Shadow Healer [The Blood Phoenix awakens]

Akira gasped, his heart pounding a mile a minute. Was he already dead? Where was this place? Lucifer's palace?

One second, he collapsed on the street, mourning in distress. The next, he felt something sharp hit his neck and blacked out. Then, this.

“Young miss, stop hesitating. Do it already.” A female voice whispered, her tone filled with persuasive urgency.

‘Ah? There's someone else here? What's she telling her mistress to do? It can't be to kill me, right?’ Akira's ears perked up, and his struggles lessened, trying to understand the situation.

A soft sigh followed the young woman's words. “He looks so young. Will it really be alright?”

“Young mistress, he's just a broke ass peasant with nothing to his name. How could his life be as important as yours? Serving you is an honor to him and his ancestors. Stop hesitating already, if you're unable to detoxify the poison by morning, you will be the one dead instead. Think about your grandfather, how would he cope?”

Akira became even more confused at that point. Detoxify which poison? Why did they need him here to detoxify her? It couldn't be like those demonic cultivation movies where they use humans to create pills now, could it?

Chills went down his spine the moment he thought about it and sweat coated his skin. What in heaven's name was going on here?

“Did you check well?” The voice belonging to the young miss asked again, seemingly hesitant.

“Of course. I wouldn't get this kind of thing wrong. The priest gave very specific instructions for the ritual.” The sounds of someone pacing followed.

“Virgin, male, twenty years old. Born at midnight, the exact time the constellations formed a fire dragon, in the year of the flaming beast. In this whole country, he's the only one that met the requirements. The heavens marked him to be your antidote. There could be no error.”

The more they spoke, the more apprehensive Akira became. Why did it seem they wanted to use him for some sick ritual?

“Young mistress, you don't need to feel guilty. Your life is worth more than his own. A million times.”

By now, Akira's movement had caused the black blindfold to shift awkwardly, giving him a slight view of his surroundings.

He was in a hotel room. The really expensive five star kind. Akira never imagined that the only time he stepped into such a luxurious abode would be to die.

His limbs were bound to the four posts like an offering to the gods. His heart dropped, cold sweat covered his skin. Did this rich kid bring him here for a sick life swap ritual?

‘Heavens, No! Even if I'm meant to die, not like this. I've not avenged my mother's death.’

“Young miss, do not hesitate. Think about your grandfather, and the people depending on your protection. You absolutely cannot die. It's a necessary sacrifice for the greater future.”

Akira's eyes blazed with anger on hearing her assistant’s self righteous words, encouraging the woman to get on with it. Necessary sacrifice? Did they ask for his approval?

The door clicked shut, and the woman climbed the bed, swiftly discarding her clothes. Her eyes trailed Akira's body, and her fingers came to rest on his waist band.

“I see you're awake.” She whispered, leaning over him, her hot breath falling against his face.

Akira had a lot to say but his inconvenient position made it impossible.

“Don't resent me.” The girl added as an afterthought. “If I had another option, I would never have agreed to such indignity.”

‘Wait! Wait! Wait! Don't do this. This isn't how I envisioned my first time. God in heaven. Was there a reason to shove me into such an unpalatable situation?’

All his complaints never made it past his throat. It seemed he truly had no other option than to watch the ritual completed.

****

Ninety minutes later

The woman finally got down, sweating heavily. Akira wasn't looking any better. She turned to him and he immediately closed his eyes.

She threw a blanket over his body and dressed up. Her assistant returned, holding a huge bag of money.

“Miss, how do you feel?”

The woman's face turned red, and she looked away. The assistant grabbed her pulse to check, and a wide smile gradually spread on her face.

“You've successfully transferred the dark yin poison. You're saved.”

The woman looked hesitant, guilt flickering intermittently over her features.

“No man has ever survived the dark yin poison. Every single one used as an antidote died within twenty-four hours.”

Akira's heart stopped, and his limbs began to shake in terror. What? He only had a day left?

She exhaled and shook her head wryly.

“Only the blood Phoenix tribe can purify the dark yin poison and still live. Unfortunately, there are no more blood Phoenixes in this world.”

The assistant dumped the cash by the bedside. “That's two million dollars. Enough for your family to spend for a lifetime. It's not much of a loss.”

Akira scoffed. Family? His only family died yesterday, buried with his own hands. Now he was about to join her.

He was getting what he deserved for failing to save his mother and blindly trusting a wicked woman with his savings. This was his karma—a certain death few hours after his mother's.

The woman brought out a black card from her bag and slapped it on the desk.

“An additional five million dollars for your help. There’s no password. Free use.”

She turned to leave and stopped halfway, then turned around. With steady intimidating steps, she stopped by Akira's bedside and grabbed him by the jaws.

“I know you saw my face and that your blindfold fell off long ago, but if you dare breathe out a word of what happened here to another soul…” She hissed, and sucked in a shaky breath through her teeth.

The assistant grabbed her by the arm, pulling her away.

“Well, I guess he won't live long enough for that.” The assistant said, and shot Akira a side eye. “Let's hurry back for the cleansing bath.”

Rage, shock, and resentment simmered beneath the surface. Akira's fists clenched so hard they bruised. Why was life so unfair?

He soon discovered another problem. He was still bound to the bed posts with powerful metal cuffs which left his ankles raw and bleeding.

In a move driven by desperation, he shifted the mouth gag. “Wait! At least unlock the cuffs!”

Akira's head was pounding like a hundred masked spirits were learning drums in there. What use was leaving him money when he couldn't even make it out alive? Wouldn't everything he suffered end up benefitting the hotel staff that would chance upon him?

The hotel staff! God the staff! They would see him naked, his corpse paraded by the police. What an undignified way to die.

Even if he was doomed, shouldn't they at least give him the opportunity to look decent for the burial?

A sharp stabbing pain suddenly hit Akira’s lower belly, causing a startled gasp to escape his lips.

He felt tiny trickles of something warm in that area, like something was forming, taking root. As if a seed he never knew about was sprouting.

The warm trickles soon turned to a blazing tornado, hitting somewhere around his belly with devastating force. He groaned, his eyes turning red.

In just seconds, agony-induced-sweat flooded the bedsheets, soaking everything. He wanted to clutch his tummy so bad but he was restrained. He really couldn't do anything to help himself or alleviate the pain.

The pain seared upwards like a hot knife through butter, splitting his veins, burning and contracting his heart, his brain seemed to be expanding to an alarming level. It felt as if someone was pounding down on him with a powerful tungsten mallet, crushing his bones.

More screams ripped off his throat.

“What's this? Didn't they say twenty-four hours? How come this is happening?”

Akira's teeth clamped down on his lips, till blood began to flow steadily.

Voices appeared in his mind, whispers, things that had no business being in his memory.

His teeth were clenched tight and stained with blood, making grating sounds.

“The pain is too much…”

Drawing breath became harder and harder, till all he felt was fire and thorns.

His eyes rolled back in his head. All he could see was the gold painted murals in the ceiling. The chandelier up there was still bright as ever. The world keeps moving, irrespective of his agony.

“Is this the end?” He muttered, and his body gave out, unable to bear it anymore.