After Dying for his Life, I Became the Abyss Queen Chapter 05
Vaelin stood in the dim, damp dungeon and handed me the ancient journal he’d recovered from Zephyra’s chambers.
The incriminating annotations were unmistakable: the transformation principles of the Abyssal Soul-
Binding Dragon Formation, even step–by–step dalculations on “how to exploit Roran’s guilt to make him willingly sacrifice Megan“-all spelled out in meticulous detail.
I hurled it at Zephyra’s feet, where it landed among the bloodstains.
Pinned to the wall by dragonbane shackles, Zephyra trembled violently, her face drained of all color.
You vile demon!” My hair, bleached white from the severed soul bond, whipped wildly in the air currents as pure golden dragonfire erupted in my eyes.
You used my guilt to make me push my own soulmate into a killing formation!”
seized her throat and slammed her against the wall.
“Roran… it’s not what you think…” she choked out through tears. “The abyss required blood sacrifice from the same lineage… it was truly an accident!”
“Still lying?” My murderous intent manifested as tangible ice blades scraping her skin. “The scent of fear rolling off you has already given you away!”
“She’s my own sister! I admit I studied the formation out of jealousy, but I only wanted to teach her a lesson! By the Holy Dragonfire, I swear-
“A venomous snake like you doesn’t even deserve to invoke the Sacred Fire!” I flung her aside like garbage.
Once, her tears might have given me pause. Now, that pitiful display only turned my stomach.
“String her up,” I ordered Vaelin coldly. “Use glacial dragonfire on her. Don’t let her die too easily. Dig up every last detail about her and that witch of a mother!
For the next three days, Zephyra’s screams echoed through the dungeon without cease.
Until the third evening, when Vaelin burst into the great hall carrying an ancient dragon–scale coffer.
“My lord, we’ve uncovered the truth about the Bloodline… and it’s horrifying.” His expression was grave as he activated the dragon scale bearing the soul seal of the previous Grand Elder.
Ancient dragon script projected golden spectrums into the air.
“The true inheritor of the ancient pure dragon bloodline is Megan, And Zephyra…” Vaelin drew a
sharp breath, each word falling like a hammer.
“She’s nothing but Isabella’s bastard–a half–blood tainted with inferior wyvern lineage!”
My hands began to shake violently. “What did you just say?!”
“The ‘bloodline contamination‘ in Megan was fabricated! Megan is the one chosen and blessed by the Divine Dragon!”
I clenched my fists so hard my claws pierced through my palms.
Two lifetimes! I’d been blind for two entire lifetimes, treasuring a fraud while murdering the real treasure with my own hands!
When I kicked open the heavy iron door again, my ampaging killing intent instantly covered the stone walls with frost.
You filthy fraud!” I kicked the solid wall so hard the entire dungeon shook. “Eighteen years! You deceived everyone for eighteen years!”
Zephyra cowered in the corner, eyes wide with terror Roran… what are you talking about?”
I hurled the dragon scale at her face. Golden images projected from it. “Take a good look! This is the proof of how you and your mother switched bloodlines and forged the divine oracle!”
The moment she saw the images, Zephyra thrashed and screamed like a madwoman. “No! It’s fake! I’m the pure blood! The Dragon Temple acknowledged me for eighteen years!”
She desperately clawed at the dim dragonfire pendant around her neck. “This is proof!”
“You mean this trinket that only glows near Megan and has a ‘blood–devouring formation‘ carved on the back?!” I sneered, throwing a yellowed parchment in her face.
This is a secret letter you wrote to Isabella when you were sixteen–‘We must never let Megan attend the consecration, or her pure bloodline will expose everything’! Was that also an accident?”
Seeing the letter, Zephyra’s last psychological defense crumbled completely. She went ashen and slumped down. “I… I…”
Eighteen years of lies, two lifetimes of deception!” I looked down at her from above, my eyes dead and cold, containing only endless winter.
Everything Megan endured… the despair, the agony of blood extraction, even the terror in that abyss formation–I’m going to make you repay it a thousandfold.”
Zephyra broke down completely, sobbing as the chains dragged her. “What choice did I have? If I hadr t done it, I would’ve been discarded as worthless…
Roran, for old times‘ sake, please just kill me…“
“You want death? That’s too easy for you.”
I turned away, sealing her screams and pleas behind the heavy iron door.
But no matter how much I tortured her, whenever night fell, the soul–tearing remorse would still drown line.
In the vast, empty great hall, I sat like a walking Corpse, my hair the color of ash. I rubbed the
soulmate mark on my palm that had long since faded into nothingness as scalding tears fell silently onto the cold throne.
“Megan… this is all my fault… I swore on my life to protect you, yet twice I destroyed you with my own hands…”
If I’d uncovered the truth sooner, if I hadn’t been blinded by those pathetic tears, would my soulmate still be here instead of turned to ash in the abyss?
Just as this self–destructive agony pushed me to the edge of madness, as I wanted nothing more than to carve out my heart in atonement-
BOOM!
A black–gold invitation wreathed in dark crimson abyssal fire pierced through the hall’s barrier without
warning and landed on the back of my hand.
Sender: Lord of the Forbidden Abyss and Ancient Demon Dragons–Cassius.
[Cordially inviting Commander Roran to the upcoming Awakening and Coronation of the Abyss.
Our newly risen Abyssal Dragon Queen eagerly awaits reunion with an “old friend.” Time: The Crimson Moon. Location: Infernal Palace.]
The moment I read the invitation, all the blood in my body froze. My heart lurched violently.
The Forbidden Abyss… the very place where Megan’s soul had been devoured! And Cassius–that demon lord who’d watched the sacrifice with cold indifference!
Those four words-“old friend“-tore through my sanity like barbed wire.
Vaelin!” I roared hoarsely, my eyes nearly splitting from shock.
Vaelin rushed through the door in alarm.
Gripped the burning invitation so tightly my knuckles turned white, gasping for breath. In the endless despair and madness, a desperate, trembling hope suddenly clawed its way up.
“Find out-“I stared toward the direction of the abyss, my voice shaking. “I need to know immediately…
who exactly is this new queen that Cassius has placed on the throne!”