"Damien.." Ashley is scared. She is worried for me, about how I'm reacting, I can tell by her voice and her expression to match. I'm not interested in anything she has to say. My mind is focused on her. Karina must be devastated- she must've gone through so much pain-alone-and I wasn't there for her! I wasn't there to protect her-console her. My child was killed. My wife was violated. My family was destroyed. As a man- as a husband..I should've protected her, I vowed to keep them safe. As a husband, the burden should've been on me, made it as light as possible for my wife so she never feels crushed with responsibility. All this is because of me...All this, is because of me.
"DAMIEN-she's back!" The cave door opens and the light makes my eyes squint. Andreya saunters in, but there is something different. She is happy. Fuck that.
"Everything is NOW in place! It's all coming together!" She is practically jumping around. I'm trying to hold it together before I go psycho on this bitch. Her eyes land on me, "we are going to a new home today Damien, it's all been taken care of-it's all decided!" She starts to undo my chain which confines me to the wall.
"Transport will be here soon.." that caught my attention. 'Transport?' What transport? Where is she taking me? Why the hell is she so happy?
"What? Where are we going?" I ask.
"We are going to finish what I started. But this time we have help.. and you were their price." Price? I'm sorry THIS BITCH SOLD ME!? I resisted against her pulling my chain as if I were her damn dog. Enough is fucking enough. I had forgotten the extent of my strength. The power inside of me is unmatched by any man alive. I had been deprived of sustenance for so long my body stopped focusing on strength and more on survival. She sold me as if I were her property, and meant nothing at all to her. It was like a vexing of the soul for what I felt was not normal. It was twisted and distorted but it was something strong. It burned so bad like fire lacing my veins and creeping up my spine, my skin was alight, burning, but all I could feel was desire; desire to hate. My thoughts were not my own. I was intoxicated with emotion I had no intention of ever feeling, the acidity of it was residing in my stomach waiting to be seen in foul and vulgar thoughts so demonic that I could be hunted and killed for acting upon. I didn't recognize myself, but I accepted it. I, liked, it. The first surge of power through me was addictive, a drug to revitalize my fire. I am a Lightning after all. I moved closer to Andreya and stuck my hand around her throat before she had time to move and lifted her slightly off the ground as the tip of her toes rapidly scuffed the floor begging for release.
"Who the fuck did you sell me too.." her eyes bulged out of her sockets. She hit my hand-scratched- pulled-did anything she could. But then, I felt my power, my hand became hot as the fire inside began to rage. Steam lifted from the sides of her neck and she squealed between my fingers as I burnt my hand into her neck. The flames from my hand trailed down to her stomach and rose up to her chest crawling through her veins as it slowly, painfully took over the rest of her body. Her fingers coiled into fists, trying to get a hold of me. Hatred drowned out my other senses, I wanted to feel her death, and I wanted her to see me do it. But Ashley's scream pierced through me "DAMIEN BEHIND YOU-"
I didn't know who threw the first punch, but suddenly a fist was slamming into my face while another's sunk into my stomach. I gagged at the impact and Andreya fell to the floor gasping for air. I stumbled back hunched for a brief second to analyze the situation. Two people-masked-highly trained- a patch on their arm-I didn't recognize it. Were they here to save us? Or have they come to collect their property? Before diving back at each other, my eyes narrowed in determination.
I dodged his fist and came up with my own to his chin. For a brief instant, his blue eyes widened before he managed to slam me to the wall in time for the other one's to find his feet and slam into me. Stars burst in my vision but I shook it off, blinding throwing a sloppy punch. My body wasn't prepared for such a fight. I threw more attacks but he stepped back, easily evading them.
"Is that all you got?" He crowed, smirking infuriatingly at me. "We were promised a beast, not a butterfly."
I growled and threw myself at him, but he changed his direction at the last minute and I fell to the floor. My blood hummed in my veins as determination and anger took over. I repaid this by punching his jaw, my fist combined with all my body weight. I continued this battering until he fell to the floor. Blood spewing from his face at the wrath of my fist. His chest gently rose and sank with each shallow breath he drew in. As I was about to deliver him to his death, I felt something pierce me in the back of my neck as a cool fluid infiltrated turning me useless. My strength evaporated, but I was conscious falling to the floor. The two men regained their breath and hovered above me clutching their wounds, I drew blood. That made me smile. I was powerless now-paralyzed, that didn't stop him from stomping on me with full power.
"You told us he was neutralized- denied of any nutrients!" One of the men shouted. I moved my eyes to see he was talking to her, Andreya, she was standing by the wall clutching her red neck freshly burnt. Just staring at me. She finally looked up to meet his eyes.
"He was...I don't know what happened or how." She said. "He might be more powerful than I suggested."
"He wasn't supposed to be hostile!" He shouted at her again.
