Dagger Plays

Like a dog, a leash was placed around her neck. 

Their King pulled on it, and when she attempted to stand, a whip swept through the air and cut through her skin. She fell to her knees, biting the pain away, tears fogging her sight. 

"You crawl, Batura." 

Crawl, she did, on that stony ground. Her palms trembled with pain, and her knees bled. Then, when he got to his throne, he handed her leash to another and gave the other monster, one order.

"Begin."

Nisha had no time to react. In a flash, she was thrown over a shoulder, and before she could cry out in fear and rage, she was in the air, leaving the gathering of monsters behind as they chanted louder and louder, "THE LIGHT IS OURS!"

Nisha grabbed onto anything her hands could hold. She could hear the loud flapping of leathery wings, but she dared not look; it felt like something below was pulling at her, dragging the depth of her stomach out of her body. Her head ached terribly, and her lips trembled in a mantra to Ma'ku. 

This monster was going to kill her! He was taking her somewhere to end her life for their stupid quest for the light. They were suffering for their crimes, but they blamed them?! They were forced beneath because of their sins!

Or maybe he wanted to throw her down from the air, her hands around him fought to hold tighter. He would send her body down to the ground from this height! It was her blood they wanted in their fog; it was the magic of the pureness of the Dowoga they wanted! 

No!

They would not have it!

She refused to be a sacrifice for their freedom! Whatever she would have to do to resist this fate, she would. 

Suddenly, she felt the descent. She clung tighter. This was even worse than when they had gone up into the air. 

THUM! 

They landed with a thud, but Nisha's heart was still racing as different bloodied images of her body crossed her mind, the pain that would unleash in her veins, the——

Wait, he had not thrown her down——

Before she completed that thought, he tossed her to the ground, and her eyes shot open immediately. She looked around; there were mountains everywhere, and she seemed to be in the middle of it all. There were rocks on the ground, and her hand grabbed one as discreetly and quickly as she could. Only then did she take note of her surroundings more; there were floating lanterns in the air above her and writings on the walls of the mountains, written in… blood. 

Of course, blood. 

They were the Cursed of Ina. Blood and violence were all they knew. 

It was in a language she couldn't understand.

Then her eyes went to the monster that had brought her here; he was working on a mixture in different calabashes, away from her, and chanting something beneath his breath as he did, certainly in that language that she didn't know. The language of the cursed.

Everything about them was cursed. 

With her rock in her hand, she strung up, ready to run, but was yanked back too quickly with the leash around her neck. She crumbled to the floor in pain and looked back at her captor, who didn't spare her a glance. She watched him pull a dagger from his chest belt and slash his palm with it, allowing his blood to drip into the calabash. 

Then he stood up, his gaze finally resting on her. Her heart raced even more as one realization dawned upon her. 

He looked like their King - only not as muscular. If she hadn't been so sure that her leash had been handed over, she wouldn't have noticed they were different monsters. He was wearing a pair of black trousers, though with daggers lined along his belt. 

He was probably the King's son.

Different positions, different hierarchies, different powers. 

She could kill him; all she needed was to grab two of his daggers, plunge one into his chest, and slash his eyes. If he wouldn't die, at least he would be blind and give her time to escape. 

She had to find her people. She was there for them. 

Each step he took towards her, she counted. Then, with the calabash in one hand and two of his fingers smeared with the mixture, he bent towards her, but she sprang up, knocked down the clash as she pulled two of his daggers from his belt and executed her plan; slashed his eyes and dug a dagger into his chest.

An animalistic growl rang from the depths of his throat, and he crumbled to the ground while she severed the leash - it was done in seconds, and away she ran. His growl followed her into the dark, but with her two daggers smeared with the blood of one of the Cursed of Ina, her rage ignited, and more than before, she was certain in strength to wreak havoc in this fog.

She wouldn't die today.

Not for any Cursed Of Ina.

She was their death, not otherwise!