Offered to the Triplet Alphas

Chapter- 98. Inheritance

[Xanthea]

'May you find my guilt at the right time and may it save you from your own. May you find answers to all your questions in my memories and I hope you hate me a little less.'

A woman's voice echoed in the back of my mind, weaving through the symphony of shattering glass when my eyes locked with Ezra's through the mist of showering shards and embers.

We were both frozen in time at that moment. And as the wave of an unfamiliar guilt crashed upon me, I knew we'd never be the same again.

The pain in Ezra's eyes blurred everything around me, leaving only the soft whispers of a woman singing in my mind.

Her voice floated like a lullaby, perhaps meant to soothe the child she cradled and caressed in her womb. But instead of gentle words to lull the baby to sleep, her song was forged from heartless, jagged words, each syllable a blade that pierced the child awake - splintering a life that wasn't even born yet.

'Thea, my poor child. You will carry the burden of my existence, inherit every shadow and scar I've left behind. Born from my guilt, my sins, my deepest regrets - you shall be my redemption. You shall be their cure, but there shall be no cure for the accursed fate your mother leaves you with. Forgive me, Thea... my baby...'

The words and the voice kept repeating in my head, but I failed to comprehend anything that was happening within me. At least, not until the chaos vanished, and I regained my consciousness to Asher's whisper. 'Don't worry, wife... I want you to feel this guilt because it's going to get worse.'

It did. The foreign guilt got heavier with every breath, crushing my heart. I didn't know the origin of the guilt or why I felt it so profoundly. All I knew was it belonged to my mother, but now it was mine.

'You have owned your mother's dreams, now it's time for you to own her guilt too...'

A restless, unexplained anxiety bubbled through me at Asher's words. He knew. Not just the guilt, but also my mother.

'You will never become like your mother. I will make sure you don't. But it's a burden you must bear for us. In your heart, in your soul, in your womb.'

How did he know my mother? No, what did she do? What should I do now?

'You have played your part exceptionally well so far, wife. So for now, go to sleep...'

For a second, there was nothing. I was nowhere and then the next; I found myself falling as though someone had pushed me off a cliff. I plunged into a free fall, helpless, plummeting through the thorny branches of the trees that cracked and stabbed through my skin. Pain. There was an unyielding pain.

But before I could grasp what was happening, I was falling through a narrow, suffocating tunnel. The tunnel was alive with memories that closed in from all directions as the light above me faded into darkness.

The openness vanished, and the tunnel squeezed tighter and tighter, pulling me deeper into the abyss, where there was no sound but the echo of my own frantic breaths.

There was no direction, just the feeling of endless falling, deeper and deeper, into something I couldn't escape. The further I fell, the colder the air grew, and my skin prickled with a chill that sank deep into my bones.

Shadows shifted, forming jagged, unyielding shapes, like memories of things I couldn't quite grasp but felt in my soul, each one waiting to drag me further down. They pressed closer, darker, threatening to crush me under the weight of their presence.

as though hundreds of red eyes were watching me, following as I fell. Something pounced out of the tunnel wall

searing as if dipped in venom, spreading a feverish burn that

brandished my hands and legs to fight them, but one

me with frenzied desperation, tearing, gnawing, each bite like daggers

knew I was dreaming, but the pain

of my mother's memories in the middle of nowhere. Some of them were so horrifying, for a second I thought I was losing my

wouldn't come to save

death; they feared it might never come for them

stifled down into hundreds of bubbles as I found myself drowning in a pitch black swamp being attacked, eaten and chewed apart; the only prey for the pack of piranhas. Gasping, I swam, breaking through the surface of the

the water, hoping someone took

there had been an explosion of stars in my soul. A firm hand gripped mine, and with it, the crushing weight slowly melted away from my soul. The black water peeled away as if repelled by his touch.

me, glowing with an intensity that cast long, dancing shadows over the tunnel walls, dissolving the monsters, dimming the memories that clung to

a snowy overcoat that billowed behind

in the divine light radiating from the

though all the smaller ones had converged into this singular vision. My eyes widened, heart pounding with raw fear. A chill ran down my spine as

through the tunnel, and the

my weight. The glowing white hand released

were no wounds on my body, but the pain still coursed through me, relentless and unyielding, yet the tender embrace of his wings offered me just enough strength to endure

the full experience.

instantly, I was drawn into a trance that felt timeless - an eternity leading to this moment.

brilliance of the sun. His wings rose behind him, vast and shimmering. Each feather spun

was electrified with an energy that felt both alien and deeply familiar, a presence so immense it felt impossible to be

I thoughtlessly

Please take me out of here,"

embraced me in

gentler with you. Maybe because you are her daughter. But some people don't change until the very end..." Asher's voice was like the gentle caress of sunlight in winter, contrasting the coldness crystallizing

me up," I

always been. The only way to get out of them was to complete them. She wants you to feel her guilt,

head, tears streaming down my eyes

enough to carve it into my memory forever. The horrors I had already witnessed sent shivers through my body, and just the thought of what more might lie ahead filled me

was all a lie, but deep down, I knew it was the truth that had always lingered in my

me and I wanted him to keep looking at me, so that I

real. I don't want it to be real. Please say

his hand, caressing

Xanthea, and I'm just a figment of your imagination. But who said dreams aren't real?" Asher said, and I shut my eyes,