Dark Born
Copyright© 2025 by Es_Orik
Chapter 23: Aftermath
Science Fantasy Sex Story: Chapter 23: Aftermath - A young man is transported to a new world as the Dark Lord, witness his rise from an ordinary college student to a being capable of causing the greatest evil.
Caution: This Science Fantasy Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa Fa/Fa Mult Teenagers Consensual Romantic Lesbian Heterosexual Fiction High Fantasy Restart Magic Sharing Harem Cream Pie
Adam’s eyes shot open and his body jerked as he snapped awake. For a moment, he didn’t move, his chest just rose and fell in quick, shallow breaths, as though he had been running rather than sleeping. Then, slowly, his pulse began to steady as the memories seeped back in, piece by piece. The castle. The Queen. The dark elf. Reaching the safe house in the dead of night, Lorelei ... and then nothing. It wasn’t sleep, he had passed out. He’d been running on sheer willpower, and the moment he relaxed, everything had simply shut down.
He drew in a deeper breath and took stock as the room slowly came into focus. Light streamed through the open window, not the pale morning light, but the strong, slanting gold of afternoon. He’d been out for at least half a day, it seemed. He dragged a palm down his face, then pushed himself up against the wall, taking in another deep breath.
“Adam, you’re awake,” a voice said gently. Katryn’s.
Stiffly, he turned his head toward the voice and saw Katryn and Lorelei approaching him. Katryn slowed as she saw he was upright, relief softening her features, while Lorelei hovered just behind her, hands clasped tightly in front of her as though she’d been waiting a long time for this exact moment. Remembering the state he had been in when he stumbled inside, and how she’d helped carry him, her worry didn’t surprise him.
“Are you alright?” Lorelei asked, her voice calm but he still heard the concern. “You wouldn’t wake up. We were worried, but the knight said to just let you rest and recover.”
Adam drew his knees up. “I’m fine, really. Last night just took a lot of me.”
“There’s food,” Katryn said softly. “Elliot left them ... some clothes too, clean ones, they’re on the chair.” She pointed to a neatly folded set of shirts and dark trousers.
Adam glanced down at himself and realized he was still wearing the dark cloak he’d stolen, and beneath it, his clothes were stiff with dried blood, from the men he’d slaughtered last night. How had Elliot known? The question felt foolish the moment it formed; his mind hadn’t caught up with his body yet, it seemed. The answer was obvious, he didn’t need to think long—the knight’s demi-human senses. Elliot had likely picked up the scent of blood on him since last night, even if he hadn’t said a word. Had Lorelei noticed? Probably. She was demi-human as well, though not as keenly sensitive as Elliot. But knowing her, she wouldn’t ask questions unless he started talking about it first.
Adam pushed himself up to his feet, moving like someone several times his age. His muscles ached all over, a sharp reminder of how hard he’d driven himself the night before, and now his body was collecting its due. He wouldn’t be doing anything strenuous anytime soon. Both Katryn and Lorelei stepped close to help him, but he offered a small, tired smile and declined. He was sore, still exhausted, but not helpless. He could manage on his own.
“Where is he?” he asked as he slowly moved toward the chair.
“He left, said he needed to check on something” Katryn answered.
Adam reached the chair and rested a hand on its back, steadying himself for a brief moment before unfastening the clasp at his chest. The dark cloak slipped from his shoulders and fell heavily to the floor, and his bloodied clothes surged into view. He peeled away his shirt next, the cloth stiff and clinging in places where blood had soaked through and dried, and when he finally pulled it free from his body, the damage was clear for all to see.
There were dark, purplish bruises spreading along his ribs and side where the golem of that scarred Silver-Rank knight had struck him, and a shallow cut across his chest where he’d barely avoided a killing blow. There were others as well, split knuckles, scrapes, small injuries he couldn’t even begin to place; whether they were from his battle with the scarred knight, or scaling the building he’d used to scout the castle, or fleeing when he’d discovered the Hand’s body, he didn’t know, but he hadn’t been aware of them until now. It was as if his mind had blacked out everything that might get in the way of his goals last night.
Lorelei and Katryn both sucked in a quiet breath as they saw his injuries.
“Adam, you said you were fine.” Katryn said, a hint of annoyance clear in her voice as she rushed toward him with hands stretched, ready to heal him without any prompting.
“I am,” Adam said, “None of it is deep. Looks worse than it is.”
That didn’t stop her, however. As she held her hands just above his skin, her palms began to glow softly, the light seeming to seep into him. The sharp throb of his injuries gradually dulled, fading into something more distant, and after a few minutes, his body felt looser, not fully healed, but steady enough that moving no longer felt like punishment.
