They walked in perfect silence, slowly and methodically. Their empty eyes stared toward only one destination, the palace. 
My lips parted. "What..."
They simply kept coming.
An endless tide of lifeless faces moving toward the palace as though summoned by something far greater than their own will.
I staggered backward.
"What the hell is happening..."