The song above is really heartbreaking but I think it represents the end of the chapter for Rheynoak and Onyx

The third day of Solyerian. The day of Redemption.

The one thing Rheynoak sought for on this gloomy day.

Even the Gods seemed to know that today was a day of weakness, of sadness and grief. Even the sky reflected what everyone was feeling inside.It was a gloomy grey with no clouds visible. Blackbirds soared across the horizon, the dark waves of the ocean crashing across the dead shores.

There was a short rainstorm early in the morning, leaving behind the smell of fresh springs and turning the copper sand into quicksand. The desert had lost its color, fading like the rest of Asxairo's history.

Onyx had barely slept last night. In fact, she had not even closed her eyes. Her whole body had been shaking, her mind racing. Nightmares and gruesome images flashed in her mind, tormenting and taunting her like a moth attracted to a brilliant light. Her body twisted and turned, her bones cracking and body contorting under the immense pressure that shook her body.

Before dawn had broken through the horizon, she had thrown up at least five times, every single time bloodier than the last. Her skin was burning, her eyes dilating as her arms shook. Her whole body felt like convulsing over and over again, blood boiling underneath her skin.

If death was any less painful, she would have chosen it already.

Somehow, she managed to gather herself up and bathe before putting on the decent clothes she had left. She didn't bother putting anything on her face, instead tying her hair back so that her face was much more revealed. So that the scars that marked the little corners of her face was much more visible.

Last but not least, she strapped her trusty sword to her hips.

Taking a deep breath, she wrapped a midnight blue cloak over her shoulders before stepping out into the early morning. Barely anyone lingered on the silent grounds but she knew that there were people waiting for her inside Rheynoak's office. People who would control her destiny in every way possible.

It seemed like forever before she reached the castle, the door opening for her. She walked up the spiraling staircase to the quiet halls that welcomed her. Every step she took towards his office sparked a despicable feeling that settled in her stomach.

She did not want to face this. She did not want to face them. Somehow, the thought of never finding out her true identity seemed a lot more pleasurable than the current situation she was forced into. Swallowing down the vomit that threatened its way up her throat, Onyx managed to make it to Rheynoak's office.

Taking another deep breath, she knocked on the door with her shaky hands, holding her breath. The echoes of voices stopped, footsteps approaching her. Seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like years before the soft click of a lock turning was heard.

The door opened to reveal Lucien, his blue eyes staring into her soul. His white hair hung around his pale face, his body adorned in black clothing. The powerful yet mysterious aura that surrounded him was gone, replaced with a more vulnerable atmosphere. Without a word, he stepped aside and ushered her in.

In Rheynoak's office, sitting in chairs that surrounded his desks was Alesandria, Venix, Draco, Irene Amashnov and Heather Falyik, and several other tribe leaders who looked just as tired as her friends. Sitting behind his desk in a mighty chair was Rheynoak, his hands folded in an authority like manner.

All eyes turned to her as she sat down next to Lucien in the front of the semi-circle the chairs formed around the desk. She passed a curious glance around, locking eyes with a very tired but sneering Venix. The Bloodbone shook her head, running her fingers through her hair. Her eyes glimmered and raised, telling her everything she needed to know.

She too did not know why she was summoned her for.

"Good morning Onyx" Irene greeted her in a rather chirpy voice. The tribe leader was dressed in a silver dress that kissed the floor, gold silk embellishing the fabric and jewels she wore around her body. Her long hair had been curled down to a lengthy wave. Onyx frowned at her, refusing to return her suspicious kindness.

"How are you feeling?" Rheynoak asked in a shaky voice. Instantly, a wave of anger washed over the Mind Siphon. "How else should I be feeling?" she answered back in a harsh tone. Her response made him jump a little, a frown deepening his face.

"I know this is a lot to take in," he said in a calm voice. " And the lies I have told you all your life are unacceptable." He paused between his words, licking his lips. "However, I did it to protect you Onyx. You have no idea how special you are. If I didn't do it, you would have been dead by now."

