His rage

The sound of the raging water hitting land finally woke me. Its sound echoing to the walls, calling me with strong and angry voice. I could feel the roughness of the floor under me, the ropes biting to my wrist. I'm back in my nightmare.

"Wake up!" His voice echoed strongly around me. I demands my obedience.

But I long for the darkness. I want to stay in the darkness. I refuse to leave it's safety.

"Wake up!" Maybe if I disobey him, he would stab me. Finally release me from this nightmare. "Open you eyes, I know you're awake. Or I would open them for you," his voice too cold and yet blazing with anger. "I will pull them out."

His threat finally forced me to open them.

I stared at the man across the fire. Although all I could see are his legs enclosed in pants and his pair of footwear for I am still lying on the floor.

"Get up." I was not fast enough for him as I struggle to get up with my hands tied behind my back and my feet tied together. He quickly stood up and pulled me towards him, just as quickly pushed me down to sit. Then once again he is across the fire.

"Why?" I whispered. Why didn't he kill me?

Then his smiled. That was my doom.

-----

We have been walking for days now. With him whacking the branches that would protrude along the way and pulling me along with the rope around my neck. With his speed, I would stumble several times, but he never stops - either he drags my body along or I get up and try to stumble after him again. He never stops until the sun starts to rise. A weakness of his kind.

He seem to have a knack in locating places devoid of sunlight - a glen surrounded by huge tall trees that only thin thread of light simmers within, or the walls within a ruin. This time, it is a cave once again, smaller than the previous one.

He tied my rope around a stalactite. It is sturdy enough that even if I struggle to break free it would hold. I was left in the semi-darkness, with only the light from the hole near the middle of the cave that are reflected in some stalactites sheds light within. Too worn out to do anything else, I dropped down on the floor, leaning my aching back on the wall, not minding the scratchiness of the surface.

When he returned, he carries a big buck on his shoulder. He had shed his shirt near the entrance of the cave, showing of his pale skin. The blood on it so stark that it would look like he is bleeding. He dropped the buck near me.

Although he could eat raw meat, he always prepare a fire in the middle, cooking some portions of his hunt for me. I could only stare as he tore its limb and skewer a large chunk on a branch and placed it over the fire. As I waited for my meal, he started on his, sucking the blood from the animal and tearing it to pieces with his teeth.

For some reason, I think he has more finesse than my previous master - the demon lord. Although he eats like a savage, the demon lord guffaw from time to time as he eats, spilling pieces of food from his mouth towards the table.

My mouth waters as I smell the meat nearly cooked. But like before, he would wait. He would watch me eye the meat until he hears the grumble of my stomach. He would then toss me a bag filled with fresh water, which he might have filled during his hunt.

I could move my hands enough to open it and drink. Once I stop, that is when he would toss me the meat that he grabbed from the fire earlier. It's like he was waiting for it to cool down a little before giving it to me. His actions are puzzling.

After I had my fill, I could feel sleep trying to beckon, I tried to stay awake a long as I can but I always fail and succumb to its call.

I dislike the darkness now. For sleep brings me back to my nightmare. This time it is the day I was first forced to kill.

𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒. 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑. 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑚𝑒.

𝐵𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑, ℎ𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒. 𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑒. 𝐼 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑠.

"𝑁𝑜. 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒. 𝑁𝑜" 𝐻𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟.

"𝑁𝑜𝑤, 𝑚𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑙. 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑏 ℎ𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡." ℎ𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟. "𝑈𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑏 ℎ𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑦."

𝐼 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑎𝑠 𝐼 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛. 𝐻𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑟. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑙𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛. 𝑆𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑟.

"𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑝!" 𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝐼 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑟. "𝐷𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒." 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟, ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦.

"𝑆𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑦." 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑖𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛, "𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑤." 𝐻𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑚𝑒. "𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑏 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑦. 𝐷𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑦."

"𝑁𝑜! 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑝!" 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛'𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑.

𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛. 𝑇𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑚𝑦 𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑚.

𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝐼 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒. 𝑊𝑖𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒. 𝑈𝑛𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑑.

𝐼 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑒. 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑠 - 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛, 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛 - 𝑦𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑟.

"𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑏 ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝐾𝑖𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑒𝑟."

𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑠𝑜𝑓𝑡 𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑠ℎ 𝑎𝑠 𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠, ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑎𝑠𝑝 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑒. 𝑆𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑦. 𝑆𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑦, 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑔 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑟, 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑟, 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑖𝑡. 𝐻𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡.

𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑤, 𝑎𝑠 𝐼 𝑝𝑢𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑐ℎ.

𝐻𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑘.

𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑒. 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑟. 𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑠𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑡, 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑝𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓, 𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑓 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑎𝑠 𝐼 𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑏𝑏𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒.

"𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢!" 𝐼 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒.

"𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢!"

𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑘, 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙.

"𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙..."