Chapter 17

A knock at my door doesn’t reach my ears, and neither does the sound of Teal’s voice telling me to get up to begin my day. I sit there on the bed, staring at my hands which are trembling in apprehension. The sound of knocking occurs again, more rapidly this time. But I can’t bring myself to acknowledge it.

The image of the stranger’s eyes filling my mind impinges my sense of reality. I can’t tell if what I’m thinking is real or not, but the pain in my heart fails to calm in this storm inside of me. I want it to stop. I want the painful thoughts to stop. For heaven’s sake, please save me from this living nightmare.

“Grace?” I hear Teal slowly open my door before his voice gets louder. “Grace!”

The thumping sound of his feet approaches me hastily but I can’t bring myself to look up. I’m frozen in distress.

Teal seemed to notice me slipping away from reality when he entered my room and rushed to my side on instinct. His arms wrap around me tightly, pulling me close to him. I should have been caught off-guard or pushed him away from the sudden contact, but the minute his, surprisingly, comforting arms tighten around me, securing me in his embrace, I feel all the ache leave me. His warmth engulfs my senses, stilling all of the pain at once. On instinct, I place my hand over his and choke out a sob.

“Teal, it hurts…” I rasp, letting him bury my face in his chest.

“I wish I can take away what’s hurting you,” he nuzzles into my disheveled hair, “but I can’t. This is the best I can do for your pain.”

“No, it’s fine. This is fine. Thank you.”

I crumble under the ache for the first time and this affliction that tortured me finally placed me in a vulnerable place in front of someone else. And that someone is Teal. A creature that’s supposed to be vicious but he’s so kind that I can’t help but wonder if he’s actually vicious or wearing a facade to be seen as vicious.

Either way, I’m grateful he’s helping me.

“Are you okay?” He asks after I stop crying and babbling incoherent words that he managed to piece together as a sentence.

“I believe so.” I slowly nod.

Teal lets go of me and sighs. “Can I hear the reason why you acted like that? Or, is it personal?”

“I can tell you.” I look at him. “I dream of this one person over and over and each time I do my heart hurts. I feel like I know them and I want to know who they are, but part of me knows they’re not real and another part of me craves their existence despite never meeting them before in my entire life.”

“You mentioned not remembering your name. Do you think you just forgot about them along with your memory?”

“It’s possible.”

“Try not to think about that person the best that you can. Master needs to see you soon about your plan to leave. It has been a few days and he wants to confirm when you’ll be leaving. I wish I can intervene in his decisions but, unfortunately, I can not. I’ll clean for you just this once to allow you to be alone in a peaceful solitude to heal. When you are ready, go see Master at the bottom of the stairs. Do not step a foot on them nor ascend them to find him. He will come to you.”

With one last glance of pity, he leaves the room and shuts the door behind him. Why he is being nice to me?

Taking advantage of the generosity, I slip under the comforter again and try to go back to sleep, praying that I’ll have a normal dream for once.

But it seems the world is still content with being cruel to me.

A blinding flash of light penetrates through the grey, smoke-suffused sky above me, followed by a howl of laughter that echo through each part of the dying village, frightening those who escaped the devil’s grasp, pleading with the monster to let them live another day, but in the distance, the monster bares its teeth at the people and whispers in an impassive tone, “Those who breathe, don’t deserve to see another day.”

My feet slowly move in the direction of the beast, impeding the fate that I’m approaching deliberately.

It lets a grating snarl rip from its throat as I lurch toward it, using my arms to soften the impact I immediately receive from the demon’s fist. This adrenaline rush flows through my veins as I see red, watching the black form with the eyes of a demon, scoring at each victim’s throat it can get its claws on.

This feeling in my chest pangs heavily, resonating throughout my body. It’s intermixed with the adrenaline but I can make out the familiar ache that’s raging inside of me. I look into the demon’s eyes, seeing hatred and bloodlust, but, even so, it doesn’t try to kill me with the same elation as it does with others.

This demon-like humanoid that stands taller than me, with limbs covered in blood and debris, I can feel the pain seep from it so vividly. The howls, the growls, it all sounds so painful to listen to.

But my mind can’t process what it’s trying to cry out.

I’m about to impale my weapon into the demon’s chest when someone sends me flying, propelling me into trees that are scorching in flames. I let out a dinned hiss the moment my skin makes contact with the fire but quickly jumps out of it, shrugging off the pain since my body is trying to regenerate itself. I go after the shadowy figure in front of me. But what comes into view is an ominous figure with gaping eyes. It smiles so intimidatingly, so satisfyingly wide, but the fangs that bare out its mouth are biting into its own lip that quivers slightly. It glares at me with a look of rage but reluctantly steps closer to me.

"You shouldn’t be here." The entity growls, catching me off-guard by how sentient it is and how capable it is to understand me. But I snap out of it when it sprints toward me, raises its hand above its head, ready to swing and hit my face. I grab its wrist in time and wince when its skin begins to burn my palm.

"I have to stop you." I groan, tightening my hold on it, resisting the urge to let go.

It struggles to writhe out of my grip, grunting in frustration. "You're not safe here!"