"I would rather be dead knowing who I am than live with a liable identity" Onyx shot back. "You have no idea what I have been through and to hide this from me my entire life is something I can only describe as despicable."

The tribe leader sighed, a broken expression crossing his face. "Actually, I know more about your life than you may think," he said with a shameful tone to his words. "Not just you Onyx but all of you" he added on, throwing a look towards Venix, Alesandria, and Lucien. They all traded looks, as if one of them was a traitor that harbored all their secrets.

"How can that be?" Alesandria asked. "You've barely been in my life."

"We know everything," Irene said from across the room. She folded her arms over her crossed legs, raising her brows. "We've been around for centuries darling. We've seen the world fall apart, the birthing of new creatures and beings, the building and crumbling of kingdoms and the slaughtering of our own kind in wars. We've been captured, enslaved, beaten, raped, tortured. We've bent our backs on the edge of hell. There isn't a single secret we don't know."

"And you are nothing more than a child, Alesandria" Heather added on, eyeing the falsely crowned queen. "You have only been wandering this world for such a short amount of time. You haven't even begun to experience what real pain is."

"And hopefully, you'll never will." Draco's voice was quiet, a whisper but his words were strong enough to capture the attention of everyone. The emperor didn't shy away from anyone's gaze, simply shrugging his shoulders. "We can't wish pain upon them. It's not right, it's not humane."

"We are not human" Irene insisted. He shot her a look, rolling his eyes. "Doesn't mean we have to act like complete assholes."

And with that, Irene closed her mouth, huffing in her seat with a sigh.

"Rheynoak" Lucien called out to him. "I think we've been led on long enough. Please, just tell us the truth and nothing but the truth."

Even after their recent disagreements and Lucien's newfound voice for himself, his carefully spoken words truly expressed what a soft spot he held for the tribe leader. Even after the betrayal he had endured at the fault of his hands, he couldn't seem to completely turn his back on him.

Hesitating but nodding, Rheynoak got up from his chair and headed over to the wall. The same blank wall with the crisscrossed swords and the golden brooch that held everything together and out of sight. "I have been aware of your late night scavenger hunts," he said in a hushed tone as he gently pried the brooch away from the wall. Surprisingly, the swords held in place.

Lucien's eyes widened but he didn't say a word, instead watching as the tribe leader tried desperately to pry open the ornament. A little bit of magic electrocuted his fingers and rejected his touch. "Bloody hell" he cursed underneath his breath, blowing on his blistering fingers. "Last time I checked, it responded to Hell Siphon magic."

"Yeah, the last time you checked" Lucien uttered in a grumbled voice. Getting out of his chair, he approached the brooch and traced a few intricate patterns in the center of it. It glowed brightly before creaking open.

The tribe leader let out an exasperated sigh. "Smart but foolish." Pushing his right-hand man aside, he reached into the secret compartment and pulled out several items including four pictures and Alesandria's dagger. He returned back to his desk and opened a drawer to pull out a rather large book.

"Inside this book is every single recorded thing about each of your lives. I have kept it with me for centuries and have been filling up the pages as I go" he said, stroking the rotting leather of the book. "I never planned on showing any of you this but under pressured circumstances," he said in a gritty voice, passing a look over to the tribe leaders that stared him down with Repulse. "I have been forced to."

He gnawed on his lips, hesitating to open the book.

"Before any of you say anything, just, please. Listen to me carefully."

With that haunting warning, he flipped the book over and opened the first page. "I'll start with Venix," he said, acknowledging the witch. She frowned at him but kept quiet as he traced the first page. "You were a one of a kind birth. Nothing nor no one has never given birth to anything like you. It seemed impossible for a being like you to exist but one look at your parents and suddenly, it made a little more sense."

Venix seemed a little bit more on edge, digging her nails into the arms of the chair she sat in. "Your parents were Queen Renesmi Saelen Juqaris and King Vince Draywin. Needless to say, they were one of Asxairo's most powerful rulers. Even their forbidden love couldn't stop them from building a very destructive empire. Needless to say, hatred from your mother's family forced a war into their kingdom which ended up in the death of both of your parents."

