The deafening sound of thunder reverberated; its power was strong enough to shake the whole place and woke the lying child on the cold marble floor. She was clearly startled by the thunder, Nir had always been afraid of thunder especially now that she finds herself alone in a pitch black place. She tried to look around but failed to see anything due to the darkness, she shivered when another thunder strikes, it gives a faint quick light, enough for her to discern where she was. An all too familiar structure came into her view; she was in the chapel at the back of their mansion. For some unknown reason a wave of fear enveloped her whole being, the surrounding was eerily quiet aside from the occasional thunder strike outside, the howling of the winds and the pitter patter of the rain. She curled into a ball then shut her eyes and covered her ears as she started to break in a cold sweat, she started hyperventilating from fear, she could not remember what happened, the last thing she remembered was she was lying on her bed to sleep for the night when she suddenly heard a commotion outside her room. The next thing she knew she was no longer in the comfort of her room and was lying on the cold marble floor of the chapel.
Her small body stiffened when she heard footsteps from a distance. It was getting louder as the time goes on, she keeps muttering to herself that it was just another nightmare she had to endure. The sound of the footsteps continued, she tried to focus herself on the sound but she heard another noise that made her blood curled, it was a sound of something being dragged. When the footsteps stopped, her heart was pounding and ringing in her ears, she find breathing harder and taxing she could feel the sudden dropped in temperature making all her hairs stand on ends. With all her courage she tried to open her eyes as another thunder strikes, it temporarily lights the place and what she saw shattered her being. Her eyes widened in fear, shock, pain and all other feelings she could not name as a black figure standing tall in front of her with a sinister face and blood red eyes, the eyes of a devil looking down on her but what made her lose her sanity was the bloodied lifeless body of his father that was dragged by the devil. She shrieked with anguish, fear and hatred.
"Nir! Nir! Wake up, you are having a nightmare..!!"
Max was shaking Nir vigorously to wake her up from her nightmare. She opened her eyes wide in panic; a spasm of fear crossed her face while she was shaking violently tears streaming down her face. She gripped Max's arm that was on her shoulder and said shakily.
"We gotta kill him. We need to do something Max, he is already in our ranks. He infiltrated the knighthood and the church."
She forcefully tried to get out of her hospital bed squirming out of her master's grasp. Max continued to pin her down.
"I don't understand what you are talking about. You need to calm down Nir. Tell me what is wrong, I will listen to you."
Nir screamed with all her might, as if losing her sanity and senses all at once.
"No! I need to slay him, I need to slay him even if it cost me my life."
A slap landed on Nir's face, she stopped screaming as if a pale of cold water was splashed on her face. She blinked and then realizes what she had done. She looked up in horror but what she saw on Max's face was enough to calm her mind a little bit. Worry and concern was written all over his face. Before she could explain he spoke to her in an ashamed voice.
"I'm sorry ,don't disregard your life like that. Are you awake now? You can hit me too. After that I can listen to what you have to say."
Reminded by her dark past, Nirian's eyes started to redden. It was evident how much pain she was feeling right at the moment. She helplessly lay down on her bed, ashamed for showing her weakness she covered her face with her hands and said softly.
"I'll be ok Max. Thank you. Will you please leave me alone for now? I'm tired."
He hesitated for a moment but knowing Nirians's stubborn nature he decided to give her some alone time to compose herself. They've already spent quite some time together but he never saw nor expected her to act like that, fearful and vulnerable. She was always brave and calculating in front of him, now he understood that it was all a front, a way for her to hide her scars. The hatred in her eyes was so tangible that he could somehow feel it deep in his bones, he was anxious about it but all he could do now was to wait for her to open up to him. However what caught his attention was that short outburst from her about something evil has infiltrated the Order, if it was true then they were all in danger.