Mathias (#1 The Chronicles of the Demon Wolf)
Chapter 7

He drops to his knees, holding onto his head as the thumps grow stronger. The burning mark around his neck beating like a heartbeat—increasing the pain he’s suffering from. Looking at his trembling hands, wrinkles slowly appearing indicating his body is catching up with his actual age. Without his immortality, there is nothing much he could do to reverse his aging. He can’t keep going on like this. He would die before he could execute his revenge on them.

“My lord!” his follower rushes to his aid and helps him to the nearest chair.

The follower opens a small bottle of potion from the dining table and hands it to him. The potion could only lengthen his immortality in a short duration just good enough to make it through the day. He swallows the liquid and feels it burn down his throat. His eyesight slowly getting clearer and the wrinkles on his skin disappear. But, the potion is not a permanent solution. He needs to break free from the spell so that his true potential unlocks. When it unlocks, so does his immortality. He would be immortal again. He would be powerful again.

But, this body is no match to a demon wolf. Mathias has grown stronger since their first encounter. As the day passed by, the demon wolf is getting closer to be unbeatable.

Just a drop of Mathias’ blood could break him free from the spell. That’s all he needs. A drop of the demon wolf’s blood who binds him to the time loop for eternity. But, he’s more than just wanting Mathias’ blood. He wants revenge. He wants to take away everything that Mathias has.

“Did you replace it?” he asks his followers.

“We could not locate where it is right now, my lord,” the follower replies.

“Then replace someone who does!”

He does not care what it takes to have Mathias’ blood. He has enough blood to spill to break the spell. He reaches for the photo on the dining table and stares at it. His family’s honor was destroyed when he was branded as a traitor. Know, he’d do anything to restore that. Everyone else would pay for what they did to his family.

A day has passed since the incident in the Council and since Mathias walked into the portal. Chelsea pants heavily as she does her last set of a pushup. The training started as usual as if nothing has happened a day before. She hasn’t seen Mathias nor any of his siblings in the Council. Neither the ranked officers have said anything about Kingsley’s disappearance.

Millions of questions run through her mind. What if Mathias has left because he does not want her? What if he got hurt and everyone is keeping it as a secret to keep the place in peace? What if he—

Chelsea shakes her head. There’s no use for her to overthinking of the negative thoughts. Maybe he has something important to attend outside the Council. Who knows about the Commanders’ schedule other than their second-in-command? Speaking of a second-in-command, Chelsea stares at Eva Blake whom watching the entire training session. Chelsea had seen the way Mathias looked at his second-in-command. He looked at her as if she was his entire universe—as if his life depends on her.

A pang of jealousy converses through her body. There’s no way Mathias would reject his true mate for another woman. Chelsea would not allow it. She would fight the entire world to have him. She would prove to her family that despite her weakness, she still could have a capable mate who could protect her. She would rub this all over Sebastian’s face.

Mathias would be hers. He would put his true mate first before everyone else. That’s the rule of a mating bond. He needs an heir to succeed him and in order for that to happen, he would do anything to protect his true mate.

Chelsea smiles mentally. In order for her to achieve that, she would have to do something about Mathias. She would him wanting her as much as she wants him. When he returns from whatever he’s currently doing, she’s going to confront him. She’s going to make him see her as his universe.

That’s going to be one hell of a plan.

“Five minutes break!” Eva shouts before turning her attention to Arielle who has just returned from patrol. “Anything?”

Arielle shakes her head. “Nothing. We’ve tracked as far as the mountains. We’ve lost their scent twenty-five clicks to the south.”

Since the incident, Eva has dispatched all the available trackers in the Council just to track the attackers. All she knows is that the attackers used portals to get into the Council land but someone caught an unfamiliar scent all around the Council land right after the incident. It might or might not belong to one of the attackers. Arielle and her Stealth Division team work endlessly trying to track those attackers to wherever they were last spotted. Everyone was too busy defending the Council’s land when the incident happened. Nobody paid attention to what was happening outside the gates.

“Uncle Stefano has no news about Mathias and his brothers either,” Eva sighs.