“Thanks,” he said once she lowered her hands. She gave a small smile and stepped back, then he eased himself onto the chair, careful as he bent to pull off his boots.
Lorelei moved to a side of the room and grabbed a clean cloth without asking, then she offered it to him. He thanked her as he took the cloth, scrubbing at several spots along his skin; his shoulder, his neck, and his arms, spots where dried blood had cracked. He still needed a proper wash after this, or better yet, a long soak in the bath, but that option wasn’t available to him, not yet anyway. This would have to be enough for now.
“That’s a lot of blood for ‘looks worse’. What happened, Adam?” Katryn asked him.
Adam paused, considering how much to tell them. Was there really a reason to keep secrets related to this incident from them at this point? They’d already been attacked, and were currently in hiding. They also knew about the Hand, his involvement in the attack they’d suffered. Could things get any worse from them knowing what he’d been up to last night? Probably not, it was just hard to get out of his lone wolf mindset.
He let out a long breath. They needed to know, if only so they could be careful. He wanted to believe that everything had ended with the Hand’s death, but he couldn’t risk being wrong. Besides, news of the man’s death would probably spread around the kingdom soon, and it wouldn’t take much for them to connect it to his disappearance last night, especially after everything he had told them. Better they heard the truth from him now.
“It’s not mine ... not all of it,” Adam said finally as he dropped the now bloodstained cloth he’d used to clean himself, then turned around and saw both women’s eyes wide with shock. “I was attacked last night, that’s why I couldn’t be at the inn. I thought being away would keep you safe, thought I was the only target, but I was wrong. They went after you as well. You both said yesterday that it wasn’t my fault, and maybe you’re right. But I still wasn’t there ... for either of you. I couldn’t let something like that happen again.”
Katryn hesitated for a moment, glancing briefly at Lorelei before returning her gaze back to him. Had they spoken while he was out cold? Probably. “Happen again?” Katryn asked slowly. “Yesterday, you said this would be over soon, what did you mean?”
Adam stared at the two women in silence. Last night, just before his consciousness had fled, he remembered telling Lorelei that he hoped this incident was over, she must have shared that with Katryn, because now the young dark haired woman wanted to know what he meant. Even Lorelei herself, who rarely pried, was watching him curiously with those bright blue eyes. And his words just now, telling them he couldn’t let another attack happen, that the bloodstains on his body weren’t his—had fired up their curiosity. They knew now he was capable of real violence, not the adventuring kind, but the kind that left him drenched in the blood of other humans ... but that was only the half of it.
What would they think if they knew he thought nothing at all of killing? That it was becoming as natural as breathing to him. Would they still care for him then? Or see him as a monster? With the way things were going, he’d find out the answer to that question soon.
“Adam...” Katryn pressed him gently. “Please tell us.”
Adam let out a deep breath. “I thought I’d end the problem once and for all by killing the Hand of the King,” he said at last, his voice quiet. “It was the quickest way.”
Katryn blinked as if she hadn’t heard him correctly, while Lorelei didn’t blink at all, they both just stared at him as though he’d suddenly turned red and grown horns, and the room went completely still from shock. Then, a heartbeat later, they found their voices.
“What?” Katryn’s voice came out thin and breathless.
Lorelei’s hands, still loosely clasped in front of her, tightened. Her eyes held stunned disbelief as she looked at him. “Adam ... the Hand of the King?” she muttered.
“I didn’t tell you because you’d have tried to stop me,” he said.
Katryn took a small step toward him, her eyes still wide with shock. “Of course, we would have. It’s crazy and dangerous,” she said. “He’s not just some gang leader or corrupt guard. He ... He’s the King’s Hand, one of the most powerful men in the kingdom.”
“He was,” Adam corrected in a quiet, calm voice.
The shock on their faces immediately deepened and formed into something heavier, not quite fear of him, but fear of what that meant. Lorelei was the first to move again. She crossed the remaining distance between them slowly, as if approaching a wounded animal.
“Adam ... did you actually...” she slowly forced out the words.
Adam shook his head. “I wanted to, but he was already dead when I found him,” he answered the unasked question. “News about it will probably be getting around soon.”
“The Hand of the King was already dead?” Katryn voiced quietly, shaking her head in confusion. “If you didn’t ... then how? Will you get blamed for it?”
“No ... I don’t think so. No guards saw me,” Adam replied. “And I don’t know what happened to the King’s Hand, I just found him. With him gone, I’m hoping this can finally end. But it’s not certain ... there’s a chance that he was only a puppet for someone else.”