"We need to move him before the drug wears out, we don't have another one. We need to deliver him as fast as possible." The other one chimed I'm wiping his bloody nose and limping over to us. "I just got word that the Nightslayers are close by." Karina is close by? I need to see her, even just a glimpse. Just to know, she is alright. She is safe. That all my sacrifice means she is able to live in the world without fear. "King doesn't want any interference from them, this should've been a smooth transportation, he won't be pleased with you Andreya." She looks down, she is scared. What king? What deal did she make and with whom?
"We should go. This is not our territory if they find us they will kill us." The other man was scared. He didn't want to be here. "And what about her?" He pointed to Ashley. "She saw everything."
"She wasn't part of the deal." Andreya chimed in. "Any harm comes to her, our deal is off. And you can answer to your king." They both looked at each other contemplating what she said. Their gaze rested on me. I found my conscious to be slipping in and out, like a daze. Whatever they put in me was tiring me. Messing with my senses. I was gonna either pass out or puke. I felt like doing both.
"Now be a good boy" said one of them. "We are gonna do this smoothly." They lifted me by my arms and pulled me towards the front of the cave with my feet dragging behind me as I was too weak to support my own weight. I managed to tilt my head, Ashley was still chained to the wall. But if Karina was truly coming this way, she would find her. I smiled at the thought. Ashley has tears in her eyes. She was shouting at the men, begging for them to let me go. Appealing to their sanity. But Some part of me just knew. This was the last time i would be seeing my sister, for potentially a very, very long time. She looked dead at me, but before I could take a snapshot of her for my memories I was dragged away. Like an animal taken for slaughter. Once I crossed the threshold from the cave to the forest, I was struck with relief. Overwhelmed with the hum of life all around me. I gazed up at the canopy, searching for the birds that whisper sweetly. The moon breaking through the cracks, lighting up the dirt path ahead, decorated with outgrown roots, wildflowers and fallen leaves. I take in large breaths each coated with the fragrance of minty grass and the damp earth. Each breathe is like water, fresh and cleansing, flowing freely into my lungs. Freedom is so sickeningly sweet to me. And I will never taste it again. The air around me became static, it crackled buzzing alive...A smile crept and the air grew thick with a tenderness that couldn't help but make me breathe slower, deeper, happier. Wishing for time to be merciful. I heard it. I would recognize it anywhere.
"ASHLEY!" Her voice so faint, so far but it was hers. I couldn't find my voice. I felt my cheeks flushed hot, and my stomach was heavy. My heart pounded in my throat, threatening to break out. Then her figure appeared out of the trees, all the way across the forest floor with her old warrior clothing on that stuck to her curved waist and toned legs. Her hair tightly wrapped in a plat with a few strands over her face, she had been running. Aggression had never looked so beautiful on a woman. She couldn't see me. I could see her. The light she had in her hand lit up her face. Ahh my Karina puts the gods to shame with her misty eyes. That's my girl. Mine. The galaxies were designed from her eyes. Her head held high, she waltzed on in another direction with effortless elegance. Her eyes scanned the trees with determination, the light was too weak for her to see far. She couldn't see me. She was in search of someone, Ashley.
Her emotions were not easily hidden on her face. Her pain was evident. But her eyes, her eyes showed her soul. They were a deep pool of restlessness and sorrow, an ocean of hopeless grief. As I looked into her eyes I knew, all the beauty of the universe could not even hope to compete with what she lost. Grief turned her eyes into orbs of a flameless fire, and in them I read clearly that she would fight to the very last tear for the people she loves. But my girl would never let the world break her. My body was breaking from the inside, my consciousness fighting for power against itself. I kept hearing her, shouting for "Ashley." Her light was dying out, it was a cold night. The start of Fall had not been a kind one. My mouth is filled with the coppery tang of blood, but using anything and everything I've got left. I hold out my hand, my fingers pulsate and it feels like magma is rushing through my veins solidifying and blocking the flow of blood. I moan as my vision shifts and the world erupts. At first, it hurts, but then I'm suddenly filled with confidence and power. A bolt of firelight made for a dragon shot out from me creating an explosion in the sky. From the explosion it rained fiery dancing droplets, keeping Karina's light alive. That's when her eyes met mine. She saw me, and she started running. Running to me. The two men, grabbed me and shoved me into the back of their contraption with wheels and tied me to the bars. Karina was still running trying to get to me. I knew she wouldn't, but she would find Ashley. My mother sat in the front with the two men and the contraption started to move. That's when I heard her scream for me, like she did back at the tree. She screamed for me. She screamed my name. And I couldn't do anything. The contraption started to move faster but she didn't give up, she ran after it. She had already lost me once. But when my time came to lose her I wanted to be lost with her, to take that step into the unknown at her side, and her by mine. Karina quickly slipped into the distance and in that moment of loss my world collapsed - where there was light became shadows. She was gone. There is no coming back, and so the world becomes as if made of shadows and every breath feels hollow in the chest. I didn't recognize myself. I turned back to see her once more, she had dropped to her knees on the path gasping for breath cursing fate for its cruelty with rivers running from her eyes. The countless trees kept sweeping her away. And the further away she got from me, the colder my world became. And finally, the darkness consumed me.