Chapter 45: Shackles of Shadow
After Lilith disposed of the prisoners' corpses, a heavy silence fell over the makeshift cave. Eilara and Lyra stood trembling, their eyes avoiding Tian Heng's, who watched them with absolute coldness. He saw the fear—but also traces of attachment to their past, which he considered a weakness… and a potential threat after Fai'lar's betrayal. That attachment had to be severed.
"Faela," he called the dark elven woman. She stepped forward, her violet eyes filled with cautious curiosity.
"The loyalty of these two is still uncertain," Tian Heng said calmly, gesturing to Eilara and Lyra. "I want you to bind them… to the shadows. Break their connection to the moonlight and their naïve forest. Flood their essence with enough darkness that they know no allegiance but mine."
Faela raised an eyebrow, a cold smirk touching her lips. "Complete corruption, then? A shift in their very soul essence?" She clearly enjoyed the thought. "That requires no small amount of power, human. A fragment of my own energy. What do I gain from offering such a… vile and delightful service?"
Tian Heng turned fully to face her. There were no bargains or promises in his molten gold eyes—only a cold, lethal truth. His voice was as calm and sharp as a blade.
"Your gain… is not dying by my hand."
The smirk froze on Faela's face. A chilling sensation crept through her—not from his aura, but from the sheer intent behind his words. She caught a dark flicker from the draconic tattoo on his arm, and his deadly aura seemed to intensify for a moment. She had seen how easily he had executed Fai'lar, how swiftly he destroyed monsters. She understood, in that moment, that this threat was no bluff. Her pride as a dark elf warred with her primitive instinct to survive.
"Your threats are crude… like the rest of your kind," she whispered, trying to salvage some dignity. But her decision was made. "Fine, human. I'll bind them. Let this be part of the price you pay for keeping me here… for now. But remember, what is bound to shadow… may one day be devoured by it."
"Do it," Tian Heng replied coldly, unmoved by her implied warnings.
He gestured to Eilara and Lyra. As soon as their eyes met his commanding gaze, they dropped to their knees, heads bowed and bodies trembling. He didn't need to say a word; the fear he had instilled—through Fai'lar's execution and his overt dominance—was enough to force obedience.
Faela approached them, and her savage smile returned. She began the dark ritual, whispering ancient words in the tongue of shadow, as tendrils of darkness coiled around the kneeling, silent elven women. The process was painful and merciless—stripping away part of who they were and forcibly linking them to Tian Heng's will through Faela's dark magic. Lilith watched with a cold interest—perhaps even some satisfaction as potential rivals were crushed.
When Faela finally finished, she looked a little drained, but satisfied. Eilara and Lyra were still kneeling, but now completely silent, their eyes vacant and dim, tinged with a new violet hue. Their skin had taken on a faint gray pallor.
"They're bound," Faela said, looking at Tian Heng. "They'll be... more compliant now."
Tian Heng looked at the two kneeling figures. They were now tools—broken, but more dependable. He gave a slow nod. "Good. Rise."
The two rose slowly, their movements mechanical, heads still lowered, awaiting the next order.
"Rest for now," Tian Heng said, dismissing them with a wave of his hand. Then he turned to Faela and Lilith. "Now we analyze the intel from the bandits and prepare for our next move toward those suspicious ruins."