CHAPTER 15: TEMPTATION

PRESENT

I begin my journey, but I decide to take a different route than the one that led me here. After walking almost non-stop for 3 days and only stopping briefly to take a quick nap and prepare an even quicker meal.

As I lay against a tree, once again considering this path upon which I have started, I am snapped out of my internal musing by the sounds of someone in pain mixed with the unmistakable shrills of demons. I could keep walking and pretend like I did not hear anything or save this person. If I do save this person, then they could lead me back to their village, where I would be able to cross at least one thing off my list. I have managed to convince myself and my mind is made up as I reach behind me to grab my blades. I follow the awful sounds, and it leads me to a clearing deep within the forest.

A woman lay bleeding on the forest floor; her once brightly coloured wrapper is in pieces and stained with dirt and blood. She is covered in blood, with visible bite marks in places not covered with blood. The demons are hovering over her and cackling. Some swoop down and take shallow bites out of her flesh while others claw at her, nothing too deep to cause fatal injuries but just enough to make her bleed and be in pain. Every time one of them claws at her or bites, here she lets out a loud pained scream.

The demons stop cackling and tormenting the woman once they become aware of my presence, they all turn around and face me. They open their mouths and make a show of extending their already long, razor-sharp teeth in a bid to intimidate me.

Didn't anyone tell them who I am? Such theatrics do not scare me.

The woman tries to pitifully crawl away, but she is too weak from her injuries and has lost too much blood to move. She has given up and is just laying there waiting for death.

"We thought you would have learnt your lesson after our last encounter, you insolent mistake." One of them says with a smug tone. Oh, I see; they were informed, but they were just testing the waters. Hoping that they would be as lucky as the previous set. If I do not make quick work of them, it is only a matter of time before word gets around and others are coming to try their luck.

"Listening to instructions or warnings has never been a strong suit of mine." I say whilst twirling my blades in anticipation of their attack.

They descend upon me just like before back at the river. Some scratching, others screaming and the rest biting. I keep slashing and stabbing through them, but it does not seem like it is enough. I feel the familiar hum of magic in my ears clearly underneath the demons' screeches right before my marks start glowing, growing brighter with each passing second until it is blinding. The bright glow turns the demons into liquid ash, and the ground greedily laps up like a thirsty dog.

As I approach the woman, her mouth hangs open in either shock or horror; I am not sure which, or maybe it is both. I must look a sight as I am covered in both blue blood and black goo. The realization before her stands what was thought as just a mere cautionary tale but a real-life being renders her speechless. With each step I take in her direction, she tries to wiggle backwards like a worm, but her efforts her futile because I finally stand right before her and she was unable to move an inch from her spot even after all her desperate wriggling.

"G-g-get away f-f-from me you d-d-demon" she managed to spit out. Talk about being ungrateful. I just saved her life, and she still curses at me even with her injuries.

"Demon? Demon? I am sorry, I think you are mistaking me for those creatures. You know, the ones I just saved you from"

"You are no better than them, you are the reason the world is the way it is. I wished they kill-" she is cut off as she chokes and claws at her throat. My marks were glowing, and it took me some time to realize that I was the one choking her. Even with this knowledge, I did not want to stop. Her eyes began to bulge and her struggles weakened.

"You shall have no peace" she rasped out with her dying birth.

"Jokes on you, your curse is a bit too late." I raise my head and speak into the forest. "You can step out of the shadows now Membe"

"Why didn't you save her?" He asked as he stepped out of the darkness.

"I don't know"

"Are you now embracing your dark side?" he said, rubbing his hands in glee. I can almost taste the excitement and joy wafting off him, it is unsettling.

"I am not embracing anything. I was not even aware I could do that. It just happened."

"But you could have stopped yourself, but you didn't."

"I was merely putting her out of her misery, she would not have been able to survive due to the severity of her injuries"

"Denial doesn't look good on you." With those final words, he disappears in his usual cloud of smoke.

I luckily stumbled upon a path and I walk through the forest, making quick work of it. There are no demons to kill or dangerous animals to fend off. The only perk so far, I have seen since I was born but then again even if the animals were still around, they would have probably taken one sniff of me and decided that I was not worth it. They would have concluded that I was either one of them or probably even more dangerous.

Evil recognizes evil.

Hunter recognizes hunter.

Before I exit the forest, I rub a thin layer of clay on my arms and face to my marks. I could always explain the mud as a way to escape the heat and getting burnt by the sun.

The path leads to the outskirts of a village and I sight three children at the entrance of the town. Instantly, the list flashes in my head with the first thing on the list. An item mentally gets highlighted and stands out boldly against the rest.

Steal the soul of the innocent.

I am instantly overcome at once with a huge surge of guilt. The reality of what my mission entails hits me squarely in the chest. I will have to become the monster that they have spoken about for so long and painted me as. In order to see this through, I would have to completely disassociate who I am and who I need to be, lest the guilt eats me alive and make me run mad.

I venture back into the surrounding forest, for I am not yet ready to tick off that particular time off my list, even though it is constantly ringing in my head like a never-ending taunt.

I finally arrive at a farm situated on the outskirts of a village. Underneath the cover of the night, I harvest three fist-sized tubers of yam and prepare a fire to roast them. This will be my first meal in almost a week that did not consist of roasted or dried vegetables or nuts or fruits, and I fully intend to cautiously savour it. I hurriedly scarf down slices of roasted yam and right when I'm almost done I hear a noise behind me. I drop the yam instantly and turn around whilst unsheathing one of my blades.

The figure before me is a frail old man with his arms up in surrender. I jump to my feet and correct my stance, still brandishing my blade. I would be a fool to underestimate any creature based on physical appearance, especially mortals or those that take the appearances of humans.

"I mean no harm"

"Funny choice of last words." I say, still maintaining my fighting stance.

"You steal my crops, eat them right here on my farm and threaten to kill me. That is quite unfair, don't you think?" his calm tone makes me even antsier. What regular person stares at inevitable death and talks without a tremble in their voice? Why have I been running into weird old people? The first one trapped me and nudged me into this path, I am not exactly excited to find out what this elderly person has in store for me.

"Who are you?"

"I am an old man who has been around long enough and still has a good memory. I have seen things, ghouls, and strange visions; some of which only exist in people's nightmares, but I never thought I would live long enough to come face to face with you."

"Face to face with a mere yam stealer?"

"Face to face with you, Azura." The short sentence instantly makes my blood run cold.