All Chapters of Obsidian Heir: Chapter 41
- Chapter 50
107 chapters
CHAPTER 41: ABOVEGROUND.
His foot caught on a piece of fallen stone.“Auck!!!"He stumbled, nearly fell, managed to keep his feet through sheer force of will and forward momentum. Seraphina's weight shifted in his arms, and he tightened his grip, refusing to drop her even as his arms trembled with the strain.Don’t fall—don’t you dare fall now.The exit. He reached the exit that led to the stairwell, to the upper levels, to safety.He threw himself through it just as the final, catastrophic collapse began, the entire corridor behind him coming down in a roar like the end of the world.A deafening ROOOOAAARRR chased him forward.Too close—!The shockwave hit him from behind, propelling him forward, as he ran up the first few steps of the stairwell with Seraphina still clutched tightly against him.Finally, after what felt like endless running, the earth convulsed beneath them with a final, catastrophic shudder as Zachary burst from the crumbling entrance of the underground chamber, his arms wrapped tightly aro
CHAPTER 42: DEFEND.
Zachary stopped dead in his tracks, his chest heaving, and simply stared.She wore a simple white meditation robe that clung to her from the water, her long dark hair plastered to her back.She looked... diminished, somehow.The vital energy that usually radiated from her like heat from a flame seemed dampened, reduced. Her skin, normally holding a healthy tone despite her paleness, appeared waxy and lifeless in the crystal light.‘She looks… so weak’His eyes dropped to her arm—the one she had cut—and he saw the heavy bandaging that wound from her wrist.Even from this distance, he could see a faint discoloration where blood had seeped through, though it appeared to be old, dried.Seraphina's eyes met his, and for a moment, neither of them spoke.A quiet drip… drip… of water echoed from the pool behind her.Then her lips curved in a small, tired smile. "Young lord. You're awake." Her voice was softer than usual, lacking some of its characteristic strength. "Are you well rested? Have
CHAPTER 43: TAKE ME BACK.
She could only blink at his statement.‘He wants me to spar….. with him?’ she thought I'm disbelief, eyes widening in shock at his abrupt proclamation.But there was something in his voice—not quite anger, but not acceptance either.Something raw and painful and earnest. Seraphina studied his face for a long moment, seeing the changes there. The three weeks since the incident in the underground chamber had marked him. His eyes held a focus that hadn't been there before.He was coming around. He was changing."All right," she said slowly, moving to the weapons rack to retrieve a training spear for him. "Standard rules. No dragon energy unless I call for burst drills. We work on control, on technique."Zachary nodded curtly and took his position across from her in the center of the courtyard.And so it began.(End of flashback)And now nearly one year later… They were here.With Seraphina blocking her charge's every attack, her body operating on pure muscle memory and instinct. She
CHAPTER 44: GOOD INTENTIONS.
He didn't need to clarify who "him" was. They both knew.There was only one "him" that could make Seraphina look like this, only one person whose very mention could fill the air between them with this particular brand of tension.So… it’s finally timeSeraphina nodded once, a short, sharp motion of her head. "His Majesty has decided that you've made enough progress." She paused, then added with what might have been an attempt at encouragement, though it fell flat: "He wants to see you."For a moment, Zachary didn't move.Didn't speak. Didn't even seem to breathe.All that went through his head was one thought.‘He wants me back?’Then a laugh burst from him, harsh and bitter as burnt coffee, completely devoid of humor.Of course he does.The sound of it surprised even himself—it was the kind of laugh that belonged to someone much older, someone who had seen too much and been disappointed too many times to expect anything else from the universe."Well," he said, his lips twisting into
CHAPTER 45: MEASURE OF SINS.
The rest of that day passed in a strange blur for Zachary.He went through the motions—ate a meal in the dining hall without tasting it, attended a scheduled lesson with one of the handlers on energy manipulation without really absorbing the information, performed his evening meditation in his room with his mind wandering to anywhere but the present moment.He knew he should focus…But the thoughts wouldn’t leave him alone. People spoke to him.He must have responded, because conversations happened, but later he couldn't recall a single word that had been said.It was as if he were watching everything from a distance, disconnected from his own life, a spectator rather than a participant.‘Like I’m already gone.’ he thought blankly.Night came, as it always did, the sun sinking into the ocean in a blaze of orange and red that painted the sky like a watercolor masterpiece.Zachary stood at his window for a long time, watching the colors fade to purple, then to the deep blue-black of tr
CHAPTER 46: TOPSIDE.