“Girl, you know they would be okay. They got each other’s back.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.” she shows Mathias’ necklace that she wears. “He left this before he went into the portal.”

“Then it only means one thing,” Arielle replies. “He’s not backing down from his plan.”

And that’s exactly what Eva is afraid of because Mathias would be too stubborn to walk away from a situation even if it’s not favorable to him. He would rather die trying than coming home like a coward. That is just who he is.

Sometimes, she wanted him to come home rather than getting himself killed. But, Mathias never really listens to her. He would put his life on the line as long as everyone else is safe. He does not care what would happen to him. And that makes Eva mad at him.

For once, she wanted him to think of himself—think of his own safety before others. She keeps telling him that he could never protect everyone. There would always be a possible casualty whenever something’s happened. Knowing Mathias, he wanted to minimize that possibility.

“Have faith in him,” Arielle pats her shoulders. “You know him better than the rest of us.”

Eva looks to the ground briefly and nods with a smile. “I’d guess you’re right. We just need to have faith in him and his brothers.”

“Attagirl.”

“This is the time loop where we threw him,” Ryker says.

All three of them looking ahead. Thousands of boxes lined up in a grid. It looks like a room without walls. Each box contains a dangerous criminal of any species. In this time loop, there are twenty-four thousands of them. There are many other time loops exist in the void but this one is the strongest. All the criminals are placed in some sort of coma. The spell that binds them to the time loop would replay the same scene of their final crime over and over again until their body gives up life.

“Ten of them including him escaped,” Ryker adds.

The time loop changing. Instead of showing the occupied boxes, it showed the ten unoccupied boxes. Each box has a faint trail of aura left behind. Everyone in the time loop has a unique aura which could be used to differentiate them.

“But that does not include the ones from other time loops,” Mathias replies on which Ryker nods.

“Total of a hundred and three criminals escaped. Uncle Stefano said he still doesn’t know whether all of those criminals are working together,” Tanto answers.

“If they were working together, why bother breaking the criminals from other time loops when they could just break those in the same one?” Mathias questions.

Breaking a time loop requires precision and skill. Just because all of these time loops are guarded by the Daemons and all strongest magic practitioners, it does not mean there would be no flaws. All they have to do is be precise about where the time loop might consist of a flaw. Exploiting the flaw, they could enter the time loop and breaks it from inside. But, not all the flaws would direct them into the time loop they desired. To replace the actual flaw is very tricky. Triggering the wrong flaw, they could be thrown into a deeper time loop without any means of escape.

So, why those breachers bothered to break criminals from different time loops instead of the same time loop?

“Maybe they have better skills? Too good to be left behind?” Tanto says.

“Maybe it’s not about skills or being too good to be left behind,” Ryker answers as he steps forward with his eyes fixed on the unoccupied boxes. “Look at these names. What do they have in common?”

“Necromancers?” Tanto replies, but comes out like a question.

Mathias looks at the nameplate on each of the boxes. The common thing about them is that they are powerful Necromancers. But, there are many other necromancers far more powerful in this time loop. So, why these ones were the ones that escaped? What else do they have in common other than being a necromancer?

He closes his eyes briefly and sighs heavily. Of course, these nine were selected to help his nemesis.

“Knowledge,” Mathias answers as he looks closer. “Knowledge of the Book of the Damned location.”

Book of the Damned contains all sort of powerful spells that could be used to unleash hell on Earth. Because of that, the book could never be removed from its original location without causing a catastrophic event. Everyone knows where the book is. The only problem is that the Angels are guarding it.

“Why does he needs the Book of the Damned? It’s not going to help him to regain his immortality.”

“He does not need the book to regain his immortality,” Mathias says, turning his back on his brothers. “What he needs is the thing locked inside the book.”

“The blade that cut you during your battle against him,” Tanto finally catches up. “Your blood is still fresh on that blade although we tried to clean it off.”

“Not only he would retrieve Mathias’ blood from the blade, but he would also have the blade. One of the most powerful blades ever forged…” Ryker pauses as he shares the same look with his brothers.

“In hell.” Tanto finishes his sentence.