NOVEL WEB Chapter 96- Taboo
[Lucius POV]
In a dark and damp dungeon underneath the capital of Falheim, I was continuing my ritual to bring out my ancestors’ power.
*schlick**drip*
“*Muffled groan of pain*”
“I know, Leticia, I know. It pains me more than you know to do this to you. I know you must now resent me, but this is for the good of us and Falheim. The more pain you feel, I feel ten times worse, like my soul is tearing itself apart, but I feel the power it gives me. KekekekeahahaHAhaahAhahA! *cough*” (Lucius)
Blood drips from my mouth and joins the puddle of Leticia’s at my feet. My hands are so slick with the crimson liquid that the knife slips from my grasp yet again, hitting the ground with a wet sound. I bend over to pick it up when a searing pain causes me to fall to my knees.
“GAAAHHHH!” (Lucius)
Another bout of searing pain all up my spine, down my tail, on my hands, in my eyes left me writhing on the ground. I didn’t know how long the pain lasted or how long I lay in the pool of blood, but once I came back to myself, I stood up. I immediately noticed the changes as well. My hands had turned scaled with sharp claws replacing the nails. A few spots on my tail had also grown scales while spines had grown on the tip and up the top following along my spine. On my head two small nubs of horns started to grow.
“KekekekahahahAhHaaaHAKuHAaaaAAHHAha!” (Lucius)
“*Muffled sounds of pain and disgust*” (Leticia)
“Do you see, my precious Leticia! Our pain is working! All of this will soon be over, we just need that final push!” (Lucius)
That was when I heard it. A low growling echoing from all around me. I looked around frantically looking for the source. This caused me to notice that I was no longer in the dungeon, but a space of pure darkness with the only other beings present being Leticia and whatever was growling.
“Show yourself, beast!” (Lucius)
I summoned my glorious Soul Weapon, only to find it dull and the blade full of cracks.
“Fufufufufufu.”
The growling turned to feminine laughter.
“You DARE laugh at me!?” (Lucius)
I swung my Soul Weapon in front of me, only for parts of it to crumble.
“You foolish descendant.”
“DO NOT MOCK ME!” (Lucius)
“I will do what I like, you foolish descendant, for you are a fool and thus not worth being taken seriously.”
“Who are you!?” (Lucius)
“I am the spirit of Fafnir, the originator of the name and your first ancestor.” (Fafnir)
As soon as the feminine voice said this, the darkness began to brighten with golden flames. In front of me was a giant dragon with shining golden scales, a crown of horns adorning its head, and eyes that shone like flickering golden flames. The majesty of the dragon made even my great self fall to my knees in reverence.
“Ahh! So my great ancestor has decided to grace me with wisdom and her blessing!” (Lucius)
The dragon in front of me started growling again, it’s lips curling in disgust, showing off the teeth that were sharper than any sword, and made of gold.
“My blessing? Wisdom? HA! My spirit was not reawakened to bestow gifts upon you, you foolish mongrel! It was reawakened to set things to rights and condemn you for your atrocities! You have committed the worse taboo any being of draconic descent could possibly commit!” (Fafnir)
The gaze of Fafnir seemed to be looking past me, so I turned to see and saw Leticia, still strapped to the table, though her breathing was weaker than usual.
“When I was reawakened, I saw all memories from all my currently living descendants. You have all grown quite arrogant in the few thousand years since my death. Even then, you have had a very twisted love of your family. And it’s a shame that you never felt any love for your daughter.” (Fafnir)
“I never had a daughter!” (Lucius)
“That thing was never my father!” (???)
A new voice came from next to Fafnir. When I turned to look at its source, I saw a female kitsune with silver hair and two silver tails. Her hair, ears, and tailed were tipped with cerulean blue that seemed to move like flames. She was tall, around the same height as me, and had a well endowed chest. Her hair was tied up high on her head, yet still reached past her knees. Her eyes, set in a permanent glare were what clues me into her identity. They had glowing cerulean blue irises set in a sea of pitch black sclera with slit pupils reminiscent of the dragon she stood next to.