Sighing, Zachary carefully replaced the flower and closed the book, sliding it back onto the shelf. He moved to his bed and sat on its edge, his hand brushing over the plain wool blanket. How many nights had he lain here, staring at the ceiling, wrestling with anger and grief and confusion? How many mornings had he woken with the sun streaming through his window, his body already anticipating the day's training before his mind had fully surfaced from sleep?This bed had witnessed his nightmares, those terrible dreams where he relived his own death, where he saw himself fight for his life over and over again in that dog pit while Elsie and Bennett laughed at him from above.. It had been his refuge after days that pushed him past what he thought were his limits, when his body was one massive ache and his mind was too exhausted to do anything but collapse into unconsciousness. It had been where he'd lain awake planning his revenge, imagining all the ways he would make the Sterlings
CHAPTER 47: BACK HOME.
He stepped out onto the helipad, his feet finding solid ground, and just stood there for a moment, breathing. The air was different from the island—warmer, more humid, carrying with it the complex mixture of scents that meant civilization. Exhaust fumes and cooking food and flowers and dust and a thousand other things, all mixing together into an olfactory signature that was unmistakably urban, even here at his father's villa, miles from the city proper.Even this far from the city proper, Zachary could smell it—that particular scent of thousands of people living in close proximity, of industry and commerce and life happening at a frenetic pace. It was very different from the island's clean air, its scents of salt and vegetation and stone. This was... complicated. Layered. Human.Memories flooded his mind, washing over him in a wave that threatened to pull him under. Walking to school on autumn mornings, his breath misting in the cool air before he had to drop out due to orphanag
CHAPTER 48: YOURS.
The car slowed as they approached the building, and Zachary felt his pulse quicken again despite his efforts at control.The memories came flooding back—all of it, the whirlwind of that brief period when he'd been thrust into the chairman's seat, still raw and wounded from Elise's betrayal, from Bennett's cruelty, and from the dog fighting pit that should have been his grave but instead became the crucible that awakened his bloodline.A faint tightness gripped his chest.He remembered the confusion, the anger, the intoxicating rush of power as he'd used his newfound position to begin his revenge against those who had used him, discarded him, nearly murdered him for nothing more than his bone marrow.He remembered Bennett's face when everything the bastard's father had built on lies and exploitation had nearly crumbled.He remembered Elise's desperate tears, her pleas to the media regarding her innocence after he had outed her for the fraud she was.But none of that brought him true sa
CHAPTER 49: CRANES.
But it was the presence behind the door that truly dominated his awareness.Dragon energy—vast, ancient, controlled with a precision that made Zachary's own power feel like a candle flame before a supernova.His father. Valerius Paravous.The man who was the king of the world not through any official title, but simply because his wealth and power made it an undeniable truth.The monstrous energy pressed against Zachary's senses like a physical weight, and he had to consciously reinforce his own barriers to keep from being overwhelmed.It was too much… and way too steady!How had he forgotten how powerful his father truly was? During their previous meeting, Valerius had clearly been suppressing himself, but here, in his own domain, there was no need for such restraint.Seraphina stopped before the console panel beside the right-hand door. “This is nearly time, Young Lord," she said quietly. "Don't be too nervous."‘That’s not helpful, Serpahina!’, He wanted to say but he held it in.In
CHAPTER 50: MISSION.
"Rise," Valerius said, his voice carrying that characteristic calm.Zachary straightened, fighting the urge to fidget, to look away, to do anything except stand there under his father's assessing gaze.He had to bite his cheek so as not to look away.Valerius moved forward from behind the desk with unhurried steps until he stood directly before Zachary.‘…like a mirror, huh?’Zachary knew, intellectually, that they looked remarkably similar, that he was essentially a younger, less refined version of the man before him.Yet he also knew that no one else would see it—not really.Seraphina had explained it during one of their sparring sessions on Sanctuary, when he'd asked how his father could be so famous and yet remain so unknown, how no one had recognized Zachary as his son immediately."Your father has a geas placed upon him," she'd said, her voice carrying that patient tone she used when explaining the more weirder aspects of being an heir. "An extremely powerful one, woven by a ma