Chapter 88 Swallowed by the forest.

Chapter 88: Chapter 88 Swallowed by the forest.

Lamia walked briskly through the dimly lit pathways, his mind still occupied with thoughts of the strange events that had unfolded throughout the day, which everyone seems to be thinking about. He had been searching for her everywhere, growing increasingly concerned when she didn’t answer his calls. The evening air was thick with an unsettling stillness that made his instincts prickle with warning.

He looked around, suddenly aware that he was being followed. Frowning, he scanned the area carefully, but saw nothing—no humans, no creatures, nothing out of the ordinary. For a brief moment, he wondered if it was Rose playing a trick on him, trying to surprise him after their earlier talks.

"Rose, is that you?" he called out, his voice echoing slightly in the empty space.

Silence answered him. No footsteps, no rustling, no response. He turned around fully, trying to peer into the shadows that seemed to stretch longer than they should. That was when goosebumps erupted across his entire body, a cold dread settling in his stomach. Lamia realized with growing unease that he was utterly alone, and for some reason, that was deeply unsettling.

He quickened his pace, desperate to reach his dormitory. But then he heard it—a footstep directly behind him, close enough to make him freeze. He peeked over his shoulder, and a wave of relief washed over him as he spotted Rose standing there, her figure silhouetted against the faint moonlight.

"Oh, there you are," he breathed, a smile spreading across his face. "I got worried for a moment that you’d been kidnapped."

He laughed lightly, trying to dispel the tension that had gripped him. But Rose didn’t laugh with him. She just stood there, motionless, her expression unreadable. Lamia’s smile faltered. Rose had always had a wonderful sense of humor, one that never seemed to fade no matter the situation. So why wasn’t she responding?

"Are you okay, Rose?" he asked, his voice laced with concern. "Is there something bugging you?"

Still, she remained silent, her gaze fixed on him with an intensity that made his blood run cold. It was the kind of look you gave someone who had been your enemy your entire life—cold, calculating, and filled with hidden malice.

"Come on, speak up," Lamia urged, taking a cautious step back. "You’re scaring me."

He was about to take another step forward when Rose suddenly moved closer. That was when it hit him—a powerful aura of something dark and evil, so potent that it nearly knocked him off his feet. It had the unmistakable signature of witchcraft, but not the kind he was familiar with. This was something far more sinister, laced with necromancy and the stench of death.

His eyes widened as he looked at Rose, really looked at her. Something was terribly wrong. He shifted back, putting distance between them.

"You’re not Rose, are you?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

The figure before him stopped, her face twisting into an expression of sadness and torment before contorting into something eerie and unnatural. Then, slowly, her lips curved into a smile that stretched far too wide across her face.

"Oh, Lamia Alexandria," the voice that came out was nothing like Rose’s. It was ancient, cruel, and dripping with dark amusement. "Now I understand why I sensed such powerful energy in you. You’re a Phoenix witch."

The declaration hit Lamia like a physical blow. His heart raced as he realized the gravity of the situation. Whoever—or whatever—was possessing Rose knew exactly who he was and what he was capable of.

"Whatever you are," Lamia growled, his voice hardening with barely contained fury, "shut that trap you call a mouth and tell me what you’ve done to Rose. Or I swear I’ll fry you alive."

Rose—or rather, the thing inside her—took another step toward him, and Lamia retreated, his body coiling with tension as he prepared for an attack. His magic hummed beneath his skin, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.

"So you’re going to kill your friend?" the voice taunted, suddenly shifting into something softer and more feminine. It was Rose’s voice, but twisted, wrong. "Because I’m right here in her body. Lamia, are you going to kill me?"

The question made his skin crawl. He clenched his fists, fighting to keep his emotions in check.

"I asked you a question," he demanded, his voice cold as ice. "Who are you?"

"So you can’t recognize me, Lamia?" the voice purred. "But of course you wouldn’t. You’re not the one who killed me in the cafeteria. But forget about that for now. I’m going to set this school down in flames. I’m waiting for the emperor to arrive so he can burn with it. But you and Ashton can’t destroy my plan—that’s why I have to get rid of you first."

Before she could finish her sentence, Lamia snapped his hands forward. A violent gust of wind erupted from his palms, breaking through the earth and seizing her body, slamming her against the wall with brutal force. Vines began to creep out from the ground, wrapping around her limbs, restraining her movements.

