Chapter 363: The Pain That Wouldn't End

Elyn’s POV

I think I slept at some point.

I wasn’t really sure.

The battle went on for hours, I think. Maybe even longer.

If calling it a battle was even the accurate term.

The last thing I remembered was lying on the floor while Rin and Azerion continued their ridiculous argument, Vaelory attempted to stop them, and I seriously considered whether I should simply close my eyes and pretend none of it was happening.

Apparently, I had succeeded.

At some point, everything became drowsy.

The sounds around me grew distant.

The voices became muffled.

Even the floor, which had somehow been comfortable before, suddenly wasn’t comfortable anymore.

Every part of my body felt heavy.

My eyelids grew heavier too.

I tried to move.

Nothing.

I tried again.

Still nothing.

I wasn’t sure whether I was awake or dreaming.

I only knew that someone was holding me.

I slowly turned my head.

And locked eyes with beautiful ruby ones.

The same ones that had appeared in my dream before Azerion decided to take over and slap me.

“Zorathys,” I said softly.

He was frowning.

Actually, frowning didn’t quite describe it.

He looked murderous.

His eyes were dark with something I couldn’t understand, and there was a tension in his jaw that made him look as though he was barely holding himself together.

But when he looked at me, his expression softened.

“Firefly,” he called softly. “How do you feel?”

I tried to answer but nothing came out.

My throat felt dry.

My body felt strange.

Then, all at once, I felt heat.

It started somewhere inside me.

A small warmth.

Then it spread.

My chest burned.

My arms burned.

My legs burned.

Soon, it felt as though my entire body had been thrown into a furnace.

I wondered for a moment if this was how the Hellfire Territory would make me feel if I ever visited it.

Perhaps I should cross that place off my list of potential touring destinations.

“Firefly,” Zorathys called again.

I tried to focus on him but his face was blurry as was everything.

I couldn’t understand what was happening.

Being inside my own skin suddenly felt uncomfortable.

No.

It felt wrong.

My body burned so badly that I instinctively clawed at my chest.

“I…” I choked out.

My voice sounded foreign even to my own ears.

“It… it burns.”

Zorathys’s expression changed immediately.

Shadows suddenly enveloped us.

For a moment, I couldn’t see anything.

Then the world shifted.

When the darkness disappeared, I was in Zorathys’s bedroom.

He placed me on the bed carefully.

Far more carefully than I expected from someone who looked like he wanted to tear the entire world apart.

“Zor…”

“Don’t talk, Firefly,” he said softly. “You’d lose more energy if you do so.”

Energy?

What did he mean?

I tried to ask, but my body felt too weak.

Zorathys suddenly cut his arm.

I stared at the blood.

My mind was too sluggish to understand what he was doing.

“Zorathys…”

“Drink, Firefly.”

He brought his cut arm toward my lips.

“Even if it’s a drop, take some of it.”

I shook my head.

I didn’t understand.

Why would giving me his blood make me feel better?

What was happening to me?

Why did I feel like this?

“Firefly,” he groaned and I was almost certain there was pain in his voice. “I can’t help you if you don’t do it.”

I stared at him.

His eyes were filled with something I couldn’t quite identify.

Fear?

No.

Zorathys didn’t look like someone who was afraid.

But he looked desperate.

“Firefly, please.”

He was begging.

The Demon King was actually begging me.

I tried to shake my head again, but even that simple movement felt exhausting.

My body refused to cooperate.

I was too tired.

Too hot.

Too uncomfortable.

Eventually, I had no choice.

My lips touched his arm.

I took a small sip.

Then another.

The moment his blood touched my tongue, my eyes widened.

It tasted good.

Far too good.

I didn’t understand why.

I couldn’t even explain the strange sensation that spread through me as I drank. I only took a little and then the burning inside me intensified.

It felt as though I would pass out.

Perhaps Zorathys noticed.

He gently pulled his arm away.

Then his hand moved through my hair in slow, gentle strokes.

“Rest, Firefly,” he told me.

His voice sounded like music to my ears.

Perhaps that was why I rested.

I closed my eyes.

And slept.

I didn’t know how long I was asleep.

It could have been minutes.

It could have been hours.

When I woke up, it was with a scream.

My head felt as though it was about to explode.

My body felt too hot.

Everything burned.

I couldn’t breathe properly.

I couldn’t think.

I couldn’t even understand where I was.

Zorathys was above me.

His hands were pressed against my chest.

I thought there were others in the room too, but I wasn’t sure.

Everything was blurry.

The room seemed to spin around me.

“It burns,” I cried out.

My voice cracked.

“It hurts too much. Please… please make it stop.”

I sobbed.

I didn’t even understand why I was crying.

Maybe it was because of how much pain I was in.

Maybe my body simply couldn’t take anymore.

I only knew that I wanted this to end.

I wanted everything to stop.

“Just hold on, Firefly,” Zorathys called out.

“I ca—”

“Firefly, hold on…” His voice broke slightly.

“Please.”

I sobbed in reply.

This was too much.

Why was he begging me like this?

Why did everything hurt?

Why?

Why was this happening?

Why was he speaking so softly?

Why did he look sad?

Zorathys pressed down on my chest and the pain intensified.

A scream tore out of me.

I screamed so loudly that my throat hurt.

I tried to push his hands away.

Where I got the energy to do so, I wouldn’t know.

But he remained where he was.

He held me down as he continued doing whatever it was he was doing.

I didn’t understand.

I couldn’t understand.

All I knew was pain.

Pain and heat.

I screamed again.

And again.

And again.

How long did I scream for?

Hours, perhaps.

I wasn’t sure.

Time had lost all meaning.

There were moments when I thought I had passed out, only to wake again because of the pain.

Every time I opened my eyes, Zorathys was there.

He never left my side.

Not once.

His hands remained on my chest throughout it all.

Sometimes he said my name.

Sometimes he told me to hold on.

Sometimes he said nothing.

But he stayed.

He stayed through every scream.

Through every tear.

Through every moment when I thought I couldn’t endure another second.

And then, finally…

My body began to calm down.

The burning slowly faded.

My breathing steadied.

The unbearable pressure in my chest eased.

For the first time since this had begun, I didn’t feel as though I was trapped inside a body that didn’t belong to me.

Then I felt it.

A strange thrum of energy moved through me.

I couldn’t explain what it was.

It spread through my body slowly, almost like something had finally begun flowing through places that had been completely empty before.

And strangely…

It wasn’t hot.

It was cold.

A cool sensation moved through me, completely contrasting the unbearable heat from before.

I shuddered.

Then I breathed.

A proper breath.

For the first time in what felt like forever, I could breathe easily.

And I finally calmed down. My body didn’t feel uncomfortable anymore. I could finally breathe easily too.