Captured by the Beast

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Nuri

Slowly standing to my feet, I brushed off the layers of sand and dust from my prison suit. I didn’t know how long I was out but it was still dark. Gripping my scarf a little tighter, I slowly hobbled forward in any direction. I didn’t know where I was going but I was hoping that it’d take me somewhere out of this sandstorm. No, this had to be a dust storm now. I corrected myself while thinking about earlier. What hit me first was most definitely a sandstorm because I could barely move as layers upon layers of sand tumbled over me. Had it not been for me constantly moving it off of me, I’d have been buried alive. Shaking my head, I focused my attention forward. I needed to find Wren and Yareli and make sure they were okay.

“Wren! Yareli!” I called out into the darkness as nothing but the low wind could be heard. Grunting, I slowly picked up one foot over the other. I thought the sand was horrible when we first got here but now it was just horrendous. Just walking a few steps caused me to stop and take a break as the pain in my shoulder and my ankle throbbed painfully. “Got to keep moving.” I told myself while rubbing my forehead through my scarf. Sweating didn’t help as dust and sand stuck to the wet scarf around my head.

“Nuri.” Somebody whispered clearly as I ignored it. That wasn’t a voice I was expecting to hear here of all places. It wasn’t real, it wasn’t there. I kept telling myself while urging my body to move faster. My mom had always told me that if I was ever in a dark place by myself and somebody called my name to never answer. To never look back. It was only inviting evil. And though I knew she was superstitious, I heeded her words. That was until I got to this fucking planet. “Nuri!” The same voice screamed into my right ear as I quickly launched myself away from it, falling onto my ass once again. Standing in the spot I was previously in was somebody I had never wanted to see in any lifetime. My ex husband.

“You’re not real!” I shouted while squeezing my eyes shut, trying to will him away with my mind. As the wind slowly whipped around me, I opened my eyes before quickly looking around. He was nowhere to be found. “It’s all in your head, Nuri.” I quietly told myself while slowly getting to my feet before continuing on in the direction I thought I was going.

“Is it?” He asked, appearing in front of me as I screamed and jumped back causing me to tumble backwards into the sand once again. His tanned skin that he had always used to flaunt about was charred along with a large majority of his face. I could see his bone and his eyeballs as his dark brown eyes stared down at me. The short black hair that he used to groom more than anything was nowhere to be found on his head. “Do you see what you did to me?!” He yelled as I soothed myself. I wasn’t the same helpless girl that he could just throw around like he had done before. I was a grown woman. A strong one who had escaped death several times now.

“You deserved everything you got, Josiah.” I quietly laughed while slowly standing to my feet before putting my weight on my unharmed foot. “You took more from me than anybody in my life and now you’re standing before me as a ghost. Hell, maybe even a hallucination.” I laughed while pulling my scarf from over my face. There was no possible way that I’d make it out of this storm. I was even seeing ghosts now. If that wasn’t a foreshadow of my life, I didn’t know what was.

“Wasn’t I a good husband to you? I treated you like gold!” He shouted while stepping closer towards me as I stood my ground. “How could you take my life over something so trivial? I was all you had! You’re nothing without me!” He shouted on as the fire magic licked at my hand before sliding up my arm. “Look at what you did to my beautiful face!”

“I’m glad I got to see you one last time before I die here. I can finally rest easily knowing that you can’t hurt me or anybody else anymore.” I smiled as my entire body was covered in my fire magic. It looked more like a nice liquified glow that covered me completely while still moving around. “May we never meet in the afterlife.” I slowly raised my hand as fire wrapped around me, circling close and far before I dispelled it. A high shrill filled the air before my ex husband’s ghost or hallucination disappeared along with the dust all around me.

Sighing, I slowly lowered my hand while feeling my powers dwindling. It’ll probably eat away at my body soon since I don't have enough energy to efficiently replenish them. It didn’t matter because this is where I’ll die. Just like the prison had wanted. As I glanced around, I was startled to see a few sets of large eyes staring back at me. Surprisingly though, they had all surrounded me. I steeled my shoulders even though my injured one throbbed painfully as the eyes began to move closer before they all connected to the bodies of dragons. At least three giant dragons had surrounded me. I wasn’t going to go out a coward whether or not these beasts were going to tear me shred to shred. “Try anything funny and I’ll end you!” I shouted at the large black dragon in front of me who stared down his snout at me with those glowing dark brown eyes. Though I knew I was bluffing, these dragons couldn’t tell that. Matter of fact, could they even understand me?

Shaking my head, I quickly glanced from the dragon on my left to the one on my right. Though I could barely make out what color those two were, I could make out the color and little details they had. Like the dragon to my left had a pair of horns jutting out of its head while it also stared at me unblinkingly with its large glowing blue eyes. The one on my right seemed to be the smallest of the three but was still bigger than myself while staring at me with bright green eyes. My examination of the three dragons was soon interrupted as the one in front of me roared causing me to snap my head back in its direction. It seemed to be roaring at the other two dragons who seemingly stepped closer to me. I didn’t like that at all.

“Hey! Stay the fuck back!” I shouted while taking a cautious step back as the black dragon focused its attention back on me before its body lit up with gold markings of some kind. The markings seemed to etch from its large tail all the way up to its eyes before it roared at me. Fuck! I cursed while quickly turning and hobbling away as the very ground beneath my feet shook with such force that I was almost thrown off. As I quickly threw a glance back over my shoulder, I was met by the large open mouth of the black dragon. “Oh shit.” Was all I could say as the dragon scooped me into its mouth before I fell onto something warm and wet. I was guessing it was its tongue as it quickly moved me around its mouth before the heat became unbearable. “Can’t breathe.” I wheezed out as if somebody would hear me. At least I could die in peace now. I told myself while slowly succumbing to sweet slumber.