“A puppet?” Lorelei shook her head now, deeply overwhelmed by everything he was telling them. She was just a regular woman. “How can any of this be happening?”
“I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure everything out.”
Her eyes fell a little. “That means we have to stay here longer, don’t we?”
The question carried weight. Adam could hear it, the urgency that had been building behind her calm exterior for hours. Unlike him, or even Katryn and her mother, Lorelei’s situation was different, she had people waiting for her, little children she’d been forced to leave behind, likely panicked and confused, unable to understand what was happening. Her relatives might watch the children for some time, but kindness had limits. Lorelei couldn’t hide here indefinitely. Soon she would want—no, need—to go back to them. But leaving was dangerous. The Hand was dead, yes, but Adam couldn’t say definitely that the danger had died with him. Whoever had been controlling him might still be watching, waiting for them to emerge from hiding. Things were still precarious at the moment.
Adam rubbed the back of his neck, buying a moment to think. Bringing the children here wasn’t an option. The safe house just wasn’t large enough; it would be cramped, noisy, and most importantly, unsafe. Adam still harbored fears that it could be discovered at any moment. And even if all of that weren’t issues, he wasn’t strong enough right now to escort her across the city and back. Katryn’s magic had helped, but his body still felt like it had been trampled by a horse recently and was only beginning to heal. The thought of trying to protect so many small children while half-dead himself was just laughable.
Adam met Lorelei’s eyes. They were steady, but the worry in them was clear. “Just for a little longer,” he said. “Until things are a bit more clear ... or Elsa returns.”
Lorelei glanced down at her hands for a long moment, hesitating, then she lifted her head and gave a small, tight nod. “I understand...” she said in a whisper.
Katryn, who had been silent until now, stepped closer to Lorelei and gently took her hand. It seemed they had become friends, but that wasn’t too surprising. Katryn was warm and generally jovial, befriending people came easy to her. He’d learned that for himself, though it had led to some complications. But that wasn’t important at the moment. All that mattered right now was they were friends, and they could help each other cope.
Adam got back to his feet after pulling off his boots, and without any care for his modesty, he faced away from the two women and pulled down his ruined trousers, letting them fall to the floor with the rest of the bloodstained clothes. He heard Lorelei gasp and glanced back to see her turn quickly toward the window, and Katryn staring a second too long before following her lead. Too tired to mind, he picked up the fresh pair and put them on, then he reached for the clean shirt and slipped it over his head.
He turned back to face them, looking more like himself now, or at least like a version of himself not held together by dried blood. Hearing that he was done, Katryn and Lorelei turned as well, failing to contain their embarrassment and mild amusement.
Katryn gave him a sharp smile. “You could’ve warned us.”
Adam returned her smile as he eased himself back onto the chair, slipping his shoes back on before standing again. “Sorry,” he said simply, not sounding very apologetic about it at all. It wasn’t as though it was the first time either of them had seen him undressed.
“It’s fine, I don’t mind much,” she said and turned to Lorelei. “Do you?”
The older woman shook her head, slightly flushed at her cheeks, just enough to show some embarrassment. “I’m just glad he can stand now,” she answered diplomatically, then gave him a soft glance. “I know you were trying to protect us, but please don’t put yourself in such danger again. Breaking into the castle, attempting to...” Her voice cut off and she shook her head, still caught by disbelief. “You could have been seriously hurt ... or worse.”
“I agree, Adam,” Katryn added. “No more going off on your own, please.”
Adam sighed wearily. “Trust me, I won’t be doing that for a while.”
Both women smiled, and Adam decided to let the subject of his activities last night end on that note. There was no reason to mention his encounter with the Queen, not yet at least. He needed to think about it more himself, and telling them that he’d held a sword to their queen’s throat would just spark fresh panic, and they’d had more than enough already.
“Has Elliot been gone long?” Adam asked, moving the conversation along.
“No, but he said he’d return soon,” Katryn answered. “Is something wrong?”
He wanted to speak with the knight; he was really curious about what was happening at the castle in the aftermath of the Hand’s death. If the Queen held her tongue and protected him, as she’d done last night, there would be no culprit. So what would be done about it?
Adam shook his head. “No, I just wanted to talk to him,” he said.
“Alright, he should be returning soon,” she said.
“Is your mother awake?” he asked.
Katryn nodded, and he excused himself, intending to speak with the old woman. He made his way to the other room and found her seated in the same chair as before, though she seemed more alert than the last time he’d seen her. Her eyes still held a deep sadness, but she was present now, no longer as lost or distant. The shock of what had happened must have begun to fade. When he apologized again for the inn burning, she answered him in a frail, but steady voice. Like Katryn and Lorelei, she insisted it wasn’t his fault, that it wasn’t his hand that had set the fire. Hearing her speak, truly speak, eased a weight in his chest he didn’t know he’d been carrying, but it didn’t erase the guilt that lingered. He doubted that anything aside from giving back what she’d lost would settle it, and he would give it back. Before leaving the room, he promised again that he would make things right.