He flipped a couple more pages, illustrated pictures of the gruesome war sketched on the pages. "They tried to kill you as well but fortunately you were saved and lived out the remainder of your childhood with different strangers you perceived to be your mother. When you were six years old, your then guardian found my father and reported you to him. From then on, we both kept a watchful eye on you until you were ten before initiating you into the tribe. Since you were a hybrid and your only active powers were that of your BloodBone side, we decided that it would be best to perceive you as that until the time was right."

He flipped through a few more pages until he reached the end of her story, her face sketched on the page. The Bloodbone held her breath, her nails now digging deep into the flesh of her palm. Hurried breaths rushed in and out of her mouth. "And who were they exactly?" she asked hesitantly.

"Your aunt and her coven of witches. Yagein Washli."

Immediately, Venix rose from her seat, her face red and blossomed with anger. She banged her fists on his desk, startling the unkeen tribe leader. "The queen of the SilverClaw Witches! She tried to kill me and you never thought of revealing this information to me earlier?!" Her voice wavered with fear, her eyes prickling with tears.

"It was best not to" Rheynoak insisted. "If I did, knowing you and your stubbornness you would have followed up on a path of self-destruction."

"Oh please, like you haven't been walking down that path your entire life!" she retorted back. She pushed herself off his desk, burying her fingers in her hair. Even though she didn't want it to happen, she found herself crying, tears rolling down her flushed cheeks. "You're telling me that after all these years of me suffering under your reign and desperately trying to figure out why I was abandoned by my parents, you had the answers with you all along and never thought for one second to relieve my suffering!"

"It wasn't my choice!" Rheynoak screamed back, rising from his chair. He was face to face with the Bloodbone now staring at her angry, tear-streaked face. "All of this was ever my choice! I followed orders from my father!"

"The same one you murdered?" she asked.

A sad smile pushed on his lips. "It's amazing what lies you will all believe to paint me as an evil antagonist."

Infuriated and hurt, the BloodBone lunged at him, wrapping her hands around his throat. The tribe leader choked on his words, trying desperately to pry her fingers off his flesh. But she was simply too strong for him. "You are evil, Rheynoak! The most condescending person in all of Asxairo! No one has to paint you as one! You've already done a fine job shaping your reputation!"

Onyx jumped from her chair, wrapping her arms around her friend to pull her away from him. Lucien helped as well, both of them using their combined strengths to finally pry the Bloodbone from the tribe leader's neck. With a growl, she released him, kicking against her restraints. She pulled her wrists away from their hold, watching as he coughed and sputtered to speak.

"You should have let me kill him" she whispered to them, wiping her tears away. "I can't be here," she said, turning to Onyx. "I can't do this anymore."

Before the Mind Siphon could talk to her, Venix pushed her way past and exited his office in an angry stride, slamming the door behind her. The other tribe leaders watched with o mercy, simply keeping a straight face as the other two magical beings sat down.

The silence in the room was deafening as Rheynoak sat back down. He cleared his throat, his shaky hands grasping on to the book. "I'll be combining Alesandria's story with your own since both of you are connected" he spoke to Onyx. Irene smirked, clapping her hands together. "This is where the fun starts."

Ignoring her snarky comment, Rheynoak flipped through several pages before beginning. "Alesandria, let's start with you. You were born as Lezandria Berin Erovex-Talgran. Your father, King Aries Talgran first married your mother Queen Caria Erovex out of an arranged marriage. Although they have known each other for years prior to their engagement, they wasted no time in sealing their fates. Your father was just crowned the king of Crojesian and your mother was just a servant maid. It took a couple of tries before your mother finally conceived and gave birth to you. You were said to be one of the most special princesses in all of Crojesian. You looked so much like your mother."

