[ The Darkness around the Raven strong hold...a realm shrouded in despair and helplessness ]
The mist here didn’t just move...it breathed... like always.
Every coil of liquid black vapor slithered low, curling around the jagged bones that jutted from the ground like a graveyard’s ribs.
Somewhere in the unseen heights above, the croak of unseen ravens rolled in like the steady melody of wind chimes. There was no other noise...
But then...there was the groan.
It was wrong here.Very wrong.
Because it was deep, guttural...and it was male as well.
This realm knew no male voice, had never tolerated one. Yet it came again, dragging low through the mist, fractured with pain yet like a roar, the sound cracking like thunder under strain.
The sound was wet, metallic, dripping.
The black fog thinned for just a breath, parting like lips whispering a secret, and there...suspended in the center of a nest of writhing tendrils was...Alpha Thorgar.
He hung upside down. His legs were yanked so far apart they looked on the verge of tearing from their sockets. The tendrils too weren’t smooth...they were bristled, lined with hooks that twisted just enough to catch when he tried to move.
One coiled thick around his throat, forcing his head back so his eyes were locked on the endless void above.
A voice like silk dragged over broken glass whispered from the mist.
"Still so loud... even after all these days?"
The tendril around his leg jerked violently, and bone ground against bone. His groan broke into a ragged snarl.
"I will... tear you and your filthy kind apart when I..."
Something unseen slashed across his chest. The wound opened without a blade in sight, skin parting like paper, and blood slid downward to steam on the cold mist below.
"If you ever... what, Thorgar darling?"
The tendrils around his ribs tightened...slowly, with patience, until the sound of splintering cartilage filled the silence between their words.
He gasped hard through clenched teeth. His voice was a rasp.
"Don’t... give that bitch... the scream... " Thorgar shrieked internally.
The groan still came, though unwilling, drawn out by pain that refused to end. His head sagged forward a little, breath fogging in short bursts.
Another tendril immediately snaked into the open wound without giving any respite, curling inside like a living scalpel.
" Selene! Bitch! ... you will regret keeping me alive."
The air thickened, like the mist itself was leaning closer to listen.
A voice chuckled! "Alive? Oh, no, Alpha. This... is you dying. Very... very... slowly...unless you agree to comply..."
And the mist folded back over him, drowning his figure in black just as a very cruelly stunning face, appeared on the other side. "And for your information, this is Ravena! Selene left long ago... apparently it’s time for the birth, Darling! "
Thorgar bared his fangs and snarled at her, snapping at the air. " You will not touch her! You will not touch my daughter or her children...I am going to make you pay dearly for tricking me, fucking cunts! If you dare touch my family it will end hell lot of worse..."
The seductive figure in front of him floated around, almost giggling as if amused at what he implied. " You trusted Selene! I mean... you were such an easy prey... much easier than that Alpha Kieran...Damn! We had been wasting resources on that head strong Alpha for so long... we should have gone for you straight away... " She clapped her hands as if dusting off something... " But Alas! If only we had known earlier that you birthed that wonderful miracle... ah... how the wheel of fate works... such a miracle...ah! " She pretended to heave a deep sigh, fanning her face with her hands.
Ravena extended her hand, trailing her finger lustfully over Thorgar’s hair line. Thorgar strained his neck forward, snapping just before she pulled her hand away, smiling.
" My... my...are you so eager for a taste of me, Alpha!" She circled slowly around him. "I heard you were very cooperative when Selene came to your rescue! You didn’t even blink an eye before agreeing to her proposal!"
Thorgar growled! "The next time I see that cunning bitch, she is going to end up skinned and marinated for dinner..."
Ravena cawed into a shrieking laughter..."My!My! Now that’s very touching!What a vivid show of affection, Alpha!"
Then suddenly the tendrils plunged.
The hooks along its length flared outward, tearing their way through flesh on the way in, twisting until the tendril was inside him like a serpent seeking warmth.
Thorgar’s jaw locked.
A deep growl rattled from his chest, vibrating against the coil around his body.
Another tendril descended, this one tipped in something that glimmered dark...like black ichor...like acid...that hissed when it touched his skin.
It drew a slow, deliberate line from collarbone to navel, splitting the skin just enough to let blood spill in like warm ribbons.
Ravena leaned in so close her cold breath slid along the shell of his ear.
Ravena rasped in a mocking whisper. "Mmm... that’s better. Pain makes your voice so much prettier, Alpha! Why won’t you scream more often? Are you still saving your strength for your precious little daughter?!"
Thorgar growled despite being literally shredded to pieces. " I am warning you, Creatures of death... if you so much as look into the direction of my daughter or her family... I swear on the sun and the moon and all the stars in the night sky... I , Alpha Thorgar Ulfsen, is going to make your death the slowest and most painful in history... "
Ravena paused. It seemed like even the tendrils retracted a little. The intimidation was undeniable... unshakable... but then she turned around, clapping her hands before disappearing into the dark mist. " Too late, Alpha! We might have thought about sparing her if you had complied completely with our request. Since you are so unwilling to cooperate, you daughter and her heirs will have to pay the price. And I think the time is almost ripe... almost... "