Whispers of a Dead Empire

Chapter 115

I walked back to Alessia's room, still partially fuming. But more than anything, I was just tired. The words that Redrick and I shared hung heavy on my mind. I wanted to leave my domain and burn that country to the ground, but I had to wait. As I fought the next wave of anger, I clenched my fist. I needed to get it under control before I saw Nyx again. I had to keep the image up for her.

As I reached the door, I paused. My fingers brushed against the cool wooden frame. I took a deep breath and tried to steady my rapidly thrumming heart. I pushed the door open with one last deep breath and quickly glanced around the room. Alessia was still asleep, and Nyx was sitting on the edge, kicking her feet. Her face slightly scrunched up in thought. At least until she noticed me standing there.

A slight grin crossed her face as she jumped off the bed quietly and rushed over. Thankfully, when I saw her, a lot of what I felt had vanished, but it still lingered in the corner of my mind, waiting for its next chance to strike. "Hello, Mother." The little girl reached me and wrapped her arms around my waist.

"Hello, Nyx." I gave her a gentle pat on the head, though my eyes lingered on Alessia's form. I wish she would wake up.

"What do you want to do today?" Nyx pulled away and looked up at me. Her eyes glinted in the candlelight, and her flesh seemed to have darkened ever so slightly.

Honestly, I didn't know myself. When I told her we could do something, I didn't really think about it. I've just been so caught up in all of this that it slipped my mind. "Well, what would you like to do then?" If all else fails, then I'd let her choose. That would be the best option.

She scrunched her face up slightly for just a few seconds before she replied. "Can we explore? I've been cooped up here and in the house so much. I wanna get out and see the rest of the world."

I weighed her words, and a part of me thought it was a bad idea. What if we went out and got attacked? Well, I should be able to keep her safe. Besides, everyone in my domain should be dead or temporarily kicked out until we have cleaned up the bodies. Which also means that I need to keep her away from it all.

As much as I didn't want to let her out of the walls, I relented. It wouldn't be fair for her to be stuck here. Hopefully, once the crusade starts and the city is reclaimed, I could let her out a little more. "Of course. I can take you to one of my favorite spots."

A small squeal escaped from her mouth as she jumped up. "Let's go! The day is already ending." She reached up and grabbed my hand and tugged me out of the room with the enthusiasm that only a child could muster, and I accepted my fate.

The undead, thankfully, worked quickly and relentlessly as they cleared the roads, leaving very little for Nyx to see outside of the scenery here. She skipped down the road, humming quietly to herself as she looked around the area. "Mother, what is that?" She stopped and pointed towards one of the undead linals that wandered through the area. Its gray coat covered in various scratches and putrid wounds. Its cloudy white eyes settled on us as its jaw worked slowly on whatever it was chewing.

"That's a linal. It's like a giant deer." I walked over to her and placed my hand on her shoulder. Its antler was deep beige, slowly turning into a putrid brown and covered in decaying viscera.

"Hmm. She put her hands on her hips and nodded as she looked over the beast. Can we keep it? It looks strong."

"No, you have the wolves at home. We don't need another pet." I chuckled at her and pulled her further down the road.

"But mother, please." She drew the words out as she pouted at me, following behind me, dragging her feet through the dirt.

"No. No more pets." I stopped and reached my hand out for her to take as we walked down the road together.

She slowly shambled up and took my hand. A pout was etched across her face. Such a spoiled little girl. But I couldn't give her everything that she wanted. I wanted her to grow up and not be like Midir or a spoiled rich child. That was a life that I didn't want her to live. Thankfully, she seemed receptive, mostly.

As we walked, the dreary grays and browns faded into radiant green. Trees lined the road, dancing with the gentle wind. The smell of death faded and was replaced by the soft scent of dozens of plants that were intermingling with each other.

Nyx's eyes went wide as she saw the beauty of living nature for the first time, and I couldn't help but be happy that I got to experience that with her. "Mother, it's so pretty." She froze as she looked at the trees. She let go of my hand and rushed forward with a mad giggle.

I watched her as she ran forward, grabbed a few leaves, and jumped around. I crossed my arms and stared at her with a faint smile on my face. "Nyx, don't run too far ahead, please." I dropped my arms and followed behind her, keeping one eye on the environment and the other on her.

My words fell on deaf ears as she kept running around. Her black dress caught the wind trails she left behind, writhing on the wind as if it was a living being. She was having the time of her life, and I was all for it. "Nyx, if you want, you can turn into a dragon. You don't have to stay in human form."

She paused in the middle of a jump and turned her head to me. Her reply came in another squeal of excitement as her flesh became a liquid and quickly morphed into scales. The hair on her head flattened and fell into the strange liquid that was covering her body.

The clothing that she wore was pulled taut against her body as it slowly faded, leaving scales as dark as a raven's feathers. Her lithe limbs stretched out and grew stocky as they quickly transformed into that of a beast. The entire transformation took no longer than just a handful of seconds and was finished by she landed.

She came up to just a little past my knees on all fours. Her eyes still kept the same emerald shade and radiated a sense of complete happiness. Her jaw held dozens of sharp, jagged white teeth that glimmered in the dying sunlight and was twisted into a visage of a grin.

A set of tiny wings sat on her back and were tucked away. She bounded through the underbrush gracefully, and her laughter roared as she vanished from sight.

She left me breathless. I knew that she was my familiar, yet more and more, I saw her as my daughter. Sometimes I even forgot she was a dragon. So being able to bound around in that form must have been a relief.

I kept walking down the road, keenly aware that the rustling of the foliage was her. So I just kept walking and following the sound. Yet I was lost in my thoughts. I had a few dragon-based skills, so it made me curious about what I looked like when they were active, but that was something that I would look at later.

Speaking of which, didn't I have notifications I dismissed? Quickly, I went through my menu and looked through what had built up.

My eyes went down the list, drinking in the information. Yet I had a pressing question. I thought you could only learn skills by leveling up. So how did I learn skills without selecting them? It felt like the system that had governed my life was slowly changing. Even now, it felt like it was slowly fading away from me, as things became more and more natural. Perhaps I needed to speak with Kharon about this all and see what was going on. More than likely, it had something to do with the whispers trait that governs this domain. But I still wasn't sure how I felt about it. I didn't like feeling like I didn't have any control over my life.

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