"Ugh..."
She forced her eyes to stay open as she tried to stand up. The scourging pain hasn't subsided yet, but Brently preferred to escape.
"I... I don't know whatever that scream came from, but nightmares or not, I better get out of here!"
Brently finally stood up, her body trembling. She wandered her eyes and noticed that the glowing orb was gone, and the leaves that were supposed to be the light source started glowing dimmer by the second.
"Now, where should I go?"
There was seemingly no end—she was walking for five minutes straight. Whether she was walking in circles or was walking on the correct path, she couldn't tell.
"When will this—huh?"
Thud.
Something fell on the ground. She looked down and was horrified.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH! M-my hand!"
It was her left hand.
The sensation of pain came right after. It was like it was cut off so fast that she never realized it.
Brently's thought process accelerated, perhaps due to an adrenaline rush.
That was when she realized that this isn't just a nasty dream. She experienced that a few times already, so she knew.
One isn't supposed to succumb to such realistic pain, even when a part gets cut off. She would've felt it the moment she woke up, but not this painful.
Amidst her scream, a demonic laugh intervened.
It was coming from no other than the culprit. If Brently were to describe it, the being in front of her was a mixture of a human and a mantis. It has scythes for arms and a human's face but its eyes were unmistaken that certain bug's eyes. Its rotten body might be human, but there are bug wings at the back.
"KIEE, KIEE..."
Her instincts were screaming, telling her to get away. But Brently's legs never did as she told.
"Why... WHY!? Move! MOVE IT, STUPID LEGS!"
Pathetic as it may be, she was screaming at the top of her lungs as tears kept on flowing down her cheeks.
Then her eyes landed on the being in front of her.
It was sneering.
The demon was overjoyed seeing her in pain. It was about to decapitate her but stopped just at the right moment to leave a small cut on her neck.
The demon's grin got even wider as it spread its wings to fly.
***
"Will she be fine?"
"That...I don't know, Ma."
Brently was immediately sent to the hospital for treatment. Her mother was with her, clasping Brently's hand with hers. Brently's hands were cold. Even the doctor that checked her was baffled as to why it was happening.
With them was Nicole, Brently's sister. She was adept in teaching and is a college instructor. Her almond eyes got the same color as Brently, and she had her shoulder-length hair tied in a knot and had a slim figure.
Nicole got a call from their mother while she was dismissing her class. Knowing what had happened to her sister, she immediately asked for permission to leave abruptly, stating that it was urgent. Donned in her uniform, she made her way to Brently's room.
"I hope that she will. But Ma, what happened? I don't recall her being frail. It was supposed to be my thing."
"I don't know, Nicole. I saw her lying on the floor, barely breathing. Thankfully, she was not as pale as she was before. Agh, I can't think straight..."
"Ma..."
Like their mother, Nicole was just as worried upon seeing her sister's state.
***
"Hah... Hah..."
Gasping for air, Brently sprinted away as fast as she could. The eerie presence of...whatever it was...chasing draws near. She knew for a fact that if she ever stops running, that being will cut another part of her.
"The only saving grace I had with that demon is that it enjoys a victim's agony."
The pain she felt after missing a hand still ensued, though this time she thanked it. It overwhelmed her sense of fear after all.
Now, where will she go? Brently kept on thinking as she ran, the flapping of bug wings audible as its source started descending.
"Is it about to cut me again!?"
A swift swoosh could faintly be heard. And she got to a halt just in time to prevent an early death.
One of its scythes was wedged into the tree. Maybe it missed, or perhaps it wanted her to die in another way for its own amusement. Whatever the case may be, Brently got a stroke of luck.
She ran once more, abandoning the demon that was trying to pull its scythe out.
"KIEEEEE!!!"
The demon shrieked, clearly pissed that its attempt failed.
"This place..."
She made her way to a house. Its walls were made of bricks, and the roof was probably the straw scattered about. The only furniture it had was a single worn-out wooden table. And the top of it was a dagger drenched in blood.
Brently then remembered the vague message she had.
"That was the demon who loves having its victim experience agony while sneering, that's for sure. Now, what's with that about courage and the last phrase?"
She sat down on the floor, the dagger in her hand.
Just what did she do and this happened to her? That question crossed Brently's since the start. She was just eating dried mangoes and watching a foreign drama at that time.
"Maybe the dried mangoes seek revenge after being eaten?"
Brently snickered at her own idea. She then sighed in relief. She believed that if she could crack awkward jokes at herself even in this kind of situation means she was still sane.
She soon stood up as the flapping of the wings was coming fast. A moment of silence ensued as the flapping sound died out.
Her heart was pounding loudly, and Brently was trying her best not to panic.
In an instant, the wall near her got destroyed. The dust subsided, and the demon appeared right in front of her. She threw herself to the side as the demon raised its scythe, cleaving the area she was previously.
"You're trying to kill me slowly. But that ends here."
Courage.
What that vague message told her was not the typical courage Brently had once seen in movies.
The dagger struck deep in her chest.
"'What I do to myself will be your gloom', right? Now I understand."
If this were to happen in the real world, getting stabbed in the chest results in death. However, this place defies natural logic.
She never felt pain despite stabbing herself. Instead, it was the shriek of the demon that filled the air. The "pain-loving demon" is experiencing what it loves.
It was a gamble, but Brently finally filled in the blanks.
The demon is right in front of her.
The only sharp object in this place is in her hands.
Finally, she figured the courage to kill oneself is the demon's weakness.
The knife vanished in thin air as the demon died.
Her legs finally gave up. Drained off her last ounce of energy, Brently's body fell to the wooden floor.
"Ugh... I won. But at what cost?"
Her eyes soon closed.
What she heard last is a pitter-patter of footsteps towards her and a single phrase in a child's voice.
"Congratulations!"