Editing In Progress...
And, when night came, Ember found it difficult to shut her eyes for a night's rest.
She was to remain here till she took her last breath. There was no escape for her.
Nothing would ever convince the people who had her locked in the Dark Creek that she wasn't a supernatural being.
Her heart thundered hard.
Was this it for her? Was it the part where she prepared a letter informing her relatives about her imminent departure?
Whispers behind her halted her thoughts, and she spun around.
The lady accompanying her in the cell had sat up against the wall, whispering something as she pressed her palms together. Her eyes are shut close, and her brows are pinched together in concentration.
When had she gotten up in the course of Ember's difficulty of finding sleep?
"What are you doing?"
Ember asked, frowning in curiosity. But, the lady doesn't respond.
So, Ember tried again.
"I said, wha—"
Ember is interrupted by a clang.
The bars that were locked and secured with brass and padlock were now open, without a single person unlocking them.
Ember had a feeling it was a result of what the lady was whispering, so she turned back to her to see her smirking whilst she watched the unlocked bars.
"D-did you do that?"
Of course, she did. What was the need to ask that question?
"I implied to you that I was over 50 years old, and you didn't think I would know a lot of spells to make for our escape?"
Ember raised a brow, the words of the lady still unclear to her.
"I unlocked those bars with a spell. And, I know many more that could take us out."
"What?"
Ember frowned.
Was she serious, or was she pulling her legs?
"Must I repeat myself?"
"If you knew a lot of spells to help you escape, why haven't you escaped till now?"
The lady adjusted in her position, her smirk widening.
"I need another hand. Over the past 50 years of being a prisoner in Dark Creek, all my cellmates are weaklings, ready to give up the minute I tell them why they are here."
She moved closer to Ember.
"But you? I have a feeling you are not like the others. And so, you'd help me."
"Help you with what? You opened the bars already."
Ember motioned to the still-opened bars, and she shuddered when she realized they'd both be in deep trouble if any of those cell guards came around and found the bars open.
"You do know this place is surrounded by quite a number of those hulky men, do you?"
"So, how can I help?"
Ember offered, a little too desperately.
Well, it was a glimpse of hope that the prison wouldn't be her death place, so, of course, she would be desperate.
"Find a guard and kill him."
Ember should have suspected the lady was pulling her legs. She should have known the young lady would never know an escape route, seeing that she had been there for over 50 years. How could she be so stupid to believe?
"I don't think you should joke about this with me. It's a crucial moment for me."
The lady frowned as though she didn't know what Ember was on about.
"You think I'm joking?"
Ember didn't respond and just rested back to find sleep again.
When she heard a whooshing sound behind her, she was forced to turn again.
Ember jerked up when she didn't find the lady behind her. No, she wasn't anywhere in the room again.
It looked like she had disappeared. Completely. Only she sat in the room, skimming around like a mad woman.
The Lady suddenly appears before Ember, causing her to bounce up to her feet in fear.
Although Ember had known she was a witch, she never knew she could possess such power.
It was shocking.
"That is what they call the 'cloaking spell'. I can disappear here and appear wherever I choose."
Ember stepped back fearfully.
"And, I need your help because the spell won't work on you or me until we kill another person."
The lady moved closer to Ember.
"And, I need you to do the job because if I do the job, it wouldn't be effective. I need another human to do the job."
Ember swallowed.
"B-but, I-I can't kill a human."
"I would help you put him to sleep with a spell. All you have to do is suffocate him till his last breath."
Ember nibbles on her lower lip anxiously.
"I-I can't."
"Do you want to leave here?"
The lady suddenly asked harshly, making Ember flinch.
Ember nods.
"Now, get moving. A guard is coming. Immediately I put him to sleep use this to suffocate him."
The Lady hands Ember a head tie, and she takes it with trembling hands.
As soon as the Lady settles back on the floor to start her spell, a guard shows up.
He threw his stony gaze around, and when it landed on Ember's cell, he noticed the bars were unlocked.
As he made it towards them, his brows pinched together, and his dark gaze fixated on the locks of the bars to be sure that he had seen right; he suddenly halted, went on both knees, and collapsed onto the wooden floor.
The lady raised her brow at Ember, giving her the cue.
Ember, with quivering legs, makes it towards the unconscious guard, tightening the hair tie around her fist.
She hadn't taken the life of a fly before; how was she to do that with a human like her?
Ember lowered herself before the guard, her hands trembling as she brought them to wrap the hair tie around his neck, to end him.
As she was just about to wrap the tie around the unconscious guard, another guard showed up.
However, when he saw them, he didn't react. Ember soon realizes that it is due to someone behind him, feeding on his neck and sucking off his blood.
Ember froze.
It was the devil.
Ember watched, in a frozen position, as the devil moved around like the wind, attacking every guard that came at him.
He breezed around, feeding on their blood, ripping out their hearts, slashing out their arms, cutting off their heads with just a simple slam of his hand, and ripping off their legs.
It was a blood bath, and it made Ember dizzy.
She was sure she was soon going to be found unconscious after collapsing from shock. And, she knew it would be sooner than later when she saw the devil attacking the guards to be the Duke.
Perhaps it was a dream. Or maybe it was a hallucination because she had missed the Duke.
Either way, she hoped to have the scenario she was witnessing wiped out of her memory the minute she regained consciousness.
Ember's world goes blank, and she collapses on the wooden floor before the blood bath.