Alesandria held her breath, momentarily flickering her gaze over to Onyx who sat still, listening to every word. "Unfortunately, there were people after your mother and when the first war rained down in Crojesian, she was brutally murdered. Your father, not wanting you to live in such a corrupted world, sent for one of the surviving maids to take you far, far away where no one would ever find you. The maid changed your name to Alesandria Erovex and fled far. That was the last time he ever saw you."

His eyes moved over to Onyx, his words momentarily pausing in his mouth. He knew what he was going to say next would sever the bond between them forever. The tribe leader wondered for a second if the truth was really worth losing the one person who made him feel sane. For a second, he contemplated on intertwining little white lies to soften the truth.

But in the end, he decided against it, knowing it would only enrage her even more.

"After the war and knowing the knowledge that you were safe somewhere else, King Aries ruled Crojesian alone for a while. That is until he met his second wife, Queen Eshara Aneymi Kaslibieth. She was one of the greatest Demi hybrid warriors of Crojesian and she was the lead female warrior of her family tribe. She was also the only one who happened to make King Aries happy again. They wed and she quickly became pregnant with you Onyx. You were born as Onouxia Ravenur Ashrevion Kaslibieth-Talgran. Your parents loved you so much. They did everything in their power to protect you but unfortunately, that came at the cost of their lives. During the war, they were murdered but one of my father's people found you and brought you to him. From then on, he tasked one of his trusted members to raise you until you were old enough to join the tribe. We couldn't tell you who you were or what powers you possessed because it was better that way to keep you safe."

Onyx was completely at a lost for words. She did not know what to say or how to react. She just stared at the tribe leader sitting across from her. Staring into those hazel eyes she once thought she could love. Every muscle in her body constrained and every instinct within her soul told her to hurt him.

Yet she couldn't find the strength in her body to do so.

"It was our mission to keep King Aires's daughters apart so that they wouldn't know who they truly were. However, when I heard about Alesandria and did further investigation using my father's notes, I figured out that she was actually Lezandria. Since I figured that others would know about her too, I figured it was best to combine you two together and see if you could figure out the mystery for yourselves."

"So that would make Onyx ad I half-blood sisters?" Alesandria asked with uncertainty. Rheynoak nodded. "That is exactly what that means. You two have a bond so whatever situation one of you is going through, the other can feel it."

Everything was blurred for a second as if she was being drowned underwater and Onyx found it very hard to breathe. She passed a look around the room, seeing the expressions of the other tribe leaders watching her with hunger. Her skin felt hot, sweaty and her fingers slipped off the arms of the chair.

"And one more thing. I will need your sword to demonstrate something" Rheynoak said, holding his hand out. Holding her breath, Onyx reached for the sword strapped to her hip and loosened it. She carefully handed it over to him, watching as he took the crafted masterpiece in his hands. "This sword was forged by your parents before they died. It is a very powerful tool and is made of pure agony, blood, and magic. The ruby in the middle holds the blood of both your parents' and yourself."

Sighing, Rheynoak hooked his fingers around the ruby and unhinged it from its place. It fell into his palm with little fight. Setting it on the table, he then took a hold of the dagger Alesandria had used upon herself. The ruby in the center seem to glow and stung a bit when the Hell Siphon touched it. Needless to say though, he pried until the deadly jewel was in his grasp.

With delicate fingers, he placed the jewels in their correct place. The fake ruby returned to the dagger and the blood ruby returned to the sword. It burned brightly when it was secured in the middle of the sword, finally restored in its place.

Onyx felt a sting on her shoulder. Pulling her cloak from her shoulder, she saw the heritage marks on her skin burn bright red as well. They had enlarged ever since the Catalyst Oath, covering more than half her back. The tribe leader pushed her sword back to her to which held tightly once again.

The Mind Siphon stayed quiet, gawing at her lips. Rheynoak looked at her with puzzled eyes, waiting for her to say something. Anything.

"If you don't mind me cutting the very awkward tension between the two of you," Irene said in a cheery voice. "Knowing what you know, we are here to offer you a place at our tribe" Irene informed her, gesturing towards herself and the other tribe leaders. "We have positions that are more suited for a queen like you Onyx. We know how to train only the finest and the brightest."

