Trapped by Cursed Alpha King

‘I call you Sigrid Krieger.’

‘Own your fate.’

‘Serve your purpose.’

‘I summon your soul.’

The voices in the dreams never dies.

The dreams in the nights never stops.

Sigrid Krieger woke up from her restless sleep, her eyes looking into the darkness of the night, her heart drumming against her chest hard as she tried to shake off the familiar voice from her head.

It’s her again.

The stranger in her dreams.

It’s been so long yet she still hears the same commanding voice, as though the woman wants to own her and wishes to take her away.

But lately, the voice became more dangerous and intense. The callings started to scare her and she doesn’t know what to do about the ominous feeling.

She tried therapies, counselling, meditation, yoga but none worked and she was even marked as someone who loves to hallucinate things since she is an archaeologist and is exposed to dead remains most of the time.

Seriously?!

She never heard of anyone having weird dreams about dark callings.

No case has ever been registered in the medical science regarding hearing a woman’s voice in dreams for more than two decades.

Coming to the hallucinations….Do all the doctors get such dreams?

Because they deal with dead bodies everyday compared to an archaeologist. Why won’t they hallucinate about some ghost summoning them into a different world just like her?

Or is she the special one with exception?

She doesn’t know whether the stranger is a ghost of a mummy she excavated or a blind smoky hallucination but she got used to her voice and to the same repeated dream.

Sigrid sighs, brushing off her thoughts and the terrific voice.

There is no means to the end of her dreamland. She has been having them since childhood and there is no point in racking her brains over some meaningless lifeless dreams.

She better get a good sleep whilst her day gets ruined and effects her research process.

She worked hard to secure a research team and sponsors to fund her operation. It wasn’t an easy task though. She risked her career to make this happen.

She travelled miles away from home to find the lost kingdom of twelfth century and she is close to her destination.

She cannot let the stupid voices in her head distract her from her purpose.

She sighs again, settling down on the bed and closed her eyes, trying to sleep but the soft melodious ringtone pierced through the silence in the room, disturbing her peace.

She answered the call without opening her eyes and after listening to the person from the other side, she threw the duvet away, grabbed her car keys and ran out of her hotel room.

‘We restored the painting.’

Those were the words Zeke said.

She spent years to find the fossils of the Lycanor Kingdom which was buried hundreds of foot deeper into the earth, had never been able to made into the world’s history book and was labelled as a myth but she never gave up.

Why would she?

She is the world’s famous archaeologist with remarkable achievements at a very young age.

She is widely known for her expertise in Egyptology, major excavations and is specialized in deciphering extinct languages.

And she wanted to use her talent to bring back the glory of ancient history.

The whole world called her insane when she decided to go after Lycanor Kingdom and laughed at her for wasting time on an empty shell but she believed in her research and pushed her team to continue the hunt.

Her efforts paid off when they found the ruins under the earth similar to the description of the lost kingdom.

She still remembers the proud look on her professor Rosamund's face.

He is the only person who believed in her strength, put faith in her research and helped her to lead the operation Lycanor when everyone turned their back on her.

And now, Zeke helped her to achieve another milestone in her career.

He restored the painting. The only connection to the Lycanor Kingdom and the proof of it’s existence.

It’s time to give a life to the myth.

……………..

Sigrid parked the car in front of the restoration lab and stormed inside, her heart hanging on thread as she thought about the painting.

It’s happening.

She is going to get a glimpse into the Lycanor Kingdom.

“Sigrid?!”

She halted in her tracks hearing Zeke’s voice and looked at the man who is locking the laboratory.

“What are you doing here?”

Zeke asked, surprised by her unannounced visit to the lab.

“I want to see the painting, Zeke.”

Sigrid said, her voice hoarse but sounded urgent as she rubbed her hands together, warming her up.

Zeke let out a helpless sigh and removed his jacket before wrapping it around her shoulders and unlocked the door, letting her in.

It’s an hour past midnight and is freezing cold outside but she drove all the way to the lab in her thin pyjamas just to see this damn ancient art and she didn’t even bother to put on warm clothes.

She is really insanely obsessed with her research.

Zeke turned on the lights in the restoration room and guided her towards the painting which was spread on the table, looking lavishly renewed and retouched.

Sigrid balled her fists on her sides as she slowly made her way towards the painting, her heart thumping hard in anticipation with each step she took closer.

She bit her bottom lip, feeling the blood rush to her head when her eyes came in contact with sea blue orbs of the man in the portrait and her soul left her body, losing herself in the depths of the ocean eyes.

“I guess the painting belongs to a king. Look at the crown on his head.”

Zeke said as he looked at the masterpiece he recreated.

He spent days to pour life into the mummified painting and managed to restore the old piece. Thanks to his dedication, he gave it his best shot and look at the results. Fabulous.

Sigrid looked at the portrait, her eyes caressing every feature of the man who is probably dead centuries ago but somehow she can still see the life in those sharp eyes.

Who is he?

He really is the king as Zeke said because his demeanour, attire, the sword in his hand, the crown on his head and more than that the intimidating aura around him screams his position but there is something disturbing about him and she couldn’t point that out.

While she lost herself in her own world, Zeke took out the tablet from his bag and unlocked the screen.

“Here! Look!”

He said, showing her the scanned version of the painting.

“I took liberty to use AI and developed a modernised version of the portrait. Have a look.”

Sigrid saw the 3D portrait on screen and her heart skipped a beat, mesmerised by the upgraded king.

The painting belongs to twelfth century, so the art style is gothic and unclear but Zeke did a great job by bringing newness and made it easier to see the real face of the medieval ruler.

He swiped the screen, displaying various styles of portraits he generated using AI and Sigrid frowned as she caught sight of something written at the bottom of the painting.

“What is that?”

She asked, zooming out the picture.

“It’s you who is good at deciphering languages.” said Zeke with a twitch of his mouth and nudged her elbow, making her roll her eyes and she looked at the medieval script with scrutinising eyes, trying to read the ancient calligraphy.

“What does it say?”

Zeke asked, seeing her furrowed brows which are deeply bowed in disbelief.

“I..It’s a name.”

Sigrid answered, her lips quivering in shock as she placed the tablet aside and looked at the real portrait, her fingers shaking as she caressed the letters at the bottom without touching the portrait.

“Name which belongs to….”

Zeke dragged, curious to know about the painting he worked hard to restore.

“Alistair Vane.”

Sigrid said, dumbstruck by her finding and looked at the blue eyed man with mixed emotions.

“Vane?!”

Zeke frowned as the name sounded familiar to him and soon widened his eyes in shock, realising the identity of the person.

“As in….” he said, staring at the zoned out Sigrid.

“The last king of the Lycanor Kingdom.”

She completed his words, astonished by the wake of fallen king’s portrait.