Chapter 22: Dark Magic

Xuma pulled on her cloak. Standing outside the ginormous stone gate that caged her in her past life, unpleasant memories, of her toiling 2 years in the laundry department, getting beaten and whipped before catching the eye of the Head Servant, then spending three years perfecting her Dance of Blossoms before gaining Emperor Ghazeyh's favor, surfaced in her mind.

She spent ten years behind these stone walls. Five in adapting to the new environment and surviving the brutality of the palace servants.

And five planning her revenge beside the Emperor.

Now she stood with the same man, five years earlier in meeting him, and was about to enter the cage she longed to escape in her past life.

"Xuma, you're going to enter the palace as my servant. I know it's hard, but try your best to adapt and settle in. Blossom Valley…I'll see if I can find anything about your relatives." Ghazeyh shuffled his feet in discomfort.

It had been his idea to bring her along. Again. He hadn't felt at ease leaving her behind. Her memories were half missing, and with the slave mark branded on the back of her hand, she would end up in the slave market if anyone caught a glimpse of her hand.

So after making his decision to return to the palace, he decided to bring her along for two reasons. One, she would have a place to stay until her memories returned. And two, if it really turned out that he was under the spell of a dark magic, it would be easy to trace its source.

After all, he only began to feel strange when he met her.

With this thought, he pulled down his hood and waved at the palace guards.

"Your highness!"

The guards marched out and knelt before the palace gate.

Xuma raised a brow and glanced at the man beside her. "Your highness?" She repeated, the question clear in her eyes.

"That…I'll explain everything later." Ghazeyh stammered awkwardly. He had forgotten to tell her his real identity. "I…" Before he could say anything else, the stone gate groaned, and Xuma's gaze shifted to the yawning entrance.

Stretching over a hundred feet high, the white stone gleamed a lustrous silver-crimson under the radiance of the winter sun. Xuma's breath stuck in her throat.

A suffocating feeling pressed on her chest, gnawing on her heart and making it painful for her to breathe. For a split, her surroundings seemed to disappear. Rotting corpses and severed limbs sprawled before her. The wails of infants echoed in her ears. And as the gate opened to its full length, a pool of blood gushed forth, filling her orifices and sweeping her in its sticky mire with a vengeful edge.

Ghostly figures with flesh missing on their faces, dark smoke rising from their mouths and crimson tears streaming their cheeks, stretched skinny hands with peeling flesh and dirty claw-like nails towards her, grabbing and pulling her to the depth of the pool that morphed into a monstrous wave and threatened to submerge her.

"It's you!"

"You devil witch!"

"Give us back our lives!"

"It's all your fault!"

Their resentful howls exploded her mind. Xuma reached up and covered her ears and screamed.

A chill crept down his spine. It seeped into his bones and gripped his heart with thorny hands.

Ghazeyh felt his heart shudder. His steps came to an abrupt halt as he raised his head to look at the twin suns. One was tainted with a dark smudge, barely perceivable under the mask of winter clouds. 'Dark magic? Who dared to use dark magic in Stone City?'

Then he heard her wretched scream

"AHHH!"

He turned towards Xuma. But before he could open his mouth, his outstretched hand froze in midair as his blood went cold.

She was sprawled on the ground, spasming and convulsing like an epileptic patient. Her shrill cry sounded like the howl of a banshee. But what made his heart shiver was the blood leaking from her seven orifices.

It was dark red, reminiscent of the Red Sha-jin infamous for its mastery in emotion manipulation.

"Raging flames! She's under the spell of dark magic!" He cursed and raced to her side. Gathering her spasming body in his arms, Ghazeyh hollered at the guards who scattered away in different directions to find a healer and inform the Emperor.

The appearance of dark magic pointed to only one possibility.

The seal around the Dark Forest had weakened. Yet again. And the Red Sha-jin's sight was fixed on the female in his arms.

"Sanbiri! Sanbiri!" Confusion and anxiety pushed at his limbs, forcing him to sprint through the palace corridors like a madman.

Ghazeyh was about to lose his mind. He couldn't understand what was going on. Why had the seal loosened again? Why was the Red Sha-jin targeting a little girl? He had a feeling it had something to do with Blossom Valley.

But he couldn't figure out what made the Sha-jin specifically target Xuma.

"Something's going on."

There was a connection between their intention to attack Blossom Valley and the girl in his arms. Something he couldn't see.