When he returned to the main room, Katryn and Lorelei were already waiting near a small table by the wall. The food Elliot had brought was laid out neatly, as if they’d been waiting for him to step back through the doorway. The smell of the food reached him, and his stomach growled, only then did he realize how deeply hunger had settled in.
He hadn’t eaten since before the chaos of the previous night, and the vast emptiness inside him called for immediate attention.
Adam moved to the table and sat, wasting no time to dig in. It was bread, and some kind of thick stew, heavy with meat, potatoes, and bits of carrot. He ate quickly, not out of poor manners or taste, but simple need, the food disappearing in a matter of minutes.
“Thanks,” he said after he was done. “I really needed to eat something.”
Katryn shook her head. “Elliot is the one you should be thanking.”
That was true, he should be thanking the knight, and not just for the food alone. The man was deeply afraid of him, or rather, of what he could do, and sometimes it seemed as though he would rather be anywhere else but near him. They’d even had a small clash last night, and Adam had all but threatened him. But still, the man hadn’t allowed that to affect his duty. Adam was starting to understand why he was Elsa’s second-in-command.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Adam said with a nod and rose to his feet. “I’ll be outside for a bit, need to keep an eye on things until he returns.”
Katryn’s brow furrowed with concern. “Are you sure? You just—” She paused and glanced at his body, then shook her head. “You should rest some more.”
“I’m fine now, really,” he replied. “Just need some air to clear my head.”
“Adam—” Lorelei started to speak, her eyes following him.
He stepped forward. “I’ll be sitting right outside. Nothing reckless,” he said, already moving toward the door. A few steps later, he opened it and stepped into the sunlight, then descended onto the stone steps just outside the door with a deep, heavy exhale.
For a moment, there was nothing but silence and the sunlight, and he closed his eyes briefly, breathing in, letting the tension in his body soften as his mind raced with thoughts.
Eleven, that was the amount of lives Adam had taken in this world already. The first he had stabbed in the chest during the raid at the warehouse, then the three sadistic knights he’d killed when his powers first awakened, then last night; the seven men he’d slaughtered in the alley. How many more would he have to kill? He wasn’t overtaken by a sudden surge of remorse or anything even close to it, all the men he’d killed deserved their fate. He just genuinely wondered; if this wasn’t over after the King’s Hand death, how many more lives would he have to take? How long before he was standing ankle-deep in blood?
His thoughts drifted back to the Queen. She was the one who’d planted the idea that the Hand had never truly been in control. In her words, he was “just a worm,” and crushing a single worm meant nothing. Adam didn’t think she’d been lying, and he knew she hadn’t revealed the information out of simple “niceness.” She seemed to despise whatever unseen force was pulling the strings, but Adam doubted that was the whole truth. There was always more with people like her. He had made it clear he wasn’t for hire, and as beautiful as she was, he would have preferred they never meet again, yet he didn’t believe for a second that would be their only encounter. She was too calculating, like Katryn in some ways, only far more dangerous. He didn’t think he stood a chance at outwitting her.
The woman hadn’t told him who actually controlled the King’s Hand—or who had ultimately ordered his death—but from all she’d said, Adam suspected that they were one and the same. The possibilities he’d considered before resurfaced. A secret cabal of nobles, the Knight Order, the Church of the Divine. He figured it had to be a powerful group, and any of them fit too well. The only question was why they’d discarded the Hand?
His thoughts shifted to Julius. With the Hand of the King dead, what would become of him? Would he be targeted next, or had he been involved all along?
For a moment, he wondered if he should have pressed the Queen for answers, force the issue, but the idea died quickly in his mind. He’d been exhausted, and with that invisible dark elf guarding her, things would have ended badly ... the elf already disliked him.
Right then, soft laughter drifted out from inside the house, slicing through the spiral of his thoughts and pulling him back to the present. Adam let out a slow breath, and opened his eyes. He was glad that they’d become quick friends; it would make juggling the tangled relationships he was involved in easier. The only lingering complication was Elsa.
As Adam thought of her, the small, nagging fear he’d been harboring surfaced. He’d tried not to worry, tried to trust that she would return, but what if she didn’t? What if she’d been sent on an impossible mission, one even her immense power couldn’t overcome.
If only he could’ve gotten answers about her assignment from the Hand.