Lamia didn’t blink. He kept his eyes fixed on her, his hands raised as the vines shimmered with an ethereal glow. Rose’s body began to tremble, convulsing violently as he channeled his magic into the bindings.

"I’m going to get you out of that body," he declared, his voice steady despite the fury burning in his chest. "I don’t care if you’re a dead spirit or not. You’re not touching my friends. You dare not threaten them because it displeases me greatly—and believe me, you don’t want to see me truly pissed off."

The vines glowed brighter as he intensified his spell, and Rose’s convulsions grew more severe. But just as he thought he was making progress, something shifted. The vines that had been tightly wrapped around her body began to loosen, slipping away as if they had no power over her.

Lamia’s eyes widened in shock. This wasn’t Rose fighting back. Something else was interfering.

"Oh, it’s not me," the voice inside Rose cackled, gleeful and triumphant. "It’s the ancestors. They have power over this school, and they’re using me as their vessel. I’m giving them what they want. Can you fight dead people who control this place from the other side? Absolutely not. You have no power over me."

A force erupted from the ground, seizing Lamia and hurling him through the air. He crashed against a jagged rock on the opposite side of the clearing, his back hitting the surface with a sickening crack. Pain exploded through his body, and he howled in agony as his bones shattered and his veins burned as if lit on fire from the inside.

"How dare you try to ruin our plans!" nearly a hundred voices echoed simultaneously, overlapping and reverberating from every direction. The sound was deafening, overwhelming, pressing down on him like a physical weight.

Lamia tried to fight back, struggling to his feet despite the excruciating pain. His legs ached, blood trickled from his wounded arm where the rock’s sharp edges had torn through his skin. He gritted his teeth, trying to summon his magic, but nothing came. He was helpless against the voices, against the spirits that seemed to control everything around him.

"This is bad," he muttered, his voice strained. "You can’t kill all the people in this school. They’re innocent. Every single one of them. And if some evil ones are here, it’s not right for the innocent to pay the price."

His defense of the school was met with cruel laughter, the voices twisting into a venomous chorus.

"It’s their cup of tea," they spat. "Why didn’t they help when they were needed? They turned blind eyes to us because we were omegas, because we were poor. Is that it?"

Lamia blinked, confusion flickering across his face. Something terrible must have happened that he wasn’t aware of. He knew the school had its share of secrets, skeletons hidden in every cupboard, but he had never been interested in digging too deep. Knowing too much could be dangerous—that was how most people ended up dead. But this... this sounded like something far more sinister than he could have imagined.

Omegas being killed off? He knew there was cruelty toward omegas, had experienced it himself. But to be this dark, this vile, was beyond anything he had ever conceived.

"Why are you defending them," the voices hissed, "when you’re supposed to be helping me achieve this mission? Weren’t you bullied to stupor? Or have you forgotten that you’re an omega too?"

The words struck him like a blade, freezing him in place. It was true. He had been bullied, tormented, treated like less than nothing because of his status. But that didn’t mean he wanted revenge. That didn’t mean he wanted to destroy everyone.

"I know it’s you, Maria," Lamia said, his voice steadier now. "But I’m not evil. I can’t be. And my friend Rose isn’t either. So it’s time for you to leave."

But the ground beneath him suddenly split apart, swallowing him whole. Half his torso was sealed within the earth, trapping him in a suffocating grip. He struggled, thrashing against the dirt and stone that held him fast.

Lamia refused to be trapped. Summoning every ounce of his strength, he channeled his magic into a desperate counterattack. With a sickening crack, he burst free from the ground, exploding outward in a shower of debris. He was about to aim at Rose, determined to drive the spirits out of her body, when chains clamped around his hands, caging his magic completely.

"Now you can’t do magic," the voices crowed triumphantly.

Lamia’s eyes widened in horror as he felt his powers drain away, sealed within the metallic grip of the chains. Darkness began to spread through his body, cold and suffocating. Something began dragging him forward, pulling him toward the forest—the same forest where monsters had emerged just nights ago.

"No, let me go!" he screamed, but his mouth sealed shut, his words silenced. A moonlight affinity user’s power resided within their hands and their mouth. With both sealed, he was completely vulnerable.

Lamia fought desperately, but it was no use. The force dragging him was too strong, too relentless. His body was pulled into the darkness of the forest, swallowed by the shadows until nothing remained.

Rose’s body stood motionless for a moment, watching him disappear. Then she smiled, a cold, cruel smile that didn’t belong to her. She straightened her clothes, brushed off the dust, and vanished into the night as if nothing had happened.