"That was not a part of the deal" Rheynoak hissed at them. "I simply agreed to tell the truth."

"Something you should have done a long time ago," Draco said. "But at the same time, she should be able to choose what path she wants to go on." The tribe leaders sneered at him but said nothing else, pursing their lips together.

All eyes turned to Onyx, watching her and waiting for her answer. She glanced at the people around her. At Lucien who stared at her with wide blue eyes to Alesandria who couldn't meet her eyes. To Rheynoak who sat at his desk with glassed hazel eyes and the tribe leaders who awaited her answers.

She thought of everything she had been through, of everyone she had killed and everyone she had trusted. She thought of every kiss she had shared with Rheynoak, every touch he had laid upon her body and every bit of her dignity he took away. Her memories reflected back into her mind and shattered her thoughts into a million pieces.

She couldn't think. At least not right now.

"I need to go. I can't be here" Onyx said, rising from her seat. "I can't even stand to look at you right now, Rheynoak." Her chair was pushed back and she took the few steps towards the door. Immediately, the tribe leader got up from his chair, seizing her arm in his grip. He pulled her back in his arms even as she protested against him.

"Onyx, please look at me" he pleaded, cupping her face in his hands. "Please, let me explain all this."

"You've explained enough," the Mind Siphon said between locked teeth. "And to think that I actually loved you. To think that I gave my body, my dignity to you and let you toy me with your charming words." A huff escaped her lips. "I guess that's what I guess for trusting a piece of shit like you."

"No Onyx, please. I know what I did was wrong" he said in a shaky voice, looking into her eyes. "I know that I am a piece of shit and that I don't deserve you. However Onyx, I did it out of fear, out of kindness, and out love to protect you. I never thought that I would fall for you this hard. Just please, don't leave me. Give me another chance."

His eyes brimmed with tears as he stroked her cheek. "Please."

And as much as Onyx wanted to believe his words, she knew that they were nothing but lies and that he would fall back to his old ways. Because as wise and old as he was, his mind was still as immature and childish as when she first met him.

And nothing, not even her, could change that.

"You don't love me, Rheynoak," she said to him in a whisper. "You love the idea of me. The image of me. You love what I can become not what I am and I can't be with someone like that. As much as I try to convince myself that you are different now, I now know that it not true."

"Onyx, please-"

"No more begging, no more pleasing, no more forgiving. I have been too kind for too long" Onyx whispered in a much more rough voice, pushing herself away from him. It was harder than she thought it was but she pried herself away from him and pushed his hands away.

Then, taking a deep breath, she looked into those glassy hazel eyes she once looked at in the dark and said the words she should have said the minute she uncovered his betrayal.

" I am done with this tribe and I am done with us"

Pursing her lips together, she turned around and walked out the door, sealing her fate and everyone else's in an uncertain future.

A/N: And that is the end of Chapter Seventeen!

Suprise, surprise! 

Not really but still!

I'm back guys. Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long. Exams are coming out soon and I needed some time to study and cram. Wish me luck!

Back to this story!

So a few things.....

Rheynoak and Onyx are over.

We finally know Venix, Alesandria's and Onyx's true identity.

We are yet to know Lucien's identity Tehe ^_^

And we have no idea where the characters are going to branch off from here on out. Well, I know but you guys don't!

Just know that we are nearing the end of part one of The Septic Curse! Part two will be so much more exciting and adventurous!

At this point, I want to hear what YOU guys think of this very important and critical chapter! PLEASE!

So tell me what you guys thought of this chapter.

Any specific scenes you liked! Any conspiracies? I would love to hear them!

Thank you guys for all your constant support. It means so much to me that you enjoy this book. I enjoy writing it and to hear your feedback always makes my day!

So tell me what your thoughts are on this chapter and don't forget to comment down below and vote if you liked it.

Until next time Lovelies!