Chapter 472: The Vow Written in Blood

"That was supposed to be the plan," Eldric said quietly.

Sophia and Orion remained completely still.

Eldric’s gaze drifted away from them, toward the far wall, as though the room had dissolved and something else stood there in its place.

"I was meant to take over as priest after him," he continued. "That was what everyone believed would happen."

His fingers tightened around the arm of the chair.

"But Dolion never stepped down."

A short, hollow breath left him.

"And I never became the main priest of the pack."

Silence lingered between them.

Eldric lifted his eyes.

"Things became worse after he saw the prophecy."

Eldric’s voice lowered as he spoke.

"Much worse. Dolion stopped caring who stood on which side anymore. He stopped separating those who supported the goddess from those who doubted her."

Sophia felt a chill crawl slowly up her arms.

"He killed everyone. Those who still worshipped the goddess. And those who did not. And even those who tried to remain neutral."

Eldric’s mouth twisted faintly.

"He didn’t care that he was killing even his allies. His only concern was the blood he would need to get stronger. The blood which contained our magic."

"With every life he took," Eldric continued, "his power increased."

"But..."

He hesitated.

Then lifted his eyes again.

"With every life he took... he also lost himself."

"At first, it was just cruelty," he said quietly. "Then it became indifference."

His voice thinned.

"And then it became worse. The only time there was an expression on his face—especially one of delight—was when he was killing someone and revelling in their blood. The man we all thought we knew was gone. And honestly, he had been gone a while before then."

Eldric exhaled.

"Seeing what was happening, I, along with some others who still believed in the prophecy, in the goddess herself, left the pack. We slipped away in the middle of the night. We did not take anything with us. We could not risk being slowed down."

He paused.

"And we went to the only place that had traces of the goddess. The place where we thought we could be close enough to ask for her help," he told them.

Sophia’s chest tightened.

"The shrine," she whispered.

"Yes."

Eldric nodded faintly.

"The place where we had buried her."

He closed his eyes for a brief moment.

"We believed that if there was anywhere left in Nirvana where she could hear our voices, it would be there."

Eldric opened his eyes again.

"We went there to pray."

His voice was steady.

But the weight beneath it was unmistakable.

"We went there to beg too. We begged her to send the Luna spoken of in the prophecy," Eldric said quietly. "We prayed to her, asking her to send help. The prophecy stated that the Luna would come at a time when our kind needed her, and what better time than then, when Dolion was killing every one of us? Even the weather felt like it was against us. At first, we were a little over a dozen who had gone to the shrine, but as time went on, our numbers lessened."

"We stayed in that shrine for days. Without food or water, barely holding on, we refused to venture out to get fruit, because by then, we were too scared of the dangers lurking around," Eldric told them.

Sophia felt something tighten in her chest.

"We prayed until our voices cracked. We prayed until some of us could no longer stand. We prayed until hunger became background noise."

His voice softened.

"We prayed because it was the only thing we had left."

He paused.

"But nothing happened."

The silence stretched.

"She did not answer," Eldric said quietly. "She did not give us anything. It was like the more we prayed, the less she listened. There was nothing at all."

Sophia felt her throat tighten.

"I stayed there," Eldric continued, "even after some of the others lost hope."

His gaze lifted slowly.

"I stayed when the last of us gave up and left. I stayed when there was no one left, because I was certain she could hear us. I was certain that she was there, and if she wasn’t answering, then there must have been a reason why," Eldric told them.

Orion just shook his head. To him, whoever was in Eldric was simply a firm believer in the goddess—someone who couldn’t see that even the goddess herself made mistakes. It didn’t make sense that she could hear their prayers and choose to ignore them. It didn’t make sense at all to him.

The goddess was a mother. Sure, she sacrificed herself, but that did little to stop the killings and put an end to Dolion. Was the goddess that weak, or was it that she just didn’t want to help them? He didn’t understand it.

"The thing is," Eldric said, "sometimes things happen in the funniest ways. Even with how far the shrine was from our pack, Dolion’s followers found us—and not only them, but also the creatures twisted by the magic that now ran through the lands."

Sophia frowned. She wondered if perhaps Eldric was talking about the beasts in Nirvana. Could it be that the beasts were actually normal animals twisted by the black magic that had rooted itself in the lands?

She hoped she would have the time to ask Eldric the question, because though he was giving answers, he also wasn’t giving answers.

"They arrived at the shrine before sunrise," Eldric continued, unaware of Sophia and Orion’s thoughts.

A long breath left him.

"I was the only one left then, and I knew for certain that there was no way I was going to survive. Everyone else was gone, after all. And Dolion’s followers laughed and mocked me for still praying to a goddess who wouldn’t answer me," Eldric told them.

"Can’t say I blame them," Orion muttered.

Eldric ignored him. "They laughed in my face, telling me about how Dolion would soon take over, that black magic was better, and how the goddess was weak. And it irked me that they would say something like that. I fought back, telling them the goddess wasn’t weak and that she was just waiting for the right time."