Without a second thought, I charged forward with my Soul Weapon, ready to skewer the disgrace in front of me. She stared at me with a scowl and moved a hand, hitting my Soul Weapon and shattering it so that all that remained was a hilt.
“Imagine my surprise when I wake up from seeing my wife not in my bed, but in yet another void, and the first thing I see is a dragon and a rat thing. Let me tell you, it’s not very pleasant.” (Disgrace)
The heat around me started to increase and the blood and other liquids on the floor started to boil.
“What’s worse is I am cut off from her voice, and that’s not helping your situation, spirit. So, you are going to tell me what is going on, why those mongrels are here, and why I can’t kill them at this very moment.” (Disgrace)
“Worry not, little one. I am aware of your situation as well. I will explain things properly, but I first must finish the foolish one’s punishment.” (Fafnir)
“Honestly, I feel like you don’t have much to do. Though it’s still sickening to look at, its soul is just barely hanging on. I’d say it has about…a month(?) left to live.” (Disgrace)
“Hmmm. Then would you like to be the one to punish it? I can see that you would love to, though I am a bit reluctant to let my descendants kill one another.” (Fafnir)
“I don’t care who kills it as long as I get to destroy the soul. Souls as corrupted as theirs have no place ever reentering the cycle.” (Disgrace)
“I see. Then I will just let the taboo do its job.” (Fafnir)
Hearing all of this, I couldn’t contain my rage. I leapt up from my spot in the boiling blood and ran over to Leticia’s table.
“I will not be looked down on by disgusting things like you!” (Lucius)
Standing over my beloved wife, I plunged my hand into her chest and ripped her heart out before bringing it to my mouth and swallowing it. The dragon and the disgrace were stunned into silence. Then, a deafening cracking sound rang out in the void and I once again fell to my knees. Before I could say anything, though, an orb flowed out of Leticia’s chest. The orb was black and seems to drip with mud. Every drop that fell from the orb that landed on anything dry started to melt into it like an acid.
“See, disgusting.” (Disgrace)
I looked over to the disgrace and was stunned by what I saw. Appearing from her elbows to her wrists were black chains faintly glowing with blue flames. Attached to these chain were two short swords with black blades, their edges glowing with more cerulean flames that would sometimes flicker a golden orange.
“Impossible. (Lucius)
“What? Did you think I wouldn’t have Soul Weapons? All mortals do.” (Disgrace)
She stepped away from beside Fafnir and next to the table before frowning.
“I hate both of you with every fiber of my being, but THIS, is not what she deserved.” (Disgrace)
It was then that the air around the disgrace changed.
“I declare this to be a Sin of the greatest magnitude. Lucius, you are condemned to Soul Destruction. Await your sentencing for when I find you.” (Disgrace)
The disgrace then swung one of her swords and cut the orb that came out of Leticia. The mud on the orb began to catch fire before completely burning away, leaving an orb or pristine black. After another swing, the orb was cut in two before slowly dissipating like smoke.
“Ah. Foolish descendant that has committed the biggest taboo any of draconic descent can, and had committed one of the greatest Sins, I revoke you from my family. You are no longer a Fafnir. May your days be full of pain as the changes tear your body apart and you lose yourself to madness.” (Fafnir)
My vision then went dark and I awoke in the dungeon once more. I tried to stand, but fell to the floor as my body began to experience pain in magnitudes indescribable with the words of man. I could not even scream as I writhed in the blood. The only things I was able to think about were the face of the disgrace and the orb that she cut.
Chaos Realm:
Luna: …
Astraea: Mama…
Order: Of course you woke up just in time to see that. Come here, baby.
Tamamo: Luna, let’s go. I need to be close to you for a bit.
Luna: Yeah.
*The two disappear just for another portal to open*
What happened?
Order: Astraea woke up and I didn’t know, so she saw something she shouldn’t have.
…*Silently hugs both*Everything is going to be fine, Astraea, I’ll make sure we make more happy, fun memories to replace the scary one.
Order: Why not just seal or make her forget it?
I would never do something like that to my daughter. She will learn one day that there are things like that that happen, so there isn’t a point in doing something that will just make her resee this and get a trauma from it. All we can do is make sure she has more happy memories to outnumber the bad ones.
